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Danish Ancestors and The Rebild Festival

Find your Danish Ancestors from North America and Canada

Painting from 1890 by Edvard Petersen describing the many Danish emigrants at Larsen's Plads leaving for America together with their relatives - saying goodbye. The steamship at the pier is "SS Thingvalla" equipped with one funnel and three masts. The westbound route started off at Copenhagen calling at Kristiania (Oslo) and Kristiansand before crossing the Atlantic to New York.

Danish emigrants travelling to North America and Canada
Many Danes left their homeland Denmark around 1880 to seek new opportunities primarily in USA and Canada together with other emigrant from Scandinavia - Sweden and Norway. At that time no social benefits or social security were offered to the emigrants - who was compelled to manage by their own and begin their new life with a lot of hard struggle for the daily bread.

First passenger line to America
In 1870 the shipyard near Larsen's Plads - today Amaliehaven - right beside the Royal residence Amalienborg Palace - was demolished and a new port wit piers and quay facilities were established in 1879 by the “Thingvalla Line” with the aim to maintain a direct route between Scandinavian ports and America for Danish and Scandinavian Passengers. The intentions were also to offer the growing amounts of Scandinavian emigrants un-expensive - comfortable and in all ways safe voyages. In 1898 the Thingvalla Line was acquired by DFDS - a Danish based shipping company - and the Scandinavian-American passenger service was operated under the name Scandinavian America Line.

The quay at Larsen's Plads in 1925 was the port for the direct route with steamships between many Scandinavian countries and America. The very first route between Scandinavian ports and America for Danish and Scandinavian passengers was established around 1879 by the Thingvalla Line.

There was not much entertainment onboard for 3rd class passenger - normally poor emigrants - on the Thingvalla ship from Denmark to USA on the nearly one month sea voyages to New York and Ellis Island. But some way to kill the monotonous time was to dance and listen to live music onboard.

Thingvalla Line - Larsen’s Plads
The very first route between Scandinavian ports and America for Danish and Scandinavian passengers was established around 1879 by the Thingvalla Line offering Scandinavian emigrants un-expensive - comfortable and in all ways safe voyages with the steam ship "SS Thingvalla" across the Atlantic Ocean. Thousands of emigrants have waited patiently at Larsen’s Plads - now the Amalie Gardens - with crowds of relatives saying goodbye to their love ones before starting the more than one month journey to America - arriving at Ellis Island - New York.

Ellis Island - situated in New Jersey at New York Harbour were the main port facilities for emigrants entering the USA. The federal emigration station operated from 1892 to 1954 - where more than 20 million emigrants mostly from Europe pass the ports of Ellis Island before granted permission to enter USA. Today Ellis Island is a museum.

Danish settlers around 1870 in Iowa - where the largest concentration of Danish farmers was emigrated - and got a free piece of land according to the government passed Homestead Act in 1862. This act offered settlers 160 acres of free surveyed land in the Midwest if they lived on and cultivated it for at least five years.

Danish settlers and northern states of the USA
The Danes who emigrated to America or Canada were mostly poor people looking for a new life with better social and economic prospects then offered in Denmark. Mostly - the Danish settlers found work in the dairy and farming communities in the northern states of the USA - mainly in Wisconsin - Minnesota - The Dakotas - Illinois - Michigan and Iowa. Iowa had the largest colony of Danish citizens and is probably the most Danish of all USA states. By 1970 almost 360,000 Danes had settled in the USA and still the five most common Danish surnames in the northern part of America is Jensen - Nielsen - Hansen - Pedersen and Andersen.

Finding your Danish Ancestors
By using the online Danish Emigration Archives plus links to other related archives - there is a great chance of finding useful information about Danish Ancestors and persons of interest that can lead you to a successful search for relatives - who immigrated to USA or Canada. And maybe you will trace the last missing bits and pieces that will fit into your family tree and make it grow with new branches and relations. Good Luck!

Danish Emigration Archive

The Danish State Archives

The Genealogical dictionary

The Danish Demographic Database

Manifest for S.S. Thingvalla

Locating a person or place

Krak.dk

Degulesider.dk (Yellow pages)

Eniro.dk

Maps of Denmark

Rebild Festival - Rebild Nationalpark - Jutland

The Rebild Festival is celebrated every year on the American Independence Day July 4th in Jutland.

Thousands of Danish-Americans join the Rebild Festival at the - Rebild Hills and National Park.

The Rebild Society - A Danish American Friendship Organization
Every year since July 4th 1912 - hundreds of thousands of Danish-Americans and others have joined with Danes in this celebration of the American Independence Day July 4th on the beautiful heather-covered hills at Rebild National Park in Jutland - and 20 km south of Aalborg. On this festival day - Stars and Stripes of USA - and the Danish Dannebrog flag are flown side-by-side in natural picturesque surroundings expressing the thanks to the USA for welcoming over 350,000 Danish emigrants to the US homeland. US-citizens - who are visiting Copenhagen can experience this festival in Jutland. By train or car - the trip will take nearly 4 hours - and there is plenty of logging facilities at Rebild and Aalborg. As a tribute to this special USA – Danish festival and as a countdown to the event - an added VIDEO performs - Strike Up the Band.Video