Legacy Never Ceases to Amaze and Please

I often talk about my love of Legacy Family Tree. I've been a beta tester for products from Legacy and their parent company, Millennia for many years and know how input from users of Legacy has shaped the products we see today. Ken McGinnis, Dave Berdan, Geoff Rasmussen and crew listen to the beta testers and to users in general and it shows.

I own almost every genealogy package on the market, but I use Legacy as my main family history software.

Legacy 7 will be released in the next month or two and I'm really looking forward to the new features in it. If you have attended any of the larger genealogy conferences in the past few months, you've probably seen Geoff and Ken there making presentations about the new features and talking to folks who are visiting their booth.

Download the free version of Legacy 6 here. You can buy the deluxe version of Legacy now and upgrade to version 7 in a few months to access the new features. Legacy 6 already has so many features that it is mind blowing. I'm sure there will be an upgrade path for new buyers of Legacy Deluxe. You won't be sorry if you start using Legacy today.

Dear Myrtle recently interviewed Geoff Rasmussen for her podcast. You can hear Geoff extol the virtues of regularly helping with FamilySearch Indexing and talking about Legacy 7 here.

Another old friend, Dick Eastman, interviewed Ken at the Saint George conference in early February 2008. You can see that interview below....

Danish Census Records

Staying with the Danish theme of an earlier note, it isn't difficult to read Danish Census records if you understand certain key words. A number of years ago, a good Samaritan researcher helped me read the census records associated with my ancestors. She sent me a document that I've used in my Danish research ever since. I'm sure you'll find it to be very useful too in your own Danish ancestral quest.

You will find Danish census records in English here although most of them haven't been translated yet. I have more luck searching in Danish here.

"Fixed surnames were more common in the towns than in the countryside. However it was still not uncommon for males to create a surname by adding ‘sen' (‘son of') or, for females, ‘dotre' (‘daughter of') to their father's Christian name. Thus Ole Mortensen would be the son of, for example, Morten Hanssen. In this case the former's sons would, in turn, be called e.g. Jon or Jens etc. Olsen, his daughters e.g. Maria or Petra Olsen. Note too that a woman kept her maiden name after marriage, a distinct advantage for those now engaged in genealogical research or other nominal record linkage work.

The head of the household was usually male, hence husfader (house-father) but could be female, in which case husmoder (house-mother) would appear. Sometimes neither husfader nor husmoder was entered. The list continued with (hans) kone (his wife), søn (son), datter (daughter). Other terms to be found occasionally in this column were:

Antaget barn = Adopted child
Bedstemoder (fader) = Grandmother (father)
Brodersøn = Brother's son
Datter datter = Granddaughter
Deres børn = Their children
Deres søn (datter, barn, broder) = Their son (daughter, child, brother)
De to forriges søn (datter) = The above two's son (daughter)
Disses moder = The above persons' mother
Enke (enkemand) = Widow (widower)
Fader (modern, søster, broder) = Father (mother, sister, brother)
Familie fader = Family head
Farmoder = Grandmother on male side
Fattiglæm = Pauper
Foranståendes barn (kone) = The above's child (wife)
Forældre = Parent
Fostersøn (datter) = Foster son (daughter)
Frillesøn (datter) = Son/daughter/born outside marriage
Hans hastru = His wife
Hennes søn (datter, mor, far) = Her son (daughter, mother, father)
Hennes søn med 1ste mand = Her son by first husband
Husbestyrerinde = Housekeeper
Huseier = Houseowner
Husfaderens moder (søster) = Household head's mother (sister)
Husholderske = Housekeeper
Husjomfru = Housekeeper
Konens (mannens) moder) = Wife's (husband's) mother
Logerende (logerer) = Lodger
Logi i huset = Lodges in house
Midlertidig logererende = Temporary lodger
Pleieson (datter, barn) = Foster son (daughter, child)
Stedson (datter, barn) = Stepson (daughter, child)
Svigermoder (søn) = Mother (son)-in-law
Svoger = Brother-in-law
Søster (broder) til konen = Wife's sister (brother)
Uægte barn = Child born out of wedlock"