Danish Demographic Database

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The Danish Demographic Database was created by the Danish State Archives. It is designed to be an every name index for searching the Danish censuses. It is not linked to the original census images, but the original census images can be viewed at Census Archive. The data input is accomplished primarily by committee efforts. Although the project has goals of accomplishing certain years first, a committee can focus their efforts on a specific locality. Some localities have the majority of national censuses complete, others are limited to the years of the project goals.

Although the census database does not include all parishes for every year of national census, the 1801, 1834, 1840,and 1845 are complete for the entire kingdom. The next year to be complete for the entire kingdom is the 1880 census.

Content
The Danish National Censuses are rich in genealogical information. The content found within each census varies year to year depending upon the original census format. You will find information such as:

Place of Residence
City, street name and number, parish, village, hamlet, and larger farms.

Name
The full name of every person in each household; a woman's maiden surname is always included.

Age
Each persons' age, e.g., 1st year or 45th year.

Marital Status
The marital status (and whether this is the first or a subsequent marriage) is included on the 1787 and 1801 censuses. Marital status without subsequent marriage information is on every National Census after 1801.

Birthplace
Every person's birthplace was added in 1845 and in all censuses thereafter, except for the 1906 census.

Position in household
The relationship in the family, or the position within each household; children of first or subsequent marriage of either parent; illegitimate children.

Occupation
The person's title, profession, or occupation.

Miscellaneous Information
Miscellaneous information, which includes things like visiting at home, blind, or living on parish relief. 

From the Homepage

 * 1) Click on the Danish flag to run the database in Danish and the British flag to run it in English.
 * 2) Click on Censuses.

What's in the database?
If this is your first search in the database choose "What is in the database" to see what is available for your parish. Choose County, and then the district (if you know the district), followed by choosing the parish. Click on "search". Scroll down the list of hits to find your desired parish. The abbreviation FT stands for Folketælling (census). The FT is listed next to the year of census. This indicates what is in the database for the parish you need.

Search for individuals:
If you choose "Autocheck of database", you will be able to run a search using drop down menus for place identification. Choose the desired county, district (if you know it), and parish. Type in the person's name for example: Hans Nielsen and choose the year of census. Scroll through the hits searching for your Hans Nielsen by name and age. When you want to know more about a certain hit, click on "Show household". Search through the list for the household that includes your interested person by name and age. From here you can see who else is living in the household at the time of the census. Be careful to spell the individual's name using the Danish alphabet or use wildcards (see tips below).

Show documentation
This will only show you who extracted the information and entered it into the database. This link does not connect you to an image of the original census.

Show all fields
This gives you information found on the original census for the individual you want along with database registration information.

Internet Address

 * Danish Demographic Database

or search Google for "Danish Demographic Database."

Cost
Free

Tips

 * Whether you are running it in Danish or English, you must represent the Danish letters of Æ, Ø, and Å. (where appropriate). For example: Sørensen uses the Danish letter Ø. If you type Sorensen, you will get zero hits.
 * As an alternative, you can type _ in the middle of a word for single letter replacement. For example: S_rensen as an alternative for ø. You can type % to replace one or more letters. For example: Niels% allows you to search for all the Nielsens' and Nielsdatters.
 * Type in at least 3 letters for the name you are searching for (first, last or both). Remember to consider the variations of a name such as Sven or Svend. There are also variations on the surnames such as Svensen, Svendsen, Svendsdatter, or Svensdtr. As a researcher the challenge is to figure out how the census taker wrote it.
 * Use the Danish Word List on FamilySearch to translate words such as gift–married or ugift–unmarried; kone–wife, børn–child; tjeneste–servant.
 * Women are typically entered by maiden name. Children sometimes use their father's surname and sometimes use their father's given name with the suffix -sen (meaning son) or -datter (meaning daughter).
 * The less you enter the better. Use other fields only if you get more than 100 hits for a name. Then delimit your results using age, sex, or parish if known.
 * If you are unsuccessful with a male’s name, try a wife by maiden name or a child’s name. Try only a first name or only a surname or part of a name. Try sound-alike letters such as G, C, K for Groneman, Cronemand, Kronnemann. Try replacing several letters with % (wildcard); for example: %onema%.