Tuesday's Tip - Tombstone inventory in Sweden

There is a tombstone inventory going on in Sweden. The inventory database is hosted by the Swedish Genealogy Society (Sveriges släktforskarförbund) and it is free.

To look at it, head to http://www.genealogi.se/gravproj/Gravsoklist.php It is all in Swedish.

Either you can do a search on a name, Förnamn = First name and Efternamn = Surname and you have the choices of

• börjar med - begins with
• innehåller - contains
• innehåller inte - does not contain
• exakt - exact

You can do a search on a birthdate (Födelsedatum) or death date (Dödsdatum). The format to use is YYYYMMDD. Keep in mind that not always are the whole date written on the stone. You have a couple of choices here as well

• exakt - exact
• innehåller - contains
• innehåller inte - does not contain
• börjar med - begins with
• mellan - between

And then you have the smaller than, smaller or equal, larger than and larger or equal signs.

The inventory started many years ago and was collected in another database. There wasn't as many searchcriterias and pictures could not be attached. If you wanted a picture of the stone you had found in the database you had to send for it.

All the old posts from the old database are being typed in (manually) into the new one. Also new posts are being typed in. I am working on Kropp Cemetery (Län: Skåne, Kommun: Helsingborg) where there was an inventory in the early 90s. In the new database I am attaching a photo, if there is any and to most of the entries I have taken a new picture as well, and the record from the old inventory. I am also adding what kind of material the stone is made of, what shape and size.

Right now there are 107 208 tombstones in the database containing 238 961 names. New records are added everyday. The good thing with this database is that at some cemeteries they dont remove the stones even if the right to the grave has exceeded. Perhaps they put them in a special spot or sometimes you will see old stones integrated in the walls surrounding the cemetery. Those stones you probably wont find in any official records but you will find then in the inventory database.

If you know exactly where to search for you can use the Län - County, Kommun - Municipality and then you will see the cemeteries in the list in Begravningsplats.

For example:

I choose Län:  Skåne län, Kommun: Helsingborg and then I can pick any of the cemeteries in the list.

And if you look closely, meanwhile I have written this and since I took the first sceenshot there are now +30 tombstones and +47 new names in the database, so, it is growing.

Hope you can find this database of some use if you have Swedish ancestors.