Hello!
We are looking for information on family before they immigrated to the United States in 1848. What we think we know:
First, regarding the name, we assume that Smithburg has been Americanized. The closest name we can find coming into the country in 1848 was "Peter Smithberger", and we have found a couple of early references to the last name "Smithburgh". But the naming conventions in Sweden during that time don't fit that name very well!
Peter Smithburg may have read letters printed in newspapers about America from Peter Cassel who had immigrated in 1845 and that may have sparked his interest. He left Sweden with his wife and six children sometime around July 1848. He did join the same New Sweden settlement that Peter Cassel started in Iowa.
We have some dates and places that they may have come from but they are not sourced so we don't know if they are correct or not:
Peter Smithburg born 31 Aug 1801 Falla, Horn, Sweden
wife Anna Catharine born 14 May 1800 Falla, Horn, Sweden
son Charles born 1831, daughter Inga born 12 Jan 1835 Horn County, daughter Sophia Helena born Apr 1838, son Andrew David born 1839 Ustahlan, son Gustav Adolphus born 05 Aug 1842, daughter Alberta born 24 Apr 1846.
We are hoping to find church records for this family initially. Also anything else that might be available that would let us learn about them. We use Ancestry.com, Family Search.com and other sites but have not been able to find any records for them.
Can anyone help or suggest the best way to find records for them before emmigration? I would be happy to reciprocate if I can!
Regards,
Tom and Diane Smithburg