Denmark, Kansas, USA - A Danish Settlement on the
Prairie 16 Miles
North of Exit 216 on Interstate 70
- A cross-road; a closed
general store; a community hall. On the hill, a church.
·
We visited Denmark, Kansas, USA on Monday 15 May 1995 and met Mrs.
Karstensen and Mr. Arnold Duus who showed us the church and the community hall.
This account was written in November 1996. Read more about Danish immigrants. See links to Andrew Sophus Anderson, Born in Denmark, Kansas and Michael Duus (updated August 1999)
· Go to HISTORY, FOLKLORE and TRADITIONS - an interesting book on Denmark in
Kansas
Go
to PrairieSide Inn, Denmark KS
· Go to LINKS
The
Visit
Studying our Rand McNally while driving west on Interstate 70 we were surprised
to find something called Denmark on the prairie in Kansas and we could not
resist to exit the highway to go to Denmark. A few days earlier we had come
from our home city Copenhagen in Denmark, Europe, to visit in Witchita, Kansas,
USA. We enjoyed thoroughly the flat rolling prairie - a landscape which is not
so different from most of Denmark which is often referred to as "flat as a
pancake". In front of us were three weeks of experiencing USA as the
Americans do - go west. [Mind you this was before Denmark, Kansas was
found on the internet... note added may 2000]
The
detour to Denmark was on a long straight dirt road. From a hilltop we could see
the church spire.
We
stopped in front of the church which is situated on a small hill with an old church
yard behind the church. We walked among the headstones predominantly with
Danish names, many people were born in the 1880s. It
was very touching to see headstones bearing proof of a small colony of fellow
countrymen in the middle of a huge foreign continent. Many headstones told a
grave story: two, three, four, five babies burried as
infants not more than a few years old. How many children did these immigrant
parents have? How many children died from their parents? How many children
lived to shape the small community? How many parents gave up and died lonely
and deserted? [When you stand on top of the hill next to the church, you really
have the impression of being deserted and very far from anything...]
How many children pushed on to new challenges in other
settlements?
Behind the old general store we found Mrs. Karstensen, widow
after a Danish man, Mr. Karstensen. Mrs. Karstensen would like very much to
show us the church, because this was what her deceased husband liked to do. On
the way back to the church we found that a car had stopped in the middle of the
cross-road and the driver, an old man, wondering about our car with Texas
licence plates. This was Mr. Arnold Duus who spoke Danish to us. Much to our
surptise, he spoke perfectly a Danish dialect from Jylland (English: Jutland)
the mainland of Denmark.
We went to the church and Mrs. Karstensen and Mr. Arnold
Duus told us about the congregation, the church and the model ship. Mr. Duus
had built a model of the three-mast Danish training ship "Danmark"
which is now hanging in a prominent position from the ceiling. This is a
tradition in the old country, where the ship may symbolize the vehicle bringing
safely the saved to Heaven.
Mr. Duus told us about his parents who had taught him to
speak Danish. His mother was 103 years when she died. He also told about the
first settlers and how some were killed by the Indians. They had built a small
church in 1878, later it was enlarged with a bell tower to become what we
presume is a typical community church.
Mrs Karstensen showed us the community hall, where a good
deal of the life of the community had taken place. A couple of posters told of
the old country, one poster with the lineage of the Danish kings and queens.
Thank you, Mrs. Karstensen and Mr. Duus. You gave us an
unforgetable experience. Later we have heard from Mrs. Karstensen that Mr.
Arnold Duus has passed away.
In December 1996 we received a parcel from Mr. Virgil
Christiansen whom Mrs. Karstensen had asked to send a wonderful book written by
Ruth Sorensen: BEYOND THE PRAIRIE WIND, HISTORY, FOLKLORE AND TRADITIONS FROM
DENMARK, KANSAS published by Partnership Book Services, Hillsboro, Kansas,
Library of Congress catalog number 96-068921. The authors address is Rt.1, Box
53, Sylvan Grove, KS 67 481, Telephone (913) 277-3795. The book is a very
interesting and touching account of numerous details of the history, folklore
and traditions of the small community with many interesting pictures.
More than a hundred years ago members of our families immigrated from Denmark, Europe to America, but we do not
know much of their lives nor of their descendants. In Denmark, Kansas, USA we
suddenly and unexpetedly saw a glimpse of what could have been their lives.
Who are you? Where are you? Send us information about
yourself and your family. Maybe we are related. Send us links to your homepages
if you are on the internet. Send us information about Denmark, Kansas.
We would like to document the people of Denmark, Kansas, USA by describing the history and sociology of the community
and possibly bringing together the families of immigrants. We are also looking
for people in Denmark and Europe whose family settled in Denmark, Kansas, USA or passed on their way to other places.
Call us, write to us, send photos and paperclippings, send an E-mail. We will display everything on the internet.
Send us your telephone number and fax number. Do you have
an E-mail address?
From
a folder "MEMORIAL MODEL SHIP. DENMARK LUTHERAN CHURCH. Denmark, Kansas. The frontpage
shows a photo of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Duus with the model ship - will be scanned
and displayed on this page. The church was built in 1878 of local sandstone, a
bell tower was added later, an account is given by
Ruth Sorensen in her book mentioned above. The folder was given to us in 1995
by Mr. Arnold Duus.
MEMORIAL
MODEL SHIP. From ceilings of seaside
churches along Denmark's 5000 miles of coastline hang a thousand ships. The
custom of church ships is not peculiar to Denmark, however. They have been
found for centuries in other countries - in France, where they are called
"navires ex-voto" and in Germany, "Votivschiffe". But the
custom is more widespread in Denmark, with its history reaching back into the
very mists of the seas.
