Which Härad?

JohnsonChristopherF

Which Härad?

Which Härad does Väddö parish belong to in 1765?

Where do I go to find that for a particular parish?

Can you point me to resources to learn how to search for information in probate records?

Norm Baker

Väddö belongs to Väddö och Häverö skeppslags häradsrätt.

 

You can find what härad a parish is in by going here (Riksarkivet): https://sok.riksarkivet.se/digitala-forskarsalen . Select "Court Archives" and enter the parish name. Be sure to use the diacritics to get correct results.

 

You can do an index search in Arkivdigital for probate records and occasionally get the person you are searching for. Otherwise, you just have to search through the court records in the time period and place you know.

 

Here is a webinar that you can use for help in Swedish probate records: https://www.familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/916 . It is, however, specific to records available through Arkivdigital.

JohnsonChristopherF

Thank you for your detailed reply! I had actually eventually found the härad, but was initially confused because the list of districts in Stockholm county on Wiki included Väddö och Häverö skeppslag and I was looking for the word härad.

My purpose in looking at estate inventories was to try to determine if there might possibly be two Matts Mattssons in Tomta, Väddö in the early 1700s, before the household examinations are available. (There is evidence of two wives, but not sure if one is a second marriage or a different Matts Mattsson). Index search on Arkivdigital did not turn up any Matts Mattssons in that period of time. I poked through the estate inventories available on ArkivDigital, beginning about 1762 (There is a death record for a Matts Mattson in Nov 1763). I did not recognize the name Matts Mattson or Tomta in any of the text that I looked at. So I am wondering where I go from here. Is there any other way I might try to decide if there are two Matts Mattssons, or one with 2 wives? Is it worthwhile to take my information into the FH Library and see if someone there might help me?

 

Thanks again for your response!

Norm Baker

You could look at the Mantalslangder for Väddö here: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/mantalslangder?Lan=0&Forsamling=v%C3%A4dd%C3%B6&Harad=&DatumFran=1700&DatumTill=1750 . You can find different years by changing the years in the search box. If you click on the "Image" box on the right, it will open to the beginning of Väddö for the year selected.

Apparently, different time periods record different information. The 1709 record appears to only record the man's name and then there are columns indicating (probably) how many people are being counted. You would have to figure out what the columns mean-often indicated near the first page of the census. For example, for the 1709 census, the column headings are on page 378-but I can't make out what they are. If you have access to Arkivdigital, you may be able to get clearer images than Riksarkivet has.

The 1750 census seems to report names and other information about the household. That could be helpful!

The 1750 record has Tomta here: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0005334_00265#?c=&m=&s=&cv=264&xywh=343%2C1889%2C3151%2C2022 .There is a Matts Mattsson recorded and (on the right-hand page) the name "Karin"-could be a wife or daughter.

If you have a tree on Family Search, you could give us the person's ID number and we may be able to come up with some more suggestions. If not, it would be helpful to know a little more about the person(s) you are looking for.

Norm Baker

Okay, after looking at the column headings on image 9 (1750 census), the first mark is for the man, the second for the woman, the 5th column indicates how many sons and the 6th column is for daughters. The 7th and 8th columns indicated drangs and pigas (male and female farmhands), so I believe the name "Karin" is a piga, not a family member.

JohnsonChristopherF

I do have an ArkivDigital subscription, but do not know how to find the census records you refer to. How do I do that?

 

My Ancestor is Erik Mattsson (LC6F-87L). The issue is who are his parents. FS Shows a Matts Mattson as Father (consistent with Erik's birth record). FS shows his Mother as Margareta Ersdotter. The family in FS appears to be constructed from birth records, all of which list Matts Mattsson of Tomta as the Father, but no Mother is listed. If you look at the 1765 household examination for Tomta (Väddö (AB) AI:2a (1765-1778) Image: 22 Page: 13) you see Erik listed with Mod H Anna (age 48) with a son Anders and a daughter Lisa. On the next Household examination, (Väddö (AB) AI:2b (1765-1778) Image: 166 Page: 157) Anders and Lisa and listed as Erik's brother and sister, supporting the theory that Anna is Erik's Mother as well. A death record exists for Margareta Ersdotter and two twins (Väddö (AB) CI:3 (1752-1760) Image: 64 Page: 5) - see attached screen shot. So it seems like there are two possibilities, either there are two Matts Mattsons in Tomta, one married to Anna and another married to Margareta, or just a single Matts Mattsson, with Anna being a second wife (I cannot find a marriage record that supports this latter guess). I am hoping to answer the one or two Matts Mattssons question so I have a better idea of how to straighten out that family in FS. As you can see the twins born in 1753 are duplicated in the family, but I hesitate to clear that up until I am sure it is not another family altogether.

 

Thanks again for your help!

Norm Baker

So, what I took to be the census was actually the tax/census records. My bad!

To get to the tax records from Arkivdigital, do an Index Search. Under "Index Source" find "Table of content censuses". Select that. Type the parish, Väddö in this case, in the "Simple search" field. You will get a list of years to choose from. Select the year you want to look at and "Open Image". These records (for Väddö) begin in 1650. I am not sure how useful they may be, but you may find something there to help.

 

As far as using the actual Swedish censuses, Riksarkivet is the way to go. However, the first one was done in 1860, probably far too late to be of much use in this instance.

 

I have spent some time looking in the tax records for Väddö, for this time period (1738-1753) and I have only seen one Matts Mattson in Tomta at any time. Some examples below.

