Swedish Passport Journals

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Prior to 1860, it was required to have a passport to leave Sweden. (Link 6b-1) These passports could be issued by local, provincial or national authorities and were recorded in passport journals (passjournaler) which form a most important source to earlier emigration. Between 1798 and 1851, the names and residences of persons applying for passports were recorded yearly in the records of the Swedish Navy. The Navy kept the records because the passport fees went into the Navy’s pension fund.

Passport journals from 1783--1860 are included in the Emipass database found on the “Emigranten populär 2006” CD. These records are also available on microfilm at the Family History Library (FHL Int’l Film 479,331, 479587—605). Axel Friman has created an index to the names of emigrants listed in the naval records between 1817 and 1850 (FHL Int’l Film 1,224,712, item 3). Passport journals are also available from a few cities in Sweden. They give the name and home parish of the applicant. To find them, search the FamilySearch Catalog under:

SWEDEN, [COUNTY], [CITY], -EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION