JOURNAL OF INNISH TUDIES F S Poverty of a Beggar and a Nobleman: Experiencing and Encountering Impoverishment in Nineteenth-Century Finland Guest Editors Pirita Frigren and Tiina Hemminki Theme Issue of the Journal of Finnish Studies Volume 20 Number 1 May 2017 ISSN 1206-6516 ISBN 978-1-937875-92-3 JOURNAL OF FINNISH STUDIES EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICE Journal of Finnish Studies, Department of English, 1901 University Avenue, Evans 458 (P.O. Box 2146), Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341-2146, USA Tel. 1.936.294.1420; Fax 1.936.294.1408 SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADVERTISING, AND INQUIRIES Contact Business Office (see above & below). EDITORIAL STAFF Helena Halmari, Editor-in-Chief, Sam Houston State University; [email protected] Hanna Snellman, Co-Editor, University of Helsinki; [email protected] Scott Kaukonen, Assoc. Editor, Sam Houston State University; [email protected] Hilary Joy Virtanen, Asst. 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TABLE OF CONTENTS Helena Halmari: Editorial 1 I Introduction Pirita Frigren, Tiina Hemminki, and Ilkka Nummela: Experiencing and Encountering Impoverishment in Nineteenth-Century Finland 5 Henrik Forsberg: Masculine Submission: National Narratives of the Last Great Famine, c. 1868–1920 38 II The Landless Poor Miikka Voutilainen: Poverty and Tax Exemptions in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Finland 67 Anu Koskivirta: Crimes of Desperation: Poverty-Related Filicides 1810–1860 97 Johanna Annola: Out of Poverty: The Ahrenberg Siblings, 1860–1920 132 III Impoverishment of the Changing Elite Irene Ylönen: The Experience of Impecuniousness in a Noble Family at the End of the Nineteenth Century 167 Marja Vuorinen: Bourgeois Stories of Impoverished Noblemen as Evidence of the Decline of the Noble Estate 197 Maare Paloheimo: Petitioning the Tsar for Help: Survival Strategies of an Impoverished Finnish Merchant after the Great Fire of Turku (1827) 224 Riina Turunen: Enterprising People and the Threat of Impoverishment and Social Loss: The Consequences of Urban Business Failure in Finland at the End of the 1870s 254 Antti Häkkinen: Afterword 282 Book Reviews Koskinen-Koivisto, Eerika. Her Own Worth: Negotiations of Subjectivity in the Life Narrative of a Female Labourer. Reviewed by Yvonne R. Lockwood. 287 Sahlberg, Pasi. Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? Reviewed by Sharon Franklin-Rahkonen. 290 Ahola, Joonas, and Frog, with Clive Tolley, editors. Fibula, Fabula, Fact: The Viking Age in Finland. Reviewed by Kendra Willson. 293 Contributors 303 EDITORIAL We are pleased to present to our readers this latest theme issue, entitled Poverty of a Beggar and a Nobleman: Experiencing and Encountering Impoverishment in Nineteenth- Century Finland. The guest editors, Pirita Frigren and Tiina Hemminki from the University of Jyväskylä, have compiled a fascinating collection of articles about pov- erty in Finland during the 1800s. The contributors to this volume approach the topic from a number of different perspectives, showing how poverty in nineteen-century Finland could afflict anyone, regardless of social status—from the landless poor to the merchant and the aristrocrat. The authors weave together stories of individual tragedies caused by unfortunate circumstances: the Great Famine, the death of a caregiver, the birth of an unwanted child, business failure, or the Great Fire of Turku. We also learn about tax exemptions, petitions to the tsar, and other options and hopes for survival in dire situations. We learn about the Ahrenberg siblings, who were fortunate enough to be able to work their way out of poverty, and we read about members of the bourgeois who plunged into it. Most importantly, these articles tell us about a society without a reliable safety network—of mothers and fathers who frantically kill their children because they cannot feed them, servants who steal in order to survive through tomorrow. But we also learn about incredible resilience. The chapters are thoroughly researched and well presented, with meticu- lous archival work backing up the facts and individual histories. Professor Antti Häkkinen from the University of Helsinki has written the afterword. We recom- mend this collection warmly to anyone interested in the life of nineteenth-century Finland, a place that many left—because of poverty. If your ancestors lived in that world, you will possibly learn about their Finland, their lives, and their strug- gles. Reading through the chapters, I felt I was getting in touch with my own great-great-grandparents, people who saw the world of which Poverty of a Beggar and a Nobleman tells. They knew a life without health insurance, school lunches, 1 Journal of Finnish Studies investment funds, summer vacations, social security, meals-on-wheels, retirement savings, and burial accounts. Our great-great-grandfathers must have known the desperation when summer frost descended on the fields and killed the harvest. Our great-great-grandmothers may have added pine bark into their dough. The chapters here make us appreciate what we have. May they also inspire us to work for a world where no child, woman, or man has to worry about where the next meal will come from. Helena Halmari 2 I INTRODUCTION EXPERIENCING AND ENCOUNTERING IMPOVERISHMENT IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY FINLAND Pirita Frigren, University of Jyväskylä Tiina Hemminki, University of Jyväskylä Ilkka Nummela, University of Jyväskylä ABSTRACT The nineteenth century in Finland was characterized by significant societal changes. Since 1809 a Grand Duchy of imperial Russia, Finland began to transform from an early modern society of estates to a modern civic society. The end of the nine- teenth century was characterized by significant economic growth. Despite this general development, for many people this era signaled impoverishment and down- ward mobility that affected even the next generations. A fresh look at the economic threats on various societal layers is called for. In this theme issue we are concerned with socially varying dimensions of destitution, its manifestations, and the ways in which it was experienced and repelled. We explore the manifold and fruitful sources available, some of which are as yet little explored, while others afford novel approaches to the history of poverty. POVERTY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY FINLAND In Finnish history, poverty and impoverishment, as personally experienced and lived through, have so far been paid only slight attention to when it comes to early modern