Types of Farmer

[John Hage]

Hello,
What is the distinction between hemmansägare and topare?  I understand hemmansägare to mean farm owner and topare to mean crofter, which seems to mean tennant farmer or sharecropper.  My great-grandfather was listed in the parish records as hemmansägare, but his estate inventory does not account for farmland or crops.  However, it does account for the house, miscellaneous farm equipment, and a cow.
Thanks.

[John Hage]

I'm sorry, I meant to say torpare in the previous posting.
John H.

[Anders Ahlberg]

Hello John,  
a farmer or bonde in swedish owned his land. A torpare didn´t. A torp was a cottage on the land of a bigger property. The torpare was allowed to use a small part of the land of the property and live in the torp. He payed with working on the big property. His situation was not very far from slavory.  
Mvh  
Anders Ahlberg

[John Hage]

Thank you Anders,
Would I be correct to say that my great-grandfather was not a farmer or farm owner, but did own his house?  He does not appear to have been a torpare.  For reference, the family I am researching is Olof Jansson and Anna Ersdotter found at GID 515.4.18800 1873-1880.
Regards,
John H.

[John-Erik Johansson]

Hello John
A hemmansägare is owner of a hemman. A hemman is a farm property. I think your great-grandfather was owner of a farm with fields and maybe forest land.
Regards
John-Erik Johansson

[John Hage]

Thank you John-Erik,
The reason I ask is that I was told Olof Jansson received a work permit for Norway at one time.  This seems odd for someone who makes his living as a farmer.  If he was a farmer and became too old to continue farming, could he sell his fields and forest land and keep his house?  The estate inventory (Ny 75, 469-471) does not seem to include these.
Thank you,
John H.

[John-Erik Johansson]

Hi John,
No, he could not sell the land and and keep the house and still be an owner of a hemman.
I found this in Wikipedia: Hemman, hammantal, mantal, äldre begrepp som i Sveriges landskapslagar och kronans jordeböcker avsåg gårdar och jordbruksfastigheter med visst mantalsvärde.
 
På 1500- och 1600-talen motsvarade ett hemman vanligen en bondgård med en sådan storlek att brukaren kunde försörja sig och sin familj på avkastningen av jorden och erlägga den skatt som åvilade egendomen. Ett sådant hemman åsattes ett helt mantal.
My try to translate: Hemman, an elder conception in Swedish province law and the state's register of landed property of a certain tax value.
 
During the 1500- 1600 century a hemman answered to a farm where the yield was enough to earn the farmer and hes family's living and pay the tax for the property. Such a hemman put a price to one mantal.  
I did my best to translate but I'm not sure it is correct.
Do you know where Olof Jansson's hemman was located?
Regards
John-Erik

[John Hage]

Hello John-Erik,
    Your translation fits very nicely with what I understand of the older Swedish tax system.  If a son of the farmer was to do military training, I believe the taxes were reduced.  I have reason to believe that Olof's sons, Nils and Johannes, did military training because they seem to have used a version of the farm name for their last name, as soldiers would sometimes do.  My last name comes from Nils.
    Olof Jansson's hemman was located at Hungalsvik Hagen, Ny Parish, Värmland.  In the 1890 census, when he was 80 years old, he is still shown as hemmansägare. The estate inventory was done in 1897.  Hungalsvik has also been called Hungarsvik and is about 12 kilometers northwest of Arvika.  I'm not sure exactly where the hagen, or enclosed pasture land, was located. I have not been able to find it on any map.
Thank you for your help!
John H.

[John Hage]

Hello Olle,
Welcome back.  How was your trip to Arvika?  I'm trying to figure out why the farmland was not detailed in the estate inventory for Olof Jansson and Anna Ersdotter.  Might you have any suggestions?
Thank you,
John H.

[Stefan Zylberstein]

If he was a hemmans-owner, but his estate was verry little, there may be an answer and explanation to this.
It was rather common they only owned a part of a hemman! Perhaps as little as 1/16 (perhaps even 1/32 was possible??). Although half or 1/4 was more common.
Such a 1/16 was still counted as an indenpendent farmer, he had his right to vote to parliament, and take a seat and vote in the village council among other hemmans-owners.
But economically he was of course no better than many torpare, perhaps even worse than some of them...

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

John,
 
I've only seen a few estate inventories for farm owners, but in those I've seen there's just been one single brief entry for the entire farm; house, land and all. Essentially it says which farm it is, perhaps its size in mantal, and in older times also how it had been acquired (into the early 1800s, the question whether a farm had been bought or inherited limited who it could be passed on to), and then the taxed value. So, my guess is that the entry that seems to be for the house, is actually for the entire farm.
 
(Oops - I didn't spot that the original discussion was actually two years old...)
 
(Meddelandet ändrat av acb 2010-10-22 22:26)