So, Alex Ross wonders whether Kansas Governer Kathleen Sebelius is related to composer Jean Sibelius.
I haven’t had time this week for my planned “real” post, so ok, I’ll bite. Being a bit of a genealogy nerd, I have access to some resources, and here’s the answer:
I don’t know.
But, I do know these things:
- Jean Sibelius, although known as a Finnish composer, was ethnically Swedish (as many Finns are today; Finland is a bilingual Finnish/Swedish-speaking country).
- Governor Sebelius’ husband Gary is the great grandson of a Christian Sebelius, who identifies Sweden as his birthplace in the 1900 Census
- Gary Sebelius’ grandfather, Carl, was a dentist. No real value here, but isn’t it kind of creepy that I can find that out?
No luck figuring out where in Sweden Christian came from. But, he was a contemporary of Jean Sibelius (whose real name, interestingly, was Johan Julius Christian Sibelius). Jean Sibelius was born in Hämeenlinna, which was part of Russia at the time, not Sweden.
Still, dollars to doughnuts, they are related, if distantly. That’s my educated hunch. Regardless, I agree with Mr. Ross that it would be lovely to have a president named Sebelius.
I do loves me some Sibelius.
Related Goodies
- Sibelius scores
- Sibelius 1865 1905 (referred to below in comments)
- More books about Sibelius
13 Responses to “Sebelius and Sibelius”
Intriguing speculation, but there are a few things you got, if not wrong, not quite right.
Sibelius was not “ethnically” Swedish as he had ancestors both swedish and finnish, although more on the Swede side. this was alarming to some Finnish nationalists who tried to prove he was of entirely Finnish stock!
Even though finland is officially bilingual, the swedish speaking population has shrunk to a small sliver of the whole.The family name does not go back very far as rural families in Scandinavia and Finland until the 19th century tended to use the patrynomic system rather than have last names. For example, if you were baptised Jan and your father was an Olaf, your full name would have been Jan Olafsson.
When the need for last names arose-for example a son leaving the farm and going to a city to study–often place and village names were pressed into service. The Latin -ius ending was very popular throughout Sweden and Finland for last name making, especially in families trying to appear sophisticated and upperly mobile, so you took the name of your farm, “Sibbe,” and added the suffix.
Some family in Sweden probably did this with “Sebbe”, so its improbable that the governor and the composer are related, although not impossible.
True, I was a little casual with the use of the word “ethnic”. But, as far as I know, Sibelius grew up in a Swedish-speaking household, which is as good a criterion as any for determining ethnicity.
Interesting about the “-ius” surname ending; I’d often wondered about that.
Given the frequency of name spellings being altered during the course of immigration and for other reasons, I hadn’t even considered the possibility that these could be two separate surnames. I’d assumed, and still do, that they are spelling variations of the same name. My own family name is actually Kolkin, for example.
I just took a look at some family trees available online. If you search on “Sebelius” you do see an occasional “Sibelius” in the tree and vice versa. For example, there’s an Anders Sebelius, b. 1712, whose father was Niels Sibelius, and whose children’s names were also Sibelius.
Hard to know the reason for that. Literacy wasn’t as commonplace in those days, so some people weren’t all that concerned with the spelling of their own names.
So, I’m still inclined to think it’s the same surname.
I had a peek at Eric Tawastjerna’s very comprehnsive bio of Sibelius and it seems that his Grandfather, Johan, was the one who adopted the name “Sibelius” in 1801 when he was 16, so its unlikely that the Swedish Sibelius clan from the 1700’s could have been related to the Finnish family which didn’t exist as Sibelius’s yet.
Yeah. That would settle it then. Thanks for filling in the gaps.
Hi, I live in Sweden and I am actually a descendant of the mentioned Anders Sebelius. I agree that theres a possibility that there could be a connection between the two families, but it is two different families. If there’s a connection it is very vague and a lot further back than the 1700’s.
