DOCSLIB.ORG

Rural Living Standards and Inequality: a Case Study from Southern Sweden 1780-1919

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rural Living Standards and Inequality: a Case Study from Southern Sweden 1780-1919 Rural Living Standards and Inequality: A Case Study from Southern Sweden 1780-1919 Willner, Sam 2021 Document Version: Other version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Willner, S. (2021). Rural Living Standards and Inequality: A Case Study from Southern Sweden 1780-1919. (Lund Papers in Economic History; No. 2021:219). Total number of authors: 1 General rights Unless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply: Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Read more about Creative commons licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Download date: 27. Sep. 2021 Lund Papers in Economic History No. 219, 2021 Rural Living Standards and Inequality: A Case Study from Southern Sweden 1780-1919 Sam Willner DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC HISTORY, LUND UNIVERSITY Rural Living Standards and Inequality: A Case Study from Southern Sweden, 1780-1919* Sam Willner♦ Abstract For several decades a lively debate has been ongoing regarding how living standards and economic inequality actually developed during the agrarian and industrial revolutions in 19th century Western Europe. This study examines rural living standards and inequality among common people in five Swedish parishes, based on circa 4,000 probate inventories in the period from 1780s to 1910s. It is probably the most comprehensive study done so far regarding wealth development of a local Swedish rural context, covering the entire 19th century, comparing and analysing the material standard of living for different socio economic groups related to the fundamental social processes taking part during the 19th century, such as the agrarian and industrial revolutions. The local design in combination with a relatively large dataset allows for more detailed analyses and controlling for more variables than is usually possible in studies on a higher geographical level. The local approach, taking into account specific contextual factors, could help to reveal relevant mechanisms affecting the development and distribution of wealth that might be hidden in studies based on aggregate data on national level not considering regional variations. Among farmers net wealth increased stepwise during the 19th century to a large extent due to rising real estate values, while lower social classes, largely in accordance with several previous studies, witnessed stagnating wealth levels until the breakpoint around the1860s, whereafter material resources started to rise substantially according to the wealth estimates. Besides real estate increasing bank savings was a major factor for the improving wealth in early 20th century, but also an increasing number of movable assets, such as *Acknowledgements: A great thank to Erik Bengtsson, Department of Economic History at Lund University, for many valuable comments and suggestions. ♦ Sam Willner, Department of Culture and Society (IKOS), History unit, Linköping University. 1 household utensils, furniture and bed clothing, contributed to an improvement in standard of living regarding comfort and hygiene in late 19th century. Improvements in agricultural production is likely to somewhat have counteracted the negative impact from the population growth and the rising proportion of the landless population. But still until the last severe crop failure, and the onset of the great emigration wave to the US, in late 1860s bad harvests appear to have had a temporarily negative effect on health and economic wellbeing among the labouring poor. The great US emigration reducing the supply of labour contributed to pushing wages upwards and to the rising standard of living of workers in late 19th century. According to the Gini-estimates inequality culminated around mid 19th century between farmers and workers as well as within the different social groups, and then declined substantially in late 19th century, contrary to the findings from studies of national level. Simultaneously the social structure changed significantly. The numbers of traditional rural groups, particularily lower agrarian workers, declined whilst the number of industrial workers, such as paper milll workers and glass work labourers, rose sharply. It is likely that the rapid overflow of low paid rural workers to better paid industrial jobs contributed to close the economic gap between different social groups. It I obvious that the changes in the social structure within in the landless population groups, particularly the share of low rural workers, was highly decisive for the fluctuations in inequality. The results from this study highlights the importance of regional and local studies for revealing important mechanisms affecting the development of standard of living and economic inequality in a historical perspective Keywords: rural standard of living, wealth inequality, 19th century, Sweden, agrarian revolution, industrialization, probate inventories JEL Codes: N33 2 1. Introduction Over half a century a lively debate regarding how the agrarian and industrial revolutions affected the living standards among common people in