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