Education in the 1840s

[Lee Himan]

Having spent 35 years in public education, as a teacher and an adminitrator, in Ames, Iowa, I am particularly interested in understanding how eduction might have been provided in the following instance.
 
My great grandfather was born in Dalskog Parish in 1838.  He was born of a single mother, separated from her at age 6 and then records show he began to work.  How would he have been able to receive an education when he was working at such a young age? How advanced was the industrial revolution in Sweden at the time?  I understand that a very large proportion of the population of Sweden was involved in agriculture in the 1800s.
 
In 1905, he wrote a letter to my grandfather that I have had translated.  The letter was in his handwriting and it was an understandable and well organized letter - at least the translated version is.  In it he offered my grandfather, who was here in Iowa farming, some good sound counsel. Some where he gained an education.  He was not a member of the military at any time based on what I know.

[Lena Frid]

In 1842, the Swedish parliament decided that every parish must have an elementary school (folkskola). Some schools already existed, mostly through private donations, others were built during the next decade.  
 
Before that, children were taught religion, reading, and writing some weeks every year by an ambulating school teacher, often an old soldier or the parish clerk. The law stated that children had to attend school from the age of seven. Parents or employers who kept children at home or at work were taken to court for breaking the law.
 
Schooling was also important because the children had their religious confirmation and first communion in the lutheran church around the age of 14. A person who was not confirmed was not allowed to take the sacraments of the church; he/she could not get married. The priest tutored the teenagers and decided if they had understood their religious lessons well enough to be confirmed and treated as adults. If not, they must come back next year and try again. Of course children wanted to be adults, get full pay, and when they came of age, make their own decisions, be allowed to take the oath on the Bible and witness before court, and be able to marry.

[Lee Himan]

Thank you, Lena.
 
I appreciate the information.
 
I was baptized and confirmed in a Swedish Lutheran Church here in the United States.  Two sets of my great grandparents helped to estabish that pioneer church on northwest Iowa prairie in the 1870s.  It was named Elfsborg Lutheran Church after the region in Sweden where a number of the members had been born.  
 
Sincerely,
Lee Himan

[Per Thorsell]

Lee.
 
I suppose, you are talking about Aron Jonasson, born on May 2, 1838. His mother was Johanna Jansdotter, born in Dalskog, 1816. When his mother moves away, she leaves him with the family where she last worked: crofter Johannes Andersson at Alshagen(?), Trollungsbyn, Dalskog. He stays there between 1844 and 1847. I have not found out, whether they were relatives. (AI:11 p. 108, AI:12 p. 115)
 
In 1847 Aron moves to Billingsfors nearby, to rejoin his mother, who has married Karl Högman. He stays with his mother and his stepfather's family until 1854, when he moves on at the age of 16. (Billingsfors AI:9 p. 63, AI:10 p. 72) He is noted as being disabled by some disorder in his right knee.

[Anders Karlsson]

Already in the church law of 1686 it was established that all children had to be taught to read. A few decades later, in the 18th century, the ability to read was more or less universal in Sweden.

[Lee Himan]

Thank you Per and Anders.  
 
Your sources are much more complete than any records I can find on Aron Högmans life in the United States even though he spent approximately 40 years here in Iowa.  Vital statistics, from pioneers days, are incomplete or missing in some rural areas.
 
Per, I am impressed with the details that were recorded by the church, that would include where Aron stayed when separated from his mother, the problem with the right knee, and what he did at age 16. Chris Bingefors had supplied me with many details of this stage in his life, and these help me write even more specifics.
 
Anders, although education has always been important in our history, we had no one law that established public education. In accordance with our Constitution and the 10th Amendment, each state of the union has been relatively independent relative to the rules governing education. However, public education was advanced by the national Homestead Act of 1862 (during the Lincoln Presidency) that set aside land for agricultural colleges and land for public schools in rural areas as the pioneers moved in. There is always a debate going on here as to the amount of support the federal government should be providing education, because with federal financial support comes regulation.
 
Sincerely,
 
Lee Himan

[Harriet Hogevik]

Lee,
As told above the church law of 1686 stated that children should be taught reading. This teaching was often given by the klockare (= bell-ringer)who helped the clergymen. For example when my mm mm mm f the klockare Carl Lennberg in Irsta dies 1790 it is written He was talented in singing and the education of children.
Concerning children working or attending school it is important to underline that in Sweden public schools teaching was each second day until about 1935 in the country-side and some yaers earlier in the cities. The teacher had one class (or a group constituted of several classes) mon, wed and fri and another class remaining three week-days. Teachers with high ambitions for poor children could sometimes prolong the school-day. And every child could be working four days a week in the farm for example when necessary.
Sincerely Harriet

[Chris Bingefors]

My grandmother born 1898 only went to school every second day for four years. They were not among the poorest, they had a fairly big farm. But she still had to help out on the farm. Girls often took care of chickens etc and boys watched the animals grazing free in the forests. They also had time off at harvest when everybody had to help in the work. Children not belonging to the family, such as Aron often had to earn their keep by working on the farm. She died young from TB and her mother saw to it that my mother got education and went to university as the first ever in the family. That was the road to success in those days.
Aron seems to have been an intelligent and resourceful man so he probably worked hard at reading and writing, knowing that it was important for success. Others never really learnt to write very well, they never had to use it.

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

A report card from the 1880s will be published, with translations and explanations, in the next issue of Swedish American Genealogist (1/09), which is now at the printers. The report card owner was a 14 year old girl from Kälvene in Västergötland, and it tells what subjects she had studied and what grades she received. She later immigrated to Rockford, Illinois. More on the journal can be found at http://www.augustana.edu/swenson/SAG.html

[Lee Himan]

Thank you, Harriet, Chris, & Elizabeth.
You have provided me with some very good background material for our family history.
 
Sincerely,
Lee Himan

[Anders Ellerstrand]

My mother's father's father was born in the north of Sweden in 1874. He started working with the animals at the age of 7 and in the forest and with timber on the river at the age of 10.  
 
He went to school from the age of 7, but only for 2 and a half months a year. His first year in school was with a trained teacher, after that it took another four years before they again could hire a trained teacher. From the age of 10 he was only allowed to go to school two days a week, and after the age of 12 was to valuable as a worker to be allowed to attend school.
 
You would not expect much education from that kind of upbringing, but he still climbed high in society and I have read his memoirs which are very well written. To explain that I find two solutions:
 
1. He had a grandmother with a fine background. She spent much time with him when he was a child and it was she who taught him to read and write.
2. He obviously had talent and ambition. I think he took well care of his few days in school and later in life (age 20) had a chance to attend school again. He described that time as one of the happiest in his life.
 
So a conclusion about education I think has to take many facts into consideration.