Denmark Genealogy

Guide to Denmark ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

Country Information
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe bordering Sweden, Norway, and Germany. Danish is the official language with Faroese, Greenlandic, and German being recognized languages.

Finding Your Ancestors' Town in Denmark

 * Genealogical records are organized by geographical locality. Civil registration (government birth, marriage, and death records) and church records (christenings/baptisms, marriages, and burials) were kept at the local level. To search these records, you must know the town where your ancestors lived.
 * If you do not know your ancestors' town, follow the advice in the Wiki article, Denmark Finding Town of Origin, to search a variety of records that might provide that information.

Denmark Clickable Map
The map below shows county boundaries from about 1793 to 1970.

Jurisdictions
For more information on the county-level jurisdictions in Denmark over time, see Denmark Counties.

Counties
The standard which FamilySearch uses is as follows: Town, Sogn (Parish), Herred (District), Amt (County), Denmark. Click on a county listed below to go to the Wiki article for more information on that county. • 4

Denmark Parishes
Knowing which parish your ancestors came from is vital to Danish research. The parish listing has been divided into subsections due to the size of each file. Each list is alphabetically organized according to the modern Danish standard, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Æ, Ø, Å.
 * Parish List Denmark A - G
 * Parish List Denmark H - N
 * Parish List Denmark O - U
 * Parish List Denmark V - Å

2007 Regions


On 1 January 2007 the counties were reorganized into five regions. Their official names are:
 * Region Hovedstaden
 * Region Sjælland
 * Region Nordjylland
 * Region Midtjylland
 * Region Syddanmark

More Denmark Research Strategies
Research strategies give guidance on how to research or what records to search for first. Below are additional research strategy Wiki articles for Denmark.
 * Getting Started
 * Emigration information
 * Immigration information
 * Using witnesses to find the next generation
 * City People and Research
 * My Danish Ancestors, A Step-by-Step Guide to Utilizing FamilySearch.org to find Danish Ancestors.

More Denmark Research Tools
Research tools can include resources that assist in locating correct records to search and determining the correct locality to search in. Below are links and Wiki articles to research tools for Denmark.
 * Bauers kalendar Latin date converter
 * Danish Family Search
 * DIS-Danmark Kort over Danmarks amter fra 1793 til 1970 maps of Danish counties, districts, and parishes
 * Hollinger Family History Lots of data for more than 2,100 people from many European countries since 1480.
 * A.M. Krogh-Thomsen, Mormonkirkens store database PDF
 * Københavns Stadsarkiv Begravelser i København Burials in Copenhagen, 1805-1942
 * MyHeritage Denmark Family History Records
 * Virgo-Fyn contains various databases including citizenship, church records, prisoner records, protocols.
 * Wadschier.dk Skiftejurisdiktioner for Nørrejylland (Probate Jurisdictions in Northern Jutland) The database is intended to find archive capabilities where a probate can be found. One has to know where the deceased died and his condition.

FamilySearch Research Wiki

 * Denmark Counties
 * Denmark Record Finder
 * Timeline of Events in your Ancestors Life
 * Nordic Given Names

Church

 * Denmark Parish Register Headings
 * Southern Denmark (Danish language)
 * Southern Denmark (German language)

Handwriting and Language

 * Danish Dictionary
 * Danish Handwriting Guide
 * Handwriting Examples
 * Typing Æ, Ø, and Å

Military

 * Military Levy Numbers (Lægdnummer)
 * Military Levying Roll Abbreviations (Army)

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in researching your family.
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
 * FamilySearch Center locator map
 * Historical Records
 * FamilySearch Help Center Online Lessons:
 * Intro to Danish Census
 * How to Use Danish Church Records
 * Danish Land Records
 * Danish Emigration Records
 * Danish Military Levying Rolls
 * Using Danish Gazetteers - 5 lessons
 * Denmark Tax Records
 * Denmark Probate Records

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