Tønder County, Denmark Genealogy

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

History
Prior to 1864, Tønder was situated in the Duchy of Schleswig, so its history is intertwined with the history of Schleswig-Holstein. In the 1920s, when the Schleswig Plebiscite incorporated Northern Schleswig into Denmark, 76.5% of Tønder's inhabitants voted to remain part of Germany and 23.5% voted to join Denmark. After the First World War, Tønder was detached from Germany in spite of the majority of its population casting a pro-German vote in the Schleswig Plebiscites - as Tønder was included in Zone I, which as a whole had a strong pro-Danish majority. In the years that followed, German political parties enjoyed a majority in the city council. 

Archives, Societies, and Libraries
(enter archive, society, library contact information)

Census Records

 * 1860 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1870 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1880 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1890 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1901 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1906 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1916 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1921 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1925 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1930 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Districts

 * Hviding Herred
 * Slogs Herred
 * Tønder, Højer, og Lø Herred

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. .

Parishes
Map of parishes

Church Records

 * 1484-1941 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Probate Records

 * 1674-1851 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Estates
Sources in Print