6
edits
Swedish Research: Tips for Swedish American Researchers: Difference between revisions
Swedish Research: Tips for Swedish American Researchers (view source)
Revision as of 22:55, 9 March 2014
, 9 March 2014Added information and link to a page were it is possible to get in contact with people working professionally with researching the family history of swedes that emigrated to America.
mNo edit summary |
Fredriksalin (talk | contribs) m (Added information and link to a page were it is possible to get in contact with people working professionally with researching the family history of swedes that emigrated to America.) |
||
| Line 10: | Line 10: | ||
Look for obituaries or death notices that might mention that the deceased belonged to a Swedish-American church. Most of the records of those churches are available at the [http://www.augustana.edu/swenson/ www.augustana.edu/swenson/] Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center in Rock Island, Illinois. If you can find your person in the membeship rolls of a Swedish-American church record, it may list their exact parish of origin in the old country. Sometimes, the very first book for a Swedish-American congregation is so old and fragile it has been placed in a bank vault for safekeeping. If the church you contact says they don't have records older than 1900 or later, ask who has the oldest book. | Look for obituaries or death notices that might mention that the deceased belonged to a Swedish-American church. Most of the records of those churches are available at the [http://www.augustana.edu/swenson/ www.augustana.edu/swenson/] Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center in Rock Island, Illinois. If you can find your person in the membeship rolls of a Swedish-American church record, it may list their exact parish of origin in the old country. Sometimes, the very first book for a Swedish-American congregation is so old and fragile it has been placed in a bank vault for safekeeping. If the church you contact says they don't have records older than 1900 or later, ask who has the oldest book. | ||
If you don't have the time or need help with your research you can try to get in contact with people and organizations which are working professionally with family history research. For instance you can use this page: [http://swedishskeletonsinthecloset.com/ swedishskeletonsinthecloset.com/] to get in contact with people which is working specifically with researching the family history of swedes that emigrated to America.<br> | |||
Ancient provincial names which might be mentioned in your speaking with older relatives could also help narrow the search some. For example, if your Swedes called themselves ''Smålänningar'', they probably came from or lived in the province of ''Småland. ''This geographic region encompasses the Southern Swedish counties of Jönköping, Kalmar and Kronoberg with about 500 parishes collectively, each with its own records. A ''Skåningar ''probably originates from one of the 100 or so parishes in the county of Kristianstad or Malmohus, and so forth. | Ancient provincial names which might be mentioned in your speaking with older relatives could also help narrow the search some. For example, if your Swedes called themselves ''Smålänningar'', they probably came from or lived in the province of ''Småland. ''This geographic region encompasses the Southern Swedish counties of Jönköping, Kalmar and Kronoberg with about 500 parishes collectively, each with its own records. A ''Skåningar ''probably originates from one of the 100 or so parishes in the county of Kristianstad or Malmohus, and so forth. | ||
Anything said or written, especially in a foreign language, might be a clue to your ancestor's place of origin - so capture it all! And, when you transcribe Swedish documents, be sure to faithfully copy any of the special Swedish characters you see if you can (Swedish has three extra letters not found in English: å, ä , ö) | Anything said or written, especially in a foreign language, might be a clue to your ancestor's place of origin - so capture it all! And, when you transcribe Swedish documents, be sure to faithfully copy any of the special Swedish characters you see if you can (Swedish has three extra letters not found in English: å, ä , ö) | ||
=== <br>Cultural Context <br> === | === <br>Cultural Context <br> === | ||