Författare Ämne: Reading, translating help requested - Vårdsberg (läst 2873 gånger)

Kathryn Stone · 2012-07-20, 19:28

I am researching [color=0000ff]Gustaf Gustafsson, born 1794 MAR 30, Svinstad[/color].
From his birth until about 1815 he lives in Svinstad with his mother Brita Cajsa Östberg.
He has been sickly, but is called a dräng in the 1807-1815 Hfl.
>> SVINSTAD HFL AI:1 [1807-1815] page 241 [387.1.83700] > [color=0000ff]VÅRDSBERG HFL AI:3 [1816-1820] page 6 [414.4.13800] [/color] and a tailor? Is the term dräng used here to mean something else? young man? worker?
Would Gustaf have taught himself to be a tailor? or must he have been apprenticed to someone to learn the trade?
[color=0000ff]2.[/color] Though the writing is very small and dark, is it possible that someone could try read the Sårskilda anmärkningar
column and tell me what is written there?

Gustaf marries 1824 NOV 14 in Värna, and in that record is also called a Skädd. Dräng.
>> VÄRNA Marriages C:2 [1803-1861] page 390 [4126.17.71900]

John Bentley · 2012-07-20, 21:26

Your question about the use of dräng is easy to answer. In the vast majority of early records I have come across, dräng simply means batchelor, unmarried. So he was an unmarried tailor living with his mother in the hfl and on moving, and an unmarried tailor when he married. It was normal to make clear in marriage records that the groom was a dräng and the bride a piga so both unmarried if this was the case. (In neither case did this mean farmworker or maid in the employment sense, whether they were or weren't.) The alternative of course would be widower, widow, often the case since it needed couples to run households especially in country districts and younger widowers, widows very often remarried as soon as it was possible.

Nils Forsman · 2012-07-20, 21:48

In hfl Vårdsberg he is called skräddaredräng = tailor-hand. I think that dräng translates best to hand ( or young man, or worker...) . The farm part is most often implicit.

As of 1807, you may sometimes see the term gift dräng = married hand - and this become more common later. Gift was - I think - added by the writer because this was not the norm. Earlier, when you got married you also settled down at your own home.

A tailor - and other specialists - needed permissions. You don´t got permissions just because you get married.

So:
- A dräng is most often unmarried
- he is a worker
- he don´t need any permissions, but if he is a dräng on the countryside he probably dreams about the day he got his own district.

(Meddelandet ändrat av Nforsman 2012-07-20 22:05)

Anna-Carin Betzén · 2012-07-20, 22:33

Here's some info from the book Hantverk i Sverige (Swedish trades):

The skräddare entry says that tailors in towns had their own workshop and saw their clients there. The tailor supplied fabric and notions. The country tailor rarely had a workshop. His clients booked him in advance, and he stayed at the farm until his work was completed. This took days or even weeks, as they might order clothes for everyone at the farm at the same time. The client supplied fabric and thread; often these were produced at the farm. The country tailors generally made clothes that were more sturdy and less elegant than town tailors.

To give you some idea of how a tailor learned his trade, he book mentions a tailor master born in 1856 who started out as an apprentice [of a country tailor, I presume] at the age of 11, worked at farms for six years [this must've been as a tailor hand], mostly sewing sheepskin coats and skin rugs. He was considered a satisfactory country tailor but in order to become a town tailor he had to continue his apprenticeship in some town. After another 3 years 3 months as an apprentice, he got his gesällbrev (journeyman certificate) as a proof of being fully educated.

You couldn't establish yourself as a tailor unless you were approved by the local guild (for town tailors), or appointed by the parish council or similar (for country tailors). So competition was deliberately minimized, I think a country tailor often had a monopoly in his area.

John Bentley · 2012-07-21, 10:22

Anna-Carins description above helps two observations I have noted about country tailors, and also shoemakers. Those of both trades are often listed in hfl in a final section under Sockens slut, of no fixed abode; rather they often travelled continuously about the parish working at the farms where they were making clothes. And secondly the phrases sockenskräddare and sockenskomakare show their status as appointed/recognised by the parish.

