I wanted to write a bit about the valuable resource found in the Danish military levying rolls records. I have several family groups which come from Denmark so I do extensive work with the Danish records. The Danish Royal Archives (Rigsarkivet) have scanned images of all their parish and military (and other) records and they are available directly from them through their web sites, beginning at the site:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also has scanned copies of most of these records. Many of these records have been indexed over past decades. Because of the rich volume of indexed records, it is much easier to find people and their information than in the old days of microfilm readers. However, as far as I can tell, the Military Levying Rolls (Lægdsruller) have not been digitized. Even so, the indexing process for these records are more complicated for the main reason that also gives them their power as a Danish genealogical research tool.
These records began in about 1790 and the process was such that every male child born was registered at birth, listed in their location (usually the Lutheran church parish), referred to as the "lægd." Each record indicates the father's name (occasionally it is the mother's name), birth location, age as of the particular register, and other information pertaining to that young man. The first record entered usually contains the actual birth and/or christening date. These records are updated each year, but new entries are entered for each boy usually in three-year intervals. If the boy moves (usually with family, but even when not), then this is noted in the record, specifying the new location "lægd" number. Through this process, you can trace a young man from birth until he is no longer registered in the system, usually around age 40, or upon death. The father's name is always included regardless of whether the father is living or not or where the father really lives.
Generally, the records run until about 1860, depending on location.
It is also quite useful because Danish census records have a sizable gap between 1801 and 1834 where many a young man was born and/or died.
The point of this discussion is to wonder whether a process can be put into place to not only index these records, but use the data to actually string all of these records together by a computer process, creating timelines for each young man in Denmark.
I have been doing this manually for many years. Often it brings to light connections not found in any other way.
Here is an example of one young man I just traced today:
The first record can be found at this URL:
https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=16481031#17329,752471
Sorø 1809 F Hovedrulle 37 - Sorø 1809 F Hovedrulle 84 lægd 51 Hejninge image 111
Poul Olsen
F 84 59 Niels b. Heininge born 15 April 1809 chr. 12 May
Sorø 1812 J Hovedrulle 37 - Sorø 1812 J Hovedrulle 65 lægd 51 Hejninge image 118
Poul Olsen
59 45 Niels b. Heininge age 3
Sorø 1815 A Hovedrulle 37 - Sorø 1815 A Hovedrulle 65 lægd 51 Hejninge image 120
F. Poul Olsen
45 34 S. Niels b. Heininge age 6
Sorø 1818 D Hovedrulle 23 - Sorø 1818 D Hovedrulle 65 lægd 51 Hejninge image 130
Poul Olsen
34 20 Niels b. Heininge age 9
Sorø 1821 G Hovedrulle 37 - Sorø 1821 G Hovedrulle 65 lægd 51 Hejninge image 159
Poul Olsen
20 16 Niels b. Heininge age 12
Sorø 1824 K Hovedrulle 35 - Sorø 1824 K Hovedrulle 63 lægd 51 Hejninge image 182
Poul Olsen
16 13 Niels b. Heininge age 15 crossed out --> moved to 49 A 239
Sorø 1826 A Tilgangsrulle lægd 49 Sankt Mikkels image 85
Poul Olsen
A 239 Niels b. Heininge age 15 from 51-13 crossed out --> moved back to 51 B 126
Sorø 1827 B Hovedrulle 35 - Sorø 1827 B Hovedrulle 63 lægd 51 Hejninge image 214
Poul Olsen
B126 74 Niels b. Heininge age 18 from 49 239 crossed out --> moved to 53 C 144
Sorø 1828 C Tilgangsrulle lægd 53 Gerlev image 102
Poul Olsen
C144 Niels b. Heininge age 18 from 51-74 crossed out --> died 1829
This last record can be found at this URL:
https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=16481031#491324,780543
It is interesting to note that there could have been no other way to find that Niels, son of Poul Olsen, did not survive past the age of 20. The death record found in Gerlev gives no information as to his origins (parents, birthplace, etc.). This was only found because of the Military Levying Rolls information. Another useful result is to determine where a young man ends up, possibly where he marries and starts his family. The main problem in Danish research, particularly in 1800s and before is that everyone has very similar names. By connecting father's name, birth location and age, it is much easier to determine a particular young men, regardless of the common-ness of his name. This would have been remarkable also if if included young, women, but that is the way of the world in the past.
I am amazed at the value of these records! Many thanks to those who preserved and made them available.
