Category Archives: Danish Research

Danish Research

The Danish Demographic Database

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Denmark is a wonderful country to have as part of your family tree. It’s rich with records and, even better, the Danish National Archives has made many of its extensive records available online to browse for FREE!

The Dansk Demografisk Database, or Danish Demographic Database (hereafter called the DDD) in English, is a tool created by the Danish National Archives that serves as an every-name index to ALL the Danish censuses and there are a lot of them – 1787, 1801, 1834, 1840, 1845, 1850, 1855, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1901, 1911, 1916, 1921, 1925, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, and 1970.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The 1801, 1834, 1840,and 1845 are complete for the entire country and volunteers are working on all the other ones. From my own experience, I believe that all the censuses are at least partially indexed as I’ve used them to trace my Danish great grandmother’s family.

Those censuses up to 1930 are included in the DDD. If you need to view a later census, it will require a trip to reading room in the National Archives in Copenhagen.

Another important fact to know beforehand is that the DDD also includes a Probate Index and a list of Emigrants.

Notice in the top right under the header, there is a link for “Other databases in Danish.”

These collections include: Probates, Emigrants, Immigrants and other specialized collections.

Searching the census records is easy, but be aware that a transcription appears, not a link to the actual census image. Images must be accessed independently.

I chose Simple Search and entered information for Johannes Jensen in the 1845 census, living in Copenhagen. 17 hits popped up.

The 7th Johannes Jensen in the list was my guy – a soldier in the Danish Army, who was 35 years old.

Clicking on ALL DETAILS brings up the family:

The DOCU tab provides the source information:

That’s all there is to it.

Danish records are really fabulous so if you have Danes in the family tree, check out the Danish Demographic Database.

Danish Research

Giertrud Nielsdatter: Extending the mtDNA Line – 12 for ’22

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Person #3 on my list of somewhat neglected ancestors to research in 2022 is my 6X great grandmother, Giertrud Nielsen, baptized 17 November 1737 in Flade, Hjorring, Denmark.

Although Danish records existed long before Giertrud’s birth, there is a big stumbling block for me. Reading that old script in faded ink is quite overwhelming.

However, this line is particularly important to me as Giertrud is my earliest ancestress in my maternal line – the one that passes down mtDNA.

In this case, time has been on my side (I hadn’t worked on this line for over 5 years) because the Scandinavian staff at the Family History Library spend many hours adding data to the FamilySearch Family Tree.

I now have Giertrud’s line back one more generation to include her parents, and siblings, plus her father’s line is documented two more generations back in time.

Here is the family of Niels Christensen Aadstemand & Maren Nielsdatter, who lived in Flade, Hjorring, Denmark.

Niels Christensen Aadstemand was baptized on 29 August 1700, the son of Christen Christensen Aadstemand (c1665-after 1714) and Lisbeth Christensdatter (1680-1730) in the town of Flade, Hjorring Denmark.

He married Maren Nielsdatter, who was born c1704, sometime around 1731, probably also in Flade or a nearby town. Her parentage, unfortunately, hasn’t yet been determined. How I wish someone would find her family, as it would add still another generation to my mtDNA line.

Niels and Maren were the parents of five children. All events are in Flade:

1. Niels, baptized May 1732; died December 1782; married (1) Maren Svensdatter, 15 May 1758 (2) Eva Christensdatter, 10 September 1762 and (3) Karen Hansdatter, 9 November 1776.
2. Christen, baptized October 1734; died April 1805; married Margrethe Olesdatter, 3 December 1775.
3. Giertrud, baptized 17 November 1737; buried 13 November 1767; married Christen Christensen Donbech, 28 October 1756.
4. Karen, baptized November 1740; died 26 February 1818, Kirkevadet, Hjorring, Denmark; married Povel Nielsen, October 1760.
5. Lauritz, baptized February 1747; no further record.

