Looking help searching for Eugenia Johnson born in Sweden Circa 1881

[shellyesq]

I would recommend starting with the most recent information and going backwards from there.  Do you have a death certificate or death date for Thorlief?  Was he married?  If so, do you have a marriage certificate or date?

[philos]

Philos,
Did your grandfather live in Wisconsin at all? There is a Thorleif Christoffersson in Wisconsin in the 1940 census, but with a birth year of 1894.
There is also a Torleif Kristoffersson died in 1908 in Hennepin, Minnesota, aged 18.

Thank you pinefamily! I had a hard time finding this thread again, sorry. The answer to your question is no, not as far as I am aware, NO connection to Wisconsin at all. Also this guy – my grandfather – married my grandmother around 1930, and my mother was born to them in 1933

The rest of this post is in answer to Ian, who suggested that I uploaded some of our private messaging to the thread for better results– — —


Ian said:
To find more info I must have more info. I didn't understand your PM.

Who is Agnes Gallagher?
How do you know it is her in 1940 with name Bergquist?
Do you know she had the name Bergquist?
How do you know it is Torleif in 1920?
Are you guessing about this Addaire Johnson on the passenger list? According to the list she was visiting her cousin in New York.

Have you got a copy of the Naturalisation Cert. I would like to see it.

To find people through the censuses is very tricky. There are many people that have the same names and dates. I need a lot of info to dig deeper. It is very easy to get caught up with the wrong people chasing dead ends.

I suggest you putting the info in your thread so other people can look at it too.

Ian


Phil answered:
Thank you in, you are right I should put the info into the thread. I'm always looking for a reply button and never seeing it lol. Let me see if I can answer the questions

1) Agnes Gallagher was my mother's mother. She came from County Leitrim, Ireland to New York in 1921 according to her petition for naturalization in 1942. Meanwhile she had married Torleif Christopherson on <looks like> July 5, 1930. It appears from this document that she was taking advantage of the opportunity to change her name officially, in the very same act of Naturalization, to Agnes Christophesen. On the document Line 1 shows this change and prior names but it is a little blurry. Nevertheless she did sign at the bottom very legibly Agnes Christophesen. I'll try to attach a copy of her Petition for Naturalization.

2) Eugenia Johnson was my mother's father's mother. She is the one who later became Eugenia Bergquist. That must have happened in between the 1920 census and the census of 1940. I myself saw the 1940 census document but I did not make a copy of that. I DO have a .jpg file copy of the 1920 census showing her as a single woman with <disbelief> Thorlief Christofferson as her nephew.
My mother is still alive and she has told me repeatedly that Eugenia was born in Sweden and also was the mother of her father, not his aunt as was written up in the 1920 local census. The story was that he came over much later, in 1917 if the 1920 census record is correct, having jumped ship, so there may not beyond a record of him coming through Ellis Island at all.

If you use Dropbox you should be able to follow this link and find Agnes Christopherson's Petition for Naturalization:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g50pww4odobku1r/NewYorkNaturalizationRecords1882-1944ForAgnesChristophesen.jpg?dl=0 night did have good data

Here is the dropbox links to the 1920 census taken in Minneapolis city, Hennepin County, Minnesota:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qt6rcv5fynbzo54/census1920_Euginia%20Johnson.jpg?dl=0

Thank you for being such a help!
Phil

[philos]

I would recommend starting with the most recent information and going backwards from there.  Do you have a death certificate or death date for Thorlief?  Was he married?  If so, do you have a marriage certificate or date?

He married my grandmother Agnes Gallagher who became Agnes Christopherson when they were supposedly married on July 5, 1930 (I haven't seen solid proof of that only the reference in Agnes' Petition for Naturalization in 1942). He left their family three or four years after my mother (Jean Christopherson) was born, and basically disappeared. I was unable to find my mother's birth certificate anywhere online. Needless to say, I haven't found any record of what became of Thorleif afterwards either. In the final analysis, I want to find out whether he descends from Swedish blood or Norwegian blood. The story is that he was born in Oslo, Norway but no proofs so far.

Thanks

[pinefamily]

Philos,
As I suggested above, I still think you need to find both Thorleif and Eugenia in every record you can, their marriage, death and census records. That way you can fill in as complete a picture as you are able.
Regarding Eugenia, you really need to find some documentation that she was Thorleif's mother. The 1930 census might help, as long as they are still living together.

[pinefamily]

Our messages crossed paths. 
From everything Ian has found so far, it would seem that Thorleif is of Norwegian birth; the name Thorleif is not very common in Sweden, but is in Norway. It is curious that Eugenia was born in Sweden.
From the census record, it would seem he was from Norway.

[pinefamily]

Had a quick search on familysearch, and the only likely candidate for Eugenia in the 1930 census is a Eugenia Johnsson b. 1888 Sweden, living in Hennepin.
There were no Eugenia Bergquist's.

[shellyesq]

The New York City marriage index has a marriage for Agnes Gallagher & Torleif Christopherson on 5 Jul. 1930 in Manhattan.  You can check this index (and others) for free at www.italiangen.org.  The marriage certificate should have his parents' names listed, but you might need to either purchase it or look it up on microfilm at a Family History Center. 

[jamcat95]

On Ancestry there is a passport application in 1917 of a Karl Torleif Christofferson born 21 June 1902. His father is written as Thorwald. Karl Torleif was born in Oslo. There is also a photo of him. I wonder if this is him.
The birth date is the same.


Ian

[jamcat95]

I can add that he lived in Brooklyn New York.

Ian