52 Ancestors - Week 9: Is it Ellen or Ann?

This week has been the week of questions......... I first noticed a single anomaly in the information available about my 2x great grandmother........Mrs. Levi Jackman. 

It started out with:   Where was Ann Jackman actually born?   And has grown to many more questions!

Carterton New Zealand

Let's start at the beginning.     I saw a mention that my 2x Great Grandmother Ann Jackman was born in New Zealand.   

New Zealand?   Huh?   

I had her down as being born in Utah.     Not to mention my DNA results put my ancestry solidly in Denmark/England/Ireland/Sweden.   

Ann was born in either 1879 or 1880 so I suspect that movement between Sweden and New Zealand and Utah is not particularly easy, nor common.

After recently attending RootsTech - I decided to use some of my new found knowledge and approach this like a real genealogist and create a research log to lay this all out and see if I could find answer.....

• 1900 census says she was born in Utah.
• 1910 census says she was born in New Zealand, but wait - that was lined through and it says Pacific Isles.
• 1920 census says she was born in New Zealand.
• Death Certificate says she was born in New Zealand

There is a big difference between New Zealand and Utah.  So how is New Zealand possible?   

One record mentions her mother is Danish and was born on the island of Sjælland, which is written in English as Zealand.   Maybe someone got Zealand in Denmark confused with New Zealand?    

Her father is listed pretty consistently as being born in Sweden.   

How did someone from Sweden end up meeting someone from Denmark in the 1800's?   And why on earth would either be in New Zealand?

Elsinore Utah

I see on the 1910 census that another Peterson is listed as as wife to another Jackman living next door.   A quick check tells me this is Ann's sister Mary and Levi's brother Reuben Oliver.

Quick check of her census records shows similar confusion between Utah, Pacific Isles and New Zealand.

OK........7687687987 searches later things are getting even more interesting.....

• Is her name Ann?  Anna?  Anne? Annie? or is it Ellen??????
• Is her middle name Margaret or Marguerite?
• Was she born in 1879 or 1880?
• Did she come to the United States in 1892?  1893?  1894?
• Is her last name Peterson or Petersen?
• Is her father's name Charles?  Chas?  Carl?  or Karl?
• One site tells me that many immigrants changes their names to be more English.    It used Charles Peterson as an example and indicated that the last name in Sweden may have been Pedersen, Peddersen or August. 
• Is her father's last name August?   Or is that his middle name?
• Is her mother's name Ane?  Anna?  Annie?

Pacific Islands

Here is where I am as of today.

I learned that between 1871 and 1874 there was an assisted immigration program in place in Sweden which encouraged young families and single people to move and settle in New Zealand.  Similar programs were going on in Denmark, Finland, England and Germany.     This gives a possible way where 2 people from different countries could have met and married and started a family so far away.

I found records on the New Zealand Birth, Death and Marriage site of a marriage between Charles August Petersen and Anna Sofia Hansen in 1874 - which matches most of the references to this couple and their marriage date.     I found mentions on the same site for all of Ann's brothers and sisters who were also supposedly born in New Zealand. 

Except - I found no record of Ann.   I did find a record of an Ellen Margaret born to Charles August Petersen and Anna Sofia in 1879.  Supposedly Ann was born in 1879 or 1880 - depending on where you look.

I went ahead and ordered the print outs for the marriage between Charles August Petersen and Ann Sofia Hansen - to see what information may show up.  I also ordered Ellen's birth print out from New Zealand.   I'm eagerly, and not so patiently, awaiting additional information.     

Must.  Solve.  The.  Puzzle!!!!!