Getting Started with Swedish Genealogy Research
“Young Swedish people in costume at a dance in a small Minnesota town,” photo, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8d03349/ : accessed 12 March 2021), digital id fsa 8d03349, reproduction number LC-USW3-001064-D (b&w film neg.).
If you have Swedish ancestry and possess ANY curiosity whatsoever as to your family history in Sweden, let me say you are probably very very lucky. Why? Well, in short, because Swedish records are AH-MAZ-ING!!
This past week, I wrapped up a client research project which involved tracing the origins of a Swedish family who came to the US in 1909. This was my first project using Swedish records. When my client approached me with her research questions, I immediately felt confident I could help answer her questions even though I had no specific experience with records in this geographic region or language. As I have probably said many times before, the principles of good genealogy research remain the same, no matter where in the world you are searching. Now, that said, this research project DID involve a few extra hours of learning about Swedish history, traditions, language and record sets – all of which I will attempt to summarize for you here.
Learn the Parish
The first step to tracing your roots in Sweden is to learn the PARISH from which your ancestors immigrated or originated. Vital records in Sweden were not kept at the federal, regional or county level. They were kept at the parish level by the church (this is not to say you won’t find vital record information or references outside of parish level records, just that responsibility to record this information at the time of the event belonged to the church). Let me tell you, these records are thorough, organized, and well-preserved. They also go back really far --in most cases back to the late 1600s and in some cases back to the 1500s.[1] Yes, you read correctly! Any genealogist who has spent time in less accommodating records, such as those in Ireland for example, would kill to have what Swedish records have.
Perhaps the most valuable of Swedish church records are the Household Examination Books or Congregation Books. The books themselves usually span 5-10 years, with entries recorded every year when a parish priest would visit the family home. Initially, the purpose of the books was to evaluate parishioners’ spiritual needs and to test parishioners’ spiritual knowledge. Each individual old enough to be tested would receive a score based on his or her ability to read and recite. These initial books were referred to as Husförhörsbok (household examinations). Eventually, the spiritual knowledge tests were no longer administered and the purpose of the books became more clerical in nature. These later-books, though essentially the same as the Husförhörsbok, became known as Församlingsböcker (parish or congregation books).[2]
Subject Headings on a typical church examination book
Family History Library, “Parish Register Examples, Sweden,” (Salt Lake City : n.d.); pdf online, (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/2/#inbox/FMfcgxwLsmbcSKKmVLhXJGNmCSkxHWpr?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1 : accessed 5 March 2021).
In both the household examination and congregation books, the priest listed each individual in a particular household, including servants, along with information about each person’s birth date, marriage date, the date they moved into the parish, the date the individual moved out of the parish or died, or moved within the parish. Remarks about military service were often included as well. Many times, and of particular value to the genealogist, the entries in the examination books would include volume and page number cross references to an individual’s entry in other church books such as the books for birth/christenings, banns/marriages, moving in, death/burial, moving out, etc.[3] In theory, taking all this information together, one could potentially trace his or her family history in Sweden hundreds of years.
Example of a Church Examination Record
Grämanstorps Husfförhörslängd 1877-1890, Volum II, 254-508, p.453, entry for Klippan, Per Persson and household; "Sweden, Household Examination Books, 1880-1930," database online, FamilySearch (FamilySearch.org : accessed 2 March 2021), film 104121026 > image 121 of 260; citing MyHeritage (https://www.myheritage.com : n.d.); various Lutheran parishes, Sweden.
You may be wondering, “well, how do I find out from which parish my ancestor came?” You would absolutely start by looking at home sources and US records. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you head over to my Facebook page and watch my free webinar titled, “Find Your Family Heritage While Stationed Overseas.” That will give you an excellent idea of the best records to find your ancestor’s place of origin.
Now here’s the other good news with Swedish-American genealogy. The highest numbers of Swedish immigration to America came in the late 19th century and peaked in the early years of the 20th century. You see, Sweden in the early 19th century saw a time of large population growth as the result of general peace time, the smallpox vaccination, and successful potato crops. This population growth however resulted in a land shortage, motivating many Swedes to move to North America in the latter half of the century and into the 20th. The cities and farms of the Midwest particularly attracted large numbers of Swedish immigrants.[4] The US records for this time period and in these regions are generally very good. So, if one uses good methodology, the answer to your ancestor’s parish of origin mystery should be very solvable.
Before you Start
Now there are a couple of things you should know about Swedish records before diving in. Perhaps most significantly, in Swedish genealogical records, many (though certainly not all) surnames were patronymic. Patronymic surnames are those in which an individual’s surname was derived from his or her father’s given name. For example, Lars, whose father’s name was Sven, would be named “Lars Svensson.” If Lars had a sister named Ingrid, she would be called “Ingrid Svensdotter.” Therefore, in patronymic naming traditions, a family surname might change with each generation. Nevertheless, this naming custom began to change in early years of the 20th century, when some previously patronymic surnames began to be continued throughout subsequent generations. Similarly, around this time, some women previously known with patronymic surnames ending in the suffix “dotter’ began to take on the same name suffix as any male children in the same family, i.e. “son.” [5]
Historically, Swedish women did not change their surname upon marriage. However, towards end of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th century, this practice also began to change as more women began to take their husband’s surname at marriage.[6]
Swedish Language Helps
What If I don’t read Swedish? Before starting this project, I knew no Swedish. I even had a difficult time remembering the names of my favorite Ikea products! But, I do possess experience with old handwriting styles and I found a number of resources to help me translate records. Such as:
· Swedish Genealogical Word List[7]
· Swedish Historical Dictionary[8]
· Sweden Abbreviations in Family History Sources[10]
· Introduction to Swedish Church Books[11]
· Parish Register Examples, Sweden[12]
· Google Translate[13]
· Swedish American Genealogy Facebook Group[14]
· Illnesses and Causes of death in Sweden[15]
Keep in my mind that Swedish characters such as “å” and “ö” are actual letters, and not merely pronunciation guides. If you are searching an alphabetic list for the letter “å,” you will not find that letter at the beginning of the alphabet, but rather at the end.
