Äldre inlägg (arkiv) till 18.2.2001

[Harold Ek]

I recently have obtained a copy of the Household Records for my Grandfathers family (Karl Edward Ek) in Norra Roda, Varmland for the years 1891 -1895.
 
On my grandfathers line under the Military Service column is the notation (3 101/79).
 
Can anyone give me an interpretation of this, and can it lead me to any more details on him?
 
I have heard that it is possible that the Ek surname may have been assigned by the military. Can anyone give me a lead on how I can track this further?
 
Thank you from an American Swede.
Harlod Ek

[Jörgen Tollesson]

Between 1813 and 1901 Sweden had a back up to the professional soldiers, called beväring in Swedish. Every Swedish man was drafted when he was 21 years old. You don´t say when your grandfather was born, but my guess is 1858. Correct? 79 must be the year he was drafted and 101 his number in the military records. But I don´t know what 3 means.  
 
What you can find in these records in addition to the information in the church records is his length. And if he was not approved by the military, the reason for that.  
 
The professional soldiers were something different. In 1682 it was decided that Sweden should be divided into districts (rote in Swedish), each of them supporting one soldier for either the infantry, cavalry or navy. This system lasted until 1901.
 
Every (common) soldier had a croft (torp), owned and maintained by the district, where he and his family lived. So he was both a professional soldier and a crofter at the same time. The soldier was given a new surname in addition to or instead of his patronymic. (There were just too many Johansson, Svensson, Andersson etc!) And Ek is a typical soldiers name! (Ek=Oak.)
 
If the title/occupation in the household records is not soldat/sold. or båtsman/båtsm. (if he was in the navy) then perhaps his father was a soldier. Originally the soldiers name was not inherited by his children, but at this time, the late 1800s, it might have been.

[Harold Ek]

Thank You Jorgen for your interesting response.
 
Your guess of my grandfathers birthdate was close, it is actually listed as 1856.
I did not think there was an occupation listed in the household record, although his listing was preceded by what looks like Barfuaren which I thought meant the head of the house. My father had told me that my FF was a tanner.
If the 101 does refer to military records, this must also be local to his parish. Do you know if these are available anywhere?
I was planning to use the household records from his birthplace (Gillberga) to try and get more details on his family. However if Ek had been assigned, do you have any idea how I can proceed?

[Rolf Liljhammar]

Harold!  
Look again!
Might the word Barfuaren be Garfvaren = the Tanner?
 
Regards
 
Rolf L

[Jörgen Tollesson]

All 21 year old men were to be inspected by the military, to find out if they were fit to serve. Those not present at the inspection were (in addition to being fined) listed again the next year as the 2nd class (2:a klassen). And if they still were absent they were the 3rd class the next year, and so on. Your grandfather should have been inspected in 1877 (being born in 1856), but was not until 1879. 3rd class in other words. That's what 3 must mean. 3rd class, number 101, 1879. 3 101/79.
 
I have checked the household record (husförhörslängd) for Norra Roda (today officially spelled Norra Råda) 1891-95. And it says Garfvaren. But I knew it had to be a G and took a really close look - it sure looked like a B at first!
 
Have you noticed Karl Edvard Ek's parents on the same page? Erik Ek and Anna Jonsdotter! Erik was also a tanner (today spelled garvare without an f).
 
And in the birth record (födelsebok) for Gillberga I found:
 
March 6. 1856 Carl Edvard Fulgentius [!], parents Garfvaren Erik Ek and Anna Jonsdotter (age 34), Nysäter page 256.
 
Page 256 refer to the household record (husförhörslängd) for Gillberga (this specific book is in the archives called Gillberga AI:19). And there I found the family, living in Nysäter:
 
Garfvaren Erik Ek born September 25. 1823 in Fifvelstad
H:u (=hustru=wife) Anna Jonsdotter b March 31. 1822 in Gillberga
D Augusta Mathilda b March 28. 1851 in Gillberga  
S Nikolaus b May 24. 1853 in Gillberga
S Carl Edvard Fulgentius b March 6. 1856 in Gillberga
D Anna Lovisa b January 9. 1859 in Gillberga
Farbror (=his father's brother) Enk. (=enkling=widower) Nils Cederlöf b 1781 in S:t Per, became a widower in 1847, came from Karlskoga in 1855
Svärmoder (=mother-in-law) Enk. (=widow) Margreta Ersdotter b in April 1777 in Långserud, transfered from page 229 in 1857, died February 2. 1859
 
The household record for Gillberga says that Erik Ek was born in Fifvelstad (today spelled Fivelstad), but the Norra Roda record says Filipstad. I think the first alternative is the right one. For two reasons:
 
1) Filipstad is a town in Värmland, not far from Norra Roda. But Fivelstad is just a small rural parish in the province (landskap) Östergötland some 200 miles from Norra Roda. It is for obvious reasons more likely that the priest by mistake should write the name of the well-known town Filipstad instead of Fivelstad, than the other way round.
 
