This 1906 Swedish funeral card served as both an invitation to services and a keepsake of the departed. As seen below, the card folds in half. And then top folds to create a flap. The verso was then addressed and delivered to the person invited to the funeral.
Larsson Family Relationships
My grandmother’s papers helped shed light on in-laws of my Swedish Larsson family. This funeral card was addressed to my great-great aunt Hedda. Maria Margareta was her uncle’s wife. And therefore, she was my ggg-uncle’s wife. (Yes, I used my family tree software to be sure of this relationship!)
Swedish Funeral Card Translation
I attempted a translation of the funeral card for Maria Margareta Persson Larsson, with corrections courtesy of blog reader Stefan Lejman. (Tack, Stefan!)
That
our beloved mother
Maria Margareta Larsson,
born Persson,
After a long-lasting suffering, calmly and peacefully died in Björka
Saturday, May 19, 1906, at 6 p.m. at an age of 80 years.
Deeply mourned by us, relatives and friends,
We hereby have the painful duty to announce.
Uppenb[arelse] 21: 4* [Her] children
Invite
to honor the deceased with their presence
funeral ceremony
in Lindesberg
Saturday the 27th of May 1906 at 2 p.m.
Meeting in the house of grieving at half past 9
*Book of Revelation 21:4: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Finding the Death Record
Death records can be some of the most elusive of genealogical records. But this Swedish funeral card provided a death date for Maria Margareta. And that led directly to her parish death and burial record.
With the information from this funeral card, I located Maria’s Björka parish death record in Sweden, Indexed Death Records, 1840-1942, including a digitized image (below). (Thanks for buying Genline, Ancestry!) From the death card information, I also found baptism and marriage records for Maria Persdotter Larsson. So for a woman who had been mostly been a question mark in my tree, the funeral card was the key to unlocking great information. Now I’m off to ArkivDigital for birth, baptism, and marriage records.
Maria Margaretha Larsson [death record], GID Number: 2106.142.8200, from Swedish Church Records Archive. Johanneshov, Sweden: Genline AB, via Sweden, Indexed Death Records, 1840-1947, Ancestry.com.
For more Sassy Jane posts on funeral cards, click here.
For more Sassy Jane posts on Swedish records and research, click here.
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