Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Extraordinary People, Mckinsey Koch

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

A Little About My Father, Peter D. Thomsen, Kathy Thomsen

The Bridge

Peter D. Thomsen (1922 - 2015) was one of eighty-two students at Grand View College (GVC) in 1940. The students came from Danish immigrant communities all over the United States, including Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles, California; Kimballton, Iowa; Tyler, and Askov, Minnesota; Racine, Wisconsin; and in my father’s case, Marinette, Michigan and Menominee, Wisconsin. He was a first generation American; his parents had immigrated to the United States from Langeland, Denmark shortly before he was born. His experiences in Danish Lutheran church communities around the country reflect many of the changes that came about as Danish Americans integrated …

My Father, The Christmas Doctor, And The Danish Nurse Who Saved His Life, Tom Weber

The Bridge

My father, Dr. John Peter Weber, was born to German immigrants in Creston, Iowa in 1888. At the age of eleven he realized he wanted to become a doctor. After finishing the eighth grade in 1904, sixteen-year-old John rode the rails to Montana to help lay railroad tracks, intending to save his wages in order to continue his education. Treated brutally by his foreman, he left the railroad construction job and traveled to Portland, Oregon, searching for work in the lumber industry. The young man from Iowa fell victim to a pickpocket on the streets of Portland. All his savings …

“Car Bum Brothers:” The West Coast Escapades Of Svend And Folmer Hansen, 1923-4, Erik S. Hansen, Rikke Utoft Hansen Olsen

The Bridge

Many contributors have added signature elements to the story of the “Car Bum Brothers.” Some of these were the original instigators of action during events that transpired over an eighteen- month period, from January 1923 to May 1924, while brothers Svend and Folmer Hansen were on the road traveling in the western states. This they did for the most part in a Model T Ford they bought for fifty dollars and affectionately called “Our Lizzie.” The cast of characters from that time includes a range of immigrant Danes and their off spring who lived scattered in Danish enclaves up and …

"I Long To Hear From You": The Hardship Of Civil War Soldiering On Danish Immigrant Families, Anders Bo Rasmussen

The Bridge

In 1917 the Danish American minister and immigrant historian Peter S0rensen Vig published Danske i krig i og for Amerika (Danes Fighting in and for America). Vig had taken it upon himself to take a deeper look into the Danish Civil War experience, at a time when Norwegian American immigrants had already published several books about their war service. Vig, however, discovered that the information available was not quite as substantial as he had assumed when writing Danske i Amerika (Danes in America) back in 1907, nor was it "compiled in one place." Vig's Danske i Kamp i og for …

Non-Lutheran Denominations Among The Danish Immigrant Churches, Robert A (Bob) Olsen

The Bridge

The combined 2012 Issue (Volume 35) of "The Bridge" was a translation of Max Henius' "Den Danskfodte Amerikaner" (The Danish-Born American), published in 1912. It is a fascinating addition for the English speaking "Danes" dealing with many aspects of the lives of the approximately 300,000 Danish-born that emigrated to the United States in the years prior to that time. It discusses many aspects of Danish-American life at the time, ranging from schools, societies, the Danish press, old people's homes, organizations and churches. Unfortunately when it comes to schools, churches, and newspapers there is barely a mention of anything outside of …

The United Danish Societies In America, C. M. Myrup

The Bridge

This old rhyme seems to be the underlying idea behind the United Danish Societies of America, which consists of 31 local organizations having a total membership of 3,400. With regard to the membership totals of individual societies, refer to the general table in this book.

The United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church In America: A Brief Overview Of Its History And Activity, P. S. Vig

The Bridge

“The United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America” is the name of an organization of congregations and pastors who are among those Danes who have immigrated to America, and who desire to hold firmly to the faith in which they were baptized, to remain in that church to which they have belonged since childhood, and who want to support the effort to preserve that faith in their adopted land and pass that heritage on to their children. This goal is not attainable except by mutual work, sacrifice and effort. “The United Church,” as we are now used to saying in …

The Copenhagen Settlement Near Story City, Iowa, Arlen Twedt

The Bridge

According to Thomas Peter Christensen, the third Danish settlement established in Iowa was the Copenhagen Settlement started near Story City, Iowa, in 1867.1 Located in central Iowa approximately 40 miles north of Des Moines, Story City was founded in 1855 after Yankees, many of them immigrants from the state of Indiana, began to settle in northwest Story County in the early 1850s.

The Jensens Came To America, Guy D. Johnson

The Bridge

My grandparents, Niels and Ane Jensen, moved to America in 1870. They started from Denmark in 1870 and landed in Nevada, Iowa, on July 14, 1870. They had two children, John, my father and Aunt Annie. Grandfather's brother, Morten, and his wife and a man they called Tabby came with them.

