While I’ve made excellent progress on the Swedish branch of my family tree, I have been stumped identifying a baptismal date or place for Nils Molin or his wife, Helena Andersdtr, who married at Ystad St. Peter, Sweden on 4 March 1736/37.

I’ve place Nils’s birth year c1702 because he was a master flax weaver. His apprenticeship would have delayed a marriage in his 20s. Also, I’ve found a number of male Scandinavian ancestors who didn’t marry for a first time until they were in their 30s so his marriage at age 35 wouldn’t be unusual.

I still have no potential birth place for Nils, although I am sure he was born somewhere in southern Sweden in the old Malmohus County.

However, I am beginning to wonder both if his father might have been a Peter Molin and if Hans Molin who lived in Bosarp, Malmohus, Sweden in the 1740s might have been his brother.

First, let’s look at Hans Molin, who was the church sexton in Bosarp from at least 1741 through most of the 1740s, if not longer.

Hans Molin, a resident of Bosarp, married Stina Orup on 10 July 1741 in Sirikopinge, Sweden. The two towns are about 16 miles from each other.

Baptisms of five children are recorded in Bosarp to Hans Molin:

1. Cecilia Catherine, baptized 7 March 1741/42; buried 3 October 1746, also in Bosarp.
2. Nils Peter, baptized 31 December 1743; buried 31 January 1743/44, also in Bosarp.
3. Helveg, baptized 11 January 1744/45
4. Peter, baptized 1 January 1746/47
5. Cecilia, baptized 10 December 1748

Stina is reportedly the daughter of Nils and Cecilia Orup who lived in the Malmo area. With Cecilia being her mother’s name, it is easy to explain why two of their daughters were named Cecilia, as the elder child died in 1746.

Stina’s father was Nils Orup and she also had a brother named Peter, so it is possible that the Molin boys named Peter were named for their uncle.

However, both Nils and Peter are common boy’s names.

Now, my Nils Molin and wife Helena Andersdtr had a son Anders, who is my ancestor. Anders Molin married Sara Brita Krook on 2 February 1776 in Veberod. Bosarp and Veberod are about 27 miles apart.

Before you say that those distances are far apart for the time period to consider the possibility of a familial relationship, it is important to understand that Swedes living in the southernmost portion of the country (where Malmohus is located) were much more mobile in the 18th century than residents further north in the country.

Anders Molin, son of Nils and Helena, was born in Ystad, married in Veberod, lived in Oved and is last found in Marstrand, near Gothenburg.

Ystad to Veberod is 23 miles, Veberod to Oved is 7 miles, but Oved to Marstrand is 210 miles. I’ve also placed various family members in towns between Gothenburg and the southern towns.

This family was highly mobile.

Why do I suspect a family connection between Hans and my Nils Molin of Ystad?

I found a church record for Inspector Jacob Krook in Bosarp. Jacob Krook was the grandfather of Sara Brita Krook, who married my Anders Molin. The church record stated that Jacob Krook was a godparent for Nils Peter Molin, a child of one Hans Molin in the village of Bosarp in 1744. Nils Peter was born 31 December 1743.

Molin is not an uncommon Swedish surname, but it is also not terribly common in the early 1800s in Malmohus County.

Next, let’s look at the children of Nils Molin and Helena Andersdtr:

Children:

1. Peter Johan, baptized 8 June 1737, Ystad, St. Peter, Sweden; buried 18 February 1749, Oved, Sweden.
2. Anders, baptized 17 March 1739/40, Ystad St. Peter, Sweden; died after 1784 when living in Marstrand, Sweden; married Sara Brita Krook, 2 February 1776, Veberod, Sweden
3. Ulrike Christina, baptized 5 July 1743; buried 2 March 1746, both in Oved, Sweden

Finally, let’s look at the family of Anders Molin & Sara Brita Krook:

1. Hans Peter, baptized 3 June 1776, Oved, Sweden; buried 20 October 1776
2. Hans Nicholas, baptized 31 August 1778, Finja, Sweden; died 25 February 1830, Oved, Sweden; married Anna Kjersti Sandberg, 17 April 1800, Oved, Sweden
3. Johan Peter, baptized 20 August 1780; buried 15 September 1781, Vankiva, Sweden
4. Johan Peter, baptized 20 July 1782; died after 1810

All three of these families had sons named Peter. Without the record of Jacob Krook standing as a godparent to Hans Peter Molin in 1743, I wouldn’t think too much of it.

However, given the scarcity of the Molin name in that region and time period, it gives me pause. I have to wonder if Hans who married Stina Orup and Nils who married Helena Andersdtr are brothers and if they might possibly be sons of an earlier Peter Molin?

I know what I’ll be doing the next time ArkivDigital has a free access weekend!