Anders Petter Wahlström Bäckman was born on April 22, 1772 in Stockholm into a Swedish soldier family. His parents emigrated from Sweden with his brother, sister, and Anders Petter when he was an infant. They settled in Närpes, a parish located in the southern Ostrobothnian area of Finland, north of Kristinestad near the Gulf of Bothnia. When the Beckman family moved to Närpes, the Finnish people had been under Swedish rule for several centuries. During the Era of Swedish Rule from the 1100s until 1808, Finland belonged to Sweden and was not an independent nation. Swedish domination led to the installation of Swedish social and legal systems in Finland.

Sweden had been unsuccessful in its attempts to protect Finland from Russian assaults, especially in the 1700s, when many soldiers were needed to defend Finland from Russian incursions. Anders Petter's father Bengt Beckman was a soldier. Although it is conceivable that economic considerations contributed to the Beckman family's decision to immigrate to Finland, it is more likely that the Swedish authorities ordered him to serve in the Ostrobothnian Regiment in order to defend that area of Finland from an increase in Russian hostilities.

Bengt Beckman (who also used the surname Wahlström, Some Descendants of Bengt Beckman, pdf-attachment) and Maria Christina Ericsdotter immigrated to Finland in 1772, where Bengt was a soldier in Näsby (Näsby croft number 64) and subsequently in Finby (croft number 53), two villages in the Närpes parish. Bengt was born in Södermanland, Sweden in 1742. Maria Christina was born in Södermanland in 1743.

Bengt and Maria Christina had eight children:

1. Johan Eric Bengtsson Beckman was born in Stockholm on March 6, 1763. He died on February 6, 1832. His first marriage was to Sara (surname unknown), who was born on January 5, 1751; she died on May 21, 1825. His second marriage was to Maria Andersdotter Lärka, who was born on October 12, 1794 and died around 1842.
2. Maria Catharina Bengtsdotter Beckman was born in Stockholm in 1767. She died in Närpes on February 20, 1777.
3. Anders Petter Bengtsson Bäckman was born in Stockholm on April 22, 1772 (1)and died in Närpes on July 13, 1808.
4. Brita Christina — also known as Brita Stina — Bengtsdotter Beckman was born in Näsby on December 8, 1775 and died on September 3, 1852 in Finby, Närpes. She married Erik Sundberg, who was born in Finby on June 30, 1779 and died on January 10, 1845.
5. Christina Bengtsdotter Beckman was born in Näsby on November 24, 1774 and died on November 27, 1774.
6. Margareta Bengtsdotter Beckman, Christina’s twin sister, also died young, on December 3, 1774.
7. Carl Magnus Bengtsson Beckman was born in Näsby in August 1776 and died there on February 2, 1777.
8. Lars Bengtsson Joppas (born Beckman) was born in Näsby on December 5, 1778. He moved to the village of Yttermark in 1803. He died in West Yttermark on May 22, 1865.

Maria Christina died in Närpes on March 3, 1781 around the age of 37, leaving four children between the ages of two and 17. After her death, Bengt married Maria Jacobsdotter, who was born on June 8, 1748 and died on December 11, 1808. They had two children, who both died at an early age:

1. Carl Gustaf Bengtsson Beckman was born on September 14, 1783 and died at the age of two on January 6, 1786.
2. Maria Lisa Bengtsdotter Beckman was born on November 28, 1784 and died as an infant on September 3, 1785.

The soldier Bengt Beckman and his son Lars Bengtsson Joppas are discussed in the 1975 book The Joppas and Nygård Farm Families in West Yttermark in Närpes (2) by Johannes Åbonde.

Åkerblom noted that the soldiers’ names might be of interest to persons who are involved in genealogical and historical research in the Swedish Ostrobothnian region because many of the soldiers’ surnames that were listed in the Vasabladet article are still found in the villages and towns in the Närpes area. The following entry referred to the soldier crofts at Finby:

Bengt lived in the Närpes area at least until 1784, when his youngest child was born. Local church and civil records indicate that he drowned near the Baltic Sea harbor off the Sveaborg fortification in Helsinki in 1788, at the age of 46. His place of death was listed as the "Sveaborg Redd," which means the Sveaborg "road" (in nautical terms, "road" refers to a protected place near the harbor where ships are anchored, an area that is not as enclosed as a harbor). Sveaborg — which means "Sweden’s fortress" — is one of the best-known fortifications in Finland, perhaps in all of Scandinavia.

