Intricate needlework featuring the port of Copenhagen in Denmark. At one time, the city was called Hafnia.
Turner County’s Viborg was named after a Danish city where all of the country’s monarchs were elected from 10271665. It was one of Denmark’s cultural centers during the Reformation and remains one of the most important cities in the country. Since 1820, more than 450,000 Danes have emigrated to the United States, the majority between 1880 and 1915. Economic problems were by far the greatest reason why most Danes left for foreign shores. In the mid-1800s, the population of Denmark increased rapidly and, at the same time, a large portion of the country’s land base was lost to Germans in a war. Most Danish immigrants in the 19th century were young, single farmers’ sons between the ages of 15 and 29; they left their homeland to escape from slipping into the landless class and with the hope that they could acquire a farm, marry, and start a family in a land of economic opportunity.
• Keep the Sabbath just as strictly as the Americans do. You will soon learn that this is necessary in order not to be worn out by the stressful social machinery. The Library of Congress has noted that Danish Americans, more so than other Scandinavian Americans, "spread nationwide and comparatively quickly disappeared into the melting pot.” Historians have pointed to the higher rate of English use among Danes, their willingness to marry non-Danes, and their
In 1911, Holger Rosenberg published a booklet entitled “100 Pieces of Advice for Danish Immigrants.” It included a wealth of practical advice for the traveler. Following is a sample from the booklet which may seem humorous and/or still applicable today: • Don’t play cards for money or make wagers about the speed of the ship. • Be suspicious of the host of “friends” who lay in wait at the place you land to trick you out of your money. • Under no circumstances accept friendly invitations from unknown individuals to drink a glass of beer in a bar or saloon. • No place in the U.S. is as difficult to find work in as in New York, no place is it so easy to flounder. Don’t stop here! • Don’t ever forget that someone is sitting back home longing for a letter, even the shortest one, from you. • It is stupid elsewhere in the world, but it is even more stupid in America to tell just anyone you meet and who calls you a friend just how much money you have. • Even if you find an American street to be a hellaciously noisy place, don’t lose your head. Take it easy, and learn to protect your nerves.
180 N Main Ave. Parker, SD 57053 Bus: 605-297-4747 368 N Main St. Freeman, SD 57029 Bus: 605-925-7353 mark@markkasten.com
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June 2022 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine
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