Finland Research Tips and Strategies

Finland Research Strategies

 * Finnish Research - Searching Records
 * Getting Started
 * What's the Next Step
 * Tips for Beginners
 * Emigration and Immigration
 * Tips for Finnish American Researchers
 * Finding your ancestor in the records

Finland Research Tips

 * Finland Record Finder
 * Finland Handwriting
 * Finland Letter Writing Guide

Search Strategies
When you begin using church records, it is usually best to first verify the information you already have before you try to find new information. The following steps may be helpful as you use Finnish church records:
 * 1) Find a person’s birth record. Write down the name of the parents and the place where the family was living. You will then be able to find the person in more records.
 * 2) Search the communion records and pre-confirmation rolls of that parish for the date when the family was there for the birth you just located. Note all information about the family, including names, birth dates, birthplaces, marriage and death dates, and moving information. You will now have much more information about the family.
 * 3) Search the birth, marriage, and death records to verify the information you found in the communion and pre-confirmation books.
 * 4) Search the communion records and pre-confirmation rolls for all the years the family lived there. Start with the year of the parents marriage and go until the family dies out.

Repeat steps 1 to 3 for the person’s parents, siblings, or other persons of interest. If you do not find earlier generations, search neighboring parishes.

These step-by-step case studies with illustrations show how to apply these strategies:
 * Finland: A Case Study Using HisKi and Digitized Online Church Records
 * Finding Records of your Ancestors, Part A Finland Before 1900 (PDF)
 * David S. Saari. "Beginner's Guide to Finnish Family History Research", The Swedish-Finn Historical Society, 15 May 2021. Internet Archive. Accessed 12 September 2022.

Classes in the Learning Center
Many classes on Finnish research are available in the FamilySearch Learning Center.
 * Using the Finnish Website DIGITAALIARKISTO: An Introduction
 * the Finnish Website DIGITAALIARKISTO: Find a Person in Birth and Christening Records
 * Using the Finnish Website DIGITAALIARKISTO: Find a Family in the Communion Records for Finland
 * Using the Finnish Website DIGITAALIARKISTO: Find People in the Marriage and Death Records for Finland
 * Using the Finnish Website DIGITAALIARKISTO: Find People in the Pre-Confirmation Records of Finland
 * Finland: An Introduction to Finnish Church Record Online Resources
 * Finland: A Case Study Using Hiski and Digitized Online Church Records
 * Finnish Emigration and Methodology: How to tackle Finnish Challenges