Old Handwriting From Sweden

[thorn]

I have been doing some family history research using some old Swedish documents that have been digitized and online (fee). Since the 1600s churches in Sweden were required to keep detail records of families within their parish. I was able to search back my father's side to about 1617. The further back one goes the worse the handwriting. I wonder what they were using for pens and ink back then?

 

I thought some of you would like to see some samples.

 

 

Birth records 1671 from Husby parish.

 

 

 

Another birth record 1778

 

 

Family examination record ~1896, my greatgreat grandfater August W Pettersson

 

Edited March 21, 2011 by thorn

[HDoug]

I love looking at handwriting new and (especially) old. Interesting to see the style change over time. Thanks for posting!

 

Doug

[USMCMom]

Very interesting. I always enjoy looking at the handwriting from long ago. You are so fortunate to be able to trace family back so far.

[Bluecloud]

Off topic, but - Interesting note that August W Petterson's children weren't baptized. Quite unusual at that time.

[thorn]

Off topic, but - Interesting note that August W Petterson's children weren't baptized. Quite unusual at that time.

 

It was unusual, I think it was the 3 younger children, the older ones were. I have not studied the household examination results for them yet. They had to be tested on what they knew in the bible. I think they were fined if they failed.

 

They kept detail records going back to 1689 and some further for all 2,000 parishes. Most of the records survived since there was no invasions and most of the churches were built of stone (fires). I guess they had some really good ink and paper too.

 

I guess it was iron gall ink?

[thorn]

Interesting - thanks. I find these more readable than many similar English documents, even though I'm English with no more than a smattering of Swedish. Tak.

 

This one is from a ship manifest, SS Mosel, in Oct. 1876 coming into NYC :

 

 

http://kd3su.us/images/ssmosel.jpg

 

 

The handwriting is at an angle.

 

The last family at the bottom (greatgreat-grandparents) Andreas Lesser and family.

 

They were Germans (Volga Germans) coming from Russia through Bremen Germany.

 

Something interesting, all of the ships coming to the US before 1776 had to go through an English port first instead of directly to the US. I forget why, taxes maybe?

[fiberdrunk]

Wonderful eye candy! Thanks for posting! I can look at stuff like this for hours.

[nawybot]

 

This one is from a ship manifest, SS Mosel, in Oct. 1876 coming into NYC :

 

The handwriting is at an angle.

 

When I saw this, my heart went pitty-pat.

 

I believe (I'm not an expert) that that ship's manifest is an example of true English Roundhand, much more clearly preserved than any example I personally have ever seen before. It does not appear to me to be American/Spencerian, though you say the boat came into New York. I would guess that the manifest was written in England at the ship's departure, is that right?

 

Anyway, it is a beautiful hand, and the pages seem to have been dashed off. Interesting to see how narrow the shades are; folks trying to do Copperplate/Engrosser's Script/Roundhand today often make their shades much too thick for my taste...these are a little on the "too thin" side, if anything.

 

Wish my handwriting looked like that!!!

[thorn]

 

I believe (I'm not an expert) that that ship's manifest is an example of true English Roundhand, much more clearly preserved than any example I personally have ever seen before. It does not appear to me to be American/Spencerian, though you say the boat came into New York. I would guess that the manifest was written in England at the ship's departure, is that right?

 

Anyway, it is a beautiful hand, and the pages seem to have been dashed off. Interesting to see how narrow the shades are; folks trying to do Copperplate/Engrosser's Script/Roundhand today often make their shades much too thick for my taste...these are a little on the "too thin" side, if anything.

 

They came from Bremen Germany. I have a hard time reading it. They used to have to come through England before 1776.

 

Here's the first page showing the captain and other info:

 

 

http://kd3su.us/images/ssMosel.jpg

[thorn]

Actually, today I was looking for my great-grandfather and great-grandmother to find where they might have met. I found that they both moved to Stockholm from different areas in the late 1890s. She moved in 1892, the record below shows her as a "pigan" or maid (Lydia Wilhelmina Öman). She was the 164th person on the list and I found her and her family on page 1298 in a household record.

 

I wonder where one could find out what ink they used then? I guess it could have been a fountain pen in 1892? The nice thing about the Swedish records these are color images instead of B&W microfilm as with the ship list above. From the records I've seen so far, some of the ink used in the 1600s and 1700s is brown/black while later is mostly black. I have not seen any blue.

 

1892 Norrtälje parish:

 

http://kd3su.us/images/LydiaOmanOutNorrt%C3%A4lje-B-6-1882-1894-Image-2460.jpg

[TMA]

I have been doing some family history research using some old Swedish documents that have been digitized and online (fee). Since the 1600s churches in Sweden were required to keep detail records of families within their parish. I was able to search back my father's side to about 1617. The further back one goes the worse the handwriting. I wonder what they were using for pens and ink back then?

 

...

 

 

Metal dip pen nibs started to become common after about 1830. Aniline dye inks were introduced in the 1860s, but Iron Gall ink was used in Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages up until the last quarter of the 20th century. Some still use it.

 

Consequently the ink would have been Iron Gall (more recently factory made, hand made before 1850) and before 1830 the pens would have been feather quills.

Between 1830 and approx. 1960 the pens would have been metal dip pens.

 

The dates are a bit vague because we are talking about the introduction and adoption of new technologies, and some of the change overs took decades.

For example, the early metal nibs were hand made, and very expensive. It took nearly 40 years for them to fully replace feather quills, and even then, some traditionalists still used quills. A modern comparison is the history of ball points vs fountain pens.