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My Christopherson Family--
Those Brave-hearted Danes
The mid 1800's saw a large exodus of immigrants leaving their homes, friends and families for the hope of a better life.
There was neither land nor opportunity in Denmark. The nobility and the authorities, both temporal and religious were enslaving the people. The rewards were miserable food and poor wages. Whether or not a man enjoyed his legal rights depended entirely on the question of wealth. The squires demolished their fathers' houses and farms, and the small plots were added to the large estate fields. These same men accumulated houses and fields until there was no more available land in the country. The squires were the only ones that could remain there.
Erick heard about the opportunities available in America and wanted to take his family there for a better life. He had heard what a wonderful country America was and he wanted to move to the land of "milk and honey".
In 1865, shortly after his last child, Jacob (my great grandfather) was born, he left his wife Anna to care for their four children while he went to America to prepare a place for them. He had been shoemaker in Denmark, but when he went to America, he worked in the woods in Wisconsin. He worked there until 1868 when he sent for his family. Then they moved to Minnesota where he took up a homestead in Lincoln County. He farmed there until 1892 when he and Anna moved to Oregon and settled on a small farm at Monitor. By now the children were grown and had families of their own. In the years ahead they would follow their parents to Oregon.
Erick and Anna were members of the Lutheran Church which was the official Church of Denmark. However, when they came to America, a minister, Elder O. A. Olson came to the neighborhood and held an effort in the school house in about 1875. They joined the Seventh Day Adventist Church and remained firm till death.
(Although I do professional research, anything concerning my own family trees is done with no charge.)
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