Thekla Knös

1815-1880.

Poet, photographer.

After the father Gustav, who was vicar in Västeråker and Dalby, died in 1828, the mother Alida and daughter Thekla moved to Uppsala. They settled in the house at the northern end of Östra Ågatan, which is now part of the Fjellstedt School premises under the name Kavaljeren.

Thekla Knös and her mother became known in Uppsala as 'de små knösarna' (the little Knöses) and participated diligently in the social and literary life of the city. Thekla Knös gave language lessons and the 'little Knöses' also held literary salons in their home with the participation of Geijer, Atterbom, Järta, Törneros and Wennerberg. Knös also made translations, which was an income for many upper-middle-class women in the 19th century.

At Atterbom's urging, Knös competed in the Academy with the poetry cycle Ragnar Lodbrok and won the Swedish Academy's Grand Prize in 1851. Several of her works were also set to music.

She also published Fotografier över det forna Uppsalivet, the book Året, with the subtitle Teckningar ur barndomslivet, and storybooks and other books for children.

After her mother's death in 1855, Knös suffered from a deep depression, and what kept her going was her religiousness and her friends. She stayed with various friends and relatives and was also looked after by Malla Silfverstolpe for a time. However, her mental health deteriorated and Thekla Knös died after 16 years in Växjö Hospital.

The following example of Knö's poetry is taken from the poem 'Desire in the drawing room' from Dikter, Band 1-2, 1852-1853.

Alas, the hall was now beaming.
Alas, it was hastily changed
To the quiet, shady valley.
Where happy hours have fled!
O! be the soft couch
My dear, mossy stone!
And the carpet- floral plan,
And the lamp-the glow of the evening sun!

Oh, to be a whispering tern
A tender and shimmering birch;
Be a bowing gentleman - how nice!
A fir tree whispering dark!
The music - the birds chirping
And the murmur - the song of the waves!
But - in the lounge I am sitting,
And time makes me long.

 

Burial site: 0112-0591

Image description: Thekla Knös, year unknown. Photo: Svenskt biografiskt lexikon / RiksarkivetThe image is cropped]
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Hans Järta

1774-1847.

Civil servant, politician, author.

Hans Järta (originally Baron Hans Hierta) became a student in Uppsala at the age of 13, an official in the Cabinet for Foreign Correspondence at the age of 18, and a secretary in the Judicial Audit Department four years later.

At the age of eighteen, Järta was hanging out with the men in the conspiracy against King Gustav III. Järta was at the masquerade ball in 1792 when the shot against Gustav III was fired. Afterwards, Järta gave some misleading information about the shooting, but there is only circumstantial evidence as to whether he was involved in the actual assassination plan. Nor was he ever accused of involvement in the murder.

Järta renounced both his nobility and his parliamentary position at the Riksdag in 1800 in protest against Gustav IV Adolf and the monarchical autocracy and took the name Järta (the family name was Hierta).

Järta was one of the men behind the 1809 coup d'état and, after the king's abdication, was one of the leaders in the Riksdag that year. He was secretary to the Constitutional Committee during the drafting of the 1809 Constitution.

Järta was also governor of Kopparbergs län 1812-1822, a member of the Swedish Academy in 1819 and moved to Uppsala in 1825 where he worked as a writer. In Uppsala, Järta held a literary salon, which competed with Malla Silfverstolpe's salon.

Järta later became head of the National Archives from 1837-1844.

The tall gravestone that adorns the cemetery refers to his son of the same name, who died as a young student in 1825.

 

Burial site: 0112-0588

Image description: Hans Järta. Photo: From Emil Hildebrand, History of Sweden up to the twentieth century, vol 9 (1910) / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Carl Hard

1768-1840.

Major General.

Carl Hård was born on Jällsta farm in Viksta parish and became a lieutenant in the Uppland regiment at the age of 20. He took part in the Finnish War of 1788-1790 and distinguished himself in the first battle of Svensksund in 1789. The following year Hård took part in the naval battle of Hamina, a battle commanded by Gustav III.

As a major, Hård took part in the siege of Stralsund in 1807, the siege of Liers Skans in Norway in 1808 and the defense of Sävar and Ratan in 1809. At the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, he commanded the regiment as lieutenant colonel and was later appointed colonel of the army. He then took part in the march to Brussels and the campaign to Norway.

Carl Hård became a major general in 1822 and retired in 1835. In addition to his military career, Hård was an art collector and during his last years he lived in Uppsala near Fyrisån (later Ofvandalska gården). In Uppsala he spent time in the academic circles around Geijer and Atterbom.

Hård's art collection, consisting of around one hundred oil paintings, was later donated to Uppsala University. The donation laid the foundation for the Uppsala University Art Museum.

 

Burial site: 0103-0177

Image description: Portrait of Carl Hård painted by J.G. Sandberg. Photo: National Archives / Swedish Biographical Dictionary. [The image is cropped]
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Ann Margret Holmgren

1850-1940.