2) His uncle Nils Cederlöf is said to be born in S:t Per. And S:t Per and Fivelstad are two neighbour parishes near the small town Vadstena in Östergötland.
 
I said the last time that Ek is a typical soldiers name. But that does not mean that it must have been assigned by the military. Erik could of course have changed his name to Ek without being a soldier. Either that or Erik's father and uncle Nils took the names Ek and Cederlöf.
 
I think you will find the answer in Fivelstad. The church records of Fivelstad are being kept by the regional archives (Landsarkivet) in Vadstena. You will find it here > Landsarkivet i Vadstena. (Mail to: landsarkivet@landsarkivet-vadstena.ra.se)

[Sven-Ove Brattström]

Jörgen!
A very good explanation of the facts !
Harold!  
Also, try the war archives http://www.ra.se/KRA/english.html. They do not have any searchable records on the internet yet, but they may be able to help you with information about your ancestor concerning the time he served in the army.
Sven-Ove Brattström

[Harold Ek]

Tack sä Mycket both Jörgen and Sven-Ove
Your explanations certainly help me understand my Swedish history much better. Without your knowledge, the differences in birthplaces would have confused me completely. I surely do appreciate the effort that you have put in.
 
On a more general question. Is it only family choice, or why have some people used the more modern family name rather than the patronymic names? I had the impression that this change had mostly occurred in the last half of the 19th century. On my mothers side I have some info that some of their family changed name about 1880.
 
Just yesterday I recieved notice that my request for a microfilm of the Household records of Gilberga have arrived at the Local Family History Center in Knoxville Tennessee about 30 miles from my home.
Your work of even giving me the page numbers will make my search to get a copy much easier.

[Harold Ek]

Rolf!
Thank you also for you excellent comment.
You may have noticed the other comment above about the handwriting on the household record.
 
I had responded to you earlier last week but now I see that that message got lost somewhere.
 
Now you also will notice that at least 2 generations of Eks where tanners. My father who was born in Norra Råda in 1894 broke the family tradition and was trained as a Forester, but never worked it once he got to the US.
Thanks for your interest, and sorry for the delay ion this response.
Harold Ek

[Harold Ek]

Jorgen
I really appreciate all the help you have been, but I have more questions that I hope you will help me with.
 
When I found household record of my FF Karl Edward which gave me his birthdate and place. I thought I could find more information from the household records of Gilberga for the years 1861-1870(book Al:20). I reasoned that at 5 years old he should still be at home. Your info lead me first to search through the Nysäter Village? but could not find the family, nor could I find them anywhere in that book.
If I'm interpreting your message properly, You went first to the birth records and that gave you a page(256) in the houshold records where they where living.
 
My questions;
Do the birth records usually give a reference to a page in the household records?
Is that usually the best way to proceed, from the birth records to the household records?
I have also found references to my FF and FFF in the Folkräkningen (census I believe) for 1890 which is searchable on the internet. This shows the Filipstad birthplace for Erik Ek. Would this record have been formed from the household records that you felt might be in error, or would they have been developed from another interview?
 
According to the census records Both my grandparents and greatgrandparents were living in the same house in 1890, which is probably the reason you found the two references on the same page in the household records, although I missed it. I was so happy to find the one generation that I quess I didn't look any further.
 
Thanks again for your help, and I hope that I not being too much of a pest.
Harold Ek

[Jörgen Tollesson]

When I check my notes, I see that I forgot to mention one not totally unimportent thing last time: on page 256 in the Gillberga household record AI:19 (1856-60) it also says that the whole family moved to Frykerud parish in 1860! Sorry... You will find the family in the Frykerud household record AI:22a (1856-60), living in Klaxås, page 101. Frykerud is also a parish in Värmland.
 
The usual procedure is to start with the birth record (födelsebok). There you will get the parents names and where they lived. From there you go to the household record (husförhörslängd) for the same period (at this stage you only know for sure that they were living there at the time of the birth). The birth record does not always give you the number of the page in the household record, but you will get the name of the farm or village. And in the beginning or the end of the household record there usually (but unfortunately not always) is a register where you will find the page number for that farm/village.
 
