Danish Family Search

I don't know about you, but researching for your Danish ancestors can be challenging and finding records and being able to understand what you are seeing can be a daunting task.  I have found a website called Danish Family Search, not to be confused with the FamilySearch. From what I have read and looked at online, Danish Family Search is not connected to FamilySearch. The Danish Family Search began as a result of Marianne and Dan Nicolaysen's search for their own family names. The couple has a background in IT and developed the site to make it easier to search for family names. They also have registered users who assist with transcription. The site is wonderful and would be worth taking a look at if you are looking for your Danish Ancestors. The site contains Church records, Census records, Military Levying records, and School protocols. You can use the site in Danish or English. The site has a search tool and also allows you to click on the region your ancestors are from on the map of Denmark on the home page.  I found it simple to use and fun. I searched for records of one my ancestors Carl Alexander Albert Christiansen and found him in the 1880 with his family. In the census, I found his name to be Carl Albert Alexander Christiansen. The order of the two middle names has been an unknown for some time and finding a records a little closer to his birth date might give one an idea of the proper order. Either way, it was fun to find the family. If you would like to search the Danish FamilySearch, click this link.

Scandinavian Folk Festival

The annual Scandinavian Folk Festival Jamestown New York is held at the Gerry Rodeo Ground, Gerry NY this coming weekend beginning July 15 - 17, 2011. The festival provides enterainment, education, and all around fun for the family.  According to The Post Journal , this year a special guest, Kare Livsey from the Fenton History Center and Arne Johannson From Vimmerby Sweden will bet here to help people with Swedish genealogical research. The combination of these two individuals could help provide great insight to those research in Sweden and/or need help with the Swedish language. Also you will have the opportunity to hear the wonderful music of Peter Puma Hedlund playing the Nyckelharpa. He will be providing music twice a day all three days.  I have enclosed below a little video of him playing the Nyckelharpa.  It is a really cool instrument.

To find out more information about the Festival, you can go to the Facebook page  or you can go directly to the Scandinavian Folk Festival website. This Festival should be fun for everyone.  It would be a great way to introduce your children and yourself to your heritage, as they have crafters, entertainment, food, and you can even dance around the Midsummer pole or visit a Viking village. The Scandinavian Folk Festival has the available schedule of events. Check it out it you are in the area, and post comments as to what you thought about the Festival.

FamilySearch Facebook Community Research Pages

FamilySearch has developed several Research Community pages on FaceBook and Skype.  These groups have been designed to allow you to collaborate with others that are searching in the same local of your ancestors, ask questions, and help others by sharing what you know.  Do you have to be a professional?  Definitely not.  The groups are designed to encourage anyone with an interest to ask questions and to share the knowledge that you have.  Come join in the fun.  If you would like to learn more about these groups, by following the directions for the FamilySearch wiki at  Join A Facebook Research Community. The research groups currently available are worldwide and include:

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Sweden
4. England
5. Ireland
6. Wales
7. North America to include: Illinois, Missouri, New York, North and South Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia

If you do not see a local that you are currently researching, you can suggest an area to be started as a Community Research.  If you visit the link Join A Facebook Research Community, you can learn how to participate in this exciting opportunity.  Don't have a Facebook account? Then check out the Skype Research Community. Have fun!

Skype Community Research Pages

FamilySearch has launched several new Skype  Research Communites which has a sister site on Facebook for most of the Skype  Research Communities. You may be asking what is Skype, or you may be wondering how would a Skype Community be able to help you with your research.  Skype is allows you to video call and/or SMS chat with anyone on Skype for free.  So how is this going to help you?  FamilySearch has developed several Skype Research Communities including:
Denmark
Sweden
Finland
England
Ireland
Mexico City, Mexico
The United States of America to include Illinois, Missouri, New York, North and South Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Hemet, California.
These groups are designed to encourage you to ask questions and help others.  I personally have been in conversation with someone from Germany who has been helping me with the Danish language and helping me understand how to utilize a Danish (language barrier for me) map website.  The person you are visiting with can share their screen with you so you can watch what they are doing and/or send you files.  If you don't have a video camera on your computer, that is ok.  Skype also allows for SMS chatting (instant messaging), which allows you to visit and help each other.  The communities are friendly and everyone is willing to answer questions.  Come and learn how to join the fun by clicking on Join a Skype Research Community

Would You Like To Meet A New Cousin?

I remember the first time that I actually was in contact with a new distant cousin. I found it was exhilarating to meet someone who was looking for the same family groups and was my cousin, albeit a distant cousin. The workings of genealogy/family history can be an isolating task, but when you finally connect with someone who is in your family line it is like Christmas morning. I have had several successes of meeting and sharing data with some of my distant cousins. To date, I have found three distant cousins in the UK, one in New Zealand, and one in my home town.

