The Family Line Extends into the Norwegian Period

Hans Persson inherited his share of the farm from his father, Pär Hansson, extending the documented family line further back into the Norwegian era.

In Norwegian source material from before 1658, as well as in the earliest court records from the border region, Pär’s father is documented, while his mother remains unnamed.

Thanks to Norway’s strict inheritance traditions and odal law (ancestral landholding rights), family ownership of land was carefully recorded at local assemblies (tings), making it possible to identify both Pär’s father and grandfather.

Pär’s Father: Hans

Name: Pär’s father was named Hans. This is confirmed by the fact that Pär carried the patronymic surname Hansson in the earliest Swedish records.

In addition, Pär’s eldest son was named Hans Persson (1666–1750), following the traditional Nordic naming custom in which the eldest son was often named after his paternal grandfather.

Historical record: Hans was born in Ånneröd during the early seventeenth century, when the region still belonged to Denmark-Norway.

As an adult farmer, he experienced repeated border conflicts and the final transfer of Bohuslän to Sweden in 1658 before passing the family holding on to his son Pär.

Pär’s Grandfather: Gunder

Name: One generation further back, Norwegian records from approximately 1610–1640 identify a farmer named Gunder (rendered as Gunnar in later Swedish records) as managing the family’s section of Ånneröd.

Archival record: Gunder appears in the Norwegian tax registers for Viken (Akershus lensregnskaper) as responsible for paying landgille (land rent) to the Crown. His son Hans later inherited the tenancy rights to this section of the Fullgården Ånneröd estate.

Why Is the Mother’s Name Missing?

In early seventeenth-century Norwegian records, such as the Skattematrikkelen of 1647 and regional court books, wives and mothers were rarely recorded by name unless they became widows and personally appeared before the local assembly to defend inheritance rights or participate in legal proceedings.

As a result, Pär’s mother and grandmother are referenced only indirectly as the wife of Hans and the wife of Gunder.

A Continuous Family Line

Through this documented line, from Gunder, living under the rule of King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway, through his son Hans, and onward to Pär, who is recorded during the Swedish takeover in 1659, the family maintained uninterrupted possession of their land in Ånneröd.

This holding later in 1825 became known as the farm Stan.

Ånneröd Before Swedish Rule

Before Bohuslän became Swedish, records concerning Ånneröd in Norwegian archives become considerably more detailed.

The Tax Register of 1647 - Norway

In the final major Norwegian tax register before the Swedish takeover, Skattematrikkelen 1647, Ånneröd is described in notable detail:

• Classification: Ånneröd is registered as a Full Farm (Fullgård), the highest tax category in rural Bohuslän. This classification indicates productive farmland, forest resources, and substantial livestock capacity.

• Ownership structure: The register confirms that the farmers of Ånneröd, including Pär’s ancestors, were leilendinger (tenant farmers). The land itself belonged partly to Kastelle Monastery in Konghelle (modern-day Kungälv) and partly to the Norwegian Crown.

The farmers paid their fixed landgille (rent) in goods such as butter, grain, or animal hides.

Life in the Norwegian Village

During the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the family lived in a traditional clustered Norwegian farming settlement.

The village was largely self-sufficient:

• grain was milled locally

• textiles were woven at home

• houses were built from timber harvested in surrounding forests

Because Lur parish lay near an important trade route and royal road through northern Viken (later Bohuslän), the village was repeatedly affected by conflicts between Sweden and Denmark-Norway.

During wars such as the Kalmar War, military troops frequently passed through the area, often requisitioning or looting livestock and grain from local farms.

The Oldest Recorded Name of Ånneröd

Ånneröd appears in written sources for the first time in 1391 in the famous Norwegian land register known as Bishop Eystein’s Land Register (also called The Red Book).

• The farm is recorded as: j Arna rudi

• Meaning: The name derives from Old Norse and means “Arne’s clearing” (Arna-rud), likely referring to a forest clearing established by a man named Arne during the early Middle Ages.

This suggests that the entire clustered settlement originally began as a single medieval forest clearing that later developed into the larger farming community known as Ånneröd.

This Genealogy is part of: History of the Farmsted→

• Article: Raised From the Land→

Back to: Restoring the Past→