Author Topic: Immigrant names - doh! He was staring me in the face all along  (Read 5314 times)

Offline Cell

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Immigrant names - doh! He was staring me in the face all along
« on: Saturday 02 April 05 01:23 BST (UK) »
Immigrant surnames

Hi all,
 I thought I'd share my  little story with you all regarding my immigrant's name.
For months and months, and months, and months, and months!!  ::) I've been searching for a Charles Carlsen marriage to a Mary Johnson. My husbands G, G Grandparents

Charles comes from Russia somewhere ( could be one of the former Scandinavian countries. Hubby's gran always thought it was Sweden, but turns out it is Russia somewhere)
2 censuses he said birth place For Russia
One census he says what looks like to be Christiania

His oldest child was born in 1879, and the oldest census I have him in is 1881 - so  I assumed ( never assume lol) he married not long before 1879, and I searched from 1875 , or 76 (which is a pretty good gap , or so I thought,  before his oldest child came along) on the pay for view site

I searched on 1837 from  about 1875/76 to 1901(  right up to his death bed!) for a marriage to Mary Johnson looking for all Carlsen's all over the UK . I was also bearing in mind his name gets mistranscribed all of the time in the censuses -  CarlsOn, Carlisson etc ( it says Carlsen on his  sons grave, be was buried as Carlson,and his children were born as Carlsen) and looked at all.
 I spent  a fortune  as you can imagine looking at all quarters and years looking through a 25 year period. I  almost resigned myself to the fact that him and Mary did not legally get married, although that did strike me as odd with this family.

Sitting down  one early  morning last week with a cup of coffee, half asleep ( I do my best thinking when I'm not fully awake lol), browsing through this immigrant board - it suddenly dawned on me, although I've been looking at all carlsen variations for him - I have not looked at  the K's instead of C's - and K sounds as if it would be the type of thing that he has changed over the years to an anglicized C.

 I went to the free BMD typed in Karlsen and allowed for mono( Carlsen mono doesn't pick up K's in the results) - yes!!!   ;D There in 1873 was one Charles Karlson who married my  Mary Johnson in Swansea , where they lived - odd that because they had no children before 1879 ( but he was a ship's carpenter, so can only guess he  was out to sea a lot before producing a child in 79) . No other children born under the name Karlson, and no other Births/marriages/deaths for Karlson under Swansea

I can not believe the time and money I spent looking for him on the pay for view site :'(, when he was sitting there all the time in 73 on the free BMD - doh!! lol

Point of this story - don't give up!!, and do check all spelling variants for foreign names, and do not go by the oldest Child's birth like I did ( they were married years and years before their first child came along) . The obvious had been staring me in the face for some time I'm embarrassed to say :-[ -  I couldn't see the trees  for the wood . It  seems  that either the registrar spelled it with a K or that's how he used to spell it before changing it to a C over the years.

One marriage cert coming up with fathers name on it ( well who he says is his father) -I'm absolutely stoked/chuffed  ;D, but also a bit "gutted" I spent an absolute fortune looking for him, when all along he was there under K on the free BMD. If only I had checked the K's in the first place!! lol

 :)
Census information in my posts are crown copyright www.nationalarchives.gov.u

Offline liverpool annie

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Re: Immigrant names - doh! He was staring me in the face all along
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 02 April 05 01:43 BST (UK) »
Cell

After reading all of that -  all I can say is - GOOD FOR YOU - for having the
sticktoitivness ( how do you spell that?)
And isn't it great what coffee can do for you? you give us all hope -  that's for sure!!!! Thank you!
Cooper : Muels : Howarth : Every : Price : King

http://web.archive.org/web/20130407030702/http://www.freewebs.com/liverpoolannie

http://web.archive.org/web/20130407191115/http://manchestersoldiers.webs.com

http://web.archive.org/web/20130807102055/http://www.powv.webs.com/
Be who you are and say what you feel -  because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind ! Dr. Seuss

Erect no gravestone .... let the Rose every year bloom for his sake ! Rilke Sonnets to Orpheus, I

