This is the ship manifest listing the names of those traveling from Göteborg to New York on June 23, 1896 on the s/s Island. One of the passengers was Elna G. Nilson from Österåker, Södermanland. Elna was my grandfather’s younger sister. Before emigrating she had been working as a maid on a farm in Österåker. She had been baptized Elma Georgina, but most records have her name is spelled with an ‘n’, Elna.
Elma was born without a known father, but unlike her brother she didn’t use their stepfather’s last name, Kratz. In Sweden in those days you could chose a last name for yourself, no questions asked. Elma picked Nilsson for reasons we will never know. Maybe she knew who her father had been, and wanted to use his name. Maybe she named herself for a friend. Either way, as a teenager she clearly didn’t want anything to do with her stepfather’s name.
On June 22, when the list was created, they hadn’t yet left Göteborg harbor. Anticipating their lives in America one change had already been made: All names ending in -son have had one ‘s’ eliminated. Andersson has become Anderson, Larsson is Larson, and Elma Georgina Nilsson Kratz is now Elna G. Nilson.
All that aside, tho, look how young these emigrants were: 16, 23, 17, 18. Elma was 21.