Britain has been going on between “optimists” and “pessimists”.1 The optimists claiming an improving living standard during thev early industrialisation period. This view has been questionned by the pessimist contending that material conditions for the working class did not start to improve significantly until the second half of the 19th century. The specific social consequences of the agricultural revolution and the enclosure reforms in England have also been disputed. The “pessimists” claiming that the labouring poor lost access to the commons and was also affected by falling employment opportunities, while the “optimists” or revisionists claim that the loss of the access to the commons was counteracted by an increase in more regular working opportunities.2 Studies analysing standard of living in a historical perspective have been based on various factors, such as mortality, food intake and body stature, GDP per capita, real wages, consumption data and estimates from probate inventories. Studies based on analyses of probate inventories appears often to indicate a higher standard of living than those based on real wage development and biological standard of living for example.3 According to Kuznets did the transition from an agrarian to a industrial economy initially lead to increasing income inequality as an effect of the overflow of people from agriculture to better-paid industrial works, until the majority of the workers had moved into the higher paying industrial sector.4 Regarding the social distribution of material resources, many studies, applying the Kuznets curve on historical wealth inequality, confirm the view, proposed by van Zanden 1995,5 that economic growth and rising wealth was positively correlated to increasing inequality during the industrial breakthrough as well as in the pre industrial period.6 There are however some studies suggesting that this not always has been 1 See the contributions in Taylor,A.J. (ed), The Standard of Living in Britain in the Industrial Revolution, 1975. See also the discussion in Griffin, E., “Diets, hunger and living standards during the British industrial revolution”, Past and Present, 239, 2018. 2 Dribe, M, Olsson, M. and Svensson, P., “The agricultural revolution and the conditions of the rural poor, southern Sweden, 1750-1860”, Economic History Review, 70, 2, 2017, 483-508. 3 Hallén, P., Överflöd eller livets nödtorft. Materiell levnadsstandard i Sverige 1750-1900 i jämförelse med Frankrike, Kanada och Storbritannien, 2009, p 60. 4 Kuznets, S., “Economic growth and income inequality”, American Economic Review, 45, pp1-28, 1955. 5 Van Zanden, J.L., “Tracing the beginning of the Kuznets curve: western Europe during the early modern period”, Economic History Review, XLVIII:4, pp 643-664, 1995. 6 See Bengtsson E., Missiaia, A, Olsson, M. and Svensson, P. “Wealth inequality in Sweden, 1750-1900”, Economic History Review, 71, 3, pp 772-794, 2018. 3 the case, and that variations in sectoral structure, migration, urbanisation degree, class structure etc, mean that the general relation between wealth growth and rising inequality did not hold on the regional level.7 It is important to keep in mind that the industrial breakthrough occured much later in Sweden than in Britain, and that Swedish economy was essentially based on agriculture during the first half of the 19th century. Most scholars do agree on the view that the production of vegetables increased more rapidly than the population growth,8 and that the standard of living in Sweden in general terms increased substantially during most of the nineteenth century, but it is less clear how material resources was socially distributed and the more precise timing of improvement
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 18Th Century Rural Architecture ROOTED in SWEDEN Guest Article
    no 8 2010-01 ROOTED IN SWEDEN Living in Swedeland USA 18th Century Rural Architecture Guest Article Emigration Conference | SwedGen Tour 2009 contents 18th Century Rural 3 Architecture - Skåne Emigration Conference - 7 “Letters to Sweden” Living in Swedeland USA 9 7 16 8 The Digital Race 13 Swedgen Tour 2009 14 Christmas as Celebrated 16 9 in my Childhood Swedish Genealogical 20 Society of Minnesota 3 firstly... …I would like to talk about the cur- rent status of genealogy. A while ago I spoke to a fellow genealogist who experiences problems in getting local government funding for genealogical societies and events. This person felt 20 that the cultural funding tended to fa- vour sports activities for the young, Along with genealogy comes inevita- ter at night long after the rest of the and that it might even be a question of bly a curiosity about how people lived family has gone to bed. At the same age discrimination since genealogy is and a general historical curiosity, not time it can be very social and also a regarded as an “old folks” activity. I about kings and queens and wars and team effort. You can save yourself a don’t know the full specifics or even revolutions, but about the little man. lot of work by connecting with other if this is the typical case, but I still To me, this history is equally excit- genealogists, by exchanging infor- felt like I had taken a blow to the sto- ing and more or less skipped during mation and tips of resources.
