Introduction

The purpose of this page is not to teach Swedish genealogy but to give information to Americans and other non-Swedes on how to trace their roots in the Swedish sources. In Swedish Genealogy newsgroups, you often see Americans asking about census records in Sweden. However, in Sweden the Church records are the primary sources of information you need to look at. The Reformation in 1525 divided the Catholic Church into two parts, the Protestant Church and the Roman Catholic Church. In 1527 the Swedish King Gustav Vasa proclaimed Sweden a Protestant nation with an Evangelical Lutheran Church; Church of Sweden. At the same time the King made himself Head of the Church. The Catholic Church was forbidden and if you belonged to any other religion than the Lutheran Church, you were subject to the death penalty. So, from that day Sweden only had one Church. This also means that the Swedish Church records covers the entire population of the nation. In 1608, the archbishop ordered the parish ministers/clergy to begin recording christenings, marriages and deaths. However, most ministers did not comply. In 1622, the bishop of Västerås instructed the parish ministers in his diocese to keep records. In 1686, Sweden enacted a law stating that the Church had to keep official Church records. There were, of course, Church records before that but now every minister had to keep records in his parish. So, from the 17th century on, Sweden has excellent records of its citizens, which makes it easy for you to trace your Swedish family history. Before you start, gather what you know about your family and its Swedish roots. Ask the your oldest living relatives about names, places and dates etc.

What do I need to know about

my family before I start?

The Church records are organized parish by parish. Every parish kept its own records. So, to get an entry you need to know the parish name (socken / församling) and the years when your ancestors lived in that parish. It is also good to know the county name or the province name because there could be more than one parish with the same name. The Swedish parishes are called “socken” in Swedish prior to 1862 and thereafter “församling”. The term ”Socken” has two meanings ; the religious (Church) socken and the worldly (secular) socken. If you don’t know the name of the parish, write down the name of the place where your relatives lived, nearby cities, rivers etc. Have a look in family Bibles, old letters etc. Together this information could help you to identify the parish. • Map of the Swedish Counties (and county codes) • Map of the Swedish provinces • Also study Some facts about Sweden • The subdivisions of Sweden into regions, provinces / counties and socken/kommun • Church of Sweden The Swedish counties are quite large by area and have a role more similar to the States in the USA and are therefore better compared to the US states rather than the US counties. The worldly socken (after 1862 the kommun) on the other hand is better compared to the US county. A “kommun” is the term for the entity of local administration. So, when you do a reference to a place in Sweden you should state both the county (or the province) and the parish, socken (after 1862 to the församling). A county is a too large area to pinpoint a place; you should always include socken/församling (parish). The parish is also your key to the archive records. Be aware that the spelling of places and names could be “Americanized.” For example, we have three more letters in the Swedish alphabet, å, ä and ö, than the English alphabet. Note that these letters “å” and “ä” are not a variant of “a” and “ö” is not a variant of “o”. Å, ä and ö are distinct individual letters. So, the place name Boda is not the same place name as Böda. Therefore, it is best to keep the dots for å, ä and ö when referring to Swedish names of places or names of people. If you replace “å” and “ä” with an “a” or “ö” with an “o” you could cause confusion. For further information, See the Swedish Alphabet below. See also How to type Swedish characters. The spelling of places could also be old, that is the name of a place could be spelled a bit differently today. The spelling of a person's name could have been changed in the U.S. An immigrant could have changed his name to sound more American. For example Nils became Nels, Bernt became Bent, Karl or Carl became Charles, Gustav - Gust etc. The surname Svensson became Swanson or Swenson, Bergström became Bergstrom, Andersson became Anderson. The “son” names are always spelled with two “ss” in Swedish. In Sweden country people begun using family names at the end of the 1800-hundreds, that is the children inherited the surname of their fathers. Other groups in Sweden, such as the nobility, town people, craftsmen, clergy etc adopted family names much earlier than the country people. However, from early times Sweden has used patronymic surnames. That means that the children were given a last name ending with -son or -dotter (daughter) that started with the father’s first name. If a man called Anders had a son named Karl then Karl very given the last name Andersson and a daughter of Anders received the patronymic (last name) Andersdotter. If Karl had a son then his son's last name would be Karlsson. If you have traced your family history to a man by the name Anders Persson, you will then know that his father's first name was Per. Note that the Swedish “-son” names are spelled with two “s”, i.e. Andersson. See also Swedish naming practices in earlier times In Sweden we have a law called "The Secrecy Act." According to this act no church records etc. is "public" until it is 70 years old. Parish ministers and court officials will, however, give information for any legitimate reason from the records under their jurisdiction, which are still under the 70-year rule.

