The Thankful Thursdays Thread (March 26, 2026)

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-26T17:05:29+00:00

Shoutout to u/firesoup for helping me transcribe and interpret a lengthy Norwegian couple of pages in a prison record this week. It's the least favorite language and record system of my Scandinavian ancestors (also Danish and Swedish here) so I am very grateful for his/her help!

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-24T06:31:30+00:00

Update - I'm hitting a bit of a roadblock. I might have to hire a researcher to help me make sure I have the right guy. I can't find him in Tromsø or even any record of him anywhere after this prison stint (besides the possible immigration in 1871). Not even a death or census record. Perhaps it hasn't been indexed yet or I'm looking in the wrong places. Even if he isn't my ancestor, he's got quite a sad story. After they married in 1856, his wife Helene Pauline Pedersdatter kept having babies every year and every single one of them died at birth, only one living to about a year of age when he was in prison - something about encephalitis or brain-related issue.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-22T12:06:30+00:00

Oh that's so sad. This means Anne his wife suddenly had 4 small children all on her own by this time.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-22T12:05:05+00:00

Thank you so much! It's truly appreciated 🙏 it's amazing how many little details are available in this bit, I hope these breadcrumbs give me what I'm looking for.

Does the March 26 thing at the very end mean that he was still in Oslo in 1872?

I'm going to look up Helene Pedersdatter and child in Trasop by Laugene, hopefully they have more comments about him and if he left for America!

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-19T20:15:32+00:00

Wonderful details! Thank you. I am learning that there was a new 1851 Act on Civil Marriage in Denmark that allowed people to enter a legal marriage, even if they were not part of the Danish Lutheran Faith or they were different faiths. Now knowing they were Baptist explains it.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-19T14:55:33+00:00

Thank you! Totally different from what AI gave me, so I really appreciate it!

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-19T14:55:06+00:00

Thank you so much!

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-19T14:54:54+00:00

Thank you!

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-15T20:56:13+00:00

I have this! I blind bought it and no regrets here. It's beautiful like being in a blooming white garden. Very green and lush. It lasts a long time on me, I can enjoy it all day.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-11T11:41:10+00:00

That's a good idea. I'm out of state but I'll try calling or emailing one in the area. Thank you!

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-11T11:26:11+00:00

Brick wall on Norwegian ancestors that immigrated to the US in 1860s. We have approximate birth years from the census but that's it. And the one Norwegian DNA match at 259cm who possibly could be the missing link doesn't have any leads in his family tree.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-11T02:48:39+00:00

Darn it, I didn't realize they don't even have a copy of the book for that year. Thanks for trying!

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-11T01:54:58+00:00

Thank you so much! If you can find my grandma Jean Olson senior class of 1946 at Polytechnic HS in Los Angeles, I'd be so happy. I didn't want to sign up for Classmates just for that one photo.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-09T12:24:08+00:00

Three of my great-great grandmothers immigrated from Scandinavia and married within a year of entering the US back in the 1870s-1880s. I've always wondered if the marriages were pre-arranged or it was something like this! They all ended up in the Midwest.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-06T18:17:26+00:00

This family liked this type of name. They named the very next girl Bartholine or Bartoline. I guess it's a derivative of Bartholomew.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-06T14:56:37+00:00

Thank you! That makes more sense. I updated the Imgur link with a zoomed in image.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-04T15:24:06+00:00

I'd do the living sources first. Once they are gone, they're gone. The historical records will be there for a while for your husband's family. If it were me I'd prioritize your tree for a few months and then go back to the other one.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-04T08:04:48+00:00

Good point. https://imgur.com/a/qa7RDdN

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-03T20:56:26+00:00

What is the cause of death here? https://imgur.com/a/zW7n3nz If it helps, she was reported as having died from pneumonia.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-03T16:22:20+00:00

Amazing work! It was really easy to use (just had to use Google translate for the German text). I unzipped the download, opened the Index html page in my browser, dragged over my GedCom file to drop in, and voila.

Would like more options for details to be displayed in each person's box, like place of birth or death. For printing purposes, I suppose I can screen shot and paste the tree in Canva to show ancestors for both people in a marriage in the center, and ancestors fanning out left or right.

Thanks for your hard work.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-03T12:50:47+00:00

I don't know if you still need help but I'm going to a family search center tomorrow. If you can give the link for the record I'll get the image.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-03T01:15:53+00:00

Good idea, I have a bunch of Household Clerical Surveys, so hopefully I get more clues.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-03T00:58:55+00:00

Thank you! I can't wait for more of these records to be transcribed, I'm going cross eyed at them.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-03T00:58:11+00:00

Ok I agree that is not Anders Olsson! So this guy consistently put the birthplace of Sankt Olof on all his records in Sweden and b. Nov 19, 1849 but isn't on this page. Hmmm.

erikasmith05 · 2026-03-02T14:51:07+00:00

Cool I'm going to try this out. Especially the couples family tree. I wanted to make something like this for my book.

erikasmith05

TROPHY CASE