It was from the cousin, Gil Nielsen that I blogged about previously who helped me find another great tool for those of us researching our Danish family lines. GEDCOMP is designed for those researching genealogy in the kingdom of Denmark as it is structured currently and also includes the areas that previously belonged to the kingdom of Denmark, including Norway, Iceland, Schleswig-Holstein, Skåne, Halland and Blekinge. It also includes information regarding European Royalty.

Mr. Lars Ludin is the genius behind this project which began as an experiment when he was in graduate school. According to the New York Times review completed by Peter Wayner, he stated the following: "Mr. Lundin's work began as an experiment when he was a graduate student in applied mathematics at the Technical University of Denmark. A fellow amateur genealogist suggested that it would be impossible to create a database that contained information on everyone who has ever lived." What began as a mathematical experiment has benefited thousands of individual researchers trying to connect with their Danish roots. As of today, November 26, 2008, there are over 4.2 million names in this database.

The website is designed for one to submit their GEDCOM (GEnealogy Data COMmunications) file that is created by utilizing a genealogical program such as PAF, Family Tree Maker, Ancestral Quest, etc. Once you have the GEDCOM file created it is then submitted via email to Mr. Lars Lundin. He utilizes his computer software to analyze the file and then you are sent an email providing the contact information (email address) of others who have submitted their files and are researching the same names. This service is completely free and works great in connecting you with others in your family tree. The only stumbling block one might experience is the language barrier as the emails returned are in Danish; however, this is easily overcome by utilizing any one of the translation sites located on the internet such as GramTrans, Google, etc.
Note: I am very protective of private (living) data therefore I sent a GEDCOM file starting with my grandparents to protect private data. Many of the genealogical programs provide a feature where you can privatize the file prior to creating a GEDCOM, but if yours does not, I would create the GEDCOM from your Grand or Greatgrandparents on back if you are concerned about privacy.

If you would like to read the NY Times review by Peter Wayner, click From Shared Resources, Your Personal History. If you would like to jump in and research further regarding the opportunities that await you with GEDCOMP, click GEDCOMP (English Version). You can view the site in the native language of Dansk by clicking on the Danish Flag on the home page. Have fun connecting with cousins!

The Åland Islands Emigrant Institute

The Åland Islands form an archipelago situated between the South western tip of Finland and east of Sweden. The Åland Islands have been under the Russian and Swedish rule but have now become a autonomous province of Finland that is primarily Swedish speaking. As has been discussed in past posts, boundaries of countries, counties, provinces, etc. have changed throughout time which can provide a challenge when doing genealogical research.



The Åland Islands Emigrant Institute indicates that the largest number of emigrants occurred during the period of 1893 - 1924, when roughly 25% of the Åland Island population held passports. Although this database is relatively small, if you have ancestors from this region, it would be worth your time researching in their on-line database.



While trying to use the database search engine, I found it to be difficult if you are unsure of the spelling of a name. I then tried searching by the locality and found this to be helpful. The extracted information that is obtained from the database include name, birth and death date and place, occupation, and the destination of the individual and much more.



If you would like to research in this database, click The Åland Islands Emigrant Institute. Have fun!

The North Frisian Emigrant - Archive

I love perusing the internet for website that will be of assistant to those that are researching their ancestry. As I was searching, I found this site about the North Frisian Emigrants. You may wonder as did I, who are the Frisian people. As I researched further, I found that the Frisian people came three different areas, namely Friesland in the Netherlands, West Friesland on the north west coast of Germany, and North Friesland on the south west coast of Denmark. (Please note that these are the approximate areas of interest. The history of this area is quite complex and will not be discussed in this post.) The Nordfriisk Institute was founded in 1965 with the purpose of supporting the Frisian people, language, culture, and history.

The Nordfriisk Institute is divided into four separate areas:

1. Frisian language and literature
2. History and geography
3. Emigrant Archives
4. Library and Archives

I am restricting my comments to the Emigrant Archives and Library and Archives. Before I go any further, I must tell you that I have been using the Google language tool bar to assist with the translation of the various sites and it is working wonderful. I would suggest that you add this to your tool bar for your convenience. To do so, click Google Translate Tools to learn more about the options available. Please note that the Google translate tool bar works with IE 6+ and Firefox 1.5+. I am not sure if it will work with the Safari browser.

