Re: Germany to Denmark

Lynn:Without further information on your g-grandfather's place of origin in Europe, your search will be quite difficult.I would suggest looking at all records possible on this end of the immigration route.Assuming you are from the US (and, that he immigrated to the US) I suggest the following:

1.Church.If a church member, the local parish he joined could have information showing where he came from.
2.Obituary.I have found obits. to be a good source.Sometimes the information is corrupted but can yield valuable clues (such as my g-grandfather whose 1913 obit says he was born in "Adserballa, North Schleswig, Germany" which turned out to be Asserballe parish, Island of Als in what is now Denmark).
3.Naturalization records.Usually just give country of origin but sometimes more.
4.Immigration records.Again can give more detail.
5.Military records, if he joined the military.

You might want to also join the local genealogical society where he settled and also check out the "genweb" site for he county where he lived.

Some internet sites to look at:

1.http://dis-danmark.dk/indexuk.htmhttp://dis-danmark.dk/indexuk.htm(this is the English page of the Danish genweb site).
2.http://www.rootsweb.com/~deuscn/index.htmhttp://www.rootsweb.com/~deuscn/index.htm (this is the Schleswig-Holstein, Germany genweb site).
3.http://www.ashhs.org/http://www.ashhs.org/(his is a US site - the American Schleswig-Holstein Heritage Society, which is based in Iowa)
4.http://www.familysearch.orghttp://www.familysearch.org(Mormon search site)
5.http://www.infoplease.com/index.htmlhttp://www.infoplease.com/index.html (encyclopedia where you can find articles on Denmark, Germany, Schleswig, Holstein etc.).

With regard to names, the name Broderson/Brodersen evidently developed in various places in Scandinavia independently - not really having anything to do with whether the Danes once controlled an area or not.A general rule of thumb is that a name ending in "sen" is often Danish, Norwegian or Frisian while "son" is often Swedish.However, keep in mind that when coming to America many an Andersen or Olsen became Anderson or Olson in American records (either because the immigrant felt it was more "American" or because that is how the immigratyion clerk wrote it).

Good luck in your search