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.
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:
![]() ![]() ![]() Christen Mortensen died 1849MAY20 of weakness and old age.
Now the fun beginsPrior 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 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":
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.
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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 InvestigationIn arbitrary order:
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