Untangling Båtsman Johan Duhan, 52 Ancestors

Mea Culpa

When I first researched my 5th great-grandfather, Johan Duhan, the information just didn't feel right. The pieces of the puzzle weren't quite comfortable. Yet I shared the results in my online family trees and on my web site. That information was copied by other people into their trees. My conclusions were wrong and the errors will likely survive online forever. I apologize to any and all who copied my erroneous conclusions.

When Johan became a sailor in the Swedish Navy, he also received a new surname -- the same military name as the båtsman before him and the one after him. The Duhan (Duån) surname was assigned to the Nybble rote, rather than to the person (see cultural background). This led to the inability to identify the men and relationships within the church records. This post is intended as an apology and also a reference to help prevent cousins (and not cousins) from having to duplicate my work.

When I first completed my research on the Båtsman Johan Duhan, there were three birth years, four wives and four families. Later Swedish records were very exact when recording birth dates, but the records of the 1700s were vague. The parish of Vårdinge has many gaps in the church records and I have not found any pertinent probate records. I was left with missing puzzle pieces. Did one man have four wives or did four men have one wife each? Or was there some other explanation for the discrepancies in the life of Johan Duhan?

The military records were not indexed, so I put them on the bottom of my to do list, where they stayed for over ten years. That was my mistake. In contrast to some sparse Swedish military records, these specific båtsmän lists were a wonderful resource which provided clarity.

For the casual reader, the simple answer was that there were two men and five wives. For cousins, let's dig into several men named Duhan, starting with the man who was my ancestor and ending with a surprise from the records.

Here are quick links to each man:

Jacob Jånsson Duhan (1697-1744)

Johan Johansson Duhan (1698-1759)

Johan Gustafsson Duan (1719-1758)

Johan Larsson Duhan (1720-1788)

Johan Duhan (1722-1722)

Anders Ersson Duhan (1746-1783)

Eric Duhan (1766-179x)

 

Johan Larsson Duhan (1720-1788)

Why would a 40-year-old family man lie about his age to join the military during a time of war? The Seven Years' War was raging around the world in 1759, but Johan Larsson must have thought that the benefits would outweigh the risks. Johan had suffered the loss of two children, a wife and possibly an unborn child, all within five years. It appears that the piece of land where he farmed at Lilla Bysta was not a great place to raise a family. It was a small piece of land on a shore of Southern Lake Yngern, in Stockholm County, and may have had depleted or poor soil. Johan lived the hard life of a crofter, leasing his small farm through his labor.

 

Marriage One

There is no known surviving record of Johan's birth or of his marriage to Brita Pehrsdotter. The couple first appeared in the church records of Turinge parish with the birth of a stillborn son in 1750.

• Daughter Anna arrived on 21 June 1751. Her fate is unknown after appearing with her father on the tax list for 1787.
• Baby Catharina followed in 1754 and died at three months old.

Brita Pehrsdotter died in 1755. The cause was childbirth, though a baby was not recorded at the same time, probably dying unborn with Brita. 

 

Marriage Two and Becoming a Båtsman

Johan remarried to Kerstin Olofsdotter on 11 November 1756. 

• Baby Anders was born a year later, on 31 October 1757.

In September, 1758, the Nybble båtsman, named Johan Duhan, died while assigned to the Naval facility at Karlskrona. Being a sailor on a Naval vessel was probably safer than being in the Army, so Johan Larsson bravely accepted the vacant position. It is possible that he was related to and recommended by another båtsman who had previously moved between the two parishes.

The Nybble (Nibble/Nyble) båtsman of Vårdinge (alias Våhlinge) served in position 128 of the Första (First) Södermanlands Båtsmanskompani, which was formed from parishes in Stockholm County. The Duhan (Duån) position was an Ordinarie båtsman, as opposed to a reserve båtsman. 

Johan moved his wife and two children about seven miles southwest across the parish line and into the Nybble Båtsmans Torp. He was approved by the Navy on 31 March 1759. From that time his name was recorded in the Navy rolls as Jån Larsson Duån and in the church records as Johan Duhan.

The Navy recorded his enlistment age as 36, with a birthplace of Turinge parish. At that time, a new recruit could be no older than 36. If this was an accurate age, his birthdate would have been 1722-1723. He was recorded in the clerical survey of 1760 as born in 1720, which would have made him about 40 years of age, older than in the Navy records. He had no reason to lie to the minister about his age, but certainly had a need to lie to the Navy. A later tax record also listed his birth year as 1720.

Johan spent time training on Naval vessels and may have sailed into battle, as the Swedish Navy sought to maintain dominance during the war. A båtsman was the lowest rank in the Navy. They were somewhat like modern reservists, being rotated in and out of the Karlskrona Navy facility at the southern end of Sweden. The full-time Navy members were skilled, where the båtsmän were unskilled, doing basic tasks on the ship. 

