Finding gg grandma Christiane Frederikke Andersen Rasmussen?

[Jan McLaughlin]

My gg grandmother was supposed to have immigrated to the US, Rugby, Illinois, in 1889, age 51, from Kong, Hammer, Praesto. She is listed at the Danish Immigration site using only her maiden name, Christiane Frederikke Andersen. She was a widow. Her husband was Niels Rasmussen. I have still to find her actually immigrating. I have searched all over the Hammer parishes, but no luck in finding her.  As late as 1886, she is living in Ring, because she is listed as godmother to one of her grandchildren at his baptism in Kong.
1.  I'm wondering what  name would she have probable used if she did immigrate? Andersen or Rasmussen?
2.  Neither can I find her death in Denmark or any proof that she really came to the US.  Can anyone on this board find her death around Praesto, Hammer, Kong, Kostraede Banker, Ring...

She was born in Fodby, Soro, in 1837.  

I am new to this site, so I hope I have done this correctly.

MVH, Jan Wesselhoff McLaughlin, Los Angeles,CA



[vedhæfting slettet af admin]

[Paul Løndahl-Smidt]

Hi Jan,

Here are all the Nielsens and Wesselhoffs and Andersens who went to Rugby from Køng.  Perhaps the answer lies in their records.

Name:    Wesselhoff, N.   Occupation:    Søn
Age:    03   Destination:    Rugby, Ill.
Contract no.:    578600   Registration date:    9/3/1890
Birth place:    ?   Birth place:    ?
Last res. parish:    Køng   Last res. county:    Præstø
Last residence:    Kjøng, Præstø   Destination country:    USA
Destination city:    Rugby   Destination state:    Illinois
Name of ship:    Indirekte
IDcode:    I9091V0412
Name:    Nielsen, Hans   Occupation:    Tyende (m/k land)
Age:    22   Destination:    Rugby, Ill.
Contract no.:    114300   Registration date:    3/5/1891
Birth place:    ?   Birth place:    ?
Last res. parish:    Køng   Last res. county:    Præstø
Last residence:    Kjøng, Præstø   Destination country:    USA
Destination city:    Rugby   Destination state:    Illinois
Name of ship:    Indirekte
IDcode:    I9091N3615
Name:    Nielsen, Ane Marie   Occupation:    Tyende (m/k land)
Age:    17   Destination:    Rugby, Ill.
Contract no.:    488800   Registration date:    6/18/1891
Birth place:    ?   Birth place:    ?
Last res. parish:    Køng   Last res. county:    Præstø
Last residence:    Kjøng, Præstø   Destination country:    USA
Destination city:    Rugby   Destination state:    Illinois
Name of ship:    Indirekte
IDcode:    I9192N0407
Name:    Wesselhoff, C.   Occupation:    Søn
Age:    00 9/12   Destination:    Rugby, Ill.
Contract no.:    578600   Registration date:    9/3/1890
Birth place:    ?   Birth place:    ?
Last res. parish:    Køng   Last res. county:    Præstø
Last residence:    Kjøng, Præstø   Destination country:    USA
Destination city:    Rugby   Destination state:    Illinois
Name of ship:    Indirekte
IDcode:    I9091V0413
Name:    Nielsen, Maren Sofie   Occupation:    Gift
Age:    22   Destination:    Rugby, Ill.
Contract no.:    488700   Registration date:    6/18/1891
Birth place:    ?   Birth place:    ?
Last res. parish:    Køng   Last res. county:    Præstø
Last residence:    Kjøng, Præstø   Destination country:    USA
Destination city:    Rugby   Destination state:    Illinois
Name of ship:    Indirekte
IDcode:    I9192N0405
Name:    Wesselhoff, Ane K.   Occupation:    Gift
Age:    25   Destination:    Rugby, Ill.
Contract no.:    578600   Registration date:    9/3/1890
Birth place:    ?   Birth place:    ?
Last res. parish:    Køng   Last res. county:    Præstø
Last residence:    Kjøng, Præstø   Destination country:    USA
Destination city:    Rugby   Destination state:    Illinois
Name of ship:    Indirekte
IDcode:    I9091V0411
Name:    Nielsen, Niels Carl Adolph   Occupation:    Søn
Age:    00 3/4   Destination:    Rugby, Ill.
Contract no.:    488700   Registration date:    6/18/1891
Birth place:    ?   Birth place:    ?
Last res. parish:    Køng   Last res. county:    Præstø
Last residence:    Kjøng, Præstø   Destination country:    USA
Destination city:    Rugby   Destination state:    Illinois
Name of ship:    Indirekte
IDcode:    I9192N0406
Name:    Nielsen, Hans   Occupation:    Tyende (m/k land)
Age:    22   Destination:    Rugby, Ill.
Contract no.:    374400   Registration date:    5/7/1890
Birth place:    ?   Birth place:    ?
Last res. parish:    Køng   Last res. county:    Præstø
Last residence:    Kostrædet pr. Lundby St.   Destination country:    USA
Destination city:    Rugby   Destination state:    Illinois
Name of ship:    Indirekte
IDcode:    I9091N0504


