Daughters of Norway

WHAT IS GENEALOGY?

Genealogy is the study of one's family heritage. According to Webster's Dictionary, the definition of genealogy is "a recorded history of the descent of a person or family from an ancestor or ancestors." The recording of family lineage requires an accumulation of family tales, stories, facts, interviews, and research which is then recorded for future generations to see. Today numerous resources are available for finding much of what you need to trace back many generations to your Scandinavian relatives, if you have the time and desire to do so.

WHY KEEP TRACK OF YOUR FAMILY?

At one time or another, children are asked to do at least one report on how their family's past relates to coming to America. Thus, learning your genealogy is a great way to help your children or grandchildren in this quest.

To join Daughters of Norway, you need to state how you are related to a Scandinavian and which relative was the first coming to the United States from a particular Scandinavian country. Again, tracing your genealogy is helpful for this task.

Many people have heard old legends they want to prove or disprove. Others, feel it is important to preserve their past heritage for their children or grandchildren. These are just a few of the reasons people learn about their lineage.

Today, it is suggested you keep track of your family's medical history because it can help in understanding either your current health or your future health possibilities. It is easy to see that recording facts about your ancestors can come in handy.

HOW DO I BEGIN?

Most genealogy sites, suggest you start by recording all the facts you know. Begin with yourself. Where, when and how were you officially named at birth? Then add these facts for your parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and spouse (if any). Keep adding to the facts you collect. If possible, add additional information such as where and when people lived in places, what they did, special achievements, military service, etc.

Once this is done, start interviewing as many of your living relatives as possible to add additional facts to your growing list. There are many online sources offering a convenient way to find, capture and record this information. They also offer the ability to keep track of your sources as there may be conflicting reports (what people remember and what is later recorded varies quite a bit).

Then, start tracing your family history backward in time. If your ancestors came to the United States recently, you may know the name of the ship, plane, train, or just the date and entry point into the United States. From that point, you can begin your search to the past. For those whose relatives have been in the United States prior to the 1930 census, looking at past census reports can help you narrow things down somewhat. There are many sites in the US where you can obtain records, but one of the best is through a subscription based service such as Ancestry.com and Vesterheim Genealogical Center/Naeseth Library in Madison, Wisconsin. Some individual states do have records you can obtain online without payment by doing a simple internet search.

Genealogy in Scandinavia has been going on for generations and is important. They have kept good records over time and preserved them in books, parish records, national records, and additional sources. In the United States, many people of Nordic descent have good records they have either kept or where you can extract information from the numerous available online, local and national sites.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR SCANDINAVIAN SOURCES

If you get back to a Nordic relative who first came to the US, you will begin to need to learn more about naming conventions in the country from whence they came, based on the year they came. The traditional naming conventions can be quite challenging, and a good search of sites with background on them is a good idea. Cindis List and some of the others found under Additional Links (see left column) will be useful to peruse. Be ready for many spellings of your ancestors names to come up in your searches. This is true for both US and Scandinavian sources.

If you have the name of the county and parish from whence ancestors came (check US records such as obituaries, cemeteries, etc.) they will be very useful. Sometimes, you'll have to learn more about a language, farms, naming system, etc. to search records in Scandinavia. Many sites found on the Additional Links (left column) will be of aide on this, and you can always use online dictionaries to help you.

In Norway, it's important to learn not only about naming conventions but also about the farms and the counties. Note, that your records may indicate a county (flyke) that no longer exists. Go do an internet search, and you'll usually find when that county was changed and what it's called now. Farm names can be the same in one county as in the next, so make sure you have the right area before finding the name. Various sites explain the farm name conventions and how you may have to trace your ancestors with various farm names based on where they lived when.

DAUGHTERS OF NORWAY AS A RESOURCE

Daughters of Norway suggests that people looking up their ancestors who were members of any organization that stated Daughters of Norway before 1951, should check into our historical lodge listing to see if in fact we are the organization you may wish to contact. There were two separate Daughters of Norway organizations before that point (see Daughters of Norway History) and if the lodge or city is not amongst our historical lodge listings, you will need to check with the Sons of Norway who incorporated the other Daughters of Norway (Daughters of Norway of the Midwest) into their fold in 1950.

Currently, each lodge keeps it's own records of members. The older the lodge, the more likely their early records are in storage at a library. If you wish to find out more about a lodge's membership records, directly contact the lodge involved and ask them for help from their financial secretary who has records with Nordic ancestral links or to a local lodge's genealogist who may be of help. For lodges that have closed, contact the Grand Lodge Financial Secretary.

Good luck in your searches and note the numerous links listed on the left, are but a few of those you can do internet searches on. Best of luck in your searches.