All of a sudden it happens

When my beginners’ course in genealogy was published on Internet recently I illustrated it with a bottle of champagne where the cork pops out and the divine droplets sweep out like a fountain. I have recently experienced something similar in genealogy. For a long time, I have tried to find out more about my ancestor Simon Andersson Skragge - custom officer at Edet in Skillingmark, Värmland. I have read everything that is to be found on the the Skragge family to find out how he is related to the famous family from Hammarön outside Karlstad, Värmland and therefore also with the Skragge family from Huggenäs, Värmland. There is a lot written of the family by Lagerborg [1], who derives from Simon Skragge on Hammarön.

For quite a long time, I and other researchers have asked for help on the very powerful genealogy community Anbytarforum and have had some response from some other researchers on the Skragge family. Mostly we have all hit the same obstacles but we have only been able to agree on what we do not know. I have to say that I had put away the Skragge family because I was not able to see how I should make any progress. So my Skragge ancestor has matured in my cellar of genealogy like a not ready bottle of champagne in the process of fermentation into a not particularly interesting wine without bubbles.

So, suddenly something happens. One researcher publishes a notice of Anbytarforum where he tells us what he found Simon Andersson Skragge’s father Anders Simonson in Vagge in Ny parish, Värmland. He has found him in Magnell’s collections on Arkiv Digital. Magnell’s collections is an interpretation of court protocols from Jösse and Gillberga counties in Värmland where Simon´s father frequently occurred.

This contribution worked as when you put some extra sugar into fermented champagne in order to achieve bubbles. An enormous activity started on Anbytarforum. Comments and new knowledge on the Simonsson family from Vagge in Ny parish, Värmland came in a steady stream and the picture of the family became increasingly more subtle and detailed. A piquant detail told us that, at one time, Anders had bitten off a bit of the nose of an antagonist.

Now, we who are interested in the Skragge family have to do our best to develop new knowledge to find out how and in what way our ancestor Anders Simonson, born in Huggenäs is related to the famous Skragge family. In the following days I will share with you the developments that we have done on Anbytarforum in the search for the Skragge family roots. If you are able to read Swedish you can follow the history on my Swedish site Släktforskning för noviser.

For those who understand Swedish and would like to learn more about how to do genealogy research in on Swedish ancestors I like to recommend my beginners course. It is still almost 2 weeks left of the special introductory price of 195 kronor (20 Euros or 27US$).

1) Lagerborg, Rolf. 1919. En Värmlandssläkts Öden 1475-1875, Söderström & Co Förlagsaktiebolag, Helsingfors.