Sweden Death and Burial Records: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:08, 1 November 2008

Unlike in the United States where graves may be hundreds of years old, the Swedes believe they are more practical with respect to death. In Sweden, a corpse is buried for a maximum of twenty years. At the conclusion of the time period, unless someone is paying for perpetual care, the body is exhumed and the bones are discarded. The gravesite is then made ready to be reused by someone else. In most Swedish parishes today (2006), birth dates on tombstone date from 1870 or later. Few, if any, graves exist for persons born prior to 1870.

Infant mortality in pre-1900 Sweden stood at about 40-50%. It was commonplace among families of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to name a newborn for a deceased older sibling. However, before deciding that this is what actually happened, make a diligent effort to find the death record of the older sibling. Perhaps, some parents just enjoyed the sound of certain names and assigned the same given name(s) to multiple children. In a family with five sons each named “Olof”, the parents, and hopefully the intended child, knew who was wanted when his name was called.

In a Swedish Church Record of death you can expect to find:

The name of the deceased
The date of burial and/or death
The residence of the deceased
The age of the deceased (usually estimated)
Sometimes, the cause of death
Some death records include obituaries that contain a summary of the deceased's life

Tips[edit | edit source]

Ages at death are highly suspect
Causes of death are suspect because of uncertain diagnosis
The interval between death and burial could be an extended time
Do NOT assume because two children in a family have the same given name(s) that the older child died

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-In Swedish, "död och begravning anteckningar".<br>
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+Unlike in the United States where graves may be hundreds of years old, the Swedes believe they are more practical with respect to death. In Sweden, a corpse is buried for a maximum of twenty years. At the conclusion of the time period, unless someone is paying for perpetual care, the body is exhumed and the bones are discarded. The gravesite is then made ready to be reused by someone else. In most Swedish parishes today (2006), birth dates on tombstone date from 1870 or later. Few, if any, graves exist for persons born prior to 1870.<br>
-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…” Släktforska steg för steg, page 47</ref> Death and burial records generally begin about 1688 but the oldest Swedish death and burial record goes back to 1608 in Helga Trefaldighets parish in Uppsala county.
+Infant mortality in pre-1900 Sweden stood at about 40-50%. It was commonplace among families of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to name a newborn for a deceased older sibling. However, before deciding that this is what actually happened, make a diligent effort to find the death record of the older sibling. Perhaps, some parents just enjoyed the sound of certain names and assigned the same given name(s) to multiple children. In a family with five sons each named “Olof”, the parents, and hopefully the intended child, knew who was wanted when his name was called. <br>
-In earlier church books death information was often written in the same book as births and christenings, and engagements and marriages. The record was usually kept in chronological order by the date of death or the date of burial.
+In a Swedish Church Record of death you can expect to find:
-In death and burial entries you should find: <br>
 *The name of the deceased
-*Place of residence at the time of passing
+*The date of burial and/or death
+*The residence of the deceased
-*Age
+*The age of the deceased (usually estimated)
+*Sometimes, the cause of death
-*Cause of death (not always recorded in the earliest examples). Discovering the cause of death can add interesting detail to your ancestor's life story.
+*Some death records include obituaries that contain a summary of the deceased's life
-*Occasionally you might see the names of the parents. It’s common to see the name of the father mentioned with a deceased child.
-Other Records Associated to Death and Burial
-'''Personaliebok''' <br>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 life of the deceased, the occupation, marriage (-s) and their children. <br>
-'''Gravregister''' <br>The purpose of the graveregister is to keep track of who is buried, and where they are 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 created a database called Gravstens – Sök with information from about 35,000 gravestones from around the country. <br>
-=== Where can you find Swedish Death and Burial Records?  ===
-You can access Death and Burial Records through the [https://www.familysearch.org/en/library/ FamilySearch Library],or at<br>[https://www.familysearch.org/centers/locations/ FamilySearch Centers,] in [https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog FamilySearch,]  [https://riksarkivet.se/ SVAR], [http://www.arkivdigital.se/ Arkiv Digital], [http://www.ancestry.com/ Ancestry.com], along with the [http://www.statensarkiv.se/ National and Regional Archives] in Sweden.<br>
-=== Databases Associated to Death and Burial Records  ===
-*'''The Swedish Death Index 1860-2017, No. 7 (Sveriges Dödbok 1860-2017)'''<br>
-There are about 13 million entries in this database. Each entry lists the name of the deceased, birth and death dates, social standing, and place of death. The birth parish is included for about 98 % of the entries after 1900, and about 92 % for entries between 1860 and 1900. This database is on USB and DVD through [https://www.rotterbokhandeln.se/product.html/sveriges-dodbok-7 Sveriges Släktforskarförbund]. This database along with earlier versions are available at the FamilySearch Library.  For more information about the death databases available at the FamilySearch Library click [[Sveriges Dödbok|here]].<br>
-*'''Buried in Sweden (Begravda I Sverige)'''<br>
-The source to create this database is the gravregisters from all over the kingdom. There are <br>5,300,000 entries in the database. This database is on DVD available through [http://www.genealogi.se/roots/ Sveriges Släktforskarförbund]. <br>
-=== Notes  ===
-{{reflist}}
-=== References  ===
-Clemensson, Per and Andersson, Kjell. <u>Släktforska steg för steg</u>. Falköping, Natur och Kultur/Fakta, 2005 <br>
+===Tips===
-Wikipedia Community. <u>Dödbok</u>. Wiki-Rötter, February 2011 See http://www.genealogi.se/wiki/index.php/Dödbok <br>
+*Ages at death are highly suspect
+*Causes of death are suspect because of uncertain diagnosis
+*The interval between death and burial could be an extended time
+*Do NOT assume because two children in a family have the same given name(s) that the older child died<br>
-[[Category:Sweden Church Records]] [[Category:Sweden Church Records]] [[Category:Civil_Registration]]
+[[Category:Sweden]]