Hansen (part 2) Placeline

Here's my second Hansen line. Which always confuses every genealogy program I have, because Oline Hansen married Holger Hansen, so she never had to change her maiden name, and the programs all assume I entered it wrong because I didn't change it. But while Holger was from Jutland (the part that connects to the continent of Europe), Oline was born nearly in the center of the large island that makes up much of the rest of Denmark, known as Sealand.

As always, Bold is places where the major events happened--birth, marriage, and death, and italics are other locations lived in for at least a year.

1. Oline Hansen

A. Cleveland, Ohio. After meeting Holger, Oline and he moved to Cleveland, married and settled there together. All three of their children were born there before her death in 1929. They lived in a Danish community, and her brother Hans Christian and several of Holger's brothers (and possibly cousins) also came to visit them or settled there. My grandmother told me they had a very good life there.

B. Chicago, Illinois. We believe that Oline came to Chicago immediately upon landing in the US. We don't know this for certain, but she did list her home as Chicago in an Ellis Island arrival record in 1917, so we know she lived there for a time. She may have started elsewhere, but as of right now, I have no absolute proof of any other locations in the US for her.

C. Copenhagen, Denmark. According to the few records I've found, and the family information, it appears that Oline moved with the family she worked for to the Copenhagen area, living in Frederiksberg (a neighborhood of Copenhagen) with them until she left to emigrate to America.

D. Fjenneslev, Denmark. This is where Oline was born. Her father had a farm inherited from his parents, where she and all her siblings were born. It's an interesting area, because there's a very famous church here, and stories about that church and the man who built it. However, they weren't well to do enough to go to that church, so they were baptised and confirmed in the Alsted church. 

One note here for the rest of this: Fjenneslev, Alsted, and Knudstrup are all small towns that my family lived right on the edge of, so while some of my records say one town or the other, I know that the family really didn't move from this area well back in time. For the rest of this record, all I can say for certain is that it looks as though the family really hadn't moved from this location in many generations.

2. Rasmus Hansen

A. Knudstrup, Denmark. Rasmus is listed as being born in Knudstrup, but I know his family farm was the same as the one he later inherited, so I'm leaving his birth and death location as Knudstrup, but I know he lived in Fjenneslev, just like his daughter. He lived on his family farm his whole life, married in the area twice, and all his children were born on that farm. And he died there as well.

3. Hans Nielsen

A. Knudstrup, Denmark. Like his son, Hans doesn't appear to have moved from the area from birth to death. I do have one census record that shows Hans and his wife with their son with him being the new farmer, and them being the retired farmers, so I know he inherited his father's farm, but I don't know exactly where they died, but I believe it was in this same general area.

4. Niels Andersen

We're now in the murkiest part of my family tree, and these are as likely to be wrong as right, though at this time, I'm inclined to feel these seem to be correct based on location and names.

A. Alsted, Denmark. Nearly all the locations I have for Niels are Alsted, with a few slight variations, so I presume he lived and died in the area. I do not know if he owned the farm that Hans Nielsen owned, though that is a strong possibility until I've managed to dig deeper.

5. Anders Hansen

A. Alsted, Denmark. Unlike the following generations until Oline, Anders is actually listed with different birth and death locations. While that means something or not, I felt it was worth marking. His marriage and death are marked as Alsted.

B. Fjenneslev, Denmark. Like my great-grandmother, he's marked as having been born at Fjenneslev. All the rest of his event locations are marked as Alsted.

6. Hans Nielsen

A. Alsted, Denmark. At this time, Alsted is the only location I have for him, so he probably lived and died in the area as well.

*

And that's everything for Oline's father's line. Fluffled out a little with the Knudstrup/Alsted/Fjenneslev issue, but otherwise it's quite small. Six places all together, and three of them are practically the same place.

I will say, if you know this line, I'd love to talk to you about what you know, particularly about the specifics of the farm, and each of these generations and where they lived.

Genealogical Year in Review 2012

Another year past, and a few things to show for it. I haven't been writing here as much because I've been a bit scattered this year. Too many things, not nearly enough done. But I have found some fun tidbits here and there, and switched to a new software program for my genealogy.

Changes in the family

Not as many this year (that I'm aware of) as last, but two big changes. One in the immediate family, and one in the extended family.

My grandmother died this year. The last of her generation on that side. All of that generation left are only on the other side of my family now. We had a nice service for her, and many of the extended family came down, including my grandfather's cousin, whom I had not seen in some years. He enjoyed seeing the book on the Bordewicks my sister and I put together, and complemented us on it. I did up a pair of slideshows for the memorial. One for the service itself, which was only a couple minutes, and one much longer which played throughout the reception after. I enjoyed doing it so much that I ended up doing one for each of my grandparents and gave them to both sides of the family as presents. I miss them all, so it was a bit of a tearful process. You've heard it before, but I'll say it again. No matter how difficult it might feel to talk to someone and ask them questions, it's far harder when they've gone. There are some things you'll never get if you don't ask.

