Sweden Household Examination Records (Husförhörslängder)

Back to Sweden Portal Page►

The Surveys were mandated by Parliament as part of the 1686 Church Act. This is an evaluation tool used annually by the cleric to record the literacy and religious knowledge of his parishioners. Information often included age, residence, spouse name, marriage dates, death dates, relationships of each member of the household to the head of the house, information about moves, and remarks about the person’s character.

Sometimes you will find multiple generations in one household. Males are often listed before females. Dates are written in the European or Military style of dating. 10/3 is the 10th of March.Clerical Survey Summaries were done in 1860, 1870, 1880 and 1890. Information should be considered secondary if it conflicts with known birth, marriage and death dates.

The keeping of clerical surveys was mandated by Parliament to be kept by the local parish minister according to the 1686 Church Act. The parish minister was required to create an evaluation tool, whereby he could determine the literacy and religious knowledge of each of his parishioners. Parishioners were either required to come to the church and take turns being examined or the minister went to each farm and village to do the individual interviewing. The survey was usually done in the fall of the year after the harvest and before the scramble by farm hands and domestic maids to secure employment for the coming year.

Format of the Clerical Survey

 * The first surveys were created by each minister in a format he felt was useful for the completion of his examination. The earliest surveys were done using books filled with blank sheets of paper *In these early surveys, the person’s age was often recorded instead of the birth date. If this is the case, remember to subtract the person’s age from the first year the survey was taken. Most of the books used for recording the survey information spanned a five year or greater time period


 * The clerical survey is arranged by the farm or village where the person resided within the parish. If you do not know the name of the farm of residence, then it may be necessary to read the survey one page at a time until you find the desired person


 * Some surveys contain an “ortregister” or place listing. The “ortregister” will list, usually alphabetically, the names of the farms and villages in the parish and indicate the page number in the survey where the enumeration of the persons for each farm or village begins *Surveys taken in the mid to late nineteenth century will often include marriage dates, spouses’ names, death dates, information relating to moving in or out of the parish, and remarks concerning the character of each person or the consequences for behavior deemed “inappropriate”

Family Structure within the Clerical Survey

 * Clerical surveys provide insight to the genealogist by re-creating the familial unit and indicating the relationship of each household member to the head of the house


 * It is commonplace to discover multi-generational families in residence in the same house. Grandparents, married children and grandchildren frequently are cohabitating in the same dwelling


 * All indicated relationships within the house are to the head of the house (male or female). In-law relationships are referenced with the following terms: svärfar-father-in-law, svärmor-mother-in-law, svåger-brother-in-law, svägerska-sister-in-law, svärson-son-in-law and svärdotter-daughter-in-law.


 * Do not assume a relationship between the head of the house and an adolescent male listed as “gosse” or “pojke” or an adolescent female listed as “flicka”. These terms translate into English simply as “boy” and “girl” respectively. *Household servants are indicated with the usage of the terms, “drängen” (male) and “pigan” (female). These terms can be abbreviated to “dräng” and “pig”. *Because the Swedish society before the mid-20th century was patriarchal-based, the sons in a family will often be enumerated in the survey before any of the daughters, even sons who are younger than their older sisters.

Dates and Places

 * The dates found in the clerical survey are, as a rule, expressed by using the European or Military style of dating. The number of the day is listed in fractional format over the number of the month. For example, the date 10 March will be written as 10/3 or the tenth day of the third month. If unsure about a date, look for a date with a day higher than 12. For example, a date written as 12/23 obviously has to be December 23rd because there are only 12 months in a year.


 * Dates listed in the clerical survey should be regarded as secondary information. If they conflict with dates found in the birth, marriage or death book, which were kept by the minister, accept the dates found in the church books as accurate. Information from the church books is considered to be primary source.


 * Places listed in the clerical survey record are generally the names of the parishes (socken, församling) where the event took place. However, the minister may have written a farm name or village instead of the parish. If you do a “Place Search” using the Family History Library Catalog and draw a blank, you have either misspelled the name or the place is not a parish. You may need to refer to the Swedish gazetteer, Svensk Ortförteckning, (FHL 948.5 E8sv 1965) in order to get a correct spelling for the farm or village and to also identify the parish to which it belongs.


 * The following abbreviations may be listed under the column for birth place and each term’s English translation follows: Do = ditto, Ibidem or Ibid. = same as above, Här = here (in this parish), Förs., Församling = in this parish, Loco = in this same parish.

Tips for working in the Clerical Survey

 * The information found in the clerical survey came from an oral interview between the minister and the person being interviewed. Therefore, the information is regarded as a secondary source and as such, is questionable.
 * Remember to look at each name on the page of the survey where your ancestor(s) is/are listed. Multi-generational families are common and it may be that the persons enumerated before and after your ancestor(s) have a relationship to him/her.
 * If the persons you are tracing in the survey do not appear in the next sequential survey, they have died, moved out of the parish or moved to a different farm or village in the parish. Keep looking!
 * If the name of the person you are researching in the survey has been crossed out or lined through it can mean: the person died, moved, or was transferred to the “new” (the next time-sequential) book. *If there are dots (...........) underlining a crossed-out name, this means the person has returned and is still there.


 * Do not skip surveys. Each survey needs to be studied and examined. If you skip surveys because you think that it is not important to look at each, you may miss crucial information which can impact the success of your research.


 * It is often the case, that a father will eventually turn the running of the farm over to a son or son-in-law. The father does this with the understanding that he and his wife may remain on the farm for as long as they desire. In the survey the term “Inhyses” precedes the name of a parent who has relinquished the running of the farm to another relative.

Key Vocabulary Terms and Symbols used in Clerical Surveys

 * Bonde - farmer
 * Barn - child
 * Dräng - farm hand
 * Dömd - sentenced
 * Hemmansägaren - homeowner
 * Hustru - wife *Infra - look below
 * Nedan - look below
 * Oäkta - illegitimate
 * Piga - maid(en)
 * Rusthållare - farmer supporting a cavalry soldier
 * Sjuk - sick
 * Soldat - soldier
 * Supra - look above
 * Torpare renting farmer

Life events

 * Födde - birth
 * Vigde - marriage
 * Döde - death
 * + - death
 * Gift - marriage
 * Vigsel - marriage
 * Dop - christning
 * Nöddop - emergency christening

You may also find terms for sensory impairment used in the clerical survey:


 * Blind - Blind
 * Döv - Deaf
 * Dövstum - Dumb
 * Krympling - Crippled
 * Ofärdig - Lame
 * Svagsint - Feeble-minded
 * Sinnesjuk - Insane
 * Bräcklig - Frail
 * Svaghet - Physical weakness
 * Sick - Sick
 * Okunnig - Unlearned