I have a John Johnson in my
line TOO; could we be related?
Yes or No, it depends. You will find that Johnson is a common last name in Sweden. To really tell if we are related you must have a relative that matches information with mine, for example, a name with an exact date and place. The place must match to the parish and county in Sweden. Because of patronymics, there could be many John Johnsons in the same parish. The only way to match your John Johnson to mine is to match his dates and places to make sure they are the same person.
I have children in the same
family with different endings in their names, what does that mean?
The sons of Lars will take the last name of Larsson and the daughters will take the name of Larsdotter. See patronymics question.
What information do I
need to start my research in Sweden?
The most important piece of information you need is your ancestor’s parish and county that he resided in Sweden. Since church records in Sweden are excellent sources of research, you will need to know the parish from which your ancestor came. You can often find this information on documents created in the new country to which your ancestor moved. In the United States, (since that is what I know), if your ancestor became a US citizen you will want to check his naturalization paperwork and “Declaration of Intention”. If you happen to have your ancestor’s “Utflyttningsbetyg” (moving out certificate) from his parish in Sweden, that would be a great help also. If all that fails, you could also ask relatives to see if they might remember this important piece of information.
Patronymics is when the children of the father take his first name as their last name. For example, if Peter and Sofia are born to Lars Johansson, they would be known as Peter Larsson and Sofia Larsdotter. When Peter has children they will have last names of Petersson and Petersdotter. When Sofia marries a man named Bengt, her children would be known as Bengtsson or Bengtsdotter. Sounds confusing, but you will always know who the children’s father is!
I have an ancestor who doesn’t follow the usual naming patterns, could you explain that?
In the late 1800’s, the above mentioned, naming pattern became a problem. Therefore, children started keeping the last name like we do in the United States. You may also find relatives that took on military names or names that were derived from the places that they lived in.
I heard that the
records are written in Swedish, how will I read them?
Yes, the records are recorded in Swedish. However, here is a list of words that will get you started:
Birth Födde
Christening Döpte
Marriages Vigde
Deaths Döde
Burials Begraves
If you need more, you could order a copy of “Genealogical Word List, Swedish” from www.familysearch.org. The publication is $.50 and lists over 500 words that would be found in Swedish research. When you get to familysearch.org you will need to click on the left side of the page "Order Family History Resources", then click on publications.
How are Swedish church
records organized?
In 1686, the national church of Sweden passed a law to regulate the order within the parishes. This law required all parishes to keep a roll of their members and to know their progress and knowledge of certain parts of their catechism. This record became known as Husförhörslängd or Clerical Survey Record in English. In this record, the priest examined the family annually to see what they know about their catechism. He also kept track of when family members were born, when they died, when they married and when they moved to another part of the parish or to another parish. He also kept these records in separate books. He kept a book of births/christenings (Födde/Döpte), a book of deaths/burials (Döde/Begraves), a book of marriages (Vigde) and a book of people moving in and out of the parish (in och utflyttningslängd). All of these records are of great genealogical help.
Where can I find these records?
I have done all of my research using the information from microfilms at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. They also have interlibrary loans to their Family History Centers. These centers can be found in nearly everywhere. They charge a small fee of $3.50 per film to view them for about 6 weeks at a time. The Family History Centers have microfilm readers that you can use to view the films. If you need the film for longer they can renew the microfilm for you. To find a Family History Center near you, you can try this link. When you get there just type in the place you would like to find a Family History Center and it will give you the address, phone number and hours of a center near you.
Does the Family History Library
have all the records I will need?
Although the Family History Library has a lot of films, they may not have all that you need. You may have to write to the local parish, that your ancestors came from to get some information. You could also try city archives, national archives and libraries, historical and genealogical societies in Sweden.
You may also want to try the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center at Augustana College in Illinois. They have many of these records also on microfilm.
The best place to find the addresses for these places is in a publication from the Family History Library called, “Research Outline, Sweden”
What are some other sources
of information?
Below you will find a list of other helpful information that I use in my research:
Cradled in Sweden, Johansson, Carl-Erik. Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, Inc., Revised Edition. 1995.
"Research Outline, Tracing Immigrant Origins", Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc. 1992.
"Research Outline, Sweden", Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc. 1993.