Religion And Integration Among The Danish Immigrants In The Us 1848-1914, Marianne Sletten Paasch

The Bridge

One of the most controversial social issues in the western hemisphere today is the integration of immigrants into a host society. The problems appear to be many and the solutions few. In Denmark we have had a long and at times heated debate about immigrants, their integration into Danish society and their religious practices - including how religion can influence the integration process of immigrants. During the last 10 years this "problem" has made headlines over and over again and has often greatly influenced the decision making process of our parliament. But we are not alone. The "integration problem" exists …

Dairying, Creameries And Cooperatives: Danish Agricultural Contributions To Early Twentieth Century Alberta, Kirstin Bouwsema

The Bridge

The early history of what became the province of Alberta in 1905 is characterized largely by the agricultural industry. A great majority of the early twentieth century immigrants came to Alberta expecting to participate in some way in the agricultural economy. However, the farming methods that were implemented in the province varied considerably. Partly, this variation was due to differences in naturally existing phenomena such as climate, soil conditions, and landscape. However, practices also varied due to the cultural backgrounds of the farmers. The First Nations people who had lived on the land for millennia used farming methods far different …

The Way It Was, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

When New York is mentioned, it seems that thoughts inevitably tum to a very large city, tall buildings, and with sidewalks and streets crowded with unfriendly people. The latter is only partially true, but it fits the common understanding, or perhaps one should say, misunderstanding, of the city and, more importantly, the state.

Excerpts From The Course Of My Life, Jens Hansen, Edward A. Hansen

The Bridge

Jens and Maren Stine Rasmusdatter came from the small island of Mom, Denmark. On a larger map of Denmark, Mon is a scarcely discernible plot of separated land, with chalk cliffs on its eastern seaboard and sandy beaches on the other. Stege is its chief town, set by an inlet called Noret and surrounded by verdant fields and forests. It is an idyllic spot, with its own culture and legends. Residents love it. Present day tourists are charmed by it.

From this fabled island, Jens Hansen made his first journey to America. He remembers it as happening in the winter …

Enok Mortensen And The Immigrant Experience: A View From The Lower Class, Rudolf Jensen

The Bridge

To begin with, I would like to cite several short quotations from Enok Mortensen's fiction to show his primary themes as well as his writing style.

...for jer Emigranter er der aldrig noget, der er saa godt som det var i Danmark...altid skal I sammenligne...1 [for you immigrants there is never anything as good as it was in Denmark...you always have to compare.]

...herover gik man med en underlig Uro i Sindet altid...bare et hundrede Dollars mere, eller Tusinde...eller Millionen...2 [over here in America you are always restless...only a hundred dollars more, or a thousand, or a million.]

...I det …

Anton Kvist Danish-American Poet: His Life And His Works, Birgit Flemming Larsen

The Bridge

Anton Kvist was born in 1878 in a small village in the northern part of Jutland in Denmark. In his home at Valsted there was a large group of ten siblings, and already as a six year old boy Anton had to work as a shepherd boy at the same time as he started to go to school. His father was a bricklayer, and so were a few of his brothers. At the age of sixteen he followed the family tradition and became a bricklayer's apprentice. In 1898 he came to Copenhagen to work as a bricklayer. Here in 1900 …

Quest And Place In Carl Hansen And Hans Christian Andersen, David S. Iversen

The Bridge

Carl Hansen and Hans Christian Andersen demonstrate a number of similar characteristics as authors. Both wrote their stories with their respective readership in mind. Both authors strove to establish character and setting with as few words as possible. Both knew their audiences well and made use of scenes, places, and experiences that their readers recognized. Each man was also driven to become an author, albeit for slightly different reasons. Hans Christian Andersen was, according to Sven H. Rossel, "single-minded in pursuit of art and recognition,"1 while Carl Hansen relates that "some five years before he emigrated to the United States …

Hans Jorgen Pedersen: The Founder Of Danebod, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

He served as pastor in a number of congregations. He was president of three Folk Schools, two of which he founded. He was a good businessman and was able to finance some of his undertakings. Yet he seemed never to stay at any one thing for very long. He easily became discouraged and he seems to have been that type of person for whom the grass is always greener somewhere else. Nonetheless, in the thirty years of his activity in America, Hans Jorgen Pedersen made a significant contribution to the life of the Danish Lutheran Church among the immigrants.

From The Farm To The Faculty: The Educational Odyssey Of Paulus Falck, Johan Windmuller

The Bridge

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, thousands of immigrants from Denmark settled in the American Midwest. Some of them brought with them educational concepts and religious convictions they hoped to pass on to future generations; to do so they created a variety of educational and religious institutions scattered across several Midwestern states. What follows is a study of Paulus Falck, who passed through several of these institutions.