    [Show full text]
  • Intergenerational Transmission of Reproductive Behavior in Sweden, 1850-1889
    HISTORICAL LIFE COURSE STUDIES VOLUME 4 2017 MISSION STATEMENT HISTORICAL LIFE COURSE STUDIES Historical Life Course Studies is the electronic journal of the European Historical Population Samples Network (EHPS- Net). The journal is the primary publishing outlet for research involved in the conversion of existing European and non- European large historical demographic databases into a common format, the Intermediate Data Structure, and for studies based on these databases. The journal publishes both methodological and substantive research articles. Methodological Articles This section includes methodological articles that describe all forms of data handling involving large historical databases, including extensive descriptions of new or existing databases, syntax, algorithms and extraction programs. Authors are encouraged to share their syntaxes, applications and other forms of software presented in their article, if pertinent, on the EHPS-Net website. Research articles This section includes substantive articles reporting the results of comparative longitudinal studies that are demographic and historical in nature, and that are based on micro-data from large historical databases. Historical Life Course Studies is a no-fee double-blind, peer-reviewed open-access journal supported by the European Science Foundation (ESF, http://www.esf.org), the Scientific Research Network of Historical Demography (FWO Flanders, http://www.historicaldemography.be) and the International Institute of Social History Amsterdam (IISH, http:// socialhistory.org/). Manuscripts are reviewed by the editors, members of the editorial and scientific boards, and by external reviewers. All journal content is freely available on the internet at http://www.ehps-net.eu/journal. Editors: Koen Matthijs & Paul Puschmann Family and Population Studies KU Leuven, Belgium [email protected] The European Science Foundation (ESF) provides a platform for its Member Organisations to advance science and explore new directions for research at the European level.
    [Show full text]
  • Contributions to the History of Geomorphology and Quaternary Geology: an Introduction
    Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 24, 2021 Contributions to the history of geomorphology and Quaternary geology: an introduction DAVID R. OLDROYD1 & RODNEY H. GRAPES2 1School of History and Philosophy, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia (e-mail: [email protected]) 2Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Korea University, Seoul, 136-701, Korea (e-mail: [email protected]) This Special Publication deals with various aspects the Baltic States in 2006, where a great deal of of the histories of geomorphology and Quaternary what the geologist sees consists of Quaternary geology in different parts of the world. Geomor- sediments. However, much of the Earth’s surface phology is the study of landforms and the processes is not formed of these sediments but of older that shape them, past and present. Quaternary rocks exposed at the surface by erosion and struc- geology studies the sediments and associated tural displacement. Here, geomorphology can seek materials that have come to mantle much of answers to questions regarding the past histories of Earth’s surface during the relatively recent Pleisto- these rocks, their subsequent erosion, and present cene and Holocene epochs. Geomorphology, with location and form. Geomorphology also raises its concern for Earth’s surface features and pro- questions, and may provide answers, regarding tec- cesses, deals with information that is much more tonic issues, for example from deformed marine amenable to observation and measurement than is terraces and offset fault systems. In all these the case for most geological work. Quaternary instances, the history of geological and geomor- geology focuses mostly, but not exclusively, on phological investigations can serve to illustrate the Earth’s surficial sedimentary cover, which is both the progress and pitfalls involved in the scien- usually more accessible than the harder rocks of tific understanding of the Earth’s surface and the deeper past.
    [Show full text]
  • Family Tree Maker
    Plate-Hasselblad-Bredeson Family Johan PLATE Anna PETTERSDOTTER John HASSELBLAD Maria Katrina PERSON b: Unknown b: 1626 b: February 10, 1845 in Sweden b: September 13, 1845 in Sweden d: Unknown d: 1706 in Krokstad Sweden d: March 15, 1905 in Champion Michigan m: April 15, 1867 in Sweden d: January 16, 1932 in Champion Michigan Ove Henriksson TEGNER Ingeborg GIODDA Edward HASSELBLAD Albin J. HASSELBLAD Bolette HASSELBLAD Andrew Magnus JOHNSON Walfred Emanuel HASSELBLAD Wilhelm HASSELBLAD Ambrose HASSELBLAD Esther HASSELBLAD Hildaborg Marie HASSELBLAD Emil FINNEVID b: 1644 b: 1661 b: May 17, 1868 b: October 07, 1869 b: December 12, 1871 in Dalsland, Sweden b: May 10, 1868 in Sweden b: October 06, 1880 b: May 22, 1882 b: June 17, 1884 b: April 01, 1887 b: April 05, 1888 in Champion Michigan b: 1872 in Sweden d: 1702 d: 1743 d: September 08, 1963 in Rochester, Minnesota m: May 27, 1908 in Butte Montana d: March 06, 1958 in Butte Montana m: 1915 in Butte Montana d: March 22, 1925 in Butte Montana d: December 06, 1936 in Butte Montana Bernard PLATE Margareta TEGNER Rudolph JOHNSON Andrew Magnus JOHNSON Helen Marguerite CARTER Carl John William JOHNSON Helen Jeannette TROYER Anna Esther Bolette Johnson JOHNSON Francis L CARON Esther H.M. FINNEVID Bert CORKISH b: 1660 in Krokstad Sweden b: Unknown b: June 10, 1909 b: April 29, 1910 in Corbin, Montana b: January 01, 1910 in Billings Montana b: January 08, 1912 in Basin Montana b: March 03, 1922 in Butte Montana b: February 19, 1915 in Butte Montana b: January 30, 1908 in Greenwood BC b: July 1916
