How They Died

What do we know about how our Swedish ancestors died? Do we have any common illnesses, genetic issues, that we should know about?

The Swedish death records, depending on the parish priest's interest in writing a proper obituary,  sometimes contained elements of our ancestors' lives, hints about other family members, and sometimes the cause of death. Here are just a few from our ancestors:

One of my 7th great grandmothers, Anna Larsdotter, an ancestor to Maude Edith Olofson, was born on March 11, 1694 in Farila Parish, Gavleborg County. Her death record states the following:

Farmer's daughter, Anna Larsdotter, born in 1694, on March 11, was the daughter of the farmer Lars Mansson of Fone, and her mother was Karin Olofsdotter. She was married in 1721 and had 6 children -- 4 sons and 2 daughters. She was a widow as of March 28 of last year She had good health, but in the last year she was in mourning. She probably laid on her soft bed as she was taken with grief. She died at 80 years, 10 1/2 weeks.

What wonderful hints about her, her husband and his death, how many children to research and follow.

 A 7th great grandfather, also on the Olofson line, was Olof Ersson, who lived from 1666 to 1747 in Farila Parish, Gavleborg Parish. His death record indicates that he "lived with his wife of 50 years who is still living. They had 5 sons and 3 daughters. He lived an honest life but was in weak health and died of rheumatoid arthritis on Sunday, April 27, 1747, at the age of 81 years and 4 months."

From this record, we learn that his wife is still alive; how many children, in case we've missed any, how old he was so we can trace back to his birth record if we don't have it.

Going to the Linn ancestors, my 4th great grandmother Greta Carlsdotter, mother-in-law to Olaus Fredricsson, has the following obituary that contains several hints for research:

Greta Carlsdotter from Amundarp died June 24, 1823. She was born in Edshult on December 15, 1764. She was married in 1782 to the farmhand Jonas Mansson and was widowed in 1788. Mother in this marriage to two daughters, both of whom are living. She married in 1793 to Corporal Johan Tomt and with him conceived 4 children, 3 sons and 1 daughter, who are still alive. She died at age 58 years, 6 months, and 9 days. Cause of death was pain.

Greta married twice and had a total of 6 children to follow. Her second husband, Johan Tomt, a military man, is also someone to follow as Sweden was at war during this time.

Carl Lundblad, Catherine's father, and my 3rd great grandfather, died on August 17, 1841, at the age of 47. His death record below shows that he was from Saxebacken, was a lifegrenadier from Skarlunda, born in Tidersrum Parish in 1793, married to Anna Stina Jonsdotter (his second wife), and had 1 son and 2 daughters. He was buried on August 22. He died of "slag" or a stroke.

Notice all of the elements of his life in this short death record that a researcher can use to follow other people, to find a birth, to find his military record, and more.

And then we run across a husband and wife, my 5th great grandparents, who died within 6 months of each other. Maria Ericksdotter, of Stromskullen in Malexander Parish of Ostergotland County, and her husband Olof Ekstrom of the same place are Linn ancestors, Catherine Lundblad Linn's great grandparents. This one threw me a bit when, last November, I was sitting at a computer in Salt Lake City just after the opening of the library. I had Maria's death record pulled up on the screen. She died June 15, 1799, buried on the 23rd. She was 75 years old. But then the library computers all froze, and all I could do was stare at the page on the screen, but not translate anything using the library online dictionaries. I wanted to know what Maria had died of. It's in the far right column below. And so, while waiting for the power to return, I used a translate feature on my Iphone and entered what I thought I could read of her cause of death: "venerisk sjekdom".

I'm quite sure that I uttered something when my Iphone translated those Swedish words into English. Venerisk sjekdom means venereal disease. My 5th great grandmother. 1799. What?

When the computers were working again, I hailed THE BEST Swedish researcher at the library and asked him to look at Maria's death record and tell me what her cause of death was. He said "venereal disease". I had to ask if that meant what I thought it did and he assured me it did. He said it was probably syphilis, completely untreatable, and a painful and prolonged way to die.

Shock. Just shock. Then sadness that she suffered so. Then anger. What about her husband Olof Ekstrom? I found his death on the same page.

Olof Ekstrom died on December 5, 1799 and was buried on the 15th. He was 70 years old. And he died of breast fever, known as pneumonia.

Well, something doesn't add up. Either Maria contracted syphilis from someone other than her husband, or Olof died of pneumonia before the syphilis killed him. They probably both suffered quite a bit and were in a great deal of pain.

Whether the diagnosis at the time was accurate, I don't know. Whether there are other plausible reasons for Maria's disease, I have no clue. It is clear from the record above that, in 1799, her diagnosis was venereal disease. But, I leave any possible interpretations to you.

Our Swedish ancestors died of many different diseases, from influenza, to TB, to pneumonia, to cancer, and venereal disease. There were horse, car and work accidents, old age, and the death of small infants, not able to survive. I've not found a single cause of death to warrant our being concerned about a specific illness or genetic problem.

The details of our ancestors' lives are what puts the meat on their bones. Last week's post was about the "boring begats" that turn many people off. But don't you think that this was an interesting look at some of our ancestors?