🇺🇸 Lene Kottal Professional Genealogy Contact Lene Kottal

Link-Lives: A Danish National Historical Life-Course and Multi-Generational Database 1787 - 1968

Lene Dræby Kottal
Link-Lives: A Danish National Historical Life-Course and Multi-Generational Database 1787 - 1968

The Copenhagen City Archive, the Danish National Archives, the Brunak Group, and the BioHistory Group are working on a project called Link-Lives by which they want to establish a large-scale historical database of life courses and multi generational relationships. They state the data will be of high quality.

I am not convinced that it will be high quality data for a number of reasons, primarily these:

  • Genealogists spend years trying to link one ancestor to another and then a machine is supposed to be able to "reconstruct life-courses and family-relations for (nearly) all individuals who have lived in Denmark 1787-1968."1
  • This database is based on databases with indexes to original records, meaning the database is based on derivative sources.

Would you trust this machine to make your family tree for you? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

 

Source references:

  1. University of Copenhagen (https://biohistory.ku.dk/lifecourses-database/ : accessed 9 February 2019), "Link-Lives: towards a Danish national historical life-course and multi-generational database 1787 - 1968."
  2. The image at the top is a snippet of my grandmother's family tree, which I have entered into my genealogy software.
Share this article
share on Facebook share on Twitter
Births in Danish Church Books: Information About the Parents

Births in Danish Church Books: Information About the Parents

Danish parish registers with births and baptisms provide us with a wealth of information about the child’s parents. The information often appears in the same order. If you learn to recognize the typical sequence, it can help you decipher the text in the church book with your ancestor's birth.

by
Can You Find an Ancestor's Grave in Denmark?

Can You Find an Ancestor's Grave in Denmark?

Standing by the grave where our ancestors rest can give us a sense of their presence. Relatives that we have never met can feel more real when we visit their grave. When in Denmark, you may want to visit cemeteries of significance to your family history. But how do you find your Danish ancestor's grave? And will it even be there decades or centuries later? Learn about Danish burial customs in this blog post!

by
Denmark's Constitution: Freedom of Religion

Denmark's Constitution: Freedom of Religion

Do you have ancestors who lived in Denmark in 1849? This year in significant to Danish history because the ratified the first Danish Constitution that year. It gave Danes several rights, including freedom of religion. Get tips for which records to examine to understand how freedom of religion impacted your ancestors' lives.

by