Ancestry.com recently announced the digital publication of “U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America[ELCA], Swedish American Church Records, 1800-1946.” This collection includes digital images of hundreds of congregations across the United States who had a Swedish ethnic heritage. Not all congregations are currently members of the ELCA.
This database appears to index not just ministerial acts of baptism, death, and marriage, but also includes names in family registers. This is a marked improvement over other images Ancestry.com has of Lutheran church records in the United States.
The partial entry for the family of Samuel Otto Johnson from First Lutheran Church is typical. There can always be exceptions. This entry has the dates of birth, baptism, confirmation, and marriage for the individuals listed as well as their place of birth and year of arrival in the United States (for immigrants).
I would still suggest a manual browse of the records for any parish where your relatives were in attendance as there may be miscellaneous items included that did not get indexed.
2 Responses
According to database Emibas this is the information on Samuel Otto’s emigration:
Post 137793
Johansson Lund, Samuel Otto
Dräng (unmarried man)
b. 9/17/1867 in Tjärstad, Östergötlands län (Östergötland)
Emigrated 12/19/1887
from Såg och Kvarn Jonsbo, Tjärstad, Östergötlands län (Östergötland)
to Nordamerika
Source: Household Examination Roll, p. 424
Emibas migration file ID: Tjärstad E 1887 043
And this is the wife:
Post 137798
Olsson, Hedvig Charlotta
Mejerinna (unmarried woman)
b. 4/12/1854 in Ukna, Kalmar län (Småland)
Emigrated 2/13/1888
from Skedevi, Tjärstad, Östergötlands län (Östergötland)
to Nordamerika
Source: Household Examination Roll, p. 350
Emibas migration file ID: Tjärstad E 1888 005
Thanks! I’ve got to get back to work on this family. I appreciate it.