Teamwork and Tragedy, 52 Ancestors

 

Is it possible that the siblings of my 3rd-great-grandmother, Anna Catherina Nilsdotter, have living descendants? Three siblings died in childhood, while three lived to be adults. Did the three have children and grandchildren? 

The Story of the Anders Nilsson Family

Anders Nilsson was the second oldest of the surviving siblings. He was born in Törnevalla parish to Torpare (crofter) Nils Nilsson and Brita Johansdotter on 17 July 1796. Unlike his brother, Jonas, who was featured in the previous post, Anders became a torpare.

How could two brothers have lives that turned out so differently? Jonas moved north and east, away from their rural home parish and into the fringes of the city of Norrköping. He was over 21 when his father died, yet he didn't take over the torp. It seems that he wanted something different from his life. Unfortunately, his choices moved him downward in the socioeconomic system. 

Instead of chasing dreams, Anders stayed within seven miles of his childhood home, working as a farm laborer in a handful of different parishes. When there was an opportunity to become a crofter in Askeby parish in 1827, he and the landowner came to an agreement. Anders must have built a reputation for reliability, teamwork and common sense. 

Teamwork was crucial for crofters, as the fields of many farms were laid out in narrow strips as a way to make sure each farmer had access to equal land of various qualities. The fields worked by a crofter were not adjacent to each other and he might have to access a field by crossing the field of another farmer. The men had to agree on what to plant and when to till, plant and harvest. 

The 1823 map of the Juby village and fields shows a cluster of homes in dark pink, with the fields radiating out in many directions. Accompanying the map is a long list of the fields being reallocated, a process which was done over many years with the intent to make the fields more contiguous. Anders Nilsson first farmed for a year at Östergården, then moved to Brunnsgården, marked with the letter E on the fields.

Juby Bys, 1823, Historical Map from Lantmateriet.se

In January of 1827, the banns were called for the February 9th marriage of Anders Nilsson and Maja Cajsa Nilsdotter. She had been christened Maria Catherina when she was baptised in Örtomta parish on 7 October 1798. Her parents were Nils Larsson and Maria Josephsdotter of Måssänder, both of whom died before she was 18. Her mother died two years after her birth. Her father soon remarried to Anna Svensdotter and moved to Askeby parish. Maja Cajsa would have seen Anna as her mother, though she doubtless learned that her mother had died.

Her father died when she was 17, and her step-mother, Anna, remarried to Anders Jonsson. Maja Cajsa must have had a good relationship with her step-parents, as she lived with them until after she turned 21 years old. Her birthdate changed in the records to be 7 July, due to two different errors in interpretation by the ministers or clerks. 

When Maja Cajsa left home in 1821, she stayed in Askeby parish and took a job as a maidservant at Nartomta Storgård, the same place that Anders was working as a farm laborer. They had a couple of years to get to know each other before Anders moved to a neighboring farm. When he became a Torpare, he needed a wife and Maja Cajsa became that wife. 

The couple lived out their lives at Brunnsgården, at a cottage named Nybygget. They had five children, all of whom died in childhood -- a tragic loss. Maja Cajsa had suffered both loss of parents and loss of children. She died at age 55, on 29 August 1854. Anders died of "frailty" on 20 December 1858, at the age of 62, with no living descendants.

Their five children were:

• Anna Greta 07 March 1828 -  03 September 1828, age 6 months
• Johanna 20 April 1830 -  13 August 1838, age 8 years
• Nils Fredric 01 January 1834 -  23 January 1836, age 2 years
• Catherina (twin) 25 October 1836 -  19 January 1837, age 3 months
• Anders (twin) 25 October 1836 -  31 January 1837, age 3 months

The family lived in parishes in the area marked in orange. Anders Nilsson was from the generation marked with the star.

Sources

• Lantmateriet.se Historical Maps
• Church records for parishes: Törnevalla, Örtomta, Askeby, Rystad, Östra Harg, Östra Skrukeby

 

By Another Name, 52 Ancestors

Is it possible that the siblings of my 3rd-great-grandmother, Anna Catherina Nilsdotter, have living descendants? Three siblings died in childhood, while three lived to be adults. Did those three have children and grandchildren? 

Just a few years ago this question would have been difficult to answer, as most Swedish records were not indexed. However, when Covid disrupted imaging, ArkivDigital and partner MyHeritage changed to indexing the existing collections. Anyone in Sweden who is listed in a husförhörslängd, a household survey, between 1800 and 1947, is now indexed. While the quality of the indexing varies, it is a powerful tool for finding people who moved around.

The Story of the Jonas Nilsson Family

Anna's oldest brother, Jonas, proved tricky to follow. He was born in Törnevalla parish to Torpare (crofter) Nils Nilsson and Lisken Nilsdotter on 29 July 1791. Lisken died four days later from complications of childbirth. Nils quickly remarried to Brita Johansdotter, the only mother that Jonas would have known. As the oldest surviving child, he had five younger half-siblings and one older sister who died when he was four. He would have worked the farm with his father.

Jonas left home to take a job by 1806, when he was about age 15. He moved a few miles away to the parish of Örtomta, never again living in Törnevalla. For the rest of his life, he worked as a contract laborer, moving frequently between different parishes and different farms or estates. 

In 1816, he married a woman named Brita. Their only child, Stina Lisa, was born the same year. All three of these family members changed names during their lifetime and Brita's birthdate varied in the records from inconsistent to incorrect. 

When Jonas died of pneumonia on 12 August 1837, the minister of Styrstad parish wrote a short paragraph about him in the death book. His crofter parents were referred to as bondefolk, or peasants. Jonas was referred to as a statdräng, a contract farm worker of a lower social order than a crofter. Wikipedia has an article describing the dismal lives of the statare class.

Brita died of "languishing" nine years later, on 3 May 1846, also in Styrstad parish.

Stina Lisa left her parents at the age of 15. She lived a long life, also moving frequently and working as a servant or farm worker. She died, unmarried, in 1899, meaning this family line has died out.

The Records - Jonas

The challenge of finding the family in the records started with Jonas. Searching for any person named Jonas who was born on 29 July 1791, living in Östergötland County, returned 14 records with two names: Jonas Nilsson and Jonas Ek. Were they the same man? Most records in the index showed a birthplace that resembled Törnevalla, though spellings and abbreviations were random. Looking through the underlying records, two showed the name of Jonas Nilsson Ek. These records confirmed that Jonas changed his name from the patronymic Nilsson to the nature-inspired Ek (oak) at the end of 1817.

The Records - Brita

Having reconciled the records for Jonas, it was time to identify his wife. Going through the records, it appeared he had married both Brita Hållberg and Brita Bengtsdotter. The birthdates for both women were randomly 1780 and 1781, with a birth parish of Östra Ryd. The marriage record in Östra Ryd stated that Jonas Nilson of Hummelsäter married Brita Bengtsdotter on 17 May 1816. Stina Lisa was born in the parish, on 20 September 1816, to Jonas Nilson and Brita Hållberg of Hummelsäter. This made no sense. 

Were Brita Hållberg and Brita Bengtsdotter the same woman? How could that be proven? Because the birthdates for Brita varied from record to record, searching did not reveal enough information. One recorded birthdate was 30 April 1780, but there was no supporting birth record. With no indexing before 1800, it was time to use the old method of tracking the person from record to record. Fortunately, that was possible. 

Starting from the marriage, I worked backward in time and was able to trace her back to the earliest husförhörslängd for Östra Ryd, which started in 1790. In a record for 1800, there was an obvious reason for a change on her recorded birthdate. The date was written as 30/11 1780, then crossed out. The month 11 could also be read as a 4. Before that record, her birthdate was written as 30 November 1780. Later it was written as either 1781 or as 30 April 1780.

Looking at births for 30 November 1780, the surnames were clarified. Brita was born to askved soldat (retired soldier) Bengt Hållberg and Kerstin Svensdotter (age 31) at Bäcketorpet. Her father's military name was Hållberg, which she used at times. However, children of military men didn't generally take his military name. Her patronymic was Bengtsdotter, which she used after about 1817, when Jonas changed his name to Ek. Brita's birth was also recorded as one of the last births of the year 1780, with the year of 1781 written a few lines later. Had a minister or clerk at some point looked at that year when looking up her birth record?

The Records - Stina Lisa

After solving the puzzle of Brita, daughter Stina Lisa was left to research. She used the names Jonsdotter Ek as her surname. Stina Lisa disappeared from the index about 1842, but the records did not show a death. At about that time, she took the name Christina Elisabeth, rather than the nicknames Stina Lisa. Her names were abbreviated in many different ways in the records, making it hard to locate her in the index. Fortunately her birthdate remained consistent, though there are records I have not found. 

Christina Elisabeth's two grandmothers were Kerstin Svensdotter and Lisken Nilsdotter. Kerstin and Christina are used interchangeably. Lisken is a nickname for Elisabeth. It seems that she was more fully honoring her grandmothers. She spent the last 25 years of her life in a parish named simply Å, spending the last five years in the fattighuset, the poorhouse. Christina Elisabeth Jonsdotter Ek died on New Year's Day, 1899, at 82 years old, with the cause not recorded.

The family lived in parishes that were mostly in the northernmost part of the area marked in orange. Jonas Nilsson Ek was from the generation marked with the star.

Sources

• Wikipedia article on statare
• Church records for parishes: Östra Ryd, Törnevalla, Örtomta, Landeryd, Vist, Konungsund, Björsäter, Svinstad (Bankekind), Å, Styrstad, Kuddby, Dagsberg, Östra Ny, Norrköpings Sankt Johannes, Norrköpings Sankt Olai, Norrköpings Hedvig, Sankt Laurentii (Söderköping).