If you think about an 18th-century warship, you likely picture several masts, many sails and a multitude of cannon ports along the sides. The web site for a replica of a 1700's ship, Gotheborg of Sweden, has a lovely video made by drone, as well as information on crew assignments. The work of the modern deckhands is similar to that of a båtsman: cleaning, keeping watch, manning the anchor and handling the complex sails and rigging. The båtsmän also might operate the cannons. The records also note that Johan was a wagon maker, or cartwright, and had served at sea for at least six months by the time of his discharge.

When Johan was not away for military duties, he worked the plot of land assigned to him. Satellite views of the Nibble farm, just east of the town of Gnesta, reveal several large fields. It may have been a healthier environment, but the family continued to experience a high death rate:

• Anders, who had been born in 1757,  died in 1760, at age 3.
• Another baby named Catharina was born in 1760 and died 4 months later in 1761.
• Johan, born 29 November 1762, grew to adulthood and took the name Johan Wolen (Volen/Volin).
• Eric was born in 1765 and died 7 months later in 1766.
• Stina was born 31 March 1768. Her fate is unknown, but she possibly died young, about 1777.
• Elisabeth was born in 1771 and died in 1776.

Kerstin Olofsdotter died in 1774, again widowing Johan and leaving him with young children.

 

Household survey for Johan Larsson Duhan, with his second wife, some of his children and two lodgers who are blacked out

 

Marriage Three

Though the war had ended in 1762, Johan still had military duties and still needed a wife. At about age 55, he married for a third time. On 9 January 1775, he married Catharina Engelbrechtsdotter, who was about half his age. While I wonder at the lack of wisdom, without that marriage, I would not exist. Catharina brought to the marriage her illegitimate daughter, Anna Lisa, born 29 April 1771, in Grangärde parish, Kopparberg/Dalarna county. The couple had several more children:

• Another baby named Catharina was born 28 March 1778. Her fate is unknown.
• Maria was born in 1781 and died about 1781.
• Another baby named Maria was born in 1782 and died 39 weeks later in 1783.
• Anders was born 27 February 1784. He took the name Anders Jånsson and is my 4th great-grandfather.
• Carl was born in 1788 and died in 1790 at age 2.

After 22 years of service, Johan Larsson Duhan was recorded as being too old and frail to fulfill his duties. He was discharged from his båtsman position on 3 February 1781, choosing to retain his military name. He and his family had to move out of the båtsman cottage.

While there should be one or more household survey records showing where the family lived, those records are silent. The family moved to or visited the neighboring parish of Frustuna, where the first baby Maria was christened in 1781. 

By the beginning of 1782, they had returned to Vårdinge parish and were living on church property, as reflected in the tax records. The subsequent birth and death records referred to Johan as kyrko vaktaren, church watchman or guard, a title he retained until his death on 15 May 1788. His death record listed his age as 71, which would indicate a birthdate in 1716-1717. While this is a third option for a birthdate, the information was not provided by him, so is the least likely of the possible dates.

There is one record that cannot be reconciled. A one-year-old "son son" or grandson died at the Nybble Båtsmans Torp in 1776. The birth records for 1775 include only one birth, so there is a gap in the records. The child could have been the grandson of a lodger, an illegitimate son of the eldest known son, a son of an unknown older son, or an error in the church books. The tax records do not add clarity.

Johan Larsson Duhan had three wives, fourteen known children and one step-daughter. Three of his children lived to adulthood: Anna (1751-unknown), Johan Wolen (1762-1815) and Anders Jånsson (1784-1846). The fate of two children is unknown: Stina (1768-unknown) and Catharina (1778-unknown).

 

Household survey for Johan Larsson Duhan, with his third wife, some of his children and two later båtsmän, Anders Duhan and Eric Duhan.

 

Johan was followed by Anders Ersson Duhan (1746-1783), who served only a short time, dying in Karlskrona in 1783. 

The position was taken over by Eric Duhan, whose original name is unknown. Eric was born in 1766 and died in Finland in the 1790s. That death in Finland somehow was recorded in my tree as Johan's birth location, an error which must be ignored.

 

Johan Gustafsson Duhan (1719-1758)

The death of Johan Gustafsson Duhan vacated the båtsman position for Johan Larsson. The information in both the church records and the Navy records is sparse for Johan Gustafsson Duhan and his family. The records show he was born about 1719 and was approved as the Nybble båtsman  in 1748. 

Johan Gustafsson married Anna Olofsdotter by 1744. The couple lived at Uhsta, in Vårdinge parish. Three children were born to the couple: Giosta/Gustaf (1744-1824), Kierstin (1746-1789) and Olof (1749-unknown). Anna Olofsdotter died about 1752.

 

Household survey for Johan Gustafsson Duhan, with his first wife and two of his children.

 

Johan, with the military name Duhan, married second to Helena Andersdotter on 11 November 1753. She was from Löfsta in neighboring Vagnhärad parish, where banns were also called. Two children were born to the couple: Anders (1754-unknown) and Erik (1757-unknown). 

