Nils Andersson Svärd

GEDCOM Note

In Swedish the name Svärd means "sword"; this is probably a last name taken by Nils Andersson in the military; there was mandatory army service at that time. (His birth place was possibly Yttre).

Due to the patronymic naming system (e.g. all sons of a man named Anders - a common first name - had the last name Andersson). A a result there were many names which were the same and the Swedish military forced men to add a last name to identify themselves. Some men took a last name indicating where they were from (e.g. berg meaning mountain). their profession before the military service or some skill or "nickname" they had or liked. Possibly Nils was skilled as a swordsman.

In Sweden the terms <i><u>gård</i></u> and <i><u>by</i></u> were used to describe rural places - <i>gård </i>denoting a farm and <i>by </i>referring to a village or settlement. Farms were named and sometimes had a number , as in Ingesarven 1 and Ingesarven 4. A village might be as simple as a single main farm plus some number of smaller farms or houses for workers associated with or supporting that main farm. A village could also be a what Americans might think of as a crossroads settlement or small town. Nils's father was a landowning farmer but Nils's older brother Pehr was to inherit the farm when the father died (as was the custom and law of that time). As a result, with no prospect of being a landowning farmer, Nils worked as a farm hand (<i>drängen</i>) at a number of the farms around the area.

It is possible that he was in the army for a time. At age 22 Nils is shown moving from the village of Bredåker in 1817, to Yttre in 1818, to Fiskvik in 1819-20, and then to farm #1 at Ingesarven in 1821 (the residence of his future wife's mother and father). These farms/villages are all within 8-10 miles of each other and some most likely had just a few families. .

GEDCOM Note

In 1834 Brita's mother died and Brita's older brother inherited the Ingesarven farm which had been in the Britta's mother's family for generations. Nils Andersson Svärd & his wife Brita then moved to Ingesarven farm #4; Nils was no longer known as drangen (farmhand) but changed to husman (a tenant farmer).

GEDCOM Note

<i>Torp </i>is usually translated as croft or cottage and the resident of a torp was a <i><u>torpare</i></u>. In Swedish dictionaries a torp is usually defined as "a small farm, usually on encumbered land", meaning land which does not belong to the resident of the torp. English dictionaries equate a croft with "a small field or pasture near a house" or "a small farm, especially a tenant farm". Hence the small farms located on the periphery of a larger farm or a village were called torp; this had an inferior connotation when compared to the "estate" or main farms of a village. In the 19th century the Swedish population grew explosively, due in part to the introduction of the cowpox vaccine, which drastically reduced infant mortality, and where families had previously experienced that only one or two children survived infancy, now with the introduction of the vaccine, the parents could view their families of seven, eight, nine and even ten children growing up to adulthood. As the families grew, the farms, which had been in the same family, perhaps for centuries, suddenly were no longer able to feed the many additional mouths. Add to this the fact that the nation's laws required, that at the death of the farm owner, the farm could not be carved up for the heirs. Usually the farm was therefore inherited by the eldest son. The remaining children had to make their own way, either by hiring out as farm hands and maid servants to a neighboring farmer, joining the army, or taking up a village trade, such as that of a cobbler, a tailor or a carpenter.

For those who wished to remain on the land and at the same time to stay, at least semi-independent, there was one other choice, that of establishing one's own existence on land which belonged to a farm owner. This land, usually the most unproductive, was quite often located on the outskirts of the named farm or village near the edge of the forest. This was of course encumbered land, and the settler who worked it was obligated to provide the owner with a certain number of free work days during the year. In return the torpare worked his plot of ground, seldom larger than a couple of acres, where he could plant potatoes, grow vegetables and a bit of hay for the lone cow, a couple of pigs and a few chickens. Occasionally the land area was large enough also to support a horse. But there could be problems since the farm owner wanted his torpare to work during the busiest seasons, the time of planting, harvesting, slaughtering, fence mending and the repairing of roads. The torpare had to adjust his own schedule to the demands of the owner, thereby finding himself scrambling at odd hours to accomplish his own tasks.

The social conditions under which the torpare worked varied greatly from farm to farm, from village to village. Where the farm owner and his torpare worked together harmoniously, life was tolerable at least. Where the owner and his farm laborer could not agree, or where the farm owner made unreasonable demands, which the torpare could scarcely meet, life could be frustrating, humiliating and miserable. Some details of the life of the torpare is described in Vilhelm Moberg's book titled The Emigrants. These conditions were of course one of the prime motivating factors for younger Swedes to immigrate to America.

The farm owner and his torpare usually signed a contract which stipulated what each was to furnish the other. If the torpare became ill or incapacitated and thus could not fulfill his number of working days, he had to provide a substitute, whom he was obligated to reimburse. If this were not possible, the torpare's wife had to step in and carry on her husband's duties, though she had a house full of children, which had to be raised, fed and clothed. As a last resort it might become necessary for a half-grown son to shoulder his father's responsibilities.

The torp itself often left much to be desired. Consisting of one or two rooms, having most of the time nothing but a dirt floor, it was an unhealthy environment in which to raise a family. The torpare could, if asked by the farm owner, work extra days for a stipulated amount in cash, usually less than the going labor rates. But by doing so, he sacrificed his own time, which was necessary to keep his cottage in repair, to plant, to reap and to busy himself with countless other chores.

GEDCOM Source

Clerical Records LDS film #129957 Clerical Records LDS film #129957 Clerical Records LDS film #129957 0 Footnote Clerical Records LDS film #129957 ShortFootnote Clerical Records LDS film #129957 Bibliography Page