The Swedish Alphabet

The Swedish alphabet has three more letters than the English; Å, Ä and Ö. They are distinct letters and ordered at the end of the alphabet, after Z; [ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZÅÄÖ]. So, letters Å and Ä are not a variant of letter A and letter Ö is not a variant of letter O. Å, Ä and Ö are instead distinct letters in the alphabet. It is therefore not a very good idea to replace all letters Å and Ä with an “A” and all letters Ö with an “O” in your family tree, since this type of incorrect spelling might cause confusion regarding names of people and names of places.

Names of people

For example, suppose that you have an ancestor by the family name Jönsson listed as Jonsson in your family tree. This is very doubtful since Jonsson is another surname but not the same surname as Jönsson. Both Jönsson and Jonsson is petty common surnames and by listing him by the surname Jonsson he has become a person with an incorrect surname. However, since both Jönsson and Jonsson are existing names it is difficult to know if Jonsson should be interpreted as Jonsson or Jönsson. An ancestral name such as Sjöberg for example is not causing much problems when listed as Sjoberg since Sjoberg is not a name used in Sweden and therefore easy for a Swede to interpret as Sjöberg.

Names of places

I was helping an American a few years ago with an ancestor of his. The place his ancestor came from was, according to him, Boda. Boda is a place in Småland, known for its many glassworks. However, I couldn’t find any trace of his ancestor in Boda. Then I came to think that he might have misspelled Boda. Maybe he meant Böda? Böda is a place in Öland. So, when I searched his ancestor in Böda I found him. So, Boda and Böda are two different places. Try to avoid replacing letters Å and Ä with an “A” and letter Ö with an “O”. The dots matter. I can understand that it is a is a bit more difficult to type Å, Ä and Ö on an English keyboard but not impossible. I have a webpage describing how to type these three Swedish national characters on an English keyboard and why it can cause problems or confusion by replacing them by A or O. See How to type Swedish characters

Church Records

Sweden did not really have any equivalence to the US birth, marriage or death certificates. Births, marriages and deaths were instead kept in special ledgers in each parish. So, what you want to look at are these ledgers or church books / church records. I guess you can get an excerpt of these records if you ask the Archives but a better idea is to copy the page with the actual entry in the church book, once written by the parish minister. • Birth and baptising Records (Födelse- och Dopboken) • Marriage Records (Vigselboken) • Death and burial Records (Dödsboken) • Moving Records (In- och Ut-flyttningslängder) • Household Examination Rolls or Clerical Surveys Rolls (Husförhörslängder) • Confirmation Records (Konfirmationslängder) • Parish Record Extracts (uttdrag till Statistiska Centralbyrån, SCB)

Other records

Census Records (Swedish: Mantalslängder)

A census (mantalslängd) in Sweden was a count of the population primarily for taxation and military purposes. Mantalslängder was taken earlier than the church records and are therefore an important source when there are no more church records to turn to. The Church records starts at the end of 17th century but the Mantalslängder starts as early as the 1620s. But there are other types of tax records that go back as far as 1535. The Mantalslänger only lists persons liable for tax. Before 1652 every person above the age of 12 was listed. After 1652 the records cover people between the age of 15 and 63; after 1841, people between 17 and 63; and after 1887 between 18 and 63. But not everyone in that period of time had to pay tax and are therefore not in these records. Soldiers, for example, did not have to pay taxes. Until 1810, the nobility and their servants were exempted from paying taxes. The poor and sick were also exempted. Mantalsskrivning, registration for taxation purposes, (Census registration) was held once a year and everyone liable for paying taxes was listed in the records. In a household normally only the owner, the husband, was listed by name. The rest of the family was only noted by markings. So you can normally find the name of the husband and notes that he had a wife and a number of children. Since the sick and poor were exempted from paying taxes you might find notes about people's health and economical status. In the earliest census records you might only find the first name of the persons listed. Beware that the information in the census might be false: people's age, for example. People in all times have tried to escape taxes. Our ancestors were no exception.

