With harsh winters and short summers, our ancestors’ food in the 1800’s would have reflected what was available and what could be preserved in a “you take what you can get” attitude.
Typically, foods like Lutefisk (dried cod that was soaked in lye and water), pickled herring, lingonberries, and other foods that could be dried or preserved were the staple for our ancestors for a large part of the year.
Baked crispbread (knäckebröd), buns, and gingersnaps that could last, and fermenting dairy products such as a yogurt-like substance, were also part of our ancestors’ meals.
And, of course, glogg, a mulled, spiced wine, was enjoyed.
The short summer months, of course, offered many more choices from fresh produce to various meats, fish and cheeses.
In northern Sweden, where the Olofsons and Barquists were from, the climate and topography created work possibilities in forestry and the iron ore industry. We have several ancestors who worked in those industries. I imagine the Barquists and Olofsons having an abundance of wood for fires, for building homes and other structures. And the iron ore, once they learned how to refine and use it, would become a part of tool and furniture making.
In southern Sweden, where the Linns and Andersons were from, there were many lakes that meant fishing opportunities, and some agriculture that was important for food and clothing. Both created work opportunities. The land in Smaland, however, where many of our ancestors were from, is extremely rocky. Even if a large, heavy rock could be removed, below that were more and more rocks, making it nearly impossible to farm some of those areas.
Piga was the term used for a female farmhand or maid. Drang was the term used for a male farmhand. Farmhands and maids could be either young people who took positions as hired hands until they could earn enough money to move on or marry OR elderly people who hadn't been able to hold their own place as farmers or tenant farmers. Our ancestors were, for the most part, employees on a farm. Yes, we have the occasional hat maker, military man, or teacher, but as a rule, we were hard-working farm laborers. Lives for our ancestors were difficult, made enough worse if the head of the household was demanding or even cruel.
Our farming ancestors who did not own land were known as tenant farmers (torpare) and they didn't have any farmhands or maids of their own. They worked the land for others and couldn't afford to hire anyone else. These groups often had to send their young children away to take positions as a piga or drang on another farmer's land to earn a living. I've seen some of our ancestors listed as these servants as young as 8 years old!
Some of our poorer ancestors lived in small shacks on a farmer's land, perhaps one small room where an entire family lived.
The term crofter is a British term to describe a tenant farmer who paid his tenancy with daily labor on the landowner's estate. The Andersons were known as crofters in Sweden. The crofter's lot is similar to a sharecropper here in the United States. My family were sharecroppers on the farm outside Dayton, Iowa. I would guess that Pete and Maude (Olofson) Linn who also lived on that land were sharecroppers, too.
The fattighus (poorhouse) was a building where the poor and the infirm had shelter and lodging. These "inmates" were called fattighjon or paupers. I've written previously about a few of our ancestors who lived in the poorhouse and others who were homeless and walked from farm to farm for short stays before having to move on. These paupers are found in a special place, usually in the back, of the church yearly clerical survey.
When people ask me what life was like for our Swedish ancestors, all of what I’ve just written comes to mind. Limited food. Harsh winters. Few opportunities to own land. However, besides living this life from beginning to end, some did try other options:
· We have
many, many soldiers in our Swedish ancestors. A Swedish soldier would receive a
home where his wife and children could live while he served. Food and other basic needs were provided from
those surrounding the soldier's farm as payment for the soldier’s sacrifice. But once his
military term was over, the family had to find other shelter and the new
soldier’s family moved in.
· Many of
our ancestors came to the United States for opportunities they believed from
advertisements and letters from those who had already immigrated. For some, it
served them and their families well. For others, poverty and misfortune
followed them, with some even going back to their native country.
· A few of our ancestors became educated and were able to secure employment that afforded them a better lifestyle. We have a minister, teacher, master hatmaker, soldiers, and several who were selected to help with the inventories and distribution of land and possessions of those who had died. They were considered to be gentlemen farmers. We have a couple of ancestors who were found in prison, the poorhouse, the orphanage.
Life wasn’t easy no
matter their circumstances. Women often lost several newborns to various
diseases and pregnancy issues. I’ve found a married couple in my tree who both
died of syphilis within a few months of each other. Soldiers who came back from
service unable to work. Women who died in childbirth. Isolation. Insanity.
Church was one staple that gave our ancestors a community and hope. Church was extremely important, so important that they often traveled for miles to attend; and once they arrived by horse or horse and buggy to the parish church, they might spend a night or two in makeshift barns provided by the church or local parishioners.
A difficult life at that time in Sweden. For our ancestors to consider leaving Sweden, their families and friends, the life they knew, they had to believe that life would be better for them in the United States.
Religious freedom, opportunities to own land, and the ability to give their children a better life all had to weigh on our ancestors who made the decision to cross the ocean.
It wasn’t easy in this country either. But, the combination of removing or reducing many challenges of their lives in Sweden and also finding the opportunities and unique benefits that lay ahead in a new country brought them here. Through Wisconsin or Illinois to central Iowa. A new home.
