Claes (sometimes spelled Clas) Påhlman was the seventh child of former Småland cavalry master Johan Påhlman and his wife Margareta Silfversparre. The couple had a troubled marriage, with Margareta deserting Johan in 1672 but reconciling with him two months later. Claes was born in 1678, likely at Ugglansryd.
In November 1695, the 17-year-old visited the Nygård Inn with his elder brother Jöran, then a corporal, and Sergeant Sven Stråle. The trio allegedly consumed an excess of alcohol, becoming rowdier in the process and ultimately causing destruction at the property, breaking “candlesticks, tankards, and mugs, as well as windows". Claes was perhaps more in his senses; he only confessed to breaking a jug. They were fined 40 marks of silver each by a court in Ljungby, according to the royal inn ordinance of 1664 (#41).[[1]]
Claes began his military career as a volunteer in the Kronoberg regiment, where he was promoted to the position of a sergeant in April 1696. He went on to become a field sergeant and ensign in 1703, but passed away shortly after, on 20 August 1704, at the young age of 26.[[2]]
[[1]]: Göta Hovrätt - Advokatfiskalen Kronobergs län (G) EVIIAAAD:41 (1696-1698) Bild 150/sid 21 (AID: v206282.b150.s21, NAD: SE/VALA/0382503); Göta Hovrätt - Advokatfiskalen Kronobergs län (G) EVIIAAAD:41 (1696-1698) Bild 1610 (AID: v206282.61610, NAD: SE/VALA/0382503)
[[2]]: “Påhlman Nr 501.” Adelsvapen-Wiki. Adelsvapen, May 3, 2014. https://www.adelsvapen.com/genealogi/Påhlman_nr_501; Lewenhaupt, Adam. Karl XIIs Officerare Biografiska Anteckningar. Stockholm: P. A. Norstedt & Söners, 1921, p. 524-525
