Matrilinial Monday – Maren Sofie Hansen



Name: Maren Sofie Olsen
Called by Grandkids: My grandmother and her siblings likely would have called her mormor if they'd ever met, but they never got to.
Birth: 1855, Slots-Bjergby, Denmark
Death: 1923, Alsted-Flinterup, Denmark
Spouse: Rasmus Hansen
Marriage: 1881, Alsted-Flinterup, Denmark
Children: Herman, Maren Hansine, Julie Oline, Hans Kristian, Johanne Kirsten, Ole
Parents: Ole & Birthe Marie Larsen
Siblings: 2 half-sisters: Christianne Marie Nielsdatter, Anne Kirstine Nielsdatter
About: Maren Sofie had a very interesting life. She was the only child of Ole and Birthe Marie, and her father emigrated to the US around the time she was born. The family did not see him again until Maren's youngest surviving son, Hans, went to America and met him in Minnesota, working for him for a time until the older man's death. After her father's departure, she was sent to work for neighboring families to help out around the house or on the farms. I am not entirely sure what she did, just that she was a family helper before she met her husband, Rasmus. Her mother had been married previously, and had two daughters older than Maren, though I am not sure how well they got along with their younger sister, or if they even ever met – it is possible they died with their father, as I have no death date for either girl.

Rasmus had been married previously when he met Maren, and had lost his wife shortly before. He had no children, but he had taken control of the family farm, and likely needed a wife and family to help him run it. The two had six children together before his death in 1895 of a respiratory ailment, and afterwards, she and the children ran the farm as best they could, her eldest son and two eldest daughters helping out, each in their own ways.

Her eldest two stayed close to home, marrying once they were old enough, and starting families of their own. Her third child, Oline, moved to Fredericksburg, a suburb of Copenhagen, with the agriculture minister, who was from their area, and helped out in their home until she decided to move to America in the early 1900s. Hans, her fourth child, moved to America before his sister, and wandered around the country, finding jobs where he could after his grandfather died. Both returned for a few visits to Denmark before their mother's death in 1923, but stayed in America, settling there and marrying. The youngest two both died early deaths. Ole drowned in his teen years, and Johanne committed suicide when she was in her very early twenties. I can only speculate how hard these losses likely hit my great-great grandmother, given they were her youngest children, and the fact that it is never easy to lose a child. She'd lost so much already in her life.

At the time of her death, she had just gotten her seventh grandchild, though she never got to meet her or her eldest sister, my grandmother. Her descendants reside mostly in Denmark to this day, though Oline's branch is spread out through America. Hans never had any children, but he resided her in the US until his death in the late 80s.

Rasmus and Maren, we believe with their son, Han ca 1890

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About this blog

This blog is maintained by two sisters who have had a life long interest in geneology.
Mika writes here mostly about our family (Hansen, Hillinger, Bordewick, Park, etc), and her search for more information.
Shannon mostly uses this space as a place to make the many stories written about and by her husband's family (Holly, Walker, Walpole, etc) available to the rest of the family, present and future.

Our blog is named Oh Spusch! mostly because Shannon is bad at naming things. The first post I put up includes a story about the time Walker's great grandfather took his whole family out to see a play and the littlest kept saying "Oh! Spusch!" No one ever figured out what she meant by that.