Swedish Military Research - A Guide to the Military Sources

Introduction

When you do genealogical research on Swedish ancestors you will sooner or later find an ancestor who served in the military forces as an infantry soldier, cavalryman or navy sailor (båtsman). It is then natural that you might want more information about your serviceman. You might have questions about his regiment, about his company; did he participate in any wars? What was his life as a soldier? What was the history of his regiment? What was the Allotment System etc? The first information you get regarding your ancestor's military life will probably come from the Household Examination Rolls or as they are also called, Clerical Survey Rolls (Husförhörslängder, Hfl). Before you start researching the military sources, there are certain pieces of information you must obtain about your soldier beforehand in order to be effective. You also need to know how the military rolls are organized. The soldier to the right is no 620 Karl Fredrik Hoflin, Hovgården, Vansö parish, Södermanland regiment. Hoflin was born Karlsson and was approved as a soldier in the regiment on September 22, 1883. He was the last allotted soldier of his rote. The photo is from the Södermanland regiment's museum.

Basic Information

You have to browse the Household Examination Rolls, Hfl (Parish records) for the period of time when the ancestor was serving in the regiment. That is, you have to look in the Household Examination Rolls for the parish he lived in as an active soldier. Here you will find information about: • His surname as a soldier (soldier name). When a soldier was enrolled he was given a special "soldier name" by the Captain of the company. In each company the soldiers had to have a unique last name. This means that many soldiers in a regiment over a period of time could have used the same name. However, this doesn't mean they were related. When a soldier retired he normally took back his patronymic name. But it also was not unusual for discharged soldiers to keep their soldier name, especially during the 19th century. • The name of the soldier croft (soldattorp) plus the name of the parish and province. • Possibly you will find his soldier number in the Hfl. If you are lucky you will also find which soldier's rote he belonged to. The soldier's number belonged to the rote. If a soldier was transferred from one rote to another he was always given a different soldier number, a number that belonged to the new rote. However, the soldier normally kept his assigned soldier name when he moved to a new rote, especially if he was transferred to a new rote within the same company. If he was transferred to another company and there was a soldier with the very same soldier name in that company, the new soldier of the company had to change his soldier name. • Approximate period of time as a soldier. Before you start with the military sources you have to know the name of the regiment the soldier served in, possibly also the name of his company. Of course you also must know the period of time he was a soldier. The majority of the Swedish regiments were organized within the Allotment System. The Allotment System was a system of organizing and financing the Swedish armed forces in earlier times (1682 - 1901). It is very important to understand how the Allotment System worked and understand terms like "rote", "rote farmer", soldier croft, soldier names, soldier numbers etc. (it is "rote" in singular and "rotar" in plural.) For more information, see A Summary of the Allotment System. It is not uncommon to see queries in genealogy groups like Rötter's forum Anbytarforum where the questioner asks for information about his or her soldier but only posts the name of the soldier. In addition to the soldier's name, you must at least provide the name of the parish where he lived as a soldier, the name of the province plus an approximate period of time when the ancestor served as a soldier. With this information in hand other researchers can have a look in the Household Examination Rolls (Hfl) and thereafter can obtain information about the regiment and company. A very valuable source for the military researcher is Lieutenant Colonel Claes Grill's work "Statistiskt sammandrag af svenska indelningsverket I - IV" (Statistical Digest of the Swedish Allotment System) from 1856. This is the best source to locate the unit a soldier served in. This work is today published by the Svenska Släktforskningsförbundet (The Federation of Swedish Genealogical Societies). See the cover of the first volume to the right. Grill’s work is also available at the LDS Family History Libraries. In these books the allotted regiments are listed regiment-by-regiment and per regiment parish-by-parish. Per parish you will find the "rotar" that the regiment had in these parishes. In the books you will find information on which company each rote was a part of. A regiment of 1,200 soldiers consequently had 1,200 "rote" (rotar). Normally the rote had the same name as the main farm in the rote that supported the soldier. Grill's works also has a parish directory. So if you know the name of the parish and the name of the rote it is easy to find the regiment and the company the soldier served in. You also have to be aware of the fact that certain provinces had more than one regiment. Different regiments could have "rotar" within the same parish. This makes it a bit more difficult to find the correct regiment for a soldier. An example of a province with two regiments is Östergötland. In this province we had an infantry regiment and a cavalry regiment plus "rotar" within the Navy Allotment System. Finland belonged to Sweden until 1809. The Swedish Allotment System was also established in Finland. For soldiers in Finland, see The Allotment System, Finland.