Johan Gustafsson Duhan was sent to the Karlskrona Naval facility about 1757 or 1758, during the Seven Years' War, which had started in 1756. He died on 19 September 1758, while assigned to Karlskrona.

His death is not noted in the church records of Vårdinge, which originally led to my conclusion that Johan Gustafsson Duhan and Johan Larsson Duhan were the same man. 

Was there a relationship to earlier men with the name Duhan?

 

Johan Duhan (May 1722-June 1722)

The infant son of båtsman Duhan of Vårdinge parish has been documented as born in 1722, living and becoming one of the båtsman previously discussed. However, the 1722 death record shows clearly that he did not survive. His birth and death records have his father's first name written first as Johan and later written over as Jacob. His mother was named as Ingr Svensdotter. The marriages in the Vårdinge records were puzzling:

• Johan Duhan of Nybble Båtsmanstorp married in Vårdinge parish to Inger Svensdotter on 28 December 1718.

• Johan Duhan of Jordsberg [Jordberg] in Vagnhärad married in Vårdinge parish to Ingeborg Månsdotter on 8 November 1724.

 

Johan Johansson Duhan of Vagnhärad Parish (1698-1759)

The Vårdinge records between 1718 and 1725 confused Jacob Duhan of Vårdinge parish with Johan Duhan of Vagnhärad parish. The parish of Vagnhärad is just south of Vårdinge, but is in Södermanland County, rather than Stockholm County. The Naval company is different, so there was not a risk of duplicate surnames within a single company. The rote name was Husby (Und. Fredriksdal) and the position was number 119 in Andra (other) Södermanlands Båtsmans-Kompani.

Johan Johansson was born in Roslagen (Uppland) in 1698, and assumed the båtsman position in 1720, at age 21. He was shown in most church records as living at Duhanstorp. He had served 20 years by 1740, and was not listed on a 1744 muster roll. The position was filled by someone else in 1747.

Johan Duhan of Jordsberg [Jordberg] in Vagnhärad parish married in Vårdinge parish to Ingeborg Månsdotter on 8 November 1724. She was the widow of båtsman Anders Olofsson Nyman of Mölnebo.

Johan Johansson Duhan died at the age of 61, on 17 March 1759. No children were found.

 

Jacob Jånsson Duhan (1697-1744)

Jacob Jånsson Duhan was the Nybble båtsman from 1717 to 1744. He was born about 1697 in Uppland.

He was married twice, but the first marriage record is under the name of Johan, as he was confused with båtsman Johan Johansson Duhan, from Vagnhärad parish. The record states that Johan [sic] Duhan of Nybble Båtsmanstorp married in Vårdinge parish to Inger Svensdotter on 28 December 1718. 

With Ingrid Svensdotter, three children were born, with only one daughter known to survive.

• Son Johan was born 11 May 1722 at Nybble Båtsmans stugan and died in late June. In both records the father's name was written as Johan, but written over as Jacob.

• Daughter Anna (Annika) was born in 1723 and disappeared from the church records between 1734 and 1735. It is likely that she died.

• Daughter Maria (Maja) was born on 4 November 1726.  She left the household between 1742 and 1744, based on the examination records.

• Ingrid Svensdotter died 28 December 1739 at age 56.  

 

A Scandalous Death at Nybble Båtsmanstorp

The widowed Jacob married Elisabet (Lisken) Laxberg on 19 October 1740. The marriage was documented at Maria Magdelena in Stockholm City.  

In late 1744, Lisken killed Jacob. Their last communion was noted as 30 November 1744, followed by the Latin notation in the communion records:

"ab uxore sua trucidatus"

"murdered by his wife"

The Navy muster roll of 8 February 1745, documents that Jacob Duhan had served 28 years. There is a final note:

"Ihjälslagen af thes hustru förledet åhr, Roten vacant"

"Killed by his wife last year, the position vacant"

The kind person at Anbytarforum who translated this comment stated that "Ihjälslagen" can also be used in the more narrow meaning "beaten to death".

The mantals tax record for 1746 notes: "man and wife dead" and "vacant".  This implies that Lisken had died or was executed by the time the tax list was created in late 1745. Court records, if they still exist, would reveal more details.

Daughter Maria Jacobsdotter Duhan married in Vårdinge on 23 September 1759, to a church organist from Nyköping named Carl Moberg. Maria used several surnames throughout her adult life, including the Duhan military name. The couple lived in several parishes before her death in Hölö parish in 1781. Her probate listed four minor sons.

 

Research Notes

Some of the military records are hard to read. If you are a Duhan descendant who is good at reading 18th-century Swedish handwriting, please check the records for hints that I missed.

There are many minor gaps in the Vårdinge parish records, as well as sporadic entries in the household examinations. Major gaps include:

• Death records: 1742-1757
• Birth records: 1701-1703
• Marriage records: no large gaps
• Household examinations: 1719-1725,1754-1759,1765-1780 

Orientation

The Vårdinge parish church is about 40 miles southwest of the city of Stockholm, near the city of Gnesta, in the purple area of the map.

