Our second son's wife just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy this morning, at 12:09 AM. He is a charming little guy, very peaceful and wonderful. Hopefully those of our family know the details. If not, you know how to contact me.
I am very thankful to my Heavenly Father for such a glorious family. It is a joy to be with them and to share life with them!
Another shining little soul is going to be arriving any day now. We expected the grandchild's birth today as well, but that looks to be still a day or two away.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
The Pind family
Anders Jensen Pind is my fifth-great-grandfather, born in Skovsøe, Ottestrup, Sorø, Denmark. In the later years of my father's life, he did a lot of research in the Pind genealogy and made considerable progress in finding families in that line of my mother's Danish ancestry. There have always been some questions about that line because the records are not very clear in some places and times.
As I was working on Danish research, I felt directed to look into this line to see what I could find. Since I started that back in September, I have come across a number of clues and insights and felt that it was important for me to pursue this for a while before leaving on our mission.
This blog entry will be fairly long because I wanted to explain some details and leave some research notes for anyone who wants to follow up on this while we are away. I still may do some work on this line while we are in Germany, but that is uncertain.
The notes I started making in September explain the process and some of the difficulties found in the Pind research:
Report on Anders Jensen Pind research, September - November 2012
I started working on the Pind line and found a probate record that cast new light on the family. It was the probate for Lars Christensen of Jærnbjerg (Jernberg) of Sankt Mikkels, near Slagels, Sorø, Denmark in 1793. It shows that his sister, Kirsten was married to Anders Jensen Pind and lists three children, including our ancestor Ane Marie Andersen. It also shows that Lars' mother had remarried and was married to Hans Andersen Pind who is Anders Jensen Pind's uncle (Jens Andersen Pind's brother).
This single probate record brings a lot of records together that were difficult to sort out because of the way the records were kept in the area at the time. There were several factors that make the records a problem. These are:
1. The lack of female (mother and wife) names in the record - It is normal for a death record to merely say: Anders Pind's wife buried, age 34. The christening of children fails to show a mother's name, either.
2. The people of the region used three churches in different towns for their christenings, burials and marriages. Most of the christenings are found in the Ottestrup parish, northeast of Slagelse. Marriages are sometimes performed in the St. Mikkels parish church, north of Slagelse. In the later years the family used the church in Hejninge, which is west of Slagelse. All the records still mentioned that Anders Pind was from the town of Skovsøe or Skousøe.
3. The various ministers used different spellings and abbreviations. Most notably, the name Christen or Christensen were sometimes spelled Xten and Xtensen. Anders was sometimes spelled And. The surname Pind was not consistently used. It appears that some ministers never used the Pind name, others always used it without the patronymic, etc. Ander Jensen Pind was sometimes listed as Anders Jensen, And Pind or Anders Jensen Pind.
4. The names used were very common. It is often not certain whether the person found is the real person or just someone else with the same name. Most recently the research seems to indicate that two men were there, both named Anders Jensen, our ancestor usually referred to by And Pind in the Ottestrup records.
The Census and Probate records are very useful in this work. They are not primary records so they can not usually be relied upon for an individual's basic information. That is true because the record keepers were prone to errors and assumptions. The value of these records is that it puts people together in families. When a set of parents is shown with several children and the locations and dates are close to what is found in the church christening records, then there can be a better assumption made as to parentage and location of the people.
Prior to this information, all we had was that Ane Marie Andersen was the daughter of Anders Jensen Pind. The mother was possibly Maren Hansdatter or Margrethe Jensdatter. Now it appears that Kirsten Christensdatter could have been her mother, though no marriage record has yet been found. Margrethe Jensdatter is most likely her step-mother, the marriage taking place after Ane's birth.
As I was working on Danish research, I felt directed to look into this line to see what I could find. Since I started that back in September, I have come across a number of clues and insights and felt that it was important for me to pursue this for a while before leaving on our mission.
This blog entry will be fairly long because I wanted to explain some details and leave some research notes for anyone who wants to follow up on this while we are away. I still may do some work on this line while we are in Germany, but that is uncertain.
The notes I started making in September explain the process and some of the difficulties found in the Pind research:
Report on Anders Jensen Pind research, September - November 2012
I started working on the Pind line and found a probate record that cast new light on the family. It was the probate for Lars Christensen of Jærnbjerg (Jernberg) of Sankt Mikkels, near Slagels, Sorø, Denmark in 1793. It shows that his sister, Kirsten was married to Anders Jensen Pind and lists three children, including our ancestor Ane Marie Andersen. It also shows that Lars' mother had remarried and was married to Hans Andersen Pind who is Anders Jensen Pind's uncle (Jens Andersen Pind's brother).
This single probate record brings a lot of records together that were difficult to sort out because of the way the records were kept in the area at the time. There were several factors that make the records a problem. These are:
1. The lack of female (mother and wife) names in the record - It is normal for a death record to merely say: Anders Pind's wife buried, age 34. The christening of children fails to show a mother's name, either.
