Sweden Deaths - What else you can try
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This page will give you additional guidance and resources to find death information for your ancestor. Use this page after first completing the death section of the Sweden Guided Research page.
Additional Online Resources
Additional Databases and Online Resources
If you know your ancestor's parish, use the Sweden map to navigate to the Wiki page for the parish to find more localized information.
- Church Records at ArkivDigital ($)
- 1649-1920: Sweden Burials at Findmypast ($); also at MyHeritage ($)
- 1840-1942: Sweden, Indexed Death Records at Ancestry ($)
- 1850-1945: Sweden, Death Records at MyHeritage ($)
Substitute Records
Additional Records with Death Information
Substitute records can contain information about more than one event, and are used when records for an event are not available. Because the substitute records may not be created at the time of the event, it may contain incorrect information. Search for as many substitute records as possible to corroborate information found in substitute records to help improve accuracy.
Use these substitute records to locate death information about your ancestor: | ||
Why to search the records | ||
Church burial records can include name of deceased, date of death, age at time of death, residence at time of death, occupation, and cause of death. | ||
Probates assess the deceased's estate after death, listing surviving family and heirs. They can often give the death date or clues to date of death for the deceased. Not everyone had a probate, making them potentially difficult to find. | ||
List each member of a household, and often the date or year of death for those who died during the time of the examination. |
Finding Town of Origin
Knowing an ancestor’s hometown can be important to locate more records. If a person immigrated to the United States, try Finding Town of Origin to find the ancestor’s hometown.
Research Help
Virtual Genealogy Consultations
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Ask the Community
Select a community research group where you can ask questions and receive free genealogy help.
Improve Searching
Tips for finding deaths
Success with finding death records in online databases depends on a few key points:
- Try different spelling variations of the first and last name of your ancestor (e.g. Niels, Nils).
- Try a given name search (leave out the last names).
- The use of patronymic surnames in Sweden declined in the early 1900s, and family surnames became more permanent through generations. (See the following article for more information: Naming Customs.)
- Women began adopting their husband's surname in documents in the late 1800s/early 1900s, and adoption of their husband's surname became law in 1920.
- Expand the date range of the search.
- Try searching with the county name only instead of by parish.
Why the Record may not Exist
Known Record Gaps
Records Start
Church records in in Sweden officially began in 1686, but some were kept sporadically before that time. These include death and burial records. Early records may be inconsistent.
Records Destroyed
Any known record loss will be mentioned on the parish page. Locate your parish by navigating to the parish page starting here.