Surname Saturday: HELSTEN a.k.a. HELLSTEN: Stockholm > Uppsala > NY > CT

Olof Household Listing 1767, Canton, Lovö, Stockholm, Sweden.

All week I've been writing about John CARLSON and Eric HELSTEN.  So, I decided for my first post for Surname Saturday, I should choose HELSTEN a.k.a HELLSTEN.

Generations:
1. Olof HELLSTEN,
born 1730 in Vrena, Södermanland, Sweden.  He married Catarina WINQVIST (VINQVIST)
She was born in 1732 or 1737 in Stockholm, Sweden.  She died 31 May 1777 in China, Lövo, Stockholm, Sweden.
Olof was a master tailor.

I have not found birth records for him or marriage records for them.  Whether he was the first HELLSTEN, or not, I do not know.


According to Your Swedish Roots, Per Clememsson & Kjell Andersson, 2004, for many years Swedes used a patronymic naming system.
Example:  Olor Andersson’s son Erik would be Erik Olofsson and his daughter would be Britta Olofsdotter.
Some families chose names.  “Many townspeople and others who didn’t want to be perceived as “common folks” or wanted to distance themselves from the peasants adopted special family names. 
 The name was an important social marker. ... Many of these names are composed of features of nature, and they types of family names are sometimes called called “nature names.”  The names are just combinations of nature features; the combinations don’t necessarily make sense, as with Dalberg, which is composed of “dal” (valley) and “berg” (mountain).”

Hellsten is made up of hell meaning “flat rock” and sten meaning “stone.”
Maybe it doesn’t make sense, maybe it described the landscape where they lived at the time.  I remember riding thru the Sweden countryside, parts were rolling hills with lots of stones.


Children:
a. Johan Peter (13 February 1765 - ?)
b. Jonas (21 September 1767- abt 1820)

2. Jonas HELLSTEN,
born 21 September 1767 in Lövo, Stockholm, Sweden he died about 1820.  I have found no information on his wife.

Jonas was a tanner and represented the Tanners Guild as an alderman in Uppsala, Sweden.


In June 1983, Alice Hellsten read the book Uppsala City  History 1786-1862 and sent me the following information about Jonas:
“In March 1793 the 200 year celebration of Uppsala's church meeting  was celebrated as an unusually democratic addition to the procession from  the castle to the cathedral at the side of the magistrate was the  chairman of the Elders, the tanner Jonas Hellsten and store owner Anders  Yttraeus. ... In the spring of 1794 the falisfication of protocol was debated and  the tanner Jonas Hellsten insisted that Yttraeus had falsified it and  should be brought to court and now the interesting thing happened that no  less than 13 of the Bergers who had participated in the meeting of the  Elders immediately agreed with Hellsten. ... In the year 1808 he is mentioned as a newly elected treasurer. ... Around 1790 a number of upperclass citizens brought a complaint that  the water in Fyrisan River was so badly polluted that it was unusable for  all household use.  One person about who it was complained was Jonas  Hellsten and his tannery and it was requested that the tannery should be  moved but Hellsten protested.  And as he belonged to the leaders of the  Elders, it was with a certain degree of relief of the Elders that they  decided they did not have the power to prescribe such a measure that so  strongly interferred with a single member's professional work. .... In 1810 (after the war against Russia) it was discussed about the  payment and release of the soldiers.  They wanted to entice young farm  hands with high salaries to dress in the uniform of the state.  They  wanted to have special agreements with the people who signed up.  It was  felt that this was a difficult job and it was entrusted to a number of  experienced elders and among them was found yet again alderman Hellsten. ... In May 1816 a general council was held and now the cities were  supposed to regulate the salaries for the city workers.  Dyntation should  study this question and among them was found now the old Elder alderman  Hellsten.”


Child:
a. Eric (2 March 1786 - 24 March 1839)

3. Eric HELLSTEN,
born 2 March 1786 in Sweden, died 24 March 1839 in Uppsala, Domkyrkoförsamling, Sweden.  On 6 January 1815 in Norrtälje, Stockholm, Sweden he married Lovisa Charlotta ROBBERT.  She was born 21 August 1795 in Norrtälja, Stockholm, Sweden and died 25 November 1863 in Uppsala, Sweden.

