The Land Where My Ancestors Lived

I thought we were pretty well wrapped up after looking up the church records, but at this point Pastor Jens suggested we try to find the place where the family lived in Finderup. He dug out another book, did some checking in there, then suggested we visit a 87 year old man in Finderup for further information. Off we went, and then Pastor Jens was knocking on the door of a house, and then we were being led into the garden where the source of knowledge of days gone by was picking berries. Sure enough he knew of the family of bricklayers, and after a little more checking in a book about Finderup it was determined the exact location where the Henriksen’s lived. We drove a little way outside the village to a place that didn’t seem that old.

It turns out that the old buildings that were on the property have been long gone, though where the current house is placed matches the place where a small house with a thatched roof sat. So now we were standing on the land where the Henriksen’s lived before crossing the Atlantic to North America. This trip to the west part of Jutland was far exceeding my expectations, and Pastor Jens was being an excellent tour guide (that‘s him in the picture with me) - basically giving up his whole day to show us around. I felt blessed by all this.

I thought it significant that the oldest mission house of the Lutheran Mission movement was only a few hundred metres away from the home of the Henriksen family. It is possible that a certain form of pietism has been part of the family history for a number of generations. My understanding up to the point of this trip was that the approach to Christianity that my Grandfather had was the result of a religious experience in his young adult years with a travelling American evangelist. I’m now considering that a more pious and evangelical approach to Christian faith has long been part of the Henriksen experience. When I get home I plan to do more research into these 19th century mission movements in Denmark.

After seeing the land where the Henriksens lived we headed into Skjern with a stop by the river first (it is the largest river in Denmark based on water flow). Then Pastor Jens took us to a grocery store so we could buy a few items for supper (he really had thought of everything!), and finally we ended up at our Bed and Breakfast. After a supper we relaxed, did some work on the computer and took a few pictures - then our day of digging into my family history drew to a peaceful close.