Where to Find Swedish Records
A number of subscription sites offer Swedish records including Ancestry World Explorer and MyHeritage.[16] Arkivdigital is a subscription site dedicated to Swedish Records. Many of those records are indexed and searchable. [17]
Arkivdigital contains many records beyond parish church records such as estate inventories and military service cards.[18] Although I have not used ArkivDigital myself, I understand it is very popular for those who regularly research in Swedish records.[19]
The free site FamilySearch holds a number of Swedish records as well. When consulting FamilySearch, I recommend you use the catalog and search by place name to see their record holdings for your ancestor’s parish.[20]
The Swedish Website Riksarkivet, also free, contains so many wonderful records. The website navigation can be a little confusing, so I recommend following these steps to navigate their records.
a. Go to https://riksarkivet.se/startpage using google chrome (google chrome will often have the capability to translate pages into English).
b. Select English from the top right menu
c. Click Search the Collections
d. Click Digital Research Room
e. On the left-hand side, type in the name of the parish. You may wish to click the box that limits results to “digitised material only”
f. For any letters or special characters use * in place of those letters. For example, for Gråmanstorp, type “Gr*manstorp.
g. Those entries with a computer symbol are digitized. Click on the title.
h. Expand files on left hand side to see available records.[21]
So, do you have Swedish Ancestry? If so, what are you waiting for? Chances are, there is a goldmine of historical information just waiting to be discovered! I wish you success in your search!
[1] Kathy Meade, "Introduction to Swedish Church Books," Webinar and corresponding handout, 19 November 2015, Legacy Family Tree Webinars (https://familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=405 : accessed 1 March 2021).
[2] Ibid. Also, “Sweden Household Examination Records (Husförhörslängder),” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Sweden_Household_Examination_Records_(Husf%C3%B6rh%C3%B6rsl%C3%A4ngder) : accessed 5 March 2021).
[3] Ibid. The inset shows an example of subject headings for Swedish Church Examination Books. See, Family History Library, “Parish Register Examples, Sweden,” (Salt Lake City : n.d.); pdf online, (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/2/#inbox/FMfcgxwLsmbcSKKmVLhXJGNmCSkxHWpr?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1 : accessed 5 March 2021).
[4] David A Fryxell, “Finding Swedish Genealogy Records Online,” FamilyTree (FamilyTreeMagazine.com : accessed 19 February 2021).
[5] Legacy Tree, “Swedish Surnames: What’s in a Name,”FamilySearch Blog (https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/swedish-surnames/ :accessed 5 March 2021).
[6] Ibid.
[7] “Swedish Genealogical Word List,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/w iki/en/img_auth.php/a/a8/Swedish_to_English_Word_List_from_the_FamilySearch_Wiki_May_2011.pdf : accessed 2 March 2021), updated 31 May 2011.
[8] “Swedish Historical Dictionary Database, SHDD,” The Swedish Genealogy Guide (https://swedishgenealogyguide.com/dictionaries/swedish-historical-dictionary-database-shdd : accessed 3 March 2021).
[9] “Sweden Occupations,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Sweden_Occupations : accessed 3 March 2021).
[10] “Sweden Abbreviations in Family History Sources,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Sweden_Abbreviations_in_Family_History_Sources : accessed 3 March 2021).
[11] Kathy Meade, "Introduction to Swedish Church Books," Webinar and corresponding handout, 19 November 2015.
[12] Family History Library, “Parish Register Examples, Sweden,” (Salt Lake City : n.d.); pdf online, (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/2/#inbox/FMfcgxwLsmbcSKKmVLhXJGNmCSkxHWpr?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1 : accessed 5 March 2021).
[13] Google Translate (google.com/translate : accessed 5 March 2021), Swedish to English.
[14] “Swedish American Genealogy Group,” Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/239433885078 : accessed 7 March 2021).
[15] “Illnesses and causes of death in Sweden,” Wikitree (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Sjukdomar_och_d%C3%B6dsorsaker : accessed 7 March 2021).
[16] Personal experience of author, Laura Scalzitti (historyrunner17@gmail.com).
[17] Kathy Meade, "Introduction to Swedish Church Books," Webinar and corresponding handout, 19 November 2015.
[18] Ibid.
[19] “Swedish American Genealogy Group,” Facebook.
[20] Personal experience of author, Laura Scalzitti (historyrunne17@gmail.com).
[21] Ibid.