Faroe Islands Church Records

Europe Denmark  Faroe Islands

Church Records [Kirkjubøkur]
Research Use: Church records are a primary source of birth, marriage, and death information in Denmark. They identify names of parents, prove other relationships, and are very useful for linking generations. There are gaps, however, in church records.

Record Type: Records of births, marriages, deaths, and burials. Responsibility for recording vital events was placed upon the state church. Vital events for members of other churches, including the Plymouth Brethren are recorded in the records of the state church, the Lutheran Church. Church records are kept on a district [Sýsla] level. Today information from these record is evaluated and utilized by the Faeroe Islands Statistics Office [Hagstova Føroya].

Time Period: 1687 to present.

Contents: Birth &amp; christening registers – infant's name, name and surname of father and mother, christening date, and sometimes date of birth. Because many farms are remote, it was sometimes several months before the child was christened. Marriage registers – names of bride and groom, sometimes date of announcement of marriage intention; date of marriage, often ages, residence and occupation of couple, previous marital status, often names of parents, sometimes birth place and age. Death and burial registers – name of deceased, date and place of death and/or burial, place of residence sometimes cause of death, names of survivors, occasionally date and place of birth. Accounts – Records of church expenses. Land rents and tithing – Names of those renting church lands, residence, amount of rent paid.

Location: Faeroe National Archives [Føroya Landsskjalasavn], Tórshavn, Faeroe Islands. Church accounts are at the Provincial Archive [Landsarkivet] for Sjælland, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Percentage in Family History Library: 70%. The Family History Library has records from the 1600s to about 1860.

Population Coverage: The earliest church records were incomplete but since the mid 1700 the church records cover 90 to 95% of the population.