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Swedish Kin

How to Read Swedish Household Examination Records

Swedish household examination records list everyone who lived in a parish, household by household. This guide explains what the columns, marks and abbreviations mean, and how to follow a family back one book at a time.

Facts checked against sources, November 2026

Illustration of a Swedish priest at a table with an open book, questioning a farm family in their home
The parish priest holds the household examination in a farmhouse in the 1800s.
On this page
  1. What is a household examination record?
  2. Why the household examination record matters when you trace your Swedish family
  3. Timeline
  4. How to read a page
  5. Marks and abbreviations
  6. Marks for moves, vaccination and family
  7. The titles you will see before the names
  8. Step by step: follow a family
  9. Pitfalls
  10. Glossary
  11. Common questions

The essentials in one minute

  • From 1686, Swedish priests had to keep a household examination record of everyone in the parish7.
  • The whole household is on one page: parents, children and servants11.
  • The record shows where people were born and where they moved, so you know where to look next9,10.
  • A new book was started every five to ten years, and from about 1895 the book is called a parish book8,11.
  • You can read the records in the Swedish National Archives' Digital Research Room2,9,10.

What is a household examination record?

In Swedish it is called a husförhörslängd. You may also see it called a household examination roll or a clerical survey1,3.

It is the priest's book of everyone who belonged to the parish8. In Sweden, the Lutheran state church kept the population register, so the parish priest was also the local registrar7,8. A law from 1686 told the priests to keep these records for the whole population7.

The book was arranged household by household8, by village, farm and croft10,14. The name comes from the husförhör (household examination): the priest visited the homes and tested how well people could read and how much they knew of the Christian faith12.

Illustration of a Swedish parish priest in a black gown writing in a large church book by candlelight
A parish priest writes in the church book in the 1700s.

Why the household examination record matters when you trace your Swedish family

  • You see the whole household at once – parents, children and servants on the same page9,11.
  • You can follow the family year by year. The record is the main book of the old Swedish population register. Facts from the other church records were gathered in it9,10.
  • You get the date and parish of birth for each person, which tells you where to look next9.
  • You see when and where they moved. From about 1820 the books had columns for moving in and moving out11, and the old book often gives the page in the new one11.
  • You learn more than dates: the occupation (usually written before the name)11, reading ability11, communion12, smallpox vaccination11 and the priest's own notes12.

Timeline

  1. 1608

    Archbishop Olaus Martini urged the priests to record baptisms, weddings and betrothals. It is the first known order about church records in Sweden15.

  2. 1622

    Bishop Johannes Rudbeckius gave detailed rules for the church records in the diocese of Västerås, including the first rules in the country for examination records15.

  3. 1686

    The first church law for the whole country. Priests now had to keep household examination records of the whole population7.

  4. 1697

    A household examination book begins in Revsund, in the province of Jämtland. The pages were found in the church in modern times and show that records existed earlier than the archive knew13.

  5. 1726

    A royal ordinance of 12 January 1726, the Konventikelplakatet, ordered household examinations in the whole country. Some time into the 1700s, the examination records came to be called husförhörslängder15.

  6. 1749

    Sweden's first population statistics, the Tabellverket, began. The household examination record then became a full list of everyone living in the parish15.

  7. 1752

    The officials who listed the population for taxes were given the right to read the household examination records in the whole country15.

  8. 1780s

    Printed forms came into use. Before that, the books were handwritten from start to finish11.

  9. 1812

    Farm owners and users had to report in writing who lived on their land, partly so that the examination books would be complete15.

  10. About 1820

    The books got columns for moving in and moving out11.

  11. 1860

    A royal circular of 27 April 1860 set a form for the household examination records. One book could be used for five or ten years15.

  12. 1894

    A new ordinance on church registration. Over six years, the household examination records were replaced by parish books15, which is the name from about 18958,10.

  13. 1991

    From 1 July 1991, the Swedish Tax Agency keeps the population register7.

