The Land books (Maakirja, Jordebok) or land registers can be used to investigate the ownership of family farms. Farm ownership was registered in these books from 1530 to the beginning of 1900s. The land registers, which include most farms provide information about both ownership and tax liability.
The location of the Land books varies by period. The oldest land books from 1537 to 1634 are in the archive Voudintilit in the National Archive of Finland. The land registers during the period of the Swedish rule, from 1635 to 1808, are in the archive Läänintilit. The latest land registers from 1810 onwards are in the archive of National Land Survey of Finland (Maanmittaushallitus) under the name Maanmittaushallituksen maakirjat ja kruununmaaluettelot (Land Registers and Crown Land lists of the Land Survey Board).
When searching Land books, it is helpful to know how Finland was divided into provinces (lääni) during different time periods. The Wikipedia article “Provinces in Finland” provides good information on that subject.
The Land Records of the Grand Duchy
You can find the land records during the Grand Duchy starting in 1810 by going to Digihakemisto and entering the word Maakirjat in the Search:
Clicking the link Maanmittaushallituksen maakirjat ja kruununmaaluettelot -arkisto gives you a menu from which you should choose the link A Maakirjat (1820-1939) This link gives you a list of Land records in different provinces of Finland. Usually, the land records in this period were recorded every ten years. The last complete land records are from 1905 but additions were made in the years 1930 to 1939. The additions are also digitized and freely available even though they are less than a hundred years old.
The Land Book for Olhava Village in 1905
As an example, we will find the Land book records for Olhava village in the municipality of Ii (Iin pitäjä) which is in Oulu province (Oulun lääni). Most of the Land books in the late 1800’s and 1900’s are in Finnish. From the link Maanmittaushallituksen maakirjat ja kruununmaaluettelot -arkisto you get a short list from which you click on A Maakirjat (1820-1939) This gives you a list of Land Books named by year and province. From the list, you choose link 138 Oulun läänin maakirja, I (1905-1905), which includes the Ii municipality.
The resulting list shows that the Ii municipality starts on image 35. Olhava village records start on image 54.
The farms of Olhava village are listed in farm number order. The records give the size of the farm in the original old mantal units (vanha manttaali) and in 1690 revised mantal units. The mantal was the measure of land used to determine the amount of taxes a landowner paid. It measured not only the farm size but also the quality of the land. Maakirja records also provide the type of ownership: privately owned (Perintötila, Skatte), owned by the Crown or king (kruununtila, Krono), or owned by a nobleman (rälssitila, Frälse). The Land Book gives the basis for taxation of the farm and how the tax was used. It also records changes in the mantal units as well as ownership, including land sales or a change from Crown land to privately-owned land.
Farm No. 1 Tolonen is a privately-owned 0.625 mantal’ farm. The column Reminders (muistutuksia) states it is an old privately-owned farm. Originally, it was a one mantal farm, but in 1700 its mantal size was reduced to half a mantal. In 1779, the size increased by 1/8 mantal which resulted in 5/8 mantal (0.625). Earlier, the house was responsible for the transportation of mail.
Originally the Sikala farm (No. 2) was a one mantal farm owned by a nobleman. In 1620 the mantal size was reduced to 1/3 (0.333) mantal. The farm only began to be taxed in 1779, and at that time Hovineuvos (Court Chancellor) Johan Nylander got the right to the land and the taxes of the farm.
In the beginning of the 1900s, many farms that were originally owned by the Crown were purchased and became privately owned. The land books contains a note about these purchases. The Yli-Sassi farm (number 4) was bought in 1767. Originally the mantal size of the farm was 5/8, but it was first reduced by 1/8 mantal, and later still, by another 1/16 mantal. The changes resulted in a 7/16 mantal i.e. 0.4375 mantal. Name changes are also mentioned in the Land book. The prefix Yli- was added to the name Sassi in 1855.
The Land Book of Olhava Village in 1820
The second Land book example is from 1820, which is near the beginning of the Grand Duchy . It is written in Swedish. From the list of Land books you can find the link 8 Oulun läänin maakirja (1820-1820). From the index you find Ii municipality (Ijo Socken) and Olhava village listed as Ollhawa (earlier spellings of village names can vary):
Some of thepages during this period do not include column headings, so you may have to find the headings on the first page of the municipality. In this example the heading information is on image 200. The translation of the column headings is included below.
Tolonen farm (No. 1) has markings: “1/2 mt. förmedladt år 1700, 1/8 tillökt år 1779. Post Hemman” giving the same information on the change in mantal size as the Land book in 1905. The marking “Post Hemman” means that the house was responsible of transportation of the mail.
Sikala farm (No. 2) was owned by Kyröläinen farm (No. 3). Text: ”Hof-Rådet Johan Nylander uplåtne under Frälse Rätt få till jord som Ränta, genom Cammar Collegii Immission af den 18. December 1788.” states that on 18th of December 1788 Hovineuvos (Court Cancellor) Johan Nylander got the right to the land and to collect and keep the taxes of these farms by the decision of the Chamber College (Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency). The mantal size was reduced in 1620, 1699 and 1779.