Court Records, (Court of Law) or legal

records or Court documents (Swe:

Domböcker)

In the domböcker you will find almost anything that people could drag each other into court for, from minor misdemeanors to capital crimes etc. So, the records covers both civil cases (suits) as well as criminal cases, as well as items like probates, last will and testaments, property ownership etc. These records are kept in the 8 Regional archives in Sweden, and are also available online. They are preserved from the beginning of the 17th century. If you trace your roots before the period of church records you have to use the census- and court records. • Probate Records (Bouppteckningar) A bouppteckning (estate inventory) had to be done for every person who died and had property left, as 1/8 % of the residue of the estate had to be paid to the poor of the parish. The records are also important as they list all the heirs of the deceased, and if the children were minors also the next of kin that would look after their interests in the estate.

Passenger lists / Emigration

Emigration and immigration sources contain the names of persons leaving (emigrating) and coming into (immigrating) a country. Swedish emigration sources are useful genealogical sources. They are found as passenger lists. They can help you find where in Sweden your ancestor came from. Most of the passenger lists that are preserved are begins in 1866. The emigration from Sweden to the U.S. was very low before the 1850s. The peak was around the 1880s. Before 1870 most Swedes emigrated from the counties (län) of Östergötland, Jönköping and Kalmar. After 1870 the majority emigrated from the counties of Halland, Jönköping, Kronoberg, Östergötland and Kristianstad. During the 1880s and 1890s the majority emigrated from the counties of Halland, Kalmar, Jönköping, Kronoberg, Värmland, Östergötland, Skaraborg and Älvsborg. The three counties of Kalmar, Jönköping and Kronoberg cover the same area as the province of Småland. Between 1820 and 1920 about 1,200,000 Swedes emigrated. Most of them were farmers, but some were craftsmen. A common route was by ship from Gothenburg on the Swedish West coast to Hull, England. Then they went by train from Hull to Liverpool and from Liverpool by ship to New York or Quebec. After 1880 all the ships were steamboats and the journey then took about 12 days. The Wilson shipping line did most of the transfers from Gothenburg to Hull. That journey took 2 days. People in the south of Sweden normally went via Denmark or Bremen and Hamburg in Germany. Many Swedish immigrants to North America arrived at the ports of New York in the US and Quebec in Canada. Once in New York they had to pass Castle Garden at Battery Park, Manhattan, where the immigration officers waited. A new immigration center was opened in 1892 at Ellis Island, one mile south of Manhattan. Ellis Island was in use until 1954. During that time more than 16 million people passed thru the center. The next stop for most of the Swedes was Chicago. In the beginning they went by ships to Chicago but later by train. The state where most Swedes settled was Minnesota. Still in 1910 about 13% of the population in Minnesota was of Swedish origin. Another very popular state was Illinois and of course Wisconsin and Michigan. One of the more popular places was Chisago County, Minnesota. See also The Swedish Emigration to the USA There is also an online Swedish Emigrant Database EmiWeb.