Sincerely,
Paul

[Jan McLaughlin]

Thank you, Paul.  But I have all that info.  What's your opinion about what name she would have used?

[David Peterson]

Jan:

Are we to understand that your goals are the following?
1) find some indication that she actually arrived in the US
2) find a date and place of death

When you say "cannot find her actually immigrating" do you mean that you do not find her on a ship's passenger list?

As for the name she would use, it was not really the general practice for a woman to refer to herself by her husbands patronym.  So it is more likely that she would have called herself "Andersen" or "Andersdatter".  However, people did not always have control over what a record-taker assumed or wrote down.  If she had been traveling with her husband outside of Denmark, they might have written down her husband's name instead.  Since she was a widow, I think this is less likely, but you have to be prepared to "expect the less expected" and look for both.

You also have to be prepared for the possibility that she may not be found on any passenger list.  Sometimes people were just overlooked, or their names were recorded in a manner that we cannot find them or connect them with the name we believed would have been used.

I think that Paul was leaning in the direction of "if you don't know where or what a particular person was doing, look at what the people close to them were doing".  So that means look to see who else was going to Rugby, and especially, look to see what her family is doing.  It would be unusual (but still possible) for an older widowed woman to travel all by herself to a new country without being either accompanied by family (or at least friends) or met on the other end by the same.

From your ancestry.com tree, we see that she had at least a couple of children that emigrated from Denmark to the USA.  And it appears that they are at least some of them are people that show up in the emigration list that Paul gave:

Christiane Frederikke Andersen, age 52, reg. July 1889
Hans Nielsen, age 22, reg. May 1890 -- is this the son of Christiane?

Ane K. Wesselhoff, age 25, married, reg. Sep 1890, along with two young boys.  -- She is Christiane's daughter, no? Where is her husband? When did he emigrate?

Hans Nielsen, age 22, reg. Mar 1891 -- is this a different person than #1? Or a delayed trip?  Or an incorrect record?
Maren Sofie Nielsen, age 22, married, reg. Jun 1891, along with infant son. -- She is Christiane's daughter-in-law, Hans' wife?  Did he precede her by a year or a few months?
Ane Marie Nielsen, age 17, reg. Jun 1891 -- it is not the exact same contract as Maren Sofie, but the same date.  Who is she and how is she related?

Have the passenger list entries for all of these people been found?  Have they been checked to see if Christiane is traveling with them, and possibly overlooked because of a garbled name?
It is unusual to think that Christiane would have preceded all these relatives, alone, and have no one gone before her.  Are there other relatives that emigrated (perhaps other childdren or some of her siblings?)  When did her son-in-law Wesselhof go?

Since you have spent effort looking for a death in Denmark, do you have something, other than not finding a US record, that leads you to suspect she never arrived in the US?  Do you perhaps have family writings or stories that talk about her?

Of course, there are many possibilities as to what could have happened to her (and that is what makes it difficult!)  She could have died anywhere en route, including Copenhagen, England or Germany (presumably she traveled through one or the other), or on ship.  If she arrived in Illinois, stayed with family or acquaintances and died shortly thereafter, then it seems there would be little to record her residence and passing...  (Does Illinois have any vital records for the period?  I don't see any state census record for 1890-1900).  Are you sure that she is not anywhere in the vicinity or with family in the 1900 census?

Although the registration in Copenhagen generally indicated that a ticket had been purchased and that travel was imminent, sometimes delays did occur (or other unforseen circumstances).  Have you checked the 1890 censuses in Hammer and Køng parishes for all her family members to see if she is not still there with them?

These are some of the things that occur to me, and hopefully they offer some clues for you to follow!

David Peterson

[Githe Gry Jørgensen]

Hello Jan.

I can not remember if we have been in contact with each other before but Christiane Frederikke Andersdatter is the sister of my great-grandmother. It is true that Christiane and some of her children went to U.S. I might have some old letters they wrote back to the family in Denmark.

Githe Gry.