A typical example of the early Arrild church books, showing the birth of our ancestor Wolborg, first child born in 1678.
View of the Arrild church in Tønder.
Although patronyms were common in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, our earliest known ancestor has an occupation name: Hans Smid. Thus we can guess that he was a smith, a metal worker. Hans was born sometime around 1650 in Arrild parish, Hviding district, Tønder county in the southwest corner of Denmark. We have no images of these folks, of course, but their village may well have resembled the scene in the banner above (from David Tesier the Younger, "Peasants Merry-making", about 1650).
Hans' wife Karin Pedersdatter, whom he married in 1673, was likely around the same age; marriage around age twenty was common at that time, but the records only tell us names and year of the event. No ages are recorded, and in birth records only the father's name is given, which makes researching these folks a real challenge.
And we know almost nothing more about Hans Smid's origins because the church books for his region go back only to 1659---and some are damaged or frayed (see the example at right). But we do know that he and Karin had two daughters, Else (born in 1675) and Wolborg (born in 1678). It appears that Hans died in 1680 when his daughters were still young, but no reason for his death is recorded. These are very cryptic records!
Wolborg Hansdatter, whose name suggests a reference to eighth-century historical figure St. Walpurga, married a fellow called Tÿgge (Danish for Tycho), whose patronym is written either as Jacobsen or Jörgensen. He was from the nearby village of Objerg but he and Wolborg were married in 1719 in Arrild, her parish---a very typical circumstance where the bride's wishes predominated.
Tÿgge is also our earliest male ancestor whose genetic DNA has been tested via one of his male descendants. Genetic genealogy allows us to trace deep ancestral origins. This paternal line is from a genetic group, or haplogroup, called G2a, originating between 3,000 - 10,000 years ago in the northern middle east. This is a very rare haplogroup for Denmark, occurring in only 2% of Danes. For more information about the rare G haplogroup, check Ray Bank's pages.
Tÿgge's and Wolborg's son Christian Tygesen was born in 1720 in Objerg. Christian's occupation isn't recorded but he married Margrethe Hansdatter (not related to Wolberg, this is just a patronym) in the nearby town of Øster Lindet in Haderslev; Christian was only sixteen at the time.
Christian's son, Hans Christian Christiansen, was born in the nearby village of Stenderup, Haderslev. His 1773 marriage to Bodil Marie Hansdatter was followed by the birth of a son, Peder Hansen, in 1774. Hans was a tailor, as was his son Peder.
Peder was the last in this line to use patronyms. To follow his story and that of our more recent relatives, click here for further adventures of the Petersens.