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Swedish Emigration

Of inestimable value to the student of Swedish emigration are the records kept by the Swedish police in Malmö and Göteborg (Gothenburg), the chief ports of embarkation (view image). All emigrants passing through these ports had to register with the police, who recorded the names of the emigrants, occasionally the trade or profession, the age, gender and parish of nativity. Another piece of information contained in these registers is the destination in the United States or Canada. The ticket contract number is also recorded and, thanks to the large archives left by the Larsson Brothers, emigrant agents in Göteborg, and now deposited in Landsarkivet in Göteborg, it is possible to get rather complete information about the passengers bound for America. Unfortunately, the police records do not begin until 1869, but since the emigration after this date is so much larger than that which antedated it, the majority of the Swedes who left for America will be recorded in these records. They have been indexed and are available at Ladsarkivet in Göteborg, the Swedish Emigrant Institute in Växjö, the Emigrant Register in Karlstad and the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center in Rock Island. A database on a CD called Emigranten (the Emigrant) is now available for those who want to do computerized searches for emigrants who left Swedish ports using one or more of the following parameters: name of emigrant, home parish, year of emigration, port of embarkation and destination.

At the port cities, a passport journal (Pass Journal) was also kept, such as the one shown here, in which the names of travelers, their date of embarkation and their destination were recorded.

Other Public Records

For persons who held official positions in Sweden, as well as those who served in the armed forces, much material can be gleaned from the records in the National Archives and the Military Archives (Krigsarkivet). Information about Swedish diplomats and Swedes who served abroad, or about whom the Ministry for Foreign Affairs may have inquired from Swedish representatives abroad, will be found in the Archives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Utrikesdepartementets arkiv). Members of the House of the Nobility (Riddarhuset) have their genealogies recorded in the Archives of the House of the Nobility.

Finally, it should be pointed out that the national Central Bureau of Statistics in Stockholm has excellent collections of extracts from registers of births, marriages and deaths for each year from 1860-1947, as well as extracts from the husförhörslängder and parish registers for each ten-year period from 1860 to the present. From 1860, one can also find summaries of individuals who emigrated from Sweden to foreign countries, listed by parishes. Each person who emigrated is listed here, together with age, occupation and country of destination.