Brändö

Parish Records

Because parish Communion records are listed by village and farm names and because farm names often were used as a part of a person’s name, it is interesting to note the following farms. HisKi project findings were used as a starting point to identify parish villages.  Then Parish Communion Records of 1867 – 1886 and Land Records were used to confirm village and identify farm names. ^{5, 6, 7} 

To open a printable list of villages and farms (pdf), click here.

The St. James Church ^{1, 2} was dedicated on October 22, 1893.  It is a cross-shaped wooden structure built by David Lönnroth from Uusikaupunki.  It is located on the north shore of the main island of Brändö. Behind it is the church harbor, where church people have moored their boats for decades. It is the fourth church built at the same general location.

1. The first structure was a simple medieval wooden chapel, built prior to 1544. When a visitation occurred in 1637, it was reported that it had been ‘unskilfully built and was completely rotten”. ¹
2. The second church was pre-built of select pine timbers in Saltvik and moved into place in the late 1640’s. Unfortunately, complaints about the leaky roof destroying the chapel were already being reported.
3. In 1749 a new wooden church replaced the previous pre-fabricated church. The exterior (walls and roof) were painted red and the doors were painted green.
4. The fourth and current church was being planned by 1874. More space was needed.

Image attribution: Ulf Rydin / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)