About me

Ann T Ottestig

My name is Ann T Ottestig and I have a been engaged in genealogy as a hobby for about a decade. Sometimes I also give lectures about genealogy, DNA research and old family histories and I have helped others get started with their genealogy for some time now.

In my ordinary day to day work I work as a director of studies in public relations at the Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall, where I have worked since 1997. 

My work- and research experience from Mid Sweden University, and also experience of working with many different digital search engines, is something that I have a great deal of use of in my genealogy work. 

The Lundin family came from Sweden and emigrated to the United States via Canada in in 1889 and 1891. Jonas Lundin (born 1853) emigrated a bit before Lovisa Erika and the son John (then 10 years), who came to Canada two years later. Another two years after their arrival, the son Eric was born. 

According to their relatives in Sweden, Jonas was known as one of Sweden's most skilled jewels. His wife Lovisa Erika (born Malmberg in 1850) on her maternal grandmother's side descends from a nobel (but poor) family called von Nandelstadt (who also descends from the von rohr and Ogilvy families in the UK). 

It is unclear why they did emigrate. Perhaps Jonas had difficulty finding full-time occupation as a jeweler in Sweden or perhaps he was just attracted to the dream (shared by many Swedes at that time) of making it big in North America? 

They first came to Ontario in Canada but life there was no dancing on roses. Jonas had difficulty in getting work and became depressed and unhappy.

Jonas Lundin, a jeweler from Kingston, Ontario, came to Detroit last week in an endeavor to better himself. Failure caused despondency and Friday evening a patrolman found him writhing in pain on the wharf at the foot of Woodward avenue. "I'm tired of life", said Lundin "and I've taken enough poison to stop the flow of my blood". A city physician pumped him out and his blood is again flowing naturally. Lundin is 45 years old and has a wife and three children in Kingston. 

Source: The Jewelers Review, 26thApril 1899

The family eventually moved to Sioux Falls and the son John (also he jeweler) later moved to California. John participated in both the first and second world war for the United States.

In the 60's and early 70's John corresponded with my grandfather's aunt Sonja (who was her 1 st cousin) and her letters is in my mothers possession today. Eric's wife, Alma, also exchanged letters with Sonja. In those letters there were a lot of photos of them as adults and information about their children and grandchildren, which enabled me to find my living relatives (3rd cousins to my mother) via Facebook.