Sunday, July 31, 2011

Sentimental Sunday - Nielsen family found in Denmark


Sentimental Sunday
Nielsen family found in Denmark


Today, I received an email from Aalborg, Denmark, the 'hometown' of my maternal grandmother and her parents. Here is the heart of the note:

"My hosbond and I are doing a lot about our ancestors. So today we found out that Jensene Marie Nielsen is a sister to my hosbond´s great grandfarther Morten Nielsen born in Hvorup Parish, Aalborg county, Denmark.

Morten Nielsen had two sons, who immigrated to Minnesota/saint Poul/Minneapolis area. Today we have contact with the Nelson family, and we have been over there several times and they have been in Denmark too.

We did not know that Jensene Marie Nielsen went to the USA, untill we googled her name and found your web site."

For background see:







Families are Forever!  ;-)

13 comments:

  1. Great news, Dr. Bill!

    My Danish line also came from Aalborg! I never thought I'd ever be able to trace the Danes since they changed their surname each generation. As it has turned out, it is the ONLY one of my immigrant ancestor lines I've been able to trace across the pond. Thanks to Denmark's great census records, I've gone back to my fourth great grandfather.

    I have some Nielsens in there, too, but they came from Helberskov.

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  2. Susan, that is so helpful. I find her father's name as Nels Christensen of Niels Christensn Kudsk... really had me guessing. Now, at least I need to ask a question, or two. ;-) THANKS for the comment! I knew we had something in common! ;-)

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  3. Do you use the Danish Demografic Database? It's been AMAZING! At the last genie conference I attended in Omaha one of the women associated with the Danish Immigrant Museum in Iowa pointed me toward a site that has the census images. Unfortunately, I didn't have the know-how or the patience to navigate it (it's all in Danish). Hopefully, a research trip to the museum will aid some further results.

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  4. I've really made no attempt to do any Danish research. But, now, with people there who are 'closely related' - I assume that will change... but with an 'inside track' it would appear. Thanks for the hint. I visited the Museum in Iowa, very briefly, a number of years ago. It is within an hour or so of my home town... but, of course, I don't live nearby, anymore... ;-)

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  5. Don't ever let the changing surnames keep you from researching. All my maternal ancestors use patronymics until the 1850s in northern Germany. I'd researched them so long when I started on other families that I thought the name switching was normal.

    And some areas of Europe the research is easier than pre-1700 Virginia.

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  6. Thank you for the encouragement, Michael. Always appreciated! ;-)

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  7. Real cool Dad!! I still hope to get over there...one of these days/years ;-) Would be fun to see where grandma was born!!

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  8. @Allison. Yes, we are certainly aware of a lot more cousins, now, including some that live there. ;-) Mom is enjoying digging into a bunch of the details, now. ;-)

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  9. What a thrill! These stories are so encouraging and validate the blogging and storytelling.

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  10. Wow, what an amazing story. I totally agree with the previous comment that these stories are so encouraging and validate the value of blogging.

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  11. Thank you, Susan and Sheryl, I agree. Pretty neat, huh?! ;-)

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  12. This is great! I hope mom is able to find more details. I would love to visit Denmark as well, I recently did some "researching" myself, wish I had more time. Denmark has been on my list of family history trips.

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