Commerce in Sweden, Part 1

 From Market to Supermarket

Kiviks market

Today, most people buy what they need in malls, nearby stores or online. But there was a time when trading was a much more complicated business. Join in the shopping in old-time Sweden!

The law governed the trade

Lawbook

Rules and prohibitions made trade in the past often required long journeys to cities and markets.

It is difficult to imagine how cumbersome the trade was until the second half of the 19th century. Selling the surplus of the farm's production, and buying what you needed yourself, could require weekly, sometimes month-long trips to cities and marketplaces.

It was a consequence of Sweden's large land area and sparsely populated population, but above all of the royal regulations and ordinances that forbade most trade in the countryside.

The motive for the ban, which was introduced as early as the 13th century and survived until the middle of the 19th century, was major political- The government, usually the king, wanted to prevent foreign merchants from gaining control of important parts of Swedish trade.

Instead, they wanted to create thriving Swedish trading cities, with merchants who were strong enough to be able to assert themselves in the competition. It was demanded, it was believed, that the merchants in the cities gained a monopoly on domestic trade.

It is easy to believe that the farmers went to the nearest town and there sold products and made their purchases. But that was far from always the case. Homeowners calculated where they could get the best prices for their goods, and at the same time get the cheapest purchases.

It was sometimes long journeys. Time was not, as it is today, a scarce commodity. And most city trips were made in the winter, when the agricultural spirit was down and sledding on frozen roads and streams made transportation easier than in other seasons.

From Lapland, Jämtland and Ångermanland, the "sörkörarna" to take an extreme example - could go all the way to Stockholm with butter and meat from game, a journey of seventy miles or more in each direction, Otherwise, the population in the provinces bordering Norway did Lapland, Jämtland and Härjedalen like to do their business there. For the western parts of Dalsland, southwestern Värmland and northernmost Bohuslän, Halden in Norway was a trade center. Västgötar (people from the region of Västergätland) and Smålänningar (people from the region of Småland) gladly traveled to Gothenburg.

The most affluent and spendable farmers could spend the night in taverns and inns. More common, however, were simple sleeping places for the travelers, and stables for the horses, with crofters and small farmers along the road. In undeveloped areas there were special "cabins" with a fireplace, bunks to sleep on and stables for the horses.

In the cities, as a rule, the merchants kept lodging with the peasants with whom they did business.

The markets, which were held at the same time each year, also played an important role as a trading place for the farmers. Most large markets were held in the winter, and many were connected to the church weekends when the people on the farms still took time off and had time for market visits. Hence the many market names for "fair" such as Eriks- and Larsmässan in Uppsala, Eskilmässan in Eskilstuna, Pedersmässan in Linköping, Olovsmässan in Skänninge, Sigfridsmässan in Växjö and Hindersmässan in Örebro.

Animals such as horses, oxen, cows and pigs were bought and sold in most large markets, but most importantly the special cattle markets. Large ones were held in Skänninge and Värnamo, in Hova and svenljungai västergötland, in Vrestorp in Närke and in Filipstad.

In addition to the markets, and to butchers in nearby towns, the farmers sold animals to itinerant cattle traders. These gathered the animals in herds and drove them to the slaughterhouses. Most talked about are the ox drives all the way from Småland to Stockholm. Big-eyed viewers on the Östgöta and Sörmland plains could witness scenes similar to those we see today in Wild West films.

The ban on rural trade was lifted in two stages around the middle of the 19th century. By the trade order of 1846, it was allowed to conduct rural trade in places that were at least 30 km from the nearest town. With the business freedom reform of 1864, it was free to establish trade movements anywhere.

Free stores in the countryside no longer posed a threat to urban merchants. The increased purchasing power, the supply of new goods and products and the influx to the cities, which followed the industrialization, meant that urban trade could flourish, while rural trade developed.

//Daniel

3 Generations

 During previous posts here in the blog, I have talked about how it is often the eldest son who takes over after the father. I have also told you that this has not been the case at Bygget. Johannes, who was the eldest son of the first Lantz soldier at Bygget, went to another cabin and it happened 6 years before Jonas finished as a soldier. But who, then, took over?

