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 parish list below. Locating people in metropolitian areas is often the most difficult to do, and Copenhagen is no exception. Research generally involves identifying what part of the city the family lived. To find the family in census or church records it is easier if you know the street address so you can determine the closest parish or district in the city for the census. Street address can be obtained through sources such as directories, police censuses, civil registration, elderly care records, tax records, and other records.

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 the population. The following is a list of such disasters:


 * 1349: The Black Death
 * 1405-1406: Plague outbreak
 * 1428: Plague outbreak
 * 1446: Plague outbreak
 * 1460-1461: Plague outbreak
 * 1472: Plague outbreak
 * 1483: Plague outbreak
 * 1546-1548: Plague outbreak
 * 1553-1554: Plague outbreak
 * 1563-1568: Plague outbreak
 * 1575-1578: Plague outbreak
 * 1583-1585: Plague outbreak
 * 1592-1594: Plague outbreak
 * 1601-1603: Plague outbreak
 * 1618-1621: Plague outbreak. 7,000 persons dead
 * 1624-1626: Plague outbreak
 * 1628-1630: Plague outbreak. 5,000 persons dead
 * 1636-1638: Plague outbreak. 5,000 persons dead
 * 1652: Dysentery outbreak
 * 1654: Plague outbreak. 8,500-9,000 persons dead out of a total of 30,000-35,000
 * 1710-1711: Plague outbreak. 22,000-23,000 persons died out of a total population of 60,000
 * 20-23 October 1728: Fire. 28% of the city was destroyed, and 20% of the people were left homeless. Records from the diocese of Zealand were destroyed among other irreplaceable works
 * 5-7 July 1795: Fire. 6,000 of 100,000 inhabitants were made homeless. The rest of the medieval part of the city was destroyed
 * 16 August-5 September 1807: British bombardment of Copenhagen. 1,000 buildings were destroyed, 195 civilians died, and 768 were injured
 * 11 June-October 1853: Cholera outbreak. 7,219 infections were reported of which 4,737 died

Archives, Societies, and Libraries

 * kbhbilleder.dk: historical photographs of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg
 * National Museum of Denmark
 * The Royal Library - Den Sorte Diamant
 * Copenhagen City Archive: Kilder på nettet (Sources on the Internet) digitalized records, some searchable

Districts
Copenhagen is part of Sokkelund herred.

Parishes
For a list of parishes in Copenhagen see Copenhagen Parish List. Salldata.dk Gade - sogn i København has a searchable list of streets in Copenhagen city and county which may help you identify which parish it belonged to.

Burial

 * 1805-1968 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1860-1912 Denmark, Copenhagen Burials, 1860-1912 at MyHeritage - index & images ($)

Census

 * 1771 Oeders Efterretninger 1771 at ddd.dda.dk - data of of married couples, widowers and widows for Zealand, Amager, Møn and Bornholm; FamilySearch Library Catalog: Efterretninger angående ægteparrenes, enkemændenes og enkernes antal i Kjøbenhavn, Sjælland, Møen og Bornholm ... 1771

Records Available at FamilySearch

 * 1834 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images
 * 1835 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1840 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1845 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1850 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1855 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1860 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1870 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1880 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1890 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1901 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1906 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1911 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1916 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1921 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1925 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1930 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images

Records Available Online

 * Politiets Mandtaller (Copenhagen Police Census Records) are are one of the most important records for finding a person's residence in Copenhagen. These records tracked individuals in Copenhagen year by year, creating a valuable database of the city's residents. The police censuses fill in the years between the national censuses and contain vital genealogical material, such as ages, birthplaces, addresses, and occupations.
 * Copenhagen City Archive: Politiets Registerblade (Copenhagen Police census), 1890-1923
 * 1885 & 1895 Copenhagen, Denmark, Censuses, 1885 and 1895 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
 * Denmark State Archives: Censuses images
 * Dansk Demografisk Databas: Census Indexes Incomplete - check here for current status

Civil Marriages

 * 1739-1964 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images

Church

 * 1484-1941 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * Julins Registre til Københavns kirkebøger
 * Arkivalieronline: Copenhagen Church Records Online

Military

 * 1789-1792 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images

Probate

 * 1674-1851 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images

Cemeteries - Funeral protocols

 * Copenhagen City Archive: Funeral Records - City of Copenhagen 1861-1942