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 |
0 comments :
Post a Comment