Nordland County, Norway Genealogy

Guide to Nordland ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Nordland (help·info) is a county in Norway, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean (Norwegian Sea) to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is in Bodø. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen has been administered from Nordland since 1995.

Nordland is located along the northwestern coast of the Scandinavian peninsula in North Norway. Due to the large distance to the densely populated parts of Europe, this is one of the least polluted areas in Europe. Nordland has a very mild climate for the high latitude.

Family History Resources
Norwegian American Bygdelagenes Fellesraad

Nordlandslag Nordlandslaget home page

Lappmark Lag   Arran homepage

Government Offices and Sites

 * Nordland Fylke

Church Records/Civil Registration

 * These are the most important records you will use, and a majority of your research will be found in them. All civil registration was kept by the church parishes until 2012.
 * Digitalarkivet: Digitized parish registers of Nordland
 * Norway Indexed parish register transcriptions
 * The Family History Library has microfilms for all Nordland parish registers up to about 1920. These can be viewed at the library or at a Family Histor Center near you.
 * By clicking on the parish links above, you may find direct links to all the records for that parish.
 * You do not have to be fluent in Norwegian. These records use a very limited, specialized vocabulary that is easy to learn. For help reading and interpreting theses records, see:
 * Norwegian Genealogical Word List
 * Norway Handwriting
 * Scandinavian Handwriting
 * Scandinavian Handwriting, part 3 - No part 2 available


 * [[Media:Parish_Register_Headings_for_Norway.pdf|Parish Register Headings for Norway]]: This pdf gives the translation of headings for the records in different time periods.  When a record is written with labeled columns it is much easier to search. Much of the material you read in each column will just be names and dates, since the meaning of those names (child, parents, godparents, minister) only has to be read once, in the column heading.


 * For more detail on the contents of these records and how to use them, see Norway Church Records and Norway Civil Registration.

Censuses

 * 1801 Census
 * 1865 Census; also at
 * 1875 Census Partial
 * Norway Census, 1875 FamilySearch database
 * 1885 Census (cities)
 * 1891 Census Partial (scanned)
 * 1900 Census
 * 1910 Census

"The parish priest's census (scanned)


 * Prestemanntall 1664-1666

The bailiff and the magistrates's census (scanned)


 * Manntallet 1701

Farm Books

 * Bygdebøker (Farm books) in Nordland

Land Records
1886 and 1838 land registers are found at The Norwegian Historical Data Centre. These are Excel files, which can be downloaded. The give the name of the farm, the farm owner, and the amount of tax. Both farms and sub-farms are included.

Military Records

 * Militærrulle 1769 for Gimsøy
 * Militærrulle 1769 for Sortland
 * Innrulleringsmanntall 1762 for Buksnes
 * Militærrulle 1769 for Værøy
 * Innrulleringsmanntall 1755 for Gildeskål prestegjeld
 * Innrulleringsmantall 1769 for Buksnes og Hol
 * Innrulleringsmanntall 1755 for Rødøy fjerding
 * Militærrulle 1769 for Borge prestegjeld, Valberg sokn
 * Militærrulle 1806-1837 for Buksnes prestegjeld, Buksnes og Hol sokn
 * Innrulleringsmanntall 1768-1770 for Helgeland fogderi

Probate Records

 * Digitised probate records for Nordland County
 * 1640-1903 - at FamilySearch — index

Probate Jurisdictions


Taxation