    [Show full text]
  • Phd Thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL (2020) with References, with Summaries in English and Dutch
    Family Influences on Fertility in Europe, 1850-1920 Family Influences on Fertility in Europe, 1850-1920 Paul Rotering Paul Paul Rotering Propositions 1. Family members shape each other's preferences and constraints regarding fertility (this thesis). 2. Intergenerational correlations in fertility are weak but present (this thesis). 3. \Evolutionary demography is best viewed not as an alternative to traditional approaches but as a general theoretical framework that can inform and enhance existing research endeavors" (Kaplan and Lancaster 2003, p. 212). 4. When fertility decisions are concerned, people often do not behave as pure rational agents. 5. Fertility in the Netherlands will increase if the labour market can be reformed to better match individual preferences regarding the work-life balance, child care and care for the elderly { as long as flex-contracts are not synonymous to job-insecurity. 6. \Design depends largely on constraints" (Charles Eames, 1972). Propositions belonging to the thesis, entitled `Family Influences on Fertility in Europe, 1850-1920'. P.P.P. Rotering Wageningen, June 10, 2020 Family Influences on Fertility in Europe, 1850-1920 P.P.P. Rotering Thesis committee Promotors Prof. Dr H.A.J. Bras Associate Professor of Economic and Social History University of Groningen Prof. Dr J. Kok Professor of Economic, Social and Demographic History Radboud University Nijmegen Other members Prof. Dr E.S. van Leeuwen, Wageningen University & Research Prof. Dr S. Edvinsson, Ume˚aUniversity, Sweden Prof. Dr I. Devos, Ghent University, Belgium Dr P. Puschmann, Radboud University Nijmegen This research was conducted under the auspices of the Wageningen School of Social Sciences (WASS) Family Influences on Fertility in Europe, 1850-1920 Paul Pieter Philippus Rotering Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • GIPE-008646.Pdf (4.309Mb)
    THE BALANCE OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS THE INSTITUTE OF ECONOMICS t)F THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION THE INSTITUTE OF ECONOMICS THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION The Brookings Institution- Devoted to Public Service Through Research and Training in the Humanistic Sciences- was incorporated on December 8, 1927. Broadly stated, the Institution has two primary purposes: The first is to aid constructively in the development of sound national policies; and the second is to offer training of a supergraduate character to students of the social sciences. The Institution will maintain a·series of co-operating institutes, equipped to carry out comprehensive and inter-related research projects. Final responsibility for the determination of the Institution's policies and its program of work and for the administration of its endowment is vested in a sell-perpetuating Board of Trustees. The Trustees have, how­ ever, defined their position with reference to the investigations conducted by the Institution in a by-law provision reading as follows: "The primary function of the Trustees is not to express their views upon the scientific investigations conducted by any division of the Institution, but only to make it possible for such scientific work to be done under the most favorable auspices." Major responsibility for "formulating general policies. and co­ ordinating the activities of the various divisions of the Institution" is vested in the President. The by-laws provide also that "there shall be an Advisory Council selected by the President from among the scientific staff of the Institution and representing the different divisions of the Institution." BOARD OF TRUSTEES ROBERT S. BROOKINGS, Chairman Ali.TIIUl!.
    [Show full text]
  • Inflation, Deflation, and Economic Development
    Inflation, Deflation, and Economic Development Rattan J. Bhatia* EVELOPMENTAL EFFORTS by most of the less developed d countries have been accompanied during the postwar period by inflationary price increases. Whether this is inevitable and whether any relationship exists between the rate of price change and the rate of economic growth are questions subject to considerable debate on theoretical grounds. Statistical studies of the rates of growth and the rates of price change in various less developed countries have also been made to determine whether there is any systematic relationship between them, especially in the postwar period.1 The purpose of this paper is to carry the search for a statistical relationship between the rate of price change and the rate of economic growth back to an earlier stage of economic history. For this purpose, long-run developments are studied in five countries, the United King- dom, Germany, Sweden, Canada, and Japan. Growth is examined for the United Kingdom and Germany only up to 1914, but for different reasons: after World War I the United Kingdom was faced with considerable structural maladjustments, and at the same time Germany underwent large territorial changes. The growth of the other three countries is examined up to the beginning of World War II. For each country except the United Kingdom, the period examined includes the years during which, according to Rostow, the country had its "take-off."2 The reader may be warned at this stage that, even if some consistent statistical relationship could be established between price changes and rates of economic growth, this relationship would not justify any definite conclusion about causation.
