I can't believe it's been month since I've posted… there's so much to write about, I don't know really where to start. Ben and I had an awesome opportunity to go on a Baltic cruise. (Can I just say it was HEAVEN?? not so much for the destinations, which were great and all, but just to be with Ben and spend quality time together.) Ben's parents came out and watched the kids for us (more on that later). The cruise departed from Copenhagen and included stops in Warnemunde (Germany), Tallin (Estonia), St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm.
We had an amazing time, but I wanted to share something cool from Copenhagen. Ben's mom told us about a memorial in Copenhagen that was created by an LDS sculptor named Dennis Smith that honors the many Danish Mormon converts who emigrated from Denmark to the US at the end of the 19th century. Ben has Danish ancestors, and I have a great-grandfather who is Danish! Hans Jensen emigrated when he was five years old with his parents, Niels and Anne. Besides my grandfather being born in Canada, he is the closest foreign born ancestor I have.
So, the memorial consisted of three parts… a sculpture of a young woman named Kristina (loosely based on Dennis Smith's great-grandmother) who is looking out over the harbor, the relentless Baltic wind blowing her hair (notice the horizontal pony tail), then there is a plaque that describes the memorial and the LDS immigrants, and then there are several cobblestones with LDS immigrants names engraved on them, with the town they were from and the date they immigrated to the US. I guess there were like 40,000 Danish converts in fifty years of missionary work there.
So, we found the memorial on the way home and it was way cool. It is at the location where the LDS immigrants sailed from in Copenhagen. It was cool to think that this was the location the Jensens left from. Familysearch.org shows that the Jensens sailed from Copenhagen in 1882 to Liverpool London, from where they sailed to New York. I have to think this was the location. I looked and looked for Hans Jensen's name… or his parents Anne Jensen and Niels Jensen, but didn't find them. I guess you can contact Smith to see about getting your ancestor's name added to the memorial. That would be really cool. We did see a ton of Andersens, Nielsens, Jensens, Larsens, Madsens, and Christensens… basically all the Mormon names.
Me looking for Hans Jensen's name.
Here is a Hans Jensen, but it can't be our Hans Jensen since he wasn't even born until 1877.
We did find Ben's ancestor though, Ole Nielsen. Here is a pic of him in front of the cobblestone.
So, it was cool to be in Denmark and feel of our ancestors' spirits there. We did a fun bike tour and learned some interesting tidbits about Copenhagen and Denmark.
*Denmark only has five million people… it's made up of 70 islands, 40 of which are inhabited. Or something like that. Don't quote me on these numbers, ok?
*The climate is miserable. We were there on a beautiful day, 75 degrees… our guide said that is very unusual. Usually there's a lot of wind and clouds and it's colder.
*Denmark is very vanilla… not much diversity. Our guide referred to his fellow countrymen as "country bumpkins." I thought this was particularly amusing since Oprah once did a special on Denmark as the happiest place on earth to live….touting their progressiveness, etc.
*Denmark has shrunk more in size than any other European country. I guess they were once quite the force to be reckoned with.
*The Danes helped quite a few Jews escape to neutral Sweden during the Nazi occupation.
*We can thank the Danes for Legos
*And Neils Bohr, a Dane for figuring out the anatomy of the atom
*And Hans Christian Andersen for The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Snow Queen (Frozen), and a myriad of other fairytales, plays, poems, and novels
* The Martin Luther reformation had a huge impact on Denmark… most Danes are Lutheran.
*The port in Copenhagen is so clean you can swim naked in it.
*One in four wind turbines are made in Denmark
*Most people get around on bicycles… most places in town are more quickly accessible by bike than car
*It's a very liberal city… the first country to give same-sex unions the same rights as marriage (just short of calling it marriage), one of the first on woman's suffrage, and freedom of religion (hence all the Danish Mormon converts).
*There is a 30 km bridge that connects Denmark to Sweden
*The Danes love Obama… he has been there twice and loves to go there since he receives such a warm welcome. Our guide says he goes to Denmark to boost his self-esteem after being dogged in the U.S.
*If you retire from the same company after working for 40 years, you get invited by the queen to the palace for a cup of tea.
*The Danes are nuts about their royal family, who are just figure heads and have no power whatsoever
*Kids don't start school until they're seven years old
And Wow! I'm amazed I remembered so much from that tour! Worth the $50 I suppose.
The Little Mermaid:
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| The Royal Palace |
Amazing stuff. Wish we could join ya'll on some of these adventures! Very cool that you found the name of Ole Nielsen. For what it is worth, here is some info on him that Pop offered on our family blog a several years back:
ReplyDeleteOle Nielson
Ole Nielson is Grandma William's paternal great grandfather. He married Johannah Marie Jorgensen in Denmark. They joined the church there and then emigrated to the USA and settled near Elsinore, Utah in Sevier County. I have checked and we do not have immediate access to a lot of information about Ole. Pat and I contributed some money to a monument which has been erected near Copenhagen commemorating the Danish saints who left Denmark and settled in the USA. It is one of our ambitions to visit the site one day. Ole's name is on the monument.
Ole and his wife had six children. Rasmus Maurius, the youngest, is Grandma W's grandfather. Rasmus married Caroline Fredericka Johnson, daughtr of another Danish immigrant family, and they eventually settled at Minard on the Camas Praiarie where they homesteaded a farm. Rasmus died of Rocky Mountain Spotted fever at the age of 55. He is buried in the small cemeter at the south end of the valley where most of you have been. They had nine children, one of which, Elmer Walter Nielson is my grandfather. There are many stories concerning my Grandfather Nielson which I will reserve for a future blog. Grandpa Nielson carried much of the financial responsibility for his three youngest siblings, who were quite young when their father died. Grandma thinks this is the main erson he did not marry until almost 30.
Rasmus' wife, Caroline Fredericka, is the only grandparent that Grandma W. knew. All other grandparents had died before 1921 when Grandma was born. Grandma W. relates that Caroline was a very petite, immaculately dressed woman who had a knack for sewing, making all her own clothing. (Do you see a connection to Grandma W? ) Caroline moved to Wendell in her older age and her little house is still standing. She was much beloved by her family members. Grandma W. can still do the "finger naming" game in Danish, as taught to her by Caroline. Caroline had no trace of an accent, despite being around 8 years old before she left Denmark. She told Grandma that her father would not allow them to speak after they docked in New York unless they knew the Enlgish word for what they were talking about. It's not quite the same for today's immigrants, is it. Caroline had great love for God's creatures, and told Grandma W. stories of their home in Denmark, where the houses were attached to the barns where the livestock were kept. The livestock were regarded as family members and treated as good or better than the human beings. Caroline was an active member of the church. She died in 1944 and is buried in the Wendell cemetery.
Thanks Brian! So cool to hear about Caroline since we have one of our own! I'm going to send you the pictures of Ole Nelson's name.
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