Research Your Roots in Sweden
The reliable approach to Swedish genealogy
Real family history
is built on
original records
Think you need to know Swedish to Start?
Think again!
Reading centuries-old records in a foreign language can be intimidating. Much of the vocabulary in Swedish genealogy is repetitive and predictable. This framework streamlines Swedish genealogy by focusing on what you actually need to know.
The real challenge is interpreting your findings to understand what really happened to your ancestors. That means understanding the records and the society where they were kept.
Foundations is a structured framework covering common record types alongside chapters describing the context that helps you find and understand them.
It’s easy to build a family tree in Sweden. Building a reliable family tree takes knowing the Sweden of your ancestors.
Rather than…
- signing up for a 12-week course and watching hours of videos.
- collecting a library of books and blog posts and piece it together.
- learning conversational Swedish to make sense of administrative terms from centuries ago.
You can…
Use a framework that shows how Swedish genealogy fits together.
Understand Sweden to know your story
The hardest part about researching your ancestry in a foreign country is not the language barrier. After years of discussing Swedish genealogy with DNA-matches, on social media, and with research clients, it’s clear that the biggest threshold is the old Swedish society itself.
The biggest hurdles are things like how to understand and track a person’s name, recognizing place names, and understanding the social and practical implications of where your ancestors found themselves.
In Shortcut to Sweden: Foundations, I show you how to research your family history in Sweden, based on my experience as a professional genealogist combining Swedish and international research standards. Foundations details common record types, vital methods, and the context that makes sense of it.
Your ancestors were part of a society that looked very different from Sweden today, a country with a unique history. With this framework, you will know how to find and understand your Swedish ancestry.
Swedish records
are easier to access
than interpret
A word from a user
I always want to improve my ability to find and use Swedish records. Looking at the Household Examination Records, I have found a number of things I wouldn’t have known I could find there, thanks to Foundations. It’s hard to choose the most valuable part – they’re all valuable.
Jill G.
What’s included in
Shortcut to Sweden: Foundations
Detailed guides to essential record types
Links to genealogy records — most free to use
History, geography, and legislation
Swedish specific genealogy methodology and insights
Also included:
Plan
Research Plan Workbook
Simplify your research with a solid plan to guide your process.
Cover
Research Pathway
Strategy and checklist for covering relevant records, with a research log template that turns into a timeline.
Locate
Geographical Terms
A cheat sheet to the unique Swedish subdivisions.
Identify
Swedish Place Names
Organize and decipher the Swedish place names in your ancestry.
The context that makes sense of your ancestry
This framework is based on years of researching and teaching Swedish genealogy from the viewpoint that our ancestors were part of a larger world that affected their life conditions.
Shortcut to Sweden: Foundations will teach you context that shaped the lives of your ancestors, among them:
- How to find, read, and interpret six common record types.
- An overview of the Swedish emigration history that helps you understand why ancestors left.
- Insights into naming practices.
- A glossary of vital geographical terms.
- Explanations of Swedish settlement types.
- Introduction to the economic history of the 1800s.
- Strategies for overcoming common genealogy pitfalls.
- Tips on how to find living relatives in Sweden today.
Each of the ninteen chapters includes step-by-step instructions and real-life examples to guide your research and links to records, most of which are free to use.
Shortcut to Sweden: Research Plan Workbook helps you prepare and structure your research to make it effective and deep.
Shortcut to Sweden: Research Pathway provides the workflow for Swedish genealogy with a research log and timeline.
Will this work for my ancestors?
Shortcut to Sweden: Foundations was created to answer the most common questions when researching in Sweden and to help solve typical cases of migrant tracing as well as continued research in Sweden.
Outcomes can not be guaranteed. The chances of finding your migrating ancestor in Sweden are better if they migrated from 1869, had a unique name, and you know a location, and the date of birth or migration.
Pricing
Taxes included.
Delivery & Format
- Includes 19 chapters detailing Swedish conditions and 6 essential record types, a fillable research plan workbook, the recommended workflow for Swedish genealogy with a research log and timeline template, a cheat sheet to the geographical terms explained inside Foundations, and a worksheet for Swedish place names in your ancestry.
- Delivered as 5 PDFs opened with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
- The Research Plan Workbook is also available in Google Docs, requiring a free account.
- The research log and timeline template is hosted in Airtable, requiring a free account.
- Shortcut to Sweden: Foundations is a digital product.
- PDFs include hyperlinks, making them suitable to read on a device.
- Links are short and easy to type.
- Formatted for US letter size and printable on A4.
- Your purchase is for personal use only. Please reach out for group access.
- All rights reserved.
PS. Top photo of Gådsby Village, Gårdsby Parish, Kalmar County on Öland, by Thorin, Johan Emanuel, 1906, Nordiska Museet (NMA.0063327). Second photo of Gamla Uppsala church, by Schenson, Emma, before 1913, Upplandsmuseet (UP4621). Portrait of opera singer Matilda Jungstedt, likely by Dahllöf, Alfred J:son, 1880-1890, Grenna Museum (gm.4334.91). Last photo from Ulrikdal, Solna, taken in 1900, Länsmuseet Gävleborg (XLM.B3085). All Public Domain Mark.
