Adding to the misery of 2020, I found a while back that the research linking my ancestry to taffeltackäre Johan Hultman (d. 1735) is almost certainly in error or possibly even fabricated.
Johan Hultman was a real person and was in service to King Charles XII of Sweden and accompanied him through much of his military career. As taffeltackäre, he was responsible for personal attendance to the King at mealtimes especially. He wrote colorful memoirs that historians often reference in their study of the King.
Research prepared in the 1930’s connects us to Johan through his grandson, Jonas. Unfortunately, there’s pretty solid evidence that Johan Hultman’s grandson Jonas died as an infant and we are descended from an entirely different Jonas Hultman.
The following diagram illustrates the problem – there are two Jonas Hultmans. One is the grandson of Johan Hultman; he died as an infant (not in 1803 as shown). The other is the grandfather of Jonas Peter Hultman. We don’t know who his parents were, at least yet.
The timing of this is fortunate in one small regard…I was actually in the middle of preparing a series of posts about the Hultman family. So I’m glad I was spared the embarrassment of writing about a fictional connection.
So how did I get such bad information? I took at face value some research that had been prepared by Folke Wernstedt, a Swedish historian with expertise in medieval genealogy. His research was either incomplete or, as some have suggested, fabricated during a time when it was fashionable to prove connections to nobility. Thank you to a distant cousin Stefan who reached out to me on Facebook and provided me with factual evidence that proved Mr. Wernstedt wrong.
Another sad, sad day in this miserable year 2020.
So, to set the record straight, and for the benefit of future researchers, here is the debunking of our Hultman ancestry.
Generation 1: Johan Hultman
I know of no record of Johan’s birth, but we have records of the baptism of his children and of his estate inventory. Thank you to my friend Kjell Andersson for finding most of these:
- Baptism of son Nils (v85362.b199.s391)
- Baptism of son Johannes (v85362.b205.s403)
- Baptism of son Carl Niclas (v85362.b215.s422)
- Baptism of daughter Hedvig (v85362.b226.s444)
- Cannot find record of baptism of son Daniel
- Death record Johan Hultman (v85363.b241.s472)
- Letters and other documents (Riksarkivet)
- Estate Inventory (v433432.b3510.s703)
Generation 2: Carl Niclas Hultman
Carl Niclas with the third child born to Johan Hultman.
Let’s first review the birth records for Carl Niclas’ children:
| Child’s Name | Birth Record | ArkivDigital Link |
| Anna Christina | 29 Jun 1734 | v126695.b114 |
| Carl Johan | 12 Aug 1734 | v126695.b124 |
| Brita Margareta | 03 Sep 1735 | v126695.b132 |
| Jonas | 22 Sep 1736 | v126696.b11.s6 |
| Aron | 01 May 1738 | v126696.b22.s17 |
| Carl | 25 Jul 1740 | v126696.b36.s31 |
| Eva Maria | 10 Aug 1741 | v126696.b42.s37 |
| Johanna Ulrica | 01 Aug 1742 | v126696.b51.s46 |
| Ulrica Johanna | 30 Sep 1744 | v126696.b66.s61 |
All well and good; now let’s review the death records.
The “infant child of academic surgeon Nils Hultman” died on October 10, 1734 (v126723.b70). At that time, there were two children in the household, and we know that Anna Christina lived to adulthood. So the child that died must have been Carl Johan, only 3 months old.
Next we find a death record for “Academic surgeon Hultman little son” on December 19, 1736 (v126723.b77 – this is the smoking gun). At this point, there are three children in the household. Two are girls (Anna Christina and Brita Margareta). The only other child, a son, is Jonas. So it’s pretty clear here that this Jonas Hultman cannot be the father of Isaac Hultman.
Generation 3: The “Mystery” Jonas Hultman
There is a Jonas Hultman, father of Isaac Hultman, with unknown birth date and unknown parents. Obviously, this is not the same person as the Jonas Hultman who was the son of Carl Niclas.
Generation 4: Isaac Hultman
Isaac Hultman, born 13 Jan 1782 is most certainly my ancestor. He was born in Norra Sandsjö parish. This is one of the parishes in Sweden that experienced significant records loss due to fire. He later moved to Skepperstad parish. There, we find a Household Examination Record for Isaac (v20381.b252.s239) and his name is stated as “Isac Jonasson Hultman”. So indeed his father was named Jonas, but it couldn’t have been the Jonas Hultman that was the son of Carl Niclas Hultman.
Generation 5: Jonas Peter Hultman
Jonas Peter Hultman, born 1 Aug 1812 (Skepperstad, Jönköping, Sweden) and d. 10 Oct 1903 (Randolph, Riley County, Kansas) was most certainly my great-great-great-grandfather.
Generation 6: Lisa Stena Hultman
Lisa Stena Hultman, b. 30 Dec 1842 (Stockaryd, Jönköping, Sweden) and d. 11 Apr 1899 (Randolph, Riley County, Kansas) was most certaintly my great-great-grandmother. We have photos and keepsakes from Lisa and her family.
