Tracing Your Swedish Roots
Do you sometimes feel an urge to loot, pillage, burn and destroy? There could be Viking blood in your veins! This page will help you find out.
Sweden has kept excellent records of its citizens since the 17th century. This means that people of Swedish descent can trace their family's history in Sweden and discover distant relatives, if they just know some of the basic facts about their families. A little bit of luck might even take you down to the 12th century. On this page you will find links to all available resources and tips on how to begin and continue researching your Swedish ancestry.
Even if you choose to do most of the research yourself, the non-profit organizations and archives that can assist you sometimes charge fees to cover their basic operating costs. Those who do not wish to do the research themselves can hire professional genealogists who do family histories for money. Some of the sites listed below belong to non-profit organizations, while others are operated by people who may be offering their services as professional genealogical researchers.
Institutions - OrganizationsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) has a complete set of Swedish church records from the 17th century until 1920 available to the public on microfilm at their library in Salt Lake City, Ut.
FamilySearch is a free web service sponsored by LDS and provides instant online access to 300 million records out of the total of over 2 billion on microfilm in the church repository. Their page on Sweden is probably the best starting point you can find anywhere.
Ellis Island Records Opened in mid April 2001, this new site offers online access to 22 million immigration records between 1892 and 1924. Here's where you have a chance to find the key to the church records: the parish where your ancestor was born. Be prepared for long response times - the site is swamped with millions of search requests every day from all over the world. 56 million in its first two days alone.
Genline is an ongoing project to put 20 million pages of Swedish church records from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries on line in gif and tif picture formats.
Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center
Genealogy in Sweden
History to European and Swedish emigration to America by American West
Swedish Genealogy Page
Släktforskning i Sverige
The Swedish Emigrant Institute
Related research databasesAncestry.com - Links to searchable databases (In the US)
Föreningen Släktdata A Swedish site, partly in English.
Genealogy resource pagesGenealogy site finder A complete list of resources in English relating to Sweden
Yahoo's Genealogy Page and Topic Search.