Valö Parish, Stockholm, Sweden Genealogy

Guide to Valö Parish, Sweden ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

History
In 1612 Valö församling broke off from Forsmark parish.

Valö lies in northeast Uppland province (landskap) and now in Uppsala County (län) but before 1971 it was included in Stockholms län. Woodland covers much of the parish but some farming and a little mining have supported the population. Vigelsbo mines operated in the western end of the parish and its raliroad spur from 1925 connected with the much older Dannamora-Harg narrow-guage line. When a small mill in the area closed in the 1920s the railroad was abandond. As of year 2000 the parish population was 622.

Place Names
Annö Bennebo, Bergsjö, Bohl, Bohl ägor, Boharsbo  Dahltorp, Danbo, Djuprudu  Frebbenbo  Grynmon, Gubbo, Gunnarsbo utjord, Gålalmora, Gålarmora ägor  Hackbol  Jiuoansbo, Jönsbol  Karö, Kelinge, Kelinge ägor, Klintbol, Klockargården, Kämbo  Lund, Lund ägor, Lundssvia, Lundssvia ägor, Lundssvia Finnskog  Masungsskogen  Norrby, Norrtorp  Orrdal  Pehrsbo, Prästgården, Pålsmora, Pålsmora ägor  Rofsätra, Rofsätra ägor, Rundal, Rönningen, Rörberget,  Skotttorp, Skällerö, Stenbacken, Stensberg, Strandbergens, Stummelbo, Stummelbo ägor, Sunnanäng, Svalsbohl, Sångarbo, Södersvea  Tomta, Tomta ägor  Ulkerö, Udden  Wamsta, Wamsta ägor, Wigelsbo, Wigelsbo ägor  Östensbo, Örtmora, Örtmora ägor

To see what kind of place it is you will need a Swedish Gazetteer.


 * Surrounding Parishes

Census Records

 * Sweden Household Examination Records (Husförhörslängder)--explanation of this church record which is functionally the census of Sweden.
 * Sweden Household Examination Books, 1840-1947, ($), index and images. Also on Ancestry.com, ($), Arkiv Digital ($), and SVAR at Riksarkivet.

Online Database Church Records
Kyrkoböcker, 1673-1895 author: Svenska kyrkan. Valö socken

Kyrkoböcker, 1863-1929 author: Svenska kyrkan. Valö socken

The parish records contain christening, marriage, and death records, household examination records, and move in move out. The earliest records, in general, date from 1727 forward. There is no index. They are written in a gothic script which can be difficult to read. Also, they are written in Swedish. With some practice, the information can be obtained without too much knowledge of the language.

There are also church account records that go back much ealier than 1727. These records list items such as, the amount paid by someone to get married. These records contain some information that is useful for discovering families prior to the beginning of formal the parish records. One difficult is that they are not in specific format, so a knowledge of Swedish is imparative to gain full use of these records.

The FamilySearch has microfilms available, but the best place to view the records is in the AkivDigital website. (There is a fee to use this site, but it is available for free at most FamilySearch centers). These are photographed pictures of all the parish records.

The easiest way to access the Swedish Church Records is through the internet, using these five sites (see links to specific collections below). Four of these sites require a subscription for access. (ArkivDigital, Ancestry.com, and MyHeritage.com  are available at a FamilyHistory Center near you free of charge.)
 * at FamilySearch.
 * at FamilySearch.
 * MyHeritage.com ($),
 * ($),
 * Arkiv Digital ($), and
 * SVAR at Riksarkivet.

Help Using ArkivDigital: Online Databases for Sweden

 * These lessons will teach you how to use ArkivDigital:
 * ArkivDigital: Explore Your Swedish Heritage

FamilySearch Library Records
Click Sweden, Uppsala Records for a full listing of microfilmed records (some digitized online) at the FamilySearch Library, that may be digitized. Check back occasionally to see if your records have become available. In the meantime, some of them might be available at a Family History Center near you. Click on "Places within Sweden, Uppsala and then select your parish.

Court Records
The tax records are easily accessible on SVAR. A Swedish government website that houses these tax records. They are not indexed, and are in Swedish. There is a fee for using this site. These records predate the parish records. They list those who paid taxes by location. There are exceptions as to who had to pay taxes, so some individuals are not listed.

Probate Records These records are now available on ArkivDigital. They date from the mid 1600's. Here again, there is no index available, but they are easily browsed to find the names of relatives within the texts. A knowledge of Swedish is necissary to extract all the information from the wills.

Military Records

 * Sweden Military Records
 * Central Soldiers Register InstructionsSearch Engine

Related Sources
Sweden Online Genealogy Records Ask the Community

Help Reading Swedish Records

 * You do not have to be fluent in Swedish to read these records! They have a limited vocabulary: mother, father, born, bride, groom, married, etc. The rest of the content will be names, dates, and places, which do not need translation.
 * This Swedish Word List covers typical terms found in the records.
 * Swedish Historical Dictionary Database, SHDD: This interactive dictionary allows you to enter a word in the search box and receive the translation.
 * Feast Day Calendar (Moveable) and Feast Day Lists (Fixed and Moveable) will help you translate dates written in feast day form.
 * Sweden surnames are patronymic and change every generation, so carefully study Sweden Names, Personal.
 * For help with reading the column headings found in more recent records, see [[Media:Swedenish_Par_Reg_and_Exam_headings.pdf|Swedish Parish Register and Household Exam Roll Headings]].
 * Instructions, document examples, and translations are given for Reading Swedish Birth and Christening Records 1717, 1752, 1771, 1792, 1803, 1834, 1854.

Help Reading Old Handwriting

 * Reading Gothic Handwriting for Swedish Genealogy, Lesson 1
 * Spelling and Phonetics for Swedish Genealogy, Lesson 2 — Names, dates, and key genealogical words
 * Reading Gothic Handwriting for Swedish Genealogy: Put It All Together, Lesson 3
 * Birth and Christening Records for Swedish Genealogy
 * Scandinavian Handwriting
 * Scandinavian Handwriting, part 3 - No part 2 available

Help With Research Objectives and Strategies
Sweden Research Strategies