Chaos, confusion and me

As you might have noticed I didn’t bother to translate the title of this book. There is a very simple reason for this; the term “Bergsråd” is an old title and I couldn’t be bothered to find a suitable equivalent in english. The title can be translated, literally, to mining advisor. From 1637 to 1857 there was a civil service department called Bergskollegium that was responsible for overseeing mining operations in Sweden. From 1713 this department was governed by a president, two bergsråd and four assessors. This book is about one such mining advisor that ran the very succesful Lessebo Works, consisting of mining operations, forges and smithys as well as a pappermill.

Well that covered the title now onto other stuff. This book wasn’t part of my read all unread books in the bookshelf project. Instead it’s a loaner from my uncle which I borrowed from my father and it has been making it’s round in the family for reasons that will become obvious if you read on. It’s not very well written by modern standard since it’s an original from 1925. The author isn’t a very good storyteller, the language is old style with a spelling that at times can be described as very creative and he utterly confuses the issue when he is recounting something he has been told, which is frequently, since he recounts the stories in dialect. I quite frequently had to sound the words out loud in order to get the gest of the story being retold. I guess this brought a smile to the faces of some of my fellow commuters.

The book can be described as a disjointed biography of Johan Lorentz Aschan. J. A. Göth has travelled around in Småland (a swedish county) and talked to people who knew or had heard of J.L. Aschan or Bergsrådet (”The Mining Advisor”) as he was known. He then wrote this down in order to describe the man as he puts it. This was done long after Bergsrådet passed away. He has also done some research since he can recount information from public archives and church books. He ends the book with J.L. Aschan’s last will and testament as well as a list of everything he owned and the charter for the company he created to run Lessebo after his death.

J.L. Aschan is born the soon of a headmaster in 1772. At fifteen he starts as a poor student at Uppsala University where he studies medicine. During his student years he serves as a surgeon at a field hospital in Finland. After returning to Sweden he finishes his studies and recieves a bachelor of medicine. He is appointed as doctor at the royal court where he serves King Gustav IV Adolf. He continues his studies and becomes a doctor of medicine in 1798. After his doctor’s degree he starts working as a rural doctor and it becomes apparent that he is focused on preventing disease and he initially makes enemies of his patients when he demands that they bathe and clean out their houses. Needless to say those who do as they are told don’t get ill quite as often as the others.

In 1798 J.L. Aschan is appointed doctor at Loka Brunn (a spring with mineral water) by royal decree. In 1801 J.L. Aschan married into money by marrying Karin Nilsson, the daughter of “Rike Nilsson” (”Rich Nilsson”), and in 1802 he bought Lessebo Works which at that time was in decline. All prior owners had gone bankrupt and everybody predicted the same for J.L. Aschan. This is where most of the book takes place, we are given anecdotes on life at Lessebo before, during and after J.L. Aschans reign and it gives an insight into the life at that time.

J.L. Aschan turns things around at Lessebo and becomes a millionaire which was huge at that time. His wife keeps reminding him that it is here money, the money recieved in the dowery, that keeps the works running. After a few prosperous years J.L. Aschan repays the dowery to his wife and says that from now on it’s my money that keeps the works running. Contrary to the fate of prior owners J.L. Aschan manages to increase his holdings and wealth at Lessebo and has no loans to consider which makes it possible to try new ventures, not all of them are succesful but most of them are.

One thing the book keeps repeating is that J.L. Aschan never forgot his humble begining and he donated a lot of wealth to poor students so that they could keep studying. In a way he still does through a scholarship he founded which I was a lucky recipient of during my studies. It didn’t pay out a large amount of money but it lessened the financial burden.

Another thing that keeps poping up is hard work. He was a scientist, industrialist and business man that seemed to put honour before easy profit although he wasn’t slow to take advantage of a dishonest man. He dressed simple and wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty when needed, which by that times standards probably meant that he went down to oversee the workers personally rather than to rely on his foremen.

According to family legend he was to be knighted and made a member of the nobility on three occasions and declined all three times. This book keeps the number down to two times which seems more likely. His reason for declining was that nobility was defined by hard work and not by birthright or title. Too bad, I wouldn’t have minded a nobel crown on the family crest.

So who should read this book? Well if your a historian or has a historical interest this book can give you an insight in life in the early nineteens century. If your from Lessebo, Hovantorp or any other municipality in Kronobergs Län you could read it to get a bit of local history. And of course if your born an Aschan you have to read it wether you like to or not. So there!

Posted by Edward on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 20:33:59.