Wester Descendants

[Rose-Marie Haddad]

I am trying to find descendants of the brother of my great-grandmother (Axelina Wester), Viktor Herman Axel Vilhelm Wester, born 1861 in Stockholm. I suspect he moved to Goteborg in adult life. Axelina Wester may have had other brothers and sisters, and if so, I would also be interested in finding their descendants as well.
Thank-you

[Bo Nordenfors (Nob)]

Rose-Marie;
Viktor is recorded in the DISBYT data base. I have e-mailed the contributor of that item and asked him very gently to help you out.

[Rose-Marie Haddad]

Thank-you very much, Bo.
 
I am of course interested in their ancestry as well. I appreciate your help.
 
Rose-Marie

[Torsten Berglund]

Rose-Marie,
 
Wester is not an unique family name in Sweden - several not related families use and have used this surname. Today 2220 persons in Sweden use the name Wester as their surname, according to the webpage of  Statistics Sweden.  
 
This Wester family, that your great-grandmother Axelina was a member of, has been publiched several times in Swedish genealogical reference books:  
[Viktor Örnberg], Svensk Slägtkalender 1886, p. 312-316;
[Viktor Örnberg]: Svenska Ättartal 1892, p. 485-497;
Karl A. K:son Leijonhufvud: Ny svensk släktbok, 1906, p. 221-232;
Svenska Släktkalendern, volumes 1913, 1914, 1917, 1919, 1936, 1950.
 
This family doesn't belong to the nobility, but several members of the family married members of Swedish noblefamilies. The parents of Axelina was the warden of a prison in Gothenburg, captain Sven Adolf Victor Wester (1828-1911) and Carolina Charlotta (Lotten) Zachau (1822-1904)(about the Zachau family, see Svenska Ättartal 1893, p. 501-509). Victor Wester's grandfather the county treasurer in Värmland county Lars Magnus Wester (1754-1801) was married to Maria Magdalena (Maja) Uggla (1750-1826), the daughter of the nobleman Georg Gustaf Uggla, (Swedish noblefamily n:o 100). According to Viktor Örnberg, Svenska Ättartal 1892, p. 486-487, Maja Uggla was a decendant to the Swedish king Karl Knutsson (Bonde) (1409-1470).
 
Your great-grandmother Axelina had three brothers:
- Victor Herman Axel Wilhelm Wester (1861-  ), stockbroker, Mariestad, who was unmarried.
- Carl Victor Louis Wester (1862-1939), part owner in wholesale firm Berner&Nielsen in London, married 1st 1885 (divorced) to Maria Elisabeth Charlotta Lillehöök af Gälared och Kolbäck (noblefamily n:o 66) (1858-1932), and married 2nd 1915 to countess Catharina Emilia Charlotta Ottiliana (Carin) Cronhielm af Hakunge (1886-  ) (count's family n:o 69). In the two marriages he got 5 children (Alice, Percy, Daisy, Violet, Dollie).  
- Sven Adolf Victorsson Wester (1865-), engineer in Bristol, CT, USA. Married 1906 to Ulrika Josefina (Riken) Larson (1873-). One daughter Charlotte (1907-) married 1929 to Carl Borg, engineer in Bristol, CT.

[Rose-Marie Haddad]

Thank-you so much for the information, and the references. I will be going to the library next week to see about getting some of these books on Inter-library loan! I very much appreciate your help!

[Rose-Marie Haddad]

I notice that there is a difference made between count's family and noble family above. Does that mean that counts are not considered nobility? And also - is it possible then that the family legend that Axelina Wester was a countess was actually correct?

[Steve Palmquist]

Hi Rose-Marie Haddad:
 
No families of counts are of course noble families aswell, but ranked higher than for example barons or untitled nobelmen (and women) in the old hierarchic system. There are differences aswell in different countries and within different systems around in Europe.
 
Sincerely yours: Steve Palmquist

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

Rose-Marie,
 
You ask whether it is possible that the family legend that Axelina Wester was a countess was correct, so I thought I'd try to clarify. As Torsten pointed out, the family didn't belong to the nobility, even though some family members were married to nobles (so they must've moved in similar circles).
 
Torsten also mentioned that Axelina's great grandfather was married to a nobleman's daugher. If this lady was Axelina's great grandmother then she certainly had some noble ancestors, but she couldn't be noble by birth other than if her father was a nobleman, which he wasn't. Based on this information, the only way Axelina could've been a countess is if she married a count.

[Rose-Marie Haddad]

Thank-you everyone for the information you so kindly gave. I tried Inter-Library loan for the Swedish Genealogy books referred to above, and they are not available in any public library in Canada. Is there any way I can get the information on the Wester family that is in them? I have been looking for information on the Internet, and have some for parts of the family, but much of the information conflicts with other on the same person.  
Rose-Marie Haddad