Swedish Estate Inventory Records
Estate inventories are records of deceased persons’ assets and liabilities. They include information such as names, places of residence, ages, dates, next of kin, and guardianships. You find very detailed lists of the deceased’s belongings in older estate inventory records. You may for example find numbers and estimated values and sizes of houses, furniture, clothes, books, kitchenware, tools, crops and animals.
In addition, estate inventories sometimes include notes of new names and addresses of emigrated family members. That information can prove very useful for your research.
Names of Swedish Americans in Estate Inventory Records
Name and address changes can complicate family research. Finding an estate inventory with information about the names and locations of the deceased’s relatives in America can provide a valuable boost. The address may offer clues about where to search in America, while the spelling of names might reveal important information about name changes or marriages.
Many Swedes changed their names when they immigrated to America—or even on the way there. For example, Karl Nilsson might become Charles Nelson, Rosa Sjöström could become Rose Seastream, or Gustaf Andersson might be recorded as the completely different Charles Bowman. Additionally, women often adopted their husband’s last name upon marriage.
These name changes and spelling alterations can make Swedish genealogy record research challenging, but discovering such details in estate inventories can help clarify these issues.
Where to Find Swedish Estate Inventory Records For Free
Swedish estate inventories are stored in court archives. Many have been digitized, while others are only available at the National Archives. You can search for estate inventories related to most of Sweden in the Digital Research Room. They are searchable by name, place, and estimated year. However, the estate inventories for the city of Stockholm are housed in a separate database.
Click the red links above to access the search sites for both Stockholm’s estate inventories and those for the rest of Sweden. Additionally, you can request email copies of specific estate inventories from the National Archives. Please note, there may be a fee for this service depending on how long it takes to find the document and how many pages need to be copied. The fees are usually very reasonable.
The photo above shows me (or at least my hand) searching for clues in Swedish American historical documents at the National Archives in Gothenburg.
Hejdå for now 🙂
Anna
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