The Emigrant Archives provides a searchable database that allows searching in English. You only need to type in the Surname; if you know the town where your ancestor came from you can enter this information and decrease the number of names that you might have to search through to find your ancestor. This database is free of charge to search. They information provides you with names, dates, and places but does not include all of the information that the institute may have. The Institute provides an email contact where you can write for more information.

The Library and Archives contain a variety of information including the history of the border between Denmark and Germany which is listed under Borderland Portal link. A few biographies of various people of the North Friesland area listed under the North Friesland database. It is best to enter this site with out the using the google translator services as it interferes with how the page loads and what information that you can see. Once you opened up the North Friesland Datenbank, if you will go the the "Personen" link, you will be able to look at the various biographies by clicking on the corresponding letter of the person's last name. Some of the biographies include pictures. Once I found the person that I wanted to research, I would utilize the Google translator to assist me with reading the document.

This is an interesting site and could provide valuable information for those that are researching in this area. If you would like to research further, click The North Frisian Emigrant-Archive. Have fun!

The Association of European Migration

I recently came across a website regarding European Migration Patterns which I found interesting. The website useful links for those researching their ancestry out of the United States. Although this site does not have any active databases to search, it provides one with links to other searchable databases of various countries in Europe including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Scotland, and Italian to name a few. If you would like to learn more about this site click The Association Of European Migration Links.

United Kingdom Mormon Pioneers

As we all know, history is a very important part of a family history. Where were our ancestors born? Where did they live? Where did they marry? What was their lifestyles?

The British Mormon Historical Society has developed a website titled Mormon History - Dedicated to the British Latter-Day Saint History. This site is dedicated to providing historical information regarding the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the United Kingdom. The information provided on this site includes historical accounts of some of the newly converted members, missionaries, and mission presidencies.

The website has several pages including information regarding Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and England. A few countries that are also included on this site and not readily apparent, are listed under the side tab(link) titled LDSEP Archive. The LDSEP Archive is an older version of this site titled the LDS European Project. I have used the LDSEP site prior to it's incorporation with the British Mormon Historical Society website. The countries included on the LDSEP Archive are Denmark, Sweden, England, Wales, Ireland, and Switzerland. Like the current Mormon history website, LDSEP has information regarding missionaries, members, and mission presidencies.

Both the LDSEP and Mormon History site contain biographies of various missionaries, members and mission presidencies. I you have LDS immigrant ancestors from the UK, Sweden, Switzerland, and Denmark, this site would be a great place to learn about the history of the church in the ancestral areas. If you would like to search the Mormon History - Dedicated to the British Latter-Day Saint History site click Mormon History in the UK. To research in the LDSEP site, click LDS European Project. If this link does not work properly you can also go to the site by clicking the LDSEP link (located on the lower left hand tool bar)on the home page of the Mormon History - Dedicated to the British Latter-Day Saint History site.

Have fun searching!

Danish Tombstone Projects

Are you researching for your Danish Ancestors Tombstones? This post will be of interest to you. Free access to pictures of various tombstones located throughout Denmark.


My great grandparents immigrated to the US in the 1800's. I confess that I have been very intimidated regarding the genealogical research on the Danish side of my family but I am beginning to research in Denmark and have found several websites that I have found to be of great use and would share them with you. The most recently discovered resource for those researching their Danish Roots across the pond titled "DK-Gravsten" meaning Danish Tombstones. The site is similar to several sites like Tombstone Inscriptions, Cemetery Records Online, and Find-A-Grave where volunteers have come together to preserve the heritage found in the various cemeteries across the world. DK Gravsten is the work of numerous volunteers in Denmark along with the website creators Joan Bedsted and Torben B. Sørensen photographing, and uploading the information in the the database of DK Gravsten. This site is in the early beginning, but already they have several cemeteries available for researching.

The information is provided in a transcribed format providing you with whatever information is inscribed on the tombstones. A digital picture is also generally available for viewing for each transcription. I have been conversing with Joan Bedsted one of the website creators regarding this site and we have had enjoyable conversations despite the language barrier. She has explained to me that she has approximately 469 cemeteries listed on the website that have been photographed are available for searching. Denmark has 3000 cemeteries so they are well on their way in providing a wonderful resource for those of us researching our Danish Roots. The website began on the Internet on November 14, 2007 and they have had over 43,000 visitors in the short time that it has been up. They have also created a page containing information regarding Danes who have died in other countries who immigrated from Denmark and encourage the public to contribute to this database if they have pictures of tombstones of their deceased Danish ancestors. In order to contribute to the "Deceased Danes abroad" you do not need to photograph the entire cemetery; just supply them with pictures of your deceased Danish Ancestors tombstones and they will be placed on their website for others to search. I browsed some of the names and found several from Nebraska where many Danes settled in the 1800's.

