Kay: I picked out just one of each country's resource and Ancestry.com's description. As
Carol has suggested all the relative records are in either Swedish or
French, however if any particular record interests you, perhaps you could try Google's translation.
About Sweden, Church Records, 1500-1941
The Sweden Church Records collection contains over 19 million images scanned from microfilm/microfiche of the original church records. The collection features various records from the 16th through the 20th century, including birth/baptismal, confirmation, marriage, and death/burial records; church ledgers; moving-in and moving-out registers; and household examination rolls. These are the main sources of genealogical information for Swedish family history research.
More recent records in the collection include parish books from approximately 1896 onward, as allowed by the Swedish confidentiality act. In some cases, church records have been complemented with records kept by Statistics Sweden (abbreviated as SCB), a government agency. The collection includes SCB birth, marriage and death records from 1860 to 1941, and SCB extracts from parish books for 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930.
SCB birth records from 1880 to 1920 have now been indexed in the Sweden, Indexed Birth Records, 1880-1920 collection, making it even easier to find the ancestors you're looking for.
About Swedish Church Records
Many of these records stem from a royal decree in 1686 requiring ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden to record births, marriages, deaths, and people who moved in and out of the parish, and to perform household examinations every year. The amount of information varies from book to book, from parish to parish, and from year to year. However, below is what you can typically expect to find in these records:
Birth (Födde) and baptismal (Dop) records
Birth records provide a child’s birth date and christening date. You may also find parents’ and godparents’ names and the family’s residence at the time. Other information can include the parents’ ages and the name of the priest who baptized the child.
Marriage records (Vigsel) and banns (Lysning)
Marriage records include dates for banns and weddings and usually indicate where the bride and groom lived at the time. Most also record ages for the bride and groom and sometimes their parents’ names.
Death/burial records (Död)
Death and burial records list a death date, death place, burial date, and burial place for the deceased. The deceased’s age and cause of death are other types of information you can find. Keep in mind that someone who was born before birth or marriage records were kept may still have a burial record.
SCB births, marriage and death records
The Swedish church books for births, marriages, and deaths were filmed up to about the year 1859. For this reason the Sweden Church Records database has been augmented with material from Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrån—SCB). These records are transcripts of births, marriages, and deaths from 1860 to 1941. The transcribed SCB material is not as complete as the actual Swedish church books, and sometimes information such as a burial date, appointment of a godfather, or cause of death is missing.
Household examination rolls/clerical survey records (Husförhör)
Household examination rolls make up the main church register in Sweden. In them, everyone in a parish, including children, is listed household by household. These records came about from examinations held each year to determine people’s knowledge of the catechism.
The household examination has details such as name, occupation, date of birth, birth parish, marriage, etc. The records also have information about when people moved to and from the farms or crofts. The entire family is listed together, which makes it easy to find a person’s children or parents. The examination forms typically cover a five-year period, which can provide interesting details about how a household may have changed over that time.
Moving-in (Inflyttning) and moving-out (Utflyttning) registers
These records give you information about people who moved in and out of a parish. You’ll also find information about people who emigrated to the U.S. The records usually provide the name of the farm, croft, or other place where a person lived before moving or emigrating, which is helpful for then finding that person in the household examination records.
Parish books (Församlingsbok)
Around 1900 household examination rolls were changed to parish books, and their purpose was no longer religious. The books have information about all the people in the parish, household by household. You’ll find names, birth dates, birth parishes, marriage dates, occupations, etc.
Searching the Records
Images in this collection can be browsed by county, parish, record type, and year range. Each image set contains records specific to a parish. Some image sets may contain multiple record types and year ranges. While individual records have not been indexed for this collection, images may be searched by county, parish, record type, year range and GID number. You can also try searching the images by village, farm, or croft where your ancestors lived. Approximately 50 percent of the household examinations are indexed by these place names.
Search by GID number
Each image in the Sweden Parish Records database has a unique ID number called the Genline ID number (GID). The GID number consists of three groups of numbers delimited by periods. The first group of numbers represents the parish ID, the second group the sequence ID number, and the third group the image number in the sequence. For example: 1119.23.23600. You can use a GID number to search for a specific image. When viewing an image, the GID number will be displayed in the index section at the bottom of the image viewer. The GID number will also be listed on the record page.
Search by place name
If you know the name of the village, farm or croft where your ancestor lived, you can try to search using this name. About 50 percent of household examination images are indexed based on these names.
Search by page number
When viewing images, you can jump to other pages in the book by typing the page number in the "page" box above the image. Household examination books sometimes contain an index at the beginning or end of the book with references to page numbers for each farm. Also, when people move between farms in the book, the page number is usually indicated next to the record. Other types of books, such as moving-in and moving-out records, may also contain references to page numbers.
Please note that page numbering within a book may sometimes skip numbers. Also, if an image contains two pages with numbers, only one of the page numbers will be indexed in this collection.
About Swedish Names
Researchers should know some characteristics of Swedish names and that many Swedes changed their name after emigration.
The patronymic naming system, which is based on the father’s name, was common in Sweden up to the end of the 19th century, with between 90 and 95 percent of the population using it. If the father’s name was Sven Johansson, for example, his son’s name might be Magnus Svensson (Magnus the son of Sven). Similarly, a daughter might be named Kerstin Svensdotter (Kerstin the daughter of Sven). When a woman married, she did not adopt her husband’s name; she kept her own patronymic.
