Tracing Swedes in Household Examinations
Almost all Swedish family research involves church household examination records in one way or another. Begin your Swedish ancestry journey with these records. They document nearly all Swedes from the end 1600s or early 1700s, into the 1900s and contain a wealth of valuable information. Additionally, these records were updated annually and have been extensively digitized. This makes them an excellent starting point for your Swedish genealogy research.
If I had to choose just one type of record to always begin with in Swedish genealogy, it would undoubtedly be the household examination books. Below, you will find more information about these records and how to access them for free.
The painting above
The painting depicts a Swedish household examination hearing. You see a priest, with a what is likely a Bible in front of him, and the parish members gathered around him. It is a painting by the artist Knut Ander titled “Catechetical meeting” (source: Wikimedia Commons/Bukowskis Auktion).
Swedish Household Examinations
-The household examination records were kept by the priests of the Swedish Lutheran State Church. The priests had an obligation to conduct annual hearings with the members of their parishes. At the hearings, the priests gathered different kinds of information about the parish members. They – among other – collected information about names, dates of birth, relocation details, and levels of reading and understanding of the Bible.
The hearings mostly focused on the parish members’ reading and understanding of the Bible as recounted in Dr. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism.
Almost all Swedish families therefore had a copy in their home of the “Lilla Katekes”, as it is called in Swedish. As a result, many Swedes learnt how to read by studying the Small Catechism in preparation for household examinations.
The Hearings Were Stated in Law
The priests were tasked with keeping records of the household examination hearings. This obligation of the church to hold, and keep records of, household examinations became Swedish law in 1686. Formal household examinations were consequently held from the end of the 1600s to the end of the 1800s. In addition, more informal such hearings continued well into the 1900s. You can therefore generally find household examination records from sometime in the beginning of the 1700s and onwards. Sometimes, the records go as far back as to the late 1600s.
The extent to which household examination books exist today vary from parish to parish. Some of the early books were discarded because they were not seen as not having a value anymore. Others may have perished in fires or so. However, the great majority still exist and are available for your Swedish family research.
The Content of Swedish Household Examinations
The content of the household examination records evolved over time. You may therefore find more or less information depending on the time period you are researching. The following is information you may find regarding your Swedish family:
Names
- Birth dates
- Birth places
- Relationships
- Whether “deaf, blind, or weak minded”
- Dates of communions
- Dates of marriages
- Occupations
- Home ownership
- How many an estate could support
- Relocations from and to places
- Vaccinations
- Poverty assistance
- Dates of deaths
- Levels of reading and understanding
of Luther’s Small Catechism
Where to Find the Household Examinations for Free
The household examination records are available for free in the Digital Research Room of the Swedish National Archives. There, you can search by the parish of your ancestors, as well as by their names and birth dates.
You find the household examination books under the classification “AI Husförhörslängder” (before 1895) and “Församlingsböcker” (after 1895) in the “kyrkoarkiv” (church archives). “AI” is the archive classification and “Husförhörslängder” or “Församlingsböcker” are the Swedish words for household examination records. You can access digitized copies of the records for the years of your interest by clicking the icon “bild” (image) you find in the church archives.
In addition, you can find household examination records at FamilySearch. FamilySearch is free, but you have to sign up for an account. You can then search for household examination books from the years 1874-1931 (as of the date of this blog) by entering names, places, and/or birth and death dates.
Below is an example of a household examination record. It is a record from the parish of Mofalla, of a family Andersson whose two eldest children emigrated to America. I will write more about them in a future blog.
Are You Used to Canadian or U.S. Genealogy?
If so, your first instinct may be to look for census records when researching your Swedish roots. Swedish census records do exist and may be of good use to you depending on your research focus. However, the primary go-to-resource for family research in Sweden are the household examination records.
The household examination records play kind of the same role in family research in Sweden as the census records do in Canada and the US. However, a major difference is the frequency of the record taking. The Swedish household examinations were held every year, while the American and Canadian censuses were (and are) done every 10th year at the national level, and in some additional years in certain states/territories/provinces. There are of course also a whole range of other records to research, depending on your research question. Something to cover in future blogs.
Hejdå for now 🙂
Anna
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