46 Million Swedish Household Records Now Available

We are happy to announce that we’ve added over 46 million Swedish records to MyHeritage SuperSearch. The high quality parish register records, spanning 1880 to 1920, are now available, indexed and searchable online for the first time. These records include information about births, deaths, marriages, addresses and changes in household composition. They provide a unique view into the lives of Swedish people living at that time, making this collection a fantastic family history resource for anyone with Swedish heritage.

Search Sweden Household Examination Books Now

Swedish Household Examination Books are the primary source for researching the lives of individuals and families throughout the Parishes of Sweden, from the late 1600s to modern times. The books were created and kept by the Swedish Lutheran Church, which was tasked with keeping the official records of the Swedish population until 1991.

Each book or series of books represents a 3-10 year period of time within a parish. Every year, until 1894, the parish priest would visit each home and test each individual’s knowledge of the catechism. They would also collect information about births, marriages, deaths, where people had moved to or from, etc. Each year the priest would return to update the previously recorded information, noting changes within the population of the home. Because the books were updated annually, families can be traced from year to year, and often from location to location throughout the country.

After 1894, the examinations were replaced by Församlingsbok, records of the Church of Sweden which were used to officially enumerate the population from year to year. The focus on examining doctrinal knowledge of the catechism was removed and instead the records were more focused on enumerating the Swedish population.

With the help of our Swedish partner, ArkivDigital, we have produced an index of names from the Swedish Household Examination Books consisting of over 5 million full-color and good quality images. This portion of the Swedish Household Examination Books (Husförhörslängder), mostly covers the years 1880-1920, with a few exceptions from the early 1800s and late 1700s. The Examination books are an invaluable collection that can provide insight into the make-up of families within Sweden, from birth to death or emigration.

The Sweden Household Examination Books, in addition to over 6 billion other global historical records, are available in SuperSearch™, MyHeritage’s search engine for historical records.

When combined with our innovative matching technologies, these collections will prove even more useful. MyHeritage users will receive Record Matches for all records which match profiles in their family trees. Members can save matches and import new information directly to their family trees using our extract information feature, and even add new people to the tree directly from the record. Our Record Detective technology will ensure that each record points to even more records, turning a single discovery into a door to more. Each record will display a summary of additional records and individuals in family trees relating to the original record.

This significant collection of Swedish Household Records will be an incredible help to all those with Swedish heritage in the pursuit of their family history. It enables users to learn more about their Swedish ancestors and the lives they led year after year, painting a picture of what life in Sweden was like centuries ago.

Search now to see how your Swedish ancestors lived! We look forward to hearing about your exciting discoveries.