Many of our ancestors were farmers. But we have learned about a few who had other careers or had careers in addition to farming. Fredric Smedbom was a teacher; Olaus Fredricsson was a juryman; and Louise Linn was an osteopathic doctor.
Back several generations in Sweden, our Barquist line includes people who also had other occupations. John Barquist, my 3rd great grandfather (1807-1878), was born in Amot, Gavleborg Sweden, married Marget Pehrsdotter, and had 6 children including my 2nd great grandmother Maria Barquist Olofson. One might have thought that John was a farmer in Sweden since that is the occupation he chose when he and his family immigrated to the United States. But let's take a look at the following:
When laws were passed in Sweden making it next to impossible for the common people/farmers/iron ore workers to own property, there were just two choices to be made. File for bankruptcy and lose the property and home to the foundry owner OR they could sell everything and go to America. From "The People of the Red Barns" Elsa Lagevik, 1996, page 37, "The sudden increase of emigration from Ockelbo parish 1855 and several years following lies certainly in time with those judgments which were handed down during the years of 1854 and 1855. As an example, the former forest ranger Johan Bergqvist who was affected by the law was chosen as firemaster at the Parish meeting in Amot 3 May 1857. At the correction to the minutes on the 17th of the same month, this election was changed as Bergqvist was going to emigrate to America."
According to the Swedish American Genealogist, Vol. VI, June 1986, #2, page 68, (ISSN 0275-9314) Jan Berqvist, former forestor, was born in Amot 24 December 1807, son of Jan Bergqvist, laborer, and Maja Jonsdotter. He was married to Margta Pehrsdotter, born in Amot 13 September 1810, daughter of Pehr Jonsson, farmer, and Margta Andersdotter. They had the following children all born in Amot: Jan, born 13 Feb. 1836; Andres Gustaf, born 6 June 1840; Maja Helena, born 28 September 1842; Peter Olof, born 14 September 1845; Lars Erik, born 22 May 1848; and Anna Margareta, born 6 April 1857.
You can see that John Barquist was a forest ranger and later was selected to be the firemaster for Amot. These positions are similar to what you might see today. The area around Amot parish was forested, requiring men to be on the lookout for fires. In addition, this area also produced coal that was piled into mounds in the forest, requiring men who would stay in the woods for weeks, making sure that the coal being made out of burning wood did not become a large fire.*
When we visited Sweden a few years ago, we were taken to one of these areas where a very crude thatched "building" held two straw beds. Between them on the wall were taxidermized animals. The foresters slept in these buildings for weeks, watching for any fires that might start in the forest or in the coal piles.
John Barquist's father, Jan Bergqvist (1779-1850), was my 4th great-grandfather. Jan was a charcoal maker aka Kolare. He made charcoal out of the wood in the forest. He would cut the trees, burn the wood, and watch to make sure the fire did not get out of hand. His death record states that he died of a chest infection and severe cough. (Caused by coal???)
And Jan Bergqvist's father (1750-1801) was a dagaarl, a day laborer working with coal.
Foresters and Kolares were jobs held by at least 3 generations of the Barquist family. Just another look at how our ancestors made a living generations ago in Sweden.
* On a basic level, charcoal was produced by burning any type of wood in a low oxygen environment. Doing so removes water and other volatile elements, allowing the finished product, the charcoal, to burn at high temperatures with very little smoke.
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