You should always double check the dates you find in the household records with the birth, marriage and death records. (Marriage record=vigselbok, death record=dödbok.) And it is always a good idea to follow a family from household record to household record through the years. There might be information in one book that is missing in the others. And of course, this is the only way to find all the children, since there can be twenty years or more between the oldest and the youngest.
 
When people moved from one parish to another they had to get a certificate from the priest in their old parish, to deliver to the new one. This is how information was transfered from one household record in one parish to another. In the household record there are the columns Inflyttad (moved in) and Utflyttad (moved out) where you will find the name of the parish they came from or went to. If there is just a number in one of these columns, they have just moved within the parish, and you will find them on that page in the same book.  
 
When the priest began a new household record (for instance went from Gillberga AI:19 to AI:20), he just transfered the information from the old book into the new one, simply excluding the persons who had died or moved out of the parish.  
 
The census (folkräkning) is just an extract from the household record that the priest sent to Statistiska Centralbyrån (SCB, The Central Bureau of Statistics) every ten year starting in 1860, containing the persons living in the parish on the 31th of December these years.

[Harold Ek]

Hej Jorgen
Thanks again for all your help!
I will attempt to get the birth and household records from the Family History Library that you have sugested.
Harold Ek

[Harold Ek]

Well I have reviewed some additional household records in tracking my family. This time I was tracking my father's mother, Maria Christina Johansson. I believe I have located her family in the Hardemo household records AI:17 (1861-5) on page 155. But as usual I have more questions.
 
1. My grandmothers (gm) name is shown as Johansson, and true her father was Johan. Is it normal that she should have been Johansson and not Johansdotter?
2. My ggf line shows what I think should be his professsion as Egebr, can anyone interpret that for me?
3. On my ggm line I have trouble reading the writing. Are Aina and Cajsa reasonable names?
4. Also on her line it looks like maybe her last name is abreviated. it looks to me to be And:dtr, could that mean Andersdotter?
5. Since there is what looks like an address at the top of this page, and several other listings on the page, would this mean that they were perhaps living in some type of apartment buiding?

[Hans Högman]

Hi Harold,
 
1) Patronymic names were used in Sweden until around the 1860's when many individuals started to adopt family names. It soon became a fashion to adopt a family name but not everyone changed at this time.
Mind you that most people just froze their patronymic name as a family name. But many did choose to adopt a new name.
More about the Swedish naming practices:
http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/Naming%20practice_eng.htm
So your ancestors could have adopted a family name by that time. When the patronymic names were abolished the woman adopted her husband's family name when they got married.
 
2) Egebr maight be an abrivation, anyhow I can't think of a profession that corresponds to Egebr. Maybe someone else will know.
 
3) Both Aina and Cajsa are common Swedish first names.
 
4) And:dtr means Andersdotter.
 
5) Not really. At this time at the countryside, before or in the beginning of the industrial boom I would say it would be very unlikely to be an apartment building. At larger mill they had what we call arbetarbaracker (laborers quarter) where more than one family lived in the same building but I wouldn't call them apartment buildings.
It's more likely to be a farm.  
In the household examination records all persons living at a farm would be listed under that farms name. But in a mill all the employees would be listed together as well.
But if it's a farm or a mill will show in the household examination records.
 
Hans

[Harold Ek]

Hej Hans
Thanks for your very rapid and informative response.
The reason I thought that it might be an apartment is what looks like an address at the top of the page. As best as I can read, it looks like;
L Ahlberg 14 Frålse Orinesta Rote
 
Tack sä Mycket
Harold Ek

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

Harold, egebr might be an abbreviation for eger och brukar, which means that he owns and works his own land.
 
Aina would be an unusual first name for the mid-1800s, more likely to be Anna or Stina, old hand-writing can be difficult.
 
People did not very often live in apartment buildings in the countryside, unless they lived at a bruk (iron works or something like that), but they often had little cottages on land that they leased from a land owner. They are then listed under the name of the main farm. But it is difficult to say without looking at that page you are referring to.

[Harold Ek]

More questions.
On my GGM line in the hufförhörslängd her birthplace looks like Juömla. They were living in Hardemo at the time (1861). I have searched for this name in both Sweden and Finland but can not locate it.
Can anybody help me?
Also on the birth records there is a second number that is in the column next to the date. The heading looks like Döpt. Is this the date of the christening?
Tack sä Mycket
Harold Ek

[Jörgen Tollesson]

I have found no parish beginning with an I or J that could be a possible Juömla. But if there is just a parish name and no län (county) mentioned, I think you will find the right place not far from Hardemo. Hardemo is in the province of Närke, and a parish there that at least got the ending -mla is the one next to Hardemo, Kumla. But could the preast´s hand-writing be so bad that Ku- could be mistaken for Juö-?  
 
