Daily Ancestorbackstugusittare
A backstugusittare was a cottager who lived in a backstuga, a small cabin on village common land or another's land, with no fields to farm.
The backstuga was a small cabin on the village common or on someone else's land. Unlike a torpare, the backstugusittare had no land to farm beyond a garden plot, so he lived by day labor and home crafts such as basket making and spinning.
Many were old or poor, and parishes sometimes placed paupers in such cabins. In rolls the title marks a family near the bottom of rural society. Sweden counted about 45,000 male backstugusittare in the mid-1800s.
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Daily Ancestor. "backstugusittare." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/swedish/backstugusittare. Last checked 2026-10-28.