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Genealogy in Dalarna is a regional organization of local genealogical societies from the Province of Dalarna. Our aim is to increase the common interest of genealogy and local history, to induce people to track their roots and become aware of their own forefathers importance for the development of our present society. By several annual open meetings and public exhibitions, we bring interested genealogists closer to each other as well as to different experts and lecturers. In this manner members get together to compare notes and papers, and will often find mutual ancestors. Beginners who join our societys are taken cared of in various study groups, where they learn how to research and get around in parish records as well as other historical sources. As investigators of local history and vanished societies, we follow the development of time. Many genealogist soon become computerized, as modern data technology gives us extraordinary possibilitys to handle and store great quantitys of information. If you are interested of the life and history of your Swedish ancestors from Dalarna, join one or several of our societies. On one hand you will get a lot of good friends, who may be related to you, on the other hand you will get a lot of valuable help, from local experts, with local knowledge and with a local typical touch of Dalarna.
The annual membership fee for residents in the US and other foreign countries is 20 USD for each society you wish to join. This will bring you 2-4 issues of the respective society´s newsletter (in swedish), including p&p. Please send your cheque directly to the society you choose to join. Follow this link to the addresslist. Or send a E-mail to the editor. Welcome!
Swedish PatronymicsBy Jorge LintrupOne of the most common problems for Swedish-American descendants, who are searching their roots, is to understand the difference between common family names and patronymics. We get questions as "How can we follow the Peterson family back to the first Peterson?" or "My great grandfather changed his family name from Andersson to Nilsson". The truth is that it is totally impossible to follow surnames as Petersson or Andersson, and that the great grandfather never changed his surname, he only used his patronymic. The great peasant society that existed just about to the Second World War, had it's own deeply rooted traditions. One of them was to use patronymics. Other classes had used patronymics before, but certain professions and craftsmen, as well as the nobility, began to use family names as early as in the Middle Ages. So by the 18th century it was only the clergy and the peasants who used patronymics, even though the clergy often latinized their names and patronymics. It's rather easy to recognize a patronymic. It always ends with either -son or -dotter, which means son or daughter. Andersson means "the son of Andrew", Johansdotter means "the daughter of John". In our neighbor countries Norway and Denmark patronymics ends with -sen or -datter, but that is only local varieties of the same thing. Island, Faroe Islands and old time records from Norway and Denmark use the same endings as in Sweden, -son or -dotter. Not only Scandinavian countries used patronymics. They are still very common in Russia and other Slavonic countries, in Greece, in Arabic countries, etc., and Señor Fernandez in Spain has an old patronymic. On the British Isles patronymics were used by Englishmen, as well as Welsh, Irish and Scots, and surnames as Andrews, Peters, Harrison, McDonald, Dawson, FitzRoy and Jones are all patronymics. So, Olof's son Jonas was called Jonas Olofsson, and his son Erik was called Erik Jonasson. Some times patronymics got shortened, so Jonas Olofsson was called Jonas Olsson, and his son Erik was called Erik Jonsson, but that is another problem… When women married they did not loose their own surnames. That's a modern invention. In old church records you will find the women wearing their own names, surnames and patronymics all their life. Sometimes they will appear as the wife of somebody, with or without their Christian name, but you will seldom find them wearing their husbands surname, and NEVER wearing their husband's patronymic. During the 19:th century patronymics got out of fashion even in the peasant society. Gradually patronymics transformed into what we call surnames. Sons and daughters took their father's patronymic as their surname, so patronymics became authentic family names. By 1901 the Swedish government passed a new law forcing everyone to take a surname. That was the final vanishing of Swedish patronymics.
About Farmnames (gårdsnamn)By Jorge Lintrup"Farmnames" (gårdsnamn) has its origin in the central parts of the Province of Dalarna, depending on traditions, lack of fantasy and the use of patronymics. Names as Mats, Erik, Olof, Anders, Lars, Johan, Jonas, Per, Nils and Hans where so common, so each and every man was Mats Andersson, Olof Persson or Erik Johansson… So, what could they do to separate one from each other? As the farmer society had a very strong tradition of wearing patronymics (as a contrast to craftsmen and bourgeoisie), they turned to a new tradition, to name the farms they were living in. That happened earliest around the Lake Siljan in Dalarna, before any church records where written, but spread around to the neighbors as time passed. Farmnames are often composed of first and second name of the first owner (or many times his father). The christian name of Per and the patronymic Ericsson forms the farmname Perers. They could also be composed by the profession of the first owner, or by nicknames. Farmnames belonged to the farm, so if a daughter inherited the farm, the son-in-law often had to change his farmname to the one of his wife. In some cases, however, the son-in-law changed the name of the farm instead, but on the other hand, that also happens with family names now and then… As far as I know, farmnames are also used in the provinces of Hälsingland, Gästrikland and Västmanland.
About SoldiernamesBy Jorge LintrupThe same problem as in the case of farmnames occurred when Swedish men were drafted into the army or the fleet. There were simply to many Anderssons, Olssons, Perssons and Johanssons in the lists, so military commanders had to ad characteristic names to the patronymics, just to be able to distinguish one man from another. Names were often taken from military objects, as Hjälm (=helmet), Granat (=grenade), Spjut (=spear), Svärd (=sword), Stake (=stake), or personal characteristics, as Rask (=fast), Flink (=deft), Modig (=brave), Djärv (=bold), or Lång (=tall), Liten (=small) and Stor (=big). In some cases they got names coming from natural phenomena, as Dunder (=rumble), Blixt (=flash), or from natural objects, as Lärka (=skylark), Falk (=falcon), Gucku (=cuckoo), Sparv (=sparrow), or Lo (=lynx), Tiger (=tiger), Lejon (=lion), etc. Only the fantasy of the company commander set limits to what they were called, and it was completely up to him to decide what to call his own soldiers. As a matter of fact, officers sometimes used their power to nickname soldiers they disliked - but there were also the opposite cases. In the province of Dalarna there was a tradition to keep the names within the holdings that were provided to the soldiers as a payment. So if a soldier got killed in action, or to weak to retain his office, the successor inherited the name, as all other benefits. Drafting in Sweden had in fact very little in common to drafting in the US or in other countries, as each selected group of farmers was obligated to recruit, to feed and to arm a soldier as a kind of taxation to the Royal Crown. By the time patronymics got out of fashion, it became very common among soldiers to keep the name after their service, and to adapt it as a real surname. That's the reason there are so many old soldiernames among the Swedish surnames of today. Link to Hans Högmans homepage:
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