Access to this wonderful resource is totally free. You can contact the website author and they will provide you a copy of the picture of the tombstone for your records for free. Joan is a friendly and very kind person that wants to help gather families together.

In order to navigate the website successfully, I would provide you with a few hints.

First: You can view the first page in English by clicking on the English link on the left side bar. This will give you an overview of the website.

Second: To browse through the Deceased Danes Abroad click on "Danske i Udlandet." The page that loads allows you to browse the cemeteries according to ancestors name, providing you an alphabetic link table on the left of the page.

Third: A map showing which areas of Denmark have been photographed, click on Danmarkskortet.

Fourth: Lastly, you can view the cemeteries geographical by clicking on Jylland (Including Hjørring, Ålborg, Thisted, Viborg,Randers, Århus,Skanderborg, Ringkøbing, Ribe, Vejle, Haderslev, Tønder, Åbenrå, and Sønderborg), Øerne (Including Fyn [Odense, Svendborg], and Sjælland [Holbæk, Sorø, Frederiksborg, Roskilde, København, København, (City, Amager), Præstø, and Maribo], and Bornholm.) Once you have selected the geographical area, you need only to click on the index and you will be able to view the cemeteries that are available to search. The cemeteries that are listed in blue are those that are searchable.

If you would like to view or contribute information at the DK-Gravsten website, click DK-Gravsten. Have fun!

Sogne Træf Danish Genealogical Message Board

Sogne Træf a Danish website available for genealogical research has been a success for me. This site was where I stumbled upon meeting my newest distant cousin Gil Nielsen who I blogged about previously. This site Sogne Træf translated into English from Danish using the GramTrans, sogne means Parishes; træf means meet, happy, and coincidence. This is a perfect description of the site in that it is organized by parishes and is a happy coincidental place to meet new cousins. Sogne Træf is a message board organized by parishes located in Denmark and membership is not required in order to utilize the site. Having said that, membership is free and allows you to submit the information you want others to see. You will get your own profile: e-mail address, homepage link or snail mail address. As with most message boards, the more members that join, the more effective the board becomes. It is the law of critical mass that applies to this social networking site as it does with other social networking sites. The Law of Critical Mass means the minimum amount of force needed to cause a runaway chain reaction sustaining a continuous sharing of data between the members of the site. Or as the site SogneTræf states to "become a usefull tool for Denmark Genealogy it is important that as many genealogists as possible join SogneTræf and provide knowledge. Without members sharing knowledge: no SogneTræf."

The website is in Danish, but it does have an English version of the site that is easily found by clicking on the appropriate flag that is located on the upper right hand corner of the page. You can browse through the message boards by county or parish (if known)reading what other posters have posted to the boards. The majority of the message board posts are in Danish, but utilizing the Gramtrans website this hurdle is easily overcome. The nice options of these message boards are that you can contact the individual poster by email, snail mail, and/or phone. You also can view the poster's personal website if you desire. These options are great allowing for one on one contact with the poster to share information directly. The member chooses how much contact information is allowed to be viewed, but it is a must for poster to allow contact via email. Another great feature of this site is the Parish location map. The map covers the time period from 1793 until 1970. This is a great tool for the genealogist, providing critical information in locating your ancestor.

If you would like to research this site further, click Sogne Træf. Have Fun!

New Web Language Translator Site

I have finally found a web page translator for the Scandinavian languages to English. I have been on a mission to find the perfect translator for the Scandinavian languages for quite sometime trying various ones such as Google Translate, AltaVista BabelFish, and WorldLingo to name a few. These are great tools, but not one of them have any translation capabilities for the Scandinavian Languages.

This past week, I was blessed to finally come across a translator called GramTrans that is designed through a cooperative effort between two small companies specializing language technology, GrammaSorft ApS (based in Denmark) and Kaldera Språkteknologi AS (based in Norway). The geniuses behind this remarkable site are Eckhard Bick, dr. phil., computational linguist (GrammarSoft ApS), Lars Nygaard, language engineer (Kaldera Språkteknologi AS), Tino Didriksen, free-lance programmer (A Howl on the Wind). Technology is shaping the genealogical world, making the search for our ancestors far more simpler than when our parents were trying to connect with their ancestors just one generation past. We are very fortunate to be able to live in this time when the world is becoming smaller and allowing us to meet and connect with cousins across the globe.

My experience with GramTrans was amazing this past week. I was contacted by someone who was helping me with my Danish Enevoldsen line where I have hit the proverbial brick wall. I found this person on the DIS Danmark Forum but the entire page was in Danish. I utilized the translate URL feature of GramTrans, and in a matter of seconds, the entire page was translated into English. It was miraculous and for me an answer to many prayers on how to proceed in finding my Danish ancestors. This site will help me to read the information in the Danish Archives more efficiently and accurately.