We now go back to the 19th of December 1812 and Jonas has just made his last day as a soldier. As you may remember if you followed this blog, the root farmers had 3 months to find a replacement when a soldier had finished his term (aproxmently 30 years), otherwise they had to go out themselves as soldiers. That was not the case for this root farmer (in swedish: rotebonde, rote meaning the farm or farms that had the croft in their rotation).

Military rolls for Jönköping's Regiment, Mo jurisdictional district, Åsenhöga Parish, 1813.

On March 3, 1813, the 5th child out of 7 after Jonas, namely Sven becomes a new soldier at Bygget and and after this, Jonas moves to Hestra Torp in Hestra in Åsenhöga Parish.

Sven, who is only 16 and a half years old (and thus the youngest Lantz soldier), has just become a soldier and during 1813 and 1814, "visting" both the campaigns in Germany and Norway. Jonas died on 14 February 1825. He was buried in the cemetery (Ödekyrkogården = deserted cemetery) in Åsenhöga on 27 February the same year. With his 37 years as a soldier, Sven becomes the one who has served the longest of the Lantz soldiers. He had served excellently well.

Military rolls for Jönköping's Regiment, Mo jurisdictional district, Åsenhöga Parish, 1850.

Now it's time for Jonas again. The year is now 1850 and Sven's father Jonas has been dead for 25 years and now Jonas will take over Bygget. Baffling? It's not as complicated as you might first think. On March 29, 1831, Sven's 11th child was born (out of 12). It is a son he has and this son is named Jonas after Sven's father. On October 12, 1850, Jonas takes over Bygget after his father. He is then 19 years old and has 31 years as a soldier in front of him.

On May 14, 1864, he was promoted to Corporal. His grandfather Jonas became Vice Corporal in 1807. On July 4, 1878, he was promoted again and this time to Distinction Corporal, which can be compared to Sergeant. He requested and was dismissed in 1881 and was reported for maintenance immediately. His son was simultaneously shown up and accepted as a soldier. This was June 25, 1881.

Military rolls for Jönköping's Regiment, Mo jurisdictional district, Åsenhöga Parish, 1881.

Almost on the day 3 months before his 20th birthday, the Lantz soldier that was a soldier the shortest time. On June 25, 1881, Sven Gerhard Lantz is accepted as a soldier for 123 Håkentorp, ie Bygget. When the Allotment System was closed down on 31 December 1901, he had allready resigned from the military 5 years erlier and thus became the last soldier on the croft, thus ending an era at Bygget that lasted for about 150 years under the same family. It was a shame it ended there, wasn't it? Or did it really do that? Not really. Gerhard was given the opportunity to buy the croft after completing his service in the crown's clothes and also took action. As I have told in previous posts here in the blog, Bygget remained in the family until the 1990s when it was sold to a couple of Danes. There, the almost 250-year-old era ended for the Lantz family at Bygget, even though the land around the house that stands there today is still owned by a Lantz descendant.

For those of you who want to test a little about how it is with genealogy, you can try to decipher the pictures that are in this post. If you find the ones I wrote about here in the post and can explain what is written about them, you can of course write it in the comments below the post. It can be more fun than you think.

//Daniel

New information or Sweden in war against Russia

 

Soldiers cabin 123 Håkentorp changes soldiers. Assar Moberg resigns as a soldier and hands over to his son-in-law Jonas Svensson later Lantz. 8th December 1785.

When you as a genealogist receive new information that is interesting for the family, he can become like a child on Christmas Eve. It must be examined and checked in several different places to see if the information is consistent in different books.

I received some new information about five different generations of soldiers that can be traced back to me in direct descending order. Of course, I had to look in different places to see if there was the same information everywhere. It was the same information everywhere.

Assar, Jonas, Sven, Jonas, Sven Gerhard. When it comes to my family and those who have been soldiers, it is easy to confuse them because they have basically the same name for some generations. Sven has been the most popular name in my family and it still remains in my generation, even though it is no longer the first name. To keep track of who it is, you have to look at the years to see who it is you are researching.

