HelPeR - BYU Idaho Special Collections and Family History

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Communions (Kommunionslängd)
A person’s first communion, or confirmation, usually
took place in their adolescent years (between 14 and
18 years of age). These records may list:
• Individual’s name
• Residence
• Birth date or age
Other Parish Records:
• Accounting (Kyrkoräkenskaper)
• Releases (Avlösningslängd)
• Wives assisted by the church (Kyrkotagna hustrur)
• Miscellaneous (Miscellanea)
Genline
http://www.genline.se—Subscription site
http://www.genline.com—in English
There is a computer program “Genline Family
Finder” that needs to be downloaded. There are versions
for both Windows and Mac users. Users can
then access the Swedish Church Records archive as
a test user and demo their service. As a test user you
have access to a few selected counties of the Swedish
Church records archive.
The “Work from known to unknown” rule really
applies when doing this type of research. If you know
the date and place for an event, then look it up first.
It will tell you the name of the farm so that you can
then locate the household examination register. If
the dates are not known, then locating the household
examination register will help you to learn the dates
and places of various events for the various family
members in order to locate the records.
Once the application is launched then select the
county or parish. A list of records will appear. Once you
select one of them then a second list will appear with a
list of pages. Some of them will be identified as an index,
a table of contents, blank or normal. After selecting
a page it will appear in the main window. Click on the
left most magnifying glass icon to make the selection
panel disappear so that you can view the record.
“Our archive contains images of the original Swedish
Church Records from the 16th to the 20th century.
These include births, marriages, deaths, and
household examinations (similar to a yearly census)
records.” There was a detailed review of Genline by
Michael John Neill on page 92 of the January/February
2007 issues of Everton’s Genealogical Helper.
It should be noted that Genline does not contain
information on people that were born after 1897 due
to Swedish law and that it cannot be searched by
family name. Once the place is known then a feature
called GIDx allows searches by place names such as
parish, village, or even farms to find other household
examination books.
Anyone can view a list of the records that are currently
available for the 2,687 parishes at http://www.
genline.com/databasen/walk3.php. There is a household
extraction form with English titles that can be
downloaded at http://www.genline.com/resources/
extractionforms.php.
List of Records for Kinne-Kleva in Skaraborg County
Household Examinations/Clerical Surveys
(Husförhörslängd)
“Household examinations, or clerical surveys, are
the result of a law given in 1686 that required ministers
to keep records of the members of their parish,
stating where they lived and whether they knew the
catechism. Although this law was given in 1686, the
majority of these records don’t begin until the early
19th century. In the earlier years clerical surveys were
taken yearly and in the later years, the same entry
in a register may have been used for several years.
This record type is one of the most useful among the
parish records because it allows you to continually
follow an individual or family from year to year.”
Information listed in these records “may include:
• Individual’s name
• Residence
Ja n ua ry/Fe b r u a r y 2009 Ev e r t o n’s Ge n e a l o g i c a l He l p e r © 105