Well, let’s hope I complete more of 2019 than I did for 2018. So the goal is more than 13. Wish me luck.

Here we go Week 1 – the prompt FIRST…For this I decided to concentrate on my husband’s family and his Norwegian Great-Great Grandfather Neils Osborne.  I always thought the Osborne was Irish but guess not.

Neils Osborne was borne in December 1855 in Norway. We have no parental information and have not been able to find a passenger record for him yet. Sadly his death certificate lists no parents either.

Neils first appears in New York in the NYS Census for 1892 in Brooklyn and is a laborer along with his wife Bergetti and son John.

We can trace Neils through Censuses, City Directories and sadly his death certificate. He lived on Furman Street in Brooklyn almost all of his time in the United States and held the occupations of laborer, Grocer, Day Laborer, Longshoreman. He never became a citizen, though in the 1900 Census he is listed as PA meaning a petition was filed though I have not found it.

We have a range of immigration dates from 1880 – 1886 according to census records. We also have a range of marriage dates of 1870-1880.

We last find Neils in the 1930 Census living with his son John, on Wyckoff Street in Brooklyn. He is listed as Elmer and let me say that led me on a wild goose chase. Sadly Bergetti is not listed.

He and his wife only had one child who survived to adulthood John Osborne. Neils and Bergetti died within 6 months of each other in 1930 and are buried in Canarsie Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Before finding Neils, my husband had heard rumors of Norwegian ancestry and Neils and Bergetti are them. We are beginning to do research on where the Osborne name came from along with hopefully finding the parents of Neils at some juncture.