The village walk – Påvals

The name of the farmstead Påvals can be traced back to around 1695, when Pål Andersson moved from the neighbouring island Asterholma to Lappo and took over the farmstead from the farmer Mats Henriksson. Mats’s son had inherited a farm in Brändö after his aunt. Påvals has remained in the same family ever since.

Pål Andersson’s younger brother, Mickel Andersson, soon followed and moved to Påvals in 1697. However, war and difficult times followed and Pål died while fleeing to Sweden. This mean it was Mickel Andersson who took over the farming of the land after peace was restored in 1721. The division of the farmstead in the 1750s meant that the property was split between Mickel’s son Göran Mickelsson and Pål’s grandson Pål Pålsson.

Pål Pålsson’s half later came to be called “Morbrors” (‘the uncle’s place’), where the village’s oldest building – a härbre – still stands as a memory of times past. A härbre was a small separate building mainly used for storing grain, but it could also provide sleeping space for farm workers during the summer months.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the farmer and boatbuilder Anders Jakob Törnroos (1835–1908) divided Påvals among his eight children (locally known as the “åttamänningarna”). This led to the construction of new farmsteads outside the village centre. His daughter Cecilia built “Nordmans” together with her husband, the primary school teacher Emil Nordman. Krispinus, who was a coastal skipper, built “Byängs”. Felix, also a skipper, moved to “Törnroses”. Bror remained at Påvals, while the youngest son Jean – a schoolteacher and later a member of the Åland Parliament (1926–31) – established “Sellbo”. The daughter Vilhelmina married into the neighbouring farm “Grannas”, Ida moved to Kumlinge, and the youngest daughter Amanda married the shoemaker and galeas skipper Hjalmar Öberg at “Öbergs”.

Seafaring has always been important in the archipelago, and boatbuilding was a common everyday skill, not seen as anything more remarkable than making one’s own tools and household items. Anders Jakob Törnroos was a highly skilled carpenter. Craftsmanship, determination, and a strong connection to the sea are all a living heritage of Påvals.

Karl Anders Törnroos (1907–1985) carried this heritage into the modern era. “Påvals Kalle” was a farmer, family man, merchant, and manager of the Lappo cooperative store (Lappo handelslag), which in 1950 moved from Påvals to a new building down by the harbour. His hard work together with his wife Sally also helped turn Pellas’s main building into a popular guesthouse for summer visitors. The family’s youngest child, the engineer and seaman Ingmar Törnroos (1939–2026), owned and managed Påvals up until the present day.