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AS IT BEGAN …

Ursprung av Familjen Edman

Origin of the Edman Family

Part I

Although Finland had been part of the Kingdom of Sweden since the 12^th Century, the two differed in their origins. The Swedish and Norwegian peoples were of common stock, but the origin of the Finns came from the Finno‑Ugrians, a division of the Ural‑Altaic family which has its origin in the Ural mountains, The Finns that had settled in present day Finland during the 8^th century, were characterized as being of small stature, round heads with a low forehead, flat features and grey eyes. It is also known that the Lapps shared the Ural‑Altaic origins with the Finns. I hesitate to use the word “Lapp” to describe my ancestors without stating that I know of its derogatory inflection in present day Sweden. The word “Lapp” is an archaic word meaning “patched clothing” and by it’s definition tends to be condescending to the people of Lappland, however I do not have proof that my ancestors were of the Sami origins either. So in light of this, I will use the word Lapp only as a notation or description of my family from Lappland, which consists of about the northern one-third of present day Sweden.

What do the Finns and the Lapps have to do with the origin of the Edman family and its place in history in Sweden? The Edman family is descended from one of four brothers who arrived in Sweden from Savaolax, Finland in 1573. It is important to realize, that in the 16^th century, Norway, Sweden and Finland were politically one country ruled by a single governing power centered in Denmark, as a result of having been absorbed into the Union of Kalmar in 1397. The ruling authority remained in Denmark until 1523, when Gustavus Vasa defeated the tyrant, King Kristian II of Denmark.[1] Sweden became a great military power in the 17^th century, however Sweden lost the duchy of Finland in a war with Russia in 1809. In 1814, Sweden annexed Norway and established neutrality, determined to never fight another war. Norway remained a part of Sweden until 1905, when the union between the countries was dissolved, and Norway became an independent nation.

In addition to sharing their origins, the Lapps and the Finns were renowned for their use of sorcery, magic and the black arts. My 11th great grandfather, Päl finne of Västertorp, was described as being "eager to fight and “trollkunnig”. Trollkunnig does not have a direct translation in modern Swedish, at least that I have found, but it would appear that it refers to Päl's knowledge and mastery of magic and the black arts. He was, amongst others, in dispute with Västansjö finnen, and they summoned bears onto each other. By the so‑called Matbäckshöjden, not far from Västertorp, a Sami family named Sacke (sakris?) had their home. Lapp‑Sacke's reindeer destroyed some sedge sheaves of Päl's, and in retaliation Päl killed some of Sacke's reindeer. Sometime thereafter they met in the forest, when Päl was hunting, and the dispute ended in Päl killing Sacke. Sacke's relatives searched for him long and persevering, in vain, and Päl escaped the consequences (of his actions). Only after years had passed was Sacke's skeleton found by accident. The place received the Finnish name "Lauranko Möke", "Benrangelsbacken" in Swedish (Skeleton Hill). (The place is located about one kilometer west of Björnedbackarna in Torsåkers fjällskog (Torsåkers forest) in a long valley between two mountains.)[2]

During the 14^th through 16^th centuries, there was a large migration from Finland to Sweden. There were several reasons for this migration, mainly the absence of taxes in Sweden. The Finns found that they could sell their farms in Finland, immigrate to Sweden where they could rent a farm from the Swedish Crown for less than their taxes were on their Finnish farms. The Swedish nobility encouraged and promoted this movement to such an extent, they moved whole villages into Sweden and leased out the farms,

The period of immigration in the 14^th century was called västfinska invandringen [3] (West Finn Migration). This group of people originated mostly from around Åbo (Turku). After selling their farms in Finland, they settled mostly in Central Sweden.

During the course of the 15^th Century, there was a period of East Finn immigration. The Finns were notoriously nomadic in nature, but tended to stick to the forested lands rather than the open prairies. When they arrived in Sweden, they settled in the central part of Sweden, which was heavily forested. Upon their arrival, they started to clear the land in the manner they used in Finland, swidden agriculture or "slash and burn” agriculture. After clearing the land by burning the trees, they would plant their crops in the ashes that remained. Needless to say, the Swedish government was not thrilled with their methods. This group of people mainly originated from the Savolax area. Interestingly enough, the inhabitants of the Savolax area were called savolainen, which is rather close to savulainen 'person connected with smoke' (savu, sauhu 'smoke'). Incidentally, the word savu may have given birth to the internationally known Finnish word sauna as well (from the inflected form sahuna, “in the smoke, during the smoke”). The traditional sauna lacked a chimney and was filled with smoke during heating. The addition of the ending ‑lax in the Swedish form is still unexplained. The ending occurs in many Swedish bay names that are of Estonian/Finnish provenance. [4] Adjacent to this area is the province that was originally known as Finland. The name "finland" is originally a Swedish name meaning: "land‑of‑Sami". In the Scandinavian countries of Norway and Sweden, Finn was the Swedish name for the Sami people and later was replaced by Lapp in Sweden, but was retained by Norway.

