Copenhagen City, Denmark Genealogy

Guide to Copenhagen City ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

How to Find Birth, Marriage, and Death Information
Instructions for finding records are found on the individual parish pages, linked to the clickable map and parish list below.

See the article Locating Family in the City.

History
Copenhagen has existed at least since the 11th century and was possibly founded by Svein Forkbeard. It replaced Roskilde as the capital of Denmark in 1443. Copenhagen has suffered several disasters throughout its history which affected families and therefore genealogy. The following is a list of such disasters:

Disasters in Copenhagen:
 * 1) 1349: The Black Death
 * 2) 1405-1406: Plague outbreak
 * 3) 1428: Plague outbreak
 * 4) 1446: Plague outbreak
 * 5) 1460-1461: Plague outbreak
 * 6) 1472: Plague outbreak
 * 7) 1483: Plague outbreak
 * 8) 1546-1548: Plague outbreak
 * 9) 1553-1554: Plague outbreak
 * 10) 1563-1568: Plague outbreak
 * 11) 1575-1578: Plague outbreak
 * 12) 1583-1585: Plague outbreak
 * 13) 1592-1594: Plague outbreak
 * 14) 1601-1603: Plague outbreak
 * 15) 1618-1621: Plague outbreak. 7000 Copenhageners died
 * 16) 1624-1626: Plague outbreak
 * 17) 1628-1630: Plague outbreak. 5000 Copenhageners died
 * 18) 1636-1638: Plague outbreak. 5000 Copenhageners died
 * 19) 1652: Dysentery outbreak
 * 20) 1653-1657: Plague outbreak. 8500 Copenhagerns died out of a total of 30,000-35,000
 * 21) 1710-1711: Plague outbreak. 22,000-23,000 Copenhageners died out of a total 30,000
 * 22) 20-23 October 1728: Fire. 28% of the city was destroyed 20% was left homeless. Records from the diocese of Zealand were destroyed among other irreplaceable works
 * 23) 5-7 July 1795: Fire. 6000 of 100,000 inhabitants were made homeless. The rest of the medieval part of the city was destroyed
 * 24) 16 August-5 September 1807: British bombardment of Copenhagen. 1,000 buildings were destroyed, 195 civilians died, and 768 were injured
 * 25) 11 June-October 1853: Cholera outbreak. 7219 infections were reported of which 4737 died

Archives, Societies, and Libraries

 * Museum of Copenhagen Includes over 83,000 pictures from Copenhagen and Frederiksberg
 * National Museum of Denmark
 * The Royal Library - Den Sorte Diamant
 * Online records for genealogists, Copenhagen City Archives (main lists of Copenhageners, marriages, citizenship, poor records and funerals)

Districts

 * Sokkelund Herred

Parishes
For additional information, see the parish list and [this list about parish information.

Burial Records

 * 1805-1968 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Records Available at FamilySearch.org

 * 1834 - - images
 * 1835 - - index and images
 * 1840 - - index and images
 * 1845 - - index and images
 * 1850 - - index and images
 * 1855 - - index and images
 * 1860 - - index and images
 * 1870 - - index and images
 * 1880 - - index and images
 * 1890 - - index and images
 * 1901 - - index and images
 * 1906 - - index and images
 * 1911 - - index and images
 * 1916 - - index and images
 * 1921 - - index and images
 * 1925 - - index and images
 * 1930 - - index and images

Records Available Online

 * Politiets Registerblade Copenhagen Police census, 1892-1923
 * Denmark State Archives Censuses images
 * Dansk Demografisk Databas Census Indexes Incomplete - check here for current status

Civil Marriages

 * 1739 - 1964 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Church Records

 * 1484-1941 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * Julins Registre til Københavns kirkebøger
 * Arkivalieronline: Copenhagen Church Records Online

Military

 * 1789 - 1792 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Probate Records

 * 1674 - 1851 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Cemetaries - Funeral protocols

 * Funeral Records - City of Copenhagen 1861-1942