Sweden Death and Burial Records: Difference between revisions

The 1686 kyrkolag stated, ”(to record) the name of the deceased who was buried in the church or churchyard”. <ref>“The aflednas namn som i kyrckian eller på kyrckiogården äre begrafne…”: Clemensson, Per and Andersson, Kjell. Släktforska steg för steg. Falköping, Natur och Kultur/Fakta, 2005</ref> The death and burial records generally begin about 1688. Initially the information was often written in the same book as the birth and christenings, and engagements and marriages. <br>  

The record was usually kept chronologically by the date of death or the date of burial. In these entries you should find: <br>  

 

*The name of the deceased  

*Place of residence at the time of passing  

*Age  

*Cause of death (not always recorded in the earliest examples)  

Discovering the cause of death can be an interesting fact to your ancestors’ life story. The oldest death and burial record is from Helga Trefaldighets parish in Uppsala county beginning in 1608.<ref>Wikipedia Community. Dödbok. Wiki-Rötter, February 2011<ref>  

'''Personaliebok'''

Some death records are called a personaliebok (or they may be in addition to the death and burial records.) In these books you will find a longer description written about the deceased similar to a modern obituary. If personalie books were kept for the place your ancestors are from, you may find more information about the deceased's life, occupation, marriage (-s) and children.  

'''Gravregister'''

The purpose of the graveregister is to keep track of who is buried, and where are they buried in the church yard. Traditionally “the place” to be buried is the churchyard. Yet the churchyard has a limited space to the property, which has been used for centuries. The solution is to reuse burial plots.  This practice is still done today. A burial plot is reused after about 20 years unless someone has paid for perpetual upkeep. When the change is made, the previous gravestone is replaced with the new one. With this said, it’s not unusual that very few old grave stones have survived. The Federation of Swedish Genealogical Societies (Sveriges Släktforskarförbund) has been created a database called Gravstens – Sök with information from about 35,000 gravestones from around the country.  

 

=== Tips ===

*The Swedish Death Index 1901-2009, Sveriges Dödbok 1901-2009

Approximately 70% of all the deaths for this time period are included in the database. The source to create the database is the death and burial records. There are a total of 7, 880,000 entries. This database is on DVD available through Sveriges Släktforskarförbund.  

 

*Buried in Sweden, Begravda I Sverige

Clemensson, Per and Andersson, Kjell. Släktforska steg för steg. Falköping, Natur och Kultur/Fakta, 2005  

Wikipedia Community. Dödbok. Wiki-Rötter, February 2011 See http://www.genealogi.se/wiki/index.php/D%C3%B6dbok