Unless a family line includes a Native American ancestor, it will always include that pivotal ancestor who made the decision to come to America. That story is always compelling – it’s so intriguing to figure out why they decided to leave their home country. Finding evidence of their emigration journey is always exciting.
We have great records related to the Brodd family’s emigration adventure. My great-great-great-grandfather A.G. Brodd was enlisted in the Swedish Army but he abandoned his military service and left Sweden with his family in 1875
- A.G. Brodd and his wife Gustafva Johansdotter were living near Hornborga and Håkantorp parishes. Here is the “moving out” record from the church book. The left-column notation, utan attest, translates as “without papers”. See how it says “America” in the far right column! The record is dated October 30, 1875, but I believe that is merely the date that the pastor discovered they were gone and made the record.
- We also have a record for the Brodd family actually leaving Sweden on a boat! They are on the passenger list for the ship Orlando which left Sweden on May 7, 1875. This ship carried them from Göteborg (Gothenburg) to Hull, England. The voyage took about 40 hours. From there, they likely traveled by train to Liverpool to board a ship to America. This record contains a bit of intrigue because the names don’t quite match (G. Anderson instead of Anders Gustaf Brodd). I am positive this is the correct family. I don’t know if the name confusion was part of a cover-up related to leaving his military service, or if it’s just a hastily made record.
The ship Orlando and its sister Rollo were operated by the Wilson Line and were specially built to make regular trips between Gothenburg and Hull, England.
I have not yet found the record for their travel from England to America. I have narrowed down the time frame (May to August 1875) but it will be time-consuming to go through all the passenger lists. But it’s on my “to do” list for sure!