1738 here: https://app.arkivdigital.se/volume/v431900?image=1770

1745 here: https://app.arkivdigital.se/volume/v432165?image=1750&page=315

1753 here: (Previous page begins Tomta.) https://app.arkivdigital.se/volume/v431651?image=1640&page=153

 

This is the time period for the children being born to Matts Mattsson, so I think there is only one.

 

 

JohnsonChristopherF

Thanks again for all of your work for me! I have looked at a number of census records and want to make sure I understand what I am looking at. I picked 1755 because that is 2 years after the death record of Margaretta who we think is Matts Mattsson's wife and Mother of Erik. So here is that record

https://app.arkivdigital.se/volume/v431652?image=1390&page=128

I have also attached a screen shot with Matts Mattson underlined. If I understand your explanation on columns (where can I find an explanation of column Headings for this record?) We have a mark for Him, a wife, and a Piga (name I cannot read). If we have the rest correct, this would suggest that he has remarried by 1755 (again, I have looked for a marriage record and do not recognize one that matches). Later household examinations (1765), would indicate that if we have the family right, Erik would have been 10 at the time of this census, Anders 7 and Lisa 5, yet the Sons and Daughters columns are not marked. Were minor children not counted and marked?

 

In the 1766 census

https://app.arkivdigital.se/volume/v431663?image=1180&page=105

we see information consistent with the Household examination where Anna is listed as his Mother, and Anders and Lisa are both listed on the record. In this case who are the 3 marks for (as I see 4 names in the record)?

 

Again, thanks for your help!!

 

 

 

Norm Baker

Hello again!

The headings for this year's tax record are on Bild:90/Sida:1. You probably already know this, but you can rotate the image 90° left or right with the buttons in the tool bar.

 

The name of the piga is Ingal. Ingal is a male name (Norwegian), so it may be something like Ingali or Ingalise.

 

If the second wife was from a different parish, they may have been married in her parish.

 

The Family Search Research Wiki has an article on Swedish Taxation that may be useful to you and help answer your questions. That article is here: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Sweden_Taxation .

 

As far as the last (1766) tax record, I read it that Eric Mattson, Drang Anders, and Mother Anna account for the marks. I am a little confused at the "drang" title for Anders, as Anders should be Anna"s 15 year old son (according to the Household Records for 1765-1778). The mark in the last column, is for female boarders and I am assuming that the mark is for Anna, the mother. The name on the right hand page, Lisa, is a sister (I presume to Eric).

 

The household record (1765-1778) also seems to indicate that Anna remarries (probably in about 1767 as that is when her church attendance abruptly ends). The note next to her name in the "till" column says she is the wife of Anders Jans(son)

 

 

JohnsonChristopherF

Thank you again for your detailed help. I think we are getting closer. Can you help with 2 translations? The first is from the 1754 Census:

https://app.arkivdigital.se/volume/v843301?image=1800&page=157

The clolumn after the mark for Matts Mattsson looks to me to read aggift - could it be ogift - unmarried?

 

The second is a marriage record in Häverö, 10 Nov 1754 (Matts Mattson shows up with a wife marked in the 1755 Census).

https://app.arkivdigital.se/volume/v86018?image=135

I can see a Matts Mattsson and Anna Andersdotter, but cannot read anything else. Is there anything in this record that would indicate that he is from outside Häverö?

 

Thanks again for your help!

 

Norm Baker

You are correct about the word in the 1754 tax/census. It is "ågift" which is the same as "ogift"=unmarried. That is a bit odd, because if he had been married and his wife had died, I think he would be a widower-änkeman or änk. or something like that. Ogift usually means never been married.

 

As far as the marriage record, I don't believe this is your Matts Mattsson. He is Matts Mattson Nyman or, possibly, Hyman. The record says he is a Krono Statsman which would be some kind of King's Statesman/Politician. There is no mention of where he is from. Also, the bride is Anna Persdotter (not Andersdotter). The place after her name is, I believe, Giöringe-probably an older spelling of Göringe which is a place in Häverö-see here for that list: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Häverö_Parish,_Stockholm,_Sweden_Genealogy .

JohnsonChristopherF

Again, Thank you.

I agree, seems unusual for him to be listed ogift. Similarly, when Anna shows up in the first clerical survey (1765), she is listed as Mod H. Anna (where anke would have seemed more typical). But, as you have pointed out, the census records show only 1 Matts Mattsson in Tomta. They show him with a mark for a wife through 1753 (the year we have a death record for Margareta, the first wife), and then ogift the next year, and then with a mark for a wife through 1763, when he dies. After that Anna is listed on the tax record, and eventually oldest son Eric, Anders and Lisa, appearing apparently when they are old enough to count. They always appear after a number 4 1/4 (some kind of farm number or something??) So, I think one must conclude that Anna is a second wife, and stepmother to Erik, in spite of the fact that both the clerical survey and the tax/census record list her as Mod H. I feel farily comfortable with that conclusion, and will probably modifiy FS to reflect that, unless you have other suggestions as to other documents I might look at to be more certain. I guess if I do make changes to FS, I should attach a bunch of sources to support the conclusion I have reached.

 

Thanks again for your help!

 

Norm Baker

You are very welcome! It has been interesting and I have learned a lot, too.

It is always a good idea to attach sources, especially in a case like this where there are no Clerical Survey records available. People are less likely to make mistaken changes if you add well documented sources to support your conclusions.

Thanks for your participation in Family Search!