John Jacob Nyberg

[Ron1]

I'm having great difficulty trying to find John Jacob Nyberg in Finland -- he emigrated to the US in 1896, was born around June 28, 1875 according to the dates he used on his American documents (although it sometimes is estimated at 1872). He identifies as Finnish, and his native language as Swedish. On many of his US documents he uses Jacob Nyberg but the family uses John Jacob. In 1904 he married my great-grandmother's sister Lena Erickson Forsbacka who emigrated from the Esse area. She was 9 years younger so unlikely that they knew each other in Finland, but maybe their families did?

Searching thru the Hiski for all Parishes for Christening doesn't turn up anyone that matches this name or birth date between 1870 and 1875.

Any idea where else I might look?

[tuulacu]

Could this be your John, Johannes Nyberg?
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... ction=view

He has a brother mentioned, Fred, in Biwalik?, Minnesota. Could it help?

Nyberg is a rather common name in the Swedish speaking areas of Finland, and there are families also outside these areas by that name. And common are also Johan/Johannes and Fredrik...

Is there anything more about Alina/Lena Forsbacka you know, in Esse? Sometimes the marriages in America were noted in the Finnish church books, too, although late.

Tuula K

[Ron1]

No, not related. I have been able to track the Lena/Alina Forsbacka/Erickson family in Esse back to the early 1700's (a few back to the 1650's), they were well documented in the Communion Books. John Jacob marries in to the family only in the US, and no mention of it that I can find in Finland. She emigrates 29 October 1903 at age 18 from Liverpool and they marry in 1904 in Wallace, Idaho. He dies around 1923 in Washington State I believe (still trying to find the correct death certificate, many people reference an incorrect record). His US records vary between the use of John or Jacob. He references 1896 as his emigration on his US records but I haven't been able to find anyone on the Passenger records with the same, or similar, name. US Immigration records his Naturalization as Jacob Nyberg, 2 Nov 1904, Shoshone County, Idaho but the actual Record of the Court still hasn't been found. It does exist as Alina went back to Finland to visit her father Erik and on return had to show the documentation to Immigration, which they recorded 28 Aug 1911 in New York:

https://www.myheritage.com/research/rec ... nger-lists

I have Shoshone County currently looking for this record in hopes that it has some information.

There is a reference for Alina in the above document to Kronaborg W. L Huutomaki but this doesn't correspond to any of the information that I have about Erik Ericsson Forsbacka/Tarvonen, as they were from the No 2 Märd in Ytteresse -- 8 children and the 4 girls all emigrated to the US.

John Jacob is a complete mystery, many in the US actually thought he was from Denmark.

[tuulacu]

Hi,

Kronoborg W.L. refers to Kronoborg (in Finnish Käkisalmi, a city by Lake Ladoga in Karelia), Wiborgs Län. That would mean that she had already earlier moved to work in Karelia (rather common then, also from Ostrobothnia) - if it is the same person?

Tuula K

[JaskaS]

Hi,

Kronoborg W.L. refers to Kronoborg (in Finnish Käkisalmi, a city by Lake Ladoga in Karelia), Wiborgs Län. That would mean that she had already earlier moved to work in Karelia (rather common then, also from Ostrobothnia) - if it is the same person?

Tuula K

Kronoborg = Kurkijoki.
Kexholm = Käkisalmi.

And yes, I have found some relatives from Esse moving to Karelia.

Jaska

[Ron1]

Our family stories say she went back to visit her father Erik Ericsson who was at that time living in Lapinlaks, Kurkijoki, Vilpuri and perhaps John Jacob's family to show them the new children. It could be that his family was from Kronoborg/Kurkijoki as well. At least we now know that the family moved from Esse to Kurkijoki and that's where she went to visit. As Kronoborg/Kurkijoki was later under Russian control that might explain why John Jacob doesn't show up in the Hiski Project if Hiski hasn't entered the Russian Lutheran parishes. Not sure what the Huutomaki (or Huntamaki?) refers to on her Arrival info. Looks like a very difficult area to have lived in, with all the wars.

At the time of John Jacob (1875 to 1896 when he emigrates) the area would have been under the Grand Duchy of Finland.
If the Russians destroyed the records he may remain a mystery.

[Ron1]

That was great information on Kurkijoki matching up with my search on the family relocating from Esse. I thought I was in error as I couldn't make sense of why they would move from their centuries old family home -- Esse -- all the way to the Russian border. All of the Erickson boys die at a very young age and only the girls are left and they emigrate to the US one at a time. They must not have liked Kurkijoki at all. In 1916 the last daughter Emilia and her husband Simo finally take her father Erik with her to the US after her mother dies in 1915.

I see Kurkijoki is in the Hiski parishes, but still no sign of John Jacob in the records (probably under Jakob somewhere).

I may be able to find Emilia's husband Simo Ryösa now that I know where to look as they were married in 1907 in Kurkijoki.

[tuulacu]

Ron and Jaska, sorry about my mixing up Kronoborg with Kexholm!