Kathryn Stone · 2012-07-21, 19:18

Many thanks to each of you! You are a wealth of knowledge! I would never have learned this another way.

Now I have found Gustaf in more of the Svinstad HFL.

From [color=0000ff]1817-1820[/color] he is listed as [color=0000ff]skräddaredräng[/color].
Something is written in the comments column which I believe says that [color=0000ff]he was sick, and went somewhere [?][/color], and was absent for the 1820 Husförhörlangd.
[color=0000ff]__ Would someone please take a look at that and let me know what it says and/or means?[/color]
..........SVINSTAD HFL AI:4 [1816-1822] page 194 [387.5.47500]

From [color=0000ff]1821-1823[/color] he is named only as a [color=0000ff]drängen[/color].
..........SVINSTAD HFL AI:4 [1816-1822] page 107 [387.5.43100]
..........SVINSTAD HFL AI:6 [1823-1302] page 181 [387.7.76200]

[color=0000ff]1824-1826[/color] Gustaf is married, but [color=0000ff]dräng[/color] is written above his name and [color=0000ff]skrädd[/color] and Till Hus is in the margin.
[color=0000ff]___ So what do you think dräng now refers to?[/color]
..........SVINSTAD HFL AI:6 [1823-1830] page 139 [387.7.74100]

[color=0000ff]1827-1829[/color] Gustaf is a [color=0000ff]Torparen[/color] and [color=0000ff]Skräddaren.[/color]
..........SVINSTAD HFL AI:6 [1823-1830] page 61 [387.7.70200]
[color=0000ff]1830-1831[/color] Gustaf is only [color=0000ff]Skrädd. [/color]
..........SVINSTAD HFL AI:8 [1830-1837] page 63 [387.10.7500]
[color=0000ff]1832-1847 [/color] Gustaf is only [color=0000ff]Torparen [/color]
..........SVINSTAD HFL AI:8 [1830-1837] page 65 [387.10.7600]
..........SVINSTAD HFL AI:10 [1838-1847] page 97 [387.12.50200]

[color=0000ff]1.[/color] So, do you think Gustaf Gustafsson advanced past being a tailor-helper and became a country tailor?
As a married man with children, do you think he would have still moved around with each new job?
[color=0000ff]2.[/color] At age 56 or so, he no longer appears to be doing tailor work.
As a torpare, would his status be considered better off or worse?

[color=0000ff]3.[/color] I would still really appreciate it if someone tried to read/translate the comments from VÅRDSBERG HFL AI:3 [1816-1820] page 6 [414.4.13800]

I can't thank you all enough for this help, so surely your rewards in heaven will be great [smile]

Kathryn

Stefan Dake · 2012-07-21, 20:50

Hello Kathryn!

SVINSTAD HFL AI:4 [1816-1822] page 194:

Sjuklig. Varit på Curhus = Sickly. Has been on sanatorium.
The note about absence 1820 refers to the next person.

VÅRDSBERG HFL AI:3 [1816-1820] page 6:

I do not know what Mor. Fran(?)

means. Mor can be short for morbus, disease.
The lines below are:
Utskrifven 17 May

1816 = Discharged (from hospital) 17 May 1816.
Utskrifven som frisk d. 9 May 1817 = Discharged as beeing well/cured 9 May 1817.

Regards
Stefan

Nils Forsman · 2012-07-21, 20:54

AI:4 Sickly. Been on cure-house. Absent catechetical meeting 1820.

AI:6 He is a dräng when he moves in, and sometime before 1830 he gets approved as a skräddare, probably because his predecessor quits. Till hus means on the same place as above, but another house.

Q1: Yes, he moves around.

Q2: Tailor is not a high status job. A Torpare can be (relatively) wealthy, but on the average, the status was about the same for these two groups. In this particular case, my guess is that his status would be considered worse - he lost his tailor income and is stuck with a simple torp.

