Sonderborg Denmark

Visiting Ancestorial Home

When I was about 10, I visited my Grandmother, Ada Johanna Calleson McDermott, in Brooklyn, NY. She showed me her jar of coins that she was saving to visit Denmark, the country that her parents had immigrated from in the late 1800's. Grandma never made it back there nor did my Dad. But now almost 148 years to the day, I was privileged to visit my great-grandfather's hometown, Sonderborg, Denmark.

To get to Sonderborg, we rented a car in Hamburg, Germany. After negotiating what seemed like kilometers of city traffic, we turned onto the A7 Autobahn. At a speeds of up to 140 km/hr , we zoomed North for 140 km before turning onto lovely country roads passing through rolling farmland, dark green or earthy brown where freshly tilled. Lilacs bloomed on this gorgeous and warm May day with not a cloud in the sky.

Across the Danish border at the battlefield museum in Dybbol, we learned why 1864 is such a significant year in Danish history.

One month before my great-grandfather, Adolph Callesen's, birth (May 26, 1864), Prussian forces launched an attack on the Danish and after huge casualties, the duchies of Schleswing, Holstein and Lauenborg (including Sonderborg) were forfeited to Prussia. The Danish Realm was reduced by 1/3 of their land and 2/5 of their population. Otto von Bismarck, the strong minister of Prussia's weak king, used cunning politics to engineer a unified Germany under Prussian dominance. A united and resurgent Germany was rising and taking over land.

One can only guess how that affected my great grandfather's young life. The family lore is that as he got older, he left his homeland because he did not want to be inducted into the Prussian (German) army.

I've done a bit of geneological research – For interested family members here are the details:  Adolph Callesen married Nielsine Petersen Jensen (DOB June 25, 1863). Adolph's parents were Asmus Callesen (DOB 9/14/1830) and Maren Petersen (DOB 6/1/1831). They were married on 3/29/1860. Maren's parents were Petraus Cornelius Petersen and Adelheit Christensen. Adolph Callesen was christened on May 28, 1864 in Bjolderup, Asbenraa-Sonderborg, Denmark. This info is from Danish on-line baptisimal records.

Our return trip on a Friday afternoon suffered from early weekend traffic. Our GPS routed us through suburban Hamburg saving us from what looked like a monstrous traffic jam on A7. Nevertheless we still encountered a lot of backed up traffic at one light that turned green only ten seconds out every minute! Enterprise wanted us back by 5:30 PM to give us free ride to our hotel. We pulled in their lot almost exactly at 5:30! GPS – don't go on the road without it!

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Click on first button under box on the left - - Joanne talks about her ancestorial home. . .