Martin Olofsson (1868 - 1910)

Born 14 Nov 1868 in Skräddaretorpet, Kräbbleboda, Glimåkra

Ancestors

Died 28 Apr 1910 at age 41 in Gisslaboda, Örkened, Kristianstad, Sverige

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Biography

Born 14 NOV 1868.^[1] Skräddaretorpet, Kräbbleboda, Glimåkra.

Martin emigrates to North America in 1887, works as a sailor and eventually ends up in Australia. Sometime in 1893 Martin returns to Sweden.

In the same year he starts a trading post in Nyteboda and gets engaged to Sven Johansson's daughter Anna. Sven Johansson is the skipper of the freighter and passenger boat Framåt, which operates on Lake Immeln.

But already in the summer of 1894, Martin meets Bengta Svensdotter and falls in love with her immediately. From the very beginning he calls her Betty. The next year they will have their wedding.

Marriage 9 Sep 1895.^[2] Jämshög, Blekinge län

• Martin Olofsson handlanden i Nyteboda och Bengta Svensdotter piga i Nyteboda. Brudgummen: Borgen för h-s hindersl:het af Hans Svenss. & Nils Larsson i St. Nyteboda. Bruden: Modern Hanna Månsd. död. Giftom:samtycke af sambrodern Ola Månss. i Kullan, skriftl., företeddes.

Sven Johnsson, the skipper, is very angry with Martin for rejecting the skipper's daughter and marrying Betty. This is the beginning of a lifelong enmity between Martin and Sven Johnsson. Since the skipper on the lake is responsible for transporting goods to Martin's trading post, problems arise when the skipper fails to deliver goods as he should, or treats the goods so badly that they are partially destroyed during the journey across the lake.

Martin is a rather large and strong man with a fierce temper and in April 1899 the hostilities culminate in Martin attacking Sven Johansson on the Immeln boat, Sven is beaten up, then he picks up his police badge and says, "See you in court".

Östra Göinge häradsrätt, 18 June 1900. Martin is sentenced to three months imprisonment for assaulting a policeman, actually Sven Johansson, the skipper, possibly he was some kind of policeman because he had a police badge.^[3]

Martin spends three months in prison in Karlshamn, Blekinge probably quite soon after the sentence.

Martin has a problem with booze. On 21 September 1904, Martin assaults a railway guard at a railway crossing in Kristianstad, Skåne. After that, he is found under the influence of strong drink on Östra Storgatan and several other places in the city. Later, on 16 January 1905, Martin is convicted of assault in the Kristianstad City Court, and is imprisoned for a month and fined SEK 15 for drunkenness.

But before the prison sentence is handed down, he escapes from Betty and the children in the middle of the summer 1905 on a ship bound for West Hartepool in Enland and after that he moves on to the west coast of USA, Oregon and Portland. A couple of times Betty receives a letter with some money in it. Martin works on a ship and sometime in the autumn of 1908 Martin comes home to Sweden and Nyteboda, he is seriously ill with tuberculosis.

But the authorities have not forgotten that he is sentenced to prison and soon they pick him up and he has to serve a month in the prison in Karlshamn.

On his way home from prison, Martin is angry and ill. A neighbour, Jöns Nilsson, a farmer, is invited into the house and they start drinking, including a bottle of brandy that Martin bought in Karlshamn. Jöns Nilsson is known to be grumpy and shouty, especially when he has been drinking alcohol. Jöns yells something nasty at Martin, who gets pissed off and grabs Jöns and throws him against the door (there was still marks on the door twentyfive years ago, maybe it's still there?) and then against the kitchen's iron stove. Jöns gets out and with Martin's help ends up in the garden with a broken lower leg and a scrape on his face. After a while Jöns' wife comes with a horse and cart and takes her husband home.

A day later, the police come for Martin. On 23 December 1908, Martin is sentenced to 9 months hard labour for assaulting the farmer Jöns Nilsson in Nyteboda. On New Year's Eve 1908, the police come for Martin and bring him to the prison in Karlshamn..

