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ANDREAS
written May 27, 1929 for Advanced Exposition Class
by Ethel, his daughter
On a grassy knoll in northern
Denmark a little lad with yellow curls sat gazing at his bare toes,
working them up and down in deep thought. The child, Andreas, wondered
if he would ever go to that dreamland, America, where seven-year old
boys did not have to guard sheep for an unkind master who whipped boys
on the slightest provocation and made them sleep alone in the loft with
a corpse in the next room.
Andreas had a great deal
of ambition. On the "gård," the big Danish farm, he had a
reputation for being a good worker, but he grew so weary. When Andreas
had reached the age of six years, his father and mother, burdened with
a large family, found him a place to work for ten dollars a year. From
his "salary" he obtained all of his clothes. He bought the
wool for his garments, his mother carded and spun it; his aunt wove
it; the dyer dyed it; and when he was only a child, he himself could
knit his own stockings and sweaters.
The boy's work was not often
near his home. The parents themselves labored on a "gård"
in addition to cultivating their own poor, little farm. When Andreas
was at home, the meals were meager ones, composed of rye bread and mush.
At his place of work there was at least, enough rye bread and
mush. Sometimes, too, it was possible to find secretly a few eggs and
potatoes to bake in a fire and in the fields while herding the sheep.
Always Andreas wished for
a life of more opportunity. Because he was bright in his school work,
he managed to keep ahead of the other children inspite of the fact that
his master paid a small fine so that he need go to school only two months
out of the year. On one occasion he lost all of his school books and
feared to tell his parents. The schoolmaster was greatly surprised when
he discovered that Andreas was solving mentally the problems that other
children had struggled with on paper before coming to recitations. In
his confirmation class Andreas learned his catechism with unusual rapidity,
and never forgot it ever after. His interest in The Bible became one
of paramount importance.
This boy did not believe
the superstition of his community. He did not think ghosts haunted the
graveyard, for once the spectre with clanking chains turned out to be
a tethered sheep. In spite of the fact that his uncle was a witch doctor,
Andreas had reasons not to believe in charms. Once when his relative
had given him a charm to hang around his neck in order to drive away
the toothache, his curiosity got the better of him. Opening the charm
he found these words:
"This tooth will decay
and fail out."
How Andreas longed to get
away from all the superstition and go to America! At last when he was
eighteen years old, the opportunity arrived. A son of his master came
home from America for a visit. He was a blustery sort of man who could
assume smooth manners if necessary, but to Andreas he was a demagogue
with his tales of the amount of money one could earn in America where
there were no class distinctions. He even added that America held an
abundance of rich, pretty girls. That was the end - Andreas bargained
with the man to lend him money at the exorbitant interest rate of 24%.
The man had wished 110%, but lowered the rate because Andreas could
not pay it. The ocean passage cost only fifty-eight dollars, but to
one who earned forty-five dollars a year, the sum was great indeed.
In 1878 at the age of eighteen,
Andreas bade goodby to an unhappy family, left his birthplace at Nibe
(the town you will remember to be the birthplace of Jacob Riis) and
set out to fulfill his childhood ambition. (Note from Joan Blum in 1987-1
believe the reference to Nibe as Andreas' birthplace is part of what
Aunt Ethel calls "creative license" at a time when she probably
didn't know the actual place.)
Andreas, on his arrival in
America, feared that it was not his dreamland, but rather a land where
the people spoke a ridiculous tongue. However, he made his way to Iowa,
where in Shelby County, on April 10, 1878, he found work on a farm at
Cuppey's Grove at the salary of one-hundred-ten dollars a year. During
the winter months he went to school, and soon he could speak the language
which had sounded so difficult. In the early eighties, railroads were
being built in Iowa and Nebraska so he joined the railroad gangs. This
experience gave him an acquaintance with a cosmopolitan group. But an
efficient Danish girl drew him back to Cuppey's Grove. He had worked
for Mary's brother-in-law when he first came to America. Andreas had
saved his money for a purpose. The girl was a Baptist, he a Lutheran,
but what difference did churches make in the new land? At the age of
twenty-four he married Mary, and became a rigid Baptist, believing that
dancing, card playing, and theatres were instruments of the devil. You
are wondering if she was rich. Yes, but her father believed that young
people should begin life under difficulties. Never-the-less, the wealth
meant little to Andreas.
