Hi,

Was browsing and stumbled onto a link to Bohuslän Genealogy...Since I
have relatives in both Bohuslän (my favorite part of Sweden) and
Dalsland, I decided to join the group...Now that I've joined, it seems
to be a pretty quiet and deserted group...Anybody out there want to
talk about Bohuslän?...Although English is the default here, I can
converse in simple Swedish.

About me, I'm an American with Swedish roots (my father was born in
Dalsland close to the Norwegian border) and I have a strong interest
in the west coast of Sweden and SE Norway...I'm more interested in
talking about Bohuslän in general than about genealogy because both my
father and relatives have already done a pretty good job with ours
using parish records...In fact, we can trace back 17 generations on my
father's mother's side to Erik Sursill of Ångermanland, the infamous
creator of the foul smelling herring...To make a long story short
about Erik, he got a commission to provide herring to the army...In
preserving the herring, he started cheating on the amount of salt
needed, and as a result, the herring instead started to ferment inside
the barrels...As punishment, the King forced him to permanently change
his name from Ångerman to Sursill, or "sour herring," as the story
goes.

My favorite place in Bohuslän and where my father spent his childhood
summer vacations is the beautiful little island of Tjärnö outside of
Strömstad...My father's uncle, Hilmer Hansson (now deceased), was
Tjärnö's schoolmaster and postmaster...When I visit Sweden, I usually
use Uddevalla as my home base...I like Lysekil, Smögen, Grebbestad,
Strömstad, and all the little seaside towns along the coast.

Rickard Anderson