HERMANSON

Hermanson Family

The surname seems to be or North German, Danish and / or Norwegian origin...derived from the personal name Herman.

Earliest Place of Origin traced:  Källstad, Östergötland, Sweden

Most of the original research done into our branch of the Hermanson family was done by Blanche Hermanson (nee Eastham) in the mid to late 1970's, so the sources of the original Hermanson information in the tree are all thanks to her.

Sweden's historical patronymic naming system has been a challenge in following the Hermanson family tree, for example 'our' Hermansons only became known as Hermanson when Walfrid Theodore Johansson HERRMAN emigrated to South Africa in 1896.  His children became Hermanson, although it appears that his father and grandfather had standardised on the HERRMAN surname as far back as 1818.  Other families linked to our Swedish research changed surnames as often as every generation, sometimes even within generations.

In recent years, ArkivDigital have made original Swedish records more accessible, and of a more legible quality, for example, this ArkivDigital image of the baptism of Johannes HERMAN, 1798.  Thanks to these records I've been able to obtain considerably more information about the Hermanson family tree than had been previously possible.

Walfrid Theodore Herman, b 1878 & Ethel Maud Seller, b 1883

Walfrid Theodore HERRMAN emigrated from Sweden to South Africa in 1896, he is said to have married Ethel Maud SELLER in Cape Town on 24 Jan 1901. However, further research has indicated that they actually married under 'special license' on 13 Sep 1901 in East London, South Africa!  A small mystery here is that Ethel's name on the marriage document shows up as 'Edith'.

Their daughter, Faith Ruby COWLIN, nee Hermanson, told me a story of how her mother, Ethel Maud Seller, met her father, Walfrid Theodore Herrman ... apparently he took up residence in her mother, Elizabeth Seller's, boarding house in East London ... apparently young Ethel Maud Seller welcomed this new Swedish occupant to the house with an apple-pie bed!

My current 'brick wall' in Hermanson research is my inability to adequately translate the Swedish records I've obtained, so much of the information in them is undecipherable to me.

Top Surnames linked to the our branch of the HERMANSON family appearing in this tree...

Cowlin    Eastham    Rose    Stewart    Seller