After his marriage, Andreas'
life became that of the average Iowa Farmer. He and Mary worked on the
farm for over thirty-five years, bringing up their large family in the
fear and love of God. Although Andreas became prosperous, it was too
late to receive the schooling for which he had longed. He was not to
be disappointed in life, however, for his children received the education
he had desired. Never a word of complaint did his children hear because
their lot was easier than his had been. Two of the children became foreign
missionaries. The ambition of the thoughtful Danish shepherd lad was
instilled into his children. What greater heritage could a parent give?
THE FOUR
BABIES
I can not let this book go
to press without saying what few words I know about these little boys.
As Christensens we speak of "The Ten", but there were fourteen,
and they lived from 8 months to one year. Mother never forgot them.
Esther tells how she grieved for each, and she remembers mother looking
at the lifeless body of one, saying, "I have milk for you, and
you can not nurse."
After we moved to Cedar Falls,
Mother asked me to include their names in the Petersen Family Bible,
under Dødsfald (Deaths). Some have wondered who wrote it. I was the
one, and I want to be the one to remember them now --carried nine months
in our mother's womb as we were, nursed and loved by her, but not strong
enough to survive from the respiratory problems they developed in a
day where the death rate for babies was high.
I remember Verle, who was
born when I was two and one-half years old. There are two memories.
Once he was lying in the cradle kicking. His red knit bootie had come
off and he kicked so much that I could not put it back on. I remember
seeing him lying with pennies over his eyes. I was too young to understand.
Here is what I wrote in the
Bible:
Glen Russel Christensen,
son of Mary and Andrew Christensen, born Jan 3, 1901. Died Jan. 8, 1902.
E. Harold Christensen, son
of Mary and Andrew Christensen, born May 18, 1903. Died March 29, 1904.
Ralph A. Christensen, son
of Mary and Andrew Christensen, Born June 3, 1905. Died Feb. 6, 1906.
Verle Christensen, son of
Mary and Andrew Christensen, born March 27, 1910. Died December 26,
1910.
Verle was born in Nebraska.
The other three in Shelby County, Iowa. All are buried in the Cuppy's
Grove Cemetery.
I wrote for Mother. She would
not want them left out.
Ethel
Magnus's
Tribute to Mother
Written in the hospital, December 20, 1979
Dear Ethel:
A few reminiscences about
my mother.
There were 3 girls in the
Petersen family. My mother was the youngest. Mother loved Father. I
think he was her first love and I never knew mother with any other attitude
toward Father. I remember her often giving Father a kiss as she did
all of us. Mother had a mind of her own but never in open conflict with
Father. Father was intellectual but mother never tried to dominate him
but was never far behind him.
I remember Father saying:
"Mother would have gone anywhere even to a sod house in Nebraska
to live with him."
Mother's parents were from
Denmark. Her father was a fisherman and made money and his wife peddled
the fish by wheelbarrow in the small city where they lived by the North
Sea. Grandpa Magnus Petersen bought land for $4.00 an acre and then
bought 40 which made the 120 acres which was sold when we moved to Nebraska
in 1906. (Ethel's note: It was 1907. I was born in August after they
moved in March).
Father helped all his family
get to America. His side of the family was poor. Mother did not always
like the money going out to get dad's relatives to America when she
with her family had a hard time keeping food on the table.
Mother used to make elderberry
wine and she served it when company came. It was potent. One day some
visitors were there and they got wine. Each left a little in the glasses.
Raymond, the oldest boy emptied all the glasses and got drunk. That
was the last elderberry wine mother every made.
She used to talk to me about
moral living and how courtship should be conducted. Father used to make
mother an example to us young folk in our adolescent days.
When I went off to school
at Lincoln, mother would say good bye and say "Be a good boy."
She wrote faithfully to me and was always exhalting me to live a clean
life.
She had 14 children, had
two operations for cancer. Mother went through a lot. She did better,
said Lydia, than she realized. She died of old age full of years and
esteemed by all her children.