Maud Svensson · 2012-07-21, 21:11

Kurhus (old spelling curhus) were hospitals where venereal diseases were treated.

Stefan Dake · 2012-07-21, 21:25

Yes! Of course!

Temporarily(?) brain-loss !

Elisabeth Thorsell · 2012-07-21, 22:19

And syphilis was known as the French illness [Fransoserna] which accounts for the Mor. Franss (Morbus Fransosis(?) my Latin lets me down).

Kathryn Stone · 2012-07-23, 21:27

Well ... that's very interesting!
As I was saying previously, there is no way I would know some of this stuff without the help of all you very kind people here on Anbytarforum. Thank you.

Gustaf has been listed as sickly in every record I have found since his birth [first HFL 1807] Could he have contracted the disease from his mother and had it all those years? Or maybe he was just a sickly child and contracted the disease in the [ahem] ... usual manner.

Does anyone know if syphilis was actually cure-able in 1817?
He does not appear to have been sickly after this cure, and goes on to get married, have 7 children, and live to be 77 years at his death.

And, thank you Nils, for answering all my other questions!

Do you think there would there be notes in the parish meeting records about Gustaf losing his position as tailor?

Lennart Regebro · 2012-07-24, 08:36

No, Syphilis were not curable until the 20th century. However, in many cases Syphilis would go latent, and you might be symptom-free. He could indeed have contracted the disease from his mother. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syphilis#Congenital

Kathryn Stone · 2012-07-24, 16:20

Thanks for the information [but really horrifying pictures!] So, what was being done as a cure for syphilis in 1817? Could he really have been symptom-free for 60 years?

Nils Forsman · 2012-07-24, 16:57

A trip to Vadstena might be valuable. There are other recordes, too, that might give information about Gustafs subsequent fate.

However, I did a search at Nad/Svar which has scanned a many of Jämtlands protocols. A very brief check revealed only new tailor appointments, but I knew that that I earlier have seen other people announce their retirement, including cause, in meeting protocols.

He died of old age at 77, the priest does not write any remarks in subsequent husförhörslängder so maybe he just finded life better as a torpare. Interesting, nevertheless, is that the prist later changes his status from torpare to Till hus, and even later to Backstuguhjon, which I think is the absolutely lowest level that exists.

There is a Bouppteckning: Bankekinds häradsrätt FII:38 (1871-1875) Bild 261 / sid 517

Kathryn Stone · 2012-07-24, 18:28

H-m-m ... well it seems that unless I find living descendants who know something of Gustaf's life, this may remain a mystery.

I do not have access to the Bouppteckning: Bankekinds häradsrätt [it is not available on Ancestry]. If someone was inclined to read it for me, that would be wonderful, but you have all done so much already, and I am hugely grateful for that.
Also a trip to Vadstena would be a lengthy one, starting from my home in Minnesota :-) Maybe someday.

Tack så mycket!

Kathryn

Tommy Petersson · 2012-07-25, 07:43

Here is a slightly enhanced Google translation:

syphilis
In the 1500s ravaged epidemics in Europe by a much more serious disease, syphilis. The extent of syphilis had an impact on the sensuality, community and sexual extent freedom from prejudice that existed in 1400-first century. A renlevnads and fidelity morale with fear and distrust between people grew out of fear of contagion. You do not really know how the disease arrived in Europe. Some claim that it had African origin and that the change of character when the slaves were transferred to northern countries. With klimatombytet moved bacteria to the body warm, moist areas such as genitals, mouth and throat, where they could survive.

