We thought of visiting Sweden in 2001, but were unable to go because of the work load at our business.  Things were still busy going into 2002, but I managed to get airline tickets to Copenhagen for the end of May, hoping to do some planning prior to going.  We intended on contacting some known relatives and learning some Swedish prior to going.  But we were lucky to get a few books and get caught up enough on work to make the flight to Copenhagen.

     Earlier in the year an unknown Swedish relative Patrik Wikström, was doing some work on our genealogy. He had discovered an old booklet about a family reunion of Peter Wikstrom's family in America many years ago.  He had been to America a number of times, but was not aware of the Peter Wikstrom line of the family at that time.  Patrik found our business web site, www.wiktel.com , and sent an email to our service department.  The email was forwarded to me, and I contacted Patrik.  I told him that I was planning on visiting in 2002.  We exchanged a few emails and arranged to meet when I came.  Just prior to leaving, he gave me the names of relatives that I might be interested in seeing on the visit. 

     I had a few names of relatives from the line of Jöns Vikström.  Debbie Wikstrom Caspersen had visited Sweden a few times in the past and had a number of names that she provided me.  Lovisa Vikström visited my parents, George and Dolores Wikstrom a few years earlier.  She is to our knowledge the only relative from Sweden to visit Karlstad, Minnesota. We intended to touch base with her father Göran shortly after arriving in Sweden. 

     We began our trip from Copenhagen, traveling west.  We visited the  picturesque island of Aerø, and visited Hans Christian Anderson's home town of Odense. We stayed in an ancient hotel in Ribe, then visited an open air museum in Arhus, drove through the beautiful area around Silkeborg, and headed north to Hirtshals, where we caught a ferry to Kristiansand, Norway.  From Kristiansand we went up the beautiful Sedestal valley to the Hardanger Fjord making our way to Bergen, a fun town to visit. From Bergen to the Sognefjord, past the Briksdal glacier, on to the Geirangerfjord, from Andalsnes through the Gudbrandsdalen Valley through Lillehammer on to Oslo.  We had to go through Kongsberg, the old silver mining town and see the stave church at Heddal before heading toward Karlstad, Sweden, the namesake of Karlstad, Minnesota.  There we visited Torsten and Gun Sundelin , whose names Patrik had given us.  They were wonderful hosts and gave us a tour of Karlstad.  It is much more beautiful than our town in Minnesota, with a rich history. 

     From Karlstad we headed toward Stockholm, where we visited Göran and his family.  Stockholm had a celebration when we came.  They had fireworks, and balloons flew over the city.  People dressed in old costumes, and music was played in the street.  Coincidentally, it was the 750th anniversary of Stockholm, so the celebration served a dual purpose.  We also visited Anders Nordstrand while in downtown Stockholm. 

     Göran was extremely helpful and generous with his time.  He talked to a number of relatives and arranged for us to meet them, and warned them that we were coming.  He also filled us in on the history of our family in Sweden.

     The word Vikström means bay stream (Or stream into the bay).   Vikström and Wikström are interchangeable in Sweden, and mean the same thing.  We found that telephone directories don't separate V's and W's.  The listing order is by first name, not V or W as the beginning of the last name. 

     For many years, Swedish people did not use family names.  Pehrs' son Anders became Anders Pehrsson.  Anders' son Per became Per Andersson.  Per's son Anders became Anders Persson.  Anders' son Jöns became  Jöns Andersson.  Jöns son Petrus became Petrus Jönsson. Petrus brother Jöns became Jöns Jönsson.  But when Petrus and Jöns Jönsson came to America, they decided to take on a family name.  And as is to be expected, they chose a family name that was used by someone else in their family who picked up a family name.  As it happens, their grandmother Brita Stina had a father Jöns Jönsson who had used Vikström as a family name in 1757.  It might be that the story of Jöns Jönsson Vikström was passed down to his great grandchildren. So it was a choice filled with tradition. And it was a nice name. 

