Johannes Samuelsson was 10 years younger than his oldest brother. He and the middle brother must have had an interesting time of it. Their father died when Johannes was just 10 and Johan Berndt 13. His oldest brother, Johan Mangus was 20 at the time. Johan Magnus married a women named Brita Lena when he was 31. Johannes later married her when she became a widow with a young child less than two years after getting married. His middle brother also married a woman name Brita Lena. Family dinners must have been confusing.
On the household books his oldest brother and then Johannes is listed as the farmer, with the middle brother listed as a tenant farmer. I am not sure enough about how the Swedish land rules worked to understand that, but I get the feeling that may be why he married the widow right away – in order to preserve the land within the family.
