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The National Archives of Norway presents
Genealogy, a simple introduction
Genealogy is about mapping your ancestry.
Who were your forefathers?
Historical sources can give you answers.
They can help us to make the family tree complete,
and it's easy to get started!
Start by searching in your immediate circle.
Talk to your living relatives.
You can browse old documents
and look at old photographs.
Visit the cemetery.
Try collecting as much information as possible.
The next step is to visit your local library.
There you can find books on local history and other relevant literature.
Then it's time to visit the archives.
It takes a little more time, but is also the most
exciting part of genealogy research.
Parish books, censuses and probate records are the three main sources
relating to individuals and their relationships.
Fortunately, many of the sources have now been digitized.
They are readily available 24 hours a day
from your own sofa - free of charge.
This is the starting page for the Digital Archives.
Here you can find digitized source material from The National Archives, state regional archives and other archives.
This is a good place to start your search.
Norway has had several censuses.
All the inhabitants were counted and recorded.
Censuses tell us how people lived and with whom,
and they provide information on age and family relations.
The Digital Archives contains censuses
from 1600s through to 1910.
Church books were the resident's registers of the past.
Here the priest registered christenings, confirmations, weddings and funerals.
He also noted who moved in and out of the parish.
Parish books have also been scanned.
The book pages are available from the Digital Archives.
You may search the protocols on your own.
This may take some time, but it's rewarding when the search give results.
Using parish records you may reconstruct the past.
Probate records is the third main source.
When someone died and the estate was divided,
inheritance and kinship relations where established and listed in a protocol.
Here you can find the names and other particulars of the deceased's immediate family.
Probate documents until about 1850 can be found in the Digital Archives.
There you will also find several other sources that
may be useful when doing genealogical research.
You are welcome to visit the reading rooms at The National Archives of Norway and the state regional archives.
In the archives you can find a lot of information which may be of further help in your search.
And remember to take notes so you can
relocate the archival records later, if needed!
Good luck!