Swedish provinces › Västergötland

Swedish ancestry from Västergötland

Västergötland – also written Vastergotland or West Gothland – is a large province in the west, between the lakes Vänern and Vättern and the coast at Göteborg. It is one of Sweden’s 25 historical provinces (landskap), in Götaland.

Its 479 parishes belong to Västra Götalands län (465), Jönköpings län (7), Hallands län (5) and Örebro län (2) today. Records from before the 1990s usually give the county as Skaraborgs län or Älvsborgs län, which were merged into Västra Götalands län in 1998.

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All 479 parishes in Västergötland

Names as they appear in Swedish church records. American records often leave out å, ä and ö, so a parish may be written as in the middle column. Records may also add socken or församling (parish) after the name.

Finding your ancestor’s home parish

Swedish records are kept by parish, so the parish (socken) is the key to everything. American documents often name it:

• Naturalization papers. The Declaration of Intention (after 1906) usually gives the place and date of birth.
• Death certificates and obituaries. They often name the parish, or at least the province.
• Swedish-American church records. Augustana Lutheran and other Swedish congregations often wrote down the home parish.
• The 1900 and 1910 U.S. censuses. They give the year of immigration, which narrows the search in Swedish moving-out records.
• Passenger lists after 1906. They give the last place of residence in Sweden.
• Gravestones, letters and photographs. A photographer’s stamp on an old portrait often names a Swedish town.

Already have a family tree? Upload your GEDCOM file and the map shows every Swedish parish that is already in it – free up to five generations.

Where the church records are

Swedish church books – household examination rolls (husförhörslängder), birth, marriage and death records, and moving records – are photographed and online:

• The National Archives of Sweden (Riksarkivet) – free images of the church books, searchable by parish name.
• ArkivDigital – a subscription service with color photographs of the same books.
• FamilySearch – free indexes of many Swedish births, baptisms and marriages.

Other provinces

Skåne · Blekinge · Halland · Småland · Öland · Gotland · Östergötland · Bohuslän · Dalsland · Värmland · Närke · Södermanland · Uppland · Västmanland · Dalarna · Gästrikland · Hälsingland · Härjedalen · Jämtland · Medelpad · Ångermanland · Västerbotten · Norrbotten · Lappland

Parishes, coordinates and counties: Wikidata (CC0). A few parishes on province borders are listed in both provinces.