Fredsberg Kyrka, Churchyard, Family Tree: Kyrketorp, Toreboda, Sweden

Fredsberg Kyrka

Records, Graves Search 1742 beginning

 FREDSBERG KYRKA

Family Ties Untied, Perhaps

What was Everyday Life in the 19th Century: Fredsberg.
Diary, from a coastal area, Rora Parish.

Fredsberg Kyrka, Kajsa Johannesdotter, maternal grandmother side, Toreboda area, Sweden

1.  From Fredsberg to Husaby.

I am searching for my husband's paternal grandmother and side ancestors. Her name was Kajsa Johannsdotter. Johannesdotter appears around Fredsberg.  Is that the same Johannsdotter of other records?

• E's come and go in the records, as do other spellings. Download Swedish geneology at  ://www.genline.com/gff/ and cross-reference on or own

2.  Fredsberg Kyrka.  That is not far from Kyrketorp Church Cottage mentioned often.

Is this Fredsberg? Family photo from 1920's, 1930's.  But the steeple has a taller "up" section, not as squat. Must be Ekeby, paternal grandparent side near Boxholm. 

Ekeby Kyrka, near Boxholm, Sweden

3.  Fredsberg Kyrka Bell - Is it from 1498?

4.  A look at daily life, perhaps. Peasant and nobility, 19th Century - a diary, rural Sweden, Rora Parish

Family ties.  See FN 1 - Chronology, Kajsa Johannesdotter family tree at Fredsberg, Kyrketorp; before, we think, the move of her mother to Kinnekulle. We do not know how the family got to Kinnekulle.

Husaby Kyrka, maternal grandmother side, family photo 1920's, 1930's

That is a mystery: need Kinnekulle info.

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Fredsberg.

1.  Our interest was in finding the church most often mentioned in accounts of graves or other records of the parents/family of Kajsa Johannesdotter, my husband's great-grandmother.That is Fredsberg Kyrke, Kyrketorp for Church Cottage, and parishes in that small area. Kajsa Johannesdotter's parents -- Kajsa, if this is the same (Johannsdotter? Johannesdotter?) is the daughter of

• Johannes Persson who was born November 3, 1798 in Kyrketorp, and 
• Stina Ericsdotter, Skaraborgs County, Fredsberg parish. She was from Nolasen in Fredsberg Parish.
• Kyrketorp means Church Cottage.  Past some roadside memorials ...  here we go.

Found:

The places, but not the graves. With more time, go back to Vaxjo and the central records for immigrants or stay the night until someone came who could tell where old church records are.  The old stones are barely legible in the churchyards. Other people on geneology sites provide more details than we could find. 

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1.1.  The search

Aim for back country roads if you are looking for old family graves. They are in excellent condition.  Find there so many old churches, servicing local people in days of horse and buggy and walking.  See the Toreboda area at //www.kyrkokartan.se/  But you will see few marker signs.

Someday perhaps Sweden will install the series of Information offices as seen in many other countries even in small towns, with the cheery "i" and all sorts of pamphlets and maps and helpful people.  Or put up tourist site logos on the roads. Swedish people are friendly and helpful, but some of us like to stop less often for directions and see more.

Rural Sweden, roadside memorials, Toreboda

1.2  Kyrketorp.

Kyrketorp Kapell, or Kyrketorp Chapel, is between two lakes, north of Toreboda. As we understand it, Fredsberg is included in the larger area where Kyrketorp with the Kapell is the main place.  Like a sub-parish, or branch.  If people were going by horse and buggy, or walking, they would need local parishes. Is that so? We are figuring this out as we go.

Kyrketorp, or Church Cottage, near Toreboda, Sweden

Found! That's a Kyrketorp! Quick! Turn!

1.3  Johannes Persson was born in Kyrketorp, November 3, 1798.  Is this it? See tree at FN 1

There must be many Kyrketorps, as a word meaning Church Cottage, but only this one had the sign as a special Church Cottage.

But it is not very near the Fredsberg Church, or Kyrketorp Kapell. Fredsberg is nine 9 km from Kyrketorp Kapell, say 6 miles -- a long way in those days. We think of the parson's manse as next door to the church, but in those days, surely the pastor would have a place to live that also would be self-supporting.

Kyrketorp. Is this the one? Toreboda, Sweden

Look again at all the churches listed and shown on this map near Kyrketorp Kapell, at http://www.kyrkokartan.se/T%C3%B6reboda/Kyrketorps_kapell/

2.  Fredsberg Kyrka, Fredsberg Church, Fredsberg Parish.

When you are looking for a church with medieval roots, as Fredsberg, expect many changes through time. At Fredsberg, luckily many old artifacts and stones are preserved. Then there is Kyrketorp Kapell, a chapel affiliated with the larger church.