2. The people of the region used three churches in different towns for their christenings, burials and marriages. Most of the christenings are found in the Ottestrup parish, northeast of Slagelse. Marriages are sometimes performed in the St. Mikkels parish church, north of Slagelse. In the later years the family used the church in Hejninge, which is west of Slagelse. All the records still mentioned that Anders Pind was from the town of Skovsøe or Skousøe.
3. The various ministers used different spellings and abbreviations. Most notably, the name Christen or Christensen were sometimes spelled Xten and Xtensen. Anders was sometimes spelled And. The surname Pind was not consistently used. It appears that some ministers never used the Pind name, others always used it without the patronymic, etc. Ander Jensen Pind was sometimes listed as Anders Jensen, And Pind or Anders Jensen Pind.
4. The names used were very common. It is often not certain whether the person found is the real person or just someone else with the same name. Most recently the research seems to indicate that two men were there, both named Anders Jensen, our ancestor usually referred to by And Pind in the Ottestrup records.
The Census and Probate records are very useful in this work. They are not primary records so they can not usually be relied upon for an individual's basic information. That is true because the record keepers were prone to errors and assumptions. The value of these records is that it puts people together in families. When a set of parents is shown with several children and the locations and dates are close to what is found in the church christening records, then there can be a better assumption made as to parentage and location of the people.
Prior to this information, all we had was that Ane Marie Andersen was the daughter of Anders Jensen Pind. The mother was possibly Maren Hansdatter or Margrethe Jensdatter. Now it appears that Kirsten Christensdatter could have been her mother, though no marriage record has yet been found. Margrethe Jensdatter is most likely her step-mother, the marriage taking place after Ane's birth.
Timeline
I made a timeline of known information to help figure out the details and hopefully get a better overall picture of the family. (The "Opslag" word means Image number in the online Danish records I found. - See http://buchananspot.com/joseph/genealogy/DanishHelper.html )
Pind family chronology
21 Apr 1743 Anders son of Jens Andersen of Skovsøe born Ottestrup (Opslag 27 1720-1775)
16 Oct 1774 marriage of Anders Jensen Pind of Skousøe to
Maren Hansdatter Ottestrup (Opslag 97 1720-1775)
(The Pind name appears between the lines of writing and it could be Anders Jensen of Skousøe and Maren Hans Pinds datter)
1 Jan 1775 christening of Anne, daughter of Anders Jensen Ottestrup (Opsalg 5 1770-1805)
of Skousøe [This is probably not our Anders Jensen Pind, but the other Anders Jensen]
16 Apr 1775 christening of Jens son of And Pind Ottestrup - Skovsøe (Opslag 5 1770-1805)
Hans Pind's wife was at the christening. This is quite certainly the oldest child of our ancestor. Jens appears in probates, census records and Military records as the son of Anders Pind.
6 Oct 1776 christening of Ane Marie daughter of And Pind of Skousøe Ottestrup - Skovsøe (Opslag 6 1770-1805) She is our ancestor.
23 Aug 1778 burial of And Pind's mother age 70 Ottestrup (Opslag 51 1770-1805)
23 Feb 1780 marriage of Anders Jensen of Skousøe to (?) Kirsten Jacobsdatter St. Mikkels (Opslag 218 1640-1815 marriages only) This is possibly the other Anders Jensen.
3 May 1780 probate - wife of Anders Pind, page 86 (This is from my father's notes, I still need to find it) The children listed are Jens, Ane Marie and Karen
25 June 1780 burial of And Pind's wife, age 34 Ottestrup (Opslag 51 1770-1805)
16 Apr 1781 christening of Karen daughter of And Pind Ottestrup - Skovsøe (Opslag 9 1770-1805)
This might have been a wife between Maren and Margrethe, possibly Kirsten Christensdatter, though there is absolutely no evidence of it. Karen could also have been illegitimate and Anders married her mother later the next year, though this is unlikely. Usually after an illegitimate birth, the couple was more quickly married.
20 Nov 1782 marriage of widower Anders Jensen of Skousøe to
spinster Margrethe Jensdatter of Heininge .
Hejninge (Opslag 46 1760-1814) Hejninge (p 136 Opslag 133 1648-1814)
betrothed 19 June 1782, November marriage also recorded on Opslag 135
20 Oct 1785 christening of Anna Christina daughter of And Pind Ottestrup (Opslag 12 1770-1805)
1787 Census Ottestrup - Skovsøe
Anders Pind listed with four children: Jens 11; Anna Maria 10; Karen 7 all from first marriage;
Anna Christine 2 from another marriage. Wife listed is Margaretha Jensdatter
12 May 1788 christening of Maren daughter of And Pind Ottestrup - Skovsøe (Opslag 15 1770-1805)
20 Nov 1791 christening of Kirsten daughter of And Pind Ottestrup - Skovsøe (Opslag 18 1770-1805)
1791 Military Levying Rolls St. Mikkels
Jens, son of Anders Pind age 14 (should be 16)
Jens is continually listed in following MLR records, 1793, 1796, 1799, etc. with the correct ages in those records. MLR records only sons.
