The Danish counties were local administrative units, which had direct contact with the Chancery and thus the King. The county offices therefore had a wide variety of tasks and left many record series of great value to family researchers. Unfortunately, the diversity of the documents can make these collections intimidating. To help you utilize this goldmine of family history documents, I will show examples of 25 records from Danish county offices in this year’s Advent Calendar.
The head of the county was the amtmand (literally translates to county man). The many employees in the county offices handled or audited tasks related to:
- Applications to the King, e.g. for permission to marry a close relative.
- Mediation between married couples who had applied for separation or divorce.
- Paternity, child support and alimony cases.
- Military levying and various military cases.
- Compensation from fire insurances for real property.
- Condemnation of contagious deceases.
- Permissions for subdivision of lots of land.
All these records can give more insight into an ancestor’s life, so they are very valuable for genealogists. Come by every day from December 1 until Christmas to learn more about Danish county records, so you can spice up your family history book.
