Where should I look for court information about fatherhood?

Question

The maid Sara Lundberg had two children who later had the surname Löfmark.

I know of two men Löfmark who lived in Lund (Malmöhus, Sweden) at the same time as she did.

If she did file a case for support from the father, where (in what books) should I look for that?

(My knowledge of these kinds of terms is limited, so maybe it could be formulated differently.)

Answer 1

In German and Austrian church records i’ve seen cases were annotations are made in the child’s baptismal record where paternity has been acknowledge. Sometimes there is a section in the back of the baptismal register for paternity acknowledgements.

In Mexican Catholic Church records i’ve never seen such acknowledgement in baptismal records, but there are numerous cases in the marriage record of the child where it is stated he/she is an illegimate child with both parents named.

Sometimes illegimate births are in a different register. Is that the case in Sweden ?

Edit

After writing the comments above, I found a lengthy article at Family Search on this very topic. Apparently this was a somewhat common event in Sweden. The article at the link discusses it in some detail.

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

Comments

Thanks George, that's quite a good summary in Family Search, that I hadn't seen!

In this case, what I  wanted to check, was if the mother has asked for support from the father using legal means.

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I suspect that this might involve actually visiting the archives in Lund.

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Yes, I'm aware of that, but I would like to know what books to order before I go. :-)

Answer 2

In the parish archives of Lund's cathedral parish there are lists of absolved persons.

Lunds domkyrkoförsamlings kyrkoarkiv, Lysnings- och vigselböcker, SE/LLA/13254/E I/1 (1749-1814), s. 170

[1800] October 4. Undergick Sara Lundberg hemlig skrift
för 2dra gången begångit lägersmål enligt
kämners Rttens dom af den 2dra October
1800.

Translation: October 4. Sara Lundberg underwent hemlig skrift (private confession of sins) for second time committed adultery by the ruling of the kämnärsrätt (city's lower court) on October 2, 1800.

The verdict should be in Lunds stadsarkiv: Kämnärsrättens arkiv, volume AIa:82 (1800). Reference code: SE/LLA/10174/A I a/82

Comments

Thanks a lot Joakim!