New Member Book – The Nilson Family: From Jönköping to America

I can't imagine a more satisfying feeling than holding your just-published genealogy in your hand. It's got to be so much better than the genealogy happy-dance we all do when we find a long-lost someone or we break down a brick wall. Luckily, belonging to an active genealogical society means that some well-organized members get the job done and bring their finished tomes to the library to share their success (and donate a copy). That's what happened at the March board of directors meeting when our newest board member and recording secretary, Lisa Gorrell, brought a copy of The Nilson Family: From Jönköping to America.

Lisa Gorrell

The Nilson Family is the story of four siblings who came to the United States from Åsenhöga, Jönköping, Sweden in the 1880s and two generations of their children and grandchildren. The book describes a total of forty-three descendants with narrative stories and photos. Lisa also included information about the parents and the two siblings who remained in Sweden.

Lisa did most of the research on her husband's maternal family online, using Ancestry, FamilySearch and Genline, as well as that old standby – writing many letters. She started the project four years ago with some help from her husband's aunt who had a collection of family documents. Family members provided additional information and their stories as well. The Nielson Family is fully documented and has an every name index. 

The Nilson Family: From Jönköping to America

Lisa designed the book layout using Adobe InDesign and she chose to have it printed by BYU Print and Mail because they offered an option to print both black-and-white and color pages.

Congratulations, Lisa!


Copyright © 2011 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library