Vörå is the name of a small stream flowing into the Gulf of Bothnia, and of a small municipality in its river valley since 1478, and of a large Lutheran parish covering the surrounding area out to about 10 km from the Church building. This church building, constructed in 1626, is the oldest surviving wooden church in Finland. The Vörå area is rural, with scattered hamlets and villages. Vasa is the nearest city of any consequence.
The area has been settled by ethnic Swedes since the Middle Ages, and even now the people speak Swedish and have Swedish names, and the church and legal records used for family history research were all written in Swedish. The regional and national archives have catalogs and web sites that are in the Finnish language, only occasionally translated into Swedish and English. The Finnish name for Vörå is Vöyri.
Records usually organize place names by farm, village, parish, county, country. An example would be Jåfs, Rekipeldo, Vörå, Vasa, Finland. Before the late nineteenth century, personal names showed little variety, so it is common to find the same given name and surname used by several different people living at the same time. In the nineteenth century, surnames might be patronyms, farm or occupation names, or both together, like Erik Eriksson Smed. The FT records with male patronyms for women (Eriksson instead of Eriksdotter) are solecisms created by some early indexing projects, not reflecting any reality before the twentieth century. The inhabitants tended to move around very little, especially after marriage, but the Vörå, Maxmo, and Oravais parishes were close enough that people there commonly intermarried and moved back and forth.
Village names include: Andiala, Bergby, Bertby, Jörala, Kofjoki, Kaitsor, Karvat, Karvsor, Kimo, Komåsa, Koskeby, Lålax, Lomby, Lotlax, Mäkipää, Miemois, Myrbergsby, Oxgangar, Palvis, Prästegården, Rekipeldo, Rökiö, Tuckur.
Farm names include: Abrams, Ackers, Agnisbäck, Antbrams, Antill, Antolis, Antus, Backils, Badstubacka, Baggas, Bengs, Bertils, Bions, Björn, Blusi, Bobacka, Bondas, Brams, Brännars, Bredfors, Brors, Budd, Caminen, Clemets, Clerck, Dahlkarls, Dunck, Ehrs, Enges, Ericsbacka, Eurs, Finne, Forss, Fussius, Gåll, Gammal, Gråbbil, Grägg, Grannas, Grims, Grind, Håf, Håfman, Haga, Håkus, Hannus, Hede, Heikins, Heinull, Helsing, Herr, Hertull, Hertus, Hirsal, Hofman, Höjer, Holms, Huggars, Ingo, Isakas, Israels, Jacobs, Jåfs, Jakas, Jånt, Jäppil, Jässis, Jåsskarhu, Johans, Jufvas, Juopers, Jussil, Kåck, Kafvus, Kålax, Källbacka, Kånsti, Kårfwolain, Karhu, Karjalain, Karlais, Kastus, Kattil, Kaurajärvi, Kaustinen, Keisar, Keskis, Kjerp, Kjötar, Klafvus, Kneck, Knubb, Knuts, Konstig, Korfvolain, Kråka, Kroks, Kuckus, Kullas, Kulp, Kylkinen, Kylkis, Långs, Lassus, Lillkålax, Lillkarhu, Lillkeskis, Lillkneck, Lillund, Lomby, Lotlax, Lundbergs, Mannil, Månsus, Markus, Martois, Måsa, Mattus, Miemois, Murkais, Myrbergslund, Nickul, Nikonen, Nikus, Nissil, Nissus, Norken, Norkinen, Norrgård, Nyby, Nygård, Nytomt, Ollil, Ollus, Omars, Påhls, Pållars, Pårus, Pedars, Peth, Petois, Pohls, Pörnull, Präst, Prästegården, Prätt, Pytar, Råndman, Rännars, Rasmus, Rex, Ruths, Ryss, Sandås, Seppä, Sigfrids, Simons, Sippus, Skarp, Skåtar, Skått, Skeppars, Skratars, Skrifvars, Slögs, Smårus, Smeds, Snickars, Staffans, Storkålax, Storkarhu, Storkeskis, Storknäck, Storlund, Strand, Ströms, Sväls, Svedars, Svenns, Tåss, Thalus, Thors, Toppar, Tråsk, Trött, Tunis, Ulfvis, Wäst, Widd, Wöråborg, Yrjas, Zachris.
The neighboring parishes are: Alahärmä, Ylihärmä, Storkyro/Isokyrö, Lillkyro/Vähäkyrö, Kvevlax/Koivulahti, Maxmo/Maksamaa, Oravais/Oravainen.
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The Vörå 1750 Komunionbok is important for family history because it is the earliest komunionbok, and it documents many older inhabitants not covered by the church vital records, which only start in 1689 and are missing for 1705-1722. Unfortunately, the FamilySearch indexing of this book leaves much room for improvement, because indexers and checkers had a lot of trouble with the handwriting and were not familiar with the place names. I reviewed the entire index, making corrections to match the manuscript and numerous annotations with supplemental or corrective Hiski birth/marriage/death data. Here is the Latest on Google Docs, and a Newish OpenDocument back up copy, along with an expanded Larger plain text copy with interspersed Hiski data.
A similar update for the 1757 komunionbok index is barely started.