1789 Military rolls for Åsenhöga Parish, Mo jurisdictional district, Jönköping Regiment.

Among the information I received, I found out that Jonas Lantz, who was the first soldier named Lantz at Bygget, had ended up in hospital. Why he ended up in hospital is not clear from the rolls that exist. What can be deduced from the information is that he is admitted to Kristinestad Military Hospital, ie in present-day Finland (During this time, Finland was Swedish).

During this time, Gustav III was at war with Russia. Gustav III's Russian War (also known as the Swedish-Russian War 1788–90) took place in 1788–1790 after Sweden's King Gustav III attacked Russia in the hope of regaining lost territory, and halting Russian interference in Sweden's internal affairs. The war ended in a draw, partly due to mutiny by some high-ranking Swedish officers, the so-called Anjala Association. Peace was concluded in Värälä in 1790 without boundary adjustments.

However, Sweden succeeded in achieving the goal of persuading Russia to relinquish its role as guarantor of the constitution of the time of freedom. This had been repealed by Gustav III in 1772, and since then the issue had been an annoyance in the contact between the two countries, as it gave Russia a formal right to take measures to restore the constitution.

Either my great-great-great-great-grandfather was injured during the Swedish-Russian war, as injuries often occurred, otherwise he may have become ill due to malnutrition or the like as there was not much food that could be distributed during this war. You can guess as much as you like about this.

When you get information from second-hand sources, it is important to look more closely at what is actually in the original text. Given the writing style of the 18th and 19th centuries, it can be easy to misinterpret a C for an E, for example. I too can read things wrong many times, but fortunately there is help available in several different places.

I usually say that genealogy is like being a detective. You have to find the right one among all the things that exist and sometimes you can get on the wrong track, but with the right help you can get on the right track again.

On July 9, 1790, the battle of Svensksund began between the Swedish and Russian fleets.

//Daniel

The genealogist

Genealogy research is not always as easy as you think.

With that in mind, one can scare most people away from starting genealogy. Joke side, it's not always easy but at the same time it's not always that hard either. I have looked in many church books during the time I have looked for the family from the past and sometimes it is almost impossible to see what is in them. It was sometimes as if the priests who wrote everything down in the books were so drunk that they could barely write at all.

Blomskog CI:4 (1773-1827) Pic 12 / side 17 (AID: v4997.b12.s17, NAD: SE/VA/13038)

When you have done genealogy for a while, you learn how to interpret the old writings that are in the church books, but sometimes it does not matter how long you sit with church books, you can not interpret what is in them, as on the left side in the picture above , from Värmland and Blomskogs parish. Where maybe you can agree that it is very difficult to read what the priest has written? Of course, their crow's feet were not always illegible.

When you do genealogy research, it is not only the church books you look at because there is often someone in the family who has been a soldier or something else in the military. When you find a military man in the family, it is often the "generalmönster rullor" that you look in to find out where they have been for somewhere and what they have done during their service. It was as I mentioned in previous posts that the soldiers and the military were the ones who were traveling at this time and then it can be included in the various rolls and it can be a little interesting reading sometimes.

I who have had many footsoldiers and other soldiers in my family through the generations can have it quite easy sometimes because they could stay in the same area during their lives and then you do not have to look in very many parishes to find them.

Another thing that is also being done in genealogy is to write emails or call different local associations where the different relatives have lived to find out if they have anything about one's family that can be helpful. Sometimes you can hear stories about the family that you may not have known about and sometimes you may not get anything at all from them.

In addition to Arkiv Digital, there is also SVAR, which is the National Archives' service for genealogists. What may not be on Archive Digital can be found on ANSWER. It is not always that the different places collaborate with their archives, which you may think is a bit bad.

Of course, there are other places where you can get information and access to church books, military rolls and such. through SVAR or Arkiv Digital to make sure that it is the right information you get.

Sometimes you may not always want to sit with church books and such but may want to learn a little more about what the living conditions were and then also try to see if you can find something else that may have to do with family. There are always many different opportunities to find the different things but I will not cover everything here.

//Daniel

How did the soldier live?