To cover up a little, here is the marriage of Simo Ryösä and Emilia Forsbacka in Katiha:
https://katiha.kansallisarkisto.fi/henk ... 9070013663

And here is the page where they are after marriage, page 214
Kurkijoen seurakunnan arkisto - I Aa:19 Rippikirjat 1900-1909, jakso 220, sivu 214: Mikrilä; Kansallisarkisto: https://astia.narc.fi/uusiastia/viewer/ ... 1215020042 / Viitattu 12.2.2024
- NB the indeksing on these pages is mostly wrong (corrected this page) since the images are new
- Emilia comes from page 162.

Tuula K

[Ron1]

This is great -- now I've been able to fill in Simo Ryösä (Sam Maki in the US) family back to the early 1700's.

Still searching for Jacob Nyberg as there are so few Nybergs in Kurkijoki I think this is a dead end.

Could Nyberg be a shortening of another Finnish name? For example my family name changed many times, with the final changing from Korvenpää to Korven and finally to Korpi in the US.

Just not having any success finding a Jakob Nyberg born in Finland in the mid 1870's.

[Arcobaleno]

Hello

I may not understand everything you say, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes on my part.

Many people with the surname Nyberg are found here:
https://www.familysearch.org/search/rec ... ame=Nyberg
But you've probably already seen it all?

There is Jacob Nyberg, whose dates of birth and death correspond to the dates you indicated.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... -L9JQ-QWT2
However, this Jacob Nyberg has another wife -- Ophelia Nyberg.
Does this name mean something to you?...

Or are Emilia and Ophelia the same name?...

Olga

[Ron1]

That Death Certificate is very confusing to me -- Jacob's wife name was Alina Forsbacka and she was known in the US as Lena Erickson (the family changed their name from Forsbacka to Erickson on immigrating). The death date is approx correct but I have a difficult time changing the Ophelia to Lena. Lena's sister's name was Emelia, but in the US this changed to Emily Erickson. They didn't use their Finnish names at all, other than official documents that I can tell.

I'm hoping to find one of the descendants of Jacob (as he referred to himself on official documents) in the US that might have better information.

If you try to search for Jakob Nyberg in Finland (he always refers to himself as Finnish with Swedish native language on Census) there's no record. He did use 28 June 1875 as his birth date but also have found 24 June 1875 in some records. He did emigrate in 1896 and was naturalized in 1904 but that record is missing. Again no record on passenger ships of a Jakob Nyberg in Boston or New York in 1896. I'll have to try the Mormon library as I don't have full access to Passenger records via Ancestry.com.

[Arcobaleno]

But are the dates of birth and death confirmed by other documents?
That is, those documents where Nyberg has a wife with the correct name?
I mean, are you 100% sure of the dates you provided?

naturalized in 1904 but that record is missing

I'm not sure, but maybe this will work for you?
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... AZXZC-2X3Z
Right half of the spread.

That Death Certificate is very confusing to me

Did you notice that this entry also shows the father's name - Eric Nyberg?
But it is unclear to what extent these data correspond to reality.

[Ron1]

Yes, that is indeed Jacob's naturalization -- I was hoping he put the Finnish city on it, but no luck.
Thank you very much for finding the record, this confirms the date of 1904.
He marries Lena shortly after, on Dec 28, 1904 and she lists her Naturalization as 1904 as well.

That could very well be the Death Certificate but I've been unable to find any record of his birth in Finland.
The wife's name "Ophelia" could be an error, but it's very different sounding than Lena or Alina.

If I can confirm the June 28 birth record then I would just accept that the person filling out the form made a mistake on the name.

Yes, I have been searching on Eric Nyberg as well, but mainly on MyHeritage and HisKi.
You have had better success on Familysearch so I'll give that site a try.

[JaskaS]

Ron surely knows this, but for the others following the thread.
In 1900 census he seems to be John Nyberg, born June 1875 in Finland.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MM5Y-Q2V
FS has misinterpreted e as a.

Jaska

[tuulacu]

I did find a Jacob Nyberg born 28 June 1875 in Munsala (in Swedish Monå), father Erik Eriksson Nyberg, mother Anna Andersdotter. And this is definitely in the Swedish speaking area.
https://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/ ... 07&pnum=46

The family lives until 1879 in Monå, Hvit farm and father Erik is described as "backstugusittare" so they lived on Hvit farm's land, not owning a farm.
https://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/ ... 9&pnum=193

In the next book 1880-1890 they still live in the same place, some children move to Vasa https://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/ ... 1&pnum=179 but alas, in the next one, 1891-1900, they become baptists and move to the baptist congregation of Monå (Munsala) in 1893 https://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/ ... 3&pnum=157 . And their church books are not available, as far as I know. https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munsalan_ ... seurakunta . Maybe you could try and send them a request and ask if this person moved to US?

But I think this Jacob is very probable. I hope you have member access to SSHY/FFHA. The marriages of Erik Nyberg/Hvit are found in HisKi, in 1869 and in 1880.

Tuula K