This 1906 Swedish funeral card design is ingenious. It serves both as an invitation and a keepsake of the funeral services. Folded in half underneath the top flap (below), the verso was then addressed and delivered to the person invited to the funeral.

1906 Swedish Funeral Card

Swedish Funeral Card Translation

Here’s my attempt at a translation of the funeral card for Maria Margareta Persson Larsson, with corrections courtesy of reader Stefan Lejman. (Tack, Stefan!)

That
our beloved mother

Maria Margareta Larsson,

born Persson,

After a long-lasting suffering, calmly and peacefully died in Björka
Saturday, May 19, 1906, at 6 p.m. at an age of 80 years.

Deeply mourned by us, relatives and friends,
We hereby have the painful duty to announce.

Uppenb[arelse] 21: 4*                            [Her] children

Invite
to honor the deceased with their presence
funeral ceremony
in Lindesberg
Saturday the 27th of May 1906 at 2 p.m.
Meeting in the house of grieving at half past 9

*Book of Revelation 21:4: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Finding the Death Record

Death records can be some of the most elusive of genealogical records. So this Swedish funeral card provided answers about Maria Margareta, a woman who had been mostly a mystery to date.

With the information from this funeral card, I located Maria’s Björka parish death record in Sweden, Indexed Death Records, 1840-1942, including a digitized image (below). (Thanks for buying Genline, Ancestry!) From the death card information, I also found baptism and marriage records for Maria Persdotter Larsson. More work at ArkivDigital is now indicated.

1906 Swedish Funeral Card

Maria Margaretha Larsson [death record], GID Number: 2106.142.8200, from Swedish Church Records Archive. Johanneshov, Sweden: Genline AB, via Sweden, Indexed Death Records, 1840-1947, Ancestry.com.

Do you have Swedish funeral cards in your family papers?

For more Sassy Jane posts on funeral cards, click here.

For more Sassy Jane posts on Swedish records and research, click here.

About Funeral Cards

From Funeral Cards, by Elizabeth Kelley Kersterns:

Funeral cards [in the United States] have a long history, with social customs attached. These cards were distributed to family members, friends, and the surrounding community in a timely manner to alert invitees to the date and time of the funeral. Recipients of a funeral card were expected to attend the funeral or risk offending family members….