| Family History of John Carl Nelson and Wang Sue-Ying |
| Our Swedish Ancestors came from the area around Växjö that was known in the Middle Ages as Värend and later known as Småland. (Families: Nelson, Sigfrid, Hane/Hahn, Petersson/Israelsson) | Our German Ancestors came from different parts: Bavaria, the Rhineland, Mecklenburg, and the Saarland. (Families: Hopfner, Rothstein, Wilken, Hockert) | Our Chinese Ancestors originally came from Fujian and settled in Taiwan in the 1700s. (Families: Wang) |
In the interest of respecting the privacy of living individuals and due to an increasing awareness of potential problems I have decided to post the information of people born before 1913 only. All other files have been removed as of March 3, 2003. I am sorry to have to do this since I got a lot of information from people who found themselves on my web site but it seems that the risks outweigh the benefits at this time.
I would appreciate any additions or corrections to my information. Send me e-mail.
My interest in family history has evolved over the years. The only ancestors I knew in person were my Grandma, Caroline Wilken, and my Great-Grandma, Bertha Hockert. All of my other Grandparents had died before I was born. I had heard stories of them and others since I was little but did not pay much attention. This changed when my own children were born in the early 1970's. While studying history at St. Cloud State University I discovered the Minnesota and Federal census records where I found my Grandparents and Great-Grandparents families. A few years later in Alexandria, Virginia I discovered the local branch of the Mormon's Family History Library in Annandale and all of the records they had microfilmed from Europe were opened up. I have observed that the deeper one gets into something, the more interesting it becomes, and this is exactly how it was with my research into Family History. The search never ends because every time you find a previously unknown ancestor there become two more that need to be found. I was helped greatly by the prior researches of Elvera Larson who documented what was known about the Nelson Family, and Msgr. Peter Lorsung who researched the origin of the Hockerts. Most of the others I have discovered on my own. There is still a lot to be done.