Military Records

The War Archive in Stockholm stores the Swedish Military records (as well as the Finnish records up until 1809; Finland was a part of Sweden prior to 1809). The military records will help you to identify people who served as soldiers. Between the 1680s and 1901 Sweden had a system called The Allotment System. This was a system of organizing and financing the Swedish armed forces during that period. The primary source is the General Muster Rolls (Swedish: Generalmönsterrullor). They were kept in each regiment. In order to search these rolls you must know the name of the Regiment and the name of the Company. But in order to find the soldier in the rolls you also must know his name and his soldier’s number or the name of the military “rote” (Ward) he belonged to. In the rolls you will find information about a soldier’s military name, the “rote” and the soldier's number (identification number), age, birth county, date when he was hired, date when he was discharged, conduct, years of service, height in feet and inches, material status, name of the soldier who replaced him at the soldier’s croft (cottage): If he was killed in battle it will be noted. In order to find out which unit he served in you must know where he lived as a soldier: the County (län) and preferably the parish (socken). The name of the military ward (rote) is the best information to get hold of. At the War Archive there is a guide available to help you find the military sources in the Archive (Krigsarkivets beståndsöversikt). Another aid is NAD (National Archives Database). For more information, see Swedish Military Research, How to Research Soldiers in the Swedish Military Sources, Notations in general muster rolls and The Central Soldier Database (search the database) The work “Statistiskt sammandrag av det svenska indelningsverket” (Statistical Digest of the Swedish Allotment System) by Lieutenant Colonel Claes Grill is the best literature to locate the unit a soldier served in. This book is available at the Family History Library. See also Swedish Wars. Rolls: • General Muster Rolls • Draft Cards All these records are in handwriting and of course, in Swedish. They will provide you with information about your family. What kind of information will you find? It depends upon the record, of course. The fact that the Church and Military Records are in Swedish should not give you too much problem. If you learn a few keywords you should be able to understand them. It probably will be more difficult to understand handwriting in old Swedish (which also can be difficult for Swedes) rather than the fact that they are in Swedish. But normally the old Swedish should not be a large problem. The records from the 19th century are easier to read then the ones from 18th century. Dictionaries: • Swedish/English dictionary of genealogy terms. See also the Swedish language. • Swedish/English dictionary of military terms • Explanations of Swedish genealogy terms

Contents of the Church Records

In the archives every source of information has a code name or a record code. Each type of Church record has its own code. Within each group, the volumes are numbered in chronological order. The first or oldest record within a group of records for a parish are numbered 1 and thereafter in chronological order. For example, the record code for the Household Examination Rolls are AI. The oldest volume of Household Examination Rolls of a parish would then be AI:1, next AI:2 etc.

Household Examination Rolls (Swe:

Husförhörslängder, HFL)

Record code: AI. The Household Examination Rolls only go back as far as 1700, but most rolls start much later. From the beginning of the 19th century they are available for most parishes. The records were kept parish by parish. Entries were made currently during the year, like an annual census. In the beginning each parish roll (ledger) included a period of one year but later the periods were extended to 5 years. That means that the same entries were used for 5 years (later even for 10 years). All the changes in a family, for example, birth, marriages, death, moving etc were made on the same pages. That could mean that an entry is crossed out or changed (over written). In the Household rolls the minister kept information about his congregation and parishioners. These rolls were a clerical examination of the household members for their competence in Luther’s Catechism and reading. In the rolls each household was recorded separately. So each roll was arranged in order farm by farm or dwelling by dwelling. For each dwelling you can follow the family. All members of a family were entered and also farmhands, maids etc. that lived on the farm. Here you will find changes to a family, information when they moved to the dwelling or when they moved to another place. If they moved within the parish, the name of the place and date will be listed. If then moved to another parish, the name of that parish and date will be listed. If a child is illegitimate it will be noted, often with the code OÄ (Oäkta barn). All the children in a family will be listed together with the parents. Other information that you will find about each person is: Full name, birth date, birth place (normally the parish name), marriage date, confirmation dates, occupation, common notes about each person etc. The later rolls have more information than the earlier ones. If the man was a soldier you will find his soldier’s name and number. So, the household examination rolls (shortened HFL in Swedish) are ledgers covering a certain amount of years, normally 5 or 10 years. Within a parish’s household roll you will find village by village and per village household per household. In a way each page in a rolls correspond to an address. If a family moved within the parish during such a period, they would be listed at several pages in the roll. They would be listed at the old address (page) but here crossed over with a forwarding notation. Then they would be listed at the new address (page) with a notation regarding which place they moved from. So, it is common to find people listed at different locations within the parish if they have moved. They will then be crossed over at pages where they no longer lived. Use this roll as your major source to trace your family roots. Confirm dates in the birth-, marriage- and death records. If you find differences between this roll and for example the birth records use the date in the birth records. If you find a birth record in the roll, look it up in the birth records and you will find the name of the parents and the place where they lived at that time. The first volume of the rolls within each parish is called AI:1, the second AI:2 etc. Example of an extract from a household examination roll: Left-hand side:

Above is an extract of an household examination roll: Ekshärad (S) AI:38 (1886-1890) image 75 / page 65 (AID: v10795.b75.s65, NAD: SE/VA/13100). Right-hand page. The above image shows the right-hand side of the page shown further above. Explanations: • 1st and 2nd columns: ability to read (läser ...) and knowledge of Christianity / Scripture (Kristendomskunskaper). • 3rd to 7th columns: Attended household examinations and the Holy Communion (nattvard) years 1886 - 1890. • 8th column: Notations about conscription (Excercerat). • The 5th row above has a notation about conscription. It is son Jöns who is listed on the 5th row. The notation is 294 101/1888. This is his enrollment number when he was drafted. 1888 is the year of enrollment. Jöns was born in 1867 and normally young men was called up for conscription at the age of 21. Jöns turned 21 in 1888 which fits. • 9th column: Reputation and special remarks (frejd och särskilda anteckningar). On the 7th row we can read that daughter Maria was crippled (krympling). • 10th and 11th columns: Moving-out data (Flyttat). Moved from the parish to.... In the moving-out column we can read that Jöns moved to Undersåker, Jämtland on July 8, 1890. • 12th column: Reference to the entry in the Moving-out record. Jöns entry in the Moving-out record for 1890 is number 32. Note; there was no universal form for the household examination rolls. They can therefore be somewhat different from parish to parish and in different periods of time.

Parish books (Swe: Församlingsböcker)

In the middle of the 1890’s the household examination rolls (husförhörslängder) was succeeded by the parish books/records (församlingsböcker). The content of the parish books is about the same as the content of the former household examination rolls. Record code: AIIa.

Birth/Baptism Records (Swe: Födelse- och

dopboken)

Record code: C. Birth records go as far back as the beginning of the 17th century. The birth records were also kept parish- by-parish and arranged in order by year. For each birth an entry was made on that date. The time period for the birth records could be as much as 50 years. The first volume of birth records within each parish is called C:1, the second C:2 etc. In some birth records the children are listed by christening date instead of birth date. The christening was almost always held within a week of the birth. In the records you will find the child’s name, birth date, christening date, parents names, the child's legitimacy, the family’s place of residence, father’s occupation, names of the witnesses (testes) and godparents. The witnesses were often relatives of the family. If the child was stillborn or died within a week or so after the birth, it will be listed. Back to Church records list. Example of an extract from a birth record: Left-hand side:

Above is an extract from a birth record: Ekshärad (S) C:9 (1868-1894) image 284 / page 629 (AID: v6419.b284.s629, NAD: SE/VA/13100). Right-hand page. The above image shows the right-hand side of the page shown further above. Explanations: • 1st column: Mother's age or both mother's as well as father's age. • 2nd column: Midwife • 3rd column: Godparents or sponsors (Dopvittnen / testes) • 4th and 5th columns: Churching of the woman after childbirth / Absolution • 6th column: Special notations. In this case we have the name of the officiator at the christening (Dopf. = dopförrättare), O. A. Groth.

Marriage Records (Vigselboken)

Record code: E. Marriage records go as far back as the beginning of the 17th century. Like the other church records, the marriage records were kept parish-by-parish and arranged by year. For each marriage an entry was made on that date. The time period for the marriage records could be as much as 50 years. The first volume of marriage records within each parish is called E:1, the second E:2 etc. In the records you will find the grooms name, the brides name, the date of the marriage, the name of place where the groom lived before the marriage, the name of place where the bride lived before the marriage, the groom's occupation, names of the witnesses etc. The record also normally indicates whether the bride or groom were single or widowed. Sometimes you will also find the age of the bride and groom, birthplaces, parent's names Back to Church records list. Example of an extract from a marriage record: Left-hand side: