KATHY MEADE

Kathy is the North American representative for ArkivDigital AD AB, a company that offers online access to newly photographed color images of Swedish church books and other historical records. She has been working with Swedish genealogy for nearly twenty years. Ms. Meade serves on the advisory board for the Swedish American Genealogy Research Center at the Swedish American Museum in Chicago. She volunteers at the Swedish American Museum in Chicago and the Arlington Heights Memorial Library in Arlington Heights, IL, helping patrons with their Swedish genealogical research.

• Where do I begin? Basics of Swedish Research: Friday 10:15am
• Introduction to Swedish Church Books: Friday 12:45pm
• Introduction to Swedish Military Records: Saturday 11:30am
• Discover your Swedish Roots with ArkivDigital: Saturday 2pm

Where do I begin? Basics of Swedish Research - Kathy Meade Learn how to trace your Swedish roots. The presentation will cover naming patterns, Swedish spellings, and Swedish geography. The presentation will focus on finding the key facts about one’s Swedish ancestor, such as Swedish name, parish of origin, and significant date, such as a birth date, needed to use the Swedish records. We will review the various personal records, U.S. public records, Swedish-American unique records, and emigration records that can be used to discover these facts and how to locate these valuable resources.

Introduction to Swedish Church Books - Kathy Meade The Swedish church books are usually the first Swedish records used when tracing one’s Swedish roots. These records are a “gold mine” because they are complete and contain such detailed information. This lecture will give an overview of the Swedish church records: births, marriages, deaths, household examination records, and movement records.  Using a case study, a demonstration will show how to use church books to trace one’s Swedish heritage.  

Introduction to Swedish Military Records - Kathy Meade Your research indicates a Swedish soldier in your family. How do you find records about him and his service? What will those records tell you? This session will show you how to locate your Swedish soldier’s military records. It will also include an update on the types of military records found in ArkivDigital and military name search indexes.

Discover your Swedish Roots with ArkivDigital - Kathy Meade ArkivDigital is an online service available at FamilySearch Centers that provides access to newly photographed color images of Swedish historical records. The service includes access to Swedish church books, estate inventories, military records, court records, tax registers, passenger ship manifests from Swedish ports, Swedish American church books, aerial photographs, and many others. In addition, the service includes many name-searchable indexes of the church books, estate inventories, passenger ship manifests, and other records collections, making it much easier to research your Swedish ancestry. The presentation will demonstrate how to access Swedish historical records using ArkivDigital and discover your Swedish roots.