Surnames, or family names, were used by the nobility, the clergy, and some townspeople. Members of the nobility adopted family names, some of which could be traced back to coats of arms. However, less than 1 percent of the population was nobility.
Many of the clergy adopted names with Greek or Latin endings such as -ander (meaning “man” or “man from”) or -ius (“coming from” or “of”). Examples of names used by the clergy are Fallander and Morelius.
Many townspeople took family names called "nature names." These "nature names" would usually consist of two parts, such as Dalberg: Dal means “valley” and berg means “mountain.”
Soldiers were given names while in the military, where patronymics did not provide enough differentiation among the troops. Military names sometimes reflected a personal quality like Rapp (“quick”), a military term, a regimental preference, or could be associated with the place where the person served. When they left the service, some soldiers kept their military name, while others returned to using their patronymic.
When emigrants moved to a new country, they often changed their names. If they immigrated to English-speaking countries, the name was often Anglicized. Examples of name changes are
• Andersson — Anderson (the double s becomes one s)
• Bengtsson — Benson, Bentson
• Johansson — Johnson
• Sjöberg — Seaberg or Seeberg
In addition, married women would adopt their husband’s surname.
It is important to understand that the name and spelling of a name for the same individual can differ in the various records. You will always want to compare birth dates and other family information to verify that you are tracing the correct person.
While these records are in Swedish, the records themselves are mostly tables of dates, names, and places. There are some key words that are used repeatedly in the church books and researchers only need to become familiar with these terms
About Paris, France & Vicinity Marriage Banns, 1860-1902
This database contains extracts of marriage banns from the historic department of Seine, France from 1860-1902, which included the city of Paris and vicinity. By law, marriage banns were published at least ten days before the marriage was to take place. In some cases, the marriage may never have actually taken place.
About the Collection:
In 1895, Amédée Coutot, a prominent genealogist and heir researcher, started to reconstruct a collection of marriage banns from Paris and the surrounding communes of the old department of Seine by extracting information from original records. After Amédée’s death, his son Maurice continued this work. Today the collection is maintained by ARFIDO, a society founded by Coutot. This database contains over 3 million records extracted by the society and is comprehensive for the former department of Seine for the years 1860-1902.
About the Records:
Marriage banns declared a man’s and woman’s intentions to marry. It is possible to find the record of a couple intending to marry in the marriage banns, but never be able to find the actual marriage record for them. It is also possible to find incomplete records, bearing only one of the spouse’s name. Although such records are of less value, they may contain data which could be hints for further research.
Marriage banns were published in the communes of residence of both the intended bride and groom. The marriage ceremony was traditionally held in the bride’s commune of residence. This piece of knowledge will be helpful in locating the original marriage record in either civil or ecclesiastical registers.
Information from the original marriage banns were transcribed, or copied by hand, onto pre-printed extraction forms. These extraction forms are the records that make up this database. Information listed on these forms may include:
• Name of bride or groom
• Place of residence
• Names of parents
• Name of intended spouse
• Date and place of publication of the banns
• For each marriage bann, there are two extracts - one where the bride is the primary individual, and one where the groom is the primary individual. Information listed on the extract forms refers only to the primary individual. To gather information about both the bride and the groom it is necessary to locate both extracts.
France is divided into regions, departments, and communes (cities/towns). The city (commune) of Paris is further divided into neighborhoods called arrondissements. From 1795-1860 the city was divided into 12 arrondissements. These arrondissements are simply referred to by their number (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd). Locations listed in these records may include one or more of the different geographical jurisdictions, including the arrondissements. If you see a number listed on the residence or commune of publication line, this is most likely signifying an arrondissement of Paris. The old department of Seine encompassed Paris and vicinity. Today it is divided into the departments of Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne.
Related data collections
Paris, France & Vicinity Births, 1700-1899
This database contains birth extracts from the historic department of Seine, France from 1700-1899. It also includes some records as early as 1661. However, the majority of the records cover the year range 1798-1860. The department of Seine encompassed Paris and vicinity. Today it is divided into the departments of Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne.
Paris, France & Vicinity Marriages, 1700-1907
This database contains marriage extracts from the historic department of Seine, France from 1700-1907. It also includes some records as early as 1690. However, the majority of the records cover the year range 1798-1860. The department of Seine encompassed Paris and vicinity. Today it is divided into the departments of Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne.
Paris, France & Vicinity Deaths, 1707-1907
This database contains death extracts from the historic department of Seine, France from 1707-1907. It also includes some records as early as 1694. However, the majority of the records cover the year range 1798-1860. The department of Seine encompassed Paris and vicinity. Today it is divided into the departments of Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne.
Paris & Vicinity, France, Death Notices, 1860-1902
This database contains death extracts from the historic department of Seine, France from 1860-1902. The extracts were compiled from newspaper and other death notices by ARFIDO S.A., a French genealogical and heir research association. Information extracted includes name of deceased, their death date, and death place.
Paris & Vicinity, France Electoral Rolls, 1891
This database contains extracts of electoral rolls from the historic department of Seine, France from 1891. The department of Seine encompassed Paris and vicinity. Today it is divided into the departments of Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne.