Leonard (became LYNN in US) b 2/28/1867 Son of Jan Jernberg and Maria Andersdatter. Arvika

[Evangeline Lynn]

Leonard Jernberg LYNN is my great grandfather born 2/28/1867 in Arvika, Varmland. He emigrated to the US with his wife Inger Olava TRONDSEN who is Norwegian. In about 1883.

We are trying to find out why he chose the name LYNN, and anything about our ancestors. His father was Jan Jernberg and his mother Maria Andersdatter. Would his name have been Jansson?

It is hard to follow the names because in America we obviously use a different system.

[Harald Nordius]

The records of Arvika show that Jan Jernberg, Maria Andersdotter and their three surviving children, two daughters and Leonard, moved to Christiania in Norway (present Oslo) on April 28, 1875. (Arvika household records 1872-1877, page 498)

Had his father not had a family name, he would have been called Jansson, but as his father had a family name he would probably have been called by that name.

[Maud Mårtensson]

Since the Jernberg family moved to Kristiania it is hardly surprising it was from there Leonard emigrated April 19 1883. Final destination Chicago. Digital Archives, http://arkivverket.no/eng/content/view/full/629. Emigration link: https://digitalarkivet.arkivverket.no/en-gb/gen/vis/8/pe00000000980884.

Perhaps he was going to join his sister Maria who had left for Chicago two years earlier. Digital Archives, https://digitalarkivet.arkivverket.no/en-gb/gen/vis/8/pe00000000952184.

Maria's death notice confirms that she was actually living in Chicago. FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q237-GC7J.

The Swedish (and Norwegian) patronymic surnames can be very confusing, but Ingela Martenius straighten out many question-marks in Swedish names, http://web.comhem.se/~u31263678/genealogy/Names.pdf.

Eventually the patronymic surnames became family names but the two possibilities both existed for a period.

Inger Olava could not have been called Trondsen in Norway since this means Trond's son as a patronymic (her patronymic should have been Trondsdatter, meaning Trond's daughter) and it could not be a family name since the only possibility for this is Jakobsen. Because Inger Olava's father was Tron(d) Jakobsen according to FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NWND-WP2, and Digital Archives, https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/kb20061108330647. (For some reason the fathers in this source are called -sson, which is a Swedish spelling.) In USA Olava seems to have used Jacobson as a family name.

According to the message above these are Leonard's parents at the time of the emigration to Norway (Arvika västra landsförsamlings arkiv AI:20, 1872-1877, page 498):

Jan Jernberg, born May 16 1829, Älgå parish, Värmland
Maria Andersdotter, born December 26 1824, Eda parish, Värmland

Jan is born out of wedlock, the birth notice says his mother is Marta or Märta Jansdotter and that his father is believed to be Magnus Nordström. Source Älgå kyrkoarkiv C:5, page 198.

Maria's parents were Anders Andersson and his wife Kerstin Olsdotter. Source Eda kyrkoarkiv C:7, 1797-1845, page 274.

[Harald Nordius]

 During the period of transtion from patronymics to family names you can find women with a patronymic ending in -son (Sweden) or -sen (Norway). My grandfather's first wife was called Persdotter when they married in 1888, but when she died in 1902 she was namned "Nilsson, born Persson". Nilsson was his name. I lived in Alfta in western Hälsingland in the 1950s. At that time patronymics were still in use there, but the ending -dotter was out of use, so both boys and girls were given patronymics ending in -son.

My grandfather's brother Anders Nilsson moved to Norway and changed his name to Nilsen. In a record from 1900 all his children are called Andersen, both boys and girls.