>>216031407
the reason this is possible is because of the parish registry (and other sources such as military payrolls) so most Finns and Swedes have a paper trail they can follow to the 1600s, and then if you have someone at least a bit notable you can push it even further. I have one who was some Knave who lived at the end of the 1500s. The parish registry records; Baptisms, marriages and deaths with names and dates. In addition whenever someone moves to a different parish, the pastor had to make a note of it. They also sometimes have other notes if the pastor felt like it, but most just did the bare minimum. But that's already plentiful of source material to work with. You can directly follow the records to the 1600s and see if they moved about and such. Other sources like the military rolls, records payments given to soldiers, and also other notations. This is where the "excelled in service" comes from. There's name, rank, amount paid, and notes (if any). A third source are court proceedings. But this only applies if any of your ancestors were for some reason at the court, either as victim or accused.
These three sources give a good record of the commoners all the way to the 1600s. But earlier than that the only way to have any records is if your ancestor was someone notable. Of course nobles, but also important priests, burghers like big merchants and so on.