Sweden: Military Records

Back to Sweden Portal Page►

Military records identify individuals who served in the military or who were eligible for service. Most young men in Sweden were required to serve in or register for military service. Evidence that an ancestor actually served may be found in family records, biographies, census, probate records, and church records.

The War Archive in Stockholm stores the Swedish military records. The Family History Library has some military records, primarily for 1680 to 1860, with a few as early as 1620. The genealogical value of military records is generally limited. They give information about a man's military career, such as promotions, places served, pensions, and conduct. In addition, they usually include his identification number; name; county, parish, or province of origin; age; years of service; height in feet and inches; marital status; who he replaced; and date of discharge. They also state if a soldier was killed in battle.

To use Swedish military records, you have to know what unit a soldier served in. If other records about your ancestor do not contain this information, find out which units were created in the area where he lived. To do this, you must know which parish he was living in when he was 18 to 20 years old. To determine the name or number of the unit your ancestor belonged to, use:

Grill, C. (Claes Lorentz). Statistiskt sammandrag af Svenska indelningsverket (Statistical Digest of the Swedish Army System). Stockholm, Sweden: Isaac Marcus, 1856. (FHL book 948.5 M27g, film 084652.) Reprint. Goteborg, Sweden: Landsarkivet och Sveriges Släktforskarförbund, 1988.

You can find military records in the Family History Library Catalog under:

SWEDEN - MILITARY RECORDS.

The catalog lists regiments alphabetically. The regiment name appears in parentheses on the first line under the catalog heading. If you know at least the name of the county from where the ancestor came, you can look in the Family History Library Category under the listings for SWEDEN and under the topic, "Military Records" to see what kind of military records exist for each county. Most counties will have a listing for each county regiment and the regiment will usually have the name of the county or province as the name of the regiment. For example, in the case of Jönköping, Kalmar and Kristianstad counties, these three counties will be listed under the Småland regiment, which is the province to which all three counties belong.

Military History
For information about the Swedish military wars and campaigns, see:

Kungliga fortifikationens historia (History of the Royal Swedish Fortification). Stockholm, Sweden: Norstedts, 1902-1945. (Family History Library book 948.5 M2kh.)

A brief and interesting history of the Swedish Military Archives is found in:

The Royal Military Archives. Stockholm, Sweden: krigsarkivet, 1984 (Värnamo: Fälths tr). (FHL book 948.5 A1 #67.)

Military histories are listed in the Family History Library Catalog under:

SWEDEN - MILITARY HISTORY

SWEDEN, [COUNTY] - MILITARY HISTORY

Military Records of Genealogical Value
Military records generally contain soldiers' names but little other genealogical information. The following sources may provide information on your ancestor especially if he was an officer:

Handlingar, 1757-1880 (Army Pension Records). Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Filmed for the Genealogical Society of Utah by AB. Rekolid, 1957. (Family History Library films 167779-862.)

Meritband, 1751-1849 (Army Pension Records). Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Filmed for the Genealogical Society of Utah by AB. Rekolid, 1957. (Family History Library films 167652 items 1-2, 167732, 167654-167778.)

Rullor, 1639-1865 [Vadstena Krigsmanshus] (Registers and Specifications of Servicemen at the Soldiers Home at Vadstena). Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Filmed for the Genealogical Society of Utah by AB. Rekolid, 1957. (Family History Library films 190394-413.)

Biografica, 1556-1955 (Biographical Notes of Army Officers and Others). Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Filmed for the Genealogical Society of Utah by AB. Rekolid, 1957. (FHL films 190699-877.) Contains an excellent biographical collection of notes, newspaper clippings, and obituaries.

Navy pension fund. (See Passport Journals in the "Emigration and Immigration" section of this outline.)