My fifth-great-grandfather Carl/Charles William Tornquist Sr. was originally from Öland, Kalmar, Sweden. His name is various spelled Karl/Carl/Charles, Vilhelm/William/Valhalm, and Turnquest/Tornquist/Turnquist/Tornquest in Bahamian records.

I know that he was born in 1776 on Öland and received British citizenship in the Bahamas in either 1814 or 1819. He died in the Bahamas in 1842. His wife was Mary Eliza Darvill of the Bahamas, and they had four children:

* Charles William Turnquest, Jr. (b. February 21, 1813 in Stevens, Long Island, Bahamas - d. March 17, 1876 on Long Island)
* Mary Eliza Stevens Turnquest Knowles (b. July 8, 1781 in Nassau)
* James Edward Turnquest (b. c. 1816 in Steven's - d. September 25, 1871)
* John Robertson Turnquest, Sr. (b. c. 1820 in Steven's - d. November 29, 1886)

I have been unable to find any other details on him in Sweden, which is what I'd really like.

Can anyone help me track down this mystery ancestor? Is there any particular settlement on Öland that is historically known for being home to Tornqvists?

Hi Ashley,

Good to see another descendant of Öland posting on the board.

There's a genealogy group called PLF Oskarshamn, located in Oskarshamn on the mainland, opposite of Öland. They have transcribed the b/m/d records for the island. The CD costs 150 SEK + 50 SEK shipping. It's CD-4 in the series:

http://www.plfoskarshamn.se/sv/cd-skivor/cd-skiva-4/

Looking at my copy, I found:

By birth year (1776): No children with the name of Carl, 1 with the name of Karl Peter. Record shows birth of 31 JUL 1776. Father is Magnus Slettberg. 9 children were unnamed out of 736 in the year.

I tried the following variations of Tornquist for the father's surname in a birth record, regardless of year.

Tornquist:
2 children. Parishes: Högsrum & Hulterstad.

Törnquist:
32 children. Parishes: Högby, Algutsrum, Högsrum, Hulterstad, Torslunda, Köping, Egby. Högsrum has the most births.

Tornqvist:
4 children. Parishes: Högsrum, Köping, Glömminge.

Törnqvist:
140 children. Parishes: Köping, Algutsrum, Glömminge, Runsten, Föra, Torslunda, Sandby, Löt, Persnås, Borgholm, Gårdby, Räpplinge, Vickleby, Bredsåtra, Resmo. Fairly evenly distributed throughout the parishes.

FYI: Törnqvist was used as a military name. Maybe Carl or his dad were in the navy? Soldiers db: soldat.dis.se

No records on the British side show a DOB or parent's names etc.? Any rumors of Carl being in the merchant marine?

Good luck,

Wade

Wade,

Thank you so, so much for your reply!

No, none of his British documents so far contain any information about his parentage. 1776 is given as his birth date (no month/date survives; perhaps he was hiding from something?) on his citizenship records and most others I've found. However, I've seen other documents saying 1770, 1774, and 1778, so this might be the type of thing where I have to look at records from each year from that decade. I do know for certain that he died in 1842 in the Bahamas.

It's not clear how he arrived in the Bahamas, but family lore is that he was one of the sailors recruited by a British trading vessel on a voyage to either the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico. I have read some historical accounts that say that type of recruitment along the islands of Sweden was common. But again, that's just lore without verification.

One participant in the Bahamas DNA Project found a connection to people from both Sweden and Finland, but my understanding is that that would be quite normal due to the large Swedish population of western and southern Finland?

I'm afraid Carl might have to remain a mystery. There are many of us from the Bahamas chasing him down, but he's such a difficult one.

Is that disc in English? I don't want to spend $30(USD) on something I can't use.

Thank you again!

-- Ashley

"Is that disc in English? I don't want to spend $30(USD) on something I can't use."

I don't have that cd. However, I own many other Swedish cds. Some are both in Swedish and English and others are only in Swedish.

I have been able to install using Swedish directions (I pray as I do it because I'm guessing a bit as I click.) and I've had little to no trouble using the cds in Swedish.

Most of us are not fluent in Swedish and yet we can handle the Swedish cds and the Swedish parish records with little difficulty.

Judy

Hi Ashley,

I'll second Judy's reply on working with the Swedish language, it's not that difficult. You don't need to be fluent, just aware of some basic words for vital records, etc. And it shows respect for the Swedish people & culture. The native Swedes on this board make a big effort, it's nice to meet them at least half way. On the other hand, if you are in the US, many of us are having tough economic problems and spending time & money on a CD may seem like a luxury.

The reason I asked about the merchant marine connection is that the island was totally reliant on shipping and of the dozen or so churches I've been to on the island, they all had a model sailing ship hanging over the pews. Joining the merchant marine was a great way for a dirt poor person to see the world and find greener pastures. My gg grandfather signed up for the Swedish merchant marine as a teenager, sailed the world a couple of times, got thrown off ship for theft and jumped at least once in France.

Your family's lore about Carl signing up with a British ship makes perfect sense. I've read that the British & American ships paid better than the Scandinavians, so that's one reason sailors jumped ship. I suspect that Carl originally signed up in the Swedish merchant marine as a teenager. The closest seaman's house (hiring hall, dispute resolution & retirement programs) would have been the Kalmar Sjömanshus, in the city of Kalmar on the mainland, directly across from Öland. The seaman's houses kept excellent records and the records for Kalmar are located at the Vadstena Regional Archives in the city of Vadstena. You can contact the archives and hire a researcher for 400 SEK an hour, I believe, and it should only take 1 hour of research. It was common for merchant marine sailors to use their patronymic names, having a name like Törnqvist, if Carl used that surname, would make it easy to find his record. Records of the 1850's yield birth year, birth parish & parish of residence of the sailor. I suppose records of ~1800 would yield the same information, althought I've never seen one of that period.

If you don't want to do your own research, I'll broaden the search for Carl's birth from 1770-80 on the PLF CD.

Another thing that came to mind: there's a Finnish island named Åland between Sweden & Finland. Which might explain your DNA tests. Are you sure that Carl was from Öland & not Åland?

Wade