Where to Find Your Scandinavian Pioneer Pt 2

Hello everyone! How’s it going? I’m doing well thank you! I’m excited to talk with you again about genealogy. So let’s get started.

Last week I talked about the first steps to take when looking for your pioneer ancestor. This week I’m going to show you some of the links that look most promising for your search. These sites help with your emigration and immigration records. There are many other sites that help you find your pioneer ancestor crossing the plains in America, however; that will be another article for a different day.

Saints By Sea

This is a website run by the BYU-Provo Library. It specifically focuses on the Latter-day Saint migration across the Atlantic Ocean. It’s not only for Scandinavians, but it does show this group in their records as well. On this website you can browse by your pioneer ancestor’s name, read personal accounts, and search by voyage. You can also read scholarly articles about this history. It looks to be a user friendly website and is the most comprehensive site for LDS emigration records. I would definitely keep this one handy in your research.

Emigration from the Scandinavian Mission

A woman named Aurelia Clemons transcribed the Scandinavian Mission records from 1852-1866 and 1867-1881 verbatim. She wrote the whole copy in the native tongue. This is a list of every person their occupation, their age, and their geographical area. I remember learning about this in my college classes and how valuable it can be when researching pioneer ancestors. This site is only an extraction of the original records. Therefore, you will still need to find the original records to verify the information found.

Scandinavian LDS Mission Index

This index is located at the Family History Library in Utah. They do have it located online, however; it’s not searchable online. You would have to go to Utah to search this index in person. This might be useful if you are trying to get to the original record. The index is one step closer to seeing the original. This index also covers all of the Scandinavian countries so it’s worth checking out for your pioneer ancestor.

Copenhagen Police Passenger List

This record was created by the Copenhagen police of Latter-day Saint emigrants from Denmark between the years 1872 and 1894. Most of these ships sailed from Copenhagen, Denmark to Hull, England where the passengers made their way to other ports and ships to continue their journey. This list is available only at the Family History Library and online at your local family history center.

Whew! I think that’s a good start! If you can’t find what you’re looking for from these websites, then there are plenty of other sites to choose from on this article here. In addition, check out my previous article about beginning your pioneer ancestor search if you haven’t already. Again, just take it one step at at a time. I know I threw a lot of sites and information at you, but trust me these are gold! Take your time and don’t feel rushed to read or learn everything right now. Breathe and give yourself permission to put this on the shelf until you’re ready to use it.

In the meantime…good luck and happy hunting!

Tiffany