Tips

As a genealogist, there are certain “house rules” you must follow, in order to make your work as credible as possible, and save time in the process:

  • Never guess or assume anything, only verified data can be displayed as valid. If not possible, clearly mention the nature of the uncertainty.
  • Document everything as detailed as possible.
  • Always add a source to your data.
  • If you “borrow” other genealogist’s work, rewrite it into your own way of expression, and clearly state the source with a link.
  • People’s names are often seen spelled in several different ways. It is helpful if you include other spellings. For example the name Kirstine was also spelled Kjestine, Kjerstine or Kierstine. The name Cathrine was sometimes spelled Chatrine, Catrine or Kathrine. Make sure your spelling for the same person is the same everywhere, preferably like on the birth certificate or in the church record of the birth/baptism.
  • Make certain that you keep a pattern to everything you enter. An example could be town, parish, district, county (by, sogn, herred, amt), whereas some programs use a different order: parish/town, district, county (sogn/by, herred, amt). Perhaps the best order would be town, parish, district, county, country (by, sogn, herred, amt, land).
  • Some Danish, Swedish and German letters, i.e. ä, Äæ, Æ, ö, Öø, Ø, å and Å, and other letters like ÿ, ü, Üand é are not to be found on all keyboards. In some cases, you might actually be able to find those letters with a little trick. Holding down ALT while keying in a 3-digit value on the NUMPAD (when the numpad is activated) may produce some foreign letters:

ALT+130 = é
ALT+132 = ä
ALT+134 = å
ALT+142 = Ä
ALT+143 = Å
ALT+145 = æ
ALT+146 = Æ
ALT+148 = ö
ALT+152 = ÿ
ALT+153 = Ö
ALT+154 = Ü
ALT+155 = ø
ALT+157 = Ø

Otherwise, the letters ä and æ might be replaced by the letter combination ae. Likewise the letter ö or ø might be replaced by the letter combination oe, and the letter combination aa, which is almost the same as å, should remain as aa. The letter ü can be replaced by the letter combination ue.

  • This website Slægt og data.dk (now called Danske Slægtsforskere, free login necessary) provides a forum where non-Danish speaking genealogists can get help. The languages currently supported are Swedish, English, German, French and Dutch, and the site provides a list of friendly helpers, who voluntarily will dedicate their time and efforts to you. When posting a question or problem, please do remember to state the issue as clearly as you can, specifying every detail related to the issue. The precise source of your findings is especially essential, as the helpers will always want to verify everything for themselves. You will be amazed how skilled and helpful these people are.
  • There is a search option that you may not know about: GEDCOM-projektet at Danske Slægtsforskere!
    A number of Danish genalogists have submitted their GEDCOM files to Danske Slægtsforskere, and it is possible to perform a Google search directly into every single name in every single tree! And it is very easy.
    Make a Google search with a person’s name and add ” site:https://gedcom.slaegt.dk/” after the name.
    Example: Keld Pedersen site:https://gedcom.slaegt.dk/
    You can even search for “USA”, “United States” or “Hansen USA” in the same way. Every word mentioned in every tree will be found. A search like this will perform the task ONLY on the mentioned site, but it searches through every single tree that has been submitted.Good luck 🙂
  • Vigtig viden hvis du researcher i Tyskland:
    Fristerne i Tyskland er 110 år for fødsel, 80 år for vielser og 30 år for dødsfald.
    Important if you research in Germany:
    The years until records are released in Germany are 110 years for births, 80 years for marriages and 30 years for deaths.
  • Fadderskabssager (Paternity cases):

Go to this page: https://www.sa.dk/da/brug-arkivet/soeg-i-samlingerne/
Click the link Søg i Samlingerne
Open Avanceret Søgning
In FRITEKST, write Københavns Overpræsidium (for København)
In ARKIVSERIE, write AJ, Register
Press SEARCH

Now locate the year, and search through the first pages for the name of the mother or the father of the child. There may not be a case, if you cannot find the name, there is no case.

These cases are online until 1874. After this year, all you cab do is look in the registers, and in the AJ journals, the case itself has to be browsed in the State Archives.