Friday, May 6, 2011

Drowned in 1876 - Due to intoxication

I have a line of people with the surname Rickard born i Vinslöv. I found a person, Pehr Rickard, born 1844 in Vinslöv. I don't know if there is a relation, he was born out of wedlock and I don't know who his father was. The name is not very common and Vinslöv is not a very big place. I decided to find out what ever I could about him.

Pehr moved from Vinslöv to Ängelholm. From Ängelholm to Malmö and then back to Ängelholm. He made tiled stoves. Then, June 24 in 1876 he dies. Drowned in Rönneå the priest wrote down in the death book. Unmarried and only 31 years old. When looking in the death book I notice right under Pehr there is another maker of tiled stoves that also drowns, in the same day at the same place, Lars Magnus Persson from Lund. Why would they drown in the middle of the summer?

Ängelholm FI:1 (1862-1894) picture 80 / page 76 


So, down to the library, digging into the microfilms of old newspapers.. and I found a small notice in Öresundsposten..

Translated, something like:

"Due to intoxication,
A tile stove maker Persson from Lund and a tile stove maker Rickard from Engelholm, both in named town, on midsummerday, took a trip on the stream next to Engelholm in a small boat,  eventhough warned not to enter the boat, they did not follow the advice, the outcome, they both drowned. They were picked up after a while but thier lives could not be saved"

From Öresundsposten


Midsummernight eve is a typical Swedish tradition to celebrate and it seems like whoever wrote that article in the newspaper felt they had them self to blame since they were probably drunk.

I still havent found out if he is a relative or not.

All the places mentioned in this post are in the south of Sweden.

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