Family Group Sheet

Saturday, March 26, 2011

You say tomato and I say tomahto; I say potato and you say potahto!

I thought it was bad enough growing up and having the name Petterborg ALWAYS misspelled and ALWAYS mispronounced. For those who may be reading this and do not know the pronunciation that most of the family has used, I will enter it the way it would be pronounced--Peterburg. Now you know why it was ALWAYS misspelled and mispronounced!
My Dad's older brother, Lynn, has two sons, "N" & "R".  Growing up, "N" got tired of the mispronunciations and misspellings and decided to pronounce Petterborg exactly as it is spelled. His reasoning was convincing enough so that when younger brother, "R" was old enough, he, too, decided to use that pronunciation.  I have apologized to "R's" family because I ALWAYS mispronounce their last name when I am with them. It is really hard to change the pronunciation--it automatically comes out "my way".
Ole and Maria's family got a double whammy since most of their first names were spelled one way in Norway and then another way in America and their last name being changed and then never pronounced or spelled correctly.
Here are a few examples:
Ole had it easy.  How many ways can you misspell Ole?
Maria was shown on most of the Norwegian records as Maria except she was shown as Marie on the farm books and in the LDS Church records.
Gina stayed in Norway but I have seen her named also spelled Gine there.
Ole Johan did not take the Petterborg name and became John Olsen in Akron, Ohio where he settled.
Anne Mathea was shown on LDS Church records in Norway and her emigration and passenger lists as Martha.  In America she was shown on census records as Matilda.
Emil was like Ole, not a lot of ways to be misspelled. He sometimes was referred to as Ole once he came to America. Lots of men whose last name is Olsen have been nicknamed Ole.
Even's name was spelled Evan in America.
Oliane was almost always spelled as Oliane although I did see her listed as Oliana or Oleana.
Beate was the name of two daughters.  I have listed them as Beate1 and Beate2. Beate1 was born in 1862 and died in 1863. Beate2 was born in 1864 and was also named Beate. This  was very common in European countries to name a new baby after a deceased sibling. It can be very confusing if careful attention is not paid to dates and places. I have seen Beate2 listed as Beata, Beatte and Beatrice.
Christina Bergetta has had me stumped for a long time. I have never found any proof of her birth or death.  She was born after the family joined the LDS Church. There are no records with the LDS Church, but their Norwegian records were very poor! They fell under the Swedish Mission and I found very few, if any, records of births among LDS church members. The national church in Norway had the legal responsibility of keeping tracks of all births, marriage and deaths.  I have not been able to find a record there, either.  I have not given up finding proof, so hopefully there will be a happy post in the future with her information.
As I write about these family members I am sure that the spelling of their names will go back and forth but hopefully we will all know who is being written about.

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