After Gustav Vasa defeated King Christian II in 1523, Vasa continued to rule the Kingdom of Sweden (Kalmarunionen) until 1560. This had been a very costly war, as Gustav had used mercenary troops from Germany, which he financed with money borrowed from the Hanseatic League. At this time in Sweden’s history, the Church of Sweden was Catholic. The Church owned one-fifth of the estates and also collected a tithe from the inhabitants. In 1526, when the reformer Olaus Petri introduced the reformation based upon the teachings of Luther, Vasa saw this as an opportunity to convert the country to Protestant teachings. By doings so, he ravaged the churches for their bells and silver to repay his debt. His thoughts were the churches had more than they needed, meaning Lutherans don't need much! The inhabitants of Sweden were not happy with this action, but the Finns did not care, as they were so poor their churches did not have anything to steal. King Gustav did not have any problems with the Finns as they were constantly at war with the people of Karelia, just across the Russian‑Finland border that had been established as a result of an armistice signed in 1497 after the defeat of Novgorod (Russia) by the Sweden/Finland armies. The Karelians were constantly crossing the border and wreaking havoc on the Savolaxians, who in turn would seek revenge by counter-attacking to kill and rob the Karelians.

As a result of the unrest in Sweden, King Gustav needed to gather more taxes, and the only way this could be accomplished was to create more farms. He convinced the parliament to pass a law governing the size of the farms that could be owned and how much would belong to the state. The inhabitants could lay claim to the government owned land in central Sweden, simply by asking for it. They soon realized that because they had such large families, they would lay claim to as much land as possible, and also claim the best land.

As a result of the offer of good farmland tax‑free for 20 years, the eastern Finns came and settled in Central Sweden. Amongst those, were four brothers from Savolax who arrived by sea at Härnösand in the autumn of 1573 and disembarked at Korsudden at the time of the Korsmässomarknad (Holy Rood day market)[5], which begins on the 14^th of September.

They met Måns Jonsson of Näs by Lannesfjärden, who offered them employment building the kronosågbygget (crown sawmill) at Blästaån, now called Bollstabruk. The three eldest brothers, Anders, Pavel and Henrik stayed until the sawmill was completed and then stayed on as drångs (farmhands, servants) at Näs until the early summer of 1585.

(From this point on, the text is a translation of the story written in Swedish that appeared in an article in 'Nord‑Sverige' on the 14^th of May 1927 about the first Finnish settlers in Ytterlännes. Hasselberg in 'Graningesläkter S‑1500‑l' reproduced the following information)

The youngest brother, Mans, worked for the Vicar, Herr Peder Olstaui, who first lived at Nordanåker but in 1580, was given permission to move the 'moderförsamlingen' (mother parish) from Ytterlännes to Torsåker. Mäns stayed there until the spring of 1585 and enjoyed his master's full confidence.

South of the old settlements along the Ångerman River and Fax River in Ytterlännes, Sollefteå, and Långsele there was a large area, which into the middle of the 1500's was only forest and wilderness. This wasteland was called Västanfjäll (the western mountains) in Ytterlännes. However, a few nomadic Samis were known to live there year‑round with their reindeer herds in the 1500's. The area had many wolves and bears.

One June morning in 1585, right after the Östhammars market in Ytterlännes, the four brothers from Savolax set out for this wilderness. A few of their fellow countrymen had already begun to svedja (clear land with fire), and bryta bygd (break land)

The first place the brothers reached, which was suitable for building a new settlement, was a relatively stone‑free sandy field on a southerly slope close to a stream or small river. There it was resolved that Pål would stay there, and they set up camp for the night under a thick, sweeping, pine tree by a boulder.

The morning of the following day they climbed to the top of a nearby mountain to get a view over the surrounding countryside. The mountain was named Pålsberget (Påls Mountain) and from there Pål headed back to the place he had decided to establish his settlement. This place was called Länsitorpa (Länsi = western, torpa = farm or homestead). The place is 2 (Swedish) miles (20 kilometers) west of the Ytterlännes settlement that is now called Västertorp.

(You can see Västertorp on the Lantmäteriet maps at http://www.lantmateriet.com/ksindex.htm. Use Västertorp as your search criteria, click Sök, then click on the arrow in the lower box and pick the third Västertorp in the list, and click Visa. It is in Kramfors kommun. You will see Bollstabruk and Ytterlännes parish on the right central edge of the map. Västertorp is right in the center but you need to increase the magnification by clicking on the fifth box down in the magnification scale to see it. ) [6]

Henrik started to farm by a little lake northeast of Pälsberget, not far from Länsitorpa, which was named 'Paska lampi hutta', in Swedish 'Lörträsksvedjan', but the land was in part frostlänt (permafrost) and difficult to cultivate, and in part too close to his brother's place. After three years Henrik moved to a sandmo (sand land, barren sandy country) at the northwestern end of Lake Abborsjön where he built a settlement, now known as Abborsjön in Ytterlännes.

