Author Topic: Some Swedish Resources and things I've learned about research in Sweden  (Read 6121 times)

Offline stannarp

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Some Swedish Resources and things I've learned about research in Sweden
« on: Thursday 09 September 10 08:41 BST (UK) »
Hi all,

Having recently got inspired to search for the family of my Swedish Great-grandfather and battled somewhat to find resources, etc (see http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,480387.0.html), I thought I'd share some of the stuff I found with the people who've helped so much in the past!

The Swedish board on Genforum (http://genforum.genealogy.com/) was very helpful, I know some of Genforum is a largely paid resource, but the help I was given was freely offered.

From here I was pointed to this document:  http://web.comhem.se/~u31263678/genealogy/  which explained a LOT about Swedish naming conventions and cleared up a great deal of my confusion in this regard!

If you're lucky enough to have ancestors who lived in Stockholm, this is a hugely useful resource, Stockholm records have been transcribed and are freely available, the site is offered in both English and Swedish:  http://www3.ssa.stockholm.se/Rotemansarkivet/Search.aspx

When searching here it is useful to have your ancestor's surname and year of birth (see article above if you're stuck)  Just as an indication of how this works, and how confusing it can be for those of us used to family names:  my grandmother was Ethel Dorothy HERMANSON in South Africa; her father was born Walfrid Theodore Johansson HERRMAN in Stockholm; his father was baptised Christoffer Herrman JOHANSSON in Herrestad (but used HERRMAN as his surname after moving to Stockholm by the looks of things), as his father was Johannes HERRMAN.

The Stockholm State Archive has a few useful features, it allows you to find all listings for a person you're researching after you've found them - regardless of their surname, etc as they moved around the city.  It also shows every single move they made while living in Stockholm, which I've found is a feature of Swedish genealogical research.  Once you've found your person, and their address, there is a link to click for pictures of that area which is fascinating.

Although this is a paid resource, here is a word of advice for those of you considering a Genline subscription ... be warned, although it has EVERYTHING available for someone researching Swedish Genealogy to find; many of the searches are available only for ORIGINAL parish records - untranscribed and in Swedish.  If you don't have a background in any of the Dutch, German, Flemish, Nordic, etc languages you will battle (my second language is Afrikaans which has echoes of all of these and I'm finding it difficult to read and translate!)

Many people researching ancestors in Sweden will come across someone in the military, this site was useful for me to understand more about how the Swedish Military worked:  http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slahem_eng.htm

Hope this helps others - if I come across other free resources I'll post here again!

Regards,

Patricia
Current Research:
RYAN (Waterford, Ireland), BENNETT (Queenstown, South Africa), SELLER (Australia)

Top Surnames:

PHILLIPS (Stithians, Cornwall)
STANNARD (Long Stratton, Norfolk)
CAVE (Milbourne Port, Somerset)
SELLER (Staffordshire)
ROSE (Somerset)
SAUNDERS (Idmiston, Wiltshire)
SADLER (Somerset)
MERCER (Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire)
VINCENT (Wiltshire)
SPARGO (Stithians, Cornwall)

https://stannardroseza.blogspot.com/

Offline stannarp

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Re: Some Swedish Resources and things I've learned about research in Sweden
« Reply #1 on: Friday 10 September 10 20:13 BST (UK) »
Another useful resource:

http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/sldict.htm

Dictionary of Swedish Genealogy terms...and all sorts of useful hints for deciphering parish records, etc.

Found this link particularly useful:  http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/Naming%20practice_eng.htm, he explains WAY more about surnames and naming conventions for clergy, soldiers, etc...I'm beginning to see that the patronymic thing isn't a hard and fast rule; and (as the author of that site states) that people could very easily have more than one surname in their lives, I've seen in in my research.

Very confusing, but also very rewarding when you finally figure it out!
Current Research:
RYAN (Waterford, Ireland), BENNETT (Queenstown, South Africa), SELLER (Australia)

Top Surnames:

PHILLIPS (Stithians, Cornwall)
STANNARD (Long Stratton, Norfolk)
CAVE (Milbourne Port, Somerset)
SELLER (Staffordshire)
ROSE (Somerset)
SAUNDERS (Idmiston, Wiltshire)
SADLER (Somerset)
MERCER (Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire)
VINCENT (Wiltshire)
SPARGO (Stithians, Cornwall)

https://stannardroseza.blogspot.com/

Offline stannarp

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Re: Some Swedish Resources and things I've learned about research in Sweden
« Reply #2 on: Monday 20 September 10 18:07 BST (UK) »
The FamilySearch Wiki Sweden Portal is also very useful:

https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Portal:Sweden
Current Research:
RYAN (Waterford, Ireland), BENNETT (Queenstown, South Africa), SELLER (Australia)

Top Surnames:

PHILLIPS (Stithians, Cornwall)
STANNARD (Long Stratton, Norfolk)
CAVE (Milbourne Port, Somerset)
SELLER (Staffordshire)
ROSE (Somerset)
SAUNDERS (Idmiston, Wiltshire)
SADLER (Somerset)
MERCER (Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire)
VINCENT (Wiltshire)
SPARGO (Stithians, Cornwall)

https://stannardroseza.blogspot.com/