 

Acquiring a suitable person who could become a soldier rested entirely on the root farmers. These had the local knowledge of the people and were therefore best suited to recruit the crew. If we look at the war times in history, it was not always easy to get soldiers fast enough. During the war years, every croft where there was a vacancy would be re-appointed with a new soldier before the end of March. It was in the summer that the wars were mostly fought and then there were no vacancies. In peacetime, the soldier who resigned for one reason or another would be reimbursed within three months, otherwise a vacancy fee would have to be paid by the root farmers. If it turned out that the work did not go fast enough to get a new man, according to Carl XI, the root master could be forcibly ordered to the post. If one looks at the first one hundred and fifty years of the history of the constant boyhood, it was, during this time of peace, relatively easy to get a crew. The profession as a soldier had a high status, among other things for the reason that it was the soldiers who traveled in the society of that time.

It was at the roadside outside the croft that the old soldier heard what it was like on the moor.

The soldier was also one of the broad masses of people who learned a civilian profession needed in the army and the noble art of writing and reading, which was an important prerequisite.

The latter also meant that he became the school teacher and with the military pedagogy taught children and the elderly in the parishes to write and read long before the primary school charter was introduced in our country.

Here Ture Färdinand Stackell t.h. together with his father Carl Stackell, both soldiers in Norra Fågelås parish.

That the profession as a soldier was inherited was almost more the rule than the exception. It is often the oldest of the sons in the small soldier's croft who walks the same path as the father, it is not entirely uncommon to be able to trace several generations of soldiers. When it comes to the girls in a soldier's family, it is not uncommon for them to marry a soldier.

One of the provinces that has had the most soldiers in the organization "Det ständiga knekthållet", was Småland. Vilhelm Moberg also gives the Småland divided soldier a status and place in the society and history of the time through his story "Raskens", which was published in 1927 and which was already printed in two editions in the first year.

Of course he is in reality Rasken. There are many in the whole country who have this name, but what Moberg describes in his story is based on the story that he himself experienced in many ways by hearing his father the soldier Carl Gottfrid Moberg tell about life as a soldier.

This man has become Sweden's most famous divided soldier through Moberg's story. However, he and the other about five hundred thousand soldiers in "Knekthållet" have one thing in common and that was their belief in a free Sweden and in the vitality of the land they were set to cultivate.

It was in the company of happy friends that the soldier told and heard news told from all over the country.

Most people with a Swedish background in the veins have some connection to these by being related in a straight descending line to a soldier in the younger Allotment System. An organization that only existed in our country.

When he was adopted, this was first done by the root farmers who unanimously proposed a person as a soldier for their particular soldier's croft. Definitive adoption then took place at the next general muster when the defense representatives would approve the proposed person.

For the soldier, it was after the approval to pick up his equipment which was then stored at the root farmer in the so-called root coffin.

When the soldier was accepted, it was often at the annual meeting that he received news from the wider world. Through the close cooperation that the soldier had in the heath, the news spread from what was then called "the whole world".

As a rule, it was at the age of fifty that the divided soldier withdrew. It was then that the parishes got a well-educated person who looked around the world and it was not uncommon for the soldier to be employed as a church caretaker, church clerk, "fjärdingsman" (a sort of lawman) etc. Most of the parishes cared for their soldiers and stood up for them when they finished their service with both housing and work.

The allotement System ends on December 31, 1901, when we switch to the conscription army, which also recently disappeared.

Anyone who was a divided soldier in 1901 could, if he so wished, continue to be a soldier for as long as he wanted to. This meant that at the beginning of the 20th century the defense had a large asset in all the manpower of the knowledgeable subdivision.

During the last years of the 19th century, many soldiers of the lega (salary) had this deposited in a bank account. This money saved many from great poverty and instead made the soldiers have a saved capital which became the base plate when they bought the small soldiers' crofts from the root farmers.

During the union crisis of 1905, it turns out that many of those who continued to be soldiers quit. For many, this crisis was like a war with Norway and they did not want to be part of it, but then said goodbye.

For some, the dismissal was also an opportunity to get money from Vadstena warriors' house fund. These soldiers, who today would be called "pensioners", became what were then called "gratialists".

