A fish out of water – Captain Erik Alfort

Alfortkrönikan, Alfortska öden, Allra första generationerna, In English, Originalen på Liljeholmen, Rekommenderat
av Esben Alfort

Svenska – English

From beyond the seas – A history of the Alfort family

Chapter 2

A fish out of water – Captain Erik Alfort

© Esben Alfort 2014-2023

Captain Erik Alfort is the earliest named member of the Swedish Alfort family and ancestor of every Alfort in Sweden. He had an interesting career in the navy where he contributed – directly or indirectly – to several historical moments such as the attack on Copenhagen and the famous battle of Narva. An invitation to a christening brought him to Östergötland where he met his future wife, whose father was one of the richest men in the country, thus securing the Alfort family’s position and fortune for generations. The occasion has been immortalised for us in a fascinating document listing the names of the witnesses, who were all prominent members of the military elite, gathered to celebrate the christening of a child at a historical moment of great tension, which was to be the signal for 21 years of constant warfare. Erik’s military career ended after he participated in a failed attempt at keeping Russia out of the Baltic, leading to the founding of St. Petersburg as well as the loss of a great deal of Swedish territory and of many lives.

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A self-made investor of the 17th century

Alfortkrönikan, Allra första generationerna, Gyllenståhlska försläkten, In English, Kultur, samhälle och affärsliv, Originalen på Liljeholmen, Rekommenderat, Tidiga försläkterna
av Esben Alfort

Svenska – English

From beyond the seas – A history of the Alfort family.

Chapter 3

A self-made investor of the 17th century – Gabriel Gyllenståhl

© Esben Alfort 2014-2023

Erik Alfort’s father-in-law Gabriel Gyllenståhl is one of the most interesting personalities of his time, and perhaps also a somewhat misunderstood person, as his childhood has recently been shown to have been very different from what had previously been supposed. Indeed, he seems to have been the son of entirely different parents. He married wealth, and had the skill that allowed him to invest cleverly and make more money at a time when money was scarce among the nobility. He eventually achieved nobility for himself, but he never had a surviving son, despite marrying twice, so the line went extinct with his decease. He witnessed some remarkable events, such as an illegal duel which ended in cold-blooded murder and the revenge burning of an entire village during wartime. According to a wide-spread legend he once captured the Danish war chest, which is supposed to have made him immensely rich at a stroke. But are the legends really to be believed?

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The price of wilfulness – Gabriel’s daughters

Alfortkrönikan, Alfortska öden, Allra första generationerna, Gyllenståhlska försläkten, In English, Originalen på Liljeholmen, Rekommenderat
av Esben Alfort

Svenska – English

From beyond the seas – A history of the Alfort family.

Chapter 4

The price of wilfulness – Gabriel’s daughters

© Esben Alfort 2014-2023

Gabriel Gyllenståhl’s willpower and refusal to be gainsaid or overruled was a personality trait inherited by his eldest daughter Hedevig Margareta Gyllenståhl. The two wills of father and daughter were doomed to eventually clash, and perhaps surprisingly this conflict with his daughter hurt him deeply and weakened him both physically and mentally.

Being such a rich man, Gabriel was naturally aware of the very real risk that his daughters would be courted by a lot of unsuitable men who were only after their money. In fact, none of Gabriel and Maria’s three daughters had uneventful and uncomplicated marriages. Hedevig fought against her father’s wishes, as we shall see presently, and Maria’s marriage to captain Erik Alfort was thoroughly unhappy. Erik became violent and aggressive towards her over the years, and their son Gabriel was forced to act as a mediator between them when things got rough. All of this was an enormous strain on Gabriel’s nerves, and his strength weakened as he grew older. The third daughter, Märta, kept her engagement secret from her family, which was perhaps as well, given that Gabriel was dying at the time, and more worries of that kind might have finished him off on a bad note.

Very likely he was decidedly grumpy in his old age. He had become very stout, and this started to keep him from going to meetings and presiding at important decisions – something which would naturally have annoyed a domineering man like Gabriel Gyllenståhl and made his old age less agreeable.

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Alfort family tree (public version)

Antavlor och släktträd, In English
av Esben Alfort

Alfort family tree (public version)

Click the link below to download a family tree containing all the 3241 descendants of Erik Alfort registered so far and their 1612 partners.

In order to protect the privacy of living people, some names have been erased from this public version. If you are a family member, you may contact me for access to the full version.

 icon-book  Alfort släktträd_public  (Excel)

Many descendants still remain to be registered. The tree will be updated regularly as research proceeds.

Statistics

So far 12 generations of descendants born between 1702 and 2021 have been registered. Of these, at least 1590 (49%) are men and 1483 (45%) are women.

  • Mean (known) life expectancy: 46.5 years (954 people)
  • Children who died before their 18th year: 8.9 % (289 children)
  • Registered (known) children per adult: 1.1 child (2952 adults)
  • Registered (known) children per couple: 2.3 children (1430 couples)

Place of birth (in Sweden) and year of birth of all descendants of Erik Alfort (the timeline covers 1675-2025).

icon-check   23-10-2021