View source for Finding a Place of Origin in Sweden

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Finding the location where your ancestors lived has been an extremely import step to finding their records. It is less important now with indexing, if you are lucky enough that your ancestors records are indexed. You can then find their records even if you don't know where they lived. Doing a computer search on indexed records is easy enough that you ought to try it first, just in case. If the records of your ancestors are not indexed, then you must do a manual search using the ideas described in the rest of this article.

Descendants of Swedish ancestors often begin their climb up the family tree with the question, “I know my ancestor came from Sweden…but where do I go from here?” Church records (kyrkoböcker) are the primary source for names, dates, and places of birth, marriage, and death in Scandinavia. Nearly everyone who lived in Sweden was recorded in a church record. Tracing one's ancestors in Sweden, therefore, depends on finding the name of the parish where they lived or were born.

Records of births, marriages, and deaths are commonly called vital records because they document critical events in a person’s life. Church records are vital records made by church ministers. Often called parish registers or church books, church records include information on births, christenings, marriages, deaths, and clerical surveys. They may also include account books, confirmations, and records of people moving in and out of a parish. Since civil authorities did not begin registering their separate vital statistics until 1950, church records are the main source of family information before this date. Sweden has no nationwide index to vital records. Records of births, marriages and deaths were all kept locally. For most researchers, then, the answer to “Where do I go from here?” is to find the parish in Sweden where the ancestor was born or lived.

=== Strategies for finding the place (parish) of origin for a Swedish ancestor  ===

1. Search all available [[Swedish American: Family Records|family records]] for clues as to the name of the parish where an ancestor was born or lived in Sweden.<br> 

2. [[Finding a Swedish Place of Origin in U.S. Records|Other sources in the U.S.]] can provide important clues to the home parish of immigrant ancestors.<br> 

3. Determine year of emigration (this can be found in U.S. Census returns beginning in 1900). See [[United States Census|United States Census]]<br> 

4. Search [[Swedish Emigration Databases and Indexes|Swedish Emigration Databases and Indexes]]: “Emigranten Populär 2006” and “Emibas 2008”. Also consult emigrant passenger lists.<br> 

5. Search [[Sweden Census|Swedish census records]] from 1860—1910. <br> 

6. Search [[Sweden: Extracts of Parish Registers|Parish Register Indexes]], [[Swedish Passport Journals|Swedish Passport Journals]] and [[Swedish County Emigration Indexes|Swedish County Emigration Indexes]].<br> 

7. Utilize the resources of [[Emigration Archives in Sweden|Emigration Archives in Sweden ]]<br> 
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8. If your Swedish immigrants were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), see article [[Records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sweden|Records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sweden]] for further guidance.<br>

=== Further Reading  ===

Johansson, Carl-Erik. <u>Cradled in Sweden</u>. Logan: Everton, 2002 

Clemmensson, Per &amp; Andersson, Kjell. <u>Your Swedish Roots</u>.Provo: Ancestry, 2004 

Olsson, Nils William. <u>Tracing Your Swedish Ancestry</u> . New York, Swedish Information Services, 1985 

Norman, Hans &amp; Runblom, Harald. <u>Amerika - emigrationen</u>. Uddevalla, Bohusläningens AB, 1980 

Clemmensson, Per &amp; Andersson, Kjell. <u>Emigrantforska!</u>. Falköping, Gummessons Tryckeri AB, 1996 

Sveriges Släktforskarförbund. <u>Migration: Utvandrare och invandrare i gångna tider</u>. Stockholm, Norstedts Tryckeri, 1992 

Sveriges Radio &amp; Ljungmark, Lars. <u>Den stora utvandringen: Svensk emigration till USA 1840 - 1925</u>. Stockholm, AB R. W. Statlander, 1965 

Svenska Emigrantinstitut. <u>Transatlantiska Rötter</u>. Växsjö, TryckPartner AB, 1997 

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[[Category:Sweden Emigration, Immigration, and Internal Migration]]