 

Johan Larsson Duhan is marked in my grandfather's tree with the star.

 

Sources

• Mantals tax records: Turinge, Vårdinge

• Church records:

• Stockholm county and city: Turinge, Vårdinge, Ytterjärna, Överjärna, Klara, Värmdö, Nacka, Danvik-Sicklaö, Maria Magdalena

• Södermanland county: Hölö, Vagnhärad, Frustuna, Kattnäs, Björnlunda, Nyköpings Alla Helgona

• Kopparberg/Dalarna county: Grangärde, Vika

• Navy records:

• Flottans arkiv, Amiralitetskollegium, sjömilitiekontoret. 2.0

• Rullor flottan 1635-1915

• Lieutenant Colonel Claes Grill, Statistiskt sammandrag af svenska indelningsverket (Statistical Summary of the Swedish Allotment System)

• Lantmateriet.se Historical Maps

• Google Translate

• Google Maps

• Wikipedia articles on the Seven Years' War (1756-1763)

• Anbytarforum at rotter.se

• Website of Hans Högman

• Email from Hans Högman clarifying age ranges for military service

• Web site for sailing ship Gotheborg of Sweden

 

Unlucky Soldier Thirteen, 52 Ancestors

 

Halloween Night, 2022

Settling in for a spooky night, someone started a horror movie -- a genre I don't like. Instead I resumed my research project on a family of soldiers. Little did I know that by the end of the evening I would stumble over a real-life horror story in the church records of Sweden.

The Life of Anders Pehrsson Sik

Anders was born on 28 March 1783, in the parish of Stora Malm, Södermanland, Sweden. He was the youngest child of crofter Pehr Pehrsson and his second wife, Brita Ericsdotter, who lived at a farm named Horskiärr. Anders and his three older brothers would all become allotment soldiers (see cultural background), and their youngest sister would marry a soldier. Only their oldest half-sister would avoid the military life. I had followed each of the older children throughout their lives. That night it was time to follow the youngest.

The children all left home to become apprentices or to find jobs when they were between the ages of 12 and 17.  With several children dying young, Anders was 5 years younger than Greta and his brothers were older by 8 to 14 years. He probably grew up not really knowing his brothers, but admiring them. When he was 7, his oldest brother, Eric, become a soldier at age 21.

Eric Pehrsson took the position of soldier 5, with the military name Eric Snack. He replaced a soldier who had died, probably in Finland, during a war between Sweden and Russia. When Eric took the position, Anders and his parents moved into his soldier torp along with him.

Eric is not recorded in the church records for a few years, so he was probably away on military duty, though the war had ended. His family must have enjoyed the benefits of the position in his absence. Pehr would no longer have to pay for his croft through his labor. He would instead have worked the fields that accompanied the soldier torp and may have assisted the farmers, as Eric would have done. Anders would have worked with his father.

Eric returned with lungsot, consumption, but married and had a son. Anders and his parents moved out about the time the baby was born, in 1795. At age 12, Anders was old enough to become an apprentice and he spent the next few years moving between his parents and a shoemaker. He watched two more older brothers become soldiers. In 1797, Carl became soldier 107, with the surname Hjelte, moving to a neighboring parish. Jonas became soldier 22, in 1798, with the surname Flink.

Eric Pehrsson Snack died in 1800, when 17-year-old Anders was too young to take over the rote. But the following year he had the opportunity to follow his brothers into the military. The clerical survey for Mostugan reported that the shoemaker's worker, Anders Pehrsson, born in 1783, came from the home of soldier 5 by 1798, and left in 1801, with the name Anders Sik. He had turned 18 on March 28, and was named as a soldier recruit on the same day. That coordination was probably prearranged.

Using the Central Soldier Register to look up Anders Sik, from Stora Malm parish, I learned that he served the Forssjöqvarn rote and his soldier number was 13. Had I been superstitious, I would have stopped the moment I saw that number. No good could possibly come from following the number 13 on Halloween night. However, I pressed on to learn about his life.

Anders Pehrsson Sik married Stina Pehrsdotter on 5 December 1801, soon after he was approved by the military as a soldier. She was 11 years older and had worked as a cook at nearby Ericsberg Palace, so he probably married her for her skills in the kitchen. The couple never had children, instead fostering a couple of boys. The military records show that he was a shoemaker, so he may have continued his training and eventually taken the boys as apprentices.

Sweden entered the Napoleonic wars in 1805. Just before that, Anders' sister Greta married soldier 12, a widower named Eric Fast. The three brothers and their brother-in-law were all serving in the same company. Their regiment served in Pomerania between about 1805 and September, 1807, when Sweden surrendered. Anders' brother, Carl Pehrsson Heltje, and brother-in-law, Eric Fast, had both been discharged before June of 1807.

