Sofia Drake of Torp and Hamra (1662-16 September 1741), was a Swedish landowner. She is known for her correspondence with her spouse, Lieutenant Colonel

Jon Stålhammar Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...

, and as the ''Frun på Salshult'' (The lady of Salshult) in the 1886 poem by

Carl Snoilsky Count Carl Johan Gustaf Snoilsky (8 September 1841 – 19 May 1903) was a Swedish lyric poet, known for his realist poetry. Biography Snoilsky was born in Stockholm to Sigrid (née Banér), a painter and countess, and Nils Snoilsky, a Justi ...

of the same name.

Life

Sofia Drake was born to Colonel Johan Christersson Drake of Torp and Hamra and Margareta Klingspor. She married Lieutenant Colonel

Jon Stålhammar Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar (1683 in Svenarum – 16 February 1733 at Björnskog in Hultsjö), was a Swedish corporal and crossdresser who served in the Great Northern War. She was put on trial for having served in the military posing as a man an ...

, who asked for her help after she was exposed as a woman while serving in the Army. She had also married a woman posing as a man, which was a serious crime in contemporary law. Drake arranged for Stålhammar to be sent to her son's widowed mother-in-law in Värmland, to adjust to wearing women's clothes and then apply for leniency. Drake made a "powerful intervention" on her behalf, which is estimated to have contributed to her light sentence in 1729, after which Drake gave Maria Lönman, the wife of Stålhammar, employment as a housekeeper at Salshult, and Ulrika Eleonora herself sent back to Värmland.Harrison, Dick, Jourhavande historiker, Norstedt, Stockholm, 2013 Her eldest son and heir Otto Fredrik Stålhammar settled with his family at Salshult in 1732, by which time she would have renounced the management of the estate to him. She had her own household on Salshult, but in 1738, the management of her affairs were taken over by her children, possibly because of her declining health.

References

*Larsson, Lars-Olof, På marsch mot evigheten - Svensk stormaktstid i släkten Stålhammars spegel (2007) *Karolinska kvinnoöden av Alf Åberg.

Natur & Kultur Natur & Kultur is a Swedish publishing foundation with head office in Stockholm known for an extensive series of teaching materials. Its logotype is an apple tree. Overview The publishing house was founded in 1922 by Johan Hansson and his wi ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Sofia 1662 births 1741 deaths Swedish people of the Great Northern War 18th-century Swedish businesspeople 17th-century Swedish landowners 18th-century Swedish landowners 17th-century women landowners 18th-century women landowners