The next day, our expedition began in the village of Nöbbelöv in the ancient parish of Vä - 5 KM southwest of Kristianstad.
The village has changed little over the years and is charming.
Half timber construction marks a home as being very old.
The fields are fertile and the livestock looks healthy.
Torbjörn took us to meet with a local historian and author Ulla Wadbro who knows the history of each home.
The former courthouse is a museum that houses such things as the courtroom witness seat and a school desk.
Torbjörn's map shows where Anders Rapp's home No.12 was.
Nöbbelöv is the birthplace of Olof Andreas Widtfeldt who was christened Ola after his great uncle Ola Wittfeldt.
On our walking tour of the village we met a lovely young mother getting fresh air and exercise with her children - a Swedish mandate.
Next we visited an old mill where Torbjörn's grandfather and great grandfather were the millers.
It is amazingly large and is being restored for occupation.
Torbjörn told us stories of his grandfather walking across this old mill stream.
We drove north to our next destination past beautiful farms.
Next stop: Kristianstad, pronounced
kriˈɧansta. Kristianstad's coat of arms is unusual in the world as it depicts a foreign king's insignia - King Christian IV of Denmark.
This is the original Kristianstad city gate our ancestors used.
Torbjörn has done research at the Kristianstad museum.
The building dates back to the original fortified city built by Danish King Christian IV in 1614 against invading Swedes.
This antique gold crown was made for the brides of Vä to wear at their wedding and they are still entitled to wear it.
This photo shows women hand-making lace as a cottage industry.
Here are samples of some of the lace that was made locally.
Torbjörn made advanced arrangements for us to see the book of the minutes of a guild meeting in the 1600s that mentions our ancestor Rasmus Claesson who was a Kristianstad locksmith and guild leader.
We put on cloth gloves so that we could handle the treasure.
What tugs at me about a hand-written book is the sense of being in contact with a real person who lived hundreds of years ago - someone like me - who smoothed that piece of paper and left something of themselves written on it. It's like shaking hands over the centuries.
This stone memorializes an ancestor who helped build the Kristianstad church in 1614.
The holes in the stone represent the stone pillars crafted by Rasmus Clausen in the Kristianstad church.
The Kristianstad church - Heliga Trefaldighetskyrkan - is considered to be northern Europe's most beautiful Renaissance church.
This statue symbolically shows Christ as savior of the world who overcame death and hell by standing on a skeleton and Satan.
A different family coat of arms is carved on each pew.
We were alone inside and soaked in the beauty and historical significance. Helmer Widtfeldt was serving with Wendes Artillery regiment at the Kristianstad garrison and witnessed the christening of his aunt Bengta's baby. She and her husband Nils Winberg were also living at the garrison.
Emma found Rasmus Clausen's trademark left on one pillar.
The cream house is the site of ancestor Claes Claesson's home.
All businesses closed at 6:00 PM. Haley and Emma kept warm practicing ballet positions on the empty cobblestone streets.
We saw other teens keeping active doing typical things.
Dad stopped in a field of grain and determined it was soft wheat as we drove back to Bösakulla at the end of the day.
Windmills work well in this area.
The sky was always putting on a beautiful show.
The village has changed little over the years and is charming.
Half timber construction marks a home as being very old.
The fields are fertile and the livestock looks healthy.
Torbjörn took us to meet with a local historian and author Ulla Wadbro who knows the history of each home.
The former courthouse is a museum that houses such things as the courtroom witness seat and a school desk.
Torbjörn's map shows where Anders Rapp's home No.12 was.
Nöbbelöv is the birthplace of Olof Andreas Widtfeldt who was christened Ola after his great uncle Ola Wittfeldt.
On our walking tour of the village we met a lovely young mother getting fresh air and exercise with her children - a Swedish mandate.
Next we visited an old mill where Torbjörn's grandfather and great grandfather were the millers.
It is amazingly large and is being restored for occupation.
Torbjörn told us stories of his grandfather walking across this old mill stream.
We drove north to our next destination past beautiful farms.
Next stop: Kristianstad, pronounced kriˈɧansta. Kristianstad's coat of arms is unusual in the world as it depicts a foreign king's insignia - King Christian IV of Denmark.
This is the original Kristianstad city gate our ancestors used.
Torbjörn has done research at the Kristianstad museum.
The building dates back to the original fortified city built by Danish King Christian IV in 1614 against invading Swedes.
This antique gold crown was made for the brides of Vä to wear at their wedding and they are still entitled to wear it.
This photo shows women hand-making lace as a cottage industry.
Here are samples of some of the lace that was made locally.
Torbjörn made advanced arrangements for us to see the book of the minutes of a guild meeting in the 1600s that mentions our ancestor Rasmus Claesson who was a Kristianstad locksmith and guild leader.
We put on cloth gloves so that we could handle the treasure.
What tugs at me about a hand-written book is the sense of being in contact with a real person who lived hundreds of years ago - someone like me - who smoothed that piece of paper and left something of themselves written on it. It's like shaking hands over the centuries.
This stone memorializes an ancestor who helped build the Kristianstad church in 1614.
The holes in the stone represent the stone pillars crafted by Rasmus Clausen in the Kristianstad church.
The Kristianstad church - Heliga Trefaldighetskyrkan - is considered to be northern Europe's most beautiful Renaissance church.
This statue symbolically shows Christ as savior of the world who overcame death and hell by standing on a skeleton and Satan.
A different family coat of arms is carved on each pew.
We were alone inside and soaked in the beauty and historical significance. Helmer Widtfeldt was serving with Wendes Artillery regiment at the Kristianstad garrison and witnessed the christening of his aunt Bengta's baby. She and her husband Nils Winberg were also living at the garrison.
Emma found Rasmus Clausen's trademark left on one pillar.
The cream house is the site of ancestor Claes Claesson's home.
All businesses closed at 6:00 PM. Haley and Emma kept warm practicing ballet positions on the empty cobblestone streets.
We saw other teens keeping active doing typical things.
Dad stopped in a field of grain and determined it was soft wheat as we drove back to Bösakulla at the end of the day.
Windmills work well in this area.
The sky was always putting on a beautiful show.
2 comments:
The photos are so good!!
Who is that fat old fellow with white hair that seems to - just acccidentally - get in front of the camera on so many pictures?
Ulla Wadbro was one of all the nice people who went out of their way to show what they knew of the Widtfeldts and of local history. I think we were quite lucky all along.
Looking at that map and getting comments from Ulla we could reduce the possible dwellings of Anders Rapp (and Olof W) to three of the small houses.
Jim tried to charm every little girl that we met and most often succeeded.
Take a close look at that bride´s crown from 1597 and you will see eagles at the top and angels hanging all around below. Imagine the skill of that goldsmith and realize that there were ten of them living in that small city of Vä with just over 1000 inhabitants.
Zoom in on that book and enjoy the beautiful hand writing. The minutes started in 1647.
I think Haley´s and Emma´s show at Lilla Torg was worthy of a bigger audience.
I read somewhere that the reason the Swedes plundered Vä so often was due to the great value of the things created by those goldsmiths. When you look at the workmanship of that crown, it's easy to see why. Vä should have invested in a Diebold security system with vault, cameras and monitored alarms.
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