Niels Christensen Aadstemand was buried 6 May 1764 in Flade, Hjorring, Denmark. Maren Nielsdatter, called the widow of Niels Christensen Aadstemand, was buried in 1787, sometime after the 1787 census was taken. She was living with her son’s family at that time. The church book has many torn pages, including the one recording her burial. The left side of the page, which had the exact dates, is missing, but the year is 1787.

Christen Christensen Aadstemand’s father was Christen Aadsteman, probably born c1630. His wife’s name is unknown. However, the wife of Christen Aadstemand was buried in Flade in 1694, aged 60 years.

My mtDNA line:

  1. Maren Nielsdatter (c1704-1787), Flade, Hjorring
  2. Giertrud Nielsdatter (1737-1767), Flade, Hjorring
  3. Anna Christensdatter (1758-1842), Flade, Hjorring
  4. Maria Catherine Jensdatter (1799-1855+), Flade, Hjorring
  5. Anna Amalia Christensdatter (1823-1871+), Flade, Hjorring
  6. Margrethe Bruun (1843-1890), Calais, Maine
  7. Anna Elizabeth Jensen (1872-1916), Calais, Maine
  8. Hazel Ethel Coleman (1901-1995), Massachusetts
  9. Doris Priscilla Adams (1923-2008), New Jersey
  10. Me!

 

 

Bruun, Danish Research

Niels Thomsen Bruun: A Loose End No More

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Niels Thomsen Bruun is one of my loose ends, or I guess, was. As ancestors go, he isn’t all that far back in time as he is my 3X great grandfather and father of my Danish immigrant 2X great grandmother, Margrethe Bruun Jensen (aka Johnson).

I also know quite a bit about him, thanks to those fabulous Danish records. He was baptized on 22 January 1809 in Flade, Hjorring, Denmark, the son of Thomas Madsen Bruun and Margrethe Nielsdatter Nipper. His occupation was fisherman, which makes sense given that Flade is a parish on the coast of northern Denmark, just south of Frederikshavn and close to Bangsbostrand.

He married Ane Amalie Christensdatter Moller on 1 November 1842, also in Flade.

My 2X great grandmother, Margrethe, certainly appears to have been named for her paternal grandmother. She was baptized on 1 May 1843, one of those first babies who might come at any time.

Her only sibling, Peter, was baptized two years later on 13 April 1845.

Why then was Niels Thomsen Bruun a loose end? I cannot find any death record or burial entry for him in the parish records. I suspect his occupation – fisherman – might have something to do with that and he may have died at sea. Just speculation on my part, but when church records are available for the 1840s and he isn’t found in them, there must be a reason.

Niels’ wife, Amalie Christendatter Moller, married (2) Jens Marinus Hansen on 24 October 1847 and she was described as a widow.

If Amalie, as she was called, was a widow, and I have no reason to think she was not, given that she remarried in the same small parish, that narrowed the time frame of Niels Thomsen Bruun’s death to between July 1844 (if he died, say a day after Peter was conceived) and October 1847 when Amalie remarried.

Danish records are terrific and I checked FamilySearch for probate records. There is an index for probate files in Hjorring County and it is alphabetized by surname (I’ve found some Swedish indexes set up by FIRST! name.)

Look what I found:


Niels Thomsen Bruun, 1847 Probate
FamilySearch Film #7589228

By law, notice of someone’s death had to be reported to the proper authorities immediately. I wish the date that probate opened was more specific, but it was likely within a month or perhaps less of when Niels died.

I’m not sure why the probate didn’t close until four years later in 1851 and the record is short – only two pages (76 and 87).

The downside is that apparently this record is not available online. Nor did I see Hjorring probate court records online at the Danish National Archives.

I’m not curious enough to pay to obtain the record, but I am quite sure now that Niels Bruun died in 1847.

The index was easy to browse, so I looked for other Bruuns and found Niels’ parents, too:

Burial dates are recorded for Thomas and wife Margrethe – he died in 1835 and she survived him by 6 years. That is why Margrethe also has a probate file.

If and when I find the probate files online, I will post the images and transcribe the information in them. I do kind of wish they were online already!