Pulpit, Fredsberg Church, Sweden

The Church of Sweden is Evangelical Lutheran, from the Reformation era, but with a history in the early Christian Church extending back to earlier medieval times, with missionaries moving north from Germany. See present organization of the church at http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?di=657804 -- main administration for the 13 dioceses, through the Bishop, is at Uppsala.

FREDSBERG.

Records indicate a Fred Burg Parish; parish identification number 166 302, and that places it right here.  Some English translations call it "Fred's Church" -- not exactly a magnetic draw.  Parish identifications: See http://home.swipnet.se/~w-13626parishyes1.htm#F.  See FN 1 for the family chronology we think is accurate, so far:

3.  Fredsberg Kyrke Bell.

This bell is set inside the church. Inscriptions, markings unknown.

Fredsberg Kyrke, de-steepled bell, Sweden

We found an account later about a "pilgrimage badge" of Saint Helena being soldered onto the Fredsberg Church bell.  This is the bell, but we see no badge.  See http://hem.passagen.se/anesa/data/eng/saint_helena_2r.htm, at 167.  The date is given at that site as 1498.  Is that the date of the bell?

Bells and the community:  Living near the church meant hearing the bell toll. At least one diarist, a Jakob Jonsson from the 19th Century, in another area of Sweden, near Goteborg, used the bell tolling to keep a record of the deaths, the weddings.  See http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol43/gustavsson.pdf.  Read the entire diary of events in the parish there, for a flavor of life here as well.  Both were farming communities.

4.  Peasant and nobility, 19th Century -- from the Gustavvson folklore site

Funeral customs:

Since we list what we know of births and deaths, here is an example of customs in the 19th Century.

Read at the folklore site an account of peasant customs on the crofts and small farms of the day. For example only the mighty had funeral services inside the church, services for others were held at the graveside.  For them, a "forest" of cut spruces in the example were arranged around the coffin, 4 or 5 at each side, 2-3 at head and foot, outside on the porch. The corpse would be inside, on a platform, near the altar, for a ceremonial sprinkling of earth.  See folklore site.  Where to find the old rites reflected in that? Anything pre-Christian? Why not?  Corpses were carried on a bier from house to church, and only in the late 1800's did horse-drawn carriages appear. Fish and schnappes were considered essential for part of the funeral "repast" at the home afterwards. All was cleaned and ready in the house the day before the funeral.

Causes of death:

Records of contagious diseases interest us because of the story that Kajsa Johannesdotter's parents and siblings all died in a season with an epidemic.  That would be Fredsberg area over to Kinnekulle area somewhere, we think, perhaps a farm lower in Skane.

The folklore site lists these among many other causes (do see the photos there, and descriptions of the diseases, Rora Parish, coast and island area, Goteborg to the south?

Diarist Jakob Jonsson, editor Anders Gustavsson)

• 1850-1900 -- over half the Swedish illness deaths were from scarlet fever. A particular epidemic was in 1870.  We are interested here because of the family story of a catastrophic epidemic that killed all (we thought) family members in the owners of the farm, parents and children, except for young Kajsa, who married what we thought was a farmhand who nursed her back to health. In this story, a daughter similarly survives, and marries the "half-owner" - not a mere farmhand, and the name Olausson appears.  Do we have a wild match here or are we just enjoying the historical hunt -- see Kajse Johannsdotter's Story, Epidemic
• Typhoid, called a "nerve fever", a kind of salmonella
• Fewer numbers but significant: Epilepsy, called "falling sickness"; and smallpox; childbirth, accidents, drowning, etc.

King Carl, commemorative 1809, Fredsberg Kyrke

Find a list of noble burials, including at Fredsberg, at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~corpusnobiliorum/bonde.html

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FN 1 

Recap: Kajsa Johannesdotter, Carl Jon Widing's Great Grandmother, died in Philadelphia, where she had been residing with her daughter Anna Osterlund (his Grandmother) and her husband, William Widing,  Kajsa Johannesdotter: born 1829;  see Family Tree Maker, at http://www.familytreemaker.geneology.com/users//a/l/m/Brian-L-Almquist-OR/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0638.html

Fredsberg seems central to this family. See how many times everybody is born and married and dies, if known, here. More births than deaths can be documented, however. Is this the area of the great epidemic that took Kajsa's family? Is Stina who died in Nebraska really a surviving sister, not part of our lore before? Spellings vary. The parents of Kajsa Johannesdotter were Johannes Persson and Stina Ericsdotter, married here on February 25, 1824. See geneology site above.