Your guess what Döpt means is exactly right!

[Rolf Liljhammar]

Hallo Harold.
Hardemo is a parish i Närke, not far from Kumla, 20 kilometers SSW Örebro.  
Might your Juömla in reality be Kumla?
 
Rolf L

[Harold Ek]

Thank you both for your input.
You are probably correct. What looks like a J in other parts of the page does have an extra sweep on to the next letter that probably makes it a K.
The handwriting is not bad, but maybe too fancy with extra sweeps and curls. It certainly looks like there is a uö that follows the K. could this be another case of an older spelling?
At any rate I'll try that Kumla spelling and check the records>
Thanks again, Harold Ek

[Ellert Peterson]

Hallo Harold.
Kumla happens to be my birth parish. I have done a lot of genealogical research both in Kumla and in Hardemo. So I am very well acquainted with these parishes.  
 
The text at the top of the page that you refer to on May 22 says: ”L.Ählberg 14 Frälse Ormesta
rote”. ”L.Ählberg” stands for Lilla (= little) Ählberg and is the name of the village (Lilla
Ählberg is a small one and consists of only two or three farms). There is also a nearby village
called Stora (= big) Ählberg. Modern writing is ”Älberg”. What ”14” means in this case I
can´t tell. ”Frälse” means that the farm was owned by a nobleman and leased by the family
that lived on the farm. ”Rote” is a group of farms whose farmers supported a soldier together.  
 
I draw the conclusion that your intention is to do the research for your ancestors in Hardemo
and Kumla yourself with the help of microfilm that you send for. But there might be a pretty
good chance that your relatives also appear among mine. So if you like you could list all the
persons of this family at Lilla Ählberg, giving their names, birth time (year and day) and birth
place (parish). Then I could see if I can trace them.

[Harold Ek]

Thank you very much for your kind offer.
Here are the relatives that I have been researching:
They are my grandmothers (GM) family
GM Maria Cristina Johansson B:9/20/1860 Hardemo
 I have found, and have copies of the birth records of her & siblings, and marriage of her parents. That is where I currently am, trying to track my GGM&F. Their household records are found in Hardemo AI:17 on page 155.
Johan Andersson B: 21/1/1822 Hardemo
Stina Casisa Andersson B:3/1/1821 Kuömla
 I am also trying to trace my other GGF&M
Eric Ek B:25/9/1823 Fifvelstad
Anna Jonsdotter B:31/3/1822 Gilberga but they may be further from your work.
 
It helps me so much to have the interpretations from the many kind Swedes who understand the words that I find.
 
Tack sä Mycket
Harold Ek

[Ellert Peterson]

Hi Harold!
I am glad to be able to assert that your great grandfather Johan Andersson also appears among my distant relatives. He was born at Lilla Älberg, Hardemo, 1822 21/1 as the eldest son of Anders Olsson and his second wife Anna Larsdotter. Anders Olsson, in his turn, was born at Lilla Älberg 1787 27/8 and died there 1834 14/10. Anna Larsdotter was born 1791 15/10 at Stora Älberg, Hardemo, and died as a widow at Lilla Älberg  1870 9/1.  
But the most interesting thing about Anders Olsson, also to many Swedes who might read this, is no doubt who his first wife was. Her name was Maria Jansdotter, born 1788 30/7 at Kvarntorp, Hardemo, and dead 1742 27/2 in the parish of Horn, Östergötland. Anders and Maria were divorced in 1819 after a very long process. Divorces were very rare in the 19th century. But by then Maria was a famous person, in fact one of the most famous women in Sweden: she was called Kisa-Mor (Kisa is place in the south of the province Östergötland; mor = mother), and famous because of her skill at curing sick people. She even went to the Royal Castle in Stockholm to cure the Swedish king, Karl XIV Johan, from severe headache.
Best regards
Ellert Peterson

[Harold Ek]

Tack sä Mycket for all the help I have recieved here, but I have more questions.
1. Several here have said that Hardemo was in Nårke, but in the Morman records Hardemo is shown as being Orrebro. Is this an error or are there 2 locations?
2.I have located my GGF Eric Ek, and as sugested above he was born 9/25/1823 in Fivelstad not Filipstad. Unfortunatly I have not been able to locate the household records for that period. Does anyone know if they exist, or is that too early.
3. The fodelbok records Eric's birth but does not give me any details about his parents birth place or dates. Am I at a dead end?
4. My GGGF, also Eric Ek, is shown as what I believe to be Bifgrenadier, the B may be a G, in the Fodelsbok and Bifgrenadier och Enka Man in the Vigdebok (10/25/1816). Can anybody interpret those for me?
5. Since my GGGF is the first mention of a soldier in my famiy are there military records that I could obtain that might give me an indication that he had kept his military name, and what his birth name would be?