Anders Pehrsson Sik and his brother Jonas Pehrsson Flink, my ancestor, were in Pomerania as the Swedish military fought the French and her allies for control. Their Södermanland battalion fought on the east side, the left flank as described on the page about the Great Sortie of Stralsund.  On 20 June 1807, their company conducted a muster at Greifswald, south of Stralsund. The surviving men were documented, including Anders and Jonas. At the end of July, the Swedish Army was pushed back north to Stralsund, where they endured a month-long siege by the French. Eventually the surviving troops withdrew to the island of Rügen.

Jonas died on 23 August, the day before Stralsund was surrendered and two weeks before Rügen was surrendered. His death location and details are unknown, but I hope that Anders was by his side at the end. As Anders retreated to Sweden with the rest of the troops, his heart would have been heavy. He would have had to go home and share the sad news with his elderly father, his siblings, and Jonas' wife and three young children.

Anders Pehrsson Sik was the last man in his immediate family to serve as a soldier after 1807. He appears to have served additional deployments throughout the era of the Napoleonic Wars, as there are gaps in the church records. Sweden entered a period of peace when Napoleon was defeated for the second time, at the end of 1815. Anders would have settled into a more normal life, attending occasional  military musters, farming and possibly working as a shoemaker or cobbler. I followed Anders and his wife through several books of clerical surveys. I was surprised that he continued as a soldier, especially considering his wartime service.

The Death of Anders Pehrsson Sik

The clerical survey book for 1826-1828 was puzzling. The couple were crossed out and a new soldier was listed for the rote, starting in 1828. There was nothing in the moving out columns. Death would usually be indicated by a cross next to the name and the word död (dead) with a date. The far right column, used for notes, had the couple bracketed together, along with a note that was small and a bit hard to read. I failed to take the time to read and translate that note. I saw that it referenced the death book, so opened that first, to my regret.

The note, now that I understand it, would have been a caution to not read the death book late at night.

Kropps Brådligheter och Lefnads Omständigheter

1826-11-09, först mördade och sedan upbrännde tillika med stugubyggningen, banemannen se dödboken för 1826-11-09

Translated:

[Header] Fragility of Body and Circumstances of Life

1826-11-09, first murdered and then burned together with the cottage building, [for] the murderers see death book for 1826-11-09

Before reading the details, what about the killers? Within three weeks, the murderers were identified as soldier 28, Eric Lind, and farmhand Carl Sundin, a newly recruited soldier. Their intent had been to steal from the sleeping Sik family, but the plan went very wrong when the couple woke up. After killing the couple, the men took a pocket watch, a pewter cup, a coat, a pair of trousers and 25 riksdaler and 32 skilling in cash (about $240 in 2015). They then set the cabin on fire to destroy the evidence. They were tried and sentenced within five months. Exactly one year after the murder, the pair were publicly executed near the place where they murdered the couple.  

The death book (Stora Malm F:2 Image 34) tells some gory details of both the murder and the executions. If you are squeamish, you may want to stop right here. The images conjured by these descriptions haunted my sleep and stayed with me for a few days. 

There are three separate notations, as seen in the image below. Any errors in transcription or translation are mine.

Soldaten Anders Sik och hans hustru Stina Pehrsdotter vid no 13 om morgonen den 9de Nov fanns deras stugubygg, nad nedbrännd och deras squeletter liggande på stugagolvet. Medelst skedd undersökning af provincial Läkaren Doctor Martin befanns marker efter yxhugg i axelbenet på Sik och uti halskotoma på hustru, hvaraf anledning att bofvar först mördat dem, och derefter sändteld på byggningen, för att dölja ogjemingen.

Translated:

The soldier Anders Sik and his wife Stina Pehrsdotter, living at number 13. On the morning of the 9th of November, their cabin was found burnt down and their skeletons lying on the cabin floor. Through an examination by the provincial doctor, Doctor Martin, marks from an ax cut were found in the shoulder bone of Sik and in the cervical vertebrae of the wife, which is why the thugs first murdered them, and then set fire to the building, to hide the crime.

Second:

Dessas brände ben återfunnas i en gift, som uplogs d. 26 Oct 1847.

betygar P.U. Noren

Translated:

Their burnt bones were found in a grave, which was exhumed on 26 Oct 1847.

attest P.U. Noren

Third:

Soldaten No 28 för Walla rote Eric Lind och recryton [rekryten], drängen i Walla, Carl Sundin blefvo förvunne att hafva begått dessa nidings jemingar, och desfore dömde att mista högra händerne, halshuggas och steglas. De ense qvarades den 9 November 1827.

Translated:

The soldier No. 28 for Walla rote, Eric Lind, and the recruit, a farmhand in Walla, Carl Sundin, were found guilty of having committed these crimes, and therefore sentenced to lose their right hands, beheaded and quartered. The same was held on 9 November 1827.

