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Ane Sørensdatter and Niels Larsen are to become prominent figures in the Odden area.

Niels was born September 26, 1846 and baptized October 4 of the same year in Odden church. But first, a little about Niels' origin.

Niels is the first born of his parents Lars Nielsen and Anne Dorothea Larsdatter.

Both parents are born and have lived their entire lives at Odden. Anne Dorthea was born in Yderby on Odden on February 7, 1820, and Lars was born on August 28, 1816 in Yderby on Odden.

Anne Dorthea and Lars have 3 children together:
Niels (my ancestor) from 1846
Hans from 1848
Mads Peter from 1851

Niels was just 8 years old when his father, Lars Nielsen, died of a tragic drowning accident (more on that later).

Thus, in 1855 Anne Dorthea lives alone with the children Niels, Hans, Mads Peter and Lars Peter Andersen and Anne Marie Christensdatter who are both servants. It later turns out that the servant Lars Peter Andersen is the father of Anne Dorthea's youngest child Lars, who was born about 2 years after Lars Nielsen's death in 1852.

But Anne Dorthea was one of the family's many strong women, so she did not sit on her hands. Nah - she took the bull by the horns, and remarried on February 13, 1857, to her former servant, Lars Peter Andersen, who was 13 year younger than Anne Dorthea.

The marriage proposal above states in the comments box:

Certificate from the Probate Court of November 24, 1856 Lunøe
Divorce Judgment at Dragsholms Birketing not.
on August 22, 1856 whereby the marriage, by her xxx a) the 2 and 3 October 1852, wrecked Boat has been declared lifted and not binding for her - The said judgment is read by the Royal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Copenhagen on October 27, 1856.
Lid for Marriage first time 1st Sunday in Advent on November 30, 1856.
The judgment served in Lars Nielsen's Boelig 1st October 1856
a) it should probably have been "Husbond"

It says here that Lars Nielsen had an accident with his boat on October 2 and 3, 1852. He is most likely drowned in the Kattegat or the Sejrø Bay. Lars Nielsen's employment is listed in the census as "Living off his land". But the vast majority of plots on Odden, because of the geographical reality (see picture), are not very large, and therefore give a relatively small income to the owner. Therefore, it has been natural for many people living here for many generations to supplement their income with what the ocean could provide.

Including fishing from small boats in Sejrø Bay and Kattegat. Lars has certainly done this, too, and it has become his miserable and dramatic final. He turned 37. And there will be more men in the line of the family drowning - at the age of 37.

But back to Anne Dorthea. She is still in the productive age, because here in 1860 she has had two more children, Sidse Christine and Boline. The census of 1860 below even states that the first three are with Anne Dorthea's first husband (Lars Nielsen) which means that the last three are born with Lars Peter. And that means they have had their first two common children, Lars from 1854 and Sidse Christine from 1856, before they were married in 1857. This is rather unusual and partly a strong signal that Anne Dorthea does not sit on her hands, but is ready to contribute to the survival of the family. But also a signal that Anne Dorthea and Lars Peter were in love with each other and prepared to bear the torture and gossip that must have inevitably been associated with the great age difference - which was, after all, the "wrong way" measured by the moral of the time scale.

It was in this environment that Niels grew up as the oldest child of a total of 6 children. And no doubt he grew strong and learned how to cope. It will prove to be clear in the later course.

On April 5, 1872 Niels is 25 years old. Here he is married to the the love of hod life, Ane Sørensdatter, who will later play crucial roles in the family's further development. Below Anes and Niels' wedding in Odden church.

Ane and Niels had a total of 6 children together. The first, Lars, already on June 16, 1872, there was no doubt that Ane and Niels were each other's great love when they were married just 2.5 months earlier. Then, and until 1882, the children came in a fast and fairly regular flow:
Niels Peder, December 14, 1883
Hans Severin, 28.8.1875
Carl Laurits, 26.8.1877
Anna Kristine Sophie, 25.11.1879 (my great-grandmother)
Nicoline Cecilie, 18.5.1882 (great-grandmothers little sister)

So, with 6 children of 10 years, there was good progress in the small family, and Ane and Niels had a good and very fruitful marriage together.

As early as 1876 Niels Larsen started building houses on matr. 10h Yderby, Odden.

The family probably lived in the house in 1880, as shown in the 1880 census below:

So the family moved into their newly built house on matr. 10h in Yderby around February 1880, and it should turn out to be a relatively short time they get together here.

Because October 17, 1883, a disaster happens: Niels, and his brother-in-law, Peder Christiansen, who is married to Ane's sister Marie, crashed and drowned in Sejerøbugten. Niels was listed as a Crofter and Fisherman, and Peder as a Crofter, Carpenter and Boat Builder. No doubt the two brothers-in-law were a couple of powerful active men in the small community at Odden, and that the two were particularly active in the two natural main occupations that were here: Agriculture and Maritime / Fisheries. The last was also their final.

On October 17, 1883, a powerful onshore storm blew over Sjællands Odde. Niels and Peder were going to Sejrø. Probably to check fishing nets, and to look after their interests as fishermen in Sejerøbugten. They never came back.

In the church book for 1883 this record is:

And in more detail…

It says:
Probably drowned on the Seirø Fjord while sailing to Seirø, during a landfall storm. Wreckage landed in Yderby, corpses were not found. The deceased were brothers-in-law and left many children (20 children in total).

Peder turned 42, leaving 14 children aged 0 to 17 - the youngest was born 7 months after Peder drowned in Sejerøbugten.

Niels turned 37, leaving 6 children aged from 1,5 years to 10 years, including my grandmother who was just 4 years old when Niels drowned in Sejrøbugten.

And here it is, in this tragic and absolutely horrible situation, that Ane really takes character.

But first, about Ane's origin.

Ane, whom she called herself life, was originally baptized Anna Sørensdatter. She was born on January 1, 1884 in Fårevejle (pictured below), as the daughter of smallholder (boelsmand in danish) Søren Larsen and his wife Kirsten Jensdatter

A smallholder is the proprietor of a smallholder's place, which is the name of the second smallest agricultural property. A smallholders' place is an agriculture that is smaller than a farm and larger than the actual cottager's places (in danish: husmandssteder). Traditionally, a smallholder's place was less than 3 barrels hartkorn. At the same time, the smallholder had at least 15 barrels of land or at least 1 barrel hartkorn.

Søren Larsen was born in Vig (Wiig) on ​​January 16, 1815. His parents were Lars Pedersen and Ane Larsdatter who were farmers.
Kirsten Jensdatter was born on September 16, 1818 in Nørre Asmindrup. Her parents were Jens Madsen and Dