Jacobine "Bina" Nelson and Mathilda Wennberg1923 - Serendipity!

Why did I poo-poo this DNA stuff so much? It seemed so cut and dry and since I already had a well documented family tree going back many generations, why would I need it?

Through DNA I have now been in contact with a third cousin, a great grandson of Mathilde Amalie Gundersen. Mathilde was the older sister of my great grandfather Nils Gundersen. We shared information. I gave him the link to our common family in Telemark, Norway and he gave me this lovely photo.

Such serendipity! I had been recently researching both of these great grand aunts and had only just discovered that they had been earlier family emigrants to of all places...Chicago! In fact they were most likely the reason my grandparents chose Chicago. On his Ellis Island ship manifest my grandfather Paul listed Mathilde as his U.S. contact. Listed under her married name of Wennberg I only made the connection a short while ago.

1923 Manifest of the ship "Bergensfjord" Oslo to New York - steerage line #7 Paul Sevaldsen

If  I am to be honest I have to say that much of the particulars of this DNA stuff .....whew.....really just flies way way over my head and I don't think I am particularly stupid. My brain just doesn't work that way. I will however pay attention to those emails from 23 and me and My Heritage in the future. I will certainly also answer  those folks that contact me, claiming to share a few bits of the DNA that is me.

My Great Grand Aunts

Jacobine "Bina" (Gundersdatter) Nelson

b: 11 February 1869 Eidanger, Telemark, Norway

d: 18 Jun 1935 Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA

Mathilda Amalie (Gundersdatter) Wennberg

b: 22 February 1873 Eidanger, Telemark, Norway

d: 22 January 1931 Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA

Thank You cousin James!

***click on photo and document to enlarge for easier viewing***

Great Grand Aunt Bina (Gundersen) Nelson 1879-1935

Perhaps half a year ago I was thrilled to find my great grand aunt had left her home in Norway to settle in Chicago.   The post "Great Grand Aunt Jacobine "Bina" Gundersen 1869-1935 - Found!" can be seen HERE.

Now knowing that in the U.S. she was known by her knickname "Bina" , and that her married name was Nelson, in searching again today I made a great find! A picture of Bina. Here she is, the older sister of my great grandfather Nils and the aunt of my grandmother Dagmar.

my great grand aunt

Jacobine "Bina" Gundersdatter Nelson

b. 11 Feb 1879 Eidanger, Telemark, Norway

d. 18 Jun 1935 Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA

and her husband

my great grand uncle

Nickolas Nelson

literally pleased to see you Aunt Bina! 

**click on photos to enlarge for easier viewing**

Great Grand Aunt Jacobine "Bina" Gundersen 1869-1935 - Found!

My great grandfather Nils came from a fairly large family. He had an older sister who I could never find. Jacobine Gundersdatter was born 11 Feb 1869 in Eidanger, Norway. I easily found her birth record but that was it. She was not with the family in the 1891 nor the 1900 Norwegian census. Nor could I find any proof of her marriage or death.

At a loss with Norwegian records, I thought I would try the FAN method. Looking up family, acquaintances or friends. I thought since her two nieces (0ne of them being my grandmother) and her brother had all gone to Chicago perhaps she had also emigrated to the US and why not Chicago? I would start there. Jacobine seemed an unusual enough name and I tried searching her with her patronymic Gundersdatter/sen, her fathers patronymic Nielsen and the family farm name Øvald without luck. I  had found my uncle's baptismal record in the archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Norwegian Lutheran Churches were one of the synods that combined to form the modern day ELCA. There she was! Jacobine Gundersen married Nicholai Nelson November 12,1893 in the Bethania Lutheran church of Chicago. Once I knew her husbands name it was easy peasy to find her in the US census' living in Chicago. She must not have cared for the name Jacobine (don't think I blame her) because shortly after arriving in the US she went by the name Bina, which is even on her official Cook County death record.

Jacobine Gundersdatter = Bina Nelson

Lesson learned to not only use the popular FAN method but add Faith also as a way to search for those elusive ancestors.

married November 12, 1893 in Bethania Lutheran Church, Chicago, Illinois
Nicholai Nelson, 34 and Jacobine Gunderson, 24

my great grand Aunt

Jacobine "Bina" Gundersen Nelson

b. 11 Feb 1869 Eidanger, Telemark, Norway

d. 18 Jun 1935 Chicago, Cook, Illinois,  USA