The Danish word udvandring means emigration.
The Copenhagen Police kept emigrant lists from 1869 to 1913. The lists only include emigrants who bought a ticket from a Danish travel agent. Emigrants, who bought tickets from foreign agents, are not listed in these records. Indexes to Copenhagen emigrant lists are provided by the Danish Emigration Archives. I have written a tutorial on how to use the emigrant index.
From 1879 to 1887, the Mouritzen brothers in Vejle were allowed to keep their own lists of emigrants. Indexes to Vejle emigrant lists are provided by the Danish National Archives.
You may not be able to find your Danish immigrant ancestor on any of these lists because they do not at all cover all emigrants from Denmark. Two other sources to document that a person immigrated are the following:
- If your immigrant ancestor was male, find him in the military levying rolls because it was likely noted therein if he immigrated. It will not state the date or the ship, but it can provide an approximate year of emigration and evidence of his identity. I have written various blog posts about military levying rolls, which might help you.
- Find probate records for the possible parents of your immigrant ancestor. If they died after he or she immigrated, and they left behind any inheritance, your immigrant ancestor ought to be mentioned in the probate record. Documents to the probate case might even contain a letter from your immigrant ancestor to the probate court. Probate records can be difficult to find because jurisdictions changed. I have written a few blog posts about probate records, which you might find useful.
Do you need help identifying the birthplace and parents of your immigrant ancestor? Contact me for an estimate of the time needed for your project!
I fully understand if you would like to do the research yourself, which is why my services are flexible. Maybe you would like a one-on-one tutorial via Zoom to get you started with military levying records? Or maybe you want to be able to ask questions and request translations when needed during your own research? I am open to various approaches to assist you with your research, so do not hesitate to contact me about your genealogy project.
Source Reference:
The image at the top: A drawing of immigrants aboard the ship Northern Light in 1869; see "Digital collections," database with images, The Danish Royal Library (https://www5.kb.dk/images/billed/2010/okt/billeder/object398248/en : accessed 18 April 2022), entry for "Orkandækket på Northern Light" by Bernhard Olsen. The image is public domain.