Already in the 1640s, Queen Kristina set up a pension institution in Vadstena for the soldiers who participated in the Thirty Years' War. An institution that then survived all the way to the last person in Sweden who was a divided soldier, Axel Ljung in Floby, passed away in August 1983. At that time, there were 4 million left in this, the first Swedish pension institution.

//Daniel

Going Back in Time Part 2

Now we'll go back in time again and the journey I made with my mother.

For this part, we go back to my great-great-great-great-grandfather again, that is, Jonas Svensson Lantz. It is often said that it was always the eldest son who was allowed to take over after the father, but this has not been the case at Bygget.

The eldest son of Jonas was born in March 1786 and he was named Johannes. Considering that Jonas and Walborg married in December 1785, she was already pregnant then. Pregnancy out of wedlock during this time was not really acceptable.

Unmarried mothers

Standing alone with a child was a great fear for a woman. Shame, fear and the knowledge of not being able to support the child could drive women to murder their newborns or to commit suicide. The punishment for child murder was severe and according to the medieval national laws, both the man and the woman could be sentenced to death for child murder. But in the 17th century, the punishment began to apply above all to the woman and she was also alone required to prove that the fetus was stillborn or incomplete in order to escape. During the 1770s, the high number of child murders led to the introduction of an opportunity for women to give birth to their children anonymously, they could without giving their name leave the child to a midwife.

There is no evidence that it did not always or most often mean a disaster for an unmarried woman to have children and it is difficult to give a uniform picture of her conditions, her situation varied for example in different parts of the country and also the term "born except marriage "broad. The mother could, for example, live in a cohabiting relationship or the birth of the child could be followed by a marriage. In other cases, the mother could be left alone with the child. As for unmarried, betrothed women, a large group of maids were employed in households. They were usually kicked out of the household, to a life with great difficulty in supporting themselves and the child. Children born in relationships where the woman and the man were engaged were considered practically as married as children born in the marriage in older times.

On the other hand, sexual intercourse between unmarried people who were not engaged was not accepted, it was called a wage situation in the law and was punished. During the Middle Ages, only men were punished, but during the second half of the 17th century, women also began to be punished. If an unmarried and betrothed mother was left by the man, or if he swore free from paternity, she was solely responsible for the "crime" of the two. Until 1741, a so-called obvious church duty was the punishment for an unmarried mother, which meant that she had to make a public intercession in the church during the service. After 1741, the punishment turned to a single scripture, which meant that she only had to make the prayer for the priest. The individual scriptural target was not abolished until after 1845, although it was retained in some areas.

Surprisingly many unmarried mothers married sooner or later, and it did not necessarily have to be the father of the children they married, but rather the opposite was more common that they married another man than the child's father. This suggests that society accepted the majority of the unmarried mothers to a relatively high degree. What about the child in question, what did it mean for a child to be born out of wedlock? The child's fate was related to the mother's and an unmarried mother lacked most of the social rights and opportunities and the child was thus also left to the risks that befell the mother. If the father acknowledged paternity, he was obliged to contribute to the child's maintenance, but the child was not entitled to inheritance. The right to inherit his father was not given to children born out of wedlock until the 1970s (!)

In the Middle Ages, illegitimate children inherited their mother, but even that right was taken away from them in the middle of the 17th century. It was not until 1866 that it again became possible for married children to inherit their mothers. The child was also excluded from most educations and occupations that were usually reserved for children of "real" birth and it was of course also a social loss for the child who was not counted among his family and relatives. An illegitimate child was denied almost any right to a social existence. The single mothers were usually referred to the hardest and lowest paid jobs and did not have much opportunity to support their children. Many mothers left their children to someone who cared for them for a payment and the child was cared for according to the size of the payment. A notorious phenomenon is the angel makers who took care of children for a lump sum and then neglected the children, but in reality the angel makers were not many.

Soldiers cabin 125 Ingarp

Soldiers cabin 125 Ingarp.

Johannes, who had just managed to be born out of an unmarried mother, grew up on Bygget just like his siblings. When he was old enough, his father Jonas was still a soldier (Was in service until December 19, 1812 and then resigned due to age) and Johannes could not take over the croft but moved in 1802, as a 16-year-old to Örby in Älvsborg County (now part of Västra Götaland County). He lived there until 1806 when he became a soldier on the soldier's croft 125 Ingarp, not far from Bygget. Then he was 5 feet, 11 1/2 inches long, or 182.6 cm tall.