The first record of a
"kirkeskib" (church ship) was about 1560 in the Church of St. Olav at
Elsinore. The oldest model, still extant in Denmark, is at Ho, near Esbjerg,
and dates from 1660. The models are of all kinds - herring boats, men of war,
merchantmen, frigates, barks, brigs, ketches, even pilot vessels and life
boats, but never a model of a modern steam or motor vessel.
In som instances the
ships were an offering made by seamen who promised to give one to their church
if they were saved in a violent storm. Mostly, the ship models were given as
memorials to mark some special occation. Many were given by seamen who could
not afford the silver or brass decorations given by the wealthier farmers or
merchants.
Often the ship was
taken in a solemn procession, borne by seamen in holiday dress, along the
streets decked with flags, to the harbor, then to the church, where, by custom,
dhe donor said, "I herewith strike the flag and delive the ship to the
church free from chips and scratches and request the minister to protect it
from fire and other damage."
The ship has had a link
with church symbolism for centuries. The word nave, the central chamber of the
Gothic church, comes from the Greek word naus, or ship. The exact meaning is
obscure. Some say the ship symbolizes the Christian faith, which carries men
through rough seas. Others interpret it as a symbol of the dangerous passage
through life, or of the hard course that leads to Heaven.
Upon hearing surprize
and disappointment expressed that no model ship was to be found suspended
before the altar in the nave of the century old Denmark Lutheran Church in
Denmark, Kansas, Mr. Arnold Duus decided to do something about. He learned that
plans and materials for such model ships could be purchased from a firm in
Denmark, and sent for these. Then followed many, many hours
of delicate and exacting labor, which resulted in the beautiful model ship now
hanging in the nave of Denmark Lutheran Church. It is a replica of the
Danish Navy training ship, the "Danmark", which is presently in
service and which represented the Danish Navy in the great parade of sailing
ships in one of the major festivals observing the Bicentennial of the United States
in 1976.
This beautiful little
model of the "Danmark" was given to the Denmark Lutheran Church by
Mr. and Mrs. (Helena Wollesen) Arnold Duus as a memorial to Mr. and Mrs. Sophus
Wollesen, pioneer members of the Denmark Church and community. Presentation was
made and dedication held on June 10, 1979.
Inscribed on a brass
plate at the stern of the ship is the Danish Word "Haabet" which
means "Hope", specifically the Christian Hope
The following poem was
written by a Danish poet, Adam Dan:
The ship of
the King is sailing
From earth to
the heavenly land;
It steadily
cuts thro' the billows
Controlled by His masterly hand.
Adrift over
life's dark ocean
Are wrecks of
the proud and forlorn,
Who scorning
the compass and pilot,
Were put by the billows to scorn.
But safely
thro' shoals and shallows,
Thro' storms
and the billows wild roar,
The ship of
the King presses onward
To heaven's the sunlighted shore.
And foremost
among His heroes
Is standing
the King of all kings,
His features
are bright as the sunlight,
His voice
with great tenderness rings.
He views the
shipwreck'd with sadness,
And calling
to east and to west,
He gathers
them into the lifeboat,
As many as long for His rest.
And quickly
the ship is filling
With precious
souls on its way,
And soon we
shall run into harbor
And into the sunlighted day.
Feb 2nd,
2006
Links to be updated – please check
again
HISTORY, FOLKLORE and TRADITIONS
|
An interesting
book about Denmark, Kansas:
|
|
Ruth Sorensen: BEYOND THE PRAIRIE
WIND, HISTORY, FOLKLORE AND TRADITIONS FROM DENMARK, KANSAS - This is a
wonderful book published by Partnership Book Services, Hillsboro, Kansas, Library of Congress catalog
number 96-068921. The author's address is Rt.1, Box 53, Sylvan Grove, KS 67
481, Telephone (913) 277-3795. The book is a very interesting and touching account
of numerous details of the history, folklore and traditions of the small
community with many interesting pictures.
|
· LINKS
· Go to PrairieSide Inn, Denmark KS
KANSAS PRAIRIE NET by Peg
Britton - The amazing 100 miles - (linked summer 2002)
· Michael Duus, grandson of
Arnold Duus - the internet connected us, see his homepage on http://www.flash.net/~duus/
· Andrew Sophus Anderson,
Born in Denmark, Kansas. - the internet connected us - "My Danish
Heritage"
· John and Susan Howell's
page on Denmark, Kansas
· Check the Kansas Heritage
server and The Kansas Collection for a wealth of historical information and internet
links
· Danish Immigrant Museum,
Elk Horn
· Tyler, MN - an
agricultural community that revels in its Danish heritage
· Great Danish American
Links
· Danish Settlements in Kansas
by Thomas Peter Christensen, 1928
· Danish Immigration to
America: An Annotated Bibliography of Resources at the Library of Congress by
Lee V. Douglas
· Books about Danish
Americans
· Danelink.com
· Imprints of Great Danes
by Aletha Fields
· Facts about Genealogical
Research in Denmark by Hans H. Worsoe
· Passenger Lists
· Institute in American
Studies for Scandinavian Educators, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa
· Copenhagen Pictures
· Explore Denmark
· Denmark, an in-depth
description
· Dana College
· Alta Vista has 2776 links
to "Wonderful+Copenhagen"
· Vadim Belman's pictures
of Denmark
· Thor Brønsvig's
description of Denmark and the Danes
·
Go to Thorkild
C Bøg-Hansen's home page, drlectin @ hotmail.com
See more pictures
