Ostrobothnia

Kronoby

Land & Livelihood

Kronoby’s northern borders extend into the sea of Bothnia and the mainland portion is set in a river valley with two streams, the Perho and Kronoby, crossing through it. 2 Next to the sea, the area has always been associated with fishing and ship building. Hunting and agriculture have also been important sources of income for its people.

This map of the Kronoby Parish from 1938 displays on the HisKi project website, made available by the Genealogical Society of Finland.

Parish History

  • The Kronoby area was originally included in the large Pedersöre parish
  • Kronoby became an independent parish in 1607 5 or 1608 9

Parish Records

Villages and farms of Kronoby were recorded in T.W. Karsten’s work,   Svesk Bygd I Osterbotten: Nu Och Fordom. 3  Kronoby Parish Communion records were not used to confirm these findings. Because parish Communion records are listed by farm name and because farm names often were used as a part of a person’s name, it is interesting to note the following farms. To open a printable list of villages and farms (pdf), click here.

Villages & Farms

Historic farms in Kronoby  include3:

Poras, Hopsala, Knivsund, Långö, Norrby ,Söderby, Yetterbråtö – the church village, and Överbråtö

  1. Byskata
  2. Storbjörk
  3. Lillbjörk
  4. Sandbacka
  5. Torkuilla
  6. Krok
  7. Krokfors
  8. Finnilä
  9. Skuthälla
  10. Myrskog
  11. Holgärds
  12. Lillskrubb
  13. Storskrubb
  14. Ståhl
  15. Bagge
  16. Damskata
  17. Knippare
  18. Åstrand
  19. Åkerlund

  1. Torgare
  2. Frosnäs
  3. Åminne
  4. Kackurs
  5. Bjong
  6. Bjongback
  7. Biskop
  8. Tranubäck
  9. Rudnäs
  10. Högnäs
  11. Rönnkrans
  12. Sunde
  13. Lillsunde
  14. Haga
  15. Spikbacka
  16. Stor
  17. Finnholm
  18. Abbor
  19. Hummel
  20. Vis
  21. Laggnäs
  22. Backnäs
  23. Hästö
  24. Korpholm

  1. Själ
  2. Kniv
  3. Kulla
  4. Saari
  5. Backa
  6. Haga
  7. Djupsund

  1. Åko
  2. Tjäru
  3. Sweins
  4. Näcksund
  5. Kort
  6. Bysund
  7. Lillkort
  8. Krokvik
  9. Lillkrokvik
  10. Bodö
  11. Kvarnnabba

  1. Holm
  2. Käld
  3. Döregrep
  4. Träisk
  5. Gers
  6. Bjon
  7. Norrby

  1. Kivijärvi
  2. Snåre
  3. Kulbacka
  4. Björklund
  5. Asplund
  6. Skutnabba
  7. Fröjdö
  8. Hägglund
  9. Merijärvi
  10. Nyberg
  11. Nygård

  1. Slotte
  2. Bäck
  3. Fiskarholm
  4. Riska
  5. Nygård
  6. Antbacka
  7. Still
  8. Lyttare
  9. Lyttbacka
  10. Näse
  11. Nynäs
  12. Boholm

  1. Mäller
  2. Lybeck
  3. Lindbäck
  4. Lönnbäck
  5. Lybeck
  6. Huggare
  7. Sabel
  8. Spik
  9. Kronlund
  10. Storvikar
  11. Lillvikar
  12. Harabacka
  13. Storä
  14. Lillbroanda

Parish Church

In 1796 a drawing of the church for the Kronoby parish was prepared by the Supreme Court in Stockholm.  The church was built in 1822 under the supervision of Heikki Kuorikoski.  It is a wooden cross church. 5 The church was dedicated in 1826. 8 The bell tower, on the grounds of the church, is the oldest preserved bell tower in the Ostrobothnia area.  It was built sometime between 1660 and 1690. 5, 8  Repair work was done in 1824 in connection with the building of the church. 8

Church:  This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.  Attribute: EskoG To view the inside of the Kronoby church, click here.

Of Interest

In 1628, Governor Johan Månsson Ulfsparre was given an assignment to construct a hospital for those suffering from leprosy on Korpeholm (in the village of Hopsala). The hospital construction was controversial in 1628 because there already was a leper hospital on the island of Själö in the southern part of Malax.  Initially it was exclusively for those suffering from leprosy, but by the beginning of the 1700’s patients with mental illnesses, suffering from blindness, and other poor people stricken by illnesses were also accepted by the hospital. 2

Folk Dress

Each parish has a unique folk dress.  Parish folk dress can be recognized by its style, colors and patterns.

  Kronoby folk dress photo used with the permission of the Brage costume agency.

References:

  1. Genealogical Society of Finland, HisKi project, Kronoby parish, http://hiski.genealogia.fi/hiski/a47apj
  2. Jensen, Alicia, ‘Discovering Swedish-speaking municipalities: Kronoby’, Helsinki Times, Nov 16, 2014
  3. Karsten T.W., Svesk Bygd I Osterbotten: Nu Och Fordom; Helingfors, 1923, pages 209 – 216
  4. Kronoby, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronoby
  5. Kronoby church, Museiverket, http://www.kulturmiljo.fi/read/asp/rsv_kohde_det.aspx?KOHDE_ID=1621
  6. Kronoby Church image, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kronoby_kyrkan.jpg
  7. Kronoby Church video, https://youtu.be/kui5yKSr7SQ
  8. Kronoby Folk Dress image, Brage costume agency, https://www.brage.fi/sve/draktbyra/draktbyran/folkdrakter/view-163648-76
  9. Kronoby forsamling, https://www.kronobyforsamling.fi/kyrka-och-lokaler/kronoby-kyrka
  10. Skog, Helge, author of many stories in Nedervetil Kommun Hembygdsbok, 1958, translated by June Pelo in 1982 under the title of ’Villages in Ostrobothnia’, http://sydaby.eget.net/swe/jp_nedervetil.htm