An adventure of Danish Research - illustrating the process of using Danish Archives to piece together the family of Hans Christensen

 Hans Christensen is my first cousin, five times removed. That means that his children were second cousins to my Great-great-grandfather. A book of printed family group sheets were left to me by my parents. I am going through them and seeing that all the information is in FamilySearch and is accurate. In many cases, I find that more research can be done for these families, so I expand and complete the families there. 

This is the first of two pages for Hans Christensen. His wife, Kirsten Hansdatter, died soon after the death of their last child, a daughter. He then remarried. His second wife was also named Kirsten Hansdatter. These two sheets showed the children, four with the first wife and two from the second. 

The process I used is instructive on how this research works. I use the records provided from the Danish National Archives (Dansk Demografisk Database er en del af Rigsarkivet). Other ways to get these records is through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints FamilySearch copies of these records. I have links to these resources on my Danish Research Helps web site:  Danish Genealogy Helper

I first started with the Military Levying Rolls to find what I could for these sons. Between 1801 and 1834 there are no census records. The census records are searchable, though there are errors in them, but they help locate people. Unfortunately we have a big gap of 33 years where it is easy to lose people.

I searched the Copenhagen records for the parish of Ishøj in 1800 and found Ole, son of Hans Christensen (spelled Kristensen in the MLR records at the time). From that record, I learned his number which takes me to the next record. These records are recorded for all male children about every three years. When there are changes (births, deaths and moves) these changes are noted in the records. Each record shows the father's name, the number of the previous record and the current record number. The father's name is always recorded, even though he may be deceased or the son may have moved away. This all makes for a good way to track males through the years and locations. It takes some work but it connects them very well. 

Once I traced the sons past 1834, I was able to find each of these sons in the new locations in the census records in 1834, 1840, 1845 and so on. Starting in 1845, the census records also show the birth places of all in the census. There are mistakes in the census (either in original recording or in transcribing/indexing them), so that must be taken in account. I also used the parish records in the online archives. These are primary records and are most important, but the military and census records were necessary to put it all together. In this case, I successfully found the families of each of these sons and entered their information in FamilySearch.In most cases, the information was already there and needed to be connected correctly and, in some cases, corrected. In one case, Lars Hansen had been connected incorrectly to a different wife in Præstø and needed to be separated, making two different families.

All that said, I now show my notes from the Military records search for you to see here. These were vital in putting this all together.

https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=16481031#17062,661982

København 1800 H Tilgangsrulle image 18 Lægd 18 København Ishøj

Hans Kristensen  [ father's name ]

H138 Ole  b. Tranegilde  b. 3 Aug  [son's number, name, birth place and birth date]

