Norway offers exceptional internet research facilities for genealogy. Although we have not been working in the Sivertsen family line very long we have uncovered some very helpful web-tools. Thus far we have unearthed several excellent, dare I say indispensable,  tools: Norwegian Historical Data Centre (a wonderful repository) – The Norwegian Historical Data Centre (NHDC) is a national institution under the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Tromsø (UiTø). Our main aim is to computerize the Norwegian censuses 1865 onwards together with the parish registers and other sources from the 18th and 19th centuries. National Archives of Norway – Digitalarkivet (Digital Archives) is the Norwegian National Archives’ channel for…

I have begun in earnest working on Becky’s side of the family.  This means research in both Norway and Sweden has started for me.  As one might expect the available references and information are a ‘tad’ difficult for non-native language speakers; and my German is not really very close to either Norwegian or Swedish! Having said that I must say that the available resources are quite exceptional. I find those from Norway to be a bit more advanced and easier to use (not to mention free!).  Sweden’s are less complete, more awkward technologically and they cost money; unless you go to your local LDS Family History Center for free access.…

Yesterday was a wonderful research day for me. I began seriously researching materials and information to support the work my father-in-law (Robert Henss) had done on the Johansson family line (Becky’, my wife’s, matrilineal line).  With a photocopy of his work in hand, I bravely proceeded into uncharted territory (for me). To assign quanta to my success, I found 17 original source documents.  I’ll post images of them on ManyRoads for me to admire quite soon. In all honesty, I must admit that the bulk of the 17 source documents were actually from the Norwegian side of the family (Sivertsens); there were but a handful from the Swedish (Johansson) side. …

As hard as it was for me to believe, our Deyo family name is not from the Netherlands and/or Huguenot communities as I had earlier thought but rather it comes down a more circuitous, and I might say “interesting” route. Let me explain what I have thus far unearthed: Leona Deyo, my grandmother (father’s mother) was born to George Deyo and Exina Minor in upstate New York in 1906. Her father, George Deyo, was born in 1868 of Mary Ann Burnah (Marie-Anne Bonin) and John Deyo (alternately known as: John Deo, John Dion and Jean Baptiste Dion). Jean Baptiste Dion was born in 1838 in Rouses Point, New York of…

Yesterday while working on my genealogy, I accidently got carried away.  Hard to believe but true.  Here is what I found myself doing, then questioning and finally fixing. I was conducting initial research on Ancestry, seeking the basics about who was born of whom and where.  As is typically the case, I was using the Ancestry hints as pointers on where to look and attempting to ascertain what was real versus imaginary, in terms of facts, individuals and data. You may or may not be aware, but when you research this way on Ancestry, Family Tree hints indicate whether or not a “user family tree” contains sources, stories, images, etc. …