On
a spring day in Helgarö in April 1855, 6 1/2 months after Karl and Anna were
married, their son Erik was born. In Erik's birth record Karl is identified as
a "skomakare" or shoemaker. Erik was my great-grandfather. Anna's
mother had died in 1854, but Anna's father, Olaf, was still part of the
household.
In 1856 Karl, Anna, and son Erik moved to Järlåsa, about 55 km north of Helgarö. Järlåsa is a small village nestled in the midst of forests and fertile farmland. Today only about 500 people live there. There are two very small lakes nearby, but they would pale in comparison to the vastness of Lake Mälaren which had been a stone's throw away from a Hallman household for generations. Here are a few photos of Järlåsa which I found online:
In 1863 the family moved to Uppsala. The city of Uppsala lies on the Fyris River and is 64 km north-northwest of Stockholm. Centuries earlier Uppsala, previously known as Östra Aros, was the political and religious center of the ancient kingdom of Svea. Although Stockholm came to house the politics of Sweden, Uppsala remained the religious capital of Sweden and retained the seat of the archbishop of the Church of Sweden. The grand Gothic cathedral, the largest such structure in all of Sweden, was consecrated in Uppsala in 1435 and has undergone several renovations and repairs since that time.
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| Uppsala Cathedral in 1839 |
Uppsala has long been Sweden's center for education and culture. Founded in the 15th century, Uppsala University is still the country's largest and most prestigious source of learning and higher thought. And within a few years of the Hallman family's arrival, Uppsala would see the coming of the railroad, ushering in a transformation to Uppsala becoming a major industrial city. An 1860 photo can give us an idea of what Karl and his family may have seen upon their arrival:
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| The Iceland Bridge over the Fyris River in Uppsala |
Five months after their arrival in Uppsala, Anna gave birth to their 5th child, Christina. Christina lived for less than one month. No cause of death was listed. Tragically, 2 months later 4 yr-old Emma died of "lungsot" or tuberculosis. Anna had lost both of her daughters. Sixteen months following the death of Emma, 3 1/2 yr-old Johan died of "skarlakansfeber" or scarlet fever. Seriously, how does one family recover from the deaths of three young children in less than two years?
The way that Karl supported the family was a little confusing to me. While they were in Järlåsa he started out as a "skomakare" or shoemaker, he was later identified as a "torpare", meaning he was probably given a small plot of farm land for his own use and also worked for the land owner as a farmhand, and finally he was an "arbetskarten" which simply means "laborer". It was explained to me that he didn't necessarily stop making shoes, but his primary support was farming since he couldn't fully support his family with shoemaking. And actually, the latest church record in which he was found in Järlåsa listed him as "Idh Skomakare". Idh is short for "idhas", or in the modern spelling "idas", which means he is engaged in or occupied in the profession. So yes, he was still making shoes part-time, but resorted to manual farm labor to provide the bulk of his support.
By moving to the big city of Uppsala he could have been looking for a market in which shoemaking could provide a larger portion of the support of his family. For the first year and a half they were in Uppsala, Karl was identified as a skomakare, but for the next 8 1/2 years he was again an "arbetskarten" or laborer.
After 10 years in Uppsala, Karl, Anna, 18 yr-old Erik, and almost 15 yr-old Albert made one last move together as a family, leaving behind the resting places of three deceased children.
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