The Swedish 1900 census
The Swedish censuses, from the first census year 1860 to the year 1945, were fundamentally different than censuses in other countries. In Sweden the censuses were not taken by census workers going out with a questionnaire and interviewing people in their homes. Instead the censuses were taken by vicars and parish priests who made extracts from the already existing catechetical registers (1860-1890) and parish books (1900-1945).
Parish book (all counties in Sweden, except the city of Stockholm)
Example from Kattarps parish, Malmöhus county, for the years 1896-1903
Column 1
____ Croft, apartment, department or institution etc. within the estate above
____ First name
____ Surname
____ Position in family for every person
____ Persons title, if other than described in column 2
____ Occupation (office, trade)
____ Ethnicity (mention if foreign ethnicity)
____ Disability (epilepsy, mentally ill, idiot, blind, deaf-mute)
Column 4
____ Birth day
____ Birth month
Column 5
____ Birth place (parish in county or city)
Column 6
____ Vaccinated for, or having had, smallpox
Column 7
____ Married (year, day and month)
Column 8
____ Widower, widow or divorced (year, day and month)
Column 9
____ Moved in from another parish in county or city or transferred from another page in the parish book or from the book over "non-existent" persons
Column 10
____ Moved in or transferred (year, day and month)
Column 11
____ Knowledge of Christian teachings
Column 12
____ Received Holy Communion within the Swedish church
Column 13
____ Attended catechetical examination, year
____ Communion obstacles
____ Bans
____ Certificate about possibility to marriage
____ Letter of separation
____ Legalization of children
____ Exit from the Swedish church
____ Foreign faith if any
____ Foreign nationality if any
____ A parish in Sweden the mother belonged to when having children abroad
____ Other
Column 15
____ Notes on military service
Column 16
____ Moved out or transferred to another parish in county or city or transferred to another page in the parish book or to the book over "non-existent" persons
Column 17
____ Moved out or transferred (year, day and month)
Column 18
____ Death (year, day and month)
Enumeration form for the 1900 census (All counties except the city of Stockholm)
Instructions regarding the taking of the 1900 census were given in a circular letter of the 21st of September the same year. It states that the census information for the entire country, except the city of Stockholm, should be provided, in accordance with the announcement of the 4th of November 1859, by vicars and parish priests in the form of extracts from the parish books of each parish.
The instructions for the columns in the enumeration form were as follows:
____ Parish name, Deanery, County
____ Household or consumption unit (within clearly visible brackets)
____ Village (village name to be written on a special row and underlined)
____ Place of residence (block or ward in city)
____ Name in full of every person
____ Position in family (h. = wife, s. = son, d. = daughter etc)
____ Title (if other than described in column 2)
____ Not baptized in the Swedish church
Column 2
____ Occupation (service, trade)
____ Ethnicity (mention if foreign ethnicity)
____ Disability (epilepsy, mentally ill, idiot, blind, deaf-mute)
Column 5
____ Birth place (parish in a particular county or city)
Column 7 - 8
[] Unmarried men
[] Unmarried women
[] Married men
[] Married women
[] Widowers
[] Widows
[] Divorced men
[] Divorced women
____ Religious faith (mention if foreign)
____ Exit from the Swedish church
____ Nationality (mention if foreign)
____ Absence (from the parish)
Enumeration form (ward list) for the 1900 census (City of Stockholm)
For the city of Stockholm, the information that should be provided by the citizens of Stockholm for the 1901 tax census should also contain those special details that are necessary for the 1900 census. The information should thereafter by city officials be extracted and provided as census information.
Column 1
____ Household or consumption unit (within clearly visible brackets)
Column 2
____ Block
____ Property number within the block (to be written on a special row and underlined)
____ Name in full of every person
____ Position in family (h. = wife, s. = son, d. = daughter etc)
Column 3
____ Occupation (office, service, trade)
Column 4 - 11
____ Persons who are tax census registered in the property
[] Unmarried men
[] Unmarried women
[] Married men
[] Married women
[] Widowers
[] Widows
[] Divorced men
[] Divorced women
Column 12 - 19
____ Persons not tax census registered in the property
[] Unmarried men
[] Unmarried women
[] Married men
[] Married women
[] Widowers
[] Widows
[] Divorced men
[] Divorced women
Column 21
____ Birth place (parish in a particular county or city)
Column 22
____ Church registration place (parish in a particular county or city)
Column 23
____ Disability
____ Nationality (mention if foreign)
____ Religious faith (mention if foreign)
____ Absence (from the parish)
Column 24
____ Remarks about place of tax census registration, travellers etc.