632. Jöran Mattsson632 Jöran Mattsson, X:121 Occupation: Farmer. Residence: Renån, Ström. Sources: Gothe; Finnkolonisationen pages 202-206 (Father 1264) Gothe writes among other things the following: "Two Finns have in 1670 written to the superintendents of the Royal commission of Västernorrland and asked for permission to cultivate crofter's holdings at Opwatnet on the, according to the Finns, 20 mil (1 mil = about 6 miles) great common land in Jämtland at the border between the parish of Ström and Norway." Those who wrote the letter were the two brothers Jöran and Matts Mattsson, who probably came to the parish of Ström from Flåsjön (Ringvattnet), where they earlier had lived at the settler there Erik Jonsson. One could expect that such new crofter's holdings at Opwatnet, which is situated between the present villages Renån and Kärrnäset, should be met with opposition from the country people. Farmers at Öhn according to decisions in 1649 and 1666 rented the area around Renån. Five farmers from Öhn paid in 1666 a rent of 5 riksdaler for this area. The country governor Carl Sparre was very friendly towards the Finns. He decided that Göran Mattsson should be allowed to cultivate a crofter's holding at Opwatnet. The farmers at Öhn raised objections several times to this decision. They pointed out that this place was situated only 1 1/2 mil (1 mil = about 6 miles) from their village. The new farm should therefore cause them great damages. At an extraordinary district court sessions in 1674 they required that the sowing of the Finn on the burn-beaten land near Renålandet should be destroyed. One can understand that farmers in a village, which is so big as Öhn, need quite big outlying lands. When the Finns earlier have met with strong opposition they solved the problem in another way (see e.g. ID 592), which also Matts Jöransson used. He bought from Lars Broddeson a farm in Äspnäs. The owner of this farm had the right to use also the outlying land near Renån. Child:
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