Swedish Loggers

[Jeff]

When I started the Timber Buyers Network The goal was to help Michigan Landowners with information on forest management. It's still amazes me what we have done here in our short existance and the type of questions that we have received. Well, that leads me to this...

Can we help?  I don't know, the following is the first contact to us, my reply, then "Stig's" reply to that.
-----------------------------------------
 I am looking for information about
my grandfathers brothers who emigrated from Sweden around 1896 to Michigan.I understand that they worked for some 10 years or more in the Manistee area (as loggers)before they continued westward to Washington state.
Q:could there be any records private or public that would shed light over their life during that period.
There names: Eric,Karl"Charles" and Olof "Ole" Nilsson"Nelson..
Any help is appreciated!
Stig Nilsson Umea, Sweden

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Hi,

I can check a couple places if you like, but first do you mean Manistee
area? Also, post a message on our forum, you might get an answer there. The
address is http://www.timberbuyer.net/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl  You need to
register, but that's free and we would love to have you as a member.
Michigan still has a large Scandinavian population.

Jeff

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Hi Jeff.
And thanks for a quick response.........

Regarding the Manistee area..... the only information I have is that they may
have spent time there as loggers.....
prior to leaving for Washington in 1906.c
For you to know:… The three of them just disappeared from their home village
in north of Sweden ... and nobody knew to where.
For years, I have posted messages on all the billboards with Swedish
connections that I have found on the net. Finally I got response from one of
Karl's grandchildren in Scandia,Washington State. She did not know much more
than that he died in 1959 and had a brother named Ole and a sister back in
Sweden with a very unusual name. The connection is established and I am sure
that her Charles(Charley) Nelson is my Karl!
The departure of the brothers from Sweden was probably a bit dramatic as
their oldest brother got the homestead when their father died ... and as was
the custom ... they were left with nothing. I don't know the significant ...
but shortly before their disappearance the main building on the farm
burned.....!!!!
                             
Birth dates: Eric 1864, Karl 1866 and Olof 1869.

Tell me if there is anything I can do for you ... as this part of Sweden is
very active regarding the products from the Forrest. Many times a day I can
se from my living room window, the big ROR ships leaving the harbor of
Holmsund with paper pulp, etc., for Rotterdam and other places...
The Umea River, that for many  years was floating the timber from the areas
where my three relatives learned their trade, is falling out in the Gulf of
Bothnia right here.
My father was for many years a teller at the sorting facility at the river
delta. He died in 1997 at the age of 94 and it was among his belongings I
found the information that his uncles had disappeared.
Very much appreciate any help I can get.  
And a Happy New Year !!!!!

Stig  

[Ron Scott]

There are a lot of Nelsons in the Manistee Area and a lot of Scandinavian history related to logging in the area. A lot of history to research. Has Ancestry.com been tried?

[Ron Scott]

A good place to look is at www.rootsweb.com and the immigrant ship manifests as a start.

[timberbeast]

There is a family of Nelsons currently engaged in logging operations in the cenral upper penninsula of Michigan in a town called Rock.  I don't have the faintest idea of any relation,  but you can find them in the phone book.  They have been working there for many,  many years.

[timberbeast]

I just found a really cool site,  http://www.ellisislandrecords.org
It has a record of everyone who passed through Ellis Island,  their age,  national origin,  ship they came on,  port of origin,  and ship manifests.  I found quite a few of my own relatives!

[Jeff]

Jeez, how many people did you tell about this befor your buddies here?

Here is what I got when I tried...


Thank you for your interest in the American Family Immigration History Center at ellisislandrecords.org
Due to an extraordinary number of visitors, we must limit access to the site.
Please keep trying, or check back later.

[timberbeast]

Wow!!!  I heard of it on The History Channel,  that probably generated a lot of queries,  since that site is so huge!  I only told my Mom and my in-laws.  Honest!

[Jeff]

I am curious about looking around, but our family has been here way before the ellis island arrivals.

our origin in the U.S.:(name changed to protect the innocent I guess)

Bourgon Broucard, b 1645, LaRochelle France. He was a Huguenot, who sought religious freedom in Manheim, Germany, affiliating with the Protestant branch of the Walloon Church. He moved to Hillsborough, NJ in 1702. The 2nd generation was composed of 11 children, 4 of whom were born in Manheim, 1 in Amsterdam, and 6 in America. A 3rd colony developed in Ohio. The descendants of Bourgon moved westward, carrying the banners of Faith, Truth, and Industry. From the war of 1776 to the latest they defended their country and its honor. The majority were farmers, "the backbone of the Nation"- tradesmen, businessmen, teachers, as well as numerous ministers.

I did not write the above, there is a book published named the "History of the Brokaw-Broucard family in the United States"

[timberbeast]

Man,  that is fascinating!!  I didn't have any kin here until my Finn ancestors came over in the 1920's.  My grandmother was a cook at a logging camp in the U.P. and my grandfather was a faller,  that's where they met.