A Peek at Our Swedish Heritage

This post is for you if:

• You are a cousin in my Ekstrom - Fors family.
• You are a cousin in my Nyström family.
• You are curious about Swedish dwellings.

Our Ancestral Homes

I've never been to Sweden, though it's on my bucket list. It's hard to visualize how and where our ancestors lived their lives. Our cousin, Claes Nyström, has been researching the homes of our ancestors and has his own vacation cottage not too far from the area where the Nyström and Fors families lived.

Swedish farmers in the 1800s had varying degrees of wealth, from small tenant farmers to large land-holders. Eric Carlsson Nyström (1772-1857) was a crofter and a tailor. At his death, he had no debts, so he was apparently wise with his scarce assets.

Claes' Findings

Claes writes:

I finally found Näsbystugan which I have been searching for and haven't found on a map. Eric Carlsson married Brita Stina Olsdotter in 1807 and moved into Näsbostugan, later known as Näsbystugan, together with her parents already living there. They stayed there all their life until they died at, by that time, very high ages. Eric died at 85 and Brita Stina at 91.

Their son Anders [Fors] came back to Björnlunda from Wårdinge in 1860, back to Näsbystugan, with his family. Brita Stina was widowed since 3 years back 

Anders' brother, Karl had rented a piece of land on the other side of Jättekyrkan and built a home, Karlshamn for his family on the other side of Jättekyrkan, by the shore of Lake Storsjön.

Anders [Fors] built a new house on the site of Näsbystugan and renamed the place Andersberg.

On the pictures we can see Andersberg ... and also "Lilla stugan" - presumably Näsbystugan.












The area of Sweden that Claes has written about is southwest of Stockholm. Follow the link to see a map of the general area. The size of the little cottage appears surprisingly tiny. At any time about five people were living in its close quarters. It appears to have a small attic or loft.

I also find it intriguing that Andersberg has never been renamed. It still bears the name that my great-great-great-grandfather, Anders Fors, gave it in about 1860.

Thank you for sharing your work, cousin.