When I started this, I knew of three Danish women who were somehow combined in the FamilySearch records, one of which is my second-great aunt (I now know of at least one more). It started when I received a "Recommended Task" on the start page of FamilySearh.org after logging in, pointing to a Jens Rasmussen. As I looked at it, I noticed that there might be a problem. Family members seemed to be from several different locations, including children born in two different areas, intermingled. Danish families at this time did not move around that much, as a rule, so that always puts up flags in my eyes.
There is a positive ending to this tale. See my latest findings at the end of the main narrative.
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The Three Marens
My second-great aunt is Maren Jakobsdatter, born in Svogerslev, Copenhagen. As I looked at her records in FamilySearch the other day, I noticed the she was listed as the wife of a Jens Rasmussen. Upon further research, I discovered that this "family" in FamilySearch was really a combination of people from three separate families. Each of these families contained a person named Maren Jacobsdatter, all born between 1805 and 1808, two of them were married to men named Jens Rasmussen, but up until this point Iwas unaware that my second-great aunt was married at all.
Here are a few details of these three families (including only the relevant members):
1.
Jakob (or Jacob) Olsen and his wife Kirsten Hansdatter, of Høje Tåstrup, near Copenhagen;
And their daughter: Maren Jacobsdatter, born 19 December 1808 in Svogerslev, also near Copenhagen
She is my second-great aunt
2.
Jacob Eylersen (or Eilertsen) and his wife Ane Jensdatter of Tryggelev in Svendborg, a small island off the coast of the main islands;
And their daughter: Maren Jacobsdatter, born 18 February 1808 in Tryggelev
3.
Jacob Haugaard and his wife Kirsten Hansdatter of Hammer in the county of Præstø;
And their daughter: Maren Jacobsdatter, christened 3 March 1805
The husbands are:
2.
Jens Rasmussen, son of Rasmus Hansen and Maren Jensdatter, born in Magelby, Svendborg 9 June 1809
This Jens and Maren were married in Magleby on 22 Feb 1837.
3.
Jens Rasmussen, son of Rasmus Pedersen and Maren Nielsdatter, of Bårse, Præstø, christened 16 Oct 1813
This Jens and Maren were married in Bårse on 27 May 1835.
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Following this report, I did a summary, looking at the 1845 census for each of these families (2 and 3) and see definitively that each Maren is listed with her own birthplace (as the birthplaces begin to appear in the 1845 Danish Census records).
Since disconnecting these "Maren"s, I felt that my efforts needed to then work on finding a real family for Maren. In searching some census records in her own area (Roskilde), I did, in the process of verifying what I found from the census records, looking in to the parish records, her husband and family. It turns out that she did get married, in 1838, to Niels Nielsen. Census records show that all this is correct.
However, as I started putting the family together, I discovered that each of their children were included in a different family already in Oudrup, Ålborg, Denmark, far away from Roskilde. That family had had parents listed as Niels Nielsen and Maren Jacobsdatter (the fourth Maren), but recently had the Maren disconnected following the same process I used to put people in the correct places in FamilySearch.
The happy conclusion of all this is that These three Maren Jacobsdatter families are now correctly pur together in FamilySearch and I now can continue to build my Maren Jacobsdatter's family from this point on.
The "instructive" part of all this is that people who are presented with the option to Merge people in FamilySearch, especially in Danish records, should be VERY careful and do not take any of these suggestions at face value. Check for the locations especially, and if the people are from different counties (Amts) or the dates seem a little funny, please check them out before continuing with the merge process. As a rule, when I discover where a merge was done that should not have, I try to not just pull it apart (with difficulty at times), but try to find correct family information and connect them to the correct families, even (and usually) when they are not related to me.
