Eric, You have a twofold problem. First Johnson is the second most frequently occurring surname in the US. Second, in your case, it is Scandinavian in origin where the dates of interest precede 1900. Which means that it is very difficult to distinguish your Johnson line from the gazillion other Johnson lines out there, and the line probably does not remain Johnson (at least going backwards) for even another generation. Once you start tracing names back to the old country (Sweden), surnames are likely to start changing every generation. Your gggrandfather probably changed his name from any of a half dozen similarly sounding Swedish names such as Johansson, Jansson, Jönsson, Jonasson, Jodnesson and a few others, where Johansson is the most likely but certainly not guaranteed. Further, the practice of patronymics did not end in Sweden until the latter half of the 19th century. Therefore Erik's father could have a name such as Johan(nes) Andersson whose male children would all be named <somebody> Johansson and female children would all be named <somebody> Johansdotter. One further point of interest, unlike surnames, women retained their patronymic following marriage, they did not take their husband's patronymic. From a gender standpoint this system seems more equitable, however from a genealogical standpoint it is equitable in the sense that all lines are equally difficult to research <g>. If you are not already familiar with it, the indispensable reference guide for Swedish genealogy is: Cradled in Sweden by Carl-Erik Johansson ISBN: 9996668886 Available through Amazon.com, Barns and Noble and other specialty book stores. There are also a number of Scandinavian and specifically Swedish mailing lists which you may also wish to consult. A list of these mailing lists can be found at: http://members.aol.com/gfsjohnf/gen_mail_country-swe.html#SWEDES Regards, Eric H. Johnson > Hello, My name is Eric and I am helping from Grandmother who has had a > health set back. The other day we got some info about my gggrandfather > Erik August Johnson who came to Kansas in 1881. We found out he had 4 > brothers, of which 2 came to US that we know. Carl or Karl Johnson age > 20 came in 1886 headed for Ridgway,PA and Olof age 30 and wife > Charlotte age 26 Johnson came in 1887 headed for Worthington, not sure > what state as I found at least 4. But know Erik did have a brother end > up in MN, so could be there. Any one have these Johnson's in their > line.? Thank you for any help or ideas. Eric