I loved my mother. She loved
me.
Magnus
A TRIBUTE
TO MOTHER
BY AGNES
written in 1979 at Ethel's request
I would like to pay a tribute
to Mother and I know that it is totally inadequate for what she deserves.
I have a lovely remembrance of Mother. Not that I like to think of all
the hardships which she endured, but how she towered over all of them
in rearing a large family. In spite of shortage of money many times,
no doubt, she saw to it that her children were fed and clothed. And
that is saying a great deal for those times. Also I remember as a child,
I wished that I could have a bracelet. I was happily surprised one day
when she gave it to me. No doubt there were many things she needed for
herself. But her family was always first. Only the Lord knows how she
helped us children to get dressed for Sunday School. At home, she stayed,
for there was always a baby to care for.
I know Esther and I are glad
to remember the years when we came home from college for the summer
months. Then we took over at the farm including the housekeeping, gardening,
canning, etc.
Part of the
Obituary of Andrew Christensen
from the Harlan Tribune January 27, 1944
He accepted Christ and was
baptized in Cuppy's Grove in 1891 where he became a teacher of the adult
Bible class. From this time he remained an earnest Christian worker
throughout his active life.
In unselfish devotion he
thought always of the welfare and education of his family, seeking to
rear them to the knowledge of God.
Remembrances
of Grandma and Grandpa
From Wesley Schram
lola and I were invited to
the home of Grandpa and Grandma Christensen in the summers before we
were of school age.
Grandpa enjoyed trying to
teach me Danish. We were at the barn when Grandpa wanted to send a message
to Grandma and we would rehearse the sentence until he thought I would
be able to relay the message. On the way to the house I would keep repeating
the best I could but lost the message so that Grandma could not interpret
so she would send me back to Grandpa for another lesson in Danish.
Aunt Agnes, Ethel, Ioia and
I went to visit Grandma at the hospital at the time of the cancer operation.
We made the trip in the Jackson automobile. It was my first trip over
the Missouri River bridge at Sioux City. It was a big trip for little
ones like we were.
From Wesley's wife Mildred-
Grandma Christensen influenced me to start quilting when she gave me
a quilt top for a wedding gift.
Andrew &
Mary Christensen
from B. Rowenna Schram Richards Erbach
Andrew worked for a farmer
in Minnesota to pay for his passage to the U. S. His mother told him
he had a rich culture and must always be very polite.
He was always to say "No,
Thank You" twice and the third time they'd urge he could accept.
His first meal in this Minnesota home taught him that a new country
had different customs and he must adopt new ways. He had to go to the
kitchen to beg for food before going to bed.
As a child he was often hungry
and said he wanted so much to cut one more slice off the bread beyond
the marked notch. When he was out tending the sheep he rejoiced if he
found a bird's egg to add to his meager lunch.
I remember with much pleasure
time with him. He spoke in Danish that I should "come to him",
but I always heard it that I "had blue hair" and argued with
him that I didn't. As I grew older and was a good student he told me
he would be responsible for my education. It didn't happen, but left
me a warm feeling that he had planned to do it.
He was a great "planner".
When mother and my grandmother were talking he would often walk around
our farm yard area and didn't seem to mind if I walked with him. Often
he talked to himself as he planned something he felt should happen in
a certain way. He loved Bible study " and often engaged in discussion
of it and it was no accident that his children grew up to serve the
Lord. He was a good story-teller and loved to share tales with his family.
He always wanted everything painted and in good repair.
Grandma Mary was always an
"eager" person. It was her way of life from her youth. She
always liked to share in her family's activities and I remember was
always interested in what each of us was doing or making such as embroidery,
sewing, baking, etc. and later in our life, planning and romances leading
into the establishment of our families. She told of her own experience-
apparently they were discussing marriage and Andrew said it wouldn't
be right for him to marry her since her parents didn't like him. He
must also have confessed that he wanted her for his wife. She told him
that her parents really liked him very much, but just weren't the kind
of people to show it. So they were married - but Grandma confessed to
us "I lied". Her parents were much more affluent than the
young Andrew who had to start from the bottom financially, so perhaps
they felt he wasn't a good "prospect". Since Andrew and Mary
were married by the Justice of the Peace probably the young couple didn't
have their full blessing. But Grandma carried her eagerness for life
and action through her big family and the many experiences that life
brought her. She was always very punctual for meals. If there was delay
in the routine it would not be on her account.
