About some family portraits found on the internet
During a search on the internet for ”lost” relatives, around 2007-2008, I got a rather special hit. The publishers adresse showed ”Kammarkollegiet”, which certainly made me curious. Kammarkollegiet is a swedish authority, the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency, for instance it is looking after the Swedish Inheritance Fund's interest and other areas of public interest. There I found photos of a number of family portraits. These portraits had been found among what was left by the curator Maud Bennel in Stockholm, who died in 1988. During my correspondence with Kammarkollegiet, I learned that Bennel had no inheriter, and there where no documents found showing who could be the owner of these portraits. Therfore, the portraits now seemed to be inherited by the Inhertitance Fund.
One of the most striking portraits was described as colonel lieutenant baron Isaac von Knorring, which was rather easy to find in the book von Knorring family book. There, the author, the former genealogist at the Swedish House of Nobility, mr Pontus Möller had written the following, p 191 ff. Isaac born 1687 3/2 Stockholm, dead 1755 21/9 at Forsby, V. Eds parish, owner of Ottinge in Lofta parish and Redberga in Marka parish. 1702 sergeant at Helsinge reg.; 1703 8/4 fänrik; 1705 4/3 sekundlöjtnant; 1707 12/9 premiärlöjtnant; 1708 5/1 regementskvartermästare; 1709 in June captain; prisoner of war in Russia; participated at the battles of Birsen, Gemäuerthoff, Liesna, Desna and Poltava; badly hurt in his right leg and left foot; 1722 4/5 major; retired in 1732. Married in 1724 15/9 in Stockholm to Eva Christina de Besche, born 1705 21/2, dead 1770 1/5, daughter of Isak de Besche and Christina Sabina von Berchner. A funny aspect, Isaac was my grandfathers grandfathers grandfathers grandfathers grandfathers uncles grandsons grandson! But, here it also came up some threads leading to the identification of the persons on the other portraits too. Isaac was married to Eva Christina de Besche, one of the names which occured on the homepage of Kammarkollegiet. Isaac and Eva had the following descendants. - Hedvig Christina, born 1725 7/7, dead 1801 16/3 at Bjursund, Loftahammars parish (Kalm.). Married in 1741 9/8 to baron Georg Henrik Lybecker, born 1720, dead 1776. - Jöran Isaac, born 1727 30/9, dead 1797 17/6 at Forsby. 1744 in military service; 1746 17/5 sergeant; 1747 21/5 fänrik; 1750 18/4 lieutenant; 1758 13/10 captain; 1759 26/8 wounded in the pommeranian war at Swinemünde; 1767 27/5 retired; 1767 23/11 knight of the order of the Seraphim; owner of Ottinge and Forsby... - Eva Catharina, born 1728 18/12, dead 1785 20/7 at Hällerö, V. Eds parish, buried in a private chancel at the church of V. Ed together with her husband Fredrik Johan Götherhielm, born 1720, dead 1771. - NN, son, dead 1730 15/5 at Lofta parish, at the age of 6 months. - Otto Wilhelm, dead 4 years old. In this matter, the first born of these childrens was of highest interest, Hedvig Christina. She was married to the baron Georg Henrik Lybecker, another of the names at the homepage of Kammarkollegiet.
The information given in our family book showed that the portrait of Isaac von Knorring, in 1919, was owned by a baron Axel Lybecker. His paintings where photographed in 1919 by the Swedish Archives of Portraits. Following that thread, I ordered a copy of his will. And there the complete collection of portraits was listed! From there, the threads led me to his sisters daughter, Anna Amalia, and her will. And again, the collection was once again completely mentioned. Neither Anna Amalia had any descendants, so she destined the paitings in her will to a mr Sten S:son Ankarcrona, who died in 1981. And here ends my story, as the heirs that follows are still alive, and therefore are not to be published on the internet. |
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