In looking for Mathias Kristian Funch (or Christian Funk Lund)’s Birth/Christening record I used the Danish State Archives. This is a great website that includes digitized images of the Danish Census’ and Parish Church records. But, you do need to know the town, parish, and county that you want to look in.
I knew where Mathias was born from his death certificate – Bornholm, Denmark. The Family Group Record sheets on the newFamilySearch specified his birthplace as Amager, Nylarskar, Bornholm, Denmark. That was a lot more detailed. But where exactly is that?
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| source: wikipedia |
Denmark is made up of many islands in addition to the main peninsula. Bornholm is the farthest east of those islands. In fact, it’s closer to Sweden than to the rest of Denmark! Excellent!
Here’s what wikipedia had to say:
Bornholm ([bɒːnˈhʌlˀm]; Old Norse: Burgundaholmr, “the island of the Burgundians”) is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of (most of) the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming. Tourism is important during the summer. The topography of the island consists of dramatic rock formations in the north, sloping down towards “pine and deciduous forests” (greatly damaged by storms in the 1950s) and farmland in the middle and sandy beaches in the south.
Now to get more specific…Mathias is from Arnager.
Arnager is in the Vester (west) part of the island and is part of the Nylars parrish (Nylarskar). Mathias’ mother Karen was born in Nylarskar (the parrish) but I dont’ have record for which town. She had a daughter, Claudina, before marrying Diderich and I have her as being born in Aakirkeby which is just north west of Nylars. All of Didrich and Karen’s other children were born in Arnager. As far as I have information Mathias’ ancestors are from Bornholm, at least to his grandparents. From there, I’m not sure.
If you do a Google Search for pictures of Bornholm you can see how beautiful it is…I definately want to visit someday.
