So you think you can forget about using the Microfilms.....

The Danish Archives have done the world a great service by making the Danish Church Records available through www.arkivalieronline.dk or www.sa.dk/ao.

I have been helping a patron with a grandfather that was born to unwed parents (uækte).  Here is the parents information from the Danish Archives website.

1817-1836 Gerlev (Frederiksborg) opslag 26

The information about the father is pretty vague and the image has faded.

Here is the entry for our guy but taken from the Microfilm.

FHL Film 48535 Gerlev, Frederiksborg

Here we see the father's name much more clearly, his occupation and where he is from.  We can also see that this is not the same entry filmed two different times.  They are two different records for the same area.

So don't forget about the microfilm.  They're still a great tool to have.

How do I know if I have the right Ole Olsen? - Using Norwegian probate records

We all have those ancestors who's name is super common.  It can be very easy to start up the wrong family tree if you're not careful.  I recently helped a patron move to the next generation beyond everybody's common ancestor, Ole Olsen.

In Hof, Hedmark, Norway we find the following birth record for Regine "Rika" Olsdatter.  

Hedmark fylke, Hof, Ministerialbok nr. 6 (1822-1841), Fødte og døpte 1830, side 244-245.

We see that she is born in Eig to Ole Olsen and Karen Pedersdatter.  Since this is Norway, we should be off to the Bygdebøker for Hof.  Right?  Well, it's not that simple.  Hof (in Hedmark) was one of those "super" parishes that became several different parishes.  In 1848 Våler and Åsnes were split out of Hof.  So now there are three sets of Bygdebøker we need to look at.

In Våler Bygdebok, we find Vestre and Østre Eid.  (Eig is an old spelling of Eid.)  We don't know which one to look at so you have to look at both.  As luck would have it, this particular Bygdebok is an older one and is very focused on the property transactions.  Compared to some others, there is very little details on the families.

Now, back to the church records to find more kids.  We find three other children:  Cornelius, Ole, and Pernille Emilie.

Cornelius Olsen born 19 May 1828 in Østre Eig.
Hedmark fylke, Hof, Ministerialbok nr. 6 (1822-1841), Fødte og døpte 1830, side 180-181.

Ole Olsen born 19 May 1833 in Eid Østre.
Hedmark fylke, Hof, Ministerialbok nr. 6 (1822-1841), Fødte og døpte 1830, side 322-323.

Pernille Emilie Olsdatter born 24 Apr 1836 in Østre Eig
Hedmark fylke, Hof, Ministerialbok nr. 6 (1822-1841), Fødte og døpte 1830, side 426-427.

We see the parents are married when Cornelius is born (1828).  So now we look at the marriage records for Hof beginning with Cornelius's baptism date and working backward.  We are looking for an Ole Olsen that marries a Karen Pedersdatter.  If one of them has a connection to Eid, then we can almost be sure we have the correct couple.

We work backward and we do find an Ole Olsen marrying a Karen Pedersdatter but there is no connection to Eid.  To make things even murkier, the farms in the marriage record are both in what would become Åsnes.  Here is the marriage record:

17 Apr. 1827
Hedmark fylke, Hof, Ministerialbok nr. 6 (1822-1841), Fødte og døpte 1830, side 604-605.

The farms listed are Udnæset (Utneset) and Trongaard (Trondgården).  The fathers of the bridal pair are listed, Ole Audensen and Peder Bergersen.  We can check the Bygdebøker for Åsnes and see what we can find.  We find both the bride and groom as children.  It says nothing about what happened to them.

Most Norwegian probates have been indexed.  Several years ago, a card index was created for most probate records.  They were organized by farm and contain information about the family.  So let's look and see if there is a record for Ole Audensen.  From the Bygdebok we find he died in 1845.  We find his probate card.

Hedmark fylke, Solør og Odalen sorenskriveri Skiftekort side 2156

There it is.  Ole Olsen from Utneset is the same as the Ole Olsen in Eid.

We have used the probates to prove that the Ole Olsen in the marriage record is the Ole Olsen who is the father of Regine.