Lars Hansson of Landskrona

[Vicki Hanson]

I have located the following regarding my great-great grandfather, Lars Hansson and his family in Sweden, but don’t know where to go from here. I would like to find out more about my family history in Sweden. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The information I have is:
 
Great great grandfather - Lars Hansson, birth unknown , was married to Hanna Christensdotter. Lars has vagnman (wagonmaker?) listed in the Church records as his occupation. They had the following children:
 
Carl Olof (my great grandfather) was born 9/16/1864, at Landskrona, Malmö län 14 blad. Carl immigrated to Montreal, Canada in 1892, where he married Albertina Almquist and where my grandfather was born. They then went to New York.
 
I’ve also located other children of Lars and Hanna, all are born in Landskrona:
Maria (or possibly Hanna), born 1862
Jonas, born 1866
Gustav, born 1868
Elof, born 1870
Nils Peter, born 1872
Theodor, born 1874
Otto Emil, born 1878, who immigrated to New York and then moved to Washington State
 
Any additional information or assistance as to where I should go from here would be appreciated.
 
Thanks in advance for any information

[Niklas Nyström]

Vicki - this is from Landskrona stadsförsamling CI:12 (1862-1876) Bild 100 / sid 96:

As you can see his date of birth is 9/13/1864
 
regards Niklas

[Niklas Nyström]

from 1880 census:
 
Hansson, Lars   1827   Father
Kristensdotter, Hanna   1836   Mother
(Barn), Karl Olof   1864   Child
(Barn), Jöns   1866   Child
(Barn), Gustaf   1868   Child
(Barn), Elof   1870   Child
(Barn), Nils Peter   1872   Child
(Barn), Theodor   1874   Child
(Barn), Otto Emil   1878   Child
 
Record 1880-12-256-6300
 
Hansson, Lars
Vagnman
 
b. 1827 in Landskrona (Malmöhus län, Skåne)
 
Man, married, father
 
Norra Wärn
Landskrona (Malmöhus län, Skåne)
 
Place of birth (in the database): Landskrona Malmöhus län
 
Record 1880-12-256-6301
 
Kristensdotter, Hanna
 
b. 1836 in Örja (Malmöhus län, Skåne)
 
h.
Woman, married, mother
 
Norra Wärn
Landskrona (Malmöhus län, Skåne)
 
Place of birth (in the database): Örja Malmöhus län

[Niklas Nyström]

from Landskrona stadsförsamling AI:61 (1876-1882) Bild 255 / sid 466:

[Vicki Hanson]

Niklas,  
 
Thank you very much for looking this information up for me.  I would truly appreciate if you could answer one question for me.  One column under the heading Frägd, has what appears a year and a word conf across from the names Carl Olof and Jön.  I cannot find either of these words in the Swedish to English translator that I am using.  Could you clarify what this column refers to?
 
Thank you again,  
 
Vicki

[Niklas Nyström]

Conf. is short for confirmerad/konfirmerad. This means that one aknowledge to the christian belief.

[Ingela Martenius]

Conf. = confirmed. In the Catholic and Anglican churches the confirmation is usually done by the bishop; in all the Nordic churches it's done by the vicar.
 
To be confirmed meant that you had demonstrated enough knowledge of Christianity (the only valid form being of course Lutheranism) and were able to read to allow you to take part in Holy Communion. This is why you will also find the abbreviation adm., short for admitterad - admitted - meaning exactly the same thing.
The word confirmation wasn't made official until 1917.
 
In the country (and 90-95 % lived in the country) you were confirmed at the age of 15, or later. The vicar could decide that you had to wait because you weren't mature enough. Also, of course, you had to be able to read before being tutored by the vicar for the confirmation.
 
The Household Examination rolls tie into this, since these were originally records of who had passed the yearly exam (in a way, you were confirmed annually) and could thus take part in Holy Communion. That you had indeed done so, at least once every year, was also recorded.
 
The exam (and thus also the confirmation) meant you had to answer questions about the content of Luther's small Catechism (Ten Commandments, Creed, the Lord's Prayer - with the dreaded explanations), about your own understanding of the Catechism and that you could read. Reading meant reading from a book; the vicar usurally prefered the Bible or the Book of Prayers but could also present one of the very popular anthologies of sermons. Being able to read was one of the most important tenets of Lutheranism since it was your Christian duty to read the Bible yourself (which also meant that the Bible had to be translated into the vernacular of course). The result was that in Sweden, one of the poorest countries on the outskirts of Europe, already by the early 1720's all of the younger generation (under 30) could read, and some 80 % of the older generation; this can be compared to the the richest country on Earth at the time - England - where only 60 % could read by the 1750's!
 
Ingela

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

Frägd is the old spelling for frejd, i.e. character or reputation.

[Vicki Hanson]

Thank you all so much for the information you've provided.  I hope I can, in return, assist with some information about the U.S.  
 
Ingela,  Thank you for your description of Lutheran confirmation.  As a child I was raised in Arizona in a Lutheran church with a Swedish Pastor.  Our confirmation was very very similar, using Luther's small Catechism and the explanations.  Your description brought back all of those memories.  
 
thanks, vicki