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.

Anbytarforum - a powerful service that fill us with some fear

Anbytarforum is a forum for genealogists organized by Rötter. Anbytarforum is divided into a number of different departments and have very strict rules. Warning! Read them and follow them! For a beginner, it can be tricky! A common mistake we make is to ask the wrong things in the wrong place. Then, immediately rapped on the knuckles - not always with a particular pedagogical finesse.

For instance, if we are interested in the family Svinhufvud we might be in trouble. The family occurs namely in three different locations on Anbytarforum, namely under Other families, Under Introduced Nobility (Introducerad Adel) and under Not Introduced Nobility (Icke introducerad adel). Nowadays we know that they are all related in some way but dammed is that stupid beginner who asks a question in the wrong place. Not just the monitor of the page comes forward, but also a number of advocates of law and order quickly addresses the ignorant beginner of the fatal mistake. Talk about feeling as an idiot!

The list of flagellation on Anbytarforum could be made quite long, but to dwell on it becomes so boring. Not so long ago, however I found a real good thing. It was a very animated discussion whether to spell the surnames contemporary as they did at the time or if we had to normalize ie. choose a spelling as we will consistently follow through the years. To discuss different approaches to the sources are really good but the discussion developed to affect the personality characteristics of the persons who went far beyond genealogy research. The worst thing one can do is to suggest that one might be related to a significant person without having strong scientific evidence. As a beginner and enthusiast maybe you think you can ask a simple question whether such a relationship could be possible, but then you are completely wrong out there. You might think you should get a polite "no, it's not for the following reasons ...", but not. The naive beginner have to be put in place vigorously! Anyway, I have not myself been affected, but suffered with all the happy beginners who have experienced this. Hope they have not stopped with their genealogy research, but continues and becomes more tolerant than some others. As a professional researcher, I have quite difficult to understand the views of fundamentalism that I have encountered in Anbytarforum.

Anbytarforum is a treasure cave of knowledge. It is often here you get your first hit when you browse the web for an ancestor. Often it gives you valuable contacts with other very helpful genealogists and then you have to put up with the few "Messerschmitts" contained. Search regularly for your ancestors on Anbytarforum to keep up to date with new knowledge that you would otherwise miss. A good way I've found is to add the word "genealogy" to your search. Then you can be sure to find all instances of what you are looking for from Anbytarforum.
But - keep a low profile and be humble!

To be honest Anbytarforum lately have tried to do something about its bad reputation and are now more conscious about the debate climate. I have however found out throughout the last years that there are quite a few genealogists who "knows better" than the rest of us and therefore pop up everywhere and give themselves right to teach us idiots better.

/This text was first published in January 2007 and is now updated/