Titel: Olof Evald Olson Linné
Skrivet av: Harriet Hogevik skrivet 2011-09-09, 22:44
Jan! First, the father in Sweden. Lars Olsson, kusk, born Nov 5, 1855 dies October 10, 1896 in Malmö St Pauli due to suicide, hanging, according to the police investigation (SCB, döda 1896, Malmö St Pauli). There is nothing noted about any family name; thus we can rule out son and father both calling themselves Linné.
Searching the 1880 and 1890 censuses for entire Sweden reveals one and only one man with the two names Alfred and Linné - the same man both 1880 and 1890: the shoemaker Samuel Alfred Linné living in Ljungby (G = Kronoberg county). I also note that there are young men training to become shoemakers (skomakarelärling) in his household both 1880, 1890 and in the household exam list 1892-1898 (Ljungby AI/16, fol 23), which support that Olof Edvard may have had this man as a tutor or employer for some period. However I have not yet found Olof Edvard registrered as living in Ljungby. I believe these lärlingar could stay for longer or shorter periods and not always being registred as living in the parish.
Could we possibly think that he as a full trained shoemaker added Linné as a family name in memory of an admired teacher (my personal hypothesis..)
And later on someone filling in the death certificate and unfamiliar with Swedish naming tradition have mixed names up - assuming that the father should have the same family name as the son (and Olsson wrongly interpreted as originating from his mother). Could the name of a former employer have been noted on for example emigration documents?
Another, less exciting explanation might be that his brother Carl Alfred also used the family name Linné and by some misunderstanding was noted as father.
You have not mentioned which year he died - had many decades elapsed since he left Sweden and his true father (yes, the church books are convincing and he used Olsson all his life)had died? Harriet