The church register, recorded by the parish priest

In the main parish register you’ll find information about a person’s christening, confirmation as a church member, marriage and burial. And usually there will be information about the individual’s parents, which will help you trace your ancestry back in time.

The Lutheran priests were state officials, responsible for recording vital records within their parish until civil registration started in Norway, and these records show various events in a parishioner’s life.

The earliest parish record in Norway is from 1623. But as it was not compulsory at that time to keep records, the contents could vary. It gradually became common practice to record religious ordinances and events, but there was no set pattern for these records until 1812, when a law was passed and printed volumes with standardized forms became available to the parish priests.

Almost all parish records until about 1930 are available on the website of the Digital Archives of Norway. Whereas most censuses are digitized and searchable, most church records on the website are scanned images and one therefore has to browse from page to page. Norwegian privacy legislation results in christening and confirmation records being unavailable to the public for 100 years, while burial records are released after 80 years.

It’s always exciting to open another old parish record. How was it written, and what did this priest record? Some priests have made a magnificent effort, and have tried to enter the various events systematically so that names, dates, places and religious events are easily found and legible, whereas others wrote chronologically with tiny, almost illegible handwriting, and without dividing the text into paragraphs or columns. However, some of these records have the event specified in the margin.

Duplicate parish records

It became customary to make a duplicate of the parish register. The main register was recorded by the parish priest, while the sexton or parish secretary made a copy. These registers were kept in separate buildings (due to the risk of fire in wooden buildings) and were the “backup” of the time, ensuring that vital records were kept for future generations.

Where both registers are available, it may be wise to compare them. The original idea was that the copy would contain fewer details than the original, but experience has shown that these registers, known in Norwegian as klokkerbøker (sextons’ registers), sometimes contain more detailed and accurate information than the main parish records, and are just as easy to use. The priest was often from another part of the country, and had limited knowledge of his parishioners, whereas the sexton was usually a local man. If the priest had made an error, sometimes the sexton would correct it in his version.

Parish records after 1812 are easier to read

Printed parish registers became available from 1812, with a standardized system for recording information. The registers had separate sections for the various events, and the pages were divided into columns. This facilitates family history research. Boys and girls were recorded separately in christening and confirmation records, either on separate sides of the page, or boys on the top half of the page and girls underneath. Some priests continued to use up their old registers before they started the new system.

Gothic script

Even though parish registers became more systematical after 1812, it’s still time-consuming to find information and link generations correctly. Until the middle of the 1850s, it was common practice to record events in Gothic script, and for most of us it’s a challenge to decipher the handwriting in older church records.

It may be useful to take a course in Gothic handwriting. Once you get to know a specific parish register, you’ll find the priest’s penscript easier to understand. If you’re still experiencing problems, Slekt og Data (The Genealogy Society of Norway) has an online forum on its website, where you may be able to find help: LINK

The Department of History at the University of Bergen has a webpage about Gothic script, with examples of the alphabet.

What you can expect to find in parish records

Let’s have a look at what types of information you can expect to find in parish records. The religious rites and events which were recorded were christenings, confirmation as members of the Lutheran church, marriages and burials. In addition, it was customary after 1818 to record lists of persons who moved to and from the parish.

Of course, it is necessary to know something about the family you are searching for. If you already know a person’s date of birth, you can search for his/her christening from that date and onwards in the parish register.

Christenings

In christening records, you may find the infant’s name, date of birth, date of christening, whether the child was born in wedlock or illegitimate, the names of the parents, their occupation, place of residence, the names of the witnesses or godparents (these were often relatives), and sometimes even the date of the parents’ marriage.

In previous centuries it was regarded as important to christen an infant as soon as possible after it was born. It was also a punishable offence not to christen the child. If the priest was unavailable or the family was unable to attend church, the infant was christened at home. This could be performed by anyone, even the midwife, but it was most common for someone affiliated to the church to do this. A common reason for the child to be christened at home was if it was sickly, and there was a risk that it might die soon. However, it was only after the christening had been confirmed in church that it was recorded in the parish register.

