Before I started doing all my own genealogical research by examining actual historical documents and primary sources of information while attempting to put all my various findings in proper historical settings, I think I tended to want to romanticize the lives and stories of my ancestors. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's a tendency for most of us. As far as our Swedish ancestry is concerned, we might sympathize with their abject levels of poverty, high rates of unexpected death, and the actual physical, back-breaking work required of them, but often we mistakenly frame their relationships with each other as ubiquitously loving and supportive through their trials and adversities. And why would we do that? (Personally, I blame Laura Ingalls Wilder. Just kidding.) I'm sure the answer would be different for everyone (if we actually allowed ourselves the time and luxury of exploring it).
I think a simple answer to the question explored above might be because we want to find every possible reason to love them. We want them vindicated in every way so that they can be worthy of our complete love, admiration, and devotion. And, quite simply, unless we engage in some major mental gymnastics to re-frame our beliefs about ourselves, who in their right mind would want to believe they descended from extremely flawed human beings? Don't we often relish the thought of being products of kings and queens, people of nobility, and those with great influence and power somewhere in the family line? When so many of our known Swedish ancestors were none of those things but, rather, obscure, powerless peasants caught in a repressive system of government and culture, don't we at least want to believe their lives were beyond reproach and that their simple yet somewhat tragic relationships were based on love, goodness, and mutual respect? Does it bring us comfort believing that their hardship and misfortune was thrust upon them by an unyielding system rather than them bringing suffering and adversity upon themselves by virtue of their own personal weaknesses and poor choices? Unless we have actual historical records documenting their lived experiences in very honest terms we will never know for sure exactly what their personal struggles and relationships with each other were like. But generic genealogical research has informed me that, for the most part, their lives were much more complicated than we often want to believe. Their lives were, unsurprisingly, at least as complicated as our own, if not more so.
I think a simple answer to the question explored above might be because we want to find every possible reason to love them. We want them vindicated in every way so that they can be worthy of our complete love, admiration, and devotion. And, quite simply, unless we engage in some major mental gymnastics to re-frame our beliefs about ourselves, who in their right mind would want to believe they descended from extremely flawed human beings? Don't we often relish the thought of being products of kings and queens, people of nobility, and those with great influence and power somewhere in the family line? When so many of our known Swedish ancestors were none of those things but, rather, obscure, powerless peasants caught in a repressive system of government and culture, don't we at least want to believe their lives were beyond reproach and that their simple yet somewhat tragic relationships were based on love, goodness, and mutual respect? Does it bring us comfort believing that their hardship and misfortune was thrust upon them by an unyielding system rather than them bringing suffering and adversity upon themselves by virtue of their own personal weaknesses and poor choices? Unless we have actual historical records documenting their lived experiences in very honest terms we will never know for sure exactly what their personal struggles and relationships with each other were like. But generic genealogical research has informed me that, for the most part, their lives were much more complicated than we often want to believe. Their lives were, unsurprisingly, at least as complicated as our own, if not more so.
When I think about the portions of Magnus Hallman's story which I've been able to uncover I am left with several unanswerable questions. Why, given the timing and opportunity he had to learn a very lucrative and highly respected trade, was he never referred to in the church records as a "mästare smeden" or master blacksmith? Was that level of documentation not the standard practice of the priests keeping the records or did Magnus just never develop that level of expertice? And what made him "deficient and weak" so that he was relieved of his military duty after just two years of service when the average term for other rote soldiers was a minimum of five years? Was it simply dissatisfaction and/or lack of interest in military service? Could it have been insufficient physical ability over which he had limited control? Or might it have been due to some type of mental or emotional deficiency outside of his control? To whom or to what did he turn to deal with the tragic deaths of two wives and multiple infant children? What was the cause of his death at a relatively young age? And why, following the death of his 2nd wife, did his two oldest daughters leave their father's house to venture out on their own when their help to care for their two young siblings was probably needed more that ever? It's this question that causes me the greatest concern.
One reality I have had to grapple with as I've studied the lives of 18th and 19th century Europeans and early American immigrants with regard to my own ancestry is the high prevalence of alcoholism. In reference to Sweden's history with alcoholism, some experts report that "during the worst period of abuse in Sweden in the mid-1800's, the country had more than 175,000 distilling machines for a population of about eight million, and consumption was estimated at almost 49 quarts of alcohol per adult per year compared with about 9.5 today." (here) In fact, at the beginning of the nineteenth century alcoholism was becoming such a problem throughout many places in the world temperance societies were being formed, the first being in Sweden in 1819. (here) It's a known fact today that alcohol abuse currently and historically has contributed significantly to lost productivity, misuse of precious family resources, and domestic violence. The extent to which alcoholism has affected members of my own ancestral family will probably never be known. Likewise, I can't definitively say for sure if it played a part in any of the questions I asked above, but it's certainly worth considering and, if true, would explain a lot.
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