As occasionally mentioned in my blog, I do a lot of family history research in Danish records. Over the years, I have written some guides to help in this work, perhaps to be useful for others. This is the first of three documents. The first is a basic description of the records and language issues involved. The next two use examples showing basic research and research where more detailed focus on the records is required (normal searching methods fail). I hope this is useful for somebody.
Basic family research in Danish
What can you know about a person?
It is good to understand what records are available to tell you about a person. As you search for someone or look for a possible missing family member, it helps to know what records usually exist, and how reliable they might be. This depends somewhat on location, but usually records are quite consistent throughout Denmark over the years, especially from about 1815 onward. Before that time, records are still mostly available, but not as consistently so. Danish State Archives and FamilySearch are both good providers.
The most available and reliable records are the Lutheran parish records, primarily christening (birth), burial (death) and marriage records. Also quite useful and reliable are the confirmation records. Every child who reaches the age of about fourteen are confirmed. Often, the confirmation records include birth, christening dates, as well as parents’ names and birth/christening location. Often, the vaccination information is also included.
Parish records from about 1815 through about 1892 were written as a main or “Hoved” book and a second copy, called “Kontraministerialbog.” Of the two, I usually find the “Kontra” books more readable, but there are cases where I need to consult the “Hoved” records to find clarification, and sometimes, additional details not written into the “Kontra” copy.
For males, particularly between about 1792 and 1850, all are recorded in military records. These Military Levying Rolls or Lægdruller, trace a young man from birth until about the age of 30, every 3 years, and usually always show the name of his father as well, regardless of whether the boy lives with his father or not or whether the father is still alive at the time of the record. The birthplace and current age are always give as well. When the child moves, it will point to the next location and that next record the previous location.
Also very useful, but somewhat less reliable, are the census records. Generally everyone in Denmark were included in the census records for 1787, 1801, 1834, 1840, 1845, 1850, 1855, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1901, 1906, 1911, 1916, 1921, 1926, and 1930. There are some other census tallies as well in specific places. These records are particularly useful in connecting people in families, but are prone to errors in recording and transcription.
Also included in the parish records are the move in and out records: Afgangsliste (move out), and Tilgangsliste (move in). Depending on location, these show anyone who leaves or arrives in a particular location, along with the opposite place, and often includes age or birthdate, and sometimes other family members or employers. These are less reliable, but useful in tracking people from place to place.
In some areas, particularly rural areas, probate and estate records (Skiftsprotokolle) are available showing how surviving family members are to be cared for. These are useful to connect families, but are quite difficult to read and are not usually transcribed for searching.
All people were vaccinated (small pox) starting about 1800. Sometimes this information (date and type, sometimes location) is recorded in specific records in a parish, but usually appears in confirmation and marriages records (if at all). This is especially useful in identifying someone with a very common name or if some other piece of information in ambiguous. Vaccination information was mainly recorded in the first half of the 1800s.
Though a person can be readily identified by a specific date and place, and connection to some family member, it is highly recommended that you add as many of these other sources of information and details as you can. Often you will find an unexpected other family member or an error in existing FamilySearch records. Because names are so common, especially before the later 1800s, many errors have been made in including or merging people into the wrong families.
Issues with names
In Denmark, particularly be for the later 1800s, all male children were given as surname, the father’s first name with -sen attached (e.g. Andersen, for the son of Anders), and for females, -datter (e.g. Andersdatter). Patronymic naming was beginning to be discontinued around 1870 and sometimes the child is recorded inconsistently for many years. Also look for abbreviations, particularly names like Johanne Mikkelsdtr (Mikkelsdatter).
Note that it is quite common for parents to re-use names. This usually occurs when a child dies young and parents will use that name on a later-born child.
Often, the recording minister or scribe used name spelling variations, often a “Kr” for “Chr” in names such as Christensen or Christian. Note that other like spellings appear, e.g. Peder/Peter, Paulsen/Povelsen/Poulsen, Ibsen/Jeppesen/Ipsen, Ole/Oluf. There are some names which are different, but are very similar and often get interchanged. Examples include female names of Maren/Marie/Maria and Ane/Anne/Anna and Kirsten/Kirstine/Kristine/Christine and male names Christen/Christian and Anders/Andreas. Also, particularly in place and person names, “j” is interchangeable with “i” and “e” with “ø.”
The Ø is often also written as Ö, though usually the slash is intended and used.
Locations
The basic location is usually the parish, or “sogn”. This usually is synonymous with a small city or town. An area of towns and parishes are included in a district or “herred”. The basic regional division is the county, or “amt.” The term “By,” or “Bye” refers to a town or village. “Dom,” or “Domsogn” refers to a larger city parish.
Sometimes, the records are kept as belonging to two different parishes or places, usually where people are close to both places. Therefore, it is good to know the places near where you are researching and try those places as well. One thing to note about the people who lived at this time in Denmark, particularly those in the rural areas, is that they did not often move much. If you look at a set of people included in a family in FamilySearch and see that some members are born or live in one area and others in a distinctly different area or county, it is probable that some people were merged together that should not have been and need to be separated into separate families. This will take a fair amount of research to straighten things out. Unfortunately, because of the common names used, assumptions are made that are wrong.
Marriages and Children
The customs for marriage and child-bearing might make you question the dates given. The ability to bear children was very important to the Danish people, which led to children being born out-of-wedlock or born/christened at about the same time as the parent’s marriage. Therefore, do not be disturbed if the child was born before you would expect, and be sure to look for children for the couple before the marriage date. The records will likely include “uægte,” meaning illegitimate and the mother’s name listed first. Look later in the record to find the father’s name (e.g. “barnfader:” child’s father). In many cases, they do get married. Divorce (“fraskilt”) is rare before 1900, but does happen.
Infant mortality is a problem here, which is common for the time. In the records, there will be children listed without names, often with the word “dødfødt,” meaning stillborn, but we do not assume that the child did not take a breath before dying, so could have lived a short time. Sometimes you will see “Dodfodt” listed as the name of the child. Instead, the child should be listed without a first name. Rarely is a name given before christening.
Look at the other people listed in the marriage and christening records, especially for witnesses. When a child is christened, usually a woman or girl “carries” the child and sometimes, if it is a baby girl, that person’s first name is given to the new child. Other clues to unknown family members can be found in these names, and they can also be used to verify that you have the correct person, e.g. if you are not sure you have the correct person in the marriage, one of the witnesses might be a father (or uncle or brother), helping to verify your research, especially if that name is unusual.
Handwriting
Good luck. As is true today, there are some people with good handwriting and some whose are difficult to read. A particular issue with these records is the fact that there is an older style of writing in Europe where, for example, an “s” in the middle of a name looks like an “f.” The point is that you need to study handwriting types and have patience in trying to discern the names and words. Be sure to check other entries and pages to get the idea of styles of lettering used by the minister or scribe.
Remember the Reason
Know that people want to be found and the Lord will help. The Danish people were a strong people and god-fearing, but were pretty much controlled by the Lutheran church. Basically, everyone was connected to the church for all their life’s needs, literally from birth until death. When the Gospel was brought to Denmark, around 1850, the people who accepted the missionaries thirsted for scriptures. They were forbidden by the church to have their own scriptures, so they were excited about having the Book of Mormon in their hands. There was much persecution from their neighbors and family, but they were true, many of whom emigrated to Zion. We now can do the work for their cousins and family, years later, and the records are wide open for us. The Lord will help you in this great work.
- Joseph F. Buchanan
Laanjak@gmail.com
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