1700’s Marriage Record Example

Below is an example of a marriage record from Fröjered Parish in Skaraborg. During the 1700’s the marriage format varies by parish. In most records, you will find the dates of banns for the marriage, marriage date and names of the bridal couple. In this one, you will see an entry for a morgongåva (morning gift). This was the gift the husband gave to his bride at marriage. The bride could keep this forever and in case of her husband’s death it could not be distributed with the children as part of the estate. In the older books in the 1600’s and 1700’s, you will see both Swedish and Latin words. In this example most of the column headings are in Latin.

Below you will find a translation of the column headings as well as transcription of the marriage record and a translation of five Swedish words. You can see that most of the record is dates and names or persons and places.

Fröjered E:1 (1769-1854) Bild 7 / sid 3 (AID: v26939.b7.s3, NAD: SE/GLA/13134)

Sammanwigde uti Fröjereds Församling År 1770
Marriages (joined in marriage) in Fröjered Parish in 1770

Column Headings	English
Dies (Latin)	Day
Indicationis (Latin)	Banns (Dates)
Nuptialis (Latin)	Marriage (Date)
Nomina Contrahendium (Latin)	Names of Contracting Parties (Betrothed Couple)
Aetas (Latin)	Age
Conditio et domicilium (Latin)	Occupation and residence
Dos (Latin)	Morning gift
Nomina Parentum (Latin)	Names of parents

Record Transcription
Dates of Banns	20 May, 27 May, 3 June
Marriage date	6 June 1770
Names of Groom and Bride	Jacob, Margretha
Ages of groom and bride	Jacob is 36, Margretha is 25
Occupation and Residence (of groom)	Bonden på Setteråsen (farmer at Setteråsen)
Morning gift	30 lod silfver (lod is an older weight measurement)
Names of parents	Jacob's parents are Eric Månsson and Lena Bengtsdotter. Margretha's parents are Måns Svensson and Margretha Nilsdotter.