I have been trying for some time to trace the antecedents of my Swedish maternal great-grandmother, and was very interested in your website.

Her name was Anna Charlotte Johansen. (My mother was sure this is the
correct spelling of her last name, but it may have been Jonsson, and in the US she sometimes went by Johnson.)

She was born May 12, 1882. I am not sure of her birthplace! She always said
she came from Stockholm, but her husband's naturalization papers list her
birthplace as Gothenburg. She has no naturalization papers of her own.

We have an old Swedish bible inscribed "Hilma Jonsson Sörheden {sic}", with an added note "Hilma Josefina died 12 July 1905. She was 19 years, 8 months, 18 days." That would mean she was born 24 Oct 1886. Perhaps she was a sister?

The year of her emigration is a bit of a puzzle, too, I'm afraid. According
to her story, she first visited San Francisco when she was 16, as a
passenger on the maiden voyage of one of her father's ships (he was a
ship-builder). Later, probably around 1903, she came back to San Francisco
via Boston, on another of her father's ships. The 1910 San Francisco census
lists her year of emigration as 1904, and the 1930 census as 1902. The 1920
census, and the passenger list from her 1938 return visit to Sweden, list her
year of emigration as 1903.

She married John James Ross on 8 June 1907 in Oakland, California.

Unfortunately I have almost no family papers to go by, as many have been
lost or destroyed.

I would be most grateful for any help with this puzzle. I feel a very strong
connection to Anna Charlotte, as she is my direct maternal ancestor. I would
be happy to supply you with any additional information that I have.