Church and civil records indicate that Anders Petter married Anna Lisa Mattsdotter Törndahl on December 12, 1802 in Närpes. She was born on August 15, 1774 in Gottböle, the daughter of Matts Törndahl (1718-1804), a drummer in the Ostrobothnian regiment (Närpes Company) and Maria Mickelsdotter Norrgrann (1736-1809) from Gottböle. Their children were Johan Henrik (5) (born February 28, 1798, died May 29, 1869), Maja Lisa Bäckman, (born August 12, 1803), and Anders Petter Bäckman (born July 28, 1805).

Finnish church records document that Anders Petter lived at the Benvik Estate in the early 1800s. The region around Benvik, or Bänwik, as the name was originally written, was largely a wilderness in the area of Kalax until the middle of the 18^th century. The nearest settlement was in Knåpnäs, where farmers cultivated the earth as early as the 1400s, or in Kaskö, where there was a homestead as early as the 1500s.

Johan Bladh (junior) was born in Norrköping in 1719. He was a successful businessman in Vasa and a quartermaster with the cavalry division of His Majesty’s Royal Lifeguard Regiment (7) . He purchased the Benvik Estate from Herman Ross, the chief judge in Korsholm’s southern judicial district, in 1774 and moved there in 1776. He founded the town of Kaskö, an island town that is known for its beautiful wooden houses with large courtyards and gardens. He died at the Benvik Estate on January 13, 1783.

Johan Bladh’s son Peter Johan was born in Vasa in 1746. Peter Johan studied chemistry and mineralogy at Uppsala University. He traveled to Asia many times in his position with the East India Company. In 1776 he became the director of the company’s Canton, China bureau, where he remained for 6_ years, a time when the company experienced a substantial expansion in business. His success in Canton resulted in his promotion to the position of "over director" of the entire operation.

Peter Johan visited his father frequently at the Benvik Estate, was familiar with his plans for Benvik, and moved there on June 19, 1785, two years after his father’s death. He was by then a mature man with extensive experience in international commerce and shipping. According to Nissén, Peter Johan Bladh’s fluency in several languages — along with his considerable property holdings that were worth about 100,000 "riksdaler" — provided him with the opportunity to continue to pursue his extremely successful business career. Peter Johan erected a stately trading house at the Benvik estate beside the Kaskö Channel in 1788, surrounded by an expansive garden with paved pathways, an herb garden, and expansive rose gardens. Peter Johan Bladh died at Benvik on March 1, 1816.

Photos from Benvik

Sweden was unable to protect Finland from Russian assault in the 1700s, and lost Finland (temporarily) in 1721 and 1743. Finnish men were forced to engage in ongoing battles with the Russians. From 1714 to 1721 (a period that was also known the "Great Wrath"), Russia attacked Sweden and occupied Finland. In 1721, the Czar returned much of the Finnish territory to Sweden, although Russia retained Eastern Karelia. After Sweden’s declaration of war in 1741 (an era that was known as the "Lesser Wrath"), Russia again occupied Finland. In 1743, part of Finland was returned to Sweden. Repeated attempts by the Finnish people to gain independence failed.

Sweden was at war for more than 80 years during the three centuries before 1809. Finnish men were forced to leave their farms. Taxes were raised, especially on farmers, to provide support for Swedish war efforts. Finns were an essential part of the Swedish army, comprising at least a third of the infantry and cavalry. Foreign trade became increasingly dominated by Dutch and German merchants. Foreign products and methods of conducting business became increasingly more significant. Sweden no longer dominated Finland completely after it lost its position as a great power in the early 18th century. As Swedish domination declined and Russian pressure on Finland increased, conflicts with Russia intensified.

Great Britain became an ally of Sweden in 1808. This alliance was seen as a threat by Russia, particularly with regard to Russian naval access to the Baltic Sea. Certain areas of Finland were impacted more dramatically than others by the increased conflicts with the Russians. One of these areas was Närpes. These hostilities led to a series of violent conflicts throughout the villages of Närpes that marked the beginning of the Finnish-Russian War of 1808-1809.

This war was a striking conflict. There were hostilities in many areas of Finland, including Närpes. Karl Ivar Nordlund described the Närpes conflict in a book about the history of Närpes (1931, pp. 168-170):

Unfortunately, Anders Petter was presumably one of the casualties of this battle — one of the "defenders of Närpes" described in Nordlund’s account of the military action in Närpes on July 13. Church and civil records document that he was shot by the Russians during the Finnish-Russian War of 1808-1809 on July 13, 1808 while attempting to defend Närpes from the Russian invasion.

