Interesting Saturday

I usually don't get out of bed at 6 a. m. on Saturdays, but today I did. The annual genealogy conference/fair hosted by the Swedish Society for Genealogists was held in Halmstad, and to get there in time I had to catch an early train. In fact, it was the very first northbound train today. Needless to say, it was very interesting to see the displays of books and databases for sale, the different on-line subscriptions to church records, the local historical societies showing their new publications and so on. I brought the "impossible" research questions, hoping that someone in some database would find an answer. I wasn't really successful, but got some new leads on where to look further. I also bought a few books (it's hard to resist) and the latest version of the Swedish passenger lists on CD. The library was open, and I went there to check the local collection. My great grandparents on my father's side used to live in Halmstad. The wife, Johanna, sold cheese in the market place and her husband, Carl Johan Kristiansson, sailed the seven seas. I looked for them in the books on Halmstad, but didn't find anything. It will require some more archive research here, I think. But it was a very nice library, brand new. Summing up, the day has been quite interesting and I'm glad I managed to get out of bed so early.