Land Books from the Time of Swedish Empire (1635 – 1808)
The Land books from the time of Swedish rule are in the archive Läänintilit (Province Accounts). These Land books describe the basis for taxation. The farms are listed by municipality and village. A complete Land book (Special Jordebok) was made every six years. An update (Extract Jordebok) was made every year.
The Land books give the name of the owner of the farm; however this information was often not up to date but copied from the previous Land book. The listed owner could be a person who had died several years earlier. The current owner (host) can be checked using other documents like the Census. It was possible to purchase Crown farms beginning in 1725 and when this occurs, it was noted in the Land book.
You can find the Land books by using Digihakemisto. By the Quick searches tab “Voudin ja läänintilit” you get a list of both the Province accounts (läänin tilejä) and the Bailiffs accounts (Voutikuntien tilejä). For Land books you should search in the province accounts (läänin tilejä):
The previously discussed Ii municipality and Olhava village were in the province of Ostrobothnia (Pohjanmaan lääni) until 1775 when Ostrobothnia was divided into two provinces, Oulu province (Oulun lääni) and Vaasa province (Vaasan lääni). Olhava was part of Oulu province.
The Land Book of Olhava Village in 1795
The Land book of Olhava village is in the Account of Oulu province (Oulun läänin tilejä). Choose Oulun läänin tilejä from the list and after that Asiakirjat (1776-1809). You should search link: 9543 Maakirja (1795-1795) from this list.
In 1795, the Ii municipality and Olhava village were part of Oulun kihlakunta (Oulu county). From the index you find that Olhava village is in image 189. The names Ii and Olhava were written in Swedish, Ijå and Ålhava.
Some Land books lack page descriptions. In that case you can find the page numbers for municipalities in the original index (Register) of the Land book, which are found in the first images of the document. By knowing the name of the municipality, you can find the page where the records for that municipality start.
Usually you can find the titles of the columns on the first page of each municipality, in the case of Ii municipality (Ijå Sokn), they are in image 186.
The first page of Olhava village (image 189, page 188) includes farms Tolonen, Sikala and Kyröläinen (Tålonen, Sijkala, Kyröläin). The mantals and annotations are the same as in the Land books of the Grand Duchy. The householder of Tolonen farm is said to be Josef Tolonen, who had died in 1776. You would need to determine the current householder from the Census. The Tolonen farm was responsible for the transportation of mail (Post Bonde) in 1795. Glassworks accountant Adolf Fahlander owned the Sikala and Kyröläinen farms at this time.
The Land Book of Olhava Village in 1700
In 1700, Ii municipality and Olhava village were part of the province of Ostrobothnia (Pohjanmaan lääni). From the list of Voudin- ja läänintilit, you should choose Pohjanmaan läänin tilejä (Accounts of Ostrobothnia Province), then Asiakirjat (1635-1776) (documents). From that list, choose 9222 Maakirja (1700-1700).
From the index you find that Ii municipality (Ijå Sochn) starts in image 12 and Olhava village (Ålhavaby) on image 13. The column titles are given in the beginning of the document (image 4). The first column indicates the mantal size of privately-owned farms and the second column is the mantal size of crown owned farms. The next column is the name of the householder, followed by the land taxes.
In 1700, there were seven farms in Olhava village. The names of the householders were: Eric Sikala, Jacob Kyröläin, Anders Jacobsson, Nils Sassi, Tomas Tomsson, Erich Tålånen and Henrich Piuckula. The farms of Jacob Kyröläin, Tomas Tomsson, and Erich Tålånen were privately owned.
The Land Books of the Years 1537 to 1634
The oldest Land books are in the archive Voudintilit of the National Archive of Finland. They are from the reign of king Gustaf Vasa. At the time, Vouti’s (bailiffs) collected the taxes. Finland was divided in about 40 Voutikunta (Bailiwick’s). The archive Voudintilit is described in detail in Finnish (and Swedish) in Arkistojen portti of the National Archive of Finland.
You can find the Land books in Voudintilit using Digihakemisto and the Quick search tab Voudin- ja läänintilit. That index contains both the provincial accounts (läänin tilejä) and the Bailiff accounts (voutikuntien tilejä).
The Bailiff accounts are orgainzed by region. For example if you choose Pohjanmaan voutikuntien tilejä (The accounts of Ostrobothnia bailiffs) and then Asiakirjat (Documents), you will get a list of the bailiffs in the province of Ostrobothnia. Often the Land Books (maakirja) are mixed in with the other documents.
If you do not know in which Bailiff the municipality or village of interest is located, you have to open each link to see which municipalities and villages it includes. If you open the link 4566 Limingan voutikunnan maakirja ja tilikirja (1556-1556), you will see which villages were included in Limingan voutikunta.
Olhava Village in 1556
Olhava village (Olhafva by) is in image 12 (Note: the older records often have spelling variations). There were six farms in the village:
Reading the old text and understanding taxation in 1500’s can be difficult. problems. This post does not cover that subject.
The Benefit of Using Land Books
Land books give information about the ownership, size and taxation of Finnish farms. For example, you can find the date when a crown farm was purchased and became a privately-owned farm, keeping in mind that the name of the householder is not always up to date.
English text edited by Barbara Wilson