Example of an ancestor who was a soldier

On my wife's side we have the soldier Bengt Sundin, born in 1769. As a soldier he lived at the soldier croft Stora Dal in Dunker parish, province of Södermanland. The soldier croft's number was 450. This information was found in the Household Examination roll (Hfl). Each parish kept their own Household Examination rolls. Within a parish they were organized place-by-place and within a place, farm-by-farm. Within a farm they were organized by farm/manor and crofts/cottages. Each Hfl in a parish normally spanned a period of 5 years. The photo to the right shows the Södermanland regiment at Malmahed, probably in the 1860's. We found Bengt Sundin under the croft Stora Dal in Dunker parish. The information we got from the roll was: • His profession: Soldier • His soldier name: Sundin • The name of the croft: Stora Dal • Parish: Dunker • Period of time when he was a soldier • Province: Södermanland • The rote number = his soldier number: 450 It was very normal that the soldier's name had a connection to the name of the rote. If this were true in this case, the name of the rote would be "Sund..." something. In the province of Södermanland the major regiment was the Södermanland regiment with 1,200 rotar. However the province also had 142 rotar belonging to the Navy, 111 rotar belonging to the Life Regiment Grenadiers (Livregementets grenadjärer, I3) and 15 rotar in the Life Regiment Hussars (Livregementets husarer, K3). Now, how do we determine the name of the regiment and company he served in? We have to look in Grill. In the parish index of Grill we soon will find Dunker parish. The parish index will give you the page numbers to the regiments that had rotar in Dunker. In this case it was only the Södermanland regiment that had rotar in this parish. So, we start the research by looking at the Södermanland regiment's rotar in Grill (page 42 in the second volume). Here we will see that there were 21 rotar in Dunker. Among these there is a rote named Sundby rote. All of the regiment's "rotar" in Dunker belonged to the 4th Company (Oppunda Company) according to Grill. The rote number of Sundby rote in Grill is 150. Our soldier had the soldier's number 450. Is Sundby rote not the correct rote for our soldier Sundin? Yes it is, there were two series of rote numbers; one within the regiment and one within the company. The Grill work shows only the number within the company. There were normally 150 rotar per company, which means that Sundby rote (rote 150) was the last rote within the company. The number 450 is also indicating that the "rote" was the last rote of a company, 1-150, 151-300, 301-450 etc. The different companies had different status depending of the Company Commander. The first in rank was the Life Company, always the first company. The Colonel of the Regiment normally commanded this company. The second company in rank was the Lieutenant Colonel's company. This was often the 5th company. A regiment was divided into two battalions, The Colonel's battalion (the first 4 companies) and the Lieutenant Colonel's battalion (the last 4 companies). That is why the numbering of the companies does not correspond to the rote numbers of the regiment - rote 450 belonged to the 4th Company in this case and not the 3rd Company. More information about The rote numbering of the Södermanland regiment. Tutorial: Research of Soldiers (opens in a new window)