3 May 1793 death/burial of Anders Jensen Hejninge (Opslag 82 1760-1814)
20 Dec 1793 Probate of Lars Chistensen Jernberg (Skt Mikkels), Antvorsskov 1790-1834
Anders Jensen Pind listed as deceased brother-in-law to Lars Christensen, having married his sister
Kirsten Christensdatter. Both Anders and Kirsten are dead.
Children of that marriage listed as: Jens Andersen 18, Ane Marie Andersdatter 14,
Karen Andersdatter 11. This says that his second wife is Margrethe Jensdatter of Heininge.
This one records seems to tell us that Anders Pind was indeed married to Kirsten Christensdatter and that, at least, Karen was their child (born in 1781).
11 Dec 1794 burial of Anders Jensen's widow Hejninge (Opslag 88 1760-1814)
This is most likely Margrethe Jensdatter. Her children appear in the 1801 census living with the family of Ane Marie and her husband Hans Jensen, in Hejninge.
Five weeks to go
Yesterday I had the wonderful pleasure of visiting my cousin, who recently returned from serving, with her husband, a mission in Holland. They reported their experiences in sacrament meeting in their ward, along with their son, who just returned from serving in Washington State. After the meeting, we all gathered at their home and I had nice visit with her and really learned about some of the details of work in Europe. Besides the financial, practical, cultural and political details, the main value of the experience was that I could really feel the great and wonderful blessing of serving the Lord among the people there. It made the mission seem that much closer and real.
Also over the weekend (Friday, really) we contacted a coordinator at the MTC concerning language training. Since we are only in the MTC for 7 days, there will only be minimal experience in learning German there. We are to set up some Skype-based language instruction for the next weeks and then after Christmas we hope to have some days at the MTC in immersion experiences in the language before officially entering the MTC.
Exactly 5 weeks until then!
Also over the weekend (Friday, really) we contacted a coordinator at the MTC concerning language training. Since we are only in the MTC for 7 days, there will only be minimal experience in learning German there. We are to set up some Skype-based language instruction for the next weeks and then after Christmas we hope to have some days at the MTC in immersion experiences in the language before officially entering the MTC.
Exactly 5 weeks until then!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Travel information
We received our travel information today. We are to fly to Paris, leaving our fair state on Jan 7th at 4:55 PM (Delta) arriving in Paris the next morning at 11:25 AM (10 1/2 hours of actual flight), then after a layover of about 1 and a half hours, on to Munich, arriving Tuesday mid-afternoon.
Preparations
I have avoided making posts for a while. We have been busy with mission preparations. My companion and I love spending a little time each morning reading from the Book of Mormon, auf Deutsch. I read a verse in English, she in German and then I repeat it in German.
I have been working on studying the region and making maps. They are fairly large files so I will not post them here, though I am adding an image of the map they sent us, reduced in size. You won't be able to read the names, but you can get the idea. In researching the wards and branches of the mission, I came up with a count of 36 Wards and 23 Branches. Liechtenstein has none, but there is a ward near there in Dornbirn, Austria.
We are now working on buying things (luggage, clothes, etc.) and studying the language. We will not be able to use our cell phones over there, so we will probably discontinue our account and cell phones here, so contact will mainly be done via email and Skype. We will likely be discontinuing our home phone here as well. The boys will be setting up something for their internet and will set up their own phones, I believe.
This is all very exciting and overwhelming as well. With the Lord's help we can do this.
I have been working on studying the region and making maps. They are fairly large files so I will not post them here, though I am adding an image of the map they sent us, reduced in size. You won't be able to read the names, but you can get the idea. In researching the wards and branches of the mission, I came up with a count of 36 Wards and 23 Branches. Liechtenstein has none, but there is a ward near there in Dornbirn, Austria.
We are now working on buying things (luggage, clothes, etc.) and studying the language. We will not be able to use our cell phones over there, so we will probably discontinue our account and cell phones here, so contact will mainly be done via email and Skype. We will likely be discontinuing our home phone here as well. The boys will be setting up something for their internet and will set up their own phones, I believe.
This is all very exciting and overwhelming as well. With the Lord's help we can do this.
November birthdays
We got together, as is the tradition. Of course, we are not all here, with the Singing Bees in Europe. Here are a few pictures.
Isaak's birthday
We visited Isaak's grave. It was on Monday instead of Sunday, because it got dark before we were able to get there on the 18th. Here are some pictures.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
and the opening...
Well, we have officially opened the plain white envelope and here is the result:
We are called to serve in the Alpine-German speaking Mission, departing 31 Dec 2012 .
We are all excited and visiting together about this so I will post thoughts and reactions in the next blog.
Wow
We are called to serve in the Alpine-German speaking Mission, departing 31 Dec 2012 .
We are all excited and visiting together about this so I will post thoughts and reactions in the next blog.
Wow
First of two posts - "Anticipation"
Well, the long anticipated day has arrived. We received a large white envelope in the mail this afternoon, at 4:15 PM, actually. We have invited our family members to convene at our house for the official opening at 5:15 PM (Mountain time). The results will be reported in the next blog.
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