US city girl needs help with Swedish farming words

[Kathryn Stone]

Greetings,
 
If I have not worn out my welcome yet (smile), I am wondering if someone can explain the meanings of/differences between:
1. bonde vs. hemmansägare
2. arrendator vs. torpare
3. frälsefogde
4. sockenman: one dictionary explains this as 'people of some wealth, who had to pay taxes', another explains it as an 'honorary term given to an elderly farmer'; that seems like a big difference between definitions
5. dräng vs. statdräng vs. stalldräng: would any of these be better off financially than the other?
 
I am looking at 6 generations of family in Sweden [1600-1850] and trying to get a sense of well being, i.e. were they fairly poor generation after generation until finally some of them decided to emigrate in hopes of a better future? or was there an obvious gradual decline in status/wealth until finally some of them ...
 
I have looked at definitions of these terms in many, many online and print dictionaries and it seems to be a very fine line of difference between the terms or possibly no difference at all. Yet there must be a reason/need for the differentiation between terms or they wouldn't have developed [I think].
 
And finally, I must say I am totally astounded at the number of words in the Swedish language for the basic occupation of farming! Though I am a couple of generations removed from being part of a farming family here, I can't imagine that we have anywhere close to as many terms for the occupation!
 
As always, I eagerly await any insight you all may be willing to share,
and am again so-o-o grateful,
Kathryn

[Bo Johansson]

1. Bonde = farmer, not necessarily a farm-owner.
 
Hemmans-ägare = farm-owner
 
2. Arrendator = tenant farmer, he leased a farm.
 
Torpare = poor tenant farmer, crofter. He leased a small piece of a land on the properties of a larger farm, paying the rent by working a set number of days on the main farm.
 
3. Frälsefogde = a farm manager (bailiff, steward) on a noble-owned farm.
 
4. Sockenman = perhaps slightly different meanings at different times and places? But the basic meaning is man of the parish.
 
5. Dräng = the basic meaning is young man or a man in junior position. On a farm a farmhand, in industry perhaps a laborer or assistant to a craftsman. In marriage records it usually means bachelor, and a farmhand is often called tjänstedräng (employed farmhand).
 
Statdräng (or statare), farm worker (usually marrried) who received part of his pay in kind.
 
Stalldräng = dräng working in a stable, stable hand.
 
// Bo Johansson
 
(Meddelandet ändrat av Bojoha 2012-06-05 18:03)

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

The premier dictionary of Swedish is the Swedish Academy's dictionary (SAOB for short). The sockenman entry says (my own translation):
 
(male) person dwelling in the parish; used in particular about participants in the parish's duties and taxes, in particular about owners of farms above a certain size [ägare till i mantal satt jord]; eventually also synonymous with a person dwelling in the parish and eligible to vote in the parish council (which I think only hemmansägare could; not tenants); also about (male) parishioner etc from the same parish (as so-and-so).

[Kathryn Stone]

Bo and Anna-Carin,
 
Thank you for the helpful definitions. I would like to ask further about the bonde vs. hemmans-ägare vs. torpare.
 
I am seeing these titles used in Husförhörslängd, death records, and sometimes marriage or birth records. It seems that if a man owned a farm, that would be a big deal and so he would surely be called by the title hemmans-ägare and not just bonde, and likewise, if a man was a poor tenant farmer, a torpare, it doesn't seem likely he would be called an arrendator.  
Would a torpare sometimes be called a bonde? Why?  
The other terms all seem so specific, why or when would bonde be used instead?
 
Kathryn

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

I have the feeling that the wide range of different terms (torpare, arrendator, brukare (a head of household farming but not owning land) , hemmansägare etc) is largely a thing of the 19th century, while in the 18th century you mainly had torpare and three different types of bonde depending on if he owned the land or who he leased it from (specified by different prefixes; skattebonde, kronobonde and frälsebonde).  
 
You may want to visit Hans Högman's site which has a wealth of information i English, including thorough explanations of torpare, land ownership etc in the past (scroll down to Swedish history, then look under the heading The Agricultural Society / Nobility).  
 
The arrendator paid his rent in cash, as opposed to the torpare who payed by doing work.
 
I doubt that a torpare would ever have been called bonde in his day. Up to 1865, the Swedish parliament was made up of representatives from the four social estates, one of which was the land-owning farmers (bönder - while e.g. the torpare and the emerging class of factory workers had no representation at all), so there was a decided difference in status between a bonde and a torpare. Also, I've read that torpare had worse living conditions in the 19th century than earlier.

[Kathryn Stone]

Anna-Carin,
 
Thank you for the article you referred me to, it was very helpful.
One last question though, I am looking at records from the 1700's in Sandhem Skaraborg, and find that there is only rarely any indication of occupation for the head of the family. Do you have any ideas about how I can figure that out?
 
You've been so much help, thank you, thank you,
Kathryn

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

I'm sorry, I don't have any good ideas on how to figure it out.  
 
But, I suggest you post your question in the Sandhem thread instead. People who research that very parish have probably already given it some thought! (Posting in English in a parish thread is fine.)

[Kathryn Stone]

Great idea, thanks !
 
You've been incredibly helpful, millions of thanks,
Kathryn

[Charles LaVine]

And then you have the åbo in Skåne, a tenant farmer but with the right inheritance or to transfer the tenancy to a child.
 
Swedish forms of land ownership and tenancy are much more nuanced than those of the United States. or perhaps more similar to England's, which had and still had much more devolved class distinctions than either Sweden of the US
 
Charles LaVine

[Kathryn Stone]

Charles LaVine,
 
Thanks for the additional term, I will add it to my list!
 
Kathryn