G2G: Åfeldt Swedish help

Question

I'm starting to build out the stubs for my Swedish side, Using DNA matches closely as the name changes are a bit overwhelming.  

His name appears on his daughter Elgani's death certificate as Per Åfeldt (took a bit to figure out the actual name they were trying to spell).  

Which my understanding then his birth name would be Per Nilsson, which the Åfeldt was then added on later.  As that last name falls outside of the normal Swedish naming conventions

Per Nilsson Åfeldt 

1826–1882

BIRTH 10 SEP 1826 • Norra Kverrestad, Skåne, Sverige

DEATH 18 JAN 1882 • Ullstorp, Kristianstad, Sweden

From a bit of research on https://www.afeldt.com/name-de leads me to believe that the Åfeldt likely means he was in the military and that last name was added?  So his birth name likely is Nilsson?

And if so - then his "current name" should I use Nilsson Åfeldt ?

Answer 1

Correct, current name should be Åfeldt unless his father uses the same name. My guess is he could be a burgher or a soldier.

Comments

Thank you Jonas, so very much .. I know some members of my family have been beating there heads for years around her father's history - this explains it..

Answer 2

I did not see where you had his birth record, so looked it up: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0060845_00059

Kverrestad,C I/5 (1811-1826), bildid: C0060845_00059, page 96

His parents are Nils Svensson and Eljena Andersdotter.

Comments

Kristina,

I am so happy that I was able to get his last name figured out for you (and us). 

Now the question is why did he take it on when he did? I will look back at the records, try to translate the notes before or after his name in the records and then we can most likely figure it out.

I believe he was a farm worker (dr/dräng/Drängen) and then a farmer (Åbo). I did not notice any particular farm names that he may have taken on, only numbers. I will look back, because I am only going by memory and my memory is not fabulous. 

Missy 

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In the household record where he takes the name Åfelt, it says he was Arrend. It translates to lease. So I would think it meant that he was leasing the farm he was working. This is the first time I have ever came across this word! My ancestors were all poor and living on assistance, lived in a backstuga or were iron workers or farmers or farm hands. None of my ancestors I have researched (so far) have not leased the land, I guess.

Is that correct, Eva? Does it also mean that he lives on the leased farm? Thank you!

Eva, I knew I would not be able to stop researching until I found out. 

EDIT: Typo correction- Arrend, not Assend

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You did some fantastic work, Missy!

Yes, he was leasing the farm, which seems to be a step up from before and after. But t doesn't say Assend. - it's Arrend. which is short for Arrendator.

I think people always were recorded in the household records where they lived. They didn't always farm there. People in a backstuga may have had a cabbage patch or potato plot, but no more, crofters / torpare had some farm land, but usually also had to work for the manor a number of days per year. I'm not sure of the conditions for an Åbo - the word just means "lives on" but one assumes they farmed.

I read the discussions about these things in Anbytarforum now and then, and one thing that has stayed with me is that the words usually denote different conditions in different parts of the country. Sweden in the olden days was very "provincial".

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Thank you, Eva! It is definitely Arrend. I don’t know why I typed Assend!  Thank you for pointing that out. I will do a correction of the typo.

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Thank you both - this is starting to make sense, as the terms are being laid out - Basically he had saved enough money or made arrangements to lease (Arrend)  a field (Åfelt)  of land to farm (Åbo).  Meaning a better opportunity for him and his family to raise their stage in life. 

And that denoted pride in hard work, and was added to his last name  and similar to calling someone Judge Sam Smith.

I will do my best to add categories for each parish they lived in as well and work on building out profiles where facts are matched with the sources so they can easily be read and make logical sense and all facts line up and not just a bunch of links.  Is there anything else that is "uber" important on Swedish profiles when creating them?  I've looked over the wikitree page on Sweedish research and will try to follow all the guidelines (with normal learning curves).  Unfortunately I don't have time to join a project right now, but want to try to make sure I'm following all the guidelines if possible when creating them and will also work on spidering out the siblings descendents and spouses instead of just direct line up, as well in an attempt to join people up, as that I know is invaluable and have seen in my Tennessee work.

A few last questions, as a full 1/8th of my tree is likely in Sweeden and this is the tip of the iceberg, so I have a lot of learning to do.  As I don't think many jumped across the ocean, as my DNA hits on Ancestry for this line are very sparse, compared to my Tennessee and Kentucky links where I have hundreds -  and haven't noticed many matches other sites either.  

Is there a likely DNA repository that would hold more matches with Sweden then others? Or does the EU privacy restrictions prevent that at this time still?

Is there a list of books that are suggested to assist in that Sweedish research? And any online swedish language classes or online swedish genealogy classes?

So hoping once restrictions are lifted I can finally go, and my work will be in good enough shape to make the trip worth it at that point.  

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Hello Kristina,

WikiTree has resource links: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Swedish_Genealogy

FamilySearch has a lot of Swedish information: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Sweden_Genealogy 

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Swedish_Genealogical_Word_List

Swedish research sites:

• RiksArkivet (free site) Actual parish records in b&w
• ArkivDigital (paid site) Actual parish records in color
• FamilySearch.org (free site)
• Ancestry (paid site)

FTDNA (Familytreedna.com) seems to be where I found the Swedes mostly test, but Eva should confirm this. (I do not live in Sweden.) I am on MyHeritage, FTDNA, Ancestry and GEDMATCH.

I hope this helps! Those links above go to many more links.

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“ Is there anything else that is "uber" important on Swedish profiles when creating them?”

This is a great question and I skimmed right over it!

The Swedish profiles are outlined the same as all the other profiles with just the Biography and Sources sections, except when Research Notes are needed.

If you ever need help with translation or research, you post to g2g and one of us from the Sweden Project will always answer.

Good luck!!

Missy 

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Hi,

To me it seems there are more Scandinavian tests on Myheritage. I have over 6000 matches there, compared to about 600 on FTDNA.

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Thank you Missy and Maria, when I'm working on matches I'll see if my FTNA has some a few more, and spend time on my heritage results (I don't make it to that sight very often as I get distracted).

Thank you for the links

@missy - looks like somewhere we are related

Largest segment = 3.9 cM

Total Half-Match segments (HIR) = 17.1 cM (0.478 Pct)

5 shared segments found for this comparison.

Going to guess my Shinn side - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shinn-40 as 9th cousins once removed would likely resemble that.. lol 

And Maria we have one small snippet of 3.. but don't think it's left over from https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Guttormsson-30 - either fluke or something a little closer then 1150.. lol

And that's where I truly like wikitree to finding all my family!

Will be keeping this chain in my resources for Sweden so I don't lose it - thank you everyone!

 

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Thanks to Maria and Missy for answering the DNA question. I haven't tested and have no idea.