 Sweden
is the ancestrial roots of the Almstad "Almstedt" (my father's) family and Persson(my
mother's)family. My male and female ancesters immigrated from Sweden to America in
the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The Almstad male-lineage has been traced in Sweden as far back as
1723 (my 3xgreat grandfather Eric Almstedt) and the female-lineage as far back
as 1360 (Elin Johansdotter).
The Persson lineage
has been traced in Sweden as far back as
1837 (Anna Bromé), my mother's grandmother).
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Surnames
Almstedt Surname
It is difficult to find the roots of Almstedt. Erik Almstedt's father was probably
not born an Almstedt. It is likely that he took the name, coming from a town that
had "Alm" in its name. Alm is the same as elm in english. Almstedt is the place of
elms. There is a Almmunge, and Almsta, in the province of Uppland Sweden. No history
of the name Almstedt has been found before the late 1600's. This is why not all
Almstedt in Sverige are necessarily related. Anyone could have taken the name; but it
may indicate that they came from the same area.
The Almstedt is both Swedish and German. In the north of Germany, near Hannover, is the town of Almstedt. In the 1600' the town was in the area of Germany that was conquered by the Swedish empire. Germans with the name probably came from there, and might originally been Von Almstedts. This may or may not be the origin of some Swedish naming of Almstedt. The Swedes with the name were either the professionals or soldiers that after 1600 adopted the name. So there may or may not be a Swedish German connection.
In America, the Almstedt surname transitioned from Almstedt to Almsted to Almstad.
My father's name on his birth certificate is Decim Almstedt. He was the tenth
child of 12 brothers and sisters. His sister Dixie, named him Roy Almstedt.
My Dad and his brothers and sisters all dropped the "t" from Almstedt and just
used Almsted. Then when my dad married my mother, she changed their spelling
to Almstad; thus Jack Almstad.
Persson Surname
In Sweden , in the past, many last names were acquired from the fathers first name
(e.g. Pers - his son became Persson); many surnames were changed when men joined the
military service. Because there were so many men in the same regiment with the same
patronymic surname (e.g. Andersson,
Persson, Eriksson, Svensson, etc.) the service ordered all men to take a
another family name. Either the soldier or the officer who commanded the regiment
could assign it. Soldiers sometimes kept their new name after release, and others
went back to their patronymic name. Sometimes therefore the surname
within the same family could be different. Two of my mother's mother Elin Marie
Persson's brothers names were renamed by the military as Johan Loren and Reinhold
Norman.
In America, Persson was changed to Pearson by Elin's brother Thorwald after
they immigrated to America. Elin was then Elin Marie Pearson; in Minnesota her
nick name was Ella and she was called Sota Grandma by her granddaughter
Jennifer Almstad.
Special Thanks
Special thanks is extended here to Kent Anderson, Falsterbo, Sweden; he identified
people and locations and translated all the swedish that is on the back of several
family pictures. Kent is a long lost cousin on my mother's side; Kent found me via
the Internet after a period 39 years; he is the son of Nanna and Ova and
Grandson of Per Trulson.
Special thanks is also extended to Terry Vernon Almsted,Minneapolis,Minnesota and Lorraine Hatcher Almsted,Lubock,Texas. There exhaustive research traced the Almstedt lineage back to 1360. Terry is the son of
Vernon Almsted (my Dad's brother), and my first cousin now living in Fredericksburg, Texas. Lorraine is the wife of Gerald (Jerry) Wayne Almsted, my first cousin and the son of Menes(Maynard) Almsted (my Dad's brother); Her family web site is identified in the "Useful Links" section
below.
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