Historical Record Collections Added in January 2020

2020 is off to a great start! MyHeritage has already added over 50 million records in the month of January alone: an addition of 21 million records to the existing Sweden Household Examination Books, 24.7 million records from a French Death Index, and 4.5 million records from a New York State Birth Index. This update brings the total number of historical records in MyHeritage SuperSearch™ to 11,095,874,587.

Here is a list of the updated and new collections:

Collection	Description	Number of Records	Link to Search
Sweden Household Examination Books, 1840–1947	An index of individuals and families throughout the Parishes of Sweden, from the late 1600s until modern times.	Addition of 21,286,366 records	Search collection now
France Death Index, 1970–2019	An index of death records pertaining to French citizens and nationals.	24,725,677 records	Search collection now
New York, Birth Index, 1881–1942	An index of births from the state of New York between the years 1881 and 1942.	4,550,484 records	Search collection now

Sweden Household Examination Books, 1840–1947

This addition of 21 million records includes records from 1840–1859 and 1930–1947. Previously, the collection only included records from 1860–1930. This latest update expands the scope of the collection in SuperSearch™ and brings the total number of records in the Sweden Household Examination Books to 125.67 million. These books are the primary source for researching the lives of individuals and families throughout the parishes of Sweden, from the late 1600s until 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. Until 1894, the parish priest would visit each home every year and test each individual’s knowledge of the catechism. He would also collect information about birth dates, marriages, deaths, where people had moved to or from, etc. Each year the priest would come back and update the information collected during the previous year, noting changes within the population of the home. After 1894, the Examination Books were replaced by Församlingsbok, records of the Church of Sweden. These focused less on doctrinal knowledge and more on enumerating the Swedish population from year to year.

MyHeritage has produced an every-name index to nearly 8 million images provided by our Swedish partner ArkivDigital. This portion of the Swedish Household Examination Books (Husförhörslängder) mostly covers the years 1840–1947, with a few exceptions from the early 1800s and late 1700s. The Examination Books are an invaluable collection that can provide insight into the makeup of families within Sweden, from birth to death to emigration. Because the books were updated every year, families can be traced year to year, and often from location to location throughout the country.

Search this collection now.

France Death Index, 1970–2019

This death index of 24.7 million records contains records pertaining to French citizens and nationals, and was released by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. The index contains each deceased person’s full name, gender, date and place of birth, and date and place of death. This index will be helpful to genealogists looking for more information about their French family members who passed away since the early 1970s.

While most of the birthplaces and death places are in France, there are over 2.5 million records in this collection of persons who were born or died in other countries — most commonly neighboring and nearby countries such as Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Poland or countries which were former French colonies such as Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Madagascar, and Vietnam.

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New York, Birth Index, 1881–1942

This collection of 4.5 million records consists of indexes of births from the state of New York between the years 1881 and 1942. New York began statewide registration of births in 1881, supervised by the local board of health. A record may include the following information when it is available; given name and surname, birth date, town of birth, and gender.

New York City is considered to be a separate vital records jurisdiction from the rest of New York state, and consequently the city has its own birth indices. However, a small number of New York City birth listings can be found in this index. This may be because the birth happened in a town that was independent before the consolidation of the city in 1898 (for example, a pre-1898 birth in a place like Canarsie [Brooklyn] or Flushing [Queens] might be listed here), or because there was a late birth registration. The images in this collection were obtained courtesy of Reclaim the Records.

This collection contains the birth record of Andy Rooney, most famous for his segment A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney, which appeared at the end of the popular weekly CBS news show, 60 Minutes.

Though most famous for his TV appearances, Andy started his career as a news journalist during World War II, where he was one of the first American journalists to write about the Nazi concentration camps.

The record indicates that Andrew A. Rooney was born on January 14, 1919 in Albany, New York.

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Summary

Searching these collections on MyHeritage SuperSearch™ is free. To view or save records to your family tree, you’ll need a Data or Complete subscription.

If you have a family tree on MyHeritage, our Record Matching technology will notify you automatically if records from these collections match your relatives. You’ll then be able to review the record and decide if you’d like to add the new information to your tree.

Enjoy the new collections!