     Petrus and Jöns came to America in 1885.  Jöns, however, had a wife still in Sweden, and a son Viktor on the way.  So he returned to Sweden.  Viktor was the father of Göte, who was the father of Göran, Inger, Eivor and Thorvald, all of whom we were fortunate enough to visit while in Sweden (thanks to Göran's persistence).  And we were also fortunate enough to visit Ruth, Göte's wife in his later years.  She was very hospitable, and treated us to some of our favorite Swedish sandwiches. 

     In Stockholm we also had the good fortune to finally meet Patrik and his family. Patrik had more information about people to see, and was still working on it as we travelled.  I checked in with Patrik from time to time to pick up new information.  Patrik also arranged for us to see his father Håkan, a fourth cousin, when we got to Hoting.  All of the relationships can be seen at who we visited in Sweden. 

     From Stockholm we traveled north to see Mora, Lake Siljan, the mines at Falun, and the home of artist Karl Larsson.  Then we went to Gävle and were treated to supper by Kenneth and Lena Nordstrand, and met their mother Aina, a second cousin, and her husband Bertil Nordstrand. Aina gave us a valuable picture of our Great Uncle Jöns.  

     From Gävle we went far north into what used to be called Lapland.  It is now referred to as the home of the Sami. Not too far away from the arctic circle is Hoting, Strömsund, Dorotea, and Avaträsk.  This is the home to a number of relatives.  I am sure that we are related to many people in this area, most who do not have the last name of  Vikström.  We have relatives throughout Sweden, but many trace their origins to Luleå, Umeå, and on to Dorotea, etc. 

     In Strömsund, we met 2nd cousin Rakel's husband Holger Larsson, their son Mats and his family, and the old home place. 

     Jöns Vikström, my grandfather's brother, settled in Nyhamn, on a lake between Strömsund and Hoting.  The farm passed down to second cousin Sunnan Nilsson, and then to her son Sven Asp. Sven has an interesting occupation creating tools for inventors to help put their ideas to work. During the time we were there we were able to see the old farm, and get our picture taken.  Anders Vikström and his wife Ingrid live close to Sunnan, so we were able to walk over and see them.  Ander's daughter Chatrin lived not too far away in Karbäcken. Chatrin treated us to a special reindeer recipe that is a Swedish treat.

     In Hoting we found fourth cousin Håkan Wikström (Patrik's father), who introduced us to fourth cousins Birgitta Olofsson,  Kjell, and Staffan Wikström.  Håkan also gave us a wonderful tour of the electronic equipment where he works.  It is housed under a huge tower, and is a center for telephone, radio, television, and internet transmissions throughout northern Sweden. 

     In Gäddede we visited 2nd cousin Sonja Nilsson.  Sonja and Erik showed us the dam and hydroelectric plant where Erik used to work, and they made sure we saw the beautiful Hällingsåfallet, waterfalls and canyons in the hills.  They also treated us to a picnic with Swedish special foods. 

     Then we made our way to Avaträsk, where we met several people from other branches of the family.  While in Gävle at Nordstrands, we called Patrik to see if he had any more news for us.  He gave us a number of new names including Eli Näslund, Thorsten Vikström, and Jonas Vikström, fourth cousins.   Eli had a wealth of information for us.  He helped us find the ancestral farm place ,  and showed us the relationships of the fourth cousins. We met Stina Boström who still lived on the land, and rented some to a horse riding club for girls. Jonas Vikström remembers a great deal from times past and was able to tell Eli where to look for most of what we were interested in.

     Before we found Eli we tried to visit Thorsten Vikström .  We stopped by, but he could speak no English, and we could speak no Swedish.  So we motioned to him that we would be back.  We drove down the road hoping to find someone out in their yard.  Sure enough, we found a group of people and asked if anyone knew how to translate for us.  The older man in the group, Per Lindblom,  knew Thorsten, and his daughter Pernilla Larsson was willing to translate for us.  So we were able to visit Thorsten and show him some pictures.  During the conversation Pernilla learned from Thorsten that she was also related to us. 

