Maribo, the land of Ole Nielsen and family

Shauna's great-great-grandfather Ole Nielsen and his wife Caroline Mortensen heard the gospel in their native Denmark and joined the church, suffering great persecution for doing so. They emigrated to Utah with their family in 1857.

Ole was born in Soesmarke and his parents were from Vigsnæs, near Soesmarke in Maribo county of Denmark.


We found this pretty little village on the north edge of the island of Maribo/Lolland. We arrived as the minister and a few remaining parishoners were leaving the church in Vigsnæs and were able to talk with the minister and a woman there and she gave us some information about the history of the church there, specifically that the church was re-built in the later 1800s.


A painting of the original church building in Vigsnæs.

The present day Vigsnæs chruch building.

A burial building and cemetery on the old church grounds.

Here is a typical house with the old-style thatched roof, found in Vignsæs.


This is a house in Soesmarke, also thatched, but a different building style.


The nearby larger town/city is Majbølle and many of Ole Nielsen's relatives were from there.


Caroline Mortensen was born in Købelev and her mother was from nearby Vindeby. The first place name with the name Købelev was a small community center, but not much else (until later).


The Vindeby area was quite interesting, especially with the mill there.

Heading back another way, we found the Købelev church.


(This is a sign plaque be the church)

The Købelev Church

Often the church structures show some of the old stone foundations.

A number of the ancestors and family of Ole Nielsen were from the port city of Taars (or Tårs). We did not visit the city itself, but went to the harbor and the shore there.

At the harbor area there was a map posted. This shows a lot of the places we visited.


The people and places of Denmark were wonderful. The people were very friendly and helpful (and spoke English very well) and the land was beautiful. It was a blessing to be able to see the places of ancestors here in Denmark.