Surname Saturday - Nielsen in Denmark to Nelson in USA

Surname Saturday

Nielsen in Denmark to Nelson in USA

A few months ago I was fortunate to hear from a 'new to me' cousin in Denmark kind enough to share a couple of generations worth of my family history with me, on my 'shortest' family line. I am one quarter Dane (maternal grandmother born in Denmark), so this was wonderful news, and I made a couple of posts, here and here.

Well, as the Internet would have it, another 'new to me' cousin, Trine, in Denmark, was surfing the web, as we all do from time to time, these days, it seems, and what does she find: "Nielsen home in Denmark" - my blog post. And her email says: That is the house my husband and children and I live in now!

Obviously, this started a new round of emails, exchanges of photos, and family history discussions. She also, early on, mentioned she had a uncle who had come to the USA about 1900 and really didn't know much about him… but she thought he had taken the name of Nelson when he came, rather than Nielsen that he had been born into. His given name was Christian, but from scans of postcards he had sent, it was clear he used Christ Nelson over here. To her, she thought of him as 'her rich American uncle!' - though he really wasn't, of course. So, my research began, with many false starts - that is a really common name, even restricted to one state! And, of course, it turned out to be the wrong state, as well! [I did actually locate him in the 1930 census, before I confirmed it was his family with Flemming, below - but there was much, much more to the story; much still unknown.]

Before long, she mentioned 'her cousin' who did the family history work in the family. We have now caught up with him, and many things become clearer… for each of us. Flemming, the cousin knew more about the 'rich American uncle' than Trine realized; she just hadn't asked. So, now, it turns out, I know 2 third-cousins in Denmark, and there are a 'flock of them' near St. Paul, Minnesota - that Flemming has visited. Small world, huh? Common great-great grandparents. By the way, Flemming did not realize that my great-grand mother (his great aunt) and my grandmother had emigrated to America, also, in the first decade of the 1900s, only a few years after their Christ Nelson. That was nice to be able to share with him.

So, for one more story. Christ Nelson was one of five brothers - who would have been first cousins of my grandmother, Dorothy Sorensen Kinnick. Here they are, in about 1896:

Sons of Morten (brother of my great-grandmother, Jensene Nielsen Sorensen):

Niels b. 19 May 1877
Peder b. 20 Sep 1878
M. Christian b. 14 Oct 1879
Marius b. 28 Mar 1881
Anders b. 1 Jun 1882

Christian - Marius
     Anders
Niels - Peder

Finally, Flemming is in regular communication with Orla and Bente that I communicated with a few months ago, that got this cycle started. Much of their detailed family information actually came from him. Small world, all over again. And, it will continue.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Surname Saturday - MORTENSDATTER

Surname Saturday

MORTENSDATTER

My mother's mother's mother was Jensene Marie Nielsen, born in Denmark. As I reported in that Dec 2009 post, "This is my 'shortest line.'" That has now been modified, as first reported recently in this July 31 Sentimental Sunday post. Following a series of discussion with our new found cousins in Denmark, we now have the names of both the parents of Jensene and of her husband, Lauritz SORENSEN, including maiden names in each case. Last week we talked of her father, Niels CHRISTENSEN.

Today, we will share the brief information obtained on Jensene's mother, Maren Kristine MORTENSDATTER.

Last week we began our discussion of Scandinavian family name etymology. We noted that heritable family names (surnames) were generally adopted rather late within Scandinavia. In Denmark, the most common Danish family name surnames are patronymic and end in -sen. The other 'naming convention' they use is, per the cousins: "A child got its father's first name as its surname. Boys got -sen and girls got -datter (daughter)." Therefore, it would appear that Maren's father's first name was Morten!

Also, note Maren's middle name, Kristine. Her granddaughter by Jensene, my grandmother, had Christine as a middle name: Dorothy Christine. My wife and I gave it, Christine, as a middle name to our oldest daughter, Annette Christine. And, our youngest daughter, Arrion, gave it as a middle name to our only granddaughter, Kaylee Christine. She knew it came from four generations back. Now we know it goes six generations back.

Maren Kristine Mortensdatter. She was born 26 Jan 1823, Hvorup parish, Aalborg, Denmark and died 29 Mar 1915, Hvorup parish, Aalborg, Denmark.

She married Niels Christiensen, born 19 Sep 1817, Hvorup parish, Aalborg, Denmark, and died 24 Mar 1867, Hvorup parish, Aalborg, Denmark.

They had 7 children (with known information), each surname Nielsen, of course:

1. Christen, b. 19 Dec 1846; d. 10 Nov 1865
2. Morten, b. 9 Sep 1848; d. 3 Dec 1931 - ancestor of my cousin in Denmark
3. Karen, b. 4 Aug 1850; d. unk
4. Jensene Marie, b. 20 Aug 1852; d. 1906 - my g-grandmother
5. Rebekka, b. 3 Apr 1856; d. 2 Dec 18676
6. Caroline, b. 23 Nov 1858; d. unk
7. Else Marie, b. 23 Jan 1864; d. 1924


Families are Forever!  ;-)