Author Topic: help with Danish ancestor please  (Read 902 times)

Offline Eidde

  • RootsChat Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 235
  • (no relation)
    • View Profile
help with Danish ancestor please
« on: Tuesday 15 December 09 12:19 GMT (UK) »
Hi all

I'm trying to trace one of my wife's ancestors.  These are the details extracted from his marriage certificate:

Martin Lunn
b. Copenhagen 1858
Father: Henry Lunn, farmer
Mother: Maria Roper
Married: 9 Dec 1890

According to his death record his middle name was Henry. He emigrated to Australia some time before his marriage and spent the rest of his life in Queensland.

I've searched the censuses and emigration database on the DDD website without success and I've been unable to find him on a ship arriving in Australia. I've also tried Ancestry and Familysearch with no luck.

Can anyone suggest what I could try next?  Thanks

Eddie

Offline jorose

  • Global Moderator
  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • ********
  • Posts: 9,756
    • View Profile
Re: help with Danish ancestor please
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 15 December 09 14:40 GMT (UK) »
Lack of emigration records could suggest he was a sailor who jumped ship.
Or the spelling could be different.  Possibly "Lund"?
Of course he is not necessarily listed under that surname at all, and the census indexes on the DDD website are incomplete...

Do you know if he naturalised? (There seems to be a Martin Lunn on electoral rolls in Wide Bay, Queenland, from around 1903, which suggests he did). Those records might details of when he arrived:
http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/info/fh/naturalisations

There is a "Morton L Lund" aged 21 who arrived into Queensland in 1879...  :-\
http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/downloads/Indexes/immigration/Lewis_Ellen-Lythgoe.pdf
Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline Eidde

  • RootsChat Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 235
  • (no relation)
    • View Profile
Re: help with Danish ancestor please
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 17 December 09 05:00 GMT (UK) »
Thanks for the tips, jorose - especially about naturalisation.  The Martin Lunn I'm interested in is indeed the one registered to vote in Wide Bay, but I hadn't considered how he came by that right!

On balance, I think Lunn is the right name - he put Lunn as his father's name on his marriage certificate - I don't think there would be any need to anglicise/simplify it there, unless he was seriously trying to cover his tracks!

Thanks again

Eddie