Johannes Nicolai Tornberg: Assistant Professor in Övertorneå (1666), Assistant Vicar in Nederluleå (1668) and Hietaniemi (1670), Vicar in Kautokeino (1675), Jukkasjärvi (1682) and in Övertorneå (1687-1717)

Johannes Nicolai Tornberg, born 1640, died 1717, was a Swedish priest and parish priest in Övertorneå parish 1687-1717

Life

He was the son of Nicolaus Nicolai Ulopolitanus and the grandson of Nicolaus Philippi Falk. He attended Härnösand high school in 1659 (Tornaeus) and became an student in Uppsala on 1 November 1660. He became an assistant professor in Övertorneå parish in 1666, then assistant vicar in first Nederluleå parish in 1668 and then in Hietaniemi parish in 1670. He was appointed parish priest in Kautokeino in 1675, Jukkasjärvi parish in 1682 and in Övertorneå parish in 1687.

Tornberg did not enjoy his corporal parish, where there was no priest but only a smokehouse as a residence, the pay was poor and the wandering Norwegian settlers made life very difficult.

Death

Sometime during the winter of 1716-1717, the church in Övertorneå was looted by Russian Cossacks. According to tradition, the parish priest Johannes Tornberg was so badly beaten by them with his own stick that he died two days later. Tornberg's cane cane is preserved in the church. Tradition also states that the Russians must have stolen the church bell that was found in the water after the spring flood in 1617 when Särkilax's chapel was washed away. However, the task is by all accounts a walking legend as the parishioners still stated 40 years after the spring flood that the bell that disappeared had not been found.

Family

He was married to Brita Isaksdotter Curtilia who was the daughter of the commissioner of Hietaniemi Isacus Clementis Curtilius. Among other things, they had a son, Johannes Johanni Tornberg, who became vicar in Jukkasjärvi parish. He is the ancestor of the Tornberg family.