FAQ about family history in Denmark

You can start by asking your family, especially the oldest family members, if they have or know of any information such as names, places, and birth/death dates for their parents and grandparents. Additionally, it may be that someone has already compiled the family history for a branch of the family. There might also be family albums or other important documents that have been preserved, which can provide valuable clues for your further research. The more information you have, the easier it becomes to trace your family.

Next, you can begin constructing a family tree to create an overview of who is related to whom and when each individual lived. Once you have filled in part of your family tree, you can use it to continue your search in parish records or census data to find additional relatives (available in Danish for free through Rigsarkivet – The Danish National Archives). You can also explore other archival materials and local historical collections to uncover information about the lives your ancestors led. You can read more about this through the Danish Genealogical Society -Danske Slægtsforskere.

Parish records are one of the most essential sources for genealogists in Denmark, as they contain fundamental information about family members. This is because the Danish church to this day is still in charge of birth, marriage, and death recording. In parish records, you can find details about when relatives were born (and baptized), confirmed, married, and deceased (and buried). These records form the foundation of your genealogical research and help you create a structured framework for further investigation (the family tree).

When gathering information from parish records, it is important to document both the information and the source from which it originates (including the parish name, year, page number, and a link if accessed online).

You can learn more about using church records as a genealogical source through the Introduction in English from Danish genealogist society or on the Danish website Danske Slægtsforskere – Kirkebøger.

In Denmark, the entire population was periodically counted from 1787 to 1970, after which the national civil registry took over this function. Census commissioners visited all households and recorded names, ages, marital status, and household roles. From 1845 onward, the place of birth was also recorded, which is particularly valuable for genealogical research.

Censuses are important sources because they provide a snapshot of households, making it easier to locate individuals in parish records using information such as age, children, and location. However, it is important to note that the information in censuses may vary from one census to another and from parish records, as it often relied on people’s memory and the names commonly used in everyday life.

You can read more about using censuses as a genealogical source through the Danish Genealogical Society’s website: Danske Slægtsforskere – Folketællinger or in their Introduction in English.

A family tree, or genealogical chart, is used to provide an overview of the structure (branches) of a family. You can start with a specific person (such as yourself) and trace the ancestors backward in time (an ancestral chart).

Alternatively, you can begin with a specific individual or couple in history and trace their descendants forward in time (a descendant chart). If you choose to create this structure using a digital genealogy program, it often allows you to view both types of diagrams.

You can read more about genealogical charts through the Danish Genealogical Society’s website or in their Introduction in English.

In Denmark, the National Archives (Rigsarkivet) provides access to various archival materials online, free of charge (for example, through Rigsarkivet – The Danish National Archives and Danish Demographic Database). You can read more about the different sources on Rigsarkivet – The Danish National Archives’s page dedicated to genealogists.

To search these sources, you will need information such as names, dates (e.g., birth dates, marriage dates, census years, etc.), and locations (parish). Even if you only have some of this information, you may still find success by browsing through the different sources. One platform, Danish Family search, offers access to the National Archives’ scanned materials (with permission) in a different format, where you can also assist in indexing and transcribing records.

Additionally, Danske Slægtsforskere, the Danish Genealogical Society, offers a wealth of resources, guides, and online communities that are useful for genealogical research, including a large, Danish, online library of genealogical and local history books, Danskernes Historie Online.

Once you have gathered more knowledge about your family, you might want to enrich your family tree with stories about how your ancestors lived and experienced major historical events and crises in Danish history. For this, you can explore the websites of city- and local archives in the areas where your ancestors lived (for example Kolding city archives’ website). These archives typically provide information on the sources and resources they offer, and some may also have digitized materials available online. Many local archives have made images and other documents accessible through the shared, Danish platform arkiv.dk.

Most of the sites mentioned can only be navigated in Danish, and the sources are only searchable in Danish. You can use browser based translation tools to navigate the sites in the language of your choice. For searching in Danish I would suggest using an AI tool to suggest search terms to use in Danish.

It can be highly beneficial to draw upon the knowledge and experience of others when starting or engaging in genealogy research. Therefore, it is a good idea to find networks or groups that share an interest in genealogy.

The Danish Genealogical Society (Danske Slægtsforskere) has a Facebook group called Slægtsforskning with over 30,000 active and often very helpful followers. They also have a Facebook group dedicated to English speaking persons called Genealogy Research Denmark.

You can also find a map of local associations and archives on the Danish Genealogical Society’s website.

There are various associations for genealogists across local regions in Denmark. As mentioned, you can find a map and a list of these associations on the Danish Genealogical Society’s website. On the same site, you can also find a list of upcoming events and an Introduction in English.