Thursday, June 11, 2009

My greatgreatgrandmothers moving in

Not with me, but with their daughters.

Two of my greatgrandmothers lived on
farms in Sweden.

In one case the mother moved in with her
daughter's family in old age.
No pension back then.
The tradition is that this greatgreatgrandmother
cared very much for her personal hygiene.
Keeping her bedclothes very clean.
Keeping lice away.

This greatgreatgrandmother was taken care
of in that home till the day she died,
one winter.
To bury her in her home village her coffin
was transported over the ice-covered lake.

The second greatgreatgrandmother also
came to spend her old age with her daughter,
but in their case it ended differently.
According to tradition my greatgrandmother
was a strict and hardworking woman, perhaps
traits she had inherited from her own mother.
In any case, after a short time, it was clear that
these two ladies could not live in the same house.

My greatgreatgrandmother then went back to
her home village.

What happened next?
Did she continue to live with her two unmarried
sons?
Or did she prefer to live in a "fattighus" -
a house for poor people?
The story does not tell.

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