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Military Strategies and Tools for Swedish Family History

Sweden was founded in 1523 with Gustav Vasa as king. Since this time forward to the present, Sweden has continually had a military. During this time hundreds of thousands have served and have been an important part of the population. The many wars during the 17th and 18th centuries involved a significant portion of the male population. Many people with Swedish ancestry can trace their lineage back to an ancestor who served in one of the branches of the Swedish Military. Various records have been created and preserved for those serving in the military. These records may give information to help extend a line or they may give insight into the ancestor’s life and living conditions thus creating a richer family history record.

Research Strategy (1692-1901)Step 1: Military records are organized by regiment (by company for the Navy). Before beginning research in Swedish military records, you need to determine the branch of the military, the regiment, company and the soldier number for your military person. The first step is to find out these 4 things about your military person.

Occupational Title of Military Man

To find the branch of the military in which your ancestor served, note his occupational title used in the church records (christenings of his children, his marriage, his death, the death of his children or wife, household examination records). Compare the occupational title of your military man to the table below to determine the branch of the military.

Examples of military occupation titles in Church Records

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Household Examination Record with Sold. (Soldat) Clas Nilss. Bohm. Sold. indicates that he was in the infantry. AD online Daretorp parish AI:1 1790-1812 b.75 s. 136

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Birth Record of Gjertru daughter of Båtsm. (Båtsman) Måns Brink and wife Ingri Svensdotter. Båtsm. (Båtsman) indicates he was in the Navy. AD online Fridlevstad CI:4 (1766-1834) Bild 148/sid 285 (v95712.b148.s285).

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Marriage Record of Ryttaren Åke Modig and pigan Elna Trulsdotter. Ryttaren indicates the groom was in the Cavalry. AD online Glumslöv EI:1 (1796-1861) Bild 7/sid 11. (v.109477.b7s11)

Sources: "Soldatforskning – några grundläggande källor”. Lars Ericson Wolke. SLÄKT Historiskt Forum NR 4 2010 page 29-31

Research of Soldiers, Sweden. Hans Högman. http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/swegen.htm “Find Your Ancestors in the Swedish Military Sources”.

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Using Grill’s books

To find the name of the regiment in which your ancestor served, consult the set of books called “Statistiskt sammandrag af Svenska indelningsverket” (Statistical Digest of the Swedish Army System) commonly called “Grill”. During the years 1855-1858, Claes Lorentz Grill, an artillery officer, compiled two volumes containing four parts.

Volume one contains part 1 which includes: 1. An index of parishes in Sweden 2. A lengthy introduction to the allotment system, 3. Tables of the cavalry regiments Volume two contains parts 2 - 4. 1. Part 2 – tables of the infantry regiments 2. Part 3 – tables of the navy companies 3. Part 4 – tables of the extra units

Steps to finding regiment in Grill 1. In the index of parishes at the beginning of part 1 Volume one find your parish.

Image: Parish Index in Grill

The parishes are arranged alphabetical followed by an alphabet letter in parenthesis. The letter designates the name of the county. (For a list of the counties with their assigned alphabetical letter click here). Next will be a Roman numeral which indicates the part number in Grill’s books. The number following the Roman numeral is the page where this parish in found in the particular part indicated. Example: Folkärna is in (W) county which is Kopparberg county part two (Volume 2) page 29. It is also found in part four (Volume 2) page 10.

2. Once you know the volume number, part number and page number in Grill’s books turn to the page. Here you will find the name of the regiment, company name and/or number, Soldier number of individual. (Note: Grill’s books are reliable only after 1858. Before 1858 company numbers may vary. Also the books were compiled before the spelling reform and will contain the old spellings of places.)

Example: Skärsta parish (Jönköping county) is found in volume two, part two, page 148 By turning to page 148 the name of the regiment is written across the top of the page. Find Skärsta parish on the left of page. Here we see all the names of the rotar that supplied soldiers. These farms were named Gestra, Rudu, V. Bosgård, N. Bosgård, Edsqvarna, Krubbarp, etc. Some rotar supplied more than 1 soldier. Each soldier was given a number and the soldier number (or numbers) follow the name of the rote. This particular parish was responsible to supply 38 soldiers to the Jönköping regemente. Notice the columns to the right. All the companies in the regemente are listed. In the column labeled “N:o 1 Lif-Kompaniet” the number 38 is written. All 38 soldiers were serving in this regiment. The numbers in the righthand columns indicate the company name and/or number.

Image: Skärsta parish on page 148

The navy was not divided into regiments but was divided into companies with each company assigned to a naval base. For example here we see that the parish of Onsala in Halland County was assigned to supply 13 sailors to the “Norra Hallands (1:a) Båtsmans-Kompani which belonged to the Karlskrona navy base. Name of Company is given at top of page. The Naval base (instead of regiment) is given just below the name of the Company. Again the rotar or rusthåll that supply the sailors are listed along with the sailor numbers. Onsala supplied 13 sailors (numbers 1 through 13). Valda parish supplied 9 sailors (numbers 14 through 22).

Image: Onsala parish page 52 (Part III)

Source: Släktforskarna och Krigsarkivet, En vägvisare till de militära källorna. Meddelanden från Krigsarkivet XIX. Page 51 ”At hitta rätt kompanie”.

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NAD (Nationell Arkiv Databas) http://nad.ra.se/

Using NAD to find military units for a soldier. NAD can be used to obtain regiment name and also name and/or number of company for army and cavalry units in each parish. (NAD gives company name or number for sailors) NAD does not give the individual soldier numbers within the parish. There are, however, only 100 to 200 soldiers in a company so knowing the company narrows your search down to that number.

1. Go the the website http://nad.ra.se 2. Click on “Orter”. 3. Type in the name of the parish. 4. Click on Sök (search). 5. Click on the blue link for Kyrksocken (Number 1). 6. Here under “Historik” you will find a jurisdiction box and at the bottom the military units (Militär indelning) are given for the parish.

Image: Example in NAD of Kristdala parish

Here we see this parish supplied cavalry men, Infantry men, and also sailors.

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Central Soldier Index (Centrala soldatregistret) http://soldat.dis.se/

This free online database is an index of soldiers who served between the years 1682-1901 and were part of the new allotment system. The database is not comple for the entire time. Many of the men who served in the navy are not included.

This index will give you the regiment and the company number for you military man if he is included in the index. This will help you go directly to your soldier in the general muster rolls and other military records.

Soldiers in the index database are assigned a number. For example KR-07-0884-1869-1848-SkGu. The key is as follows:

KR = abbreviation of the regiment (Kronoberg Regemente)

07 = company number (7th company)

0884 = cottage number of the regiment (see explanation below)

1869 = year he started as a soldier

1848 = year of birth

SK = first two letters of his military surname

Gu = first two letters of his first (given) name

The cottage number of the regiment is the same as the military man’s regimental number. Men can be found by either regimental number or company number in the general muster rolls.

Source: The Central Soldiers Register. http://soldat.dis.se/ About the database.

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Military Strategies and Steps 1692-1901 (New Allotment System)


 * 1) Find branch of military, regiment, company number, service man's number, and time period he served.
 * 2) Find military man in every general muster rolls from enlistment to discharge or death.
 * 3) Find military man in other military records besides the general muster rolls.

Table: 3 columns with headings "Name of Record (Army &amp; Cavalry)", "Why Use this Record", and "Access"

Table: 3 columns with headings "Name of Record (Navy)", "Why use this Record" and "Access"