Ostrobothnia
Nedervetil
Land & Livelihood
The land of Nedervetil has many hills, ridges, lakes, rivers and streams. It is located in the Perho river valley. 4
Village settlements were always near water. Fishing was an important part of nourishment and water was the natural connection. 9
In the late 1800’s, much of the area land was described as being ‘cultivated of old natural meadows and marshy ground.’ The community was considered a ‘pure farm’ area. When the weather was favorable, they grew rye, corn and potatoes. It is said that farmers raised cows and sheep. 9
This map of the Nedervetil Parish from 1938 displays on the HisKi project website, made available by the Genealogical Society of Finland.
Parish History
The name Nedervetil came from the man, Jöns Andersson Wettela. He was mentioned in a tax book of 1553 as a man who had 18 farmers. And a few years later, in 1556, ‘Vetil’ had divided into two parts: Nedervetela with 14 farmers and Öffervetela with 5 farmers. The communities of Nedervetil grew throughout the late 1500’s and 1600’s. 9
- In 1467, part of the land within the large parish of Pedersöre was divided and the parish of Karleby was created
- In the 1550’s, one of Karleby’s villages arose and became known as Nedervetil
- In 1752 the village of Nedervetil, along with Overby and Norrby, split from Karleby to become the chapel parish of Nedervetil
- In 1753 Nedervetil had it its own district chapel and contributed to the support of 5 pastors.
- In 1896 Nedervetil became an independent parish. 9
Parish Records
Villages and farms of Nedervetil were recorded in T.W. Karsten’s work, Svesk Bygd I Osterbotten: Nu Och Fordom. 2 Nedervetil Parish Communion records were not used to confirm these findings.
Because parish Communion records are listed by village and farm names 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
For a very long time, the Nedervetil parish consisted of three villages: Kyrkbyn – the church village, Norrby 2, 10 and Överby.
- Simonsbacka
- Vik
- Ahlskog
- Slotte
- Bast
- Brännkärr
- Hästbacka
- Broända
- Morik
- Salo
- Mossbacka
- Pelo
- Lerbacka
- Stobacka
- Skriko
- Markusbacka
- Forsskans
- Backända
- Paasiala
- Dalbacka
- Vastersund
- Hognas
- Pirttiniemi
- Janislampi
- Haavisto
- Emmes
- Knihtila
- Jolka
- Saarukka
- Tuna
In the village of Överby
- Ollisbacka
- Tast
- Riippa
- Kaino
- Kaitfors
- Loulubacka
- Palm
- Viitavesi
- Gåsjårvi
- Gylling
Parish Church
The Nedervetil church was built by Mats Honga between 1751 and 1754. It is a traditional cross church. The first priest, Anders Chydenius served there until 1770. 3
Heikki Kuoririkoski began the expansion of the church in 1817. That design remains in the current church. 8
Nedervetil Church This file is licensed under the Creative Common Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license; Attribution: Santeri Vinamaki
To view the inside of the Nedervetil church, click here.
Of Interest
In 1754 Jakob Chydenius, brother of Nedervetil’s chaplain Anders Chydenius, wrote about the Nedervetil residents. ‘Inhabitants are as a rule neat and clean in their houses and clothing, sober, cheerful, hard-working intelligent, polite and thriving. As farmers they are energetic foremost for their indefatigable diligence applied to the stonefields that are transformed to fertile fields.’ 9
However, poverty was great. The following years are considered to be years heavy with poverty, crop failures, wars and epidemics: 1600, 1669, 1695, 1697, 1710, 1731, 1740-42, 1821, 1867-68, 1917-19, 1940-44. Since 1750 there were 17 difficult crop failure years, 19 war years, and 14 desolate epidemic years. 9
Folk Dress
Each parish has a unique folk dress. Parish folk dress can be recognized by its style, colors and patterns.
Nedervetil folk dress photo used with permission of the Brage costume agency.
References
- Genealogical Society of Finland, HisKi project, Nedervetil parish, http://hiski.genealogia.fi/hiski/a6lpei?en+0008
- Karsten T.W., Svesk Bygd I Osterbotten: Nu Och Fordom; Helingfors, 1923, pages 228-230
- Nedervetil, httpsÖ–sv.wikipedia.org-wiki-Nedervetil
- Nedervetil, http://www.nedervetil.fi/document.asp?id=17nvclx4q3h
- Nedervetil Church image, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alaveteli_Church_2017.jpg
- Nedervetil Church video, https://youtu.be/I6y_SsPKc9M
- Nedervetil Folk Dress; https://www.brage.fi/sve/draktbyra/draktbyran/folkdrakter/view-163648-87
- Nedervetil Forsamling; http://www.nedervetilsforsamling.fi
- Skog, Helge, Nedervetil Kommun Hembygdsbok, 1958, translated by June Pelo in 1982; http://sydaby.eget.net/swe/jp_nedervetil.htm, reprinted in SFHS Quarterly journals, Vol 22 Issue #4 and Vol 23 Issue #1
