Carl Oscar Bjurstrom (Bjurström in Swedish) was born at Kälarvet (old spelling, Kählarfvet), Stora Tuna parish, Dalarna, Sweden, on 30 October 1884 (see birth record here). As indicated in the record, Carl Oscar’s mother was Fredrika Otilia Andersdotter Bjurström, while no father’s name was given. Rather, the child was designated oäkta, (abbreviated o. ä. in the birth record), meaning that the birth was not within wedlock, and that Fredrika was a single mother (see also the husförhörslängd for 1880-1890, here). Looking forward, Carl Oscar emigrated to the United States in 1910, and died at Moline, Rock Island County, Illinois, on 31 December 1962.
Carl Oscar is of interest to me because he appears in the Ancestry.com family trees of a number of my DNA matches. Yet, I see no common ancestors in these trees. But DNA does not lie. Somehow, Carl Oscar must be related. The question is, how? Surely it must be through his unnamed father.
Now, when I look into the “shared matches” feature of these Ancestry.com Bjurstrom matches (as well as some 23andMe matches), I see that they group themselves into two clusters. The first cluster consists of known descendants of Carl Oscar through his daughter Aileen Collin. No surprise there. But the other group shows something remarkable. All of these matches are descendants of the ancestral couple Olof Olsson (1824-1872) and Greta Karlsdotter (1833-1899). (Greta and Olof lived at Solbacken, Amsberg chapel, Stora Tuna parish, Dalarna, Sweden for most of their adult lives.)
There are 21 such descendants of whom I am aware (all of whom, of course, have had their DNA tested, although there must be numerous others who have not tested). So that’s a lot. The name taken by the children of this ancestral couple was Ekvall. This was in the mid to late 1800s, when family names – often “ornamental”– began to be adopted in Sweden, to replace, in many cases, the old patronymic forms.
To be precise, the children of Olof and Greta were:
- Anna Stina Olsdotter Ekvall (1852-1916) – 6 descents to shared matches
- Anders Olsson Ekvall (1854-1914) – 4 descents to shared matches
- John Olsson Ekvall (1857-1948) – no descents
- Carolina Olsdotter Ekvall (1862-1935) – 7 descents to shared matches
- Carl (“Charles” in the USA) Olsson Ekvall (1865-1946) – 4 descents to shared matches
So, to reiterate, that makes 21 persons who both descend from Olof Olsson and Greta Karlsdotter and share significant amounts of DNA with the descendants of Carl Oscar Bjurstrom. (I do not name these persons because they are living, and may wish privacy.)
The conclusion? Carl Oscar Bjurstrom very likely also descends from Olof Olsson and Greta Karlsdotter.
But there is more. Specifically, I have a DNA match at MyHeritage.com with another Bjurstrom descendant – this time a grandson of Carl Oscar through his son Carl Eric Leslie Bjurstrom. The good thing about MyHeritage is that it has a chromosome browser (which Ancestry.com does not). Thus, true DNA triangulation can be done.
To be brief, I triangulate with several matches of my Bjurstrom match (many of whom are known Ekvall descendants), and am able to assign most recent common ancestors to these matches. Now – and this is important – I am able to find common ancestors from these matches through both Olof Olsson and Greta Karlsdotter (specifically the ancestral pair Olof Olsson Plåt (1799-1858) and Kerstin Larsdotter (1798-1887) for Olof Olsson, and Jubb Karl Andersson (1807-1881) and Lisa Sätherblom (1811-1890) for Greta Karlsdotter). Thus, the two lineages – paternal and maternal — cometogether exactly in the family of Greta and Olof, and therefore the descent of Carl Oscar must be from one of the children named above. (This is the technique, by the way, that CeCe Moore uses in finding adoptees’ parents, as well as in solving cold case homicides.)
So, we conclude that Carl Oscar Bjurstrom’s father must have been one of the following:
- Anders Olsson Ekvall,
- John Olsson Ekvall, or
- Carl (“Charles”) Olsson Ekvall
But we may exclude John, since he had been living in Michigan for a few years before 1884. Anders and Charles, however, both lived close to Kälarvet, so they were at least in the neighborhood. Of the two, Anders was the closest at Alsbäck, while Charles was (according to the husförhörslängd) living at Solbacken with his parents (see map).
So in terms of proximity, Anders is the better candidate. However, Anders was married with a family at the time. (Still, at a later date Anders was known to have fathered another child out of wedlock – my grandmother! But in that case the child was fully acknowledged and accepted as part of the family.)
Charles, on the other hand, in addition to living a little farther away (but still within walking distance) was only 19 years old at the time – yes, probably old enough to be a father, but making him less likely to be one. Yet there is one thing notable about him: he left for America on 16 May 1884 – making him present in Sweden at the time of Carl Oscar’s conception, but in the United States at the time of Carl’s birth. Interesting. (See husförhörslängd for date of departure here.) Maybe he never even knew he was to be a father. Who knows?
All right. To concretely determine which of the two brothers was Carl Oscar’s father would require further DNA testing (and consent by those tested to the use of the testing results) from the parties’ descendants. I can’t do that now. But let me state my choice: Carl Oscar’s father was Charles Ekvall.
For what it’s worth, here is the vision I have. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s my vision.
Now, Anders Olsson Ekvall was known to operate a brick factory. It is certainly likely that he might have hired his younger brother Charles to help him in the operation of the firm. Specifically, consider that the early to mid-1880s was a period of intense factory building in the area of Borlänge, Sweden – particularly at the steel mills in Domnarvet, very close to Kälarvet. And would not these buildings have required the use of a lot of bricks? And would not those bricks have to be transported? Maybe that was Charles’s job. And given that Kälarvet would have been right along his route, he could have become acquainted with Fredrika Otilia, the daughter of the recently deceased village shoemaker, Anders Bjurström, on one of his trips. Or maybe his family had been a customer for Anders’s shoes in the past, and that is how he knew the family.
This is my theory at any rate. I will continue to look into it.
On History, Verity, and Seeking the Noumenon 