Q&A: How Do I Find My Swedish Ancestor’s Parish?

Q: My grandfather Carl August Petersson (he later went by Charles) was born in 1863 in Sweden, and died in America in 1927. I’ve spent years searching unsuccessfully for his birth parish. He came immigrated around the mid-1800s and spent most of his life in northern California. Records I’ve found list his birthplace as only “Sweden.”

A: As this researcher implies, the parish of origin is a key detail in Swedish genealogy. The state Lutheran church was tasked with recordkeeping for much of Sweden’s history, making this jurisdiction extremely valuable.

Home sources, such as correspondence or family Bibles, often mention town or parish of origin. US passenger lists generally don’t, but you search for Carl in immigration records (such as New York City arrivals). Or check the book Swedish Passenger Arrivals in the United States, 1820–1850 by Nils William Olsson (Schmidts Boktryckeri AB). Look for it through WorldCat or large genealogy libraries such as the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City.

Have you tried church records? David Fryxell, who wrote our guide to Swedish research, says many Swedish-American churches kept records as thorough as those of their counterparts in Sweden. The Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center has a broad church records collection, including several in California. The Swenson Center is in Illinois, but you can request a search by a staff member.

The best practice is to have your ancestor’s parish of origin in hand before researching records in Sweden. But you can still search church record indexes on websites such as ArkivDigital with just his name and birth date. A strong match there could indicate a parish.

Even once you’ve gathered some clues, you may need a hand connecting them with the right parish. The Genealogical Guidebook & Atlas of Sweden by Finn A. Thomsen (Thomsen’s; available through FamilySearch) contains an alphabetical list of parishes by county, along with basic maps. Use resources from Lantmäteriet to further unscramble parishes and place names.

Last updated, November 2024.

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