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