Offline Cell

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Re: Immigrant names - doh! He was staring me in the face all along
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 02 April 05 01:46 BST (UK) »
Thanks, it was so obvious when you think about it K instead of C. But sometimes can't see the trees for the wood ,or however the saying goes
:)
Census information in my posts are crown copyright www.nationalarchives.gov.u

Offline Berlin-Bob

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Re: Immigrant names - doh! He was staring me in the face all along
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 02 April 05 09:55 BST (UK) »
Hi Cell,

Whow !! Great !! 
thanks for sharing this story with us, in between kicking yourself, you must be feeling so happy  :)

I posted a thread on possible name changes here: http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,11860.0.html
but I didn't think of that one !

I have now added it there, and included a link from my thread to yours, to spread the word !

Bob
Any UK Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)


Offline maidmarianoops

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Re: Immigrant names - doh! He was staring me in the face all along
« Reply #4 on: Saturday 02 April 05 10:26 BST (UK) »
1901 census
just to be awkward
sylvia
males
Alexander Carlson  13 Glamorgan Swansea Glamorgan Swansea Printing Office Boy
 Charles Carlson  21 Glamorgan Swansea Glamorgan Swansea Spelter Labourer
 Charles Carlson  51 Russian British Subject Glamorgan Swansea Ship Carpenter

females
Mary Carlson  9 Glamorgan Swansea Glamorgan Swansea   
 Christina Carlson  15 Glamorgan Swansea Glamorgan Swansea Safety Fuse Factory
 Mary Carlson  48 Glamorgan Swansea Glamorgan Swansea   

i know you must have this
notts/derbys clark
      "        "      stenson
        "       "    nicholson
       "     "        jarvis
                         castledine
    rhodes

 
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline Cell

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Re: Immigrant names - doh! He was staring me in the face all along
« Reply #5 on: Sunday 03 April 05 00:11 BST (UK) »
Thanks Bob  :) It's amazing something as small as the letter K and C can give me problems. It was so obvious really looking under K, but it didn't dawn on me until recently lol.

Yes that's the family maidmarianoops, and yes I do already have this  :).There is also a an Ellen Papa in the house 1901 widowed( turns out she was Mary's Aunt- I've traced Mary's family line right back to the 1841 census - comes from a long line of mariners  -pilot  boat family).

 I originally traced backwards from the 1901 census. I have him and his family in all censuses from 1881, 1891 and 1901. In 1881 he was on a docked ship in plymouth- no way to really tell if it his him in that 1881 census except that there is a Charles Carlsen on a ship  stating birth place For Russia. At the same time Mary wife is by herself with Charles Carlsen the son and oldest daughter  Mary Maud. They have two Mary daughters. The oldest Mary is  not in that 1901 census,- Oldest Mary left home after the 1891, to marry in 1898 a Hamely. Anyway, it seems he was there in the UK in 73 now when they got married, so I'm looking around at 71 census for him, can't find him so far, but he may not be there in the UK in 71 yet or he's out to sea if he is.
 
Christina Carlsen is my hubby's great grandmother, died at a young age too from a heart condition, and heart failure, so hubby's gran never knew her ( was brought up by a step mother) and always wanted to find out more about her real mum .
Her father,Christina's husband, never told her much about her mum, or where she was even buried. We found her grave recently. It's a real pity though, my hubby's gran died just a few years ago, she would have really loved to have known more about her mum Christina and her Grandparents Charles Carlsen. She spent her life wondering about it.

Christina, gran's mum, was a mystery to her, and even rumours of her getting killed by a horse, or even running off to Sweden and abandoning the kids  :o( They, gran and the kids thought she was an immigrant, but she was born in swansea, it was Christina's father Charles who was the immigrant) - all which turned out to be not true. She died in her house from a heart failure, and her husband ( gran's father) reported it, so I don't know why he never told his daughter the truth - that she died from heart failure at their home.
That's a mystery to me, why there was a mystery about her in the first place , and why the "odd" stories about running off, or the horse story. Also why gran's father never told her the truth  where she was buried. hubby's gran aways wanted to know more about her mum.
He kept it all from her. ??? - very strange
 Hubby's gran just  knew her uncle Carlsen when she was small ( I think) -I know she knew her cousin carlsen's.

