Marta Johnson
Honor Code SignatorySigned 13 Apr 2016 | 24,481 contributions | 432 thank-yous | 2,077 connections
Contents |
The maternal grandfather's genealogy is well researched and well documented by my cousin Tom. He has shared his research here on WikiTree and over at Geneanet but the really good reading is over at his site Family History Notes. My research on this branch is built off of his. Together, we have been chipping away at our brickwall ancestor [Rogers Robinson] (b. 1814; d. 1898 in Staten Island, New York) who has uncertain origins, but seems to have connections to Nova Scotia.
I've been collaborating with my mother on my maternal grandmother's line. Her family tree centers on New Jersey and New York, but eventually leads to Winterbach (Pfalz), Bebra (Kurhessen), Barbados, Holland, England and Scotland. Her g-g-grandfather had a particularly interesting life as a kind of social worker running orphan trains out of New York City. Memorably, our work on this line has included a wonderful visit in early Mar 2020 to the Department of Archives in Black Rock, Barbados -- just as the world was shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
My paternal grandmother comes from several large southern families whose genealogies seem to be pretty well documented. I put some work into her grandfather Ellis, who was a Confederate veteran in the U.S. Civil War. I visited his company line at Vicksburg in May 2022.
I enjoy helping friends and family puzzle out their roots and break brick walls. I'm a hobbiest who tries to stick to established genealogical standards. I practice conventional paper-trail genealogy as well as basic genetic genealogy.
A big pursuit of mine has been to research and document my paternal grandfather's side, an extended family of Swedish-Americans and their descendants:
In Dec 2005 and Aug 2014, I made visits to the towns of Vänga and Örsås, the home parishes of my great-grandparents. The current owners of an ancestral home in Vänga welcomed me and my family and let us camp on the property for a couple of nights. I've shared photos and maps from that visit on Enebacken's page.
Enebacken Torp in Vänga, Västra Götaland, Sweden |
In Nov 2015, I visited the Swenson Center in Rock Island, Illinois and viewed their microfilm records of Bethel Lutheran Church in Braddock, PA. The church was an important cultural center for the local Swedish community in the first half of the 20th century. The Swenson Center also houses the microfilm archives of the Svenska Veckobladet, which was a Swedish language weekly newspaper published out of McKeesport, PA, and the go-to publication for sharing important news in the Swedish-speaking community around Pittsburgh. It's chock full of social mentions related to the Swedish-Americans in my family.
My great-grandmother Hilda kept a collection of old family photographs, letters, newspaper clippings, postcards, books, and other sentimental personal items. This, along with some items from Hilda's niece Esther Holmquist, was inherited by her daughter Hildur. Hildur assembled cherished mementos into scrapbooks. When Hildur died in 1994, Hildur's beloved niece Sarajane Johnson became the caretaker for much of the collection.
On a visit in Nov 2015, Sarajane gave me generous access to this collection. I scanned a large percentage of the items. Many letters and postcards are yet untranslated from their original Swedish. Sarajane later sent me two photo albums from circa 1890-1910. Processing, translating, and properly sharing this collection digitally has one of my ongoing projects. This includes hunting down and reaching out to (cold-messaging) distant cousins who may have an interest.
I manage a couple of Space pages that relate to my family:
Outside of WikiTree, you can find me a these other related sites:
I have access to a number of online databases and I'm glad to assist you by looking things up in these sources:
I am a supporting member of the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, the Genealogical Forum of Oregon, the Seattle Genealogical Society & Library, and the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center at Augustana College. I am also a transcription volunteer for the Washington State Digital Archives.
DNA tests on 23andMe and Ancestry.com have confirmed both my paternal and maternal relationships.
Conventional genealogies of my (and my parents') DNA matches appear to agree with my documented paper-trail genealogical lines back to my:
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Marta is 24 degrees from Zendaya Coleman, 31 degrees from Sting Sumner, 20 degrees from Josh Brolin, 25 degrees from Timothée Chalamet, 22 degrees from José Ferrer, 20 degrees from Frank Herbert, 20 degrees from Richard Jordan, 25 degrees from David Lynch, 22 degrees from Virginia Madsen, 23 degrees from Charlotte Rampling, 31 degrees from Patrick Stewart and 24 degrees from Denis Villeneuve on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
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