Trawling through the internet for an Andreas Söderman (as one does) I had come across a report of a fine imposed on a man with this name, in a courthouse in Tavastehus in 1876. Luckily the link took me through to the actual digital archive, and there was a young man, a shopkeeper, who had been fined for illegally playing cards on a Sunday. Not only his companion had also been fined, but also the café owner... although it was a first offence for Andreas and his friend Serafias Salander, it was clearly not so for the konditorii Frans Severin Sillström, for allowing it to happen on a holy day... So this was the first mention of the man who was Antony's brother! Tavastehus in Finnish is Hämeenlinna, some distance north of Helsinki, and a few hundred kilometres south of Kokkola. It took a little time to find out more about this Anders/Andreas, but it answered the question that Michael had set "did any of Antony's siblings survive and have children themselves? Might there be some distant cousins still in Finland?" We left Kokkola and headed south. One of the features of the trip has been the booklets which list all the campsites belonging to what it the equivalent of the Caravan Club, and so we found that the Hämeenlinna campsite was on another lovely lake, with full mod cons, including a sauna. We stayed a few days and caught the bus into town - another fabulous library, people who were interested in helping, and there we found a whole family: the Söderman boys who won prizes at school and had their photos in the yearbooks, Armid Andreas and Axel Siegfried... More addresses to find, more wooden houses - sadly the block where they had lived in Helin's Garden, Gymnasiig, is now shiny modern flats, or offices. As is the café where the crime took place ... The most intriguing discovery, however, was the Södermans family grave in Hämeenlinna. Not only Andreas, having died in 1883, but also his children, their wives, his wife's sisters, and .. most surprisingly of all Brita Caisa Jessberg / Söderman, who also died in 1883. This is the 'other end' of the tale from Gamla Karleby records in 1868... when she and Anton were no longer household 183 in the husförhörlångd... Earlier in the year I found a discussion thread on one of the Finnish family history sites that (once translated automatically) led me to Olli Sotamaa, who was looking for the same family of Antons in Sweden. We found we are cousins three-times removed... he is Andreas' great-grandson, I am Antony's great grand-daughter. He confirmed the connection, sent me the details of the grave and also encouraged me to meet him, if we got that far! We did! |
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AuthorJan, retired, but squeezing in gardening on a slope, some French dancing, permaculture, more gardening, in between the family history late nights and travels to significant places in UK, France, Belgium, Sweden and Finland! Archives
June 2021
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