Jonas Svanström

Jonas (Pettersson) Svanström (1754-1811). He was a cavalry soldier, joining the army in 1787. He served in Tjust Company of the Andra Livgrenadjärregementet during Gustav III's Russian War (Gustav III:s ryska krig) 1788-1790, the First War Against Napoléon (Första kriget mot Napoleon) 1805-1810, and the Finnish War (Finska kriget) 1808-1809.

He has been identified with the Jonas who was born 30 July 1754 at Gärdserum to Peter Jönsson Cavat and Ingrid Johansdotter. Centrala Soldatregistret, the Swedish central soldier's registry, says he was born 30 July 1754, but the 1805-13 household survey says he was born 10 July 1754 in Gärdserum. There was no Jonas born 10 July 1754 in Gärdserum. Barbro Behrendtz (2005), who has made an extensive study of the families in Gärdserum parish, says Peter Cavat's son Jonas is otherwise unaccounted for in later records, and so is the only child who could have been Jonas Svanström.

Födde 1754 d 30 dito (Juli) Jonas, föddes Sold. Petter Cavats och hust Ingrid Johans:drs barn i Kamdalen, döpt d 4 aug: wit. Johan Hansson i Tingetorp, Anders Bengtzson i Kamdalen, Pastorskan Margareta Alfving, hust Kierstin Andersdotter i Tingetorp. Gärdserum CI:2 s 133

Jonas gave various ages for himself. The 1780 household survey says he was 26 (born in 1754). However, on the 1783 household survey he said he was 31, which would mean he was born in 1752. On the 1785-86 household survey he stated he was born in 1752. When he joined the army in 1787 he stated he was born about 1760, making himself out to be several years younger than he had previously reported.

Swedes did not necessarily use hereditary surnames at this time, and christening records rarely show the child's surname. Also, children rarely adopted their fathers' military surnames. So, there is no inconsistency with Jonas Svanström being the son of Petter Cavat.

The source of Jonas' surname, Svanström, is not clear. He had the name before he joined the army, so it is not a military surname. Once adopted, surnames often became hereditary. I believe Jonas was a great nephew of Ingeborg Persdotter Svanström. If so, Jonas used the surname his father Peter would have had before adopting the military surname Cavat. However, unrelated families often adopted the same surname, and it is possible Jonas was the first to adopt the surname Svanström. In that event, he might have created it from the farm Svenserum, where he was born, or the croft Svantorpet, where he perhaps grew up. It was a common practice to create surnames out of a part of a place name, and Sven- often became Svan-. For example, four of the soldiers who served from Tingetorp in Gärdserum adopted the military surname Tingström, one soldier from Svenserum in Gärdserum adopted the military surname Gerdström, and a soldier from Gullebo adopted the surname Gullqvist.

His father Peter Cavat died when Jonas was five. Jonas' mother Ingrid continued to live at Gärdserum, where she appears on tax rolls until 1780.

Jonas might have been an apprentice of Måns Larsson in Västervik. The 1770-76 Household Survey of Västervik shows a (Jonas Svaström?), age 17 in 1770, as the eldest child in the household of (Måns Larsson?), age 51, at No. 79 in the Western Quarter (AI:2, about p. 31). This family has entries for 1771 and 1773, but the 1776 entry is blank.

The 1771-74 survey of the Eastern Quarter shows what appears to be a Jonas Sjöstrom, age not given, in the household of Olof Larsson (age 76), at No. 105, and another Jonas Svaström, age 52, with a son Jan, ag e 16, at No. 104 (AI:2, about p. 54).

He appears on a general muster roll as a coach driver or teamster (mönsterkuska) at No. 48 Svenserum (Åkerhagen) in 1778 (Generalmönsterrullor - Andra Livgrenadjärregementet 298 (1778-1778), pp. 931-932). Each company had six mönsterkuskar whose job it was to drive the hawser, the munitions wagon, the sick wagon, and three pack horses.

He married Maria Christina Holmström on 8 October 1778 at Dalhem. His marriage record notes he was a mönsterkuska for the Östgotha Cavallerie . (Dalhem C:3 (1729-1793), p. 57)

The 1780-84 household survey of Västervik shows him at No. 49 Western Quarter with his wife and mother-in-law in the household of Peter Edberg. If I am reading the entry correctly, Cajsa Skog was father's mother of Peter Edberg, who was therefore an uncle of Jonas' wife. The 1780-82 communion rolls for Västervik show Jonas and his wife under Timmerman (Carpenters) (p. 156). His mother-in-law was living with them -- Cajsa Skoug. He was also described as a carpenter in the 1780 and 1782 christening records of his children. The 1783 communion rolls for Västervik show him and his wife under Repslagare (Ropemakers) (p. 177), and he appears as a ropemaker on the 1785-86 household roll and on the 1785 christening record of his son Johan Peter. The family was also listed on the 1785-86 household roll at No. 28 Western Quarter, in the household of Maria Bengtsdotter, widow of seaman Anders Loftanders. Jonas' mother-in-law died in 1786. He and his wife were listed on the 1785 communion roll (p. 113), with a note that they moved to Gärdserum on 29 March 1787 with another person.

At Gärdserum, Jonas and his wife lived at Brunnsvik under Nannersbo, as evidenced by the christening record of their son. Two years later, on 2 May 1789, Jonas enlisted (or re-enlisted) in the army, in Tjust Company of the Second Life Grenadier Regiment (Andra Livgrenadjärregementet). At that time the Swedish government funded the army by requiring soldiers to support themselves on government-owned crofts. Jonas was assigned to live at Åkerhagen (Rytt Torp (that is, cavalry croft) rusthåll No. 48 Svenserum) in Gärdserum. According to his enlistment papers Jonas was born about 1760 (recte 1754) and was 5'8" tall. He appears on the 1805-1813 household rolls, the earliest for this parish, as "Lif Gr. Jonas Svanström.",

The rusthållare, or man responsible for equipping Jonas as a soldier, was farmer Eric Gerdeman (1710-1779), of Svenserum

In his children's christening records, he was called Ryttaren (cavalry soldier) in 1787 and 1791, Lif Grenadieren (Life Grenadier) in 1794, and Grenadieren in 1798. An 1803 military roll shows that he was sick at the hospital. He was listed on an 1805 roll. From 1805 to 1813 he is shown on the household survey at Åkerhagen. He seems to have retired in 1809 during the war with Finland, as the 1811 roll shows that his successor at Åkerhagen had served for two years.

In 1811 the only child remaining at home was the youngest, Jonas. The elder Jonas and his wife Maja died sometime in or after 1811, probably at Åkerhagen. The 1814-1823 clerical survey does not list either of them at Åkerhagen.