Kerstin Andersdotter (1774–1852), known as Mor Kerstin i Stämmemand-Kinna ('Mother Kerstin of Stämmemand-Kinna'), was a Swedish textile industrialist. She was an important figure within the Swedish textile industry in the first half of the 19th century, managing a major

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

industry through the

putting-out system The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...

in around the countryside of

Kinna Kinna is a locality and the seat of Mark Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 14,776 inhabitants in 2010. Kinna is located south of Borås and south east of Gothenburg. The original Kinna has grown together with surrounding ...

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

. In 1840, 80 percent of all cotton textiles sold from Sweden was sold from the Kinna area.

Life

She was born in the rural area of Kinna as the daughter of the wealthy farmer Anders Jonsson and Elin Larsdotter, and married in 1800 to the wealthy farmer Erik Andersson (1772–1813). Her husband was the owner of the farm Stämmemand in Kinna, hence her own soubriquet. She had five children: two sons (one surviving to adulthood) and three daughters.

Business

Both her father and her spouse were active as textile entrepreneurs within the

and her mother managed her own money lending business, and she was to follow all of their examples. In 1813, when she became a widow and thereby of

legal majority The age of majority is the threshold of legal adulthood as recognized or declared in law. It is the moment when minors cease to be considered such and assume legal control over their persons, actions, and decisions, thus terminating the contro ...

(which made her business activity visible in official documentation), she took over the textile putting-out system manufacture business of both her father and her late spouse. She also started banking by money lending. This was at a point in time when the putting-out system had its breakthrough from small scale business to large scale industrial enterprises, and she was one example of those who developed her manufacture to a major business industry. The Kinna area was furthermore the center of the Swedish cotton industry, and she became one of the major manufacturers with thousands of home weavers in her employ. She continued her business activity until her death, for almost forty years. She is known as the mother of the cotton industrialist (1801–1866), but he did in fact not inherit her business (he founded his own during her lifetime), her business enterprise was instead inherited by one of her daughters and her son-in-law. In 1842, she was awarded with a golden chain from King

Charles XIV John of Sweden sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius , spouse = , issue = Oscar I of Sweden , house = Bernadotte , father = Henri Bernadotte , mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean , birth_date = , birth_place = Pau, ...

as a recognition for her industrial enterprise within the Swedish cotton industry as well as for encouraging the public diligence within the household with her diligence and personal example.

Legacy

After her death, her farm became a local memorial. A square, as well as a road in Kinna, have been named after her.Ahlberger, Gunnar, Marks historia. 3, En vävbygd under omvandling 1770 till 1880, Rydals museum, Rydal, 2003

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stammemand-Kinna, Mor Kerstin I 1774 births 1852 deaths 19th-century Swedish businesswomen