Occupation Investigation - Karl Teodor Källman

Many of the old Swedish parish records list an ancestors title or occupation.

The words are often confusing, antiquated and make little sense to me.

Now and again I like to investigate, do some research.

What is the meaning of my ancestors title or occupation?

How did he support and feed his family in his time?

In the 1883-1887 Swedish Household Examination my great grandfather Carl Teodor Andersson (father of my grandfather Richard Kallman) is working as a "Tråddragare". This translates to a wire-drawer. That did not help me, what would this be? The dictionary was no more help telling me that it is "one who draws wire". Really?? My husband, who is pretty knowledgeable explained it to me like this. A "wire-drawer" would be a person who sets up, or operates a machine that extrudes (draws) metal materials into tubes, rods, wires, etc. For instance he might work a factory machine that produces barbed wire. Now I got it.

wire drawers with their tools outside a wire factory @1890

When I thought of Sweden I always, for some reason, thought of idyllic farmland, rolling green hills and the Swedes of old being basically farmers. In fact Sweden has a thousand year old history of mining, particularly iron. Today Sweden is by far the largest iron ore producer in the EU.

 → SWEDISH ORE MINES

To be a miner in the late  19th century was no doubt, grueling and back breaking work. It was also unhealthy and downright dangerous. Perhaps Carl considered himself lucky to instead be working in a factory.  If you can call it lucky that the family lived on company property in company owned housing with pretty poor pay, long work days and hard work.  Looking at where my grandfather Richard was born and where his family lived also gave me more clues. Grytgol, Ostergotland. There is a large factory there still in existence which has been up and running since the 1600's as one of the world's leading suppliers of industrial wire.

→ GRYTGÖL BRUK

Carl very likely could have worked for this same company. Hard work and poorly paid, it was still an occupation that did command some respect, a blacksmith type trade.  Having a trade, he distinguished himself by no longer going by his patronymic Andersson but took the surname Källman, passing the name on to my grandfather Richard, my father Carl Melvin and me. 

my great grandfather

Carl Teodor Källman - Tråddragare

b.10 September 1853 Tjällmo, Östergötland, Sweden

d. 03 September 1910 Mjölby, Östergötland, Sweden