Author, feminist.

Ann Margret Holmgren was one of the leaders of the women's movement for suffrage and peace. In the early 1900s, she became increasingly involved in women's issues through Ellen Kay and Lydia Wahlström.

Holmgren participated in the formation of the Association for Women's Political Suffrage in 1902 and traveled around the country, agitating and lecturing on the issue of suffrage until universal suffrage was decided in the Riksdag in 1919.

Holmgren was vice-chairman of the Swedish Women's Peace Association and one of the founders of the Swedish Women's Civic Federation in 1921.

She published pamphlets related to the suffrage movement and also published life drawings in the books Pionjärer (1928-1930) and Minnen och tidsbilder (1926).

 

Burial site: 0125-1141

Image description: Ann Margret Holmgren, unknown year. Photo: Unknown photographer / Stockholm City Museum. [The image is cropped]
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Jan Fridegård

1897-1968.

Author.

Johan Fridegård, known as Jan Fridegård, grew up in a stately home outside Enköping and made his debut in 1931 with the poetry collection Den svarta lutan. Before his debut, he worked in several different professions but was periodically unemployed and without income.

Fridegård wrote articles for the revolutionary magazine Brand, and his first novel, En natt i juli (A Night in July), was published in 1933. The theme of liberation is portrayed in the autobiographical suite of novels Jag Lars Hård (1935), Tack för himmlastegen (1936), and Barmhärtighet (1936).

During the mood of preparedness for the Second World War, Fridegård began to write about the rebellious slave Holme in Trägudars land (1940), Gryningsfolket (1944) and Offerrök (1949).

Fridegård moved several times in his life and lived during the latter part of his life at Bredmansgatan 7A in Uppsala.

A museum has been dedicated to Jan Fridegård at Övergran church in Håbo.

 

Burial site: 0105-0304

Image description: Jan Fridegård in his home, Uppsala 1948. Photo: Paul Sandberg / Upplandsmuseet. [The image is cropped]
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Ebba Boström

1844-1902.

Philanthropist, founder of the Samaritan Home.

Ebba Boström was born at Östanå Castle in Roslagen. She was interested in helping the sick at an early age and devoted herself to philanthropic activities. Between 1878 and 1881, Boström spent time in England to study Christian relief work and received medical training there. In London and Manchester she was associated with the evangelical revival movement.

In 1882, she moved to Uppsala, took over the Uppsala Moral Society's rescue home for girls, purchased new premises at her own expense and expanded the business by training future employees.

Boström also built an orphanage for "defenseless" (exposed, abandoned) girls.

A new hospital at Dragarbrunnsgatan 74 was completed in 1893 and named Samariterhemmet. She began training deaconesses there, and a house was purchased as a home for the students.

In 1899 Boström handed over the entire property to the Samaritan Home Foundation.

Ebba Boström's uncle is the philosopher Christopher Jacob Boström, who is also buried in the Old Cemetery.

 

Burial site: 0126-1165

Image description: Ebba Boström, year unknown. Photo: Swedish Biographical Dictionary / National ArchivesThe image is cropped]
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Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom

1790-1855.

Author, literary historian, philosopher.

At the age of 17, Atterbom became one of the leading members of the Musis Amici society (later the Aurora Society), which sought to reform Swedish literature in a neo-Romantic spirit.

The literary revolution that Atterbom wanted to lead began in 1810 with the critical and satirical journal Polyphemus. Together with V.F. Palmblad, he started the journal Phosforus, which claimed poetry as a spiritual force capable of transforming life.

With his friends Geijer, Palmblad and Törneros, Atterbom had an amiable and soulful family relationship, and in Malla Silfverstolpe's salons, Atterbom and other Romantics were intimately at home for decades.

Atterbom became professor of theoretical philosophy in 1828, professor of aesthetics and modern literature in 1835 and was also a member of the Swedish Academy from 1839.

His works include the fairy tale play Fågel Blå (1814), the lyrical fairy tale play Lycksalighetens ö (1824-1827) and Samlade dikter (1837-1838). In Svenska siare och skalder (1841-1845), Swedenborg, Ehrensvärd and Thorild are portrayed. Stiernhielm, Dahlin, Kellgren and Bellman are also portrayed.

 

Burial site: 0152-0060

Image description: Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, painting by Johan Gustaf Sandberg 1831, Photo: Nationalmuseum / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Malla silver post

1782-1861.

Author.

Magdalena (Malla) Silfverstolpe was left motherless at an early age and grew up with her mother's relatives on the family estate Edsberg. She and her husband David Silfverstolpe moved to Uppsala in 1812 and quickly settled into the stimulating academic and white environment.