The Military Sources

The War Archives (Krigsarkivet, KrA) in Stockholm is the main archive for military documents and rolls. All documents that have to do with the military services are kept here. The old documents are public information. ArkivDigital and SVAR (a subdivision of the National Archives) have digitalized the most common military sources, such as the general muster rolls. The photo to the right shows the War Archives in Stockholm. Photo Hans Högman, 2000. There is a person index to the collections at KrA located at the office in the researchers area. Since the number of registers is very extensive there is also a special summary register available called "Katalog över register o dyl i Forskarsalens expedition i KrA". When you do research in the military sources you have to be aware of the fact that the documents weren't established for the purpose of genealogical research. They are not a secondary census. It is only in exceptional cases you will find information about the wives, children or parents of a soldier. Regarding date of birth there are often only years (not an exact date), especially in the early sources. Further, regarding date of birth, the recruited soldier could have been lying about his age (if he was under age) when he was signed up. If the clerical birth records and the military records (for example the general muster rolls) show different age of the soldier you should use the date in the birth records. Regarding "Place of birth", there is often only information on the province he was born in, not the name of the parish. The military rolls in the 1800's are more complete in this matter than the earlier ones. In the 1800's, we will also find information about the name the soldier had before he was assigned a soldier's name (that is, his patronymic name). In order not to miss any military source in your research it is important to know which sources are available. Below is a listing of the more commonly used sources by genealogical researchers. There is a register (beståndsöversikt) covering all the sources at both the War Archive's and at SVAR's homepages. Another register covering all the sources is the Nationella Arkiv Databasen, NAD (National Archive Database). This database is available on both a CD and on the Internet: Nationella Arkiv Databasen. Regarding all military sources it is important to know the name of the regiment and the company. The War Archives has all of the general muster rolls for the different Swedish regiments available on microfiche at the researchers area. At the War Archives there are 18 research places and 8 microfiche readers. There is no need to book a research place in advance.

Research of Soldiers, Sweden

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Source References

• Krigsarkivet och släktforskaren, Christopher von Warnstedt, SSGFs skriftserie, nr 1. 1989. • Släktforskaren och Krigsarkivet by Lars Ericsson, article in Båtsmän, ryttare & soldater, Årsbok Sveriges Släktforskarförbund 1988. • Soldatforska, Lars Ericson Wolke, 2012 • Soldatforskning, by P Clemensson, L Ericsson, P Frohnert and B Lippold. Krigsarkivet 1995. • Släktforskarna och Krigsarkivet, en vägvisare till de militära källorna. Message from Krigsarkivet XIX, 2000. • Beståndsöversikt Krigsarkivet • Inskrivningar av värnpliktiga 1812 - 1969, en översikt av Evabritta Personne, 1968. • My own experiences Top of page

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Swedish Military Research - A

Guide to the Military Sources

Introduction

Basic Information

You have to browse the Household Examination Rolls, Hfl (Parish records) for the period of time when the ancestor was serving in the regiment. That is, you have to look in the Household Examination Rolls for the parish he lived in as an active soldier. Here you will find information about: • His surname as a soldier (soldier name). When a soldier was enrolled he was given a special "soldier name" by the Captain of the company. In each company the soldiers had to have a unique last name. This means that many soldiers in a regiment over a period of time could have used the same name. However, this doesn't mean they were related. When a soldier retired he normally took back his patronymic name. But it also was not unusual for discharged soldiers to keep their soldier name, especially during the 19th century. • The name of the soldier croft (soldattorp) plus the name of the parish and province. • Possibly you will find his soldier number in the Hfl. If you are lucky you will also find which soldier's rote he belonged to. The soldier's number belonged to the rote. If a soldier was transferred from one rote to another he was always given a different soldier number, a number that belonged to the new rote. However, the soldier normally kept his assigned soldier name when he moved to a new rote, especially if he was transferred to a new rote within the same company. If he was transferred to another company and there was a soldier with the very same soldier name in that company, the new soldier of the company had to change his soldier name. • Approximate period of time as a soldier. Before you start with the military sources you have to know the name of the regiment the soldier served in, possibly also the name of his company. Of course you also must know the period of time he was a soldier. The majority of the Swedish regiments were organized within the Allotment System. The Allotment System was a system of organizing and financing the Swedish armed forces in earlier times (1682 - 1901). It is very important to understand how the Allotment System worked and understand terms like "rote", "rote farmer", soldier croft, soldier names, soldier numbers etc. (it is "rote" in singular and "rotar" in plural.) For more information, see A Summary of the Allotment System. It is not uncommon to see queries in genealogy groups like Rötter's forum Anbytarforum where the questioner asks for information about his or her soldier but only posts the name of the soldier. In addition to the soldier's name, you must at least provide the name of the parish where he lived as a soldier, the name of the province plus an approximate period of time when the ancestor served as a soldier. With this information in hand other researchers can have a look in the Household Examination Rolls (Hfl) and thereafter can obtain information about the regiment and company. A very valuable source for the military researcher is Lieutenant Colonel Claes Grill's work "Statistiskt sammandrag af svenska indelningsverket I - IV" (Statistical Digest of the Swedish Allotment System) from 1856. This is the best source to locate the unit a soldier served in. This work is today published by the Svenska Släktforskningsförbundet (The Federation of Swedish Genealogical Societies). See the cover of the first volume to the right. Grill’s work is also available at the LDS Family History Libraries. In these books the allotted regiments are listed regiment-by-regiment and per regiment parish-by- parish. Per parish you will find the "rotar" that the regiment had in these parishes. In the books you will find information on which company each rote was a part of. A regiment of 1,200 soldiers consequently had 1,200 "rote" (rotar). Normally the rote had the same name as the main farm in the rote that supported the soldier. Grill's works also has a parish directory. So if you know the name of the parish and the name of the rote it is easy to find the regiment and the company the soldier served in. You also have to be aware of the fact that certain provinces had more than one regiment. Different regiments could have "rotar" within the same parish. This makes it a bit more difficult to find the correct regiment for a soldier. An example of a province with two regiments is Östergötland. In this province we had an infantry regiment and a cavalry regiment plus "rotar" within the Navy Allotment System. Finland belonged to Sweden until 1809. The Swedish Allotment System was also established in Finland. For soldiers in Finland, see The Allotment System, Finland.