    [Show full text]
  • Contributions to the History of Geomorphology and Quaternary Geology: an Introduction
    Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on October 1, 2021 Contributions to the history of geomorphology and Quaternary geology: an introduction DAVID R. OLDROYD1 & RODNEY H. GRAPES2 1School of History and Philosophy, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia (e-mail: [email protected]) 2Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Korea University, Seoul, 136-701, Korea (e-mail: [email protected]) This Special Publication deals with various aspects the Baltic States in 2006, where a great deal of of the histories of geomorphology and Quaternary what the geologist sees consists of Quaternary geology in different parts of the world. Geomor- sediments. However, much of the Earth’s surface phology is the study of landforms and the processes is not formed of these sediments but of older that shape them, past and present. Quaternary rocks exposed at the surface by erosion and struc- geology studies the sediments and associated tural displacement. Here, geomorphology can seek materials that have come to mantle much of answers to questions regarding the past histories of Earth’s surface during the relatively recent Pleisto- these rocks, their subsequent erosion, and present cene and Holocene epochs. Geomorphology, with location and form. Geomorphology also raises its concern for Earth’s surface features and pro- questions, and may provide answers, regarding tec- cesses, deals with information that is much more tonic issues, for example from deformed marine amenable to observation and measurement than is terraces and offset fault systems. In all these the case for most geological work. Quaternary instances, the history of geological and geomor- geology focuses mostly, but not exclusively, on phological investigations can serve to illustrate the Earth’s surficial sedimentary cover, which is both the progress and pitfalls involved in the scien- usually more accessible than the harder rocks of tific understanding of the Earth’s surface and the deeper past.
    [Show full text]
  • Voluntary Associations and Net Fertility During the Swedish Demographic Transition
    Eur J Population https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-018-9465-5 Voluntary Associations and Net Fertility During the Swedish Demographic Transition Johan Junkka1 Received: 29 February 2016 / Accepted: 30 December 2017 Ó The Author(s) 2018. This article is an open access publication Abstract This study investigates the role of changing social relations for fertility decline during the European fertility transition. The growth of voluntary associa- tions at the end of the nineteenth century entailed a radical shift in the landscape of social relations in Sweden. By combining micro-census data from 1890 to 1900 with local-level membership data for three voluntary association groups, this article assesses the effect of parish-level voluntary association size on net fertility in Sweden using mixed-effects Poisson regression models. The results show that the adoption of fertility limitation during the transition period was associated with the creation and diffusion of the idea of respectability within large social network organisations, an idea that has previously been shown to be connected to fertility limitation. Furthermore, by applying a social network perspective, the results show that the strength of the effect was dependent on the structure of the social networks in terms of size, density, and homogeneity. Voluntary association size had the strongest effect for the free churches, which created dense heterogeneous networks through systems of social control, while the size of the temperance association showed no effect on fertility because the connections between nodes were sparse. Keywords Fertility transition Á Social networks Á Voluntary associations Á Demographic transition & Johan Junkka [email protected] 1 Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, and Centre for Demographic and Ageing Research, Umea˚ University, 901 87 Umea˚, Sweden 123 J.
