Genealogy Blog

Sometimes we wonder whether we have missed an ancestor's child in the parish registers, because there is an unusually long gap between the births of two siblings. If any of the siblings were born after 1861, there is a way of finding out how many times the mother had given birth, namely in the midwife registers.

Denmark has a long history of providing welfare for those who cannot provide for themselves. Census records often reveal if a person was a pauper. Details about the welfare can be found in the records of the local pauper committee, many of which have been digitized and made available online.

Record loss does not necessarily mean that we are unable to document the births of our ancestors. Danish military levying rolls can be used to document birth dates and birthplaces when the parish registers were lost, and images of the rolls are available online.

An abundance of Danish records is available online. Research into Danish ancestors is therefore still possible in many cases despite the temporary closure of Danish archives due to COVID-19 restrictions. This post contains an overview of some of the records, which are available online for most Denmark localities.

Most family historians formulate theories during the research process, either consciously or subconsciously. I write down any theories as a part of my research plan. Learn why and see an example thereof.

Images of many Danish historical maps are available online. Cadastral maps from the early 1800s list names of owners or tenants and can therefore provide evidence about your ancestors.

Some entries in Danish military levying rolls contain many annotations. Meticulous transcription unveiled an abundance of details in a main roll entry from 1818.

Danish military levying rolls often provide many clues for further research and not only about an ancestor’s military history. This example shows that these records can provide details about acquisition and sale of real property.

Vaccination against smallpox was mandatory in Denmark from 1810. The first vaccination record books look a lot like census records, because children of all ages who had not had smallpox, were vaccinated during the months following the law about vaccinations.

Extraordinary hometown certificates were issued to people from Southern Jutland (then called Schleswigers) who had opted for Danish citizenship following the end of the Second Schleswig War in 1864. The application could include a copy of a citizenship record.