1872 Rural Sweden & Illegitimate children

My great-great-grandmother, Emma Charlotta Berggren (1851–1946), had a pretty rough life. Although I’ve mentioned her before, I want to take a closer look at her son, Olof Edvin, because his short life offers a fascinating—and heartbreaking—glimpse into 19th-century rural Sweden.

Olof was born on June 29, 1872, in Tingsås, a small parish in southern Sweden, near the border with Denmark. This was a rural area where the Lutheran Church was central to nearly every aspect of life. Emma's father had died in 1865, leaving her mother to raise Emma and her siblings alone. Several of those siblings died young—including two sisters who passed away before the age of five.

In 1872, Emma gave birth to Olof, and his birth record listed him as “oäkta,” which means illegitimate—or more literally, “not genuine.” This indicated that the father was unknown or at least unnamed in the official records. I suspect the father was known, but that Emma chose not to disclose his identity.

That same year, Olof also appeared in the household examination records, which listed each member of the household by name (a genealogist’s dream!). His birthdate is recorded, and just before his name is that word again: oäkta. In this context, it confirms his status as a child born out of wedlock.

Tragically, Olof lived only five months and then just six months after his death, Emma’s older sister also passed away. The following year, in 1874, Emma left Sweden for the United States.

Olof’s cause of death was listed as a “stroke,” but this likely doesn't mean a stroke in the modern medical sense. At that time, terms like slag (stroke) were used more broadly for sudden or unexplained deaths. He could have died from a fever-induced seizure, meningitis, encephalitis, or even SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Sadly, there are just too many possibilities to know for sure.

I wonder why Emma never named Olof’s father. Was it a secret affair? Was it non-consensual? According to research on this period, the Lutheran Church often pressured unwed mothers to name the father—both for moral reasons and to legally secure child support. It’s hard to imagine what Emma endured: living with her widowed mother, becoming pregnant and giving birth without being married, grieving the deaths of her siblings and child, and under scrutiny from the church.

Interestingly, Emma originally registered to emigrate to the U.S. in 1872—possibly when she found out she was pregnant—but she didn’t actually leave until 1874. Maybe her plans changed because of her mother's support for the pregnancy?

One thing I’ve learned in all this: Swedish records are incredible. If you can navigate the language and understand the context of the terms, they offer a treasure trove of information. I know some Norwegian and of course, google translate helps with some of this. I also used ChatGPT by uploading these documents and asking it to transcribe and translate what was being said. Be careful doing this, because it does a good job with the column headers or neatly typed words. It really struggled with this handwriting and I had to keep correcting it with what was there that I could understand. It is a useful tool, but has to be monitored and managed.

If you have ancestors with similar stories, I’d love to hear what you’ve discovered. What did you learn about them, and how did it shape your understanding of their lives?