Non-conformist records

During the 1800s, legislation was passed decreeing that the births of children of non-conformist (i.e. non-Lutheran) parents were to be recorded in the parish registers. It had previously been compulsory to belong to the Lutheran state church, and it was punishable offence to neglect church attendance.

Were the parents married or was the child illegitimate?

The priest also recorded the marital status of the child’s parents. Some priests were stricter about this than others, something we can see from the entry in the ledger, where the Norwegian word uægte (illegitimate) could be underlined or the mother described in derogatory terms. When the infant was born in wedlock, the father’s name was entered first, but if illegitimate, the mother’s name was entered first, then the father’s (if known).

Church records sometimes indicate whether criminal proceedings were instigated

If a child’s parents are unmarried, you may find annotations about whether either of the parents already had illegitimate children. If the priest for example wrote; “hans andre og hennes første leiermål”, that means that the father already had a child outside marriage, but this is the mother’s first illegitimate child. There may also be an annotation showing a case number (e.g. 166/56). It was a punishable offence to have an illegitimate child, but all cases were not brought to court. A case number indicates that there have been criminal proceedings, and you may be able to find the court record in the relevant regional archive.

Confirmation

It was customary to confirm youths as members of the Lutheran church at the age of 15. This rite is also called affirmation of baptism/christening, and the young person might then participate in his/her first communion. Confirmation records show lists of names with the person’s date of birth and place of residence. The parents’ names and where the child was christened was also recorded. For many years, the priests were obliged to record whether and when the child had been vaccinated against smallpox.

The order in which the communicants were registered in the ledger is the same as the order in which they came forward in church. This was normally decided according to merit, but note that this practice could sometimes be altered thanks to a donation to the priest or parish funds.

When you can’t find a communicant

If you’re searching in vain for a person in the confirmation registers, it might be a good idea to check the burial registers, to see if he or she died before reaching the age of 15 or so.

Marriage

In marriage records you’ll find the names of groom and bride, along with their places of residence, ages, and often where they were born, the names and occupations of their fathers and the witnesses or guarantors.

Burials

When a parishioner died, both the date of death and the date of burial were recorded, in addition to the person’s full name and age, occasionally also the person’s date of birth. At certain periods of time, the cause of death was also recorded. In the case of a child, you’ll find the father’s name, occupation or status, and residence, as well as the child’s name and age.

Indications of surviving relatives

Sometimes the deceased’s marital status was recorded, “widow” (enke) or “widower” (enkemann) showing that the spouse had died earlier. When the first of a couple died, it was customary for the priest to record the name of the survivor. In addition, we can find their residence and sometimes also their place of birth.

Cause of death

For a long period, it was common practice for the priest to record the cause of death. This was not always expressed in medical terminology, but was according to the priest’s understanding.

Moving to and from the parish

Migration records show names, ages, where a person came from and where they intended to travel. In the case of families, all family members were usually recorded with names and ages. Unfortunately, since migration was not a religious event, not all priests regarded this as being of interest to the church, so the records are often incomplete. But if you’re lucky, you may find the person you’re searching for.

How to link up generations of families with the help of Norwegian church records

This may be done by systematically searching for the various family members:

• If you know when someone was married, you could search for christenings from that time onwards.
• When you find a child, you can jump at least 9 months forward in the parish record before you search for a sibling.
• When you find a child born in wedlock, but don’t know when its parents were married, you can search marriage records back in time from the child’s date of birth.

It’s only by careful research one can be sure to find the whole family. But we can get help from village histories (known as bygdebøker in Norway and bygdebooks by many Americans of Norwegian descent), as well as censuses and probate records, which show us family relationships. Then we can use the parish records to find the exact dates and details. We can also use them to verify information from printed genealogies or village histories.

If a child’s year of birth in a printed genealogy disagrees with the year recorded in the parish register, it may be because one child died in infancy and soon after the parents had another child of the same sex, which was then given the same Christian name as its deceased sibling.

A final rule to remember is always to record the source information and the link to the website where you found the record.

Source: Norunn Klettum