Hvitfeldt/Huitfeldt

[Robert Hvitfeldt]

Can anyone provide a clue to link the Swedish Hvitfeldts to the Norwegian and/or Danish ones?  
 
I am a descendant of Severus Christopher (1660), father of Bernhard (1685-1767), father of Johan Adolph (1725-1801), father of Jonas Adolph (1768-1807), etc.
 
I'm looking for any connection to Iver Hvitfeldt (1665-1710), Jerichau Holger Hvitfeldt (1861-1900), Margareta Hvitfeldt (1608-1683) or to any Hvitfeldts from the Troms area of Norway.

[Niclas Rosenbalck]

The Doctor Bernhard Hvitfeldt was son of Sören Rasmussen in Karlshamn, not Severus Christopher Hvidtfeldt, and his wife Anna Skytte (a burgess daughter from Kristianstad)! He probably wanted to bee known as a nobleman, but he was just a commoner. Paul Wilstadius has written about this in a book that deals with goldsmiths in Karlshamn (don´t remember the name, but it would bee easy to check it).
Bernhard Hvitfeldt was using the same seal as the danish noblefamily Hvidtfeldt, but he was a commoner. Maybee is his grandfather (Rasmus/Erasmus) a bastard of the family (or belonged to a branch that didn´t kept the nobleness.)

[Robert Hvitfeldt]

That's a surprise! I found two sources that name Bernhard as a descendent of Severus. How did Bernhard manage to keep the name and the seal?  He should have been a Sörenssen, I guess.  Do you know anything about Severus?  Father?  brothers/sisters? any children?

[Niclas Rosenbalck]

The informations I´ve mentioned about the swedish Hvitfeldt-families origin can be found in the book Föreningen Gamla Karlskrona årsbok 1967, in an article of Paul Willstadius that deals with the goldsmiths in Karlskrona and Karlshamn, pp 114-117.
According to this Sören Rasmusson was a goldsmith in Karlshamn at least from 1691 to 1701(died this year).  He is often called just ”Sören guldsmed”.
He married Anna Persdotter Skytte (died in the plague 1711) , probably from Kristianstad, and she married 2: 1702 4/7 in Karlshamn Johan (Nilsson) Höberg/Högberg/Hörberg  (goldsmith in  Karlshamn 1702-1711; died in the plague 1711).
In the first marriage Anna had following issue:
*Bernhard Ostermeijer Hvitfeldt , born 1685 14/3 (according to his written burial sermon)
become an eye-doctor, died in the parish of Norra Sandsjö 1767 29/6. According to the written sermon for his burial  (1767) he is said to bee the son of a leutenant Severus Christopher Hvitfeldt, who is said to be descendant from Trondheim in Norway and of danish origin. This is from where the families claim of  old nobleness is coming!
Bernhard Hvitfeldt is the stepson of Johan Höberg according to the estate inventory that was held 1711.  
Why he claimed to belong to the danish noblefamily Hvitfeldt is unknown. His children used the same seal as the noblefamily did.  
Bernhard Hvitfeldt married in Stockholm 1721 with the widow of doctor medicinae Joseph Ostermeijer, Anna Maria Musaeus (born in Leipzig and daughter of medicinae doctor at the court of Sachsen-Weisenfels, dr Jacob caspar Musaeus; she died 1761).  They had several children, among them one daughter Bernhardina Amoena Elisabeth Hvitfeldt (born  3/2 17.,  some sources says 1719  but this could not be correct, died 1802 4/7 at Malma, V. Ryd parish , m. 1: the commissary Johan Sandberg at Grimstorp, Norra Sandsjö parish (died 1752) (with who she had the daughter Anna Maria Theresia Sandberg  (born about 1737, died 1809 at Väraboda, Ryssby parish (G); married the officer Carl Wilhelm Angell (1724- ?)) and the son Johan Sandberg (born about 1747)), m. 2: 1753 3/2 with Magnus Gabriel Gripenskiöld (1727-1794) and had issue (see Gustaf  Elgenstierna: Den introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor (the noble family of Gripenskiöld))
 
*Agneta Sörensdotter born 1695 24/3, burried 1711 8/2 in Karlshamn
*Per Sörensson born 1697 18/4, burried 1697 25/8
*Maria Sörensdotter born 1698 4/7, urried 1698 18/10
*Rasmus Sörensson born 1700 4/3, he was alive 1716, when the estate after his stepfather was divided; not known after that
 
In the second marriage (with Johan Höberg) Anna had following children:
*Nils , born in Karlshamn 1703 2/1, he was alive 1711, but not known after that
*an unnamed child who died in the plague 1711
 
Bernhard Hvitfeldt went to Denmark 1711 and stayed there at an aunt (his fathers sister, an unknown lady), after this he went to study and practise medicin as an apprentice to doctor medicinae Joseph Ostermeijer. He probably went with this doctor to the different courts in Europe and in 1719 he and his instructor was recalled to Sweden, and Stockholm, by the Queen Dowager Hedvig Eleonora, and had his exam in medicin 1721. He is said to had had noble privilege for himself and his wife in 1757 (this means not that he was a noble man, just that he had the privilege to his lifetime or some years).
 
Maybe he belonged to a ruined branch of the old danish noblefamily Hvidfeldt, or otherwise he more likely was an imposter that wanted to bee privileged with patent of nobility.

[Ingrid Clenman]

Hej Niclas,
I find this case very interesting and I have a couple of questions that I hope you can answer.
When did Sören Rasmussen and Anna Skytte get married? Or is this nowhere recorded? I also understand there is no birth record for Bernard. Skytte is a well-known family, Danish nobility and perhaps there is something more about Anna or her parents somewhere out of reach of foreigners?  
The Danish army was in Karlshamn in early 1710 but left very quickly without encountering the Swedish army. The situation at the time was a state of war and there was no peace time travelling. If Bernhard went to Denmark in 1711 he fled from Blekinge and in order for him to return to Sweden he would have needed the protection of a powerful person indeed. This is what seems to have happened and he returned with a well protected physician quite a few years later.  
There are many uncertainties in this case, we don't know (I don't know!) who were the parents of Sören Rasmussen or where he was born, we don't know if Anna may have been married before, etc. much is missing. Anna remarried after Sören died and this man, Högberg would indeed be Bernards stepfather, regardless of who his own real father was. Until these questions are answered, I see no reason to call Bernard an impostor. The name of a noble family could not just be adopted by a common er without any repercussions, as far as I understand.
Ingrid