The other big change in the family this year was my cousin's second child was born. She's a sweet little thing, and it was quite the celebration Christmas evening with four kids in the house. My cousins and my sister and I are all so widely spaced, we generally haven't had more than three kids in the family at any family Christmas. There are six years between me and my sister, and five between her and our next cousin, so by the time his brother was born, I was in my teen years. And by the time my twin cousins were born, they'd moved up to Alaska, and just didn't come to many family Christmases. We've had the occasional Christmas where extended family have had their kids over, but they were more rare than not, so it was definitely an experience having four young kids at Christmas this year. I quite enjoyed it.

Brick Wall Progress

I considered doing this in a different post, but I'm not as well-organized this year as I was last. I've made a few discoveries.

My favorite this year, I think has to be my great-grandmother's brother, Mendel Kresch, who escaped through Belgium to Brazil when the war started in Europe. He and (I believe) his wife, their daughter (not sure if there were others, or if they escaped), her husband, and their child, managed to escape to Brazil, and therefore managed to survive the war. I only discovered that one because one of my father's cousins mentioned a cousin from South America, so when I saw the Brazillian Immigrant card collection at Family Search, I had to check it out. It's especially great because the cards have a photo attached, so I can see just what he looked like.

Other than that, I haven't made any big discoveries in my ancestral lines, though I have made a few other discoveries. I discovered that Grumpy's family was still officially in Arkansas during the 1940 census, when I'd assumed they were already in Chicago. I do know that they'd moved to Chicago no more than two years later, as that is where they are living when Alex had to go in for his draft card, which was another bit of fascinating information to find. I still haven't found Jack Seneft in the 1940 census, though I keep trying. Unfortunately, I don't believe he ever married, so all I have to go by is his name and draft card information from that same batch. 

I also found a bunch of names and addresses in the BC area during the Ancestry free period. They had the Canadian voting records posted, and so I have a lot of information on who was living where and when because of them.

I'm working on a book about Nana's mother, and sorting through letters, which makes me think it might be interesting to scan them all and create a book of them. It would be a lot of up-down, though, given where my scanner is currently placed. But because of the book, I have been trying to firm up the information I do have on the Sealand branches. I still have no better leads on where Lars Olsen ended up when he came here, but I have a bit more information on his wife. I keep trying on Oline's father's side, too, but so far all I really have there before him is Census information. As of now, I know that the family farm, Stubbegaard, passed through at least four generations: Rasmus's father, Rasmus, Rasmus's eldest son, and that son's son. I think after that it was sold, though I'm not sure why. I hope to find some information on it in the letters, because I remember my Aunt talking about it in at least one of them.

Software Upgrade

After many years of being a Family Tree Maker user, I have finally switched over almost completely to Roots Magic. I miss some of the interactive features FTM had, but RM has others that make up for quite a bit. I got the full version of the software for Christmas, so I'm still playing with some features, and haven't even gotten to others, but so far so good.

Much of my year has been spent hand-entering the family tree from the old documents I have, and actually adding in the source information, which I never did in FTM (part of why I wanted to do it this way). It's been a learning process, but I've found all sorts of fascinating stories in doing so, and reorganized things a little to help.

Articles

Still posting at the Examiner, including a series on local and online sources for international genealogical research.

I also restarted my Surname Saturday posts, though those will be slowing down now, as I'm reaching the edges of my family tree, and know less and less stories about them as I go further back.

Resolutions

I didn't do so hot on my resolutions this past year, but I think my main two focuses this year will be on finishing adding all my sources to my Roots Magic tree, and otherwise focusing on my great-grandmother's story. I'd love to at least get her life story written out, if nothing else. Maybe get all those letters scanned, too.

To everyone reading this, have a happy and productive new year.

Advent Calendar: Rasmus Hansen

Rasmus Hansen

Born 1845, died 1895, aged 49
Lived in: Knudstrup Denmark; Fjenneslev, Denmark; Alstead-Flinterup, Denmark
Married: Maren Nielsen (died 1879), Maren Sofie Olsen
Children:
Herman Hansen
Marin Hansine Marie Hansen
Julie Oline Hansen
Hans Kristian Hansen
Johanne Kristen Hansen
Ole Hansen

Rasmus Hansen was born in the farming town of Knudstrup, Denmark, on the Island of Seland. It appears he lived all his life as a farmer. His farm was called Stubbegaarden, located in Alsted-Flinterup. He married not once, but twice, marrying again two years after his first wife died. He and his second wife, Maren Sofie had six children together, the eldest of which was born the year after they were married. In early 1895, when their youngest child was only three years of age, Rasmus took ill and died, leaving Maren on their farm to raise their children the best she could. Their eldest was only twelve years old.