Dealing With Danish Common Names - the Tale of Two Anders Hansens ( or 3 or 4 or ...)

An Instructive Tale - Be Careful in Making Connections

One day last week I was reviewing the family of a first cousin of one of my ancestors. As I studied the youngest son, Anders Hansen, I searched to see whether I could find a wife for him in the Danish records (Danish State Archives). I found a marriage for him. I verified it because the record of marriage contained some very valuable information. It said that his mother was Hans Albrecht(sen)'s widow and said he was from Hundie (which was a small community in the parish of Kildebrønde, Roskilde, near Copenhagen, Denmark).

In looking for his records in the parish, I found that there were two Anders Hansens born within less that two years of each other in Hundie, one born 27 August 1831 and one born 27 May 1833 (my relative).

The marriage record gives the name of his wife as Maren Pedersdatter. I searched out her records and found her birth, in Kildebrønde, on 23 August 1831.

As I worked to attach her record to Anders in FamilySearch as his wife, I learned that she was already attached as the wife of another Anders Hansen. This other Anders Hansen was the one born in 1831, son of Hans Christoffersen. Seeing the father's name of listed in the marriage record, I knew that they had the wrong Anders Hansen attached.

The Confusion Gets Even Thicker

As I looked at the children listed for this couple, it became obvious that connections had been made that were not correct. The number of children was large, 14, which of itself was not that strange, but there were children with birth dates that were physically impossible, e.g. a son Christen, born August 1865 followed by a son, Hans born March 1866, then the next child, Niels born June 1866. Each of these three were born in the same general area, but in different places and parishes.

If you find multiple children born in a family and some of them are born in different places, that should be a warning that something might be wrong. Because of this, I decided to study each of these children to find some answers. 

Long Story Short...

The results of my studies revealed two more Anders Hansens — each of which were married to a woman named Maren, one Maren Pedersdatter and the other Maren Larsdatter. One of these was in the community of Snoldelev and one in Himmelev, both places not far from Kildebrønde parish where my relative lived. It was obvious by the children's records and the marriage records of these other sets of parents (found in subsequent research) that these were the parents of these other children.

I reconnected these "errant" children to their correct parents and removed their connection to my Anders Hansen's family.

In the end, my Anders Hansen and Maren Pedersdatter had six children, the last of whom was born only about 4 months before the death of Anders Hansen.

Two Other Loose Fibers

1. There was a marriage record attached to Maren Pedersen for a marriage to an Anders Hansen, but this one took place a few years before their actual marriage and in the middle of Copenhagen city, a distance away. That marriage was of a Anders Hansen (the fifth one of this tale) and Maren Pedersdatter, each considerably older that the correct one. I disconnected that marriage source.

2. The incorrect Anders Hansen, born in 1831, found in the first record, had actually been connected to Maren Pedersdatter years ago, because it  showed temple work done for them in 1932. This error goes back almost 100 years. To be double sure about this other Anders Hansen,  I tried to find out what happened specifically to him. In searching the records, I could not find him in any other information: military, census, etc., until I looked in the death records for the parish. Anders Hansen, born in Hundie 27 August 1831 died eight weeks later on 20 October 1831. The record clearly showed his father's name as Hans Christoffersen, not Hans Albrechtsen, so this Anders Hansen really was the wrong one.

Conclusion

Often you will find in Danish records a lot of people with the same name in the same place. Some are even married to someone with the same name as the spouse — in the same place and time period.

If FamilySearch suggests a source record blue link: or a duplicate needing merging  red link: , please, PLEASE check out the details closely before accepting and connecting, merging, or changing records. It is worth taking some time to look at the original records for some details not listed in the suggested action. Usually the extracted or indexed data taken from original records do not include some important information, such as the names of other people, or other dates such as vaccination dates, or ages of the people at the time of the event.

In Denmark you can not just go by a name and a place. These names are just too common — until about 1900 when they started giving multiple middle names and more exotic names  (ever heard of Viggo Mortensen?).