 I also have small picture of Christina, where she looks to be about 18, she died in 1912 ( have death cert) when hubby's gran was just 3 year old , born in June 1885 ( have birth cert, that's I how know Mary's maiden name is Johnson).

I think Charles comes from what is know as Finland today. The family always though Sweden for some reason ( maybe because they thought Carlsen sounded Swedish). But reading through Finland's history ,swedes settled there too. Finland ceded to Russia in the early 1800's before gaining it's  Independence  back in the early 1900's - I think. I'm still only beginning  to read up on the history of Finland, and not very knowledgable in Finland's history yet . Charles was born around 1850 and at that time would be under Russian control by the looks of things, in 1891he put down  the place name Christ "something"

Christina is spelled CarlsEn on her birth cert, and on her marriage cert. Some of the other siblings, and offspring of the siblings ( and heads death) are registered on the BMD's sometimes as Carlson, some Carlsen like her and her brother
1881 the wife "Mary Johnson" is using Callison on the census

They are all using the O and the E spelling . For example  one of the sisters was born Carlsen but marries under Carlson( or the other way around , I can't remember) . On the gravestone of Charles  Carlsen Junior it is etched as Carlsen. The head Charles has no gravestone, but death is registered as Carlson. He is in an unmarked grave right next to his son Charles Carlsen's marked headstone grave, where Christina Evans ( her married name) is buried too with her father  Charles Carlson and mother Mary Carlson( nee johnson) , and also a little baby surname hamley, which  I found out  later it's her sisters child (  I found  out who was in the grave from the cemetery department as it's an unmarked grave)

I was always searching for them and finding them with the variations of Carlsen for this reason, beginning with a C. Now I find that Charles married Mary Johnson under Karlson.
So I don't really know which is the correct original spelling. It  may even be something like Karlisson- sen etc originally and he has just changed the name over the years to Carlsen.

And I thought I was coming to a dead end on this line. I was getting nowhere with Charles Carlsen. You should never give up, something always turns up when you're least expecting it .

Confused ? I am  ;D lol It took me ages to trace all this family.
 I wish he came from Norway and not where I think he may come from; Finland. I've been browsing the Norway archives. It looks if they hold some good records for that country.

 :)
Census information in my posts are crown copyright www.nationalarchives.gov.u

Offline ninakin

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Re: Immigrant names - doh! He was staring me in the face all along
« Reply #6 on: Thursday 16 March 06 14:08 GMT (UK) »
Hi Cell,

I know you posted this a while back, but I happened to stumble over your Carlsen ancestor. If he mentions Christiania as birthplace in 1891 it could very likely be Oslo, Norway. Oslo was called Christiania until 1925. If you're still searching for him I won't mind having a look at the Norwegian census for 1865, just in case he was Norwegian! Karlsen is a common name in Norway.
Happy hunting,
Ninakin.
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Offline Numan

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Re: Immigrant names - doh! He was staring me in the face all along
« Reply #7 on: Wednesday 07 April 10 01:09 BST (UK) »
   
   I am very new to Rootschat, and just a 'little' better than a beginner at searching-
     I know I can learn a lot, just from reading other people's advice, problems, and just following other people's searches..

   so I've just been 'hitting the boards' and just reading and reading...
 
Your original  post intrigued me as it had my favorite question, 'Where do I start?'.
 
I started at your beginning and followed it all the way to the free BMD and the coffee...I was glued to it and almost lol with you, as I read-...
.....even tho this is like 5 years later!!

   I certainly have been that route, and do congratulate you for not giving up.
  I loved the whole story.  Tell me, have you seen the post about 'how you know if you are addicted to genealogy' ?  ;D

   lol  that's another posting I enjoyed very much tonight.   
   Thanks for sharing your story.  You give me encouragement that I will find my Mystery Man....Unknown 'Bangor'-GGGrandfather.
     And I know pretty much nuthin about him except he fathered children- well, at least the mom says he did...lol.
                                           Numan
Banfield,Courtney,Bangor,Bubbs