Hans Högman, Sollentuna, Sweden, hans@hhogman.se.
CH-703
Bilthoven, 30 mei 2020
Dear Hans Högman,
May I take the liberty of writing to you in the English language about three brothers in my family history? You could respond to me in Swedish, if you wish.
Let me first compliment you with your magnificent website. It does not only show the results of your research into the families of yourself and your wife, but also into history and military in general. Thanks to that I am approaching you.
My name is Hugo von Meijenfeldt, born in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, in the year 1955. In 17 months time I will also be ‘friherre’ to “gräv” further into my ancestors. I am focussing on my namesakes and therefore the male line. In Dutch (sorry) I published two books and maintain an active website https://meijenfeldt.nl/.
The grandfather of my grandfather is Johan August von Meijenfeldt, born in Stralsund, Swedish Pomerania, in 1760. I am writing to you about his (natural) grandfather, the Swedish general, Pomeranian governor general and Riksråd count Johan August Meijerfeldt (1664-1749), who had an older brother Carl Fredrik (1662-1709) and a younger brother Wolmar Johan (1667-1739).
The military steps of Carl Fredrik are easy to trace between 1682 and 1706 through the scanned original documents in the Riksarkivet (Riksregistraturet and Rullor 1620-1723). The only missing document is whether or not he has been promoted “öfwerste” in 1708, a year before he was shot, leading the Österbotten regiment in the Battle of Poltava.
In the same documents I can follow the very succesful career of Johan August, but only from 18 February 1702 onwards, when he got his “öfwerste fullmakt” for the Åbo cavalry regiment. The draft of his Friherre Bref and the Biografic Lexicons stipulate that he volunteered in the Livonian cavalry regiment Von der Pahlen in 1684, became Kornet 10-01-1686, Leutnant 02-02-1689, farewell 28-04-1693. In 10-11-1693 became Captain in Hastfer’s infantry regiment in my country, 16-09-1694 Captain in service of Zeeland, 24-01-1698 Major regiment Krassow, 1698 farewell. Traveled through Buxtehude and Stockholm to Riga under Frölich and Welling, appointed 02-06-1700 Öfwerstelötjnant squadron recruited cavalry. On your website I found that a Livonian dragoon regiment has been recruited in 1700, that forms the fundament op the 1703 Meijerfeldt dragoon regiment. Do you have any additional information on this Livonian dragoon regiment in 1700 or advice how to research further into all the regiments mentioned above?
I can find Wolmar Johan only once: in 1699 he is leutnant and already 15 years in the Livländska Adelsfanan under E.J. von Vitingshoff, company under F.W. von Tiesenhausen. In 1705 he added to the Friherre Bref of his brother and in 1719 the Grefwe Bref. Perhaps after a quarrel with Magnus Stenbock he went into service of the German Emperor (some think wrongly Rysk instead of Tysk) and died in Vienna as Roman-Catholic in the rank of major general. Do you know a way to research the Livländska Adelsfanan?
Thank you in advance for any trouble taken.
With kind regards,
Hugo G. von Meijenfeldt
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Sollentuna, 1 juni 2020
Hello Hugo,
No, I’m afraid I have no additional information about the Meijerfeldt dragoon regiment.
About the Livländska Adelsfanan, there are general muster rolls available. An online internet provider of such rolls is ArkivDigital. They are at https://www.arkivdigital.se/. Their website can be set to English.
The national Archives might also have these general muster rolls available online at https://sok.riksarkivet.se/digitala-forskarsalen.
Regards,
Hans Högman
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Bilthoven, 2 juni 2020
Dear Hans,
Thank you very much for your quick and helpful response. I will find my way through the hyperlinks.
All the best,
Hugo