How to read a page

At the top is the village and the farm or croft10,14. Then comes the household: the head of the household first, the servants last11. The forms changed over time11,15, so the columns vary between books. The usual order:

  1. Occupation or standing – usually written before the name11.
  2. Name, birth and marriage – the date and parish of birth, and the wedding date9,10.
  3. Reading and knowledge of the faith – the priest's marks11.
  4. Presence at the examinations – one column per year11.
  5. Communion – when the person went to communion11,12.
  6. Smallpox vaccination – from the early 1800s11.
  7. Moving – where from and where to, from about 182011.
  8. Death – the year10.
  9. Remarks – the priest's own notes12.
Illustration of a parish clerk teaching a room full of children reading at wooden desks
A parish clerk teaches the children in the 1800s.

Marks and abbreviations

The columns were narrow, so the priest wrote short. These are the marks for reading and presence that the sources explain. The reading marks differ between parishes11.

MarkMeaning
väl, temligt, någotWell, fairly, somewhat: how well the person understood what was read (diocese of Västerås, rules of 1622)15
bra, god, svagReading marks written in words, 1800s11
bryggan, dashes or crossesReading marks written as signs instead of words, 1800s11
NWas at the examination11
sjuk, aegrAbsent because of illness (aeger is Latin for sick)11
absAbsent (Latin absens)11
scholan, militärtjänstAway at school or in military service11

Marks for moves, vaccination and family

MarkMeaning
f. Bond.Former farmer, who has handed over the farm11
f s sFör sig själv (on his or her own): the child is written outside the parents' household11
v, vac, ympVaccinated against smallpox (ympad is old Swedish for inoculated)11
sHas had smallpox11
infra, supraSee below, see above: moved within the parish11
Name crossed outMoved from the page11
Dotted or wavy line under a crossed-out nameMoved back to the same page11

About deaths: a death is noted in the household examination record, but the reliable date is in the death and burial record11.

The titles you will see before the names

The occupation column tells you a lot about how the family lived. These words are common in household examination records. Each one has its own page in the glossary.

  • Bonde – farmer. Hemmansägare – farm owner, a farmer who owned the farm16.
  • Torpare – crofter. He farmed a small piece of someone else's land and paid with days of work16.
  • Backstugusittare – a poor cottager who lived in a small cabin on a landowner's land5.
  • Inhyses – a lodger on a farm, usually not closely related to the family there5.
  • Statare – a married farm laborer on a large estate, paid mostly in goods6.
  • Dräng and piga – farmhand and maid, hired for a year at a time; farmhands were usually unmarried5.
Illustration of a Swedish crofter with a rake over his shoulder walking along a misty path toward a farm
A crofter walks with his rake to his day of work at the big farm in the 1800s.

Step by step: follow a family

  1. Find the parish.

    You must know in which parish the person was born9.

  2. Start in the birth and baptism record.

    It gives the child, the parents' names and where in the parish they lived when the child was born9,10.

  3. Go to the same village and farm in the household examination record.

    There you find the whole household, and the parents' dates and parishes of birth9.

  4. Go back one book at a time.

    A new book was started after about five to ten years, and the old one often gives the page in the new one11. The year of a move is seldom written, so you often need to read the earlier book11.

  5. Did the family move?

    Within the parish, the priest wrote "infra" (see below) or "supra" (see above)11. To another parish: the moving-out record says where to, and the new parish's moving-in record gives the village and often the page in the household examination record10.

  6. Do the same for the parents.

    Go to the mother's and father's parish of birth and start again. That takes you one generation further back9.

Illustration of a Swedish farmhand carrying a wooden chest on his shoulder along a muddy country road
A farmhand walks with his wooden chest on moving day, when his year of service was over, in the 1800s.

Pitfalls

  • The same person, different names.

    Someone baptized Johannes may have married as Jan and died as Johan. The priest decided the spelling and the form of the name9.

  • Not everyone on the page is family.

    The servants were written on the same page as the family, at the bottom11. In fast-growing parishes, several families could share a page11.

