Introduction

I was born in 1957 on the fram Sjöarp, which lies at the shore of the lake Solgen in Edshults parish in the north of Småland. I still have my roots in Edshult and own Sjöarp together with my sister, who still lives on the farm. I still feel like a ´Edshultsbo´ even if have been living in Stockholm for the last 15 years.

These pages about Edshult are based on books that Gustav Nilsson and Tore Sandh wrote 25 years ago. I have long planned to make a contribution for the internet community, but not known what to write about. It should be something that could wake the interest of at least a few. Some information that would be hard to obtain elsewhere, but still interesting for those involved. After doing some searches on the internet about geneaological data and information about remote places, I have understood that information of this sort is not yet readily available. However, it can be of great interest of those who have their roots in a special part of the country. A place like Edshult was far more populated a hundred years ago, with a large number of emigrants. There must be thousands of persons who have their roots from here.

The interest of finding far-away roots over the internet is increasing, with many discussion groups created over the past few years. I this context my mother, Tora Rydén, showed me the books I have reproduced here. I copied them into html format using my Agfa 1212U scanner and an OCR software. I hope not too many errors were added.

I would like to thank Ulla-Maj Ekenvärn, Gustav Nilssons daughter, and Tore Sandh for giving me the permission to put this material onto the internet. Tore has pointed out that I have used an early edition of the book ´Edshult i gången tid I och II´. He told me that it has a few typographical errors, which appeared during the transfer of handwritten notes to the machine written booklet. In due time I hope that Tore might help me correct a few of those errors. He has also told me of his continued research over the years. He now has many binders full of data about farms and people from the past in Edshult. Those with questions are welcome to contact him at the address below:

Tore Sandh
Lyckås 1
S-57593 Eksjö
Sweden

As is seen in the emigrant journal over 500 persons have emigrated directly from Edshult, mainly to North America. Many more have first moved out of Edshult and later emigrated from another place within Sweden. Thus there must be thousands of descendents of these people from Edshult living in the USA. This page is the first one I have translated into english to make it easier to obtain information about this site.

If you have any comments, additional information or maybe a heritage in Edshult, please mail me at the address: kalle@mailcity.com