A few months ago, my uncle, a retired doctor, asked me if my Swedish research had identified the source of the family "Disease". We were discussing the differences in his grandparents' families, which I wrote about earlier this year. He conceded that the source didn't really matter at this point. But I told him that I would watch for clues.
In our family, the Disease and Related Conditions are inherited in a way that seems random. They vary in severity and seem to skip generations. But perhaps they don't skip, but are so mild we just don't see them. To protect the privacy of my family, I will not name the Disease and Conditions. My father claimed to have a mild form of the Disease, but until doing recent research into Related Conditions, I had not understood how his condition was part of the overall pattern.
At the beginning of 2023, I stumbled over an unexpected clue. I had not intended to research, at this time, the line that I have been writing about. While double-checking my work on one ancestor, I found that her brother-in-law had died twice. Unraveling his story led me to his grandfather and his mother, Stina Månsdotter, my 5th-great-grandmother.
While writing about her history, I saw that her cause of death was a word that I didn't know. The word was abbreviated and obsolete. After finally figuring it out, the translation showed an obsolete English term. Fortunately Wikipedia had a brief page on it. As I read the description, I was certain that this was the earliest known ancestor who was a source of the Disease, an unwanted genetic gift.
While educating myself on the Swedish term, I found a Wikitree discussion suggesting that the term used for Stina's death was misused in some places and times. Did Stina really have the Disease or was it misuse?
Previously I had not focused on causes of death in Sweden. Common causes have been tuberculosis, pneumonia, childbirth, smallpox, old age, etc. Now that I had found a possible source of the Disease in my great-grandfather's line, it was time to take a deeper look at the next four generations and attempt to validate whether Stina's cause of death seemed accurate.
The death records generally give only a direct cause of death, so there is no knowledge of the other conditions that family members may have had. I also did not follow every line to modern times. However, I found reinforcement of the Disease in this line. Finding explicit statements, with modern terms, in other generations indicates to me that Stina is a source of this genetic flaw. There certainly could be other sources.
Counting Stina as generation one and my father as generation seven, the findings are:
- Stina died from the Disease.
- No indications. Deaths from pneumonia, tuberculosis, childbirth, etc.
- A notation of the Disease was in a household survey for a woman who later died from a Related Condition.
- Persons with Related Conditions only, including two infants with an unusual cause of death.
- One person who died from the Disease, and others with Related Conditions.
- One person identified through family interviews as having the Disease.
- Two persons identified through family interviews as having the Disease. Others, including my father, having Related Conditions.
Bear in mind that this graphic and information do not include all lines and that information on medical conditions is limited. While my direct line has some generations with no recorded conditions, it is likely that there were some. I also have not probed into my generation or our children and grandchildren. I do believe some of us have Related Conditions.
The seven generations covered spanned over two hundred years. Our family hopes that this unwanted genetic gift will die out and not impact any future generations .
Stina's Story
Stina Månsdotter was born about 1730. Having the Disease, she would have had health challenges throughout her life. Marriage in Sweden in those times was a practical and economic decision, so her father may have coerced a reluctant Eric Ericsson to marry Stina. He could have made it a condition to assume the lease for the croft Lilla Björksved on the lands of Rösten. The couple married in Grebo Parish, Östergötland, on 24 June 1751. Eric farmed the land, while Stina managed the home.
They had eight children: four sons and four daughters.
- Three children died in childhood: Måns, Pehr and Helena.
- Anna Stina, the eldest, is lost in the records.
- Eric had no children.
- Lisa had twins, but she and the babies all died within 30 days of the birth.
- Catherina (Caisa) had one daughter.
- Olof had four children with two wives.
Stina died in March of 1783, with an age noted as 54. Her husband, Eric Ericsson, died of pneumonia in 1796.
The parish of Grebo is in the orange area of the map and Stina's position in my grandfather's ancestry is starred.
Questions about Stina
In the first post of 2023, I wrote that I have a lot of questions about Stina Månsdotter. Her origin is not at all clear.
Stina did not name a daughter Karin, although she did name a daughter Catharina, which can be a variant. If her mother was Karin Olofsdotter, one of the two eldest daughters should have been named after her. However, if Karin was alive when the older children were born, perhaps there was a desire to wait. Or perhaps her husband's mother was Karin and she was still alive.
When Stina's two younger daughters died in another parish, their death records listed their mother with different names. That may be due to sparse or inaccurate moving certificates or inaccurate information provided by surviving family members. The records for these women had to be analyzed and traced through the parishes to assure the women were correctly followed. It does raise the question of whether Stina might have been a child of a different mother or father.
There is no birth record in Grebo parish that matches what is documented about her. In the tax records, she is listed as the daughter of Måns Andersson, not as a step daughter, foster daughter or other relationship. She may have been born in a different parish or from an affair outside his marriage. I don't know where her parents were living between their marriage on 17 March 1728 and the tax list created on 12 December 1730. There is also no supporting birth record in the immediately surrounding parishes.
Her assumed parents had twins named Anna and Anders who were born in 1731. While Anders' death was recorded, there is no trace of this Anna. Bearing in mind these parish records are full of errors, it is possible that this is Stina's birth record. However, the next child was born 15 months after the twins. That timeframe is unlikely if one twin was still nursing, but it is not impossible. A second daughter named Anna was born in 1735. Either the first Anna died or her name was recorded incorrectly.
Stina first appeared on the tax list that was made on 6 November 1745, so she would have turned 15 sometime in 1745 or 1746. That assumes honesty with the tax collector, which certainly may not be the case. If she was 54 in 1783, she could have been born as early as 1728. If she turned 15 in 1746, her birth could have been as late as 1731.
To Do List
More indexes are coming online each year. Can these questions be answered?
- What happened to Anna Stina Ericsdotter, born in 1751?
- Can a viable birth record be found for Stina Månsdotter between 1728 and 1731?
Sources
- Grebo Church Records for births, deaths and marriages
- Grebo Clerical Survey records
- Grebo Mantals Tax Lists
- Bankekinds District Court Probate Records
- Church records for other parishes: Värna, Björsäter, Åtvid, Svinstad (Bankekind), Östra Ryd, Linköping Domkyrkoförsamling, Norrköpings Östra Eneby, Norrköpings Hedvig, Törnevalla, Skärkind
- Death certificates: Chicago, Illinois; Venango County, Pennsylvania
- Family interviews
- Wikipedia
- Swedish Historical Dictionary Database
- Demografisk Databas Södra Sverige, Klassificerade dödsorsaker
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