Faroe Islands Church Records

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Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in the Faeroe Islands, go to the Religious Records page.

Church Records [Kirkjubøkur]

Church records are a primary source of birth, marriage, and death information in the Faeroe Islands. They identify names of parents, prove other relationships, and are very useful for linking generations. However, there are gaps in some records. Records were kept by the state church, Den Danske Folkekirke. The state church was the registrar of vital events for members of other churches, including the Plymouth Brethren in Tórshavn.

Responsibility for recording vital events was given to the priest in each parish or district. Church records are kept on a district [Sýsla] level. Today information from these record is evaluated and utilized by the Faeroe Islands Statistics Office [Hagstova Føroya].

Parish registers contain record of births, confirmations, marriages, deaths, and burials which took place in each parish. The earliest parish register is from 1687.

Registers may contain the following information:

Births and christening

• Infant's name
• Date of birth
• Date of baptism
• Parent's names
• Occupation
• Residence

Because many farms are remote, it was sometimes several months before the child was christened.

Marriage registers

• Names of bride and groom
• Their ages, occupations, and residences
• Date of announcement of marriage intention
• Date of marriage
• Civil status
• Names of parents

Death and burial registers

• Name of deceased
• Age
• Residence
• Occupation
• Date and place of death
• Date and place of burial
• Name of spouse or father

Sometimes records may include cause of death, names of survivors, and date and place of birth.

Other records include accounts which are records of church expenses; land rents and tithing that give the names of those renting church lands, their residence, and amount of rent paid.

Records are held by the Faeroe National Archives [Føroya Landsskjalasavn] in Tórshavn. Church accounts are held by National Archives of Denmark in Copenhagen, Denmark.