Mission Impossible (For Me)
Greetings, all.
I've spent three frustrating years trying to find more about my great-great-grandfather. I'm hoping the good folk here can help.
Norwegian church records show (in difficult handwriting) that he was bachelor Anders Petter Johansen, a railway worker from Sweden. He fathered three illegitimate children in Norway in 1871, 1872, and 1873, one of which was my great-grand-daddy.
His age was never recorded and only one entry indicates any precise birthplace: Boraas, Sweden.
By the time of the 1875 Norwegian census, his children are living alone with their unmarried mothers and he seems to disappear from all data.
I have one old photo which may be of him, and would suggest his birth year to be between 1848-1853.
Though I spent a paid month on the Swedish archives trying to decipher original church books and censuses, I could find no promising leads on the mystery man.
Nor has DNA testing led me anywhere.
The only other fact I have to work with is that one of his Norwegian mates (Gina Gundersdatter) is shown in church records as having left Faaberg, Norway for Sweden in 1871.
By 1872, however, they were back in Norway.
Does anybody here have any suggestions how I may proceed.
Thank You,
-Robert
