[This document summarizes the findings of research conducted at the Salt Lake City Family History Library Feb 5-7 2014.]

Our object is to learn more about the grandparents of Niels Madsen Christensen, born 1839NOV10 in Magleby, Svendborg, Denmark. In particular, his paternal grandmother of which nothing is known.

Confirmation and documentation of the marriage and 6 known children was the first order of business. This was relatively straightforward as the events were logged into pre-printed ledger books.
Note the term "Ennemand" before Christen's name - this indicates he is an "old lonely man" which, according to the subject matter experts at SLC FHL, means he was NOT married before despite being 58 years at time of this marriage. If we accept the age of 58, it implies that he was born between 1773OCT22 and 1774OCT21.

Inger was born 1833JUL04.

Christen Madsen was born 1836JUN12 and baptized 1836JUL11.

Christiene was born 1837AUG06 and baptized 1837SEP24.

Niels Madsen was born 1839NOV10, baptized 1839NOV15, and confirmed(?) 1839DEC21.

Hans Christen (first) was born 1841DEC27 and baptized 1842JAN12.

I seem to have omitted the birth of Hans Christen (second) and the death of Hans Christen (first).

The following census records for Magleby were found to support the facts above:

Note the presence of Mads Larsen in the household and represented as their child (Deres Barn). The subject matter experts believe this child was adopted. Anna was not stated as a widow on the marriage, so this was probably an illigitimate child she conceived or an orphan taken into the family. (We did not explore this birth during this session.)


Christen Mortensen died 1849MAY20 of weakness and old age.

Now the fun begins

Prior research has suggested that the father of Christen Mortensen was Morten Rasmussen. However, from the marriage of Christen Mortensen, only a birth year of 1773/4 and a father's surname of Morten can be inferred. We ultimately scanned the Magleby Parish records from 1760 to 1787 (year of the census). The record is a day-by-day log of parish events. Baptisms (Dobb), Death (Begraved), and Marriages (Copulation) are recorded for a given day and a line drawn to separate that day from the next. Dates are often given relative to feast days rather than using calendar dates. These dates will be converted and added by me later. For this session specific days are the least of our problems.

A scan of the period 1770 to 1775 indicates that the only child named Christen with a father named Morten was - indeed - fathered by Morten Rasmussen.

It is important to note that the mother is not mentioned in this record! A mother was considered "unclean" after the birth and another woman held the baby during the baptism. The Introduction record (Intro) above this birth (Dobb) is an example of another woman being "introduced" to the congregation as once again "clean".

It turns out that there are THREE Morten Rasmussens in Nordenbroe, Magleby. Farms are clustered together - often around a pond or small lake - and the individuals are further identified by the farm upon which they live. One of the Morten Rasmussens live on the south side of the lake (Sond Nordenbroe). The remaining two Mortens live on the north side of the lake (Nord Nordenbroe). To distinguish between these two Mortens, the priest apparently appended the word "Wick" or "Vik" to the name (Morten Rasmussen "Wick"). (It remains to determine the significance of this modifier.)

Two other children were found for Morten Rasmussen "Wick":

Hans was born sometime in 1771.

And a SECOND Christen was born in 1778! (Subject matter experts suggest that the first son may have sickly and the name re-purposed for the new son.)

This may be the death record for the SECOND Christen (now who is the sickly one?)

The parish military records from 1791 show that Hans and the early Christen are still alive in 1891! Note that it does NOT indicate that Morten Rasmussen has died, although, as we will soon see, I could not find him in the 1787 Census. (The line above has a note "L. O. 1787" - if this is misaligned it could indicate father's death?)

So where is Mrs Rasmussen?

As can be seen, the wife is only mentioned in these church books in a brief marriage record. She is better documented in the census records.

We searched the 1787 Census for "Morten", "Morthen", "Rasmussen", and "Rasmusen" and got only one viable hit.

I have identified the birth of daughter Marie in 1760 to Morten of Sonderbroe and believe this is NOT our Morten.

Also, I have found the following records in the 1787 Census:




Although Hans could be either of two born in the same year, Christen is almost certainly our Christen. The designation "Tienestefolk" indicates a "servant" in the household. The placement of both surviving sons into other homes may further indicate that something caused the natural parents to be unable to care for them.

I noticed that both Karen Pedersdatter and Jorgen Pedersen share a common father's name Peder. I considered that they might be family that took in Hans and Christen when their parents could no longer care for them. I found the marriage of Jorgen and Dorthe, but not that of Rasmus and Karen. In any event so little information was present that I abandoned that line of inquiry.

The subject matter experts suggested that I look in neaby parishes for the marriage as this event usually occurs in the wife's parish. They also suggested starting in the year of the earliest birth and working backward.


Magleby Parish is on the extreme southern end of the island of Langelands. I became momentarily excited when I discovered that the parish adjacent to Magleby is Tryggelev, as it was Tryggelev to which Neils Madsen Christensen returned to marry Ane Petrine. However, I was unable to find a marriage for Morten Rasmussen in Tryggelev. At this point my frustrations got the best of me and I closed my investigation for the duration of this visit.

Avenues for Future Investigation

In arbitrary order:
  • Revisit the military records. (The 1791 record was found by a subject matter expert. I have little confidence that I knew what I was doing as I tried to scan for subsequent records. These records were not digitized or indexed at this time, so film browsing was required.)
  • Consider the possibility that Morten moved before the 1787 census and cast a wider net in the census.
  • Scan backward to find Morten's birth and map out this family to see if it provides any clues.
  • Get accurate translations of the records found. There may be a subtle clue in the specific wording. Also, examine all the other persons mentioned (witnesses, etc.) as they may provide clues.
  • Look more deeply at the two households into which the boys were placed. And try to verify which Hans.
  • Try to find the boys in later Census documents. My quick and dirty attempt was not fruitful, but neither was it thorough or broad. The fact that Christen ended up a carpenter could suggest a journey of apprenticeship - even to adjacent Germany.
  • Subject matter experts strongly believe that the naming of Christen's first child "Inger" is likely to be significant. Tradition suggests Inger is a very good candidate for Christen's mother's name.
  • Consider the possibility that "Wick" or "Vik" used to distinguish the two Mortens from the Nord side of the lake is really "Neils". The subject matter expert never suggested this, but it looks that way to me.