E-mail Notes from Meg Lindberg (Great-great granddaughter of Hans Lassen Brandrup of Denmark) on 16-Feb-03:

Most of the information below has been added to the GenoPro Geneology Chart. If you know of any connections or mistakes, please let me know.

Old Church Records from the Parish of Reisby have the following information:
From the Village of Kjaersbolling records list the following parents and 15 children

Anders Truelsen Knudsen married Karen Hansdatter Brandrup
Anders b 1788 d 23 Aug 1864
Anders Father: Knud Andersen b 1753 d 20 Aug 1821

Karen b22 Oct 1796 d 1 May 1880
Karen's Father: Hans Hansen b 1748 ? d 1821?
Mother: Anne Kierstine Lasdatter (4 children who all died unmarried)
Karen's brother: Hans Hansen Brandrup b12 Jul 1801 d 25 Apr 1855
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Children:
1) Dorothea Kirstine Brandrup b 21 Jul 1813, unmarried, d 8 Mar 1899
2) Anne Kjerstine Brandrup b 2 Nov 1815, married to Niels Hansen Moller,
d 11 Mar 1899
3) Knud Andersen Branderup b 4 Jan 1817, unmarried, d 28 Dec 1877
4) Hans Hansen Branderup b 23 June 1818 d 1 Dec 1823
5) Anders Lassen Brandrup b 9 Nov 1819 d Dec 1823
6) Jeppe Jensen Branderup b 29 Aug 1821 confirmed 1837
married 1st: 27 Aug 1852 to Marie Cathrine Olufsdatter (4 daughters)
married 2nd: 1873 to widow Karen Kirstine Maria Thiim, born Sorensdatter
d 5 Dec 1891 or 1892
7) Mette Maria Brandrup b 25 Apr 1823 d Apr 1835
8) Hans Lassen Brandrup b 7 Apr 1825 confirmed 1840
married to Miss Ane Cathrine Riis (3 sons 1 daughter)
d 19 Sept 1895
9) Anne Cathrine Brandrup b 12 Dec 1826 d 15 Apr 1834
10) Hans Hansen Brandrup b 29 Okt 1828 confirmed 1845 unmarried in 1858 -
possibly emigrated later
11) Niels Lassen Brandrup b 20 May 1830 confirmed
married 14 April 1858 to Eline Smidt (4 sons 5 daughters) d 2 Jan 1877
12) Andrea Caroline Brandrup b 20 Okt 1832 d 19 Nov 1832
13) Andreas Truelsen Brandrup b 19 Nov 1833 d 7 Dec 1833
14) Andreas Truelsen Brandrup (2nd of the name) b 5 Feb 1835 confirmed
emigrated d 16 Dec 1891
15) Jes Matthiessen Branderup b 3 Apr 1837 confirmed emigrated

I am related to #8 Hans Lassen Brandrup
#14 is Andrew Brandrup of Breckenridge, MN (JoLynn Brandrup of Seattle WA)

This is how I am related: Hans Lassen > Jens (Jeans) Riis > Cleo Brandrup Wenzel> Jean Wenzel Fuller> me

Historical information/background about Denmark - by Trine Sturup of Denmark:

The area is called Schleswig. Liske the neighboring area of Holstein it had a partly independent status with a Count who was answerable to the Danish king. Both Germans and Danes lived in the area. With the rise of nationalism in the beginning of the 19th centruy it became a bone of contention and there was a war in 1848, which Denmark won. The area continued as a partly independent vassal state of Denmark.

Then in 1864 there was a second war in which the Germans of the area got help from the German country of Prussia. This time Denmark lost and the whole area of Schleswig-Holstein was occupied by first Prussia and a few years later, when all German states got together to form a proper country, by Germany. Just to finish the story, in 1920 after Germany lost the First World War there was a referendum in the area, and Northern Schleswig became Danish and Southern Schleswig became German. A brand new border was drawn through the upper half of Schleswig, but that is recent history and has little bearing on our ancestors).

The Danish population of Schleswig - not to speak of Denmark - felt resentment at the occupation. People could cross the border freely, but were German citizens to all intents and purposes and could be called upon to fight in German wars elsewhere. After having fought the Germans both in 1848 and 1864 that was probably the worst of all. The language of schools and churches stayed Danish in the parishes where a majority was Danish, which was the case in the whole of Northern Schleswig. Some people perhaps weren't that unhappy about the change of nationality. The laws for the protection of workers and perhaps also the wages were better in Germany.

Both our ancestors, however, Niels Lassen Brandrup and Hans Lassen Brandrup, were not ready to accept the state of affairs. Niels Lassen Brandrup had two of his children baptized outside the church he belonged to, one across the border in the church of Seem in Denmark and another one secretly at a Danish college of education in Schleswig. The local church book of Riesby calls it "baptized illegally", and it is obvious from the entries that the vicar is extrememly offended.

Hans Lassen had a farm in Raahede a few miles north of Reisby in the parish of Hviding. His first children were baptized in that church, but after the occupation, however, he also took them across the border to Seem, where some of them were later comfirmed. The church of Seem was administered by the only big Danish city in the area, Ribe. Crowds of people attended that church from across the border. The German authorities resented it, but chose not to do anything about it.

All this opposition in our family seems to be bound up with Anne Catherine Riis' brother, who was a priest. ("Riis-Lowson as he now calls himself ," the vicar of Reisby writes with some malice.) They seem to be the children of a local farmer in Reisby, Jens Riis, but a certain Fritz Riis perhaps a grandfather owner of the biggest farm in the parish of Seem, a place called Seemgaard, turns up at baptisme as a witness. He must have been somebody to be reckoned with.

This farm was probably the biggest employer in the parish. Furthermore, at Anne Cathrine Riis and Hans Lassen's wedding the vicar doesn't write "pige" (girl/maid) as her title, but "jomfru"(Miss). The Riis family seems to have a higher status than other families in the immediate neighborhood. Looking through the church books there was another Riis who was a vicar. Professions at that time tended to run in the family. Perhaps it was more difficult for a family who was used to giving orders to accept that there were German authorities to obey?

The photographer Jacob Riis, who photographed faces of poverty of New York in the late 19th century was from Ribe.