In my last post, I explored potential ancestor Henrik Larsen Hvolby’s early life, from his birth in Råsted to his move to Ulfborg. But I need to place him in Ejsing at the time period when my second great-grandmother was there.
Marriage
Thanks to BH, I knew that he married and had several children. I thought it best to work from that known data point backwards. The first known child was born in 1882, so when did he marry? Was it before or (more likely) after he may have been in Ejsing?
I was startled and excited to see the parish record for the first child’s birth in 1882. The child was originally registered as Laurits Christian Lauritsen and the father’s name was Henrik Lauritsen. A note was added in 1893 to change both the child’s and father’s last name to Larsen Hvolby.
It was the same for Karen Marie, born in 1884, and some other children. So this confirmed that for a period of time, my target used the name Henrik Lauritsen.
That left me with the question, under which name did he get married? It was challenging to find because it was in a different parish than any of the previous I had searched, and I only found it by searching for the bride’s name. Ancestry transcribed the wrong name as the husband, so it was only by looking at the actual document was I able to determine it was the right record. This marriage registration dated 25 April 1882 in Åby sogn has an unusual format, with their employer Søren Madsen included for both instead of, more typically, their parents.
If you compare the marriage date with the first child’s birth, you’ll see that Sidsel was pregnant at the time of the marriage. If this is my second great-grandfather, he has a habit of getting unmarried girls pregnant. At least he married this one!
Military Life
So how did Henrik get from Ulfborg to Århus? My next clue was in the 1880 census, where I found him as part of the 3rd Company of the 20th Battalion which was situated in Århus. He was noted to be a Private, with the name of Henrik Lauritsen Hvolby. I am not aware of any other Danish ancestors who have performed active military service, so this meant learning a whole new area to research. I eventually found his service record on FamilySearch in the Stambøger. Here too he is Henrik Lauritsen Hvolby. From this, it appears that his service was from April 1879 to February 1887, with two active stints in ’79/’80 and ’84.
(My understanding of these records is still minimal, so if I’m misinterpreting it, please comment below.)
While evidence of his use of Henrik Lauritsen is makes the theory that he is my second great-grandfather more likely, I still haven’t placed him in Ejsing at the right time. After a lot of paging through levy rolls, I think I may have found it.