The Tale of Three (or four) Marens - An Instructive Tale

 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.

- - - - - - - - - - 

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.

- - - - - - - - - -

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.

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.

Finding ways to make it work

 I see twenty-five sets of missionaries on my computer screen. I can flip forward and see at least three other sets of twenty-five in the Zoom display. We are learning from each other in our twice-weekly, remotely distanced,  mission meetings. President Reeves has just explained that we are now in a level of lockdown that missionaries are not to meet with anyone in their homes for any reason, even with masks. The effect is subtle, but apparent: a head drops to the desk, other heads shake, unheard groans are almost audible. The  President continues, then a spiritual thought is given by one of the sister missionaries.

She speaks clearly and talks about the value of feeling vulnerable, of learning from discouragement. The group of sisters in her portion of the Zoom screen suddenly disappear as their little pane goes dark. She resets the dome light and a voice is heard: "ready for Log-in." They continue, unaffected by the interruption. Another of the sisters reads a scripture and the thought concludes and all are smiles and we feel hopeful.

I realize that others are also participating in the Zoom meeting from their cars. I count 17 darker mini-windows. These faithful missionaries join the regular meeting, even though they do not have sufficient wireless nor cell reception in their apartments. Our vehicles serve as a place to meet remotely, wherever they can find the proper reliable connection. With not being able to meet people in person, our cars are even more needed as the place to communicate remotely.

Always facing the unexpected, our good missionaries follow the Spirit in finding ways to adapt through current restrictions. The joy I see in their faces on the screen lets me know that the Lord works miracles when His servants are willing to be led by Him. Through this trust in Him, they conquer the adversary in these troubled times.

Goodnight TIWI (with apologies to Margaret Wise Brown)

 In a white Malibu

was a log book

In a red case

And from the mirror hook,

Masks for the face

And three smiling Elders buckled in place

soccer ball in the back

near a rattling bike rack

old PepBoys slips

and crusty nacho chips

light in the back, someone trying to read

a sweet lady voice saying "Watch your speed"

goodnight Tiwi

goodnight Malibu

goodnight masks, we won’t miss you

goodnight light

good night bike rack

good night Pep Boys, and the ball in the back

good night Elders

good night chips

good night receipts and gas card slips

good night miles log

good night everything

and good night to the voice saying "Aggressive Driving."

Goodnight stars
Goodnight air
Good night missionaries everywhere 

- Elder Joseph Buchanan, California Newport Mission vehicle coordinator

(available to an illustrator)

Found a precious little boy

 My second great-grandmother, Ane Nielsen, joined the church in Denmark in 1858. Her second cousin, Peder Jensen, had a fairly large family. In the middle 1950's much of the family temple work was done for Peder Jensen's family, including their youngest child, Martin Emil Jensen. Martin was 14 when he died. His mother, Ane Kirstine Pedersen was 46 years old when he was born, and 60 when he died. Martin's next younger brother, Johannes, died  eight years before this, in 1905, as an eight year old. This certainly was a hardship for Peder and Ane Kirstine Jensen.

Upon examining this family in FamilySearch, I discovered a few of the children in the family who had not been entered into the system, or had not had their temple work completed back in the 1950's. However, I also noticed that there was a gap in the record between the birth of Johannes and his younger sister, Maren. In searching the records today, I discovered a record of another child, a boy, who was born in 1893 when his mother was 42. This infant boy lived only 17 days and died. No name was recorded. There was nothing in the FamilySearch records about this child, so I added him to the family. 

This little boy can now be sealed to his family.

It is interesting to note that this little boy died in Denmark only a few weeks before the death of Ane Nielsen's husband, Hans Sorensen, who died from the effects of imprisonment in Utah.

These relatives, who lived in different parts of the world, some with the restored Gospel in their lives, and others not, both suffered from the difficulties of this life. All will receive comfort and blessings in the life to come.