Bringing Sweden's records online
FamilySearch and Svensk Arkivinformation — a division of the National Archives of Sweden — have unveiled plans to engage Swedish volunteers throughout the world to help create a highly searchable, free online index to the historic parish registers of Sweden — 200 years of recorded Swedish history as documented in the Sweden church records — comprising more than 400 million names.
Church records in Sweden date back to 1608 and include births, christenings, marriages and burials of all residents.
The free index will link to images of the original records hosted by the National Archives of Sweden or SVAR.
Volunteers need Internet access and the ability to read Swedish.
Each document is transcribed by two different indexers, wherever they are in the world. Any discrepancies in their two extractions are then forwarded to a third volunteer — an arbitrator — who makes any needed corrections between the two interpretations.
The project will start with records from ?ebro, Uppsala, and S?ermanland counties. Indexing will begin with the earliest year available for each parish and continue through 1860.
A typical downloaded "batch" (group of records) will take a volunteer about 30 to 40 minutes to complete. The indexing utility has built-in tutorials and helps. Anyone interested in volunteering for the Sweden Church Records project can do so at indexing.familysearch.org.
Know a famous Mormon?
As both members and missionaries, Mormons cover the globe.
And in some cases, fame follows.
Take Kent Derricott, for instance. The once-shy, young boy who grew up in Sandy is one of the most popular and recognizable celebrities in a country of 127 million people. Derricott vaulted into fame on the comedy television circuit in Japan after serving a mission in Sapporo and returning to the country on a business trip.
But to most church members, he's relatively anonymous.
In an upcoming edition, Mormon Times will profile members of the LDS Church who have carved out fame and notoriety in either their home countries or places where they served missions, but who are not well-known in the United States.
And we need your help. If you have an example of such an individual, e-mail his or her name and a short explanation to mormontimes@desnews.com … and watch for our upcoming profiles.
Family history conference in Ogden
Help with basic ancestor research and how to preserve personal heirlooms will be some of the topics at the Ogden Family History Conference 9 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Weber University Stake Center, 1465 E. 4600 South. The event is free to the public.
Other topics include using Family Searching, including the new.FamilySearch.org temple submission method, tools for organizing a personal genealogy and training for family history consultants.
A presentations list is available at www.orfhc.org under "Conferences."