Family History Blessings

The purpose in beginning our trip in Denmark was so that we could spend some time with Grandma learning more of our family history.  

Her grandfather was born in Denmark, so we were all excited to visit the farms and villages of our heritage.  We were so blessed by so many wonderful, helpful people.

On our first day in North Jutland, we went to the Horby church (kirke) where much of our family attended services and where many ancestors were buried.  Grandma wrote out lists

of people whose gravestones we hoped to find and we all jumped out of the car 

like we were on a treasure hunt!

Grandma even gets to play the organ in the Horby kirke!

We were immediately struck by the care given to the cemeteries in Denmark.

They were immaculate and beautiful - unlike anything we have ever seen.  We also discovered that due to a shortage of land, a grave is only held for 25 years.  After that, a lease payment must be made every 5 years by the family or else when space is needed, markers are removed and destroyed and new markers/graves put in their place.  Unfortunately, this is the case with the people we were looking for....

but then we had an idea.....

What if we could find a nearby farm that had been passed down through generations?  

Perhaps they could give us more information on our family?

One line of our family remained in Denmark.  Maybe a neighbor could connect us?  

It was worth a try....so we rang the doorbell of a nearby farmhouse and explained our purpose to the kind, but somewhat reticent, woman who answered the door.  She quickly warmed to Grandma and before long was on the phone trying to find someone to help us with the information we needed.  She had no direct knowledge of our family, but she knew there was someone in the village who did a lot of family history.  She offered to drive there and have us follow her so we could find the man she spoke of.  He turned out to be an absolute treasure trove of information and after about 20 minutes of looking through Grandma's family line declared...

"WE ARE COUSINS!"

It turns out both he and his wife - through different lines - are cousins of ours.  This man has written one book on the families in the area and is working on another on the old farms nearby.  He was able to circle on our map every farm - many now non-existent - that we were looking for.

We drove home that night with grateful hearts, feeling truly blessed in our efforts of the day, and recognizing the Lord's hand in so many ways.