Sweden, Västernorrland Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
Sverige Lutherske Kyrkoböcker

Collection Time Period
This collection includes the years 1643 through 1860.

Record Description
The collection consists of baptisms, marriages, and burials from the county of Västernorrland. The records are handwritten in narrative style.

Record Content
The key genealogical facts found in most Lutheran birth or christening or birth (Födde) records are:




 * Child’s name
 * Christening date
 * Sometimes the birth date
 * Parents’ names
 * Parents’ marital status
 * Parents’ residence
 * Fathers’ occupation
 * Sometimes the mother’s age
 * Witnesses and their residences

The key genealogical facts found in most Lutheran marriage (Vigde) records are:




 * Groom’s name
 * Depending on the time period, the groom’s marital status, residence, and age
 * Bride’s name
 * Depending on the time period, the bride’s marital status, residence, and age
 * Witnesses and their residences

The key genealogical facts found in most Lutheran death or burial (Döde) records are:




 * Name of the deceased
 * Death date
 * Burial date
 * Residence
 * Occupation
 * Age
 * Marital status and sometimes the spouse’s name
 * Sometimes other biographical notes

The key genealogical facts found in most Lutheran moving records records are:


 * Name of person moving
 * Former residence
 * New residence
 * Current residence
 * Occupation
 * Age
 * Sometimes marital status

The key genealogical facts found in most Lutheran clerical survey records are:


 * Name of each member of the household
 * Birth dates
 * Birthplaces
 * Residence
 * Occupation
 * Deaths within the year
 * Marriages within the year
 * Moves within the year (including where they moved to or from)
 * Marital status
 * Relationships

How to Use the Records
Begin your search with an ancestor who has a known birth, marriage, or death date and place. It may be necessary to go to a more recent generation to begin your search.

Follow these steps:

1. Search the parish register of that place for an entry of this ancestor’s baptism, marriage, or death. This will verify the information you have.


 * When you locate the baptism, marriage, or death record for your ancestor in the parish register, carefully compare the information in the entry to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if this is the correct person.
 * Make a record of all the information given in the entry. This entry may give you enough additional information to create a family record if you do not already have one.
 * Tip: The witnesses or sponsors are often relatives.
 * Tip: You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

2. Look in the entry for the residence where your ancestor is living. It may be the name of a farm, the number on a farm or the number or small jurisdiction within a city.


 * Tip: Farms are named in Scandinavia. If the farm is large enough, it will be divided into numbered sections. Cities are also divided into similar numbered sections. One clue to finding the residence is to look for an “i.” In Swedish, this is the word “in”. The entry is telling you that the person or persons named are living in the following place.

3. Locate this farm or numbered section on the clerical survey (Husförhörslängd) of the same parish for the same year as your ancestor’s christening, marriage, or death.


 * Tip: In Sweden, the ministers were required to keep a yearly census of their parish. This is called the Husförhörslängd or clerical survey.

4. Search the clerical survey for your ancestor’s family. Sometimes the families are in alphabetical order, but usually you will need to read each family entry.


 * When you locate your family, make a record of all the information given in the entry.
 * Tip: These entries usually include many biographical details of each individual within the family.

5. Using the information found in the clerical survey entry, continue to search each succeeding or preceding year. Update your family group records with the new information you have found.

6. When you have completed searching the clerical surveys, return to the parish register and verify the new information in the parish register. You may need to search additional parish registers as your ancestors may have moved in from (infra) or moved to (utfra) another parish.

Record History
The Lutheran Church was the official church in Sweden and the ministers recorded all vital events. The ministers also compiled a yearly census of each family within the parish arranged by farm or dwelling. After 1860, the ministers were required to send a yearly summary of all vital events to the government. Almost all of the population is covered in these records.

Why the Record Was Created
Church records provided a complete record of vital events for the population.

Record Reliability
Lutheran church records are very accurate.

Related Websites
National Archives of Sweden

Related Wiki Articles
Swedish Church Records

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Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the Wiki Article: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Examples of Source Citations for a Record in This Collection

 * United States. Bureau of the Census. 12th census, 1900, digital images, From FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: September 29, 2006), Arizona Territory, Maricopa, Township 1, East Gila, Salt River Base and Meridian; sheet 9B, line 71
 * Mexico, Distrito Federal, Catholic Church Records, 1886-1933, digital images, from FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: April 22, 2010), Baptism of Adolfo Fernandez Jimenez, 1 Feb. 1910, San Pedro Apóstol, Cuahimalpa, Distrito Federal, Mexico, film number 0227023

Citation for This Collection
"Sweden, Västernorrland Church Records, 1643-1860." FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org) National Archives of Sweden, Riksarkivet SVAR. FHL microfilm, 3 reels. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

The suggested format for citing FamilySearch Historical Collections is found in the following article: Help:How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.