Christian Invart Olesen--Finale--Maybe

     

     A final wrap on my paternal great great grandfather, Christian Invart Olesen, at least until some new document comes to light.  Thanks to Susanne S. Skaaning I now have documentation to fill in some  of the empty blanks in Christian's life in Denmark.

Birth Record provided by Susanne Skaaning

Haurvig, Holmsland Kilt, Hind, Ringkobing, Denmark
Nysogn Kontraministerialbog 1839-1847 FKVDJTA, AO 14_

     In Denmark, he was born Kristian which is Christian.  On the census he appears as Christian.  My great great grandfather was born on April 23, 1842 in Haurvig, Holmsland Kilt, Hind, Ringkobing, Denmark.  He was the second child of Ole Christensen, a farmer and fisherman, and Lisbeth Laustdatter.  Listing him with his middle name, Ingvard, has helped to identify him both in Denmark and in England.  The middle name was his maternal grandfather's first name, Ingvard Sorensen.

1845 Denmark Census
Hovvig, Nysogn, Hind,, Ringkobing, Denmark

     I have found it unusual that he was only enumerated with his father and mother on Denmark census reports once during his life in Denmark--and that was when he was one year old.  What happened?  Where was he? 

Confirmation Record for Kristian Ingvardt Olesen
Sonder Bork Church
Sonder Bork Kontraministerialbog 1846-1864 FKVDJTA, A0 46

     A recently located  record Susanne found of my paternal great great grandfather in Denmark is a Confirmation at Sonder Bork Church in 1859.  Of interest on this document is Henrik Olesen, Kristian's older brother, who was also confirmed at Sonder Bork Church in 1897.  His name is number four on the document and Kritian's name is at the bottom.  At the time of his confirmation, Kristian/Christian, age seventeen, was living with his uncle (his mother's brother), Niels Soren Laustsen, a farmer.

     To date the only other piece of the Denmark paper trail is a census report from 1860.  Listed as Christian Ingvart Olesen, he is enumerated with a family in Nymindega, Ribe, Denmark.  The family does not appear to be related to Christian.  My paternal great great grandfather is listed as a servant in the house and the house father's occupation is a tradesman.  Perhaps Christian was also an apprentice to the head of the household.

     Certainly census reports are a brief snapshot into someones life.  Perhaps he was living with his parents between census reports.  And yet, the immigration report that has recently come to light shows that he immigrated to England from Ribe, Denmark.  Was he living there from 1860 to his emigration in 1869 or 1870?  Both Susanne and I have searched through Danish emigration records and have not been able to locate Christian leaving Denmark.  Perhaps this description of Danish emigration found on My Danish Roots.com provides some insight.

Emigration from 1868-1914

On May 1., 1868—after a series of unfortunate incidents of ticket fraud etc.—the Danish authorities passed a strict law to protect the emigrants. The ticket agents now had to deposit a larger sum of money at the police to cover any demands for compensation. Also sub-agents had to be registered at the police and every ticket sold had to be validated at the local police office. Furthermore there now was a limit on how many emigrants a ship could carry and how much food should be aboard the ships.

The law meant that the Commissioner of the Copenhagen Police after 1868 systematically registered any person who emigrated from a Danish port using a Danish ticket agent; both those who left directly from Copenhagen or other Danish ports and those who left indirectly, i.e. via an English port. These registers—recording emigrants year-by-year and arranged alphabetically by their surname—end at 1940 and 1935 respectively. Although these registers comprises the vast majority of Danish emigrants they do NOT cover those emigrants who bought their tickets outside Denmark or those who—for some reason—didn''t buy a ticket at all (e.g. sailors jumbing ship). The registers are available for research on microfishe at most Danish archives and mayor libraries, but for the years 1868-1908 they are also made available for online search at the Danish Emigration Archive.

      I have not been able to locate the term"jumbing ship" or maybe it is "jumping ship"; however, the fact that sailors on the ship did not seem to require a ticket could provide a reason there is not an emigration record for my great great grandfather.  Christian's English records list his occupation as a shop owner dealing with shipping goods and as a ship's steward.  Perhaps one reason there are few Danish records for him is that he was already involved with the occupation of sailor or fisherman as a young man and was not present for census enumeration. 

     I do love maps ;-)  This one shows the three areas that I now have documentation of Christian Ingvart Olesen as having lived while in Denmark.  

Additional blogs on Christian Invart Olesen are on Flipside.  There is a search engine to locate more information about him.

Christian Invart Olesen on Timetoast Timelines.

     

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