Dodringshult For Sale

Dodringshult was the home of my 3 x great grandfather, Olaus Fredericksson and his family, including my great-great grandfather Gustus Olausson Linn. As you can tell from the translated portion, this family was well off, owning over 1,400 acres of land. Olaus was a well-respected farmer.

On tax roles, we see that the family can only farm about 1/8 of the land because much of it was forested. But they managed to have a still to make booze which was also listed in the tax rolls. Olaus was a jury man (namdemannen) which means that one of his roles was to conduct inventories for other families in probate. He was also a Rusthallaren which means that his farm supplied and supported a soldier.

This real estate ad was sent to me several years ago by one of our distant relatives in Sweden. I have been to Dodringshult and walked the farm and out buildings. It's still a very beautiful home and property. While I don't know exactly how old this home is, it was clearly used in 1830 by Olaus Fredericksson and his family.

Translation of the above real estate ad: The property is situated high up, approx. 20 km east of Eksjö and approx. 10 km N of Bruzaholm. On the property there is a 2-story farm building and outbuildings.

Area approx. 572 ha (hectares or 1,413 acres) of which 533 ha is productive forest land. Timber storage in new forestry plan approx. 48,000 m

Well-developed forest road network.

Good hunting opportunities.

We know that, after Olaus died, his family was not allowed to stay on this beautiful farm and were separated by their ability to work on other farms or needing to stay with their mother. Because Gus was the youngest, he lived with his mother down a dirt road for a few years until he was able to work.

 

ANSWERING A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS

Thanks for the comments and questions about the first two parts of John Linn's journey. I was so excited to read this story, and so very happy to know you're enjoying it as well.

One person asked if seeing a photo of Dodringshult, the farm in Jonkoping where John, Peter, and Gus lived for a time until their father died, would help those who are new to this genealogy journey. On 28 January 2018, I did post about their father Olaus Fredericsson and included a couple of photos of the beautiful farm on which they lived. We visited there a few years ago. It's expansive. Green. Beautifully maintained. You can see the photos by going back to that earlier post. And I would encourage you to go back to read any of the posts that might give you more of the story about the individuals currently at the center of these posts.

We know, of course, that none of the three brothers left from Dodringshult for North America. They each went to work on farms as soon as they were able, moving from time to time to find work as a laborer or drang. John was on a farm called Packarp in Ulrika Parish, Ostergotland County when he joined up with Andrew Peterson and the others traveling in 1849.

Peter was working on Svarvarestugan in Ulrika Parish when he left in 1851. And Gus also left from the same farm and parish. 

These 3 brothers had moved around a great deal, but I imagine they may have felt that Dodringshult was their home, a place where their family was in tact and happy until 1830.

A second question came up about the author, Daniel Peterson, who was just 10 years old when the journey was made. The Petersons are not related to us as far as I can determine. But they did settle near our Linns and undoubtedly remained friends, retelling the story they all shared in migrating from Sweden to Iowa. Daniel was 39-40 years old when he recounted the story we are reading, but it appears from the records I've found that Daniels parents, Andrew and Maria were also alive in 1879 and 1880, perhaps helping him fill in any details he may have forgotten.

Daniel died in 1927 and is buried in the Linn Cemetery in Pilot Mound.

Age Differences

 

It’s not unusual to be attracted to and marry someone who is several years older OR several years younger than we are. It is true today and was true hundreds of years ago when our ancestors were alive and making their arrangements to marry.

In Sweden, all couples, starting in the late 1600’s, needed to meet with the local priest, go through the banns (3 weeks of announcing their intention to marry in the church), and arrange for the traditional gift giving. During these meetings, the priest often entered his “notes” about the couple including who was vouching for each person.

A widow or widower could not remarry until the assessment and divisions of their previous “estate” were legally resolved. But that was normally done within about 3 months of someone’s death.

The gift giving sometimes included the man’s commitment to a morgongåva, a gift that was similar to a dowry and compensation for the bride's commitment to the marriage and household improvement. The wife would receive the morgongåva after the death of her husband. It was a way to help the widow continue for some time until she could find another man to marry or a stable household with a relative. This practice ended sometime around the early 1800's. 

As you might guess, a widower was more able and likely to marry again and to marry a much younger woman, both for the stability it brought to her life, but also her ability to give birth to additional children. An older widow, unless economically stable, might have more difficulty remarrying. It's why I see many of our widowed female ancestors living in the poor house or living with one of their children, but not remarried.

Let's look at a few of these May-September marriages in our family line.

Olaus Fredricsson is my 3rd great grandfather, father to Gus and John Linn. Olaus' family had been well off, and Olaus, his wife Catharina Johansdotter, and their 8 children, lived very comfortably at Dodringshult in Ingatorp Parish, Jonkoping County.

Dodringshult Farm in Ingatorp Parish

At some point, Dodringshult was for sale. Some of the description includes: Forest property in Northern Småland. The property is located about 20 km from Eksjö and about 10 km North of Bruzaholm. The area has about 572 hectars of which 533 are productive forest land.  Well-developed forest road network. Good hunting opportunities.

When Olaus died at the age of 44, Catharina was forced to move from her beautiful home down a dirt road to a small shack called Vastra Lund. She had her youngest 3 with her, while the older children had gone out working as drangs or pigans on other farms. How would Catharina live and provide for her children long term? We don’t know if she was bequeathed a morgongåva. We do know that she would have received half of the net proceeds from Olaus’ estate. But how long that would last is unknown. One way to assure she had food on the table and a roof over her head was to remarry.  Catherina was almost 45 years old when she married Johannes Jonsson who was 28 years old. He moved to Vastra Lund after his marriage to Catharina. While this is confusing, it does lend support to their probably not knowing each other well, or at all, when they married.

Anders Fogelqvist is my 4^th great grandfather on the Linn side. He was born in Uppsala county in 1744 and married Anna Marie Lundeberger in 1775. His bride was born in 1730, making their age difference 14 years. This couple had no children, and when Anna Marie died in 1790, Anders married my 4^th great grandmother, Lisa Lagerstrom, who was 21 years his junior. He liked being with women both much older AND much younger! But Anders himself was a great catch. He was a master hatmaker who also worked for the king’s artillery.

When my second great-grandfather, Olof Olofson, remarried, his new wife, Brita Rask, was 20 years younger. Olof was born in 1837; Brita in 1857. In an earlier post, we saw how this couple probably did not know each other before their marriage in Iowa in 1880.

The few options available in these very small, rural parishes, the need for stability, additional children, comfort, and yes, love, found our ancestors remarrying soon after the loss of a spouse. And, in many cases, these remarriages were between two people who might be separated by many years. Selfishly, I’m so glad they did remarry as I’m a descendent, in many cases, of a second marriage.