Anders finne , the eldest of the brothers, continued wandering until he reached Graninge Lake and settled there.

The youngest, Mäns, settled by Knäsjötjärnen, a little way southwest of Knäsjön, an area that belonged to Ytterlännes but now belongs to Sollefteä. There are many legends told about this Mäns, who in the legends was described as a giant, amongst others the following:

Anders Finne from Graninge once went hunting up on Knasjö Mountain and saw smoke rising from a human dwelling down by the small lake. When he got there he found his brother Mäns who had a family, furniture, and an abundance of God's blessings. In this way the brothers discovered the way between their homes, Knäsjön and Graninge. It is said that Mäns married soon after his arrival at Knäsjön to a Märitt (Pälsdotter?) from Näs in Ytterlännes. They had worked together at the parsonage in Nordanåker. The marriage is said to have taken place at Knäsjön one Sunday between Midsummer and "slåtanna" (harvest time?) in 1587 and was performed by their former master, the old vicar Peder Olstaui. Since this time a small island in Knäsjötjärnen (tjärnen = small lake) has been called Knäsjö kyrka (Knäsjö church). On Knäsjönäset (näs = headland) at this time there was a Sami's settlement. (Notice in the Graninge area the name Lappberget (Samis Mountain) and Kåtatjärn (I think the reindeer‑hide tents of the Samis are/were called Lappkäta, so this could mean something like 'Samis tent lake').

The following villages in Ytterlännes are stated to have been settled by Finns:

Abborrsjön, Filitjärn, Härsjön, Lamyra, Majaån, Västansjö and Västertorp.

The following wilderness settlements were re‑settled by Finns:

Forsed, Högsta and Mo.

Apart from the four brothers, the following Finns of Ytterlännes are named in the above‑mentioned article:

Kristian Göransson of Forsed, who in 1675 was summoned to the district court by chaplain (?) Johan Hellenius in Sollefteå and charged with trolldom (sorcery, witchcraft, magic, enchantment, spell, charm). In the witch trials, the finn Nils Andersson of Forsed and his wife Barbro and an old Finnish woman, gamla‑Margareta were named. Both women were presumably beheaded and burned on Bålberget 28 March 1675 when 9 women were executed as witches. On the 1^st of June the same year 62 women, men and boys were beheaded and burned.

This took place on a mountain today called Häxberget or Bålberget (the “Witch mountain” or the “Bon fire mountain”), at the border between the three parishes Torsåker, Dal and Ytterlännäs.[7]

Mats Finne is named in 1621, convicted for fighting and fined.

Christian Pedhersson, finn from Forsed, is named in 1650, convicted of fighting and fined.

Olof Andersson Grå, son of Peder finne, convicted 1656 of fornication with his father's hired maid (possibly called Gulugle?) and fined.

Sigfrid and Pedher Hindriksson of Västertorp, convicted 1649 for housing lösfinnar (literally loose Finns, may mean homeless or unemployed) and fined. According to a court decision of 1653 only their father was given the right to habitation or possession (without ownership) and farming of Västertorp, which was only 6 seland (old land measurement, one seland is approx 1/3 hectare, a little smaller than an acre). His name was Hindrik Mattson and he was old. Pedher was allowed to stay on but at an increased tax rate.

"Svarte Lasse" was in 1656, under penalty of a fine (good behavior bond?), ordered to stay away from (restraining order?) Pedher Pålsson of Vastansjö.

Olov Andersson of Vastansjö was named in about 1650.

Malin Danielsdotter of Viksjö, same time.

Lars finnes of Västertorp burning down of a farm 1630.

Måns Olovsson of Knäsjön burning down of a farm in 1643.

END OF TRANSLATION

Part II

The descendants of Pål finne continued to live in this central part of Sweden for several more generations. Pål finne’s 5^th great-granddaughter, Maria Danielsdotter, born January 27, 1763 in Bredträsk, Bjurholm became the progenitor of the Edman family as we know it today. In Nordanås, Åsele in the year 1783, Maria married Johan Eriksson Edman. This marriage produced eleven children, the last one Nathanael born in February 1804.

Unfortunately, Johan was not able to see his family grow into adulthood, as he passed away in April of 1804 from complications and affects of pneumonia. His widow later re-married, but I do not have any record of additional children.

