Family tree of
Søren Nielsen & Lene Dræby Kottal

News: The Elbæk Family

New information and update of existing data

My grandmother's mother Gunder Margrethe Elbæk Kristensen was a descendant of Mads Christensen Elbech, who was the first known person in the Elbæk lineage.

The name comes from the creek (today a stream) that flows through the area. Both the place name and the family name has changed through time. In the early 1600s the place was called Eiilbeche. In the late 1600s, it was spelled Elbech, just like Mads Christensen Elbech's surname. During the 1700s and 1800s it changed depending on who wrote the name. I encountered the following spellings of the family name: Elbeck, Elbæck, Elbek and obviously Elbæk.

My information about the Elbæk family have been updated and the names are spelled exactly as they were spelled at the person's christening. Therefore, the last names of siblings may be spelled differently. For instance, Christen Thue Johannessen Elbech had nine children, of which the first child was christened Elbek and the rest Elbæk.

From 1697 the Mads Christensen Elbech mentioned above owned the farm where he was born; the farm was in Engesvang parish and was called Elbæk Farm. In addition, he owned a farm in Boring. The information about Mads are sparse, because the oldest church books for both Kragelund-Funder parish (to which Engesvang belonged back then) and Boarding parish no longer exist.