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This is a long term project regarding Henrik Klasson Ekman and his wife Maria Jansdotter

 

There are two main objectives...

 

To find their origins

To trace all their descendants


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Backgroundx

Henrik Klasson Ekman and his wife Maria Jansdotter settled as a couple in the parish of Kroppa, in Värmland, Sweden, sometime in the year 1739. Their origins are unknown although their marriage was recorded in the parish of Lindesberg (landsförsamlingen), in Västmanland, Sweden. Henrik, who was a master blacksmith (sw:knippsmed), had the contract on one of the smithys belonging to "Storfors bruk" in Kroppa.

Henrik and Maria had eight children of which seven lived to have children of their own. The profession of the father became the profession of the sons, and the daughters mostly married blacksmiths as well. This went on for generations while the descendants spread all over the southern parts of Sweden and beyond. 200 years later one of the descendants went farther than most and walked the moon. His name was Buzz Aldrin.

My name is Christer Hellsten and I haven't yet walked the moon. I do however trace my roots to Henrik and Maria. Within the branch leading to me, blacksmithing as a profession prevailed till 1926 when the grandfather of my grandmother on mothers side, Karl Gustav Ekman, died.


Can we combine our efforts?

If you have any information to share on the origins of Henrik and Maria, or if you can assist in my pursuit of their descendants up to present times, please don't hesitate to contact me. Numerous of them emigrated to North America, mainly in the years 1850-1930. By following the link DESCENDANTS you'll find the results of the search effort this far.

Also, if you find errors in the charts on this home page, please let me know. The information is continuously being scrutinized in order to detect and correct factual errors and typos. The main rule has been not to publish personal data on persons born less than 100 years ago. From March 2008 I have made some adjustments to this rule following a decision by the Swedish National Archives to make more recent data available through their online resources. Although influenced by their decision, I will combine their new policy with a certain degree of common sense. I am however most interested in receiving information on any descendant up till modern times but will keep such data off the Internet.

 

Christer Hellsten

October 15, 2008

 

30 May 2010

It's been a while since the last update but now many additional decendants have been added to the charts, on both sides of the Atlantic.

19 November 2009

A new segment has been added to the picture gallery. See the Ängsö gårdar pictures, from old times.

Get to know the first emigrant in the charts. The wave of emigrants leaving Bjurtjärn and Karlskoga 1853/1854. 

5 November 2009

Finally the charts have been updated again. Also, there have been some mighty interesting developments regarding the origin of Henrik Klasson Ekman and his wife Maria Jansdotter. Check out the charts. The internal search engine will do the trick if you don't know where to start. For more information on recent developments, check out the Origin lost page.

27 March 2009

More updates, both regarding emigrants to America and early 20th century records in Sweden. By following THIS LINK you'll find the surname index of the charts

20 March 2009

Having experienced some problems during the last couple of days while switching web host the web page is now back in business.

30 November 2008

Minor updates of the descendant charts. New Picture Gallery segment added.

17 November 2008

More updates, both regarding emigrants to America and early 20th century records in Sweden.

18 October 2008

Additional updates, mostly regarding emigrants to the USA and their descendants. An internal search engine has been added, to replace the very sporadically updated Google index. Those finding this website certainly primarily do so through Google or some other global search engine but the internal index will be updated every time a page is updated. You'll find the search form here

For old news - Archive


Henrik Klasson Ekman
His descendants tree

Origin of Henrik and Maria
Where did they come from?

Ekman family in Västra Vingåker
Picture gallery

Hilda Ekman - One story
Crossing the Atlantic

The first emigrant
Stina Kajsa Hättström

Out of sight
Where did they go?

Picture Galleries
New segment 14 Nov 2009
Ängsö gårdar (U).

 

If you find the information on these pages useful, or just get the urge to share your views, please don’t hesitate to use the guestbook, or send an email to the address located at the bottom of this page. Of particular interest is any information from you which would contribute to the goals of the project, i.e. to find the origins of Henrik Klasson Ekman and Maria Jansdotter, and to trace all of their descendants.


Sweden


Let's put the credit where credit is due. Had it not been for many vital contributions from colleauge genealogists, the descendants chart would be in a much poorer state today. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed. In particular:

Ulf Björnlert
Maria Södergård
Sten Östlund
Elaine Löfgren
Örjan Hedenberg
Solveig Gavik
Jan Hultberg
Lars-Bertil Ekman
Carl-Gustav Ekman
Steve Fagerquist
Rex Hatfield
Richard Dahlstrom
Autumn Swope Taylor

  Copyright © Christer Hellsten 2007-2009