Now a trip to the USA is ahead of us, with visits to Florida and New York State, and children and grandchildren. I probably don't have to tell you that this is very exciting!

2. About those great household examination records (husförhörslängder)

3. Did your ancestors come from Värmland, land of woods and lakes? Then learn more here.

Trip changes for summer 2007

Starting next summer  we plan to change the length of our trips from two weeks to four days.  We'll take you directly to the area where your family lived, be it in a little village in Småland, a city in Skåne or a lonely cottage in Värmland. And, of course, we'll take you to your Swedish relatives! These shorter trips will make it possible for you to also explore Sweden on your own or with an organized tour.

Please read more about our trips here.

The heading of each column is printed, which makes them easy to read, but not to understand if you don't know Swedish. Just above the headings you'll find the page number and the name of the farm. Below it is often another place name, the cottage (torp). Every farm and little torp in Sweden has a name!

Let's translate those printed heading for you (every word is not included, just the more important ones):

Personernas namn - the persons' names
Yrke - occupation
Födelseår - year of birth
Födelsemånad - month of birth
Födelseort - place of birth
Socken - parish (this is now rarely used, the common word these days is församling)
Äktenskap - marriage
Gift - married
Enkling (abbreviated enkl.), enka - widower, widow
Koppor - smallpox (vaccinated against)
Hitflyttad från - moved here from (followed by the name of another parish or the page number in the present book)
Död - dead
Bortflyttad till - moved away to

The columns that follow have the dates for various examinations and for communions. The last column (bortflyttad) is important in that it gives the place the person moved to, and also the date of the move. You might find Nord Amerika, or simply another parish in Sweden.

The difficult part, very often, is to read what the minister wrote. You will first find the father's name, perhaps Anders Jönsson, then his wife (hustru, abbreviate H), Katarina Persdotter, with their dates and places of birth. Below are the children, sometimes in order of years of birth, but at other times divided into boys and girls. 

Each book covers around 5 years. So after finding your family in one book, you will want to find them in the next one. This is how you follow them through the years to learn what happened to them: Did they move and where to? Did any of the children die? Where did the children go as they grew up? Did the children marry and have their own families?

Where are these records?
The husförhörslängder were kept until about 1895, when they were replaced by församlingsböcker . The Family History Library (the Mormon Church), has filmed most husförhörslängder. I suggest a visit to one of their centers, available in most cities in the USA and in Canada. Check this website for the closest center.

The original records have been transferred from the parishes to  Landsarkiven  (the regional archives). There are eight of them, each covering one or more counties (län). In Landsarkiven you can find not only husförhörslängder, but also birth, marriage and death records, and much else.

If you plan to do your research in Sweden, you might want to visit one of a couple of wonderful research facilities that have extensive filmed records of all kinds, House of Genealogy, in Leksand, Dalarna, and Swedish Emigrant Institute, Växjö, Småland. But perhaps you cannot spend the time necessary in Sweden, but would love to do you own research, on the Internet. Then you might want to subscribe to Genline, with many of the church records (including husförhörslängder) right there online.

If you are one of those people who have other things to do, such as going to work or take care of a family, you might want some help with all this research. Then please contact me!

Värmland
If your family came from Värmland, like so many emigrants did, you'll want to know how to find the little village where they lived and the descendants of those who stayed. Why not start by studying this map, (click on it and you will get more details) and by reading this website about Värmland (all in English).

The southern part of Värmland borders on Vänern, Sweden's largest lake and Karlstad, the biggest city, is located on its northern shore. It's said that the sun always shines in Karlstad...  Many Swedes emigrated from Karlskoga, an important mining town. When mines failed, in the late 1800's, workers lost their jobs and miners found work in other countries. An interesting fact: large groups of people in Värmland came from Finland, already in the 1600s. Most settled and worked in the woods of Värmland, and many of them later emigrated to the USA and to Canada.

The Värmland emigrants settled all over the US and Canada. A few became famous, e.g. Johan Eriksson (later spelled John Ericsson), the well-known inventor, who was born in Långbanshyttan in Värmland. You might enjoy listening th this original presentation about John Ericsson from the University of Houston. 

If you would like to find out more about your family from Värmland, try these interesting and useful research organizations:

1. Emigrantregistret i Karlstad, the Kinship Center, has most records from Värmland, including emigration records for those who emigrated to Norway, North America, Australia and other countries, and even for those who returned to Sweden (yes, quite a few did so)! You can also find Värmland emigrants who became members of Swedish parishes in North America. Birth, marriage and death records, plus household examination records (husförhörslängder), up to about 1920, are also here. 
   
   This wonderful place has helped several of our guests. It is, for example, through them that JoAnn found relatives in the area north of Filipstad, from where her mormor (maternal grandmother) emigrated, descendants of her mormor's sisters and brothers who stayed in Värmland. 
    
2. Karlskoga Heritage Society  is the place to contact if your emigrant came from Karlskoga, which 3786 did (as per the CD Emigranten). Let me explain something about Karlskoga: it's located in the province (landskap) of Värmland, but in the county (län) of Örebro. So your grandmother from Karlskoga might call herself "värmlänning" (from Värmland), but her birth records are located at Uppsala landsarkiv, in the drawer Örebro län! This is because Sweden is divided into counties (län) for administrative purposes, but also into provinces (landskap), a more historical term.
    
3. Värmland Genealogical Society , the website is mostly in Swedish but its interesting genealogical information might still be useful to you.

If you would like some help with finding your emigrant from Värmland and don't really know where to start, please contact me and I'll try to help you.
 

Jag önskar dig en skön höst!
(I wish you a pleasant fall)

Remember to contact me with your research questions - I'll do my best to help.

I hope you enjoyed this newsletter and found it helpful. If so, please send it on to family and friends who might also like it. If you no longer want to be on my mailing list, please let me know and I will make the necessary changes right away.

Marie Louise Bratt
www.bridgetosweden.com

Vigelsjöhöjden 1B
76152 Norrtälje
Sweden

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