I am participating in the Family History Writing Challenge, because I realized that last year I neglected to write about my own family. Following this challenge is a good kickoff for me. I intend to write a family history narrative with my grandmother Jenny Kristine Juhl as the main character. During this month I will therefore post some of the sources I use to write her story and hopefully I can present the result to you next month.
Jenny was born on 5 September 1921 in Nørre Holsted Town in Holsted Parish, which is a rural parish, then under Malt Hundred, Ribe County. With that information at hand I found her birth record in the parish register, as shown in the snippet below. Her parents were husmand (smallholder) Niels Hansen Sørensen Juhl and hustru (wife) Gunder Margrethe Elbæk Kristensen. Below their names, it says "F27M28" and "Stenderup 30.10.17." F is short for Faderen (the father) and M is short for Moderen (the mother). The numbers 27 and 28 are their ages. The other piece of information is a reference to their marriage which took place in Stenderup on 30 October 1917.1
Headings in Danish Parish Registers from 1814
Since 1814, Danish parish registers (also called church books) have been kept in books with preprinted headings. This is a great advantage, if you do not understand Danish. In previous posts I discussed two 19th century birth records, one from a Danish market town and another one from a Danish rural parish. You may have noticed that the headings in the parish registers were changed over time, so understanding them can seem difficult. Here are few tips to understanding the Danish parish registers:
- Use the FamilySearch translations of the parish register headings over time.
- Use the FamilySearch Danish to English genealogical word list to understand the details of a specific record.
- In Southern Jutland before 1864, some parish registers were kept in German. Luckily FamilySearch also has a German word list.
If you are still unable to read a single word or a few words, write a comment below and I will do my best to help.
Source references:
- Holsted Sogn, Malt Herred, Ribe Amt, Kirkebøger, vicar's copy 1921-1927, "Fødte Kvindekøn" [female births], folio 51, entry 23, Jenny Kristine Juhl; digital images, Sall Data ”1921-1927 FKVD (KM)” (http://ao.salldata.dk/vis1.php?side=49&bsid=164320 : accessed 2 February 2019).