As you can tell, I am very excited and pleased that I found the GramTrans site. The languages available for translation are Danish, English, Norwegian, Swedish limited Esperanto and Portuguese. The site has three different subscription levels including Free (limited use), Personal (unlimited use and browser plug-ins) and Commercial Lite (unlimited use, browser plug-ins, allows indirect commercial usage). You can translate an entire web page or just a few words. Another great feature of this site is that you can also contribute words to the site. You can try out the the translation capabilities by viewing the home page on GramTrans. Have great fun!

Danish RootsWeb Website

Rock Johnson, the administrator for the RootsWeb Danish Email list, has developed a Danish research site located on RootsWeb. This website provides the essential information on the history of Denmark and also the how-to of Danish Research. He is currently developing this site including Essential Databases, Research Help, Regional Resources, Travel and Culture, and Pictures. The author of the site reminds us that we need to spell out the full locality name not using abbreviations such as postal codes (CA for California), and use the best language we can when posting to Rootsweb email lists and message boards. I suggest that it would be best not to use abbreviations at all in our genealogical files as they can be the source of confusion later on when you are not on the earth to defend your research.

If you are searching Danish roots, Danish Roostweb would be a great place to check out to assist you in your quest. Have fun!

New Features Coming to FamilyLink.com

World Vital Records website is planning to launch their next installment of new features for the Social Networking site of FamilyLink. The features that will be included in this site include the following capabilities:

1) Quickly view pedigree files
2) Calculate the relationship between two individuals within their pedigree chart
3) Easily view vital information on an individual, such as birth, marriage, or death
dates
4) Switch to ancestor or descendant view
5) Add or view photos, documents, videos, albums, recordings, etc.
6) See information that has been added in the past 30 days
7) View a statistics page
8) Search through a large repository of information
9) Find surnames, places, dates, and local area information quickly and
easily.

They are also including capabilities to view places where your ancestors lived, connect with other people that are researching your family line, and connections with other genealogists that live in your ancestors locations who are willing to do look ups for your family. The authors of the FamilyLink state that there is going to be more features, but this will not be launched until this coming Friday, August 31st, 2007.

I have joined this site and have found a friend in Denmark who I have been able to help with her family that immigrated to the United States. She has also told me that she would be happy to help me with translations of documents that I find from Danish to English. As you can see, this site can be extremely valuable in assisting you in your research. If you are interested in checking this out, here to be directed to the create an account page for Family Link. If you would like to read more about this news, click here and you will be directed to the WorldVitalRecords.com site newsletter post regarding the upcoming release of FamilyLink features. Have Fun!

Free Danish Parish and Census Records Online for Searching

I am always in search of ways to find Danish Parish Records and Census Records. I have found such a site but much of the information is in Dansk/Danish. Danish State Archives Filming Centre is in the process of digitizing their microfilm and microfiche of parish records and census records. They have some of the data already available for searching, but other films/fiche are still in the process of digitization.

The website states the following regarding the progress of the development and digitization of the database:

" The Danish State Archives Filming Centre digitises parish registers and population censuses in order to make them accessible via the Internet. The digitisation project is primarily accomplished through scanning of microfiches and microfilms. There is no fixed timetable for the launch of each parish register and population census on the Internet, as this is a successive process.

The parish registers and population censuses will be displayed as pictures of the original records. The pictures show that many records are marked by poor storage conditions, poor ink quality and general wear and tear - a state of affairs that is irremediable. No registers have been compiled in which to search for personal names, occupations, addresses etc.

Parish registers
All Danish parish registers older than 1892 are included in the digitisation project. The end year may, however, differ for South Jutland (North Schleswig) because the local parish registers were kept according to different rules in the period 1864-1920, when South Jutland was under German administration.

Population censuses
The following population censuses will become accessible via the Internet.

1787 - Available on the Internet
1801 - Available on the Internet
1834 - Available on the Internet
1840 - Available on the Internet
1845
1850 - Available on the Internet
1855 - Available on the Internet
1860 - Available on the Internet
1880
1890
1916

Other population censuses are not included in the project. It should be noted that only population censuses taken in the Kingdom of Denmark will be made available on: www.arkivalieronline.dk."

In order to view the parish registers, you must register but it is free. To find out more information about this project and database, click here and you be redirected to the English portion of this site which includes instructions on how best to use the site, register, and a basic Danish/Dansk vocabulary list.

Have fun!