Find Norwegian Census Records in 2 Simple Ways
Census records will be one of the first places you will look when starting on your Norwegian ancestor search. The other one will be church records. But I like to start with the census records because it gives me a feel for the family dynamics. I learn who is in the family, where they resided, when they were born, and a whole bunch more information. It’s important to know what they look like and how to find them.
American Census Records
This first way is the easiest because we are most familiar with these websites. Norway has also given most of their genealogical records to these two giants. So many of the original Norwegian records have been digitized and can be seen on these websites.
Ancestry
You can either do a general search for your Norwegian ancestor on Ancestry or you can go to the Census and Voter Lists under the Search tab. Then scroll down until you see the Collection Focus tab. This eliminates all but Norway censuses from your search. However, this can be tricky because Norwegian censuses use the original Norwegian name for your ancestor and they may have Americanized it when they emigrated. So just be aware that researching in Norwegian records may be different.
Family Search
Again you can do a general search for your Norwegian ancestor and you will probably get a lot of information. But if you want to search for just Norwegian censuses, then go to the Find a Collection tab in the lower right side of the homepage. Then type in Norway Census and you will find a list of everything that Family Search has.
Norway Census Records
National Archives
This second way is a lot of fun, but it does take some effort to learn. The Norway Digital Archives gives you a different experience especially if you can’t find your ancestor using the two websites mentioned earlier. This website has all original records. You will need to know your ancestor’s Norwegian name before it was Americanized to search this website.
Luckily, the website can be translated into English so you don’t have to guess where the search button is located. Again, you can do a general search by using your ancestor’s name, birthdate, and birthplace if you have it. Or you can search the Norway census collections that they have. For that you click the Multiple Search Inputs tab and click on the census year you want to search. Then put in your ancestor’s information to see what the website has to offer. You’ll have to do that for each census year, but it’s worth the search. This is especially helpful when your general search only brings up a few census years and you want to make sure you’ve searched in every year.
Census Tips to Remember
- Use different name spellings no matter if it’s American or Norwegian census records.
- Try to find your ancestor in every census record. This will help you learn many things about the entire family.
- Use wildcard symbols if you don’t know how your ancestor’s name was spelled. For both Norwegian and American records the “*” is the wildcard. You can also add the wildcard symbol in the middle of a name, such as “Ash*y”
- Try to use the first letter of the first name with the whole surname to see if any new census records come up.
- Learn the common Norwegian names for census headings such as head of household, residence, birthplace, etc.
Conclusion
You can learn to use the census records for your advantage. Start your journey here with the tips that I have offered. You will learn more about census records as you continue your search. There are many more interesting things to discover as you go along.
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In the meantime…good luck and happy hunting!
Tiffany
P.S. Sign up to receive more of the genealogy websites that I use to find both American and Scandinavian records.
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