Sweden's Basic Genealogy Research Sources
The most valuable sources for research in Sweden prior to the twentieth century were ecclesiastically generated (church records). The Lutheran church was the primary authority for recording vital information such as births, marriages, and deaths. These and other sources, including those civilly generated, are briefly summarized below:
Swedish Vital Records
Birth and christening records can show the date of each event, name of child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, names of parents, the farm of residence within the parish, witnesses to the christening, and sometimes even the age of the mother at the time of the birth. Early records, however, will often show only the name of the father. The farm name can be extremely helpful when searching the clerical surveys, described in more detail below. Birth/christening records are found chronologically organized. They have been microfilmed from earliest in the parish through at least the 1860s, with additional years becoming increasingly available.
Engagement and Marriage records will usually show the name of bride and groom, their residences, prior marital status, witnesses, marriage date and dates of banns. Many records show ages of the bride and groom, and later records also provide the names of the parents for each. Residences can lead to outside parishes of origin, when births did not occur in the same parish being researched. Engagement/marriage records are found chronologically organized. They have been microfilmed from earliest in the parish through at least the 1860s, with additional years becoming increasingly available.
Death and burial records will help identify the age and residence of an ancestor. At times, the records will also identify the cause of death, whether a widow or widower, record the specific relationship to a father if a small child, and occasionally even record information about origins if a notable individual. Death/burial records are found chronologically organized. They have been microfilmed from earliest in the parish through at least the 1860s, with additional years becoming increasingly available.
Civil Registration, noted as such in most catalogs, was simply an extract of the parish registers beginning in 1860, grouped year-by-year according to county and then according to parish. It includes much the same information as the birth records though, if only a county is known, the civil registration permits a search of every parish for only a single year, all generally on the same microfilm. Once the entry has been found, and a farm determined, the clerical surveys can be used to trace the family back to a time period when the births, marriages, and deaths are available on microfilm. These civil registration extracts have currently been filmed from 1860 through approximately 1920.
Immigration Records
Moving-in and moving-out records were kept to document the movements of individuals and families from parish to parish. Record was made of the moving-in/out, which parish to/from, which farm within the recording parish moving to/from, names, and sometimes ages and birthplaces. Additional references are sometimes made to where the family can be found in the clerical survey records. Moving-in/out records are usually kept in a separate part of the church book from births, marriages, and deaths. They have been microfilmed from earliest in the parish through at least the 1860s, with additional years becoming increasingly available.
Each parish kept a separate extract register of those moving out of the parish for purposes of emigration to a foreign country, (or for those moving in from a foreign country). These records began in earnest in 1865 and were kept on a year-by-year basis grouped together within each county, similar to the civil registration described above. Some of these extracts can be found as early as 1850, and have been microfilmed up through 1940 for most areas. If a county of origin and a year of immigration is known, these records can be searched through for each parish for that county and year.
Immigration and Emigration records for Sweden are found in several different formats. Passenger lists from the ports of Göteborg, Malmö, Norrköping and Stockholm are available on both microfilm and CD-Rom. Stockholm, located on the east side of the country, is the least active of the four major ports as far as North American emigration is concerned, and has records beginning in 1869. Malmö, the southern-most port, has records dating from 1874. Norrköping has the earliest records, beginning in 1860, and Göteborg, the most active port, has records from 1869. All passenger lists are indexed, and will provide names, ages, parish of origin, destination, date of departure, and miscellaneous information.
Other Important Swedish Records
Sweden's clerical surveys are records that were kept to assess and track a person’s knowledge of the Lutheran Catechism. In the process, a thorough census-like document was created about each member of the family. Included are names, relationships, birth dates, birth places, dates moved in and from where, dates moved away and where to, as well as markings to indicate the grades of achievement pertaining to understanding the catechism. At times, marriage dates are also given, as are death dates if death occurred within the time period of that survey. Surveys were taken in blocks of time, generally five year periods, and are organized by farm for each parish. They have been microfilmed from earliest in the parish through at least the 1890s, with additional years becoming increasingly available. Their extension of availability beyond the other registers makes them even more valuable, especially when integrated with civil registration extracts.
Probate records are another valuable tool for research in Sweden, although they require more mastery of the language than other sources. The information provided includes names, dates of death, relationships, residences of those contained in the document, ages of children when minors, inventories of estates, signatures, etc. There are indexes for many areas, with others still in process, that refer to page numbers. Unfortunately, the pages are not generally marked. It is often necessary to scroll through to the approximate page, then compare current entries with their own indexed information, noting how much further to continue or retreat among the unnumbered pages on the film to the desired ancestor.