During his time as a soldier, he was in some places and did a lot of things. He was in Såne 1808 to 1809, on Gotland and in Västerbotten (Ratan) 1809, work command in Malmö 1807 and 1810, at garrison in Karlshamn 1811-12, thereby "got hernia in the left groin while helping with the transport of parcels from a ship". In Germany and Norway 1813-14, work command at Göta canal 1816, 1820 and 1832, at Vanäs fortress (Later Karlsborgs fortress) 1825. Dismissal with report for maintenance at GM (General Mönstringen) 1834. Earned excellent well, war merits and damage received have justified maintenance before achieved 30 year of service. He is then 48 years old and has 28 years of service.

Johannes was also married twice. 11th December 1806 he married Ingeborg Larsdotter (1778-1845) and after Ingeborg's death he married 1 October 1846 Stina Eriksdotter (1814-1896).

In 1836, Johannes moved with his family to Trollenäs under Trolsebo, also called Laxabo in Åsenhöga Parish and lived there until his death in 1876. He was then 90 years old.

Rolvas

The cabin Tigerhof, more known as Rolvas.

Johannes fourth child, Johan, (born 1822, died 1908) was a real character, to say the least. There are some stories about Johan and his ideas.

Johan was better known as Rolv. Rolv was pretty infamous, in the area. He could, among other things, conjure, it is said. He lived in the cabin Tigerhov, which in everyday speech was called Rolvas. It was located on Velebo's land, on a hill with a nice view of South Vallsjön.

Rolv had a bit of a hard time distinguishing between mine and yours. His magic was expressed, among other things, in that he could change the view of people, make himself invisible and go into their home when they were at home and "pick up" things. He had three children, all of whom emigrated to the United States. He was married twice. When asked the other wife why she married him, given his reputation, she replied, "no one else bid on me."

Rolv is also said to have expressed himself about his children in such a way in front of a priest that they did not have to go to school but they would work and earn money. What they needed to learn, they could learn at work according to him.

Rolv was a land crofter. A croft is a small agricultural apartment, which has been leased with a right of use to a user, the crofter. He performs the day jobs for the apartment owner as compensation. If the croft is located on agricultural property, land crofter. If the croft was located in a forest, they were called "forest crofters".

After Rolv had died in 1908, his second wife, Maria Larsdotter, remained on the croft until her death in 1922 and then became the last to live on the croft.

//Daniel

The Allotment System

For those of you who do not really know what the Allotment System and footsoldiers were for, you will learn a little here.

Picture from the movie "The battle of Poltava".

The Allotment System was a Swedish military organizational system created by Charles XI in 1682.

The Allotment System made sure that one or more farms merged and formed rust holders and roots that were responsible for a rider, soldier or boatman that they paid and gave a soldier's croft and some land to cultivate. Each officer was given a farm to live on in peacetime and also a salary.

The system was thus paid for by the farmers and served as their tax to the state. The peasants thus also avoided being drafted as soldiers.

A major advantage of the system was that the soldiers themselves collected their maintenance from the peasants. In this way, the state escaped tax control and did not have to pay out cash, which it had so little of.

Every detail of this intricate system was recorded in a giant register called a Allotment System.

Because the soldiers and their officers lived in the same area, they were able to gather quickly, ready for battle. The soldiers trained annually and thus Sweden got a very effective army.

Through the Allotment soldiers, who were more trained and drilled for war than ordinary peasants, Sweden acquired a powerful army that offset the country's low population.

//Daniel

Going back in time part 1

In the middle of June 2017, me and my mom made our first trip back in time.

We went to Åsenhöga Parish to look for old places where relatives once lived. There were some small roads and a lot of gravel roads that we had to go on to be able to get to the different places.

Bygget

Bygget during the early 1920's

Bygget was one of the obvious places to go. Several generations of the Lantz family were born and raised here. My mother also lived here between 1949 and 1952 with her parents Andrén and Kerstin.

The building was named Bygget already during the second half of the 18th century, most probably becuase they built a new building here (Bygget means construction in english). From the beginning it was called Lerbacken (Lerbacken means Mudhill).

The first soldier to be named Lantz at Bygget was Jonas Svensson, who is my great-great-great-great-grandfather. The year was 1785 and the month was December. He married Walborg Assarsdotter 4th December 1785 and then took over Bygget after his father-in-law Assar Moberg. Jonas was not directly short. Even today, people would say that he was tall. According to the Military rolls, he was 6 feet and 10 inches long, ie 203 cm.

Sven Gerhard Lantz

The last soldier at Bygget was my grandfather's father Gerhard and he was a soldier until 1896, about 5 years before the Allotment system was closed down in 1901. He bought the soldier's croft and the surrounding land after that. He got an education when he was 15 and became a carpenter and actually won some prizes for the furniture he made.

He got something like a chronic headache, which became so severe that he finally could not bear it anymore. A speculation is that it may have been a tumor of some kind that he had. He ended his life by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun on January 2, 1945.

The brothers Nisse (Nils) and Oskar (Also called Leonard while in America) in front of the big house that Gerhard and Emelia built in 1927.

Gerhard and Emilia in front of Bygget in the early 1920's.

1927, Gerhard and his wife Emelia had a larger house built at Bygget. It was their son Oskar (Leonard) who paid for the party according to rumors that I heard.

Soldiers croft 123 Håkentorp as it looked in 2017. Once it was at Bygget but now it's at Götarps Brunn.

Andrén Lantz

What happened to the old cabin after the new house had been built, you might be wondering?

Sometime during the 1930s, Gerhard's son Nils (Nisse) sold the cottage to Götarps Brunn to his brother Andrén's (my grandfather)'s great annoyance. Andrén did not think it was Nisse's business to sell that bulding. Nisse had taken over Bygget in 1934 after his father, Gerhard.

The cottage still remains at Götarps Brunn but is today converted on the outside as you can see in the picture above. From the beginning it was red with white knots as you can see in the first picture in this post (even though it's in black and white).

The building that Gerhard and Emilia had built in 1927 as it looked in 2017.

The big house on Bygget that my grandfather's parents had built still remains. From the beginning, the house was white, but Nisse, who lived here until his death in 1983, had it painted yellow. The house remained in the family until sometime in the late 1990s when it was sold to a couple of Danes. The forest around the building is still owned by a Lantz descendant.

//Daniel

The beginning

Military scrolls for Jönköping's regiment F 386 1807 - 1818 Picture 42. At the bottom of this page you see the first Lantz soldier on Bygget, namely Jonas who in 1807 during the general muster in Stralsund was promoted to Vice Corporal.

4 years ago I read a small article I had found via Twitter.

The article was about the fact that there were now 500,000 divided soldiers found and registered. This was at the end of October 2016 and I had at some point many years before thought about doing some genealogy. I had some paper on old relatives that a relative had produced 25 years earlier but these papers were far from complete. I myself had no experience of doing any genealogy and I did not know where to find all the books where you could get the data.

Of course I knew about Vadstena and the archives they have there, but that was pretty much the only thing I knew.

The internet is usually a good source to find most things and I started looking a bit to see if you could get something about the old soldiers that you have in the family and pretty quickly I got more information about some of the soldiers that I have in the family than I knew before. This of course made me intrested and I wanted to know even more.

It did not take many days before I had found a place online where I could post what I found and I also found old church books, Military scrolls and things like that on Arkiv Digital (Swedish site with churchbooks and military scrolls).

So it only took me a few days to go from reading a little article to starting with genealogy. I had no immediate idea how long it would take or if I would find something special.

Now, 4 years later, I'm still doing genealogy research and I've found more than I ever could have imagined existed in a family. It is far from done and it will certainly take many more years before I can begin to go into depth for many of the people I have found. Genealogy is both fun and interesting, I think, and at the same time you learn a lot about how it was in the past.

This blog will be about my genealogy and the journey to new discoveries and new places.

I do not know how often I will blog about this but do not worry.

This is only the beginning!

//Daniel