COLSON FAMILY GENEALOGY AND HISTORY

THE MYSTERIOUS BRÅBERGENS – DISCOVERING THE HISTORIC FAMILY NAME

AUGUST 11, 2024

A FAMILY HISTORY BLOG BY LAVERNA COLSON SMITH

http://swedishrootsamericanbranches.com

Hiding in Plain Sight – Finding errors, clearing up mistakes and breaking through the brick wall!

While researching in the Vadstena, Sweden genealogical archives, finding Lars Carlson’s (1747-1786) father to be Carl Johan Bråbergen (1706-1757) was quite a thrill. I had expected a person with a patronymic name – not a German name with aristocratic roots. The name is written Brobergen is German and Bråbergen in Swedish.

Carl Johan Bråbergen and his wife, Britta Jonasdotter (1715-1799) represented the family at its peak. It would diminish after Carl Johan’s death and with it, the historic family name,

Carl Johan’s Birthdate – September 12, 1706, Skärstad Parish, Jönköping; Death Date – August 12, 1757, Ödeshög Parish, Östergötland at 51 years of age.

Carl Johan’s estate inventory of 1757 did not include his birth date, only his death date. The Parish clerk erroneously listed his age at death as 59 which implied a birth date of 1698 – an eight-year error. I searched for Carl Johan’s birth record for over 10 years looking for that incorrect birthdate until I finally found a note in an Ödeshög tax mantal record indicating that although the family owned property in Ödeshög they lived in Småland. Taking a guess, it would be Skärstad Parish, Jönköping, Småland, the birthplace of his grandfather, Anders Skoug, I found his birth record there. What a brick wall crashing down!! I was able then, to discover……the rest of the story. Below is the record of Carl Johan’s birth record, September 12, 1706, born to Sven Bråbergen and Brigitta Skoug in Skärstad Parish, Jönköping.

Skärstad Valley Church, built in the early 1800’s, replaced an earlier one constructed in the 1500’s.

(Photo credit – Bengt Oberger)

Fascinating Fact #4

BRICK WALLS! A brick wall, to a genealogist, is unfindable and/or missing data that are key to verifying an ancestor’s vital statistics and completing a family genealogy, Finding Carl Johan’s birth information was key to completing my research into the Colson Family. I also cleared up family misinformation about his wife, Britta Jonasdotter.

Next Blog: Discovering Carl Johan Bråbergen – An Ancestor of Note!

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Swedish Pronunciation Guide for English Speakers

The Swedish Language has 3 extra vowels and some challenging consonant combinations.   Here is a quick guide to pronouncing these vowels and tricky consonants

Åå           Sounds like the “o” in for

Ää          Sounds like the “ai” in fair

Öö          Sounds like the “ea” in earn

Y             Sounds  like the Y at the end of Terry

SJ,sj       Pronounced like “wh” – a voiceless fricative. 

K, k       Pronounced like “sh” before the soft vowels of:    e, i y, ä or ö

LaVerna Colson Smith (Lolly) Avatar

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LaVerna Colson Smith (Lolly)
I was born in Oakland, Nebraska (the Swedish American Capitol of Nebraska) and graduated from the University of Texas with B.S. and M. S. degrees. My professional work took me to many different states and cities and after my retirement from the corporate world, I traveled extensively in Europe, Scandinavia and Africa. I currently reside in Lakewood Ranch, Florida near Sarasota and the Gulf Coast beaches. My interest in genealogy began on my 2010 trip to Sweden where I began researching both my paternal and maternal family lines. While living in Denver,Colorado, I became a member of the Colorado Swedish Genealogical Society, studied with Kjell Andersson, a professional Swedish genealogist/author and attended the Swedish School of Denver to further my knowledge of the Swedish Language. I currently belong to the Sarasota Genealogical Society in Sarasota, Florida. My primary research tool is Arkiv Digital, a Swedish focused site which provides clear digital images of church, tax, military, court and estate records going back to the mid 1600’s. Although, the Swedes are excellent records keepers, many valuable old records did not survive fires, floods nor poor storage. My goal is to present genealogy from a socioeconomic and historical point of view paralleling the lives of my ancestors with the times in which they and the character with which they met their challenges. I
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