  • The same person twice.

    A person can be written in more than once, even on the same page and line11.

  • The occupation can be old.

    The priest did not always change it when it changed. The mantalslängd (tax register) more often has the latest occupation11.

  • Books are missing.

    Many old books were thrown away or lost when new ones were written11. In Revsund, pages from a book from 1697–1726 were found reused as book covers13.

  • Newer records are protected.

    For people born within the last 70 years, you may need to ask the archive staff9.

Glossary

husförhörslängd
Household examination record: the church book of everyone in the parish, at first kept household by household8.
husförhör
Household examination: the priest's test in the homes of reading and knowledge of the faith12.
församlingsbok
Parish book: the name from about 1895 for what was earlier called a household examination record8.
socken
Parish: a geographical area served by a church4.
torpare
Crofter16.
backstugusittare
A cottager on a landowner's land5.
inhyses
Lodger5.
statare
Farm laborer paid mostly in goods6.
dräng, piga
Farmhand, maid5.
hemmansägare, bonde
Farm owner, farmer3,16.

All words in the glossary →

Common questions

What is a Swedish household examination record?

The priest's book of everyone in the parish, arranged by village, farm and household. Priests had to keep it from 16867,8.

Is a clerical survey the same thing?

Yes. Household examination record, household examination roll and clerical survey are English names for the same Swedish book, the husförhörslängd1,3.

Where can I see household examination records?

In the Swedish National Archives' Digital Research Room (in Swedish Digitala forskarsalen), where you search the church archives by county and parish1,2,9,10.

When do household examination records end?

An ordinance of 1894 replaced them with parish books over six years15; from about 1895 the book is called a parish book8,10.

What do the letters in the reading column mean?

They are the priest's marks for reading and knowledge of the faith – in words (bra, god, svag) or in signs that differ between parishes11.

Why is my ancestor's name crossed out?

Usually because the person moved from the page11.

Why does my ancestor have different first names in different books?

The priest decided the spelling and the form of the name – Johannes, Jan and Johan can be the same person9.

Sources

Sources in English

  1. Riksarkivet (the Swedish National Archives): Genealogy – sok.riksarkivet.se
  2. Riksarkivet (the Swedish National Archives): Digital Research Room – sok.riksarkivet.se
  3. Hans Högman: Genealogy terms A–R – hhogman.se
  4. Hans Högman: Genealogy terms S–Ö – hhogman.se
  5. Hans Högman: The Old Agricultural Society – hhogman.se
  6. Hans Högman: Statare – hhogman.se

Sources in Swedish

These pages are in Swedish.

  1. Skatteverket (the Swedish Tax Agency): Folkbokföringens historia (in Swedish) – skatteverket.se
  2. Skatteverket: Ordförklaringar, Sveriges församlingar genom tiderna (in Swedish) – skatteverket.se
  3. Riksarkivet: Om släkt- och personforskning (in Swedish) – sok.riksarkivet.se
  4. Riksarkivet: Kyrkoarkiv (in Swedish) – sok.riksarkivet.se
  5. Umeå University (CEDAR): Kyrkböcker. 1800-talets kyrkoregister, Ulla Nilsdotter Jeub, 2019 (in Swedish) – umu.se
  6. Håkan Liby: Själavård, husförhör och folkbokföring, Uppland yearbook 1991 (in Swedish) – aarsbokenuppland.se
  7. Riksarkivet: Okänd husförhörsbok från 1600-talet påträffad (in Swedish) – riksarkivet.se
  8. Church of Sweden: Kyrkböckerna följer familjer under lång tid (in Swedish) – svenskakyrkan.se
  9. Skatteverket: Den svenska folkbokföringens historia under tre sekler (in Swedish) – skatteverket.se
  10. Landsarkivet i Uppsala (Riksarkivet): Hur hittar jag mitt torp i arkiven?, Gunilla Lundberg Ehnström, 2008 (in Swedish) – webbutik.riksarkivet.se