Anbytarforum
Särskilda ämnen & övrigt => Discussions in English => Swedish language => Ämnet startat av: George Lind skrivet 2021-02-26, 17:14
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Attached are two images taken from the tax registries of Hede on the island of Tjörn in 1811 and 1812.
This is for Jakob Olsson. I am not sure what the word is before his name. Can anyone translate this word?
He lived in Bräcke before moving to Hede. That might be the beginning of the word before his name.
Here is the link to the first image on the Swedish National Archives 1812
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0005825_00548
Here is the link to the second image on the Swedish National Archives 1811
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0005824_00756
Thanks,
George
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"Backesittaren", which most likely is a short or local form of Backstugusittare (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backstugusittare).
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Thank you so much for helping me with this translation.
George
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Backstugusittare = "hill cottage sitter", as Wikipedia says, looks like a Google translation to me... :) Backe can mean hill, but in this context it means ground.
Both a backstuga and a torp were located on land that belonged to a farm or a village. A torp had some small farming land attached to it, a backstuga did not. However, even if they didn't own the land, both a torpare and backstugesittare could own the buildings.
I would call a backstugesittare (or backsittare as it's usually called in Båhuslän) a crofter without land, and a torpare a crofter with land.
Many backsittare were poor and had to live on charity, but not all of them.
I can add that on Tjörn, as on the rest of the coast of Båhuslän, you can find a lot of strandsittare. Which is an equivalent to backsittare, but they lived on the shore (strand). Many of them, or probably most of them, where fishermen.
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Thank you for taking the time to find out all this information. I really appreciate learning about the history too.
George