Death record for Anders Sik and wife Stina Pehrsdotter
Stora Malm, Södermanland, Book F:2 Image 34

The location of this tragedy was about 90 miles southwest of the city of Stockholm, near the city of Katrineholm, in the purple area of the map.

 

Sources

• Church records for birth, death, marriage, clerical survey, moving in and out: Stora Malm, Lunda
• Stora Malm Mantals tax records
• Oppunda häradsrätt probate records
• Generalmönsterrullor - Södermanlands regemente, Livkompaniet (1789 through 1830)
• Central Soldier Register
• Rotter.se Avrättade (Roots Database of Executions)
• Google Translate
• Google Maps
• Wikipedia
• Historical Currency Converter
  
• Lantmateriet.se Historical Maps
• Three part blog series clarifying Jonas Pehrsson Flink (part one, part two, part three)

 

Leading the Way, 52 Ancestors

 
If the tailor Adolph Ekström had not hired a young apprentice named Carl Johan Theodor Thor, would there have been a Fröling family chain migration from Östergötland to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan?

The story begins in the year 1854. Adolph Ekström had finished his training as a tailor (skräddare) and was striking out on his own for the first time. On October 21, he married Anna Charlotta Svensdotter, a granddaughter of Peter Persson Fröling. They settled in Christineholm (Kristineholm), west of Lake Risten, in the parish of Björsäter. Young Carl Thor, age 16, checked into the parish a month later and joined Adolph's household as a dräng, or laborer. One year later Carl left the parish with the title Skräddare dräng, a tailor worker. He was on his own journey to becoming a tailor.

A Björsäter Parish household survey from 1851-1855 (AI:11 page 204). Place is Christineholm on the
lands (ägor) of Missmyra. Skräddaren (the tailor) Adolph Ekström and wife (hustru) Anna Charlotta
Svensdotter, deceased daughter Charlotta, workers (Dräng) Carl Peter Persson and Carl Johan Theodor
Thor. Shown for each person is birth date and parish, christening date and parish, smallpox vaccination,
moving in year, moving in from page or parish. The parents of Carl Thor are named and it is noted that
his mother is deceased.

 

Additional information for each person is recorded on the facing page:
The marriage date (gift) for the couple. The results of the annual examination.
A reference number for each time they took communion each year. Charlotta's death date.
The year the workers left and their destination, along with their sequence in the moving out list.

During his year with Adolph and Anna, Carl would have met many family members through church and other gatherings. No doubt he met Johanna Pehrsdotter (also known as Peterson), another granddaughter of Peter Persson Fröling, who was the same age as Carl. She had lost her mother, Maria Fröling, at the age of eight. Did Johanna prefer to spend time with other family members, such as Anna, and away from her stepmother?

Johanna  lived on the far side of Lake Risten, at Rosendal. The distance of 2.5 miles as the crow flies would have been close enough to Christineholm for frequent visits, but the lake was a barrier that required either the use of a boat or land travel of about 4.5 miles. Carl's home at Värnamo in Värna parish was about 4 miles beyond Christineholm. Would Carl and Johanna have met without his year at Christineholm?

A year after Carl returned to Värna parish, Johanna left Björsäter parish to live with her aunt, Ulrika Fröling, in Yxnerum parish. Their lives would not closely intersect again for five years.  

Open the legend at the top left or click on a marker to explore the family's locations.

 

In 1857, the 19-year-old Johanna, born on 3 October 1838, moved to the city of Norrköping after one year in Yxnerum parish. There is not enough context in the church records to know her new role. She was living in a building owned or managed by a färgaren, or dyer, whose work was dying fabrics or yarns. She stayed in that location for five years, so she must have found it a good place to live and work.

During those years, Carl moved several times between the parishes of Värna and Björsäter, training with six different tailors between 1854 and 1862. His name and job were recorded in various ways, with the title Skräddare lärling (apprentice) first appearing in 1859. He moved to the parish of Sankt Olai in Norrköping that year to train with a master tailor. Carl acquired the title Skräddare gesäll (journeyman) and changed his surname to Thorén about 1862. Prior to the name change, he had been using his father's military surname of Thor. Along with his new name and new qualifications, he took a wife, marrying Johanna Pehrsdotter in her parish of Norrköpings Hedvig, on 2 November 1862.

For a deeper understanding of Carl's family story, some cultural background is needed. That is found on another page, which will open on another tab or window if you click the link.

Meanwhile, in Värnamo, Carl Thoren's father was growing too old for the military. He had been born Carl Johan Engström in 1816, just after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. On 5 September 1836, the 6-foot 1-inch son of a miner had enlisted in the infantry and taken the military surname of Thor, appearing in his first muster roll in 1839. Carl's son, Carl Thoren, born 9 November 1838, was the oldest of his children, born to his first wife, Anna Gustava Nilsdotter (1816-1850).