[Ellert Peterson]

Hello Harold!
Reply to question No. 1:
The parish of Hardemo is situated both in Närke (which is a landskap) and in Örebro län.
Sweden is divided in two ways: landskap and län.
Landskap is an area that forms a unit culturally and often geographically. The division into landskap derives from early Middle Ages. The landskap nowadays plays no role at all for the administration. The landskap conception is still more living for people: when you talk about your geographical origin you say for example that you come from Närke, not from Örebro län. (Örebro län got its name from the name of its residential town, which is Örebro.)
The län was created at the beginning of the 17th century and is ever since the unit for local administration. Sweden has 25 landskap and 21 län. In many cases the län has about the same extent as the landskap. A big landskap could be divided into two, even three län. Nowadays it has happened that two or three län have been put together into one.
More examples: Fivelstad is a rural parish in Östergötland (landskap) and in Östergötlands län.
Filipstad is a small town in Värmland (landskap) and in Värmlands län.
 
Question No 4:
The word is lifgrenadjär (modern writing: livgrenadjär).
 
Best regards
Ellert Peterson

[Anders Brissman]

Hello Harold.
 
Reply to question 2 and 3.
 
Search the birthrecords for Fivlestad. Find out where Erik was born. Look that place up in the householdrecords. There you should find information about his parents. Householdrecords for Fivlestad excits for this period.
 
Question 5: There is a lot of research going on about soldiers and there lives. If you go to the homepage of Disväst, you vill find a link to varius soldierrecords and research.
 
Best regards
Anders Brissman

[Harold Ek]

Thank You both Ellert and Anders.
As usuall gettting the inside information on this site has been very useful.
 
Anders, did you mean that there might be a more specific location than Fivelstad?
As far as I can tell the birth records which I have found (Fivelstad 1700-1861 C:2) do not indicate any further division. For example there are only 1 or 2 births in each month. Did I miss something?
 
Tack sä Mycket
Harold Ek

[Anders Brissman]

Hello Harold.
 
My reserch has not brought me to this part of Sweden, so I am not so familiar in this area. However I did find out one thing that might help you. Fivelstad has been an annexparich 1540-1872. The main parich was Hagebyhöga.  
 
Perhaps you vill find all births for Fivelstad there as well. Fivelstad is the name of the parish. You should be able to find the name of an house, cottage or something of that kind in the birthrecords, when you find your Erik.
 
Best regards
Anders Brissman

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

Fivelstad is a small parish, just outside the city of Vadstena, in Östergötland. I do not think that the population was big enough to generate more than 1 or 2 births a month. There should be husförhörslängder for this period, but they are sometimes a bit scanty in this area.
 
The marriage record you cite for Eric Ek the elder says that he was a Life Grenadier and a widower, so he had been married before. Life Grenadier (livgrenadjär) is the title of the local infantry regiments (2 of them) in Östergötland. There are military documents (general muster rolls) that can tell a bit about a soldier's military achievements, but almost nothing on his personal life.
 
Fivelstad parish is in Aska härad (legal district) and the very helpful index to the estate inventories of this härad shows that Erik Ek the elder died in 1826 Nov.1 at his croft on Stubbetorp lands in Fivelstad, and that he left his widow Stina Hemmingsdotter and two sons, Johan , age 5, and Erik, age 3. Their paternal uncle Nils Sederlöf of Skänninge was present at the inventory-taking to look after the rights of the children.
 
If you want to post more queries about Fivelstad, I would suggest that you do that under the heading Landskap -Östergötland -socknar - Fivelstad.

[Harold Ek]

Anders and Elisabeth
Thank You very much for your info.
I will be gone for a couple of weeks, so will be awhile before I can try any of your sugestions.
 
Harold Ek

[Dawn Lundberg Stapp]

I just found out my gggrandfather was a soldier. I received info that on my ggrandfathers birth record it said Son of the Soldier I hope someone can point me in the next direction to go.
His name was Jons(2 dots above the o) Lundberg birthdate October 1834. His sons name was Pehr Johnson Lundberg date of birth November 7, 1876,
place was Tjustorp/Smed Storp. Jons wife was Eljena Andersdotter. Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dawn