Swedish Genealogy Humor
Here are a few original, well occasionally not
totally, phrases intended as humor.
Most smart Swedes stayed in Sweden except Charles Lindberg. And even he made an extraordinary effort to get back home.
Swedes settled in the Midwest of North America because it reminded them of where they came from: harsh winters and short summers. At least it was a better selection than the Yukon Territory of Canada which has been reported to be their second choice.
When you've got a name like Gilliusson in your pedigree, you've just gotta know people will think you're related to Dobie Gillis.
If Swedes are so thick headed, they (make up your own joke here).
If I had to pick a sir name like all Swedes had to do in the late 1800's, I'd have to go with Grubb. What name better describes how I have had to live my life.
For obvious reasons I'm glad Månsson in my pedigree has that little o over the a and an extra s. Otherwise
people might get the wrong idea.
In high school if my name had been Vallentinsson from my pedigree, then my nick name might have resulted in a substantially different outcome than what did happen.
In 1635 I wonder if my ancestor Fallentin Vallentinsson had a feeling there would be a holiday named after him.
If I had to select my own name and could not use the current one, I'd pick Lars Anders Svensson. Now that's Swedish through and through.
My sympathies for the French have increased now that I know many of my ancestors were named Bonnevier.
How can I take myself seriously when I know there are names in my pedigree like Quarford, and Valentinsson?
Now that I am certain I have distant ancestors that originally came from Belgium, I better understand my love of all things chocolate. Genealogy helps everyone rationalize anything.
There are many Köhlers in my pedigree. I wonder if I am a long lost heir to the toilet manufacturers fortune. I do like to use their product.
My favorite distant relative just has to be NN in 1597. Talk about an easy name for everyone to remember.
Do you think it is possible that I became an electrician for a career because I had a relative named
Wattenström? Probably not. Back in 1610 electricity was not in widespread use.
Superman could be in my family tree. There is a Jörealsson back there. The spelling is slightly different. But then I do have super strength to open pickle jars. Who can ever be sure?
It is possible for a person to be born and die without leaving a written record somewhere. Although to a genealogist this seems to happen frequently, it is not likely.
For a genealogist family historian the time available to gather details and add to the collection expands directly proportional to the quantity of material that is found.
Although finding out that you hang from a limb of a family tree that isn't the greatest, you'd be on the ground without it.
An adopted child is a splint that helps hold a family tree together.
The oral history of a family is modified by each teller. Eventually every family will believe it had relatives that came to North America on the Mayflower, included a member of the clergy, had a signer of the Declaration of Independence, owned several Tiffany lamps, and has a coat tail relationship to the first person to walk on the moon.
Truth be told, most families in our pedigree line led ordinary lives, trying to survive the hardships and provide for their children. They left no great contribution to art, music, theater, dance or science. Instead they were all necessary to produce
just us.
I don't know much about my ancestors. They were long gone before my time. But they do live in me. They are why I have a talent for rhythm, prose, handwork, swimming, and public speaking. They might also be why I have no talent to paint a portrait, carry a tune, learn chemistry, argue effectively, or keep a neat desk.
Ancestors! Who needs 'em? Everybody.
Ancestors are like modern art works. You don't know how to explain them. But they do give you lots to talk about that you can make up yourself without fear of contradiction.
An ancestor family found adds another chapter to the book of you.
Genealogy is an easy habit to quit. I've done it hundreds of times.
The vocabulary used by genealogists is just backwards. We don't look for branches of the family tree. We look for roots.
Every family eventually has a single person who takes on the task of collecting ancestor facts. And this person is called a family historian when really they should be called the wonderful person who had time to research and record difficult to find facts. Or just
"Wonder Person". Order a shirt up with that phrase for yourself.
When you find an ancestor with a birth year in the 1600's, realize that this was before Benjamin Franklin was even
born.
Jamestown was founded in 1607. It's just about the time when the Bonneviers of my pedigree were recruited from Belgium to move to Sweden to help improve the iron industry. These sorts of comparisons put names and dates in perspective.
Good genealogical fortune is when an ancestor family all were born, lived, raised a family, and died in just one parish.
Old Swedish Proverb: May you be blessed with ancestors who lived in parishes where the priest had beautiful handwriting.
Old Swedish Proverb: May your ancestors have lived in parishes where Genline is available.
Help me, I've crashed into a genealogical brick wall and I can't get back.
Old Swedish Proverb: May you have a few relatives who are interested in the family history you have developed and tell you "thanks" in your lifetime.
As the family genealogist historian you will be remembered as the one who sent copies of everything to everyone. Not
for much more.
Offers from relatives to provide copies of family photographs are more easily obtained than the actual
photographs themselves.
Be prepared to hear that family records from the old country were discarded, just a few years ago.
The greatest threat to family history documents is downsizing.
Act now to protect family history. Later today may be too late.
