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How to find living relatives in Sweden

So you want to connect with your distant cousins in Sweden. They are the great grand nieces and nephews of the Swedish immigrant in your family tree. Who are they? What happened to the relatives who stayed in Sweden? Where might your ancestors have been if they had never ventured out in the world?

After the church records are available

The church records available online stop 70 years ago. That’s where the Swedish law of secrecy sets in. Sometimes even older records are secret, because they include newer data. Sometimes the service providers don’t make copies of public records, because pages in the same book are secret.

But the censuses are available and public. And they ...
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Swedish term – mantal

Where you find the mantal number

Have you seen that number in the margins of the Household records? It’s usually a fraction. The number may also be written above the household. Sometimes it’s followed by the word mantal. Often it also says oförmedlade, förmedlade, or for short ofm mtl, fm mtl or just m. How can all that be connected? Let’s look closer at it!

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The Swedish letters å, ä and ö

The Swedish genealogy records are easily available online. You can even use some of them for free. But you have to read them in Swedish. One of the first thing you’ll notice is that the Swedish letters å, ä, and ö are commonly used.

The question is, to which degree do you have to use them? Do you have to care about the difference between a, å and ä, or o and ö?

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Explore the blog

Welcome to the blog

Have a seat, look around, and read the blog. Here I write about genealogy methodology, Swedish history, and Swedish culture.

The blog has full articles as well as copies of instagram posts with particulary intersting photos.

The ...
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Resources for Swedish Genealogy

Latest update: 25 July 2020.

These are the most important resources for Swedish genealogy. You can use them online to find your ancestors in Sweden.

Genealogy records in Sweden are written in Swedish. Google Translate is surprisingly good at handling old Swedish texts. It’s common to find Latin phrases in the church records.

Most of the websites can be used in English. Those are marked ENG.

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11 Facts for Family History in Sweden

The Swedish society in the nineteenth century can be hard to understand. It’s far from what the western world is today. Some of the history even differs from the rest of Europe. Here are eleven quick facts and busted myths that will help you with your family history in Sweden.

1. The most important records for family history in Sweden are church records

Every year, the priests checked ...
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Midsummer in Sweden

Medieval roots

Glad midsommar! Midsummer in Sweden is an old tradition. Swedes often joke about it being our unofficial national day. Midsummer was first documented in Sweden in the year 1555. At the time it was celebrated with dancing in the light of bonfires in the fields or in the town squares.

It might seem like the Swedish Midsummer has pre-Christian roots. There is no evidence for that. For centuries, the Swedish Midsummer’s Day was celebrated on the ...
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Torp – The Swedish Croft

Maybe you have seen the word torp, croft, in your Swedish genealogy. An ancestor may have been a crofter, torpare. Or your ancestor was a soldier and lived at a soldier’s croft, soldattorp. But what is a Swedish croft?

The modern Swedish Croft is an old cottage

Today the word croft makes Swedes think of a little red cottage. Many crofts are now vacation homes. ...
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Swedish Church Västra Götaland, Lysekil, Lysekil, Bohuslän, Byggnadsverk-Religionsutövning - kyrkor-(01) Exteriörer, Miljöer-Kust- och skärgårdsmiljö from Swedish National Heritage Board - Riksantikvarieämbetet

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Swedish Birth and Christening Records

Like all Swedish Church records, the Swedish Birth and Christening records vary. They look different in different parts of the country. The difference between a record from the 18th century and the 20th century is even larger. But each entry in a book is fairly similar, making it a little easier. Learn to start reading the records here.

There’s usually at least a date of birth, a name, and set of parents. Reading the handwriting can be a challenge, especially in the 18th ...
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Place Names in Sweden

You will get a little closer to your ancestors, when you understand the meaning of place names in Sweden.

First a word of caution. We want to be careful with making conclusions. The origin of a name might be more complicated than it appears, which is why this post only include some of the clearest ones.

Bear in mind that over the centuries the pronounciation of a place name can change. Eventually it may be written as something other than the original wording. On ...
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