Axel Weckström (Helsingfors)

[Rikki Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Rikki]

Axel Weckström was born May 15, 1883 in Helsingfors. Between 1900 and 1908, Timmerman Weckström was stationed in England under a Captain Degerholm and went back to Helsingfors on a regular basis. In 1910, he and another young fellow, decided to emigrate to the US. Axel sailed from Liverpool on the Tunician (Tunisian?) and arrived in Buffalo, NY about August 9, 1910. He evidently came across the US on the Canadian Pacific Railway and settled in Astoria, Oregon, where he filed a Declaration of Intention on July 28, 1911.

I am looking for any records or data in Helsinki that might give me more data about Axel and his family. I believe he left a couple sisters and his mother in Helsinki.

Anybody have any ideas?

[Gita Wiklund Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Gita Wiklund]

Hi Rikki,

I don´t know if this might help any, but in Helsinki some Weckströms was listed in the Helsingfors Stads adresskalender
1888-89:

http://www.genealogia.fi/hakem/kalenterit/os1888wr.htm

Names and addresses to people who lived in Helsinki these years are listed. And also their title/ profession. It´s written in swedish. If you know the first name of his mother or father, the initials might help you find the right Weckström. Maybe it´s a longshot but...Good luck!

You can also contact the National archive with your question. Just give them the birth date and full name and all you know about the location of his birth, and tell them what you need to know. They will tell you what options you have and if they can make any copies and to what cost.

Postal address:
PB 258
00171 Helsingfors
Tfn (09) 228521
Fax (09) 176302
riksarkivet%40narc.fi

Gita

[Rikki Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Rikki]

Thanks

Gita --

I'll send a query off tomorrow to the National Archive. Do they have an English version web site that describes their holdings?

Thanks!

R.

[Rikki Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Rikki]

duh!

Gita --

Just saw the link. ;-)

R.

[Cathy Fastabend Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Cathy Fastabend]

Hi Rikki,
Don't know Weckström but Nyman from Astoria sounds familiar.
Anyway it's nice to know somebody in the neighborhood knows what a Swedish-Finn is!
Cathy

[Rikki Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Rikki]

Weckström=>Wickstrom

Cathy --

There were a few Nymans in Astoria. Weckström was the spelling on his signature when he got off the boat in 1910. By 1924 it had morphed into Wickstrom. Axel was my grandfather's business partner, but I wonder if they might not have been cousins. They knew each other in Finland, but came over separately. So many questions, so little time!

R.

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

There was a Wickström family, considered one of the pioneer automobile families in the US. I have an article about them, and one of their relatives is a member of SFHS - Her name is Margaret Wickstrom Keysor. If you have the SFHS member directory, you'll find her there. Otherwise, I can send her address separately. Her mother was from Helsingfors and gf from Kvevlax.

[Rikki Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Rikki]

Weckström

June --

I've the directory. I'll add Margaret to my list letters and email to write and send her what I have. Maybe she knows of a connection there. One thing I do know about Axel was he loved driving in California. This would have been during WWI and the 20s.

R.