Ancestry from Ljung, Östergötland, Sweden

I've created a group on facebook for people with Ancestry from Ljung, Östergötland, Sweden. There are only nine members so far, and I'm related to them all! A couple people from Sweden have joined and I even met one new cousin via it. I hope more people find it and join in.I'm often confused by all the farm names from a parish and some have small differences in the records I've gotten them from. Maybe they are the same place but called something different over the decades and centuries? I posted farm names from Ljung parish that connect to my ancestry on the group page, here they are: Anderstorp, Banorp, Jonstorp Banorp, Backebo Rågårda, Blixtorp, Brohemmet, Bromshus, Bäckhem perstorp, St. Carlstorp Bjärka ägor, Bjärka, Bullorps ägor, Börstorp, Djupsjöhult, Djupsjö, Fiskarehemmet, Fattighuset Sjövik, Stora Fiskare, St. Fiskarehem, Fallet, Fallhemmet, Flistorp, Flistorpet, Fredriksberg, Gillerberga, Gillerberget, Gottorp, Grönkulla, Gunnarstorp, Hjelmsätter, Håkviken, Ljungs Herrgård, Högåsa, Klasbäck, Klasbäcks ägor Soldattorpet, Haraldsberg Klasbäck, Jonstorp Klasbäck, Klänkorp, Kohagen, Kvarnsjö Magdesjö, Norrby, Nybble, Nysätter, Ragnorp, Råby, Svarttorp, Rosenlund, Torget Klasbäck, Målaretorp, Mörstorp, Nybygget Älgshult, Sibborp, Skallorp, Skattegården, Släta, Slätmotorp, Slätmon, Slätmo ägor, Stora Högåsa, Säby, Transäter, Välnäs, Vågerstad, Skallorp Haraldsberg, Prästtomta, Öna Magdesjö ägor, Älgshult, Perstorp, Sjölund, Vipehagen, Säbyholm, Högforsen Perstorp ägor, Bommarbo Råby ägor, Målaretorp, Skallorp Haraldsberg, Lillbränna Åsmestorp, Åsmestorp, Ängstugan Åsmestorp, Åsen Säby,...
There is also a photo album there with photos from Ljung, mostly from our trip there in 2001. I have more to scan but that will have to come another time.

Klänkorp, Ljung, Östergötland, Sweden

Klänkorp is the name of a farm where, at one time, my ancestors and relatives farmed and lived in Sweden. It is a small farm in Ljung Parish about a 5 minutes ride into the woods from the big road. So it really was in the middle of "nowhere." The stone to the right was out at the big road which showed where the turn off to Klänkorp was.

In 2001, we spent a couple days searching the area, visiting farms, distant cousins, churches and climbing the hills of the "old country" where my Dad's ancestors emigrated from.

We were lucky to be greeted to this farm by the owners, Björn and Margaretta Åke. (Björn sang in the Ljung church choir at that time. Someone else could have been renting the land surrounding their home, I don't remember now...) They were very welcoming to us, inviting us into their home, which was built in 1925. The house is not the same one our ancestors lived in, but some of the out buildings dated back to the 1700's.
A friend I had met on the Internet, Inger Nyberg was our guide through the back roads and had visited the farms before we came to announce we would be visiting. Eighty year old Engwar Elfgaard also traveled with us. Although he didn't speak English he was very informed of our ancestry as his deceased wife was our 4th cousin. We continually commented on and now remember how friendly the Swedes were on our visits and travel throughout their country.

As I look back in my genealogy records I find our ancestors living at Klänkorp during the 1700's and 1800's.
One of the earliest in my direct line worked as farmers there. My 8th Great Grandparents; Joen Månsson (b. ? - d. 5 Apr 1711) and his wife Brita Holstensdotter (b. abt 1628 - d. 10 Nov 1707) Both died at Klänkorp.
My 6th Great Grandparents; Anders Eriksson (b. 1705 - d. 13 Apr 1763) and his wife Anna Simonsdotter (b. 8 Oct 1706 - d. 25 Feb 1795) farmed at Klänkorp and both died there.
In my records there were other cousins, aunts and uncles who lived there as well.

The day of our visit it was beautiful. The lupines we enjoyed each day, filling the ditches and fields, were in bloom and my Aunt Joyce and Mom couldn't resist having their photo taken in front of them not far from the Klänkorp house.

This old cellar/cold storage door was built into the side of a hill or berm not far from the house.
Both my Johnson and Swanson lines have connections to this farm. The latest was a cousin on the Johnson side who died there in 1901.

Hallowed Ground

There's some kind of connection from posting to posting. This time I go from the sacred beauty of God's landscape to the churches that have special meaning to my family. I first saw the Ljung church when I was an exchange student to Sweden back in 1975. Luckily, my host family made it possible for me to visit the church. An experience that was one of the many things that inspired my interest in family genealogy.
These photos are from the 70's showing the back of the church and inside from the choir loft. Did you know many of the cemetery plots are reused. If no one is caring for the grave it is reused. The headstones become part of the stone fence around the church or a walkway around the church. I'm not sure of all the details of the "recycled" graves but do know the cemetery has been in use for hundreds of years.

Brohemmet (the Swedish translation of the name is bridge home) is the birthplace of my Great great grandparents. (The brothers Karl and Adolph Svensson who later built Fallhemmet as mentioned from an earlier posting.) Their father Sven Svensson was a torpare. Brohemmet was on land which belonged to another owner than the Svenssons, in this case Ljung Slott (Castle) The settler who worked a torp was obligated to provide the owner with a certain number of free work days during the year. In return the torpare worked his plot of ground, seldom larger than a couple of acres, where he could plant potatoes, grow vegetables and a bit of hay for the lone cow, a couple of pigs and a few chickens. Brohemmet was one of the closest homes to the Ljung church and castle of the owner, therefore giving it a prime location as it was also next to the river. It is imagined Sven was an important worker for the estate due to the proximity of the home to the castle. The owners of the Ljung estate while Sven and Katrina lived at Brohemmet were The von Fersen family until 1862 (when they went bankrupt) and then The von Mecklenburg family bought the estate. The Svensson family had to move out of the house when father Sven died in 1860, that is when Fallhemmet was built. Photo Above: Brohemmet with a view of the Ljung Kyrka (Church) in the distance across the river.

Karl emigrated to the United States in 1869 with his wife Carolina and three children and settled in Dakota Territory in 1870, along the Sioux River. Adolph emigrated to the United States years later at the age of 54 in 1889 with his wife Greta and two of their six living children. The other four children had already emigrated to the same area where Karl had settled. The brothers reunited after 20 years, had 12 living children between the two of them, who were pioneers of the area. These descendants helped start a church named Grandview Swedish Mission Church of rural Granite, IA, now known as Grandview Covenant Church.