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 posts are filed under categories. You can find all the categories at the end of each post. If you are reading on a computer you will also see them listed in the sidebar.
Perhaps you want to start with these 45 most used categories. Enjoy!
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.
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 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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9 Things to Learn from the Swedish Household Records
There are few hard rules when reading a household record. Parishes used different books. Record keepers emphasised different things. But there are some things that are more likely than others to appear in the Swedish household records.
Our example is from the household records in Brålanda Parish, Älvsborg County, for the years 1813 to 1819 from ArkivDigital [1].
This is Småland
One out of five Swedish emigrants came from Småland. It’s a province (landskap) in the south of Sweden. Many know Småland as the birth location of their ancestor and don’t have any other clues. So let’s have a look at Småland!
The Swedish Soldier’s Names
Most Swedes in the 19th century had a last name from their father’s name, a patronymic. But there were other types of surnames. One, probably the largest, ...
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