Others argue that it is Columbus fault. His men had spent time with women on an island in the Caribbean and already on the way back in 1493 they were struck by what at first was called Indian measles. In the coming years, the disease spread across Europe and other continents, but everywhere a violent course. All Italy was ravaged by the disease and which was called the French disease because it was thought that the French troops brought it with him. The French called it the Italian disease, the Turks, the Christians 'disease', the Germans named it Frenchman, the English Spanish pox and the Russians to Polish disease . Wherever it came up was baptized on the enemy. We know that the Danish army, especially Christian II's men, bringing with them the syphilis to Sweden. Public badstugorna built in the Middle Ages had to close down. In the 1600s, one third of the Paris population infected with syphilis. The only form of treatment that were known for syphilis was mercury cure in itself brought about serious ailments such as skin rash, loss of teeth, hair loss, kidney damage and killed many people.

Ingela Martenius · 2012-07-25, 16:15

A backstugusittare was far from being the lowest level in society. People who were lodgers (inhyses) and, of course, vagrants (på socknen skrivna) were far worse off. Not to mention paupers (fattighjon).

Being a backstugusittare could mean that you belonged to the work pool (extra labourers during peak times like harvest), which of course didn't mean a secure lifestyle, but could also mean that you were a craftsman - a shoemaker, tailor or smith. Some craftsmen had a wife and children who ran a croft (torp), but some preferred the family to work in the craft business and so they lived in a backstuga. A tailor's wife could e.g. be a cap maker (no, not milliner - a cap maker exclusively made the special embroidered silk caps, bindmössa, that was the favourite headgear of rural women and urban female servants for more than 150 years) - and a cap maker could not have hands roughened by labouring in the fields. There are even instances where such backstugusittare had regular servants!

Ingela

Nils Forsman · 2012-07-25, 18:14

Yes, you are of course right! I should have been clearer, I meant worst but with their own household. Hm, that was maybe not so clear either. And as I have understand the matter, a torp is - normally - of far more better quality than a backstuga. Of course there were regional and temporal differences.

I do not think I ever seen a backstugusittare with own servants. Very interesting.

Stefan Zylberstein · 2012-07-25, 18:17

There were some useful cure for syphilis. They used mercury (kvicksilver) preparates for it. True. somewhat of a horse cure. the cure almost as dangerous, but it seems to have worked reasonably well.
They tried also with drinking mineral waters, but this wasnt really effective. Even the spa doctors did admitted this.

A the first real cure come at first in the late 1800 with Salvarsan.

Kathryn Stone · 2012-07-25, 21:15

Thank you for the interesting discussion!
I love this forum ... it's like a very diverse group of friends having a stimulating dinner table conversation ... well, without the dinner. Still, as I read your back-and-forth comments to each other, it feels very familiar and family-like. Do you people all know each other? outside of this forum, that is?

Well any way, I have been reading quite a few very excellent papers, articles and even books available online [and in english] and would recommend the following:
Care and Coercion: Medical Knowledge, Social Policy and Patients with Veneral Disease in Sweden 1785-1903 by Anna Lundberg The entire 318-page book is available [free] in pdf format using this link: http://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:154672/FULLTEXT01

Also, less specifically regarding venereal disease, but still very interesting and informative is: Social Change and Health in Sweden: 250 years of Politics and Practice by Jan Sundin and Sam Willner, published by the Swedish Institute of Public Health. Again the entire 250-page book is available [free] in pdf format using this link:
http://www.fhi.se/PageFiles/4381/R200721_Social_change_and_health_in_Sweden0801. pdf

This has all been very enlightening, but I think I've reached my limit on the topic of venereal disease.
However, if anyone is able to shed any more light on the life of my Gustaf Gustafsson I would as always be both interested and thankful.

Kathryn

Nils Forsman · 2012-07-27, 22:08

This is actually an interesting probate. It shows
- Everything, really everything was counted for
- But not really carefully, things vanishes from page to page
- And, yet it fails to actually calculate the financial status of the estate - the auction is not included.

