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Restless Fanatic:Mogens Abraham Sommer, 1829-1901, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

This account of the life and activities of a Danish religious fanatic who played a significant role in emigration has been prepared on the basis of materials available in this country. Further items are available in Denmark, but on the basis of what is known to be available, it is doubtful that this would make any appreciable difference. To my knowledge, this is the only English language story of his life.

A Danish Olympian In Los Angeles: Recollections From The Life Of Sigrid Lassen, 1900-1991, Karen Lassen

The Bridge

I was born Sigrid Nielsen in Denmark at the tum of the century, November of 1900, in the little town of Roskilde. At that time, Roskilde was a thriving commercial town about two hours south of Copenhagen. My family lived in a large house in the center of town on the edge of the square surrounding the big cathedral. This church has special importance because it is the place all the Danish kings and queens are buried. From my bedroom window I could look out and see its tall, twin copper-covered spires . I can still remember walking across the …

Emigration From Denmark To America: Diary Of Marius Larsen, Marius Larsen

The Bridge

The hour of departure falls on this day, a busy one for me. I have made good use of Christen Knudsen, my travel companion, in tieing up and transporting my baggage. "Cimbria" got under way at precisely eight o'clock, a large crowd on the dock waving farewell. Many of them were our friends and relatives. My parents came on board with us and there said their sad goodbyes. It hurts me to leave them; I hope for their sake, and for ours, that our future will develop in such a way as to make them happy that we left. We …

Pioneer Life In The Big Dane Settlement, August Rasmussen

The Bridge

My experience in pioneer life commenced in 1856, after a long and stormy voyage from Denmark to America in that year. I shall, by the kind assistance of the Independent, give a little of my pioneer life and settlement during forty-five years. My thoughts are running back to the first Christmas I celebrated here in America, in 1856. It was a merry one, as you will see farther on. My wife and I were then both young, about twenty-seven years each.

The Significance Of The Private Letter In Immigration History, Niels Peter Stilling

The Bridge

The title of this paper is two-sided. The private letter is an important source for understanding the psychological and human aspects of immigration. It is also important to note that until recently historians have shown much too little interest in the documents from the immigrants themselves. My hypothesis, which I intend to discuss here, is that the private letter was the most important stimulating pull-factor in immigration history. In certain periods a call for USA was put forward in most letter series. Praising various aspects of American life, private letters were written to draw relatives or friends across the Atlantic. …

Memories And Autobiography Of Jens Lind, Jens Lind

The Bridge

I don't know if I can write anything that will read any different from thousands of other immigrants that came to make their home in the U.S.A.

The reason I came was mostly because of economic conditions. Another was adventure and restlessness which many young people suffer from in our days, too.

I was born close to the east coast in Jutland, Denmark, September 30, 1892. We were eight in the family: our parents, three brothers and three sisters and, of course, poor as church mice, like thousands of others.

The Rescue Of The Danish Jews: Moral Courage Under Stress, Leo Goldberger, Editor, Gerald Rasmussen, Reviewer

The Bridge

We enthusiastically recommend a new book about the rescue of the Danish Jews during the Second World War. In fact, that is the name of the book: Rescue of the Danish Jews: Moral Courage under Stress. It was edited by Leo Goldberger and published by the New York University Press in 1987.

Several books have been written about this event, but they are not well known. These include monographs, first hand accounts and at least one historical novel.

