What might have happened to an orphan in Sweden in 1860? Each child would have had a different experience. Just as today, there were guardians, foster parents and extended families. The child also could have been sent to the poorhouse or placed as a servant into a household. The child's assets might have been preserved or they might have been stolen. The child would have had no options, but had to endure whatever was decided by their guardian, family or the parish minister.
The orphan Hulda Charlotta Olaidotter is a dead-end branch in my Swedish family tree. I learned her story while on the journey this year to identify the branches of my tree that may have living descendants. Her sad story puzzles me. Why did her extended family let her go into the foster care system? Was her inheritance actually stolen? It's impossible to know the financial, physical and emotional resources of her family. The life of peasant farmers was certainly difficult, but it seems heartless to consign a little child to strangers.
Hulda was the child of a crofter and his wife, both of whom also were children of crofters. Her father, Olaus, had also been orphaned young.
My fourth-great-grandmother, Inga Stina Svensdotter, had only one sibling, Peter Svensson. The two of them grew up on a farm on the lands of Sörby, in Landeryd parish, near the city of Linköping. Peter, who was born on 17 January 1786, married at the young age of 22, in 1808. He became a farmer and lived out his life at Sörby. He and his wife had six children, with four of them dying before they turned four years old. When his wife died in 1829, Peter was left with two little boys: Olaus was nine and Carl was five. Carl was apparently not well and was recorded as sick in the church records, dying at age ten. And then there was one.
Olaus Pettersson, born on 30 March 1820, was 16 years old when his father died. He had first left the parish to work for others when he was eleven, so he was prepared to be independent. He moved between farms for a few years, including spending time with his maternal uncle and cousins. He had some level of connection and support from that extended family. In 1842, he moved from the parish of Landeryd into a rural area near the city of Norrköping, in the parish of Sankt Johannes. As he moved from farm to farm and page to page in the parish registers, his birthdate became garbled. The month 3 was changed to 5 and then back to 3. Eventually his birth year of 1820 was written as 1810, making him a challenge to trace.
Norrköping was an industrial city, drawing workers from the surrounding countryside. Olaus continued working as a farm laborer and, three years after moving to Sankt Johannes, he signed a contract to become a torpare, a crofter. He married Johanna Nilsdotter on 26 October 1845, and the couple had two children before Johanna died far too soon. Karl Olof Alfrid Olaisson died soon after turning one year old in 1848. Daughter Hulda Charlotta Olaidotter was born on 22 July 1849, five months before her mother died of a fever.
The first question arises from Johanna's estate inventory. Hulda needed a male advocate, or guardian, to protect her share of the estate. Why was Johanna's eldest surviving brother not named as that guardian? Tradition was that a male relative of Johanna should fill that guardian role. Since brother Carl had moved about 10 miles away, it is possible that Olaus thought it was better to choose the farm foreman, as he was local and more mature. That choice had consequences.
Left with a young daughter, Olaus needed to remarry, rather than merely hire a housekeeper. He took his time and married Sara Larsdotter on 31 October 1852, in her home parish of Västra Eneby. Daughter Clara Fredrika Petersson was born six months later, the only child of the marriage.
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Olaus Pettersson died on 16 March 1856, of dropsy, just before his 36th birthday. Sara found herself widowed at age 34, with a 3-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old stepdaughter. In the estate inventory, Sara chose a different guardian for herself and her daughter. Hulda's guardian was listed and the debts of the estate included an amount due as her portion of her mother's estate.
Sara had to move out of the croft, along with the girls, and find lodging and employment. Hulda's guardian was aging, so with the croft being available, he was moved to that croft and a new farm foreman was appointed. The guardian died less than a year after Olaus; however, his estate did not make any mention of responsibility to Hulda. At that point, she was 8 years old and without her advocate. It was unlikely that she had collected her heritage, as it was mostly comprised of the ordinary objects needed for living.
Hulda's grandmother and her eldest uncle, Carl, also died that year, so two people who would have had an interest in her well-being were also gone. Left living, by the end of 1857, were two unmarried aunts, 22-year-old uncle Johan, her uncle Carl's wife and two young cousins.
She continued living with her half-sister and stepmother until sometime in 1858, when she was thrust into foster care. Why was Hulda separated from them? Apparently Sara either could not or would not support her step-daughter any longer. Had Sara decided to keep everything for herself and her daughter, rather than share with Hulda? Did Sara even reach out to Hulda's family before abandoning her? Unfortunately it is unlikely that any of her mother's family could have taken her in at that time, but her father's cousins certainly could have. Sadly, from the age of 9, Hulda was on her own.
Hulda spent the next three years in the household of an older couple who were crofters. She was listed as girl (flicka) or foster girl in the household surveys, while a young boy was listed as their foster son. That nuance between foster girl and foster son leads me to think that she was treated more as a servant than a cherished child.
In 1861, Hulda's uncle Johan had a job at the "gasworks" and married a young woman who had a child. Why did Johan leave Hulda in foster care after he married? Was it because a 12-year-old was at an age when some did leave home to become workers?
That year, at age 12, Hulda moved a few miles away to a farm in the neighboring parish of Styrstad. She was listed as a piga (miss or maidservant) and was the youngest in a list of workers on the page. The next year she moved along with the farmer and his wife to a different farm, where she was listed as foster girl, but still among the list of workers. She did receive religious instruction and was confirmed and took her first communion in 1864, when she was 15.
Hulda Charlotta Olaidotter turned 16 years old in the summer of 1865, and left foster care behind after the harvest. She left the farm and moved into the city of Norrköping, to the parish of Sankt Olai. She lived in an area that supported textile mills and probably took a job in such a mill, but that is not clear from the household survey. Hulda died at the Lazarettet, a clinic or hospital, at the age of 17, on 1 September 1866, from what I believe to say benröta i knä ledan, or bone rotting of the knee joint. This would imply that she had a damaged knee, possibly a break, that had become infected. There was no indication of injury or disease in the church records, so it was likely that she was hurt in the city or on the job.
Her stepmother, Sara, filed a probate in 1867, lying about Hulda's last living place and listing Hulda's assets and heirs. Of course, the number one heir was Sara's daughter, Hulda's half-sister. The other heirs were her aunts, uncle and cousins. Hulda didn't own many possessions, but did have some "cash money" that the family must have wanted. Among her possessions, Hulda owned a "religious book", which I hope means that she found some comfort in her faith.
Hulda's half-sister lived to the age of 44 and never married or had children. Thus, my fourth-great-grandmother, Inga Stina Svensdotter, was the only member of her family to have living descendants today. Her only sibling, Peter Svensson, had one living son, Olaus Pettersson, who had three children, none of whom had children.
Orientation
The family lived in the orange area on the map and Inga Stina Svendsotter is at the location in the tree where the star appears.
Sources
- Landeryd Church Records for births, deaths and marriages
- Landeryd Clerical Survey records
- Norrköpings Sankt Johannes Church Records for births, deaths and marriages
- Norrköpings Sankt Johannes Clerical Survey records
- Norrköpings Sankt Olai Church Records for births, deaths and marriages
- Norrköpings Sankt Olai Clerical Survey records
- Styrstad Clerical Survey records
- Styrstad Moving Out records
- Church records for: Västra Eneby, Gistad, Tåby, Tjärstad, Söderköping Sankt Laurentii
- Lösings District Court Probate Records
- Lantmateriet.se Historical Maps
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