Death of Eric HELLSTEN, 24 March 1839
in Uppsala, Domkyrkofösamling, Sweden.

Like is father, Eric was a tanner.  He had a tannery on the Fyrisån River, maybe the same one his father had before him.  When he died, his youngest child was 4 months old!

Children:
a. Lovisa Charlott (15 October 1815 - 7 November 1890)
b. Ingrid (Mari) Maria (11 February 1817 - 23 Jun 1880)
c. Gustava (Lina) Carolina (4 November 1818 -  21 February 1880)
d. Erica Wilhelmina (2 February 1820 - 27 April 1884)
e. Eric Adolf (27 February 1822 - 4 January 1903)
f. Matilda (Tilda) Bernhardina (22 April 1824 - 23 December 1889)
g. Carl Robert (14 June 1826 - 13 December 1909)
h. Ottiljana Josephina (20 March 1828 - 20 May 1910)
i. Edla Cecilia (25 July 1830 - 13 March 1910)
j. Theodor (Manne) Emanual (1 November 1832 - 9 June 1910)
k. Frans Elof (17 October 1833 - 27 December 1880)
l. Knut Alfred ( 27 January 1836 - 21 November 1891)
m. Oskar Eugén (5 November 1838 - 1 July 1900)

4. Eric Adolf HELSTEN,
born 27 February 1822, Uppsala, Domkyrkoförsamling, Sweden, died in Gaylordsville, Litchfield,  Connecticut on 4 January 1903.  On 12 August 1849 in Patterson, New York he married Mary HEARTY.  She was born in March 1823 in Dorsey, Parish Creggan, County Armagh, Ireland and died 17 September 1902 in Gaylordsville, Litchfield, Connecticut.

Birth of Eric Adolf HELSTEN in
Uppsala, Domkyrkoförsamling, Sweden.

Children:
a. Mary Louisa (7 June 1850 - 23 May 1942)
b. William Henry (7 September 1852 - 22 June 1917)
c. Caroline Matilda (13 February 1855 - 9 December 1918)
d. Sarah Jane (20 July 1860 - ?)

Eric Adolf was was the Eric HELSTEN who immigrated to the United States, changed the spelling of his last name slightly.  He was trained as a tanner in Uppsala and opened a tannery in Gaylordsville.  He is the person who took in John CARLSON and was later sued by John.

5. Caroline Matilda HELSTEN,
born 13 February 1855 in New Milford, Connecticut and died in Danbury, Connecticut on 9 December 1918.  She married  Charles Harold EVANS on 26 May 1881 in New Milford, Connecticut.  He was born 23 May 1853 in Sherman, Connecticut and died 18 February 1928 on the train from Florida to NYC (near Savannah, Georgia).

Children:
a. Harold H (8 January 1883 - 8 May 1884)
b. Clarice Theodora (21 April 1884 - 7 July 1953)
c. Marion Elizabeth (11 February 1886 - 4 July 1974)
d. Howard Eric (7 July  1893 - January 1972)

6. Marion Elizabeth EVANS,
born 11 February 1886 in Sherman, Connecticut and died 4 July 1974 in New Milford, Connecticut.
On 13 September 1913 in Gaylordsville, Connecticut, she married Robert Edward DAKIN.  He was born 2 July 1888 in Gaylordsville, Connecticut and died 15 December 1918 in Danbury, Connecticut.

Children:
a. Robert Edward (25 May 1915 - 26 Ma 1915)
b. Theodore Robert (11 November 1916 - 1972)
c. Edward Evans (28 January 1918 - 10 December 1918)

7. Theodore Robert DAKIN,
born 11 November 1916 in New Haven, Connecticut and died 20 November 1972 in Berwyn, Illinois.  On 8 January 1943 he married Alice Josephine RICHARDSON in Albany New York.  She was born 26 January 1917 in Oak Park, Cook, Illinois and died 16 January 2001 in in Oak Park, Cook, Illinois.