Janet Karney Jones

Per Göran Björk

Överhogdal was home to many generations of my forefathers, and while it is not my home, it holds a special place in my heart. I am a wife, mother, grandmother, retired nurse and we live in Prince George, BC, Canada. Family stories have interested me since childhood: I loved to hear about the ”old days”.  My mother spoke frequently of the summers spent at Red Deer Lake and of her mormor and morfar, Gölin and Pehr Ringwall. I moved to Central Alberta after graduation in  part to get to know this place and the relations who still lived nearby. I loved to talk to my older relations in particular and hear their stories. I started to put together my family tree. Family history took a backseat for many years as we were busy raising our family (of five children) but by 2012 I had started to look at things once again. Not long after this I ”met” Thomas Sievertsson, who filled in many many details of my own Swedish family history as well as giving me a lot more understanding of life in Överhogdal and Sweden in the past. Much of what I share in this website I first learned from him and I cannot give him credit in every case, but I would not have learned what I have without him getting me started. I learned how to access the church records in the Riksarkiv and began learning Swedish. Translating my great grandfather’s letters really helped me with language comprehension. Through digging in the archives I was able to confirm much of what I had been taught. All of my mormor’s mor Gölin’s birth family emigrated and even many of her aunts and uncles.  That made me curious about why they left and where they settled and started my interest in the emigrants. I have had the privelege of visiting Överhogdal twice and somehow, despite the many years that have passed since my family lived there, I felt very at home, like part of me belonged. Maybe there is some memory imprinted in DNA! Many thanks to Per Göran for asking me to be a part of his project. I have learned a lot and I hope the information we share helps you have a deeper understanding of your family’s origins.

I have had an interest Överhogdal’s history for a long time. After retirement I have had the opportunity to research it more and I published my work at https://www.bynshistoria.info/
I first got in touch Janet in 2022 via Facebook where I asked her a question about the farm Jo-Påls. We then met in Överhogdal in June 2023 when I showed Janet and her two friends around. The idea of creating an English version of my website, with the emphasis on emigration from Överhogdal then became possible.
The result is this website, which I hope you enjoy. Janet has done an impressive job translating parts of my website and above all telling about many of the people who emigrated mainly from Överhogdal. I myself have contributed to the best of my ability to create this website.
The only relatives in Canada I know of are my mother’s cousin. Thanks to Janet, I have gained a clearer picture of the Frome family in Canada. You can read about them under the menu Emigrants/Other Canadian settlers/The Frome family. If you know more about this family, please get in touch via our Contact Form.
I was born and raised in Överhogdal and have lived at my forefather’s farm Skräddars since 2000, after having lived in Stockholm and Sundsvall for about forty years. Stockholm is Sweden’s capital and Sundsvall is on the coast of the Baltic Sea, about 200 km from here, at the same latitude.

June 2023

June 2023

If You have questions or comments about the information on this website, you may contact us using this form. We will try to respond as soon as possible.

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