On 10 November 1909 the family moves to Gisslaboda, Örkened in Kristianstad County. The trading post has gone bankrupt while Martin is in prison and they have to move from Nyteboda. When Martin comes home from prison for the last time he is a broken man. He dies a few months later of his tuberculosis.^[4]

Died 28 APR 1910. ^[5] Gisslaboda, Örkened (L).

Buried 3 MAY 1910. Örkened (L).

Occupation: Handlande i Nyteboda.

Sources

1. ↑ Glimåkra kyrkoarkiv, Födelse- och dopböcker, SE/LLA/13111/C I/6 (1861-1885), bildid: F0010236_00112: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/F0010236_00112
2. ↑ Jämshögs kyrkoarkiv, Lysnings- och vigselböcker, SE/LLA/13196/E I/4 (1895-1924), bildid: 00104811_00006, sida 3: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/00104811_00006
3. ↑ Jämshögs kyrkoarkiv, Församlingsböcker (inbunden serie), SE/LLA/13196/A II a/6 (1897-1911), bildid: 00104756_00087, sida 84: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/00104756_00087
4. ↑ Much of the text of the biography above is freely translated from the book "Ensam Emigrant" written by Santos Ousbäck. Santos and his wife owned Harry Martinson's childhood home, the same house that was Olof and Betty's trading post in Nyteboda. Many people in and around Nyteboda have helped with stories from Martin and Betty's time there, even Harry Martinson visited and talked with the Ousbäck couple in "Snappetorp" as they called the house.
5. ↑ Örkeneds kyrkoarkiv, Död- och begravningsböcker, SE/LLA/13510/F I/2 (1895-1930), bildid: 00113329_00135, sida 132: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/00113329_00135

• Glimåkra kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängder, SE/LLA/13111/A I/17 (1861-1870), bildid: C0059671_00203, sida 198: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0059671_00203
• Glimåkra kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängder, SE/LLA/13111/A I/20 (1870-1883), bildid: C0059674_00250, sida 241: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0059674_00250
• Hjärsås kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängder, SE/LLA/13155/A I/2 (1869-1876), bildid: C0059905_00210, sida 210: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0059905_00210
• Hjärsås kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängder, SE/LLA/13155/A I/3 (1876-1885), bildid: C0059906_00228, sida 251: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0059906_00228
• Hjärsås kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängder, SE/LLA/13155/A I/4 (1886-1894), bildid: C0059907_00234, sida 311: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0059907_00234
• Jämshögs kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängder, SE/LLA/13196/A I/27 (1888-1897), bildid: C0057493_00090, sida 838: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0057493_00090
• Jämshögs kyrkoarkiv, Församlingsböcker (inbunden serie), SE/LLA/13196/A II a/6 (1897-1911), bildid: 00104756_00087, sida 84: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/00104756_00087
• Örkeneds kyrkoarkiv, Församlingsböcker (inbunden serie), SE/LLA/13510/A II a/1 (1900-1910), bildid: 00113277_00288, sida 288: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/00113277_00288

• Source: S50 Anders Bengtsson Bengtsson Web Site MyHeritage.com släktträd Familjewebbplats: Bengtsson Web Site Släktträd: 4ad2u4_98887825goa155648z9ed4 Martin " Nyteboda-Martin " Olsson Event: Smart Matching Role: 1000564 7 NOV 2012 Tillagd genom att bekräfta en Smart Match Certainty: 3
• Source: S51 May Bosetti BOSETTI / KIEHNE / EK MyHeritage.com släktträd Familjewebbplats: BOSETTI / KIEHNE / EK Släktträd: Bosetti/Kiehne/Ek Martin "Nyteboda-Martin" Olofsson Event: Smart Matching Role: 1003637 7 NOV 2012 Tillagd genom att bekräfta en Smart Match Certainty: 3