     After visiting several relatives in the area we went further north in Sweden, passing through Arvidsjaur where there was a still working Sami church camp, into the arctic circle to Jokkmokk, and stayed overnight in Kiruna. In Kiruna we were able to taste more Swedish fine foods.  Then we crossed the border into northern Norway.  We went to the Vesterålen islands, and the Lofoten islands in Norway, a highlight of our trip.  We stayed in the town of Å in old fishing huts (rhorbu).  Then we took the Hurtigruten (ferry) from the Lofoten islands to Nordkapp, the northernmost point in Europe.  We took a side trip to see a bird island in that area.  The whole time that we were in the arctic circle we experienced the midnight sun.  The sun shown 24 hours per day.  And we were there when it was at its peak in the middle of the night. We were surprised to find little snow left as far north as Nordkapp.  (We saw all kinds of glaciers, icebergs and ice on our way back over Greenland and northern Canada).  We saw large herds of ren (reindeer) around Nordkapp (North Cape) and in the northern areas. And the variety of plants always interests us.

     From Nordkapp we came back down through Finland, visiting Kalevala, the place of the epic Finnish poem, in Kuhmo.  We toured Karelia including an Orthodox monestary, Lake Pielinen and Mt Koli, Olavinlinna castle in Savonlinna, and the ancient town of Porvoo on our way to Helsinki. We passed through many lakes that Finland is famous for. From Helsinki we took a ferry to Tallinn Estonia, another Scandinavian country, finally freed from communist rule. Tallinn is a well preserved ancient city, and was a highlight of our trip.  We left Finland from Turku, a very nice place to visit.  Turku had one of the nicest open air museums that we saw, and we saw several great ones in Scandinavia.  The ride from Turku to Stockholm was a very pleasant journey through thousands of islands in the Baltic Sea.

     Back in Stockholm, we revisited Göran, and he arranged to see his brothers and sisters in southern Sweden.  We also saw 2nd cousin Folke and Ingrid Vikström, their son Mikael, and his daughter Hanna.  They lived not too far from the beautifully preserved gardens of Julita.  Between staying with Inger in Bollebygd, and visiting  Ruth in Hassleholm and Eivor near Malmo (all making sure we had something distinctively Swedish to eat) we visited the glassmaking factories of Kosta Boda, Orrefors, and Bergdala.  We liked Bergdala the best, and its blue rimed glass, even though it was the simplest of those we visited. We finished our visit at Thorvald and Irene's.  Not only did they make our stay pleasant, but Thorvald shipped back some of our things so as to lighten our load for the trip home.

     Prior to departing we were able to visit the canals of Copenhagen, and the magnificent Frederiksborg Slott (Castle).  We also saw Kronborg Slott (Castle) in Helsingør, also known as Elsinore Castle, the site inspiring Shakespeare's Hamlet.  If one had to choose, Frederiksborg is more impressive.  

     We had a wonderful time in Scandinavia, and learned quite a bit.  If you would like to see all of the relationships to the people we saw look at who we visited in Sweden.  We could not have discovered so much without the help of Patrik Wikström, and we really thank him for that.  We also need to especially thank Göran for making so many arrangements for us, and saving us several days of time.  And thanks to each and everyone we visited for the kindness, hospitality, and assistance in making arrangements. 

Links:  

     You can also see descendants of Peter Wikstrom in America that we are aware of. 

     Per Andersson's children  a founder of  Avaträsk village.

    Anders Persson's descendants (Per Andersson's son) 

    Some typical sights from the trip.

    Contacts

   Olof Johansson to Thomas Dewing, 1949 Kinistino,Sask, Canada
     Per Persson to Tomas Dewing  Canada