Detective Work as Research

Working on genealogy is labour intensive detective work.  It’s extremely important to have your initial facts correct such as your grandparents’ names, birth dates and even birth place. 

When you are dealing with Danish names once you get beyond 1856 it can become extremely confusing.  In Denmark the use of patronymic surnames was in common use even into the 1870’s so if your great grandfather’s father was Christian Nielsen your grandfather could be named Jacob Christiansen and so on down the line of ancestors.  Therefore it’s vital to have more family detail, such as the names of the grandparents’ siblings, who they married and so forth.  If you don’t have that you are in real trouble. 

Knowing some family stories is also of great help, such as nicknames which may be tied to a location.  Other eccentric naming conventions still in use are adding the wife’s maiden to the surname (sometimes after but usually before the husband’s surname).  Worse still some assumed the wife’s name (rare, but it did happen).  And while the sons were called, for example Jensen, the daughter would be Jensdatter (i.e. daughter).

I have been very lucky in that two of my maternal cousins, once removed, were avid genealogy enthusiasts so I had a great start to my own research.  As well, I adored hearing stories of my family so I had a huge store of facts from my father’s family.  I cannot tell you how excited I was to discover my great grandmother’s true first name when I found her on a census in the Danish Archives (this was before my search in MyHeritage).  I couldn’t have been more excited if I had personally discovered King Tut’s tomb.  Confirming her name took my deep into the 18^th century and currently there are “Discoveries” into the 17^th century but I am hesitating to confirm them without more backup information.

It is a slippery slope to accept a computer program’s “research” without having your own facts and convictions to back up a find.  There’s no use in telling me that I suddenly have a match in Copenhagen when I know all my people are from Vendsyssel (Northern Jutland).  While cousin Verner got his tree all the way to Gorm den Gammle I am pretty sure I only have rough & tumble fishermen and sea captains in my line.

But I will keep an open mind of course!