R. B. Nielsen's Journey From Aarhus To Dannebrog, Harold Jensen

The Bridge

Many years ago, possibly when I was seventeen years of age, my grandfather, Rasmus B. Nielsen (affectionately called R.B.) asked me if I would write the account of his experiences as a young man emigrating from Denmark in 1878, with Dannebrog, Nebraska as his destination and future home. I said I would. We had several sessions at the kitchen table in his home near Nysted by Dannebrog, Nebraska. He sat in his captain's chair, and I in a straight-backed kitchen chair. He dictated in Danish while I jotted down what he said. I filed these notes and for some years …

From Scandinavia To America: Proceedings From A Conference Held At Gi. Holtegaard, Peter L. Petersen, Reviewer

The Bridge

In early September 1983, scholars from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the United States gathered at Gammel Holtegaard, north of Copenhagen, for a three-day conference on Scandinavian emigration to the United States. Because a majority of the papers presented at the conference deal with elements of the Danish experience, readers of The Bridge should welcome this belated publication of the proceedings made possible by a grant from the Danish Research Council for the Humanities.

Danish Perceptions And West Indian Realities: Slavery In The Danish West Indies, Karen Fog Olwig

The Bridge

The year 1987 marked the 70th anniversary of the sale of the Danish West Indies to the United States of America. With the sale of the three small islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John, Denmark had disposed of all her tropical colonies, which at one time had included possessions on the Gold Coast in Africa, the present Ghana, and in southeastern India, most importantly Trankebar.

Laurs Christian Laursen, Betty Laursen Miller

The Bridge

When my younger brother and I were little, our mother often sang to us, and soon our voices would be joining in with "Venter Paa Far"--Waiting for Father. This song is about two little blueeyed children who press their ' noses against the window pane as they eagerly await their father's homecoming. It ends with a happy rush to the door when they hear him approaching, and the words change to a joyous shout of "Her Kommer Far"--Here Comes our Father.

Children Of Danish Roots, L.C. Laursen

The Bridge

Children of Danish Roots is a translation by Willard R. Garred of Stammens B0rn, an article that appeared originally in the 1931 issue of the "Ryslinge Julebog," a Christmas magazine of the Ryslinge Folk High School, Ryslinge, Denmark. The article was written by L. C. Laursen when he lived in the western Nebraska community at Mirage Flats near Hay Springs. After his arrival in the community he named it Ryslinge, a name generally accepted by the settlers and their friends.

Reflections On Denmark As It Was, And Emigration To America, Arlow W. Andersen

The Bridge

In the late medieval and modern periods the histories of Denmark and Norway paralleled each other. During much of that interval the Union of Kalmar (1397-1523), which included also a dynastic tie with Sweden, practically insured common political, economic, and religious development. On the threshold of the modern age Sweden broke away from the Union (1523), but Norway was obliged to remain under Danish rule until 1814.

In Debt To Heritage Denmark, Hermansen-Jensen, Nysted, Otto G. Hoiberg, Reviewer, Elise Hermansen Olsen

The Bridge

This is the life story of the late Elise Hermansen Olsen, as portrayed in autobiographical materials edited admirably by her still-active husband, Dr. C. Arild Olsen. It mirrors the various interrelated ways in which Elise "lived her Danish heritage" - by use of the Danish language in speech and song, by a deep appreciation of that country's literature, by perpetuation of its characteristic customs, and by living a life geared to its distinctive values.

Niels Sorensen Lawdahl: Autobiography, Niels Sorensen Lawdahl

The Bridge

My name is Niels Sorensen Lawdahl. I was born in Sonder Stenderup, Bjert Strand near Kolding. This vicinity was my mother's native soil. Her name was Ane Sofie Hansen Stougaard. Father was from Givskud vicinity near Vejle. His name was Soren Nielsen. I was born January 25, 1864 (the war year). And before very long, I was baptized because of father's impending departure for the army. There was a little brother in the home, two years older than I. He died in Kasson, Minnesota in 1899.