She loved to "piece
quilts" and made one for most of her female grandchildren and for
their babies for as many years as she was able. Mine was the "flower
garden" and she was my inspiration to give one of these to each
of my grandchildren.
Memories
of Grandpa Andrew and Grandma Mary
From Rosemarie C. Prouse
We were privileged to live
just over the hill from Grandpa and Grandma during our teenage years.
This afforded us several benefits, not the least of these was the fact
that we knew them so well in those years. We also were able to know
the rest of the family as they all came to visit.
I want to share two incidents
that stand out in my mind to help others who come after us to know both
of them better. Grandpa was a strong supporter of education all his
life. Grandma left us a role model for strong self-determination.
It was the first summer after
I graduated from high school and I would go on to teach in the rural
school district of Rose Hill (the same school Dad went to as a child)
that fall. Money was tight but Dad told me I could go to summer school
that summer. One Saturday morning Grandpa came over the hill walking
with his cane very slowly and gave me a check for $10 to help with school.
I've never forgotten it.
Let me share this picture
with you - Grandma loved the out-of-doors. She wore a blue denim apron
that covered front and back, but loose in the back. She was out in the
field and came up to the barbed wire fence. She didn't bother to go
to the gate, just went over the fence only to have her apron caught
on the fence. She never looked back- just kept on going until the fence
gave up (and the apron too). I've drawn on her example of strong determination
many times.
Rosemarie C. Prouse- April
1987
RECOLLECTIONS
OF ANDREW AND MARY
from Ruth Grow Kenney-Randolph
My earliest recollection
of Andrew and Mary were when our family made a trip to Allen, Nebraska.
This was the longest trip I had ever undertaken and a major event. I
remember the big house, having a church service in the parlor, the huge
hills, and always a lot of people around. My grandparents were always
busy talking to the adults, but once when my sister, Mary and I were
singing, Grandma came in where we were singing and asked us to sing
for her! This became a ritual every time we were with her after that.
My grandfather did not converse much at that stage, and I only remember
him as a quiet, old man.
I remember how sad Grandmother
was when Andrew died, and how she touched him and said, "Andrew."
I remember Aunt Lydia's tender
and loving care of her Mother, and only many years later, did I realize
what this period of her life must have been like. When Grandma died,
we did not see as much of our relatives, for the focal point was missing.
From David Reichlinger
MARY'S
PARENTS' PLANS
While Mary was still single,
her sister Petra died. Mary's mother thought that a marriage with the
relatively prosperous widower would be a fine idea. Instead, she ended
up marrying the poor farmhand named Andrew. This must have been a surprise
to her parents. Magnus was much better off than his new son-in-law.
THE RODEO
STAR
One thing Andrew and Mary
didn't agree on was the treatment of the horses. Andrew never wanted
to tire the horses, but Mary loved to get them going full speed. As
a girl, she would love to go as fast as the horse could go. One neighbor
thought that wasn't very lady-like. After that, Mary made a point of
riding even faster past her neighbor's house.
Her riding skills were not
limited to fast horses. She would also ride the cattle. To add to the
thrill, she would pull their tails to make them buck.
from Wayne Christensen
SHELBY COUNTY
IOWA HISTORY
No doubt many have heard
the term "Cuppy's Grove", "Merrill's Grove" and
others used in early Shelby County when the grandparents settled there.
Many of these terms are still in use. This history is important and
should be handed down to later generations so they will be better able
to understand the meaning and how they relate to our family history.
Most of the following facts and bits of Shelby County history have been
obtained from the book, Shelby County Iowa. This book was published
in February 1915 by the prominent Harlan, Iowa lawyer named Edward S.
White.
The first pioneers of Shelby
County settled in the "Groves". Here was material for cabin,
fuel and shelter. These first-comers had comparatively no means. They
were obliged to make their living from the locality in which they erected
their humble log cabins. Cuppy's Grove was one of these.
