This morning we are off to rent a car (it's own adventure) in downtown Copenhagen. Two hours later we are driving a very, VERY nice Renault station wagon and on our way south to the island of Mon. In our family we have always spelled it Moen, and now I realize it's because we do not have the correct letter of the alphabet in English, which is an "o" with a line through it. It is pronounced not "O", but more like "ewww".
We are getting better at using round abouts!
Thank goodness for GPS. No napkin notes for this trip!
We are armed with photos of the farm house taken in 1975 by my Uncle Gene and Aunt Maxine and GPS coordinates figured out by Nephew Rob a few years ago.
Crossing the bridge we are definitely getting the "island vibe!"
My grandfather, John E. Jensen, was born on the island of Mon, in February 10, 1876 to Jorgen and Kristine Jensen. He was one of seven children. When John was six years old, Jorgen took his whole family and immigrated to the United States. He signed the departure ledger at the ship dock stating he wanted his children to have a chance to have a future by owning their own farm. Land in Denmark was limited.
It was with high hopes the whole family arrived in Luck, Wisconsin in 1882. Jorgen Jensen was a founder of the local creamery and cooperative. The boys, as it turned out, didn't like farming! Instead the Jensen Brother's General Store was a fixture in downtown Luck. My mother remembered napping on quilts piled high in the back room....and getting into the big jars of penny candy...especially licorice! (A Danish favorite!).
Here's the photo of my uncle and aunt posed outside the family farm/ house near the town of Stege, on Mon in 1975. Surely we could find this place??
Danish farm houses were ingenious, with the barn being attached to the living quarters, a big barn door to drive the wagon into the farm yard, which is protected by the buildings.
It is an amazing experience to stand on the ground where your grandfather and great grandfather and grandmother stood, 140 years ago.
The barn door is probably used for something else today...other than horses, wagons and cows.
There is a For Sale sign posted by the driveway. No one is home. I wrote my Jensen cousins and see if they are interested in a family vacation home?
Many farm fields stretch to the water. Not so different from
San Juan Island.
Lots of cobble walkways, narrow streets and historic buildings in Stege town.
Lunch!!! Rye, herring, pickles, onion = Heaven! I love this! The coffee is great too!
We don't really see a lot of dogs, but we know there must be some around. This
special parking place we find outside a small gallery tucked behind the town street.
For many years, every December, a Danish Christmas plate would arrive in the mail from my Aunt Lavern. Each year a limited edition of plates are made by two different Danish companies, Royal Copenhagen or Bing and Grundel B&G), depicting life in Denmark. Almost all my plates are B&G and they have always hung in my kitchen.
This artist surely had visited Jorgen Jensen's farm on the Island if Mon....in the winter!
Although my mother, Lyleth, insisted on both of her girls taking piano lessons, she was really the piano player. Her father taught her to play at age six! Yes, every Christmas season she would play carols and we would sit on the piano bench with her and sing. Music had been important in her childhood. Grandpa John played the guitar and the fiddle. Now Steve and I play ukulele! Who knew?
I have a,ways been attracted to classic wooden boats. How is it that Steve and I own a 37 ft. Sailboat that is this same North Sea design?
One last plate, in a totally different style, but in the spirit of the same tradition. Many years after immigrating to Wisconsin from Denmark, the Jensen Brother's Store, owned by John and his brother J.P., gave their patrons a plate at Christmas time. Here is the one given away the year my mother, Lyleth, was born, 1911. If you look closely, you will find a calendar surrounds the horse and Native American. Perhaps this plate describes something about life in northern Wisconsin?
We pay a visit to the local Mon Museum, and eventually a wonderful woman emailed me with some links to sites for searching for family in Denmark and immigration records. The Luthern Church is closed when we visit, but there most likely are records there too. One short afternoon, searching for roots, spanning back 140 years. Probably not enough time...but enough time to find Jorgen Jensen's farm and the birthplace of grandfather John E. Jensen and....stand on the same soil on an island so far away from the island where this great granddaughter lives.
(Interesting note: John was never given a middle name. Later in life he decided to just give himself a middle initial...E. it is!). Why not?
