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Nowhere in the world are there such good conditions for finding out about one's own personal history as in Sweden. The Swedish church and its priests have had a strong position and strict church discipline and demands that the individual congregation should have knowledge of the church's teachings in order to have the right to receive communion. This requirement led to an extensive control system, where the priests kept track of the parishioners' knowledge of Christianity. To that end, they kept house interrogation registers which form the central part of the church records. Today, we can thank the priests for having such a detailed population record dating back to the 1680s.

            The Swedish bureaucracy has ancient origins, dating back to Gustav Vasa's bailiffs, through the great power era's tax collection to pay for the wars as well as the discharge of soldiers and the establishment of the army. During the period of freedom, there was a new need to keep statistics in order to be able to follow the population development and through reforms to encourage agriculture and industry. A land surveying system developed early on, and in connection with the land reforms in agriculture, map material of a unique scope was produced. It is also significant that the archive material today is so complete is that Sweden has not been at war since 1815. For the amateur researcher, the biggest concern is that single parsonages have burned down and materials have disappeared, also the fires that ravaged many of our cities have been devastating for the archive material.

            The amateur researcher in Sweden has rich opportunities for free access to the public archives, through the Freedom of the Press Ordinance's principle of publicity guaranteed access to the archive's material and that too free of charge. As it is now, the vast majority of Swedes have a chance to follow the destinies of their family and relatives a couple of hundred years or more back in time.

my Family history and my roots !

            I start from my grandparents and back in time, where everyone has their roots in 4 different regions - Skåne, Blekinge, Småland and Gästrikland. Even though my grandfather was born and raised in Skåne, he probably has his roots from Småland genetically. Much of my research takes place at the National Archives and it is also where I link my sources to, so create an account with them (free service), so you can take part in it!