On the second day in Copenhagen, I had a chance to visit the churches where Johannes Jensen and Johanne Elisabeth Molin married and had their children baptized. Garnisons Church, built in 1706, was the “Garrison” Church or the Soldiers’ Church. Since Johannes was a career soldier, I began looking for his marriage record and the children’s baptismal records there. Although I read the church registers several times, seeking a marriage between 1834, when he was a single man in the census, and 1840, when daughter Wilhelmine was born, I found no marriage and no baptismal record for Wilhelmine. However, I did find records for the other children – my great great grandfather, Frits Wille Oscar Emil Jensen, along with those of his sisters, Emilie, Ludovica and Avilda. Next, I turned to the records of nearby Trinitatis Church, another very old parish, consecrated on Trinity Sunday in 1656, hence its name. I found no marriage or baptismal record, but did discover a record for a stillborn daughter of Johanne Elisabeth Molin, born in 1842. The reputed father was Johannes Jensen! I hadn’t looked for their marriage record after 1840 because Wilhelmine was born in that year. I still found no marriage record in the Trinitatis Church records between 1840 and 1843, when daughter Emilie was baptized was Garnisons Church. However, when I returned to the Garnisons Church parish register and searched those years, I came across the entry for Johannes Jensen and Johanne Elisabeth Molin, married on 31 August 1842, three months after the birth of their stillborn daughter. As I mentioned in a previous post, eventually I learned that Wilhelmine was born at the hospital for unwed mothers, like her father. Johanne was likely living in Trinitatis Church parish when her daughter was born in 1842 so the baby’s death was recorded there.
Even though I have been researching my family history since 1980, it is still thrilling to walk where my ancestors walked, particularly when it is in their homeland.
The photos on the top are of Garnisons Church; the two at the bottom of this post are of Trinitatis Church. Both are simple, but absolutely beautiful inside and I feel very lucky to have seen them in person.