    [Show full text]
  • Tracing Environmental Change and Human Impact As Recorded in Sediments from Coastal Areas of the Northwestern Baltic Proper Lena Norbäck Ivarsson
    in sediments from coastal areas of the northwestern Baltic Proper environmental change and human impact as recorded Tracing Te eutrophication of the Baltic Sea due to increased anthropogenic nutrient loads during the 20th century is well documented and studied. However, in the Baltic Sea drainage area, humans have afected the environment longer than the environmental monitoring can provide data for. Sediment records from lakes and seas can provide fundamental data on the environmental conditions before ecosystems were impacted by humans and give the range of natural variation. Tis thesis presents diatom and geochemistry stratigraphies from fve sediment records along the southeast coast of Sweden, northwestern Baltic Proper. Tese records cover time periods of 500 years to more than 2000 years. Te diatom stratigraphies and geochemical proxies allow for reconstruction of environmental histories at these sites. Te outcomes of this thesis highlight the importance of a longer time perspective than the environmental monitoring can provide. Lena Norbäck Ivarsson carries out research within the feld of environmental science with a focus on understanding past and present ecosystem responses to environmental changes. She holds a M.Sc. in biology from Stockholm University and this is her PhD thesis. LENA NORBÄCK IVARSSON Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies & the Baltic and East European Graduate School, Södertörn University. Tracing environmental change and human impact ISBN
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Introduction
    THE ORIGINS OF THE SWEDISH LUTHERAN MINISTRY IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC Frederick Hale University of Stellenbosch Abstract The Church of Sweden Mission established a significant presence on the Witwatersrand early in the twentieth century, but this was preceded by abortive Swedish Lutheran missionary endeavours there during the 1890s. Paul Nilsson Gullander, an erstwhile Swedish immigrant in the USA, undertook a semi-private initiative in 1898. He conducted a dual ministry to both Scandinavian immigrants and African mineworkers until forced by illness and the Second Anglo-Boer War to leave the South African Republic. 1 INTRODUCTION During the two decades following the onset of the Witwatersrand gold rush in 1886, numerous missionary agencies undertook evangelistic and social ministries amongst the chiefly African labourers whose urbanisation fundamentally and permanently altered the demographic profile of Johannesburg and environs. Methodist, Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, and other churches were soon gathered, while such nondenominational bodies as the Cape General Mission and the Compounds Mission played their parts in a growing amalgam of Christianity. Beginning in 1902, the Church of Sweden Mission (CSM), a Lutheran body which had been active in Natal since the 1870s, extended its work to Johannesburg, initially to minister to members of its rural congregations who had joined the exodus to the mines where, their Nordic pastors feared, they would be subjected to moral degradation and lose their faith. This general Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, May/Mei 2006 Vol XXXII, No/Nr 1, 285-308 Frederick Hale topic is the subject of the present writer’s recent doctoral thesis at the University of Pretoria.1 Before the Scandinavian mission history began, there was another Swedish Lutheran who was not affiliated with that organisation (Scandinavian Mission) undertook missionary work there.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Descendants of Bengt Beckman
    Some Descendants of Bengt Beckman Generation No. 1 1. Bengt1 Beckman was born 1741 in Södermanland, Sweden, and died 1788 in Helsinki, Finland. He married (1) Maria Christina Ericsdotter Abt. 1762 in Sweden. She was born 1743 in Södermanland, Sweden, and died March 3, 1781 in Närpes, Finland. He married (2) Maria Jacobsdr Abt. 1782 in Närpes, Finland. She was born June 8, 1748 in Finland, and died December 11, 1808 in Närpes, Finland. Children of Bengt Beckman and Maria Ericsdotter are: + 2 i. Johan Eric Bengtsson2 Bäckman, born March 6, 1763 in Stockholm, Sweden; died February 6, 1832 in Knåpnäs, Närpes Parish, Finland. 3 ii. Maria Catharina Bengtsdr Beckman, born 1767 in Stockholm, Sweden; died July 20, 1777 in Närpes, Finland. + 4 iii. Anders Petter Bengtsson Wahlström Bäckman, born April 22, 1772 in Stockholm, Sweden; died July 13, 1808 in Gottböle, Närpes parish, Finland. 5 iv. Christina Bengtsdr Beckman, born November 24, 1774 in Näsby, Finland; died November 27, 1774 in Näsby, Finland. 6 v. Margareta Bengtsdr Beckman, born November 24, 1774 in Näsby, Finland; died December 3, 1774 in Näsby, Finland. + 7 vi. Brita Christina Bengtsdr Bäckman, born December 8, 1775 in Näsby, Finland; died September 3, 1852 in Finby, Närpes Parish, Finland. 8 vii. Carl Magnus Bengtsson Beckman, born August 1776 in Näsby, Finland; died February 23, 1777 in Näsby, Finland. 9 viii. Lars Bengtsson Beckman Joppas, born December 6, 1778 in Näsby, Finland; died May 25, 1864 in West Yttermark, Närpes Parish, FInland. Children of Bengt Beckman and Maria Jacobsdr are: 10 i. Carl Gustaf Bengtsson2 Beckman, born September 14, 1783 in Närpes, Finland; died January 6, 1786 in Närpes, Finland.
    [Show full text]