Anders Petter was only 36 years old when he died. His children ranged in age from two to ten years of age at the time of his death. In addition to the emotional trauma related to losing their husband and father, his untimely death forced his wife and children to endure many years of economic privation.

The battle by the Finby bridge on July 20, 1808. Painting by O. Hjortsberg

Unfortunately, the conflict during which Anders Petter was killed was only a precursor of the hostilities that would continue to take place in the area. Shortly after his death, the Russian military plundered the Bladh estate, burning down a large house and stealing numerous items from the Bladh family and the other people who lived at Benvik. The name of Johan Bäckman (Anders Petter’s older brother) appeared in the following inventory of the losses of P. J. Bladh and his household workers caused by the plundering of the Benvik estate by the Russian military on July 20, 1808 (Nissén, p. 88):

Johan Henrik Bäckman. Johan Henrik Bäckman - my third great grandfather - was born in 1798 in Gottböle. Parish records indicated that he was living in Närpes in 1815. (9) He moved from Gottböle to Storå (Isojoki) in Lappfjärd in 1820, possibly to work at the Kienokoski farm in Storå that Carl Edvard Bladh, the second son of Peter Johan Bladh, had bought from his father in 1813, after completing a law degree at the Åbo Academy in 1810 and interning at the appellate court in Vasa. Carl Edvard lived at Kienokoski until 1821, when he relocated to Santiago, Chile, after the Kristinestad civil authorities refused to grant him a license to establish a business in Kristinestad. Carl Edvard had a successful political career in South America, where he was the Swedish Counsel in Rio de Janeiro from 1821 until 1828, when he returned to Sweden. After his return, he worked in Stockholm as a wholesale dealer until his death on April 6, 1851.

Johan Henrik married Catharina (Caisa) Henriksdotter Siiro on February 06, 1821 in Vesijärvi, Storå, in Lappfjärd. She was the daughter of Henrik Mattsson Siiro (1765-1836) and Lisa Paholuoma (1765-1846). She was born on March 06, 1795 in Vesijärvi and died on December 29, 1851 at Siiro in Vesijärvi. After his first wife died, Johan Henrik married Maria Malakiasdotter Siiro on June 11, 1854 at the Siiro Farm. She was the daughter of Malachias Jacobsson Siiro.

Maja Lisa Andersdotter Bäckman. Maja Lisa married (1) Johan Henrik Isaksson Brask in 1826 in Pjelax, Närpes. She married (2) Erik Eriksson Hannus (or Söderlund) December 30, 1850 in Pjelax. She married (3) Erik Johansson Åbonde in 1855 in Övermark, Närpes.

The children of Maja Lisa Bäckman and Johan Henrik Brask were:

1. Johan Henrik Johan-Henriksson Brask, born April 23, 1836, Pjelax, Närpes. Died young in Pjelax.
2. Anna Lisa Johan-Henriksdotter Brask,^, born December 21, 1827, Pjelax, Närpes; married Kristian Mattsson Blaxnäs, December 18, 1848, Kristinestad.
3. Helena (Lena) Greta Johan-Henriksdotter Brask, born 1830, Pjelax, Närpes; died after 1872, Sweden; married Johan Johansson Löf; born December 4, 1827, Nampnäs, Närpes; died May 3, 1891, Närpes.
4. Maja Stina Johan-Henriksdotter Brask, born March 12, 1833, Pjelax, Närpes; married Petter Henriksson Brommels, October 30, 1858, Övermark, Närpes; born June 3, 1835, Närpes.
5. Karl Johan Johan-Henriksson Brask, born September 1, 1835, Pjelax, Närpes.

The elimination of Finnish separatism, a policy also known as Russification, began in 1899. Finland remained under Russian rule until 1917, when Finland declared its independence from the new Soviet Union after the October revolution in Russia.

The Resilience of the Finnish People. In an article in the Gainesville Sun titled "On Finland’s Royal Road," Jonathan Black describes the conversation that his wife and he had with a tour guide at the castle in Åbo (2004, Aug. 9):

The bravery and competence of Finland’s soldiers on their treacherous terrain has been established throughout the past several centuries. Many lives were lost in the numerous battles for Finnish independence. After gaining their freedom from Russia, Finland and the Finnish people have assumed a higher profile in Europe — socially, culturally, and economically.

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