Subcategory for single swedish homestead?

Question

Today I created my first subcategory. I added the homestead of one of my ancestors as a subcategory to an existing swedish parish. 

I can see that similar additions have already been made for this parish by other members. Still it would be good to know what the community thinks about this. Is one separate homestead to fine detail to classify as a subcategory? Even if it is located far from the village that would be the optional choice as subcategory?

Subcategory Brånan

Answer 1

I wouldn't make a subcategory for a single individual.

I have made lots of subcategories for small hamlets or single homesteads, when I have at least a handful (five?) profiles to place in the category, with expectance of more to come.

Particularly when we get into the patronymic era of Sweden, I find location categories for the small villages very useful, more or less indispensable for keeping the different generations of a family together in spite of their different "last names". The village name is such a helpful identifier for separating one Anders Andersson from another.

Comments

Thank you Eva, 

This subcategory will definitely be added to at least 10 more profiles as my work progresses. I was thinking more about whether the closest village is still more suitable than the actual homestead? But you answered that as well. 

Question is if both the homestead and the village should have their own subcategories to the parish or if the homestead should actually be a subcategory to the village subcategory?

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I'm not fond of creating subcategories within subcategories, although I know some people do. (Oh, now I recall one instance where I have done it, long ago ;-)

I'm not sure I have worked with a village where the records have been consistently naming homestead+village. I know I have worked with some village categories that get very large (and inconvenient). The structure may be different in different parts of the country - and I'm sure it's different in different periods of time. Where I find location categories most useful is in the time of the oldest records. I don't always categorize 19th century profiles in detail.

There hasn't been much discussion, actually.

Answer 2

Already worked out by the Sweden Project...

2 Explaining Swedish Place/Location Categories

• 2.1 Provinces (Landskap)
• 2.2 Hundreds (Härad)
• 2.3 Counties (Län)
• 2.4 Parish Categories
• 2.5 Farms, crofts and villages

...

Farms, crofts and villages

Name of farm, croft or village + name of parish + county letter within parenthesis. Example: Gårdstenstorp, Kila (D)

These categories have the parish category as the parent category. If the parish category is very full, there would be a reason for creating subcategories for this kind of locations.

Comments

It would be unusual for a Swedish farm/torps to not have a name. The names are a key part of the Household Examination Records. Soldiers were billeted out to farms and sometimes were assigned the farm name. Following name law changes c1900 some families took the farm name as surname. Farm names were a common means of addressing letters, a means of finding someone in a sea of Anders Anderssons and Johan Johanssons. Many good reasons to have farm names as subcategories. 

With a well-developed Swedish farm category structure it would be useful for tracking families and individuals over generations and also for seeing occupancy changes over time at any given farmstead.