Daily Ancestorfattighjon
A fattighjon was a pauper: a person receiving poor relief from the parish, often old, sick, disabled or an orphan.
Hjon is an old word for a member of a household. Fattighjon were people the parish supported because they could not support themselves. Some lived in a poorhouse (fattigstuga), some were placed with a family, and some were passed from farm to farm for a few days at a time, a practice called rotegång, banned in 1918.
In a household roll fattighjon or fattig next to a name explains why an unrelated old person lives on a farm. Parish poor-relief records may hold more.
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Daily Ancestor. "fattighjon." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/swedish/fattighjon. Last checked 2026-10-28.