When I last wrote about Karl Henrik Lauridsen, I was stuck. I had three mentions of him in the parish records: a christening in Møborg, a notation about the Møborg christening in Ejsing where Ane was working when she became pregnant, and in the child Martin’s confirmation. There were two variants of his name: Karl Henrik Lauridsen (mentioned twice in Møborg) and Karl Martin Henriksen (mentioned in Ejsing). Combing through census and parish records and military levy rolls, I could find no one in Ulfborg parish by either of those names specifically.
Despite my personal reservations, I finally decided to take a DNA test to see if it could shed light on any piece of this puzzle. I chose to test with FamilyTreeDNA for multiple reasons, and from there I took my raw data and uploaded it to MyHeritage, because it has a strong Scandinavian DNA customer base. Not long after, I was contacted by BH, with whom I shared 106.9 cM, which would put us in the realm of first cousin twice removed to second cousin twice removed. He had a multi-generational family tree posted, and we both wondered, how were we related? The vast majority of his ancestors were from Århus Amt, which is on the complete opposite side of the country from my ancestors. One branch was the exception – it led to Råsted parish in Ulfborg Amt. Could this be our common link? Even more exciting: could it be the link to my elusive second great-grandfather who was also allegedly from Ulfborg?
BH took a crack at looking for my Karl Henrik Lauridsen with as little success as I had. (That did give me a warm and fuzzy feeling – my Danish genealogical skills were on par with a native speaker!) While he did that, I worked on branching out my tree further with siblings of my great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents and their descendants, hoping to find a connection. Via the Shared CM Project on the DNA Painter website, I could see the range of relationship probabilities, and it seemed more and more likely that the connection was through the family in Råsted, and the most likely candidate was Henrik Larsen Hvolby.
The Early Years
Henrik Larsen Hvolby was born in Råsted on 23 May 1856 to Laurs Christen Jensen Hvolby and Karen Jensdatter Ferre.
In the 1860 census, he was living with his parents, siblings, and paternal grandparents at Hvolbyhus in Råsted. Laurs is a carpenter and Karen is a weaver.
Laurs Christian Jensen Hvolby died in 1866, so by the 1870 census, the widow Karen Jensdatter is living in Ulfborg at the residence of Jens Graversen, at a property called Baunbækhuus. Karen’s maternal grandfather is Niels Graversen, so it’s possible that this is a family member. As well, two houses down on the same page is another family of Hvolby, possibly extended family. In this record, the son is named Hendrik Lund Hvolby.
Henrik was confirmed in the church in 1871 listing his residence as Baunbækhuus, so he and his mother seems to still be living at the Graversen residence.
The next eight years are still hidden. Did Henrik leave home to work, as did many of his contemporaries? At any point, did he live in Ejsing, where he possibly met my second great-grandmother Ane? How do I find evidence of his movements for these years? Nothing so far adds up to him being my ancestor.
I next found him in the 1880 census in Århus Købstad, where he is a private in the 20th Battalion, 3rd Company. This is very interesting, because if he is my second great-grandfather, he will be the first of my ancestors that served in the military. This led me down a path I’ve never ventured before: what information is available about military service in Denmark? My sleuthing continues in my next post.