Iceland, Church Census, 1744-1965

What Is In This Collection?

The church censuses are annual lists of persons living in each parish. The lists were created by the parish priest and were intended to record the education of the children in the household and the Christian behavior of each person. Indexing of this collection by FamilySearch began 23 November 2016. Indexes will be published as they are completed.

These records will show you the composition of each household in a parish. These communities were very small and there was a high degree of interaction with people on related farms both in their personal lives and in their labors to maintain the farmstead. It is possible that persons on adjacent farms may be related by blood or marriage.

These records are arranged by county (sýsla), then parish (sókn), then by the farm or village. Each book contains several years. Households are listed together, but not all persons in a household may be related. Generally the information includes the individual's given and surnames, age and occupation. These records were largely discontinued in 1953 with the introduction of the National Registry (Þjóðskrár). Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

Reading These Records

These records are written in Icelandic. For help reading them see Icelandic Genealogical Word List and Scandinavian Handwriting.

What Can these Records Tell Me?

The following information may be found in these records:

• Name of the farm where the family lives
• Name of each person
• Age
• Occupation

It may also include information about when they were confirmed members of the Lutheran church and how well they can read the Bible and catechism.

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  Church census, 1949. Bjarnanes parish, Austur-Skaftafells county

Coverage Table

The table below lists what parishes will be included in this collection. The start and end dates indicate the earliest and latest years available. These ranges may not be consecutive and there may be considerable gaps in the records.

Inventory

For a list of all the titles included in this Historical Records publication see Iceland Church Census - Inventory.