Vaasa Parish, Vaasa, Finland Genealogy

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

History
Vaasa is a city on the west coast of Finland. It received its charter in 1606, during the reign of Charles IX of Sweden and is named after the Royal House of Vasa. The city is bilingual with 69.8% of the population speaking Finnish as their first language and 24.8% speaking Swedish. The surrounding Ostrobothnian municipalities have a clear Swedish-speaking majority, wherefore the Swedish language maintains a strong position in the city. In 2013 the municipality of Vähäkyrö was merged into Vaasa. It is currently an exclave area of the city, since it is surrounded by other municipalities.

Over the years, Vaasa has changed its name several times, due to alternative spellings, political decisions and language condition changes. At first it was called Mustasaari or Mussor after the village where it was founded in 1606, but just a few years later the name was changed to Wasa to honor the royal Swedish lineage. Mustasaari (Finnish) or Korsholm (Swedish) remains as the name of the surrounding mostly rural municipality, which since 1973 surrounds the city. The city was known as Wasa between 1606 and 1855, from 1855 to 1917 it was officially called Nikolaikaupunki (Swedish: Nikolajstad), and after the February revolution Vaasa (Swedish: Vasa), with the Finnish spelling of the name being the primary one from about 1930 when Finnish speakers became the majority in the city.

Villages
As of 1939 the following villages were found in this parish: Brändö, Mustasaari, Palosaari, Vaasa, Vasa, Vaskiluoto.

Place Names
To see what kind of place it is you will need a Finnish gazetteer. For statistical purposes, Vaasa is divided into 12 large areas, which are divided into 60 small areas. Keskusta (Centrum) Gerby (Gerby) Huutoniemi (Roparnäs) Ristinummi (Korsnäståget) Vanha (Vaasa) Palosaari (Brändö) Kotiranta (Hemstrand) Vähäkyrö (Lillkyro) Suvilahti (Sunnanvik) Vöyrinkaupunki (Vöråstan) Sundom (Sundom) Höstvesi (Höstves) Vaskiluoto (Vasklot)

Church Records

 * 1657-1890 at FamilySearch &mdash; How to Use This Collection; index
 * 1657-1915 at FamilySearch &mdash; How to Use This Collection; index & images
 * 1682-1892 at FamilySearch &mdash; How to Use This Collection; index
 * 1725-1909 at FamilySearch &mdash; How to Use This Collection; index
 * 1761-1863 (*); Vaasan seurakunta at FamilySearch Catalog &mdash; images
 * 1761-1878 (*); Vaasan seurakunta at FamilySearch Catalog &mdash; images
 * 1803-1862 (*); Vaasan seurakunta at FamilySearch Catalog &mdash; images
 * 1841-1901 (*); Vaasan seurakunta at FamilySearch Catalog &mdash; images
 * Vaasa - Vasa at Finland's Family History Association (FFHA) (Suomen Sukuhistoriallinen Yhdistys ry) &mdash; images
 * Vaasa - Vasa at HisKi, Genealogical Society of Finland (Suomen Sukututkimusseuta) &mdash; index. More information about the church

Emigration and Immigration Records

 * 1900-1920 at FamilySearch &mdash; How to Use This Collection; index

Taxation Records

 * 1809-1915 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images