Of the eleven children of Johan and Maria, 4 male siblings settled in Vilhelmina parish in present day Västerbottens lan. Two of these brothers, Johan Johansson Edman and Elias Johansson Edman settled in Strömnäs, Vilhelmina parish and raised their families. Two descendants of these families continued further north west in the later years. One of the cousins settled in Störnas, Vilhelmina and the other in Klimpfjäll, both located on the shores of Kultsjön Gålto in northwest Västerbottens lan.

The cousin who settled in Störnas, Vilhelmina was my great-great grandfather, Erik Johansson. It would appear that Erik was quite a hardy person, as I have found record of him doing business with the Norwegians in Mosjöen, Norway in 1901. In order for Erik to trade with the Norwegians, he would have had to walk from Stornäs to Mosjöen, a distance of about 75 km. Quite a feat for a 75 year old man! I have not found that Erik used the Edman surname. The first instance of Edman being used was by his son, my great grandfather, August Fredrik, in the records where August requested his permit to move out of the parish and come to America. In this record, he is listed as August Fredrik Eriksson Edman, which is typical for the naming conventions at the time. As suggested by Bo Ekvall, the Edman name may have originated with one of the Edman forefathers living in a small community by the name of Ed, which is located about 50 km from Graninge. Hence, he would have been know as the “man from Ed”, or Edman. At his point in time, this is purely speculation.

The cousin that continued on to Klimpfjäll was using the last name of Eliasson, which further complicated the research in this area. Several of his descendants did use the Edman surname in later years, and there were quite a few that emigrated and ended up in the Leaf Mountain area of Minnesota.

A brother to my great-grandfather. Johannes Olof Edman, also settled in Klimpfjäll in 1848. He was to become one of Klimpfjäll’s most famous residents with the establishment of Norgefarargården (The House for Norwegian Travellers).[8] Norgefarargården was established as a stopping place for travelers going to and from Norway. The house is located on a bluff overlooking the delta land at the outflow of Lake Kultsjön. I would venture to guess that when August Fredrik and Olivia, Ada and Seth came to the US, they must have also spent the night here before continuing on in their journey, although at the time, Johan Olof had already gone to the US.

The year 1885 Johan Olof emigrated with his wife to America. They went the 40 kilometers long Norgefararleden to Harvasdalen and then further to Mosjöen where they stayed overnight at Svenskloftet and thereafter took a boat to Trondheim. It is from there that they would get on another boat for the trans-Atlantic trip to America. The journey is said to have taken two months.

His son-in-law Olof Daniel Holmgren from Skansholm took over the farm. This Olof Daniel was a diligent carpenter and a capable joiner and cultivator. He became by and by a well off man after the measure of time.

The final individual owner of Norgefarargården was Artur Orädd, he was the grandson of Holmgren. After Artur Orädds death, in 1974 the Vilhelmina municipality acquired the premises, in order to maintain the buildings as a monument.

1981 Norgefarargården was declared a historical site by the county administrative board.

The main building rests on a simple built terrace. Near the western gable still exists traces of a landscape garden. The main building is a cottage with two floors with a timbered frame-work and a roof coated of slate plates. The interior is also preserved since the turn of the century. The bottom floor is divided in a vestibule, kitchen, cooking chamber and a bake house. The cooking fireplace is of slate stone. The baking oven is also preserved and is used yet today to bake flatbreads. The walls are dressed with newspaper and wallpaper in many layers. In the kitchen is it oldest layers of newspapers from late 1800's. Also carpentry details, floor and roof plus painting härrår in a large part from the end of the 1800's.

Already in the 1800's the farm was used as a school. In a couple of rooms on the upper floor taught O P Pettersson- the later well-known author to "Old Villages in Vilhelmina"

End translation

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[1] For additional history pertaining to Vasa and the Bloodbath of Stockholm, see: http://www.utb.boras.se/uk/se/projekt/history/articles/vasa/vasa2.htm

[2] DF FORSTA NYBYGGARNA I YTTERLANNES (THE FIRST SETTLERS IN YTTERLANNES) http://www.partenon.com/gen1/ - © Bo Ekval

[3] Published by SFHS Newsletter 1995, Vol. 4, No. 3 (The Genealogical Society of Finland) © Pär‑Erik Levlin

[4] Published in The Dutch‑Swedes on the Delaware. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1931, p. 102‑106.

[5] Holy Rood Day commemorates the recovery of the relic of the True Cross by Emperor Heraclius of Constantinople when it was carried off by Chosroes II, King of Persia in 614

[6] Courtesy of Chris Troy

[7] The Torsåker Witch Trial of 1675 and the Clergyman Hornaues. © Hans Högman http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/witch%20trial.htm

[8] Information about Norgefarargården are direct translations of information on the website http://travel.to/klimpen, the web site dedicated to the house.