Please note that this is a rather lousy translation, but you may find it somewhat useful anyway:

In 1871 the 13th November was held by the undersigned legal estate inventory after former crofter Gustaf Gustafsson of Sandstugan on Fröslunda estate in Svinstad parish, which died the 8th of his and heirs bequeathed age sons Fredrik Gustafsson in Långkärr and August Gustafsson in Sandstugan, and daughters Anna Christina, married to carpenter August Peterson in Högsätter from Redinge estate; and Johanna Sophia, married to
the scheduler Carl Johan Enblad at Åtvids copper works, and deceased daughter Eva Charlotta posthumous child sons Carl Gustaf Adolf Fredrik, for which the above-written August Petersson in Högsätter already been appointed to guardian.

The nest was reported by his daughter Anna Kristina and her husband, August Peterson, who pointed out the legal requirement to truthfully and without exception, the same, under oath obligation to give up, as at time of death was found, after which the ordinance in such appearance took place as follows:

Google translate is probably as accurate as I can be, and much faster... Below follows a list of the assets with my interpretation, translation suggestion and their value in Riksmynt.
Assets
1 styck Prässjern (Press-iron), en sax (scissor), en brandring (fire-ring) : 1,50
1 gam? Byrå med Skåp (old? chest with cabinet ), 1 Re?d ( not a clue), en Säng (bed) : 2,50
1 gam? skrin jemte rakdon ( box with shaving tools ) : ,50 4,50
Bedding
1 styck kudde med fjädrar ( pillow with feathers) 5 u? á 50 f? : 2,50
1 gam? Madrass, 1 kudde, och 1 Stopptäcke ( darn? quilt ) : 1
2 stycken Linnelakan ( linen sheets ) : ,50 4
Gängkläder (street clothes)
1 stycken walmarsråck 2,50 ( homespun coat ), 1 Dz med byxor 3 rdr : 5,50
1 Halfyllen Råck med Byxor ( Half-wool with trousers ) : 2,50
Transport ( to next page ) : 8 8,50

Transport ( from previous page ) : 8
1. Gammal råck med Byxor (old coat with trousers) 1,50 - 1 Barpels 2 par Byxor 1: 2,5 ( i think that barpels is a sheepskin coat without any fabric ( bar = naked )
1. par Byxor jemte 7 styck wästar : 2
2 par Strumpor (socks - hosiery?), 1 undertröja (singlet, undershirt), 1 par muddar (cuffs, I believe) : 1
2 mössor (caps) 1 par handskar (gloves) jemte hängslen (braces?) : ,25
Snusdosa (snuffbox according to google ) och glasögon med mera glasses, and more: ,25
10 stycken skjortor (shirts) : 5
1 par stövlar 1 Rdr 2 handskar : 1,10
1 stycke Brennvinsflaska med glas ( bottle of spirits with glass ) : ,25
4 stycken mindre säckar (4 pieces of small bags) : ,50
Fordran af A. Olsson i Fillinge, för diverse varor sålda på auktion i Sanstugan: ...
Claim of A. Olsson in Fillmore Inge, for miscellaneous goods sold at auction in
Sandstugan
Summa Tillgångar ( Total Assets ) : ...

Skyllder (Debts
Till A Olsson i Fillinge kontant lån ( cash loan) : 10
6% ränta derpå ifrån den 24 sistlidna augusti gör för 2 månader 19 dagar : ,13
Till ? man begrafningskostnad (funeral charge ) : ,25
Betalt för likkistan (coffin) 3,50 - Graföppning (tomb opening)2 rdr : 5,50
: 5,50
Afgift till kyrkan 0,75 ? 3n (?) skjuts (lift)2,25 : 3,
Liksvepning (grave-clothes) och besvär (?? trouble?) : 5
Total debts : 48,63

google translate:
That this estate, with assets and liabilities, are readely supplied and nothing intentional exception or secretive, testified under oath obligation

signatures of Anna Kristina A Pettersson

The probates ouch: övervarande: present beeing??) , and the evaluations correctness is acknowledged

signatures of
Fredrik Gustafsson, August Gustafsson, Carl Johan Enblad.

Författare Ämne: Reading, translating help requested - Vårdsberg (läst 2873 gånger)

Annonser

Marknaden