Carl Johan Thor served mostly in peacetime, though Sweden was briefly involved in two wars between Denmark and the German Confederation during the years he served. The First Schleswig War was between 1848 and 1851. Carl Thor was discharged 22 May 1864, three months after the outbreak of the The Second Schleswig War. With his discharge, Carl needed to leave the soldier's torp where he and his family had lived for over 27 years. 

America beckoned, but the Civil War was raging. A mere six weeks after the end of that war, in 1865, Carl emigrated to Michigan with his wife and several children. He resumed use of the Engström name, leaving the surname Thor in his past, though he entertained his family with tall tales of his military exploits.

His life in Michigan would have been very different from Sweden and he must have written positive things to his son, who had stayed behind in the city of Norrköping. Two years later, in Sweden, the spring of 1867 was very cold, foreshadowing crop disaster. The famine of 1867-1869 was a catalyst for Scandinavian emigration. Thousands of people died and thousands more emigrated.

Carl Johan Theodor Thoren and his wife, Johanna Pehrsdotter, left Sweden in July, 1867, to join his father in Michigan. 

 

The 1867 moving out list for Norrköpings Sankt Olai (BII:6 page 455).
The Thorens are at the top of a two-page spread. Leaving on July 1, Carl Johan Theodor Thorén,
Skräddare gesäll (journeyman tailor), born (f) 1838 and wife (h) born 1838.

 

They are going to America. Last took communion in 1867. He is an honest (ärlig) man.
Married 2 November 1862. Leaving are one male and one female (no children).

 

Thus, Johanna Pehrsdotter was the first descendant of Peter Persson Fröling to arrive in the United States. Their first child, Charles Sten/Stone Thoren, was the first Fröling descendant to be born in America. The family was living in Houghton County, Michigan, at the time of his birth, on 28 November 1867.

Carl Thoren and Carl Engstrom both moved on from Houghton County. Carl Engstrom moved to Garfield County, Minnesota, where he lived out his life. Carl Thoren took the first name of Charles. The Thorens moved to the mining town of Negaunee, in Marquette County, Michigan. Charles first worked for another tailor and later opened a tailoring business, eventually building his own store. Johanna had more children and kept house. They wrote letters to their family and friends in Sweden, telling them of life in Michigan. Members of Johanna's extended Fröling family immigrated to Negaunee or to the United States, following Johanna and each other.

Johanna was part of a group of Negaunee women who were instrumental in establishing The Scandinavian Women's Society and the Bethany Lutheran Church. The Thoren family was very active in the church as it grew and Charles was one of the first trustees. Their two oldest children, Charles and Clara, were part of the first confirmation class in the church. The family members and their various roles were named multiple times in the church history that was written by Titus Thoren to honor the 50th anniversary of the church in 1936.

Charles Thoren died on 23 April 1917, and Johanna Peterson Thoren died on 7 December 1932. They are buried together in the Negaunee Cemetery. The local newspapers printed obituaries for both, including a lovely obituary for Johanna, at a time when few women were remembered in that way.

Four of the six Thoren children grew to adulthood, married and had children of their own. Clara Maria Thoren, born in Negaunee in 1870, had a surprising life. At age 19, she married a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lars Wilhelm Gullström, an immigrant from Värmland. He was one of the temporary ministers who served in the early years of the Negaunee church. His ministry took them to diverse places, including Texas and North Dakota. Clara died in Minnesota in 1909.

 

The Immigrants

Who were the Fröling family members that immigrated to the United States? An economic downturn in America in the 1870's reduced immigration. As the economy improved in the 1880's, immigration increased, and the extended Fröling family was part of that increase.  

Click on the image below to view a larger version of the family tree showing the children of Peter Persson Fröling. He had two sons and four daughters with descendants who emigrated.

 

After Johanna, the next group of Fröling family members immigrated in 1880. Johanna's older brother, Eric Peterson, and two cousins, Per Gustaf Fröling and Carl Johan Fröjd, came to Negaunee to work in the mines, accompanied by Eric's wife and four children. Their eventual goal was to acquire land for farming. Eric filed a homestead claim of 160 acres in 1892, with Per Gustaf Froling filing his claim for a neighboring parcel in 1901.

Their 1880 immigration seemed to open the door for other family members. They were followed by a trickle of Fröling cousins. No doubt there are more that I have not yet found.

 

The Maria Fröling Branch

• Johanna Pehrsdotter and Carl Thoren led the way, emigrating in 1867.
• Eric Peterson likely led the 1880 group, emigrating at age 43 with his wife and four children.
  
• Johanna's nephew, Svante Victor Eklund, immigrated to Negaunee in 1886, when he was 19. He was followed by his sisters:
• Elin Mathilda Eklund, age 16, in 1887.
• Edla Sophia Eklund, age 17, in 1890.
• Emma Maria Eklund, age 23, in 1902.
• On the same ship as Emma was another niece of Johanna and cousin of the Eklunds. Tekla Mathilda Pettersson, age 28, immigrated with her husband Axel Karlsson and their three children, also headed to Negaunee in 1902.