Portrait Of A Peddler, Enok Mortensen

The Bridge

Editors learn about potential articles in many ways. Last spring my wife and I were participating in "volunteer week" at the Danish Immigrant Archive - Dana College. During one of the twice daily breaks for coffee and kringle, Marilyn Juul Hanson, a volunteer from Cedar Falls, Iowa, shared some anecdotes about her great uncle, an itinerant peddler named Jergen Juul. When I expressed an interest in the story of Jergen Juul, Marilyn and her husband, Roger Hanson, a retired professor of physics at the University of Northern Iowa, gave me a copy of an article in English about the peddler …

Teenage Immigrant, Anne Ipsen

The Bridge

The poem by Emma Lazarus on the Statue of Liberty defines the classical model of immigrants fleeing from poverty, oppression, or persecution. They are refugees, forced by intolerable circumstances to move from their homeland. Less stereotypic is the highly skilled or educated individual who makes a positive choice towards better opportunity. These immigrants tend to come as individuals or as a nuclear family and are less likely to live in or identify with an ethnic group. They assimilate more readily, especially if they have some English before arrival, while keeping closer ties with relatives and making more frequent trips to …

My Re-Americanization, Willard R. Garred

The Bridge

They met in Tivoli, Copenhagen, Denmark. Ray Garred was a United States Navy sailor with a squadron of battleships sent by President William Howard Taft on a goodwill tour of England, the Scandinavian capitals, and Kronstadt, St. Petersburg's port city and Russian naval base. She was a Danish girl, Olavia Frederiksen, who had spent four years in the United States as a domestic servant and had learned English in an evening school for immigrants. The year was 1911, summer time. Tivoli, as many tourists know, is a natural place for visitors to Copenhagen to congregate, and it was where a …

Twenty Years Old, Arnold N. Bodtker

The Bridge

It was 20 years ago thst the Danish American Heritage Society (DAHS) came upon the scene. I used the term " came upon the scene" advisedly. Reflecting on the circumstances and discussions that led to the formation of the Society makes the term seem appropriate. It had been noted from time to time in the decases before that when Scandinavian American historians and writers assembled and the role of the Scandinavian immigrant was considered, The Danish Americans were conspicuous by their absence. In contrast,the Norwegian American Historical Association was formed in 1925, and has had a distinguished existence since then. …

Sophus K. Winther, Barbara Howard Meldrum

The Bridge

Like Wallace Stegner, Sophus Keith Winther feels uncomfortable with the label "Western writer." For Stegner, the label too often smacks of horse-opera: outworn myths that lacked historical basis to begin with. Winther's objection has less to do with the subject matter, more to do with themes and character: regionalism-whether Western or Southers, or Wessex-too often exploits superficial traits of locality, whereas enduring literature reveals the universal drama of the human condition ("The Limits of Regionalism"). Stegner and Winther agree, however, that a writer should begin with what he or she knows best; if one's experience is Western, then Western regionalism …

Kai Eduard Rasmussen: A Danish American Hero, Val Hempel

The Bridge

Over the years, ever since immigration to the United States began, hundreds and thousands of Danes have crossed the Atlantic to begin new lives, to work, to settle and to become Americans. The vast majority of them have helped strengthen and build their adopted land, enrich its culture and add durable strands to that multicolored fabric that is America. Many stepped lightly and left few tracks while others broke bold new trails. A few fashioned memorable evidences of their journeys. Names such as Peter Lassen, Jacob Riis, William S. Knudsen, Jean Hersholdt, Victor Borge and others are known to millions. …

Danes In Polk County, Wisconsin, A. Bobjerg

The Bridge

In the year 1863 Morten Christian Pedersen left Sindbjerg Parish north of Vejle (Denmark) for America. He was 28 years old and unmarried. In the following year he remained mainly in Neenah, Wisconsin, where a number of Danes lived. He had conceived the idea of finding a place where it would be possible for people of small means to found a Danish settlement. That dream would not leave him, nor would he let go of the dream; but he took a good look around before he chose a place.

Meta M. Hedemann: From 1878

The Bridge

I have often been asked, "Why did you and your husband leave Denmark and go so far away . .. adventuring?" We did not go adventuring. My husband was offered a position with a Mr. Unna, an old friend of his father's, who owned a sugar plantation on the island of Maui, one of the Sandwich Islands, as Hawaii was called at that time. Mr. Unna wanted to improve, rearrange, or maybe even build a new sugar factory. He had heard much about a very big, modem sugar mill on one of the islands of the West Indies, which had …

Transatlantic Connections: Nordic Migration To The New World After 1800, Hans Norman, Harald Runblom, George Nielsen, Reviewer

The Bridge

Transatlantic Encounters is actually two books in one. The first half of the study, written by Hans Norman, describes the conditions in Europe, while the second part, written by Harald Runblom, describes the immigrants in America. Instead of limiting the topic to Scandinavians (Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes), Norman and Runblom identify their subjects as Nordic, in order to include the Finns and Icelanders. Relying heavily on earlier research, and following the usual stages of migration history, the authors have produced a survey of the migration from these five countries to the United States.

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.

Marcus Lee Hansen Returns To His Roots, John Robert Christianson

The Bridge

Marcus Lee Hansen (1892-1938) was the founder of modern immigration history. He established new frameworks in time and space for the study of the peopling of North America.