Be amazed that you are the offspring of the hundreds of ancestors you have discovered, not to mention the thousands of never to be known ancestors.
A three ring binder and three hole punch are much better gifts for an amateur genealogist to receive than yet another book on the subject.
Loose scraps of paper have a shelf life inversely proportional to their importance.
A disorganized mind is a terrible thing to have, but a disorganized collection of notes is even worse.
Copes, copies, copies. Where do they all come from. Copies, copies, copies. Where do they all belong?
Most often repeated phrases of genealogists: If I just know where he/she was born, I could find the parents.
Emigration from Sweden to North America slowed dramatically when immigrants from Sweden wrote letters back home exposing the myth that the food was better here.
A million or more Swedes left home to go to North America in the 1800's. Imagine the courage needed to leave your home, never to return.
That Viking blood had to be good for something.
As a person with Swedish heritage I'm not too happy about admitting to be a descendant of Vikings. Good thing written records don't go back that far. Otherwise I might find ancestors names like Lars the Hammer, Ax Togosson, Sven Sharp Pole, Quarford Smasher,
Match Arsson, Vic Axelrod, Pillagar the First, Bloody Handsson, and Extort Itall.
Apparently proof exists that Vikings settled in North America in the 1100's. They must not have been too impressed with the place since it took them another 500 years to want to try
to settle here again at New Sweden, so named because the place in 1100 they thought of as Old Sweden.
The practice of changing boundaries and names of parishes has had the effect of making genealogy much more difficult. If none had changed, all this work would be a snap.
Well, easier for sure.
Our Swedish ancestors living in the 1700's had no idea to what use their church records would be put. So what will our descendants
in 2300 do with what we have produced?
In 300 years, will a drop of blood from a person produce an accurate pedigree back 1000 years?
My good intentions often go unfulfilled. But as I observe hundreds of Household Examination Record pages without even the first mark on the right side of the page, I begin to think that my inability to follow through with every task may be of ethnic origin.
While working on my family history I found out that my great grandmother from Sweden Alda Charlotta Svensson who raised nine children, never did learn to speak English. She immigrated at 20 years of age and died at 80. Sixty years
in the USA and she did not learn to speak English. Perhaps this fact will change my mind that everyone coming to the USA must learn
English or go back to where they came from.
For fifty years of my life I believed both my grandparents were born in Sweden. Turns out they were first generation Americans. All four of their parents were immigrants from Sweden. It's funny how little details can eventually seem so interesting.
The tenor, timbre, inflection, and cadence of speech must mostly be genetic in origin. When I visit Sweden I hear the voices of my grandparents in the people living there today. It has a comforting effect.
How many genealogists does it take to change a light bulb? None. They don't bother with such insignificant details when there is more genealogy work yet to be done.
Old Swedish Proverb: May your ancestors have lived in a parish where the church record volumes were not burned for warmth on a dark long wintry night.
Be prepared for no one to be even remotely interested in genealogy until they are 60 years old or have had a near death experience.
If Edgar Bergen turns up in my family tree would that make Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd both cousins of mine? Would they be, say, twice removed?
Oh, and then could Candice Bergen be considered a kissin' cousin to me?
Since most Swedish people are related to one another by common ancestors long ago, I have avoided any contact what-so-ever with Candice Bergen for fear of genetic problems in our progeny.
If you ever want to see the eyes of someone you are talking to glaze over, inject the words "family history" into the conversation. For a quicker reaction slip in the word "genealogy". Works every time.
The Nobel prize awards are singularly Swedish. What other ethnic sort would think to give a huge cash award derived from war material profits to the person who best represents efforts at establishing world peace. The irony is
lost on Swedes like me.
It is unlikely there will ever be a book published with the title, "Deep thoughts of Swedes". However it could be the title of a chapter on oxymoron's. I'm Swedish and this seems funny to me.
If Swedes have such a stubborn attitude, then why (make up your own joke here).
If only CTRL ALT DEL could get a genealogist past a brick wall.
My dad was 100% Swedish. Yet he would never eat fish of any kind. So much for food choices having a genetic basis. But I like all kinds of fish. Perhaps that gene skipped a generation. It could happen.
In fact in me the gene is dominant.
When I went to Sweden. I wondered how anyone could afford to live there everyday. When I returned to the USA and went into a 7-11 convenience store, everything seemed so cheap I wanted to buy a round for everyone in the place.
For hundreds of years our Swedish ancestors scratched out an existence from a clearing in the dense forest. They planted crops in rocky soil and hoped the growing season would be long enough for a good harvest. Us? We complain if the supermarket doesn't have a 12 ounce size of mustard and we have to buy a 16 ounce size container instead. My how times and fortunes have changed.
Swedish meatballs. Now there's a taste treat. Pity the French. There will never be an appetizing French meatball. It just doesn't sound good. How about Spanish meat balls? Nope. Swedish meatballs rule.
David Ullian Larson
|