Our first relatives, Per Andersson and his wife Maria Nilsdotter, came to Fröbbestorp in 1691. When Per Andersson died in 1722, the farm was taken over by one of his sons, Anders Persson (1707-1785). Anders Persson had several children. Two of them, Per Andersson (1738-1790) and Lars Andersson (1746-1798), stayed in Fröbbestorp. The farm was split in two pieces...one piece to Per Andersson and the other piece to Lars Andersson. Per Andersson was succeeded by his daughter and his son-in-law. When they became too old to work the farm, they were succeeded by their son Nils Olofsson (1811-1879). His offspring still owns the farm.

Lars Andersson married Ingrid Nilsdotter (1754-1823). They had many children. The oldest son, Petter (sometimes he used the name Per) Larsson (1779-1821), took over the farm. He died at only 42 years old, and his widow then married Sven Larsson.

THE ANCESTORS LIFE IN FRÖBBESTORP

When our ancestors Per Andersson and Maria Nilsdotter arrived and settled down in Fröbbestorp in 1691 it was during a peace period in the Swedish history. Sweden had been involved in several wars that century. There was however a severe famine. Uneven weather was a major contributing factor. In 1695 was the Summer cold. The Autumn frost came early. In many places before an unusually late harvest had been salvaged. The crop failure was already a fact. The weather then switched to a mild autumn and the beginning of the winter was also warm. Fresh grass grew a finger’s length in the beginning of February. Trees and shrubs buds themselves and the Autumn sowing began to germinate. Then the cold and snow came. The Spring was exceptionally late and the Summer was extremely cold.

The late Summer of 1696 was visited by night frost. In many places were the majority of the fields fallow, since the starving population, the winter before, was forced to eat most of the seeds. Strawberries ripened only in September and raspberries in October. The harvest, in the places the crop matured at all, was of course disastrous. The winter that followed was severe and even in 1697, the Spring came very late. Winter cold was in some places so severe that it even was difficult to remove the bark from trees to make bark bread. Worst hit was northern Sweden. Its estimated that 100 000 died as a result. The failure of crops was a perennial scourge. There were small margins in the Swedish peasant society. The population rebounded, however, surprisingly fast.

Between 1697 and 1708 the harvest seems to have been fairly good. To pay for the war that began in 1700 the Swedish crown gave the farmers the opportunity to buy their farms. Per and Maria accepted the offer. But tell the happiness that lasts. 1708-1709 another failure of crops arrived. It was followed (1710-1712) by a very serious plague. Many of our ancestors died. 1/3 of Stockholm’s population died in the plague. Then occurred a few years of good harvests. However, it was only the calm before the storm. For in the year of 1716 the crop was shaken by hard rain, followed by two years of distinct crop failure.

In 1721 the peace came and also some years that were beneficial to the farmers. More and more farmers had enough money to buy their farms. There were low rates of mortality, peace, mild winters and good harvests. Those who survived the war years were relatively immune to epidemics and perhaps even unusually viable at all. There were, moreover, plenty of uncultivated land. But then the situation once again changed. In the 1730’s the mortality rate rose sharply, due to international epidemics and several bad harvests. Between 1741 and 1743 Sweden was once again in war with Russia. Southern Sweden was not affected by any direct acts of war.

But in 1741 the dysentery hit with devastating force. Hundreds of people died in “our” area. The cold winter was a significant factor. The heating was by modern concepts flawed and mortality was significantly higher in winter than summer. Especially devastating was the late winter and early spring strong temperature fluctuations that often broke the old and sick people. The winters were generally cold and long, until the 1800s. The second half of the 1700s also named the Little Ice Age. 20% of all children died during the first year of life.

In 1756 there was a widespread crop failure caused by extreme cold. New crop failures occurred in 1781 and 1783. They were caused by a combination of heat and cold. The Summers were exceptionally hot and dry, but in 1783 even the Winter was cold and the Spring came very late. In some parts of northern Sweden the snow remained well into June and it wasn't possible sowing before midsummer. The harvest had no time to mature before Autumn arrived. The winter feed had ended long before the new grass came up. As a last resort some farmers were forced to feed their cattle with roof straw.

The Swedish agriculture gradually became less and less sensitive to climate fluctuations and weather changes. Through land reclamations of forested areas, extensive clearing of stony soils and drainage of waterlogged land the cultivable area in the country increased. Technological advances further increased the production and the potato was also introduced. On a whole the production of cereals moved from deficit to surplus.

In the 1790’s the climate was very warm. But it changed. In 1799 and 1800 the Spring became many degrees cooler than normal. 1800’s and 1810’s were extremely cold. 1812 and 1814 were the worst years. The last time when the failure of crops arrived with devastating force was in 1867-1869. Our ancestor Lars Pehrsson and his family in Fröbbestorp however survived. But many Swedes weren’t that fortunate.

A short summary of our ancestors in Fröbbestorp

Per Andersson was, as was the custom, by his oldest son, Anders Persson. Per Andersson died in 1722. The son was only 14 years old. Probably the mother, Maria, who came to live with the son and his family, assisted in the day-to-day running of the farm. Anders Persson married Anna Olufsdotter and got ten children. Four of them died before the age of 5. The oldest sons (Per b.1738 and Lars b.1746) divided the farm, maybe, in the late 1760’s. Both sons had families and continued to stay and cultivate their farms in Fröbbestorp. On August 29, 1798, Lars Andersson died of diarrhea and was succeeded by his oldest son, Petter Larsson. He married Gertrud Persdotter and they got seven children. Five became adults. On December 4, 1821, Petter Larsson died of pneumonia. His widow remarried Sven Larsson.

When Petter’s and Gertrud’s oldest son, Lars, was old enough to take over the farm the mother and the stepfather moved from Fröbbestorp. It happened in the early 1830’s. Lars and Christina had eight children. But in 1856 Christina died. In 1858 Lars married Maria and they received four children. The family was devoted Lutherans. They frequently took part in the holy communion. Lars Pehrsson was suceeded by one of his son’s (not the oldest however) Magnus Larsson in the 1860’s or 1870’s. Magnus Larsson was succeeded by his son, Karl Oskar Magnusson, who ran the farm until 1931 when he sold it and moved to another village and farm. Then between 1931 and 1968 there were other owners. In 1968 the couple Bertil and Anna Lisa Johansson, actually descendants of Lars Pehrsson’s aunt Maria Larsdotter, bought the farm. They gave the farms to their four children; Jan-Erik, Lena, Lillemo and Bengt. Today Jan-Erik’s son Jens owns and lives on the farm. In other words it’s in the family. Hopefully you can put in your ancestors in their historical context.