William Jordan, a son-in-law
of Abel Galland, and his family lived in the Galland log cabin built
in Galland's Grove. They spent the winter of 1848-49 in this cabin.
It is said that this was the first white family to spend a winter in
Shelby County.
Probably the first settlement
in the County was at "Hacktown". This was located in Section
16, Fairview township. The next probably was in Waterbury's Grove, Section
17, Fairview township, in 1853. Probably the next settlement in the
Groves was that at Cuppy's Grove. Two Pennsylvanian families named Dr.
W. J. Johnston and Adam Cuppy came to Cuppy's Grove, Monroe township,
in 1852. Within a few years three more Pennsylvanians settled in the
same grove slightly to the southwest. They were Abraham Rubendall, Jacob
Shatter, and Benjamin Pieffer. Merrill's Grove in Polk township was
settled during the fifties by George Merrill for whom the grove was
named. The Danish settlement there is largely an outgrowth of the settlement
at Cuppy's Grove.
The U. S. Census in 1856
reported five persons of Danish birth in Shelby County. An Iowa University
professor concluded these Danes were temporarily there while enroute
to Council Bluffs. Mr. White did not agree. He stated that these Danes
were probably the first of many to settle in the county. The first settlers
in Monroe township were Adam Cuppy and Dr. W. J. Johnston who settled
there in 1852. The poll book for Monroe township in 1875 lists many
of the men living in the township at that time.
W. B. (Bill) Cuppy was a
very early pioneer of Cuppy's Grove. He was charged with the murder
of John Johnston on July 21, 1860. Adam Cuppy was charged with being
an accessory. They were arrested by the Sheriff Milton Stanton. They
appeared in District Court but were eventually either released or acquitted.
Mr. White said the records were not clear on the facts or the outcome.
These two pioneer families in Cuppy's Grove apparently did not get along
from the start. Adam Cuppy was shot and killed on October 23, 1865.
This was after he had been held in custody in town over a horse incident
involving his son. He was shot and killed on his way out of town after
he was released from custody. The records did not say whether the person
who did the deed was arrested or not.
The first Danish people to
settle in Cuppy's Grove were Chris B. Christiansen and his wife in June
1865. They came from Brown County, Wisconsin. Soon after came others,
among which was Chris Johnson. These Danish people were frugal, industrious
and progressive. They were and are good farmers and no farms in the
County today are better improved or better cared for then theirs. Today
they and their descendants comprise a large proportion of the population
of the townships of Clay, Monroe, Jackson, Center, Polks, eastern part
of Douglas and south part of Jefferson.
The Danish Baptist Church
of Cuppy's Grove is one of the real pioneer religious institutions of
Shelby County. Mr. White said, "It stood for practical, hardy,
virile Christianity for almost a half century." In this year (1968)
the Church is nearly a century old. It is the parent Church of the Danish
Baptist Churches in Harlan, Iowa and Merrill's Grove. The Church was
organized January 1, 1870. The first members were Mr. and Mrs. C. B.
Christiansen, Mr. and Mrs. C. Nasby, Henry Johnson, P. C. Rold and Mrs.
Marinus Christensen. Meetings were first held in the Rubendall school
house in the south edge of Cuppy's Grove until the Church was erected
in 1877. This was the first Danish Baptist Church in Iowa. The Danish
Baptist Church in Merrill's Grove was supported in the early days by
the Berger, Scott, Nelson and other families. (The wives of Berger and
Scott were sisters of Grandpa Andrew Christensen.)
Monroe township (township
78-Range 38) was established January 7, 1873. In 1874 there were 1523
children of school age in the County. Monroe township had 209 of these.
The county schools were large. In 1888 the largest school was #3 school
in which Aunt Lydia Christensen taught shortly after the turn of the
Century. It was located about a mile north of the present Cuppy's Grove
Church. There were about 45 marriages in the county when Else Marie
Petersen and Christen Johnson were married in 1872. There were 200 marriages
in 1884 when Grandma Mary Petersen and Grandpa Andrew Christensen were
married. The state census of 1885 showed that Shelby County had 16,305
people and by 1888 had over 18,000.
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