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Genline
Gary Shea takes a test drive of a new tool for those with Swedish roots.
For those lucky enough to be of Swedish descent, about one in twenty-five Americans,
there is an exceptional on-line resource available. Genline is a Web-based application
that provides access to digitized images of Swedish Church Records. If you have
Swedish ancestors that emigrated to North America during the peak years between
1881 and 1890, you can theoretically and reasonably find 500 or more ancestors
in these records.
Genline began with a trial project in 1993. Efforts to digitize the Swedish Church
Records on microfilm began in earnest in 1995. Currently parish registers of six
of Sweden's 24 counties are done (Kalmar, Östergötland, Värmland,
Kronoberg, Göteborg & Bohuslän, and Jönköping). Four counties
are in production (Malmöhus, Kristianstad, Blekinge, and Halland). The remaining
counties are planned to be complete by mid-2005. As of December 2003, over seven
million images are on-line.
Parish registers include recordings of births, confirmations, marriages, and deaths,
church ledgers and household examination rolls. The Swedish Church Law of 1686
made it mandatory for the ministers in Sweden's 2500 parishes to keep these records.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints started microfilming records at
the Swedish National Archives in Stockholm in the 1950s. Genline's Swedish Church
Records archive consists of photographic quality images scanned from the LDS microfilms
of the original church records.
Parish registers are generally sufficient for productive genealogical research.
Other records filmed by the LDS and not in the Genline archive include court,
land, military, and census records. A researcher may go to these to overcome brick
walls (e.g. parish registers were destroyed in a fire) or to fill in details on
individuals.
By using the LDS microfilm as a source Genline is able to digitize at a healthy
clip. Work done by the microfilmers, such as register table of contents is included
in Genline and readily usable. If the microfilm version has a flaw, such as a
missing page, it is propagated into the digitized version.
An image retrieved from a Genline search at Genline.com.
Genline is a novel Internet application. During a typical session a user may have
up to four windows open. Some code (called FamilyFinder) must be downloaded and
installed on the user's workstation. The easiest way to begin a session is to
open a browser window (to any page ) and start the "Log in to the records"
program from the Windows Start Menu. This will open up the FamilyFinder window.
The browser window is where the images are displayed. The other two windows are
Search Results and Settings. When you leave Genline in your browser window, the
cute little FamilyFinder window goes away.
Navigation takes practice, but can be mastered in a sitting or two. Select the
county and parish on the FamilyFinder window. Optionally select record types and
a year range to narrow down the register choices. Click Search and then Results
to get to the Search Results window. Select a register on the Search Results list.
A list of the pages will be displayed. Then select a page and it will be presented
in your Genline browser window. A dynamic thumbnail of the image is displayed
in the FamilyFinder window (very slick). On the FamilyFinder window one can choose
to zoom in and out on the image. Settings is most useful for adjusting the contrast
and orientation of the viewed and printed image.
The application appears to be rigorously tested. There were no showstopper problems.
The computer never froze. The Internet connection was never lost. Instructions
are clear, even when on rare occasions a word or two in Swedish slips in. At no
time was I unable to figure what to do.
The cost of a Genline subscription depends on how long you want to access it.
Prices are quoted in Swedish krona. The most expensive option is access to all
records for one year (about US$353). The least expensive is a twenty-day trial
(about US$26).
The research can be challenging and time-consuming (such as a brute force page
by page search of a Household Examination register). Estimate how much time you
need. Your objectives will play a role in picking a subscription option. Using
Genline or microfilm at a Family History Center will garner the same results,
but with Genline there is no waiting for microfilms, and the ability to search
a number of parishes in minutes. Printed copies from Genline are as good as from
those from microfilm and definitely easier to make. In short, results are much
more quickly seen with Genline, if you have the time and patience to master the
material.
Carl-Erik Johansson in the preface of his definitive reference work on Swedish
genealogy, Cradled in Sweden, gives thanks "above all to the untold thousands
of record keepers, who through the centuries so painstakingly filled page after
page with careful notes about our progenitors." I would add that for those
of us so fortunate as to have Swedish ancestry, we thank the LDS microfilmers
and Genline, AB, for their work in making the original sources widely available.
Gary Shea is a freelance writer residing in Bayside, Wisconsin. He has pursued
genealogical research since 1996 and is a Director of the Irish Genealogical Society
of Wisconsin. His family tree database called garytshea can be accessed at http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/.
©2004 Gary Shea. Permission granted to Genline, AB by author and Family Chronicle
Magazine for electronic publication and limited printed use.
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