Jean Sibelius great grandfather was called Johan Mattsson, and was born in 1757 Sibbe, Kappelby parish. I suppose that it is in Finland. The Swedish family Sebelius is descended from a Christian Nilsson Lacander (d. 1694), his son, who was a cantor, took the name Sibelius after the village Sibbarp in Halland County in Sweden. It was actually Denmark a couple of decades earlier. His great grandson Anders changed the spelling to Sebelius. Sweden didn’t have any laws about names at that stage and spelling could vary. All descendants spell the name with an e. I suppose that Keith is actually a distant relative of mine. I don’t know which Christian is Keiths great grandfather, it’s actually quite a common name in the family.
I was just reading your article.The artilce from Dan Nilson caught my eye.I am also a descendant of Anders Sebelius. He was my 6th great grandfather.
Anders 1712-1780
Jacob 1742-1800
Anders 1775-1842
Nils P. 1821-1886
Andrew N. 1849-1903
Arthur 1883-1942
Orvel H. 1914-1985
Marion Miller(Sebelius) 1940
This could get really interesting.
Hi,
As far as I know there is no connection to the composer Sibelius.
I have tracked the Sebelus family far back in time.
They are related to one of Denmarks oldest noble families Kjerulf.
My great great great grandmother was born Sebelius 1795. It’s correct that they where named after the little village Sebbarp in Halland Sweden. The named is constructed as for most clergy names in Sweden at that time. First the place and than the ending (el)ius so it’s sound like latin. Former was the family called Laholmius after the Town Laholm. A rural dean had such a bad character so his sons changed name after a indeacent song was created in his name.All of theis and much more will be posted on my website during the spring.
Anders Albjorn, Stockholm Sweden
I got onto this thread also wondering if the Governor and composer were related. I found everything quite interesting and was just wondering about that Sibbe, Kappelby Parish which Dan Nillson said he presumed was in Finland. I know Finland quite well and was not familiar at all with anything very close to this. A Google search asked me if I didn’t mean Karleby, which is the Swedish name for the Finnish city of Kokkola on the west coast of Finland. This city is in an area with a large number of Swedish-speaking Finns. I don’t know if this is the same place, however.
Hi, I see that my comments have generated some responses. I found Jean Sibelius genealogy on the swedish genealogy site http://www.genealogi.se, and it was there that i found the references to Sibbe in Kappelby parish Jean’s grandfather who was born in that place was a member of the council of Loviisa so I suppose the place Kappelby is close in the municipality Lapinjärvi (called Lappträsk i swedish). This is in the south of Finland. Sibelius actually have very few swedishborn ancestors, though most of the have swedish names - people changed to more finnish sounding names in the national romantic era, they Finnicized their swedish names.
I suppose that Sibbe isn’t more than a farm since the parish Kappelby is hard to find.
well i am related to him he is my great great great uncle my grand father was telling me about it today thought it was interesting
I am also related to
Anders Sebelius born 1712 (6th g grandfather)
Jacobn 1742
Anders 1775
Olaf 1802
Isak 1848
Frederik 1883
Graham 1920
My surname changed to Heideman when Olaf took his wifes name she was Brita Christina HeidemanI would also like to know if there is any connection with the composer
Greetings from Finland. Fascinating to follow this thread. I would just emphasize the difference between being an “ethnic” Swede and speaking Swedish as a mother tongue: it’s like calling English-speaking Americans “ethnically English”! The Swedish speakers of Finland don’t see themselves as Swedes but as Finns, though they share something together. You might say, at most, that they are ethnically Swedish-speaking-Finns. In any case, Sibelius was a key contributor of the Finnish national awakening and cultural Golden Age and his music is seen as capturing a uniquely Finnish spirit.
There is only one familly Sibelius/Sebelius. In the 17:th century there was a priest (Nils Christiansson SIBELIUS) in Sibbarp in Sweden that took the name Sibelius. One of his children spelled his name with an e instead of an i and that is why there are two different spellings of one familly name. Accordinly, Kansas Governer Kathleen Sebelius is related to the composer Jean Sibelius.
See also webpage:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1115051&id=I1952Sincerely, Sara Sebelius
