The Dodringshult Ladder

When we visited Sweden in 2012, a woman from the local genealogy society took us to some of the farms that I had identified as homes of our ancestors. Dodringshult, as you will see from the following photos, was a large, beautiful farm. It is located in the county of Jonkoping in southern Sweden; and it is here that our great-great grandfather Gustus Magnus Olausson (aka Gus Linn) was born.

The family, consisting of father Olaus Fredricsson, mother Catarina Johansdotter, and 8 children lived here from around 1825 until Olaus' death in 1830. Gustus was the youngest of the 8 children, born in 1829 at Dodringshult; and he was just 15 months old when his father died from a fever.

There is much to know about this family, all of which I would love to share if you post a comment or question that I can answer.

When we visited the farm, we were taken on a tour of the grounds, making our way to an old barn on the property. There, we saw the ladder pictured below. As we were told by the current owner, the ladder dates from the 1600's and was made of one piece of wood. Imagine carving the steps along with the center shaft for holding ALL from just one piece of wood. Because it dated to the 1600's, our Gustus and his siblings and parents would have used this ladder, climbed to the upper parts of the barn, perhaps using it for play.

If we could have taken the ladder home with us, we would gladly have taken this family treasure!



Ladder made from a single piece of wood - 1600's

Front view of Dodringshult



Side view of Dodringshult