Anton and Brita lived in Household number 183, the 5th qvarteret, 2nd asdelning (5th block, 2nd row) in Neristan, the old part of Gamla Karleby/Kokkola which still has its wooden houses standing.
Annual Household Records are the key to this family history, and the Swedish and Finnish ones are exemplary. UK census happens every 10 years, and started from 1841. Scandinavian record keepers have been going for centuries, ever since the mid 1700s when it was put into the hands of the parish priest, to meet everyone on an annual basis and to record who they were, if they could read and write, which form of Catechism they could read or recite from memory, whether they had special needs or not, and if they had been vaccinated against smallpox, I believe! So, even if a family was not one of the protestant majority they were recorded, Mormons, Jews, Catholics. Notes were kept in the 'extra information' columns, sometimes little anecdotes about a marriage or a death, certainly a note was kept if people moved away. In fact these were kept as separate records, as licence to move out or to move in were issued, and notes kept by the priest. 5 or 10 years worth of records adorn each page, so you can follow the fortunes of the people, and their births and deaths, going missing and coming back, and their servants' lives too. The Finnish records started as Swedish ones so they have been kept as meticulously as on the other side of the Bothnian Sea.
The records (above) for the address that housed the Anton Söderman & Brita Cajsa Jessberg family started immediately after they were married in 1832. (For some reason, Anton's birth year is given in a number of places as 1796, rather than 1794. There is no-one else with that name born in Oregrund in 1796, so I have assumed it is a mistake on Anton's part!) Baby Anton is added to the list as he is born in October 1833, followed by his siblings. The same priest wrote up these records in beautiful copperplate script.
Those for 1840 to 1846 lists the whole family, including sons Anton (b 1833), Wicktor (b. 1835), and Anders (b.1837) and a daughter Maria Mathilda (b. 1839), and then another son Anders (b.1841). There is a cross against father Anton, who has died in 1842, and the first Anders (d.1840).
Those for 1840 to 1846 lists the whole family, including sons Anton (b 1833), Wicktor (b. 1835), and Anders (b.1837) and a daughter Maria Mathilda (b. 1839), and then another son Anders (b.1841). There is a cross against father Anton, who has died in 1842, and the first Anders (d.1840).
The next record, above, 1847-1853, has the head of household as Brita Caisa; only she, Wiktor and Anders have annually dated entries. Her son Anton is listed with no entries against his name until he appears on 17th August 1851, that is to say he was seen by the priest and probably took communion. (This conflicts with the date that he had 'enrolled' on the Hesperus, which is 11th August. However it might be that he signed on at that date, and took communion in readiness to leave after the 18th.) The record states that he is able to read, to recite the Lutheran catechism, and is numerate. A note on the line suggests his sister was fostered out in 1846. She went to live further south, in Kasko, as the foster daughter of a pharmacist and his wife - see the page for Maria Mathilda for her story.
1855-1861 lists Brita Caisa, with her sons Anton, Wicktor (with a cross next to him, and an L), and Anders, with an L in the margin.
By now, of course, we know that Anton is living in Britain, as Antony, working for the ships of the English Merchant Navy. It's not until the next set of records, 1862-68, that Anton(y) is listed as "rymd", that is 'disappeared', alongside Brita Caisa's entry. Notes have been set underneath his entry - indecipherable!
1855-1861 lists Brita Caisa, with her sons Anton, Wicktor (with a cross next to him, and an L), and Anders, with an L in the margin.
By now, of course, we know that Anton is living in Britain, as Antony, working for the ships of the English Merchant Navy. It's not until the next set of records, 1862-68, that Anton(y) is listed as "rymd", that is 'disappeared', alongside Brita Caisa's entry. Notes have been set underneath his entry - indecipherable!
From 1868 the family no longer lives at number 183 and we see that Brita Caisa went somewhere else in June 1868. We know that she left Gamla Karleby, and she moved to Tavastehus (now called Hämeenlinna) way down the country towards Helsinki, to live with her youngest son Anders, now called Andreas. See the page on Brita Caisa for her fate, which is linked to his story.