Example of an ancestor who was a soldier

On my wife's side we have the soldier Bengt Sundin, born in 1769. As a soldier he lived at the soldier croft Stora Dal in Dunker parish, province of Södermanland. The soldier croft's number was 450. This information was found in the Household Examination roll (Hfl). Each parish kept their own Household Examination rolls. Within a parish they were organized place-by- place and within a place, farm-by-farm. Within a farm they were organized by farm/manor and crofts/cottages. Each Hfl in a parish normally spanned a period of 5 years. The photo to the right shows the Södermanland regiment at Malmahed, probably in the 1860's. We found Bengt Sundin under the croft Stora Dal in Dunker parish. The information we got from the roll was: • His profession: Soldier • His soldier name: Sundin • The name of the croft: Stora Dal • Parish: Dunker • Period of time when he was a soldier • Province: Södermanland • The rote number = his soldier number: 450 It was very normal that the soldier's name had a connection to the name of the rote. If this were true in this case, the name of the rote would be "Sund..." something. In the province of Södermanland the major regiment was the Södermanland regiment with 1,200 rotar. However the province also had 142 rotar belonging to the Navy, 111 rotar belonging to the Life Regiment Grenadiers (Livregementets grenadjärer, I3) and 15 rotar in the Life Regiment Hussars (Livregementets husarer, K3). Now, how do we determine the name of the regiment and company he served in? We have to look in Grill. In the parish index of Grill we soon will find Dunker parish. The parish index will give you the page numbers to the regiments that had rotar in Dunker. In this case it was only the Södermanland regiment that had rotar in this parish. So, we start the research by looking at the Södermanland regiment's rotar in Grill (page 42 in the second volume). Here we will see that there were 21 rotar in Dunker. Among these there is a rote named Sundby rote. All of the regiment's "rotar" in Dunker belonged to the 4th Company (Oppunda Company) according to Grill. The rote number of Sundby rote in Grill is 150. Our soldier had the soldier's number 450. Is Sundby rote not the correct rote for our soldier Sundin? Yes it is, there were two series of rote numbers; one within the regiment and one within the company. The Grill work shows only the number within the company. There were normally 150 rotar per company, which means that Sundby rote (rote 150) was the last rote within the company. The number 450 is also indicating that the "rote" was the last rote of a company, 1-150, 151-300, 301-450 etc. The different companies had different status depending of the Company Commander. The first in rank was the Life Company, always the first company. The Colonel of the Regiment normally commanded this company. The second company in rank was the Lieutenant Colonel's company. This was often the 5th company. A regiment was divided into two battalions, The Colonel's battalion (the first 4 companies) and the Lieutenant Colonel's battalion (the last 4 companies). That is why the numbering of the companies does not correspond to the rote numbers of the regiment - rote 450 belonged to the 4th Company in this case and not the 3rd Company. More information about The rote numbering of the Södermanland regiment. Tutorial: Research of Soldiers (opens in a new window)