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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 …