After her husband's death in 1819, Silfverstolpe began to 'hold a salon' on Friday evenings for the higher society of the time, attended by people from the cultural and scientific circles. The salon was held in Uppsalahemmet at Stora torget, where the Romantics Geijer and Atterbom, among others, gathered.

They offered the opportunity to listen to literature read aloud and to music. Debates were held, songs were sung and letters were read. Both Malla Silfverstolpe and Thekla Knös, who held the salon herself, have described these meetings in their respective diaries.

Malla Silfverstolpe had a knack for collecting and inviting talent, and the home hosted several famous people, such as Jenny Lind, H.C. Andersen and C.J.L. Almqvist. Malla Silfverstolpe took part in the controversy surrounding Almqvist's book Det går an (1839) with the countersign Månne det går an? (1840).

 

Burial site: 0104-0249

Image description: Malla Silfverstolpe 1850s. Photo: Unknown photographer / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Erik Gustaf Geijer

1783-1847.

Historian, philosopher, author and composer.

Erik Gustaf Geijer, one of Uppsala's greatest cultural personalities of all time, was born in Ransäter in Värmland and came to Uppsala as a student in 1799. As an informant, he spent 1809-1810 in England where he carefully observed social and cultural life.

Geijer's understanding of the intellectuals' criticism increased during a trip to Germany in 1825, and he began to take a more realistic approach to the fantasies of Romanticism. He expressed this in Minnen (1834).

Geijer realized the importance of the middle class in society and the legitimacy of its demands for freedom, and as a result of the changed social analysis there was a political reorientation away from conservatism. He announced this 'apostasy' in 1838.

Geijer's ability to see and formulate the essential contexts of his time made him a strong voice in opinion-forming. Among his most significant works are Svea Rikes hävder (1825), which depicts Sweden's oldest history, and History of the Swedish People (1832-1836).

Geijer was a brilliant lecturer, a profound scholar and one of the leaders of the literary circles in Uppsala in the 1830s. He was also at the center of musical life, composing songs, piano sonatas, string quartets and other instrumental music.

Erik Gustaf Geijer was a professor of history from 1817 to 1847 and became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1824. He lived at Svartbäcksgatan 17 and then moved to Övre Slottsgatan 2. In 1846 Geijer moved to Stockholm.

The following is taken from the poem "Natthimmelen" from Samlade skrifter, Band 1-13 1849-1855.

Alone I progress on my path,
longer and longer the road stretches;
Alas, my goal is hidden in the distance.
Daylight is fading. Space becomes nocturnal.
Soon only the eternal stars I see.

But I do not complain about the day,
I am not dismayed by the coming night;
for of the love that goes through the world,
a streak also fell into my soul.

 

Burial site: 0104-0248

Image description: Erik Gustaf Geijer, lithograph from the 1840s. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Gustaf Fröding

1860-1911.

Poet, writer.

Gustaf Fröding was born at Alsters manor in Värmland and was deeply rooted in Värmland's mill and manor life through his family. He came to Uppsala in 1880 and lived at Övre slottsgatan 13 in a farmhouse and took a single exam. Fröding joined the radical circles of the Verdandi association and wrote parodic poems and comradely songs.

He returned to Karlstad where, after writing notices in various newspapers, he was employed by Karlstadstidningen. An inheritance in 1888 brought financial independence and Fröding left his employment.

Between 1889 and 1890, Fröding spent time in a 'mental institution' in Görlitz due to mental problems. It was there that he experienced his first major creative period, when the bulk of his debut collection of poems, Gitarr och dragharmonika, was completed, making him Sweden's foremost poet at the time.

The following example of Fröding's poetry, entitled "I ungdomen", is taken from Gitarr och dragharmonika, 2nd edition, 1893:

The river sparkles so beautifully,
it chirps so merrily in the furrow.
Here I lie lazy, like a spoiled son
in the lap of my mother nature.
It sings and smells and shines and smiles
from earth and sky and everything I see.

It is as if the wind carries a message to me
about happy days, which are striped,
my blood is in turmoil, I think I am in love
- in whom? - alas in everything that breathes.
I wanted everything in heaven and earth
was close to my heart in the form of a girl.

In 1894 New Poems was published and in 1896 Splashes and Tabs. However, his health deteriorated and Fröding was hospitalized at Ulleråkers Hospital from 1896-1905.

Gustaf Fröding died on February 8, 1911 and was buried in the Old Cemetery in Uppsala on February 12. After the burial in Klara Church in Stockholm, the coffin was taken by special train to Uppsala. In his speech, Archbishop Nathan Söderblom said the following words at the coffin:

"Three little books came out - and a whole language has grief".

Many of the people of Uppsala met the coffin when it arrived in Uppsala. Then the coffin, wrapped in torchlight in the winter twilight, was taken to the cemetery. Erik Axel Karlfeldt spoke at the grave.

 

Burial site: 0157-0504

Image description: Gustaf Fröding, 1896. Photo: Heinrich Osti / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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