Our Surname
Lindgren is a Swedish surname for many families across Scandinavian countries and the United States. According to Wikipedia, approximately 58% of people using Lindgren as a surname live in Sweden. Because of emigration in the mid-1800s, the United States is home to another 26%, followed by significant numbers in Finland, Norway, Denmark and Canada.
In the United States, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota all are represented by many families with the Lindgren surname. In the days of the old Bell System telephone books, the Minneapolis book held several pages of Lindgrens.
Lanyon, Iowa area Lindgrens — descendants of John and Frank Lindgren — will populate this site with genealogical records as well as documents of interest. John emigrated to America in 1890 and changed his surname from Petersson to Lindgren. When his brother Frank arrived two years later, he too adopted the Lindgren surname. Why Lindgren? Well, we just don’t know. Perhaps our connections through this website will someday reveal the answer. One theory advanced by Aunt Irene Elisabeth Lindgren Lessing Dahlen in the Family Album she assembled, Lindgren translated to “Linden Tree”.
Navigation
The Main Menu has recently been revised with a goal of making it easier to find information. Genealogy is a separate menu item and contains important links to tables, charts and sources. The included tables will contain additional links to both internal and external sources. These internal sources will include both pages and posts. Pages contain permanent, factual information about people and places, while posts are contemporaneous narratives reflecting the views of contributors. Additionally, categories for posts have been established. About a half dozen recent posts are highlighted. These are accessed from the menu items at the bottom of a page, or post. Each post may also use tags to establish connections for reference. Posts may or may not include provision for comment. All comments are screened or modulated before going live.
Our Families menu recognizes both lineages of Frank and Amy Lindgren and John and Lizzie Lindgren, as well as The Johnson’s. Our part in the Swedish diaspora is recognized by including both our Swedish ancestry and the proliferation of surnames with which we are connected through marriages.
Our Memories menu includes the important “I Remember …” documents with wonderful stories about Frank and Amy Lindgren by their children and contributions from Nellie Anderson (Amy’s sister) and the oldest grandchild, Richard Lindgren, MD, who has also collected a wide range of documents about farming in Iowa as well as the historical records of the Mission Covenant Church that played such a prominent role in the life of Lanyon. .
The sitemap lists all posts and pages, as well as categories and tags. All sitemap entries are clickable so that you can view the page or post. Clicking on a category or a tag will display all of the linked items on the website. Unfortunately, the sitemap is not annotated and titles are an imperfect way to search for relevant information.
The search button at the top right of pages is quite effective in locating pages and posts containing any names and places of interest.
Throughout the website, we use active links to both internal pages and posts as well as external sources accessible through the Internet.
An effort is underway to establish a YouTube Channel that will enable the storage and streaming of relevant video.
Registration
Register if you would like to be informed about progress and new additions to the site. We hope to maintain many opportunities for communication. Our family has a legacy extending back over 100 years of keeping in contact with relatives. Two sisters of Frank and John, Selma and Jennie, were encouraged to emigrate through letters. Years later the children of Frank Lindgren organized a serial exchange of current family news through a Round Robin. The Round Robin continues through email distribution. Contact us to be included in our Round Robin distribution list.
If you are a member of this family and would like access to records that have not been made public, please contact Bruce for current information.
Our Heritage Sources
These pages will continue to develop as new information emerges from our connections and new or renewed contacts. We hope you will enjoy seeing our progress.
There are multiple source documents that will be accessed from these page. These sources will include records and photographs that have been collected. Our Aunt Irene—assembled the famous Family Album—now retained by Steve Lindgren. Other sources may include Richard Lindgren (the oldest grandchild of Frank and Amy Lindgren) and his daughter Amy Gfesser, Jonathon Coss and his sister Linnae Coss, Jim Carey and others.
The following represent some currently accessed sources.
- The Family Album Collection
- The old Website materials mostly curated by Linnae Coss, especially the “I Remember …” documents.
- Linnae Coss Contemporaneous Family Records
- Jim Carey Genealogy Studies
- Jonathan Coss Genealogy Studies.
- Richard Lindgren’s collection of Lanyon, IA History.
- John W. Johnson has access to an archive of Johnson family clippings, photographs and letters held by his sister.
- Dick Lindgren, and his son Chris, have recently contributed new records.
Contributors
- Jonathan Lindgren Coss, editor, New Rochelle, NY.
- Steven Obed Lindgren, editor, Bloomington, MN.
- David Charles Lindgren, editor, Stillwater, MN.
- Jon Gilmore Lindgren, editor, Des Moines, IA.
- Linnae Coss, advisor & curator, Philadelphia, PA.
- Pat Heath, writer & curator, Tulsa OK.
- John W. Johnson, curator, San Francisco, CA.
- Richard Lindgren, curator, Madison, WI.
- Chris Lindgren, curator, Adel, IA.
- Jay Lindgren, contributor & curator, Denver,CO
NOTE: This new post was recently modified. The post carried the unusual LONet, which is my shorthand or abbreviation for the much longer www.lindgrensonline.net.