København 1803 A Hovedrulle image 164

Hans Kristensen

H 138 104 Ole  b. Tranegilde age 2

København 1806 D Hovedrulle

image 205  Hans Kristensen

104 89 Ole  b. Tranegilde  age 5

image 207 Hans Kristensen

C154 137 Hans  b. Tranegilde  born 11 Dec 1804

https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=16481031#17070,664111

København 1809 F Hovedrulle

image 242 Hans Kristensen

89 74 Ole  b. Tranegilde age 8

image 245 Hans Kristensen

137 120 Hans  b. Tranegilde age 4

København 1812 J Hovedrulle

image 259 Hans Kristensen

74 68 Ole  b. Tranekilde age 11

image 261 Hans Kristensen

120 109 Hans  b. Tranegile age 7

København 1815 A Hovedrulle  Lægd 18 København Ishøj

image 283 Hans Kristensen

68 58 Ole  b. Tranegilde age 14

image 286 Hans Kristensen

109 97 Hans  b. Tranegilde age 10

image 291 Hans Kristensen

A 198 176 Lars  b. Tranegilde  b. 16 Oct 1814

https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=16481031#17111,678218

København 1818 D Hovedrulle

image 337 Hans Kristensen

58 49 Ole  b. Tranegilde age 17

image 339 Hans Kristensen

97 80 Hans  b. Tranegilde age 13

image 343 Hans Kristensen

176 146 Lars  b. Tranegilde  age 3

København 1821 G Hovedrulle

image 391 Hans Kristensen

49 42 Ole  b. Tranegilde age 20

image 393 Hans Kristensen

80 70 Hans  b. Traneg  age 16

image 396 Hans Kristensen

146 131 Lars  b. Tranegilde age 6

København 1824 K Hovedrulle

image 461 Hans Kristensen

42 36 Ole  b. Tranegilde age 23

image 462 Hans Kristensen

70 60 Hans  b. Tranegilde age 19

image 466 Hans Kristensen

131 116 Lars  b. Tranegilde age 9

København 1827 B Hovedrulle

image 505 Hans Kristensen

36 21 Ole  b. Tranegilde age 26

image 507 Hans Kristensen

60 41 Hans  b. Tranegilde age 22 crossed out --> Roskilde 25 D218

image 510 Hans Kristensen

116 91 Lars  b. Tranegilde age 12

Roskilde 1829 D Tilgangsrulle Lægd 25 Kildebrønde image 94

Hans Kristensen

D 218 Hans  b. Tranegilde age 22  from Koben 18 41

Roskilde 1830 E Hovedrulle lægd 25 Kildebrønde image 191

Hans Kristensen

D218 182 Hans  b. Tranegilde age 25

København 1830 E Hovedrulle 2 - København 1830 E Hovedrulle 30  Lægd 18 Ishøj

image 330 Hans Kristensen

21 15 Ole  b. Tranegilde  age 29 crossed out--> Roskilde 34 G136

image 334 Hans Kristensen

91 74 Lars  b. Tranegilde age 15

København 1833 H Hovedrulle Lægd 18 Ishoj image 373

Hans Kristensen

74 53 Lars  age 18

Roskilde 1832 G Tilgangsrulle Lægd 34 Ølsemagle image 104

Hans Christensen

G136 Ole  b. Tranegilde age 29  from Kobn 18 15

Roskilde 1833 H Hovedrulle 

Lægd 25 Kildebrønde image 200 Hans Kristensen

182 160 Hans  b. Tranegilde age 28

Lægd 34 Ølsemagle image 296 Hans Kristensen

G 136 115 Ole  b. Tranegilde age 32

København 1836 L Hovedrulle Lægd 18 Ishøj image 398

Hans Kristensen

53 34 Lars  b. Tranegilde age 21  crossed out --> 11 N 217

Roskilde 1836 L Hovedrulle 

Lægd 25 Kildebrønde image 207

Hans Christensen

160 133 Hans  b. Tranegilde age 31

Lægd 34 Ølsemagle image 309

Hans Christensen

115 105 Ole  b. Tranegilde age 35

København 1838 N Tilgangsrulle Lægd 11 Brøndbyevester image 61

Hans Kristensen

N 217  Lars  b. Tranegilde age 21 from 1834

Extensive, specific, personal Vaccination Records - Then and Now

 There is an interesting historical point that adds to the current vaccination perspective. I have not yet heard this fact in any public discussions.

Denmark experienced a serious smallpox epidemic in the early 1800s and the government there passed a law in March 1810 requiring all of the population to be vaccinated (unless they had already been infected). These individual vaccinations were specifically recorded in medical records as well as in church (parish) records. This continued from that time forward for decades and provide an important tool in genealogical research. To this day, in many cases, you can look up a Danish ancestor and find out exactly what day they were vaccinated and what vaccine was used.

For example, my wife's second great grandfather Ole Nielsen was vaccinated on 5 Oct 1818, as recorded in his confirmation record of 1832 (see vaccination record column on the right side).

So the current process of having our vaccinations recorded and verified is nothing new. It was taking place over two hundred years ago. Because of these vaccinations, the disease of smallpox, which was much more devastating to the world than the current Covid-19, was essentially eliminated.