The Johannes Gustaf Fröling Branch

Per Gustaf Fröling, son of Johannes Gustaf Fröling, immigrated in the 1880 group. His two brothers followed him to the Negaunee area:

• Adolf Theodor Fröling, age 24, immigrated in 1888.
• Johan August Fröling, age 30, immigrated along with his wife, son and daughter in 1891.

 

The Inga Lisa Fröling Branch

Carl Johan Fröjd, son of Inga Lisa Fröling, immigrated in the 1880 group. No other emigrants have been identified so far from this branch.

 

The Ulrika Fröling Branch

Johanna had spent a year with her aunt, Ulrika Fröling, wife of Nils Månsson Örtegren. 

Johanna's cousins, Anna Sophia Örtegren and Augusta Ulrika Örtegren, immigrated to Boston in 1882 and 1883, respectively. Both women lived part of their lives in the Boston area, but eventually returned to Sweden. Their stories doubtless influenced their nieces and nephews. When their brother, Gustaf Fredrik Örtegren, died in 1934, his probate listed children and grandchildren living in New England, Massachusetts, Texas and California. 

The Örtegrens all originally immigrated to the Boston area:

• Anna Sophia Örtegren, age 23, in 1882.
  
• Augusta Ulrika Örtegren , age 24, in 1883.
  
• Augusta Kristina Örtegren, age 14, in 1895, traveling with her aunt Augusta.
• Anna Ulrika Örtegren, age 16, in 1896.
• Maria Katrina Örtegren, age 17,  in 1902, traveling with her sisters, Anna and Augusta.
• Adolf Fredrik Örtegren, age 20, in 1903.
• Hanna Sofia Örtegren, age 16, in 1904.

 

The Anna Stina Persdotter Branch 

Anna Stina, the oldest of the Fröling siblings, married a soldier and raised sons who were soldiers. Their socioeconomic status was higher than their farmer relatives and it was later generations of her family who emigrated. 

Three of her great-grandchildren are representative: 

• Amalia Elisabeth Molander, age 18, emigrated in 1892, and settled in Connecticut.
• Her brother, Anselm Emanuel Molander, became a merchant marine, leaving his home in 1892, at age 20. By 1900, he had joined his sister and modified his surname to Molando. 
• Their cousin, Nina Regina Svensson (Swanson), age 25, emigrated in 1912 to Wausa, Nebraska, a Swedish-American community. 

 

 The Sven Peter Persson Branch

Annie Elisabeth Andersson, his great-granddaughter, via son Anders Petter Svensson, was a seamstress who emigrated to Los Angeles in 1922, at the age of 18.

Sven's grandsons, the sons of Anna Charlotta Svensdotter, followed in the footsteps of their father, Adolf Ekström, who started training them to be tailors, just as he had trained Charles Thoren. Two sons emigrated. If they had gone to Negaunee, they would have had to either work with or compete with Charles Thoren. Instead, they settled in Chicago and opened a tailor shop in the suburb of Evanston.

• Ernst Viktor Leonard Ekstrom emigrated from Kristineholm in 1889, at the age of 24.

• My great-grandfather, Gustaf Emil Ferdinand Ekstrom, age 29, emigrated from the city of Linköping in 1891, with his wife and two children.

 

Today descendants of Peter Persson Fröling can be found across the United States, having moved on from Negaunee, New England and Chicago.

 

Sources

• Swedish church records for many parishes. Record sets include birth, death, marriage, moving, clerical survey and congregation records.
  
• Björsäter, Yxnerum, Östra Ryd, Svinstad, Värna, Grebo, Västra Ed, Gistad, Vårdsberg
  
• Värmdö, Bollnäs, Nedre Ullerud
• Norrköpings Sankt Olai, Norrköpings Hedvig, Norrköpings Östra Eneby
  
• Linköpings domkyrkoförs  
• Probate records:
• Bollnäs domsagas häradsrätt
• Military records:
• Generalmönsterrullor - Östgöta regemente
• Central Soldier Register
• Göteborg Police emigration records
• Lantmateriet.se Historical Maps
• BLM GLO Land Records (homesteads)
  
• Ship lists, Ancestry.com
• US Census records, Ancestry.com
• Michigan Marriage and Death Records, Ancestry.com
• Connecticut  Marriage and Death Records, Ancestry.com
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Swedish American Church Records, Ancestry.com
• US Newspapers:
• The Daily Mining Journal (Marquette), 12 December 1932, Upper Peninsula Digital Network
• Negaunee Iron Herald, 27 April 1917, Upper Peninsula Digital Network
• Upper Peninsula Digital Network newspapers
• Newspapers.com
  
• History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, 1883, Negaunee, pages 452-464, on USGenWeb, Marquette County
• Wikipedia
• Google Maps
• Google Translate
• Ancestry Family Trees
• Family Search Wiki
  
• Find A Grave
• Cradled in Sweden
• Letters from the Promised Land