CHRONOLOGY OF BIRTHS, 
FOCUS ON FREDSBERG KYRKE AND FREDSBERG PARISH 

ALSO KYRKETORP NOT FAR

1742  Petter Pehrsson (I) born Svenningstorp, Fredsberg, married Greta Jonsdotter

1744  Greta Jonsdotter born Svenningstorp, Fredsberg, married Petter Pehrsson (I)

• Had son Petter Pehrsson (II)
  

1751  Petter Larsson born Kyrketorp married Maria Bengtsdotter

1753  Maria Bengtsdotter born Kyrketorp married Petter Larsson

• Had daughter Maria Pehrsdotter [spelling from Petter to Pehr?]
  

1767  Petter Pehrsson (II) born Goranstorp, Fredsberg, married Maria Pehrsdotter

1773  Maria Pehrssdotter born Kyrketorp married Petter Pehrsson (II)

• Had son Johannes Persson [note the H dropped from earlier Pehrsson - is that ok?]
  

______  Johannes Persson, son of Petter Pehrsson (II) and Maria Pehrsdotter, married Stina Ericsdotter 1824 at Fredsberg

______  Stina Ericsdotter, daughter of ________________, married Johannes Pehrsson 1824 at Fredsberg.




Stina is found as

Photo: Gustaf and Anna Pettersson
Category: Headstone
Attached To: Anna Stina Johansdotter (1820-1891)

See ancestry.com (use the cite, will need to subscribe or go to library to view>)

Anna Kajsa Johannsdotter is at the same ancestry site, as
Anna Kajsa Johannesdotter
Birth: date - city, Älvsborg (Västra Götaland), Sverige (Sweden)  Additional information requires a payment.

There is also an Anna Caisa Johannesdotter at that site, 

Birth record Document Copy of Swedish parish record. Skaraborg; Björsäter; Volume: C:6; Födde (Births); 1805 - 1837; Roll/Fiche:... Anna Caisa Johannesdotter (1823-1827)

And
Name Anna
Mother: Anna Brita Österlund  (there is a current living Osterlund relative named Brita - connected?)
Birth:  2 aug 1886 - MO, Västernorrland

Kajsa Johannsdotter -- see Ancestry for long list of emigrating persons of that name, including a Britta Kajsa, Anna Kajsa, where to start.
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 This is getting like a researcher's laundry list.

• Start now with Johannes Persson and Stina Ericsdotter.

Their children were, and here is a mystery.  We had believed all had died in an epidemic.  Stina's death date is given as unknown; and Johannes Persson's death date is also given as unknown, as is the death dates of their children except for one, Stina.

We know that one of the missing dates is for Kajsa Johannesdotter, died in Philadelphia early 1900's, where she lived with her daughter Anna Osterlund and family, so the absence of death dates otherwise for children and parents in Sweden might support a large catastrophe -- all the children except for one also named Stina, and our Kajsa Johannesdotter, my husband's great grandmother, surviving.

The other children of Johannes Persson and Stina Ericsdotter are listed as Johanna, Lotta, Erik, Anna Lisa, see - go directly - and see if we have it right - at http://www.familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/a/l/m/Brian-L-Almquist-OR/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0635.html

This geneology list shows a daughter Stina that we had not known, with a known death date, dying in Nebraska in 1910. If this is the same family. Kajsa Johannesdotter is a common name. Should we go to Johannsdotter.

Move over to ancestry dot com and find Petter Pehrsson (the SENIOR) in Skane, born 1742, so looks like the same pehrsson, see all the work these Andersons have done here --

Petter Pehrsson - Anderson Family Tree

Greta Jonsdotter - Anderson Family Tree

That site lists Skane as place of origin -- large generic geographic delineation, not as precise as the parish. Skane is a broad flat area, south-south:  about 121 km northwest of Ystad.  Same people? Are we sure?  Is the link with Kajsa Johannesdotter a solid one?  Andersons, speak up. 

There must have been many Pehr's for Pehr's son to have married Pehr's daughter in Fredsberg Kyrke in November 17, 1793.  Petter Pehrsson picked a peck of no don't. That spelling may be the answer:  Maria Pehrsdotter's father was Petter, not a Pehr. Not a peach but a pear. Died date unknown.