The Plow, The Cow And The Pastor, Karl Marg

The Bridge

That was not so bad, and then, Dagmar was even a queen. I have done that which is worse. I once stole, on a late winter night in Chicago, a pioneer cow with all accessories from Christian Bay. Then I sold the stolen goods to a newspaper in Denmark and got c. 60 kroner out of it. How my conscience has fared since then I will not here relate. I am a Danish Lutheran and I do not confess in a catholic confession booth, and much less would I confess in the modern protestant manner, publicly to Mrs. Somebody in …

Peter Lassen: Danish Pioneer Of California, Franklin D. Scott

The Bridge

"The Dane Peter Lassen," or " Peter Lassen, a Danish Blacksmith," appears in almost every memoir dealing with early northern California. His Danishness was obvious, though no one bothers to explain why. Was his speech the telltale feature? The man was almost thirty years of age when he left Denmark, and he had had no opportunity to learn English while his tongue was ductile. He came to California in the spring of 1840, at the beginning of a decade of decision. At that moment Indians inhabited the land, Russians were still established on the California coast, Mexicans held title to …

Life On Lilac Hill Sketches Of Karen And Chresten Pedersen's Prairie Years, Karen M. Kadgihn

The Bridge

A jackrabbit was sunning himself on a rock in the warm March sun, stretched out and went to sleep. Suddenly a noise awakened him and he jumped quickly away at right angles to where the noise had originated. From a safe distance he stopped, sat up to see what had disturbed his siesta, wiggling his ears and nose as he watched another of those strange creatures going by his sunning rock. What were they? They had been passing in increasing numbers, and had actually made parallel tracks right by his rock!

Louis Pio In America, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

Since I have been working with the Danish Immigrant Archives, and especially with the Danish Immigrant Archival Listing project, it has become increasingly clear to me that those immigrants who become a part of the Danish Church represent but a small fraction of the Danes who came to this country. Sometime in the Danish Church we have, I fear, been so wrapped up in ourselves that we have lost sight of the great majority of Danes who emigrated to America and who, in one way or another have left their mark. Examples are numerous but I think of one little …

The Emigration Of Soren Kierkegaard, Howard V. Hong, Edna H. Hong

The Bridge

John and Jane Doe, USA, are pretty well aware that Denmark exports the best butter, bacon, and cheese in the world to the world. But perhaps not even Jens and Tina Jensen, second and third generation Danish-Americans, realize the extent to which the second-to-none thoughts of a nineteenth century Dane have emigrated and are emigrating to the whole wide world . Indeed, they are valued more by the world than by Danes in Denmark, who can hardly conceal their surprise that the world now pays more attention to Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1865) than to Hans Christian Andersen . The Danes …

Four Poems On Death By Nis Petersen, Otto M. Sorensen

The Bridge

Very litte of Nis Petersen's poetry has been translated into English, and yet he is regarded as one of Denmark's finest poets in this century. In the following I offer readers of The Bridge translations and interpretations of four poems that deal with death, a subject that concerned Petersen over a considerable period of time. The reader should be cautioned, however, not to deem the poems typical of the poet. Death is one of many themes that run through his work. I have reproduced the originals here from the poet's Samlede Digte. ed. Hans Brix, Gyldendal, 1951 .

Reminiscences From A Long Life, Ane Helena Paulsen

The Bridge

My maiden name was Ane Helene Nielsen and I was born in Yestergaard, Lendum Sogn close to Frederickshavn on January 22, 1866. My father's name was Ole Christian Nielsen, Kirkerod, Skaerum Sogn. He died early of tuberculosis. I can scarcely remember him. My mother's name was Mariane Jensen. She was the daughter of Jens Nielsen, Sondergaard, Lendum Sogn, and his wife Johanne Marie Larsdatter of Vang, S4,ndergaard, Tirslev Sogn.

Rasmus Sorensen And Danish Emigration, 1847-1863, Frederick Hale

The Bridge

Probably no individual played a more seminal role in the limited Danish emigration to North America before and during the Civil War than Rasmus Sorensen. From the late 1840s until the early 1860s this author, educator, politician, and social reformer led three groups of his countrymen to Wisconsin and, through numerous booklets, speeches, and letters encouraged others to settle elsewhere in the United States and Canada. Yet Sorensen has generally been little more than a supernumerary in the historiography of this transatlantic migration. Its pioneering historian, Peter Sorensen Vig, devoted twelve pages to him in his mammoth compendium, a dozen …

Book Review, Egon Bodtker

The Bridge

This short book tells the reader what life was like for one young man in a small village in Denmark in the first two decades of this century. As the author writes in the Foreword: " it is a collection of reminiscences, a mosaic of people and places seen from a long distance, both geographically and chronologically." This sensitive sketch of a childhood and adolescence in the first two decades of the twentieth century will make all readers aware of the monumental changes in the world from then until now. While many of the individual behaviors can be related to …

Notes On The Early Mormon Mission In Denmark, Donald K. Watkins

The Bridge

Jens Patrick Wilde's article in this issue of The Bridge vividly describes the hardships, grief and sometimes disaster that accompanied the Mormons during their famous trek across the Great Plains to Utah in the 1850s. Less well known is the role of the Northern European immigrant in this difficult passage to the Great Basin. Scandinavian immigrant participation in the growth of Utah and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was especially great in the period 1850-1890, and in the decade before the Civil War Mormons made up the largest identifiable segment, 19%, of the some 10,000 Danes in …

Jonas Bronck Most Famous Among The First Danes In New York, Ebba Tang Frandsen

The Bridge

Information for this article is excerpted from Carlo Christensen's book, De Forste Danske i New York, Nyt Nordisk Forlag - Arnold Busch - Kj!6benhavn, 1953. Carlo Christensen was for many years Cultural Attache with the Danish Embassy in Washington, D.C., a position in which he served with great distinction. Carlo Christensen states in the Forward that the book is the result of research carried on for 20 years in his spare time, and that there is still much material to be researched.

The Remigrants, Edward F. Sundberg, Gerda Sundberg

The Bridge

"Why did you emigrate to the United States?" Gerda asked.

Mr. R. let a smile play with his lips. " It was an accident," he said.

"Tell us about it," she encouraged.

He told the story of his emigration. Gerda and I listened. Our recording machine captured his words on a cassette tape.

"Now tell us about moving back to Denmark."

Gerda and I were interviewing in Denmark as a part of the research project, RIBBONS OF MEMORIES, an American-Scandinavian Ethnic Heritage Oral History Program.

The World Of Robert Storm Petersen, Allen E. Hye

The Bridge

Thirty years after his death in March, 1949, Robert Storm Petersen is still regarded as Denmark's greatest humorist; in fact, he is enjoying an astonishing revival in Scandinavian popular culture. T-shirts, advertising campaigns, key chains - all bear his likeness or that of his loveable cartoon characters. Even a museum has been established (Pile Alle 2, 2000 Copenhagen F) to promote his memory and humor. Since its founding in the fall of 1977, the museum, under the direction of Jens Bing, has been sorting and cataloging books, paintings, memorabilia, including the humorist's extensive pipe collection, and the some 60,000 drawings …

Immigrating To America, Andrew Christensen

The Bridge

To get the proper backdrop for this article, let me quote a few statements from the introduction of an outstanding book on immigration to America, sponsored by the Rebild Society and written by Kristian Hvidt, the Chief Librarian of the Danish Parlimentary Library:

"In the course of the fifty years preceeding the outbreak of World War I in 1914, well over 300,000 Danes left their homeland to become immigrants; ninety percent of them settled in the U.S.A. The illuminating facts stated in human terms show that our grand and great-grandparents saw every tenth one of their countrymen leave their land …

Sketches From Our Family Life In The Early Nineties, Dagmar, The Eldest Of The Flock

The Bridge

In the late Fall of 1890, Father went to the United States to get a job and to make a new home for us all. From Brooklyn the Reverend Anderson helped to send him on his way west, since he had been a farmer. At Chicago the Reverend Nielsen sent him to the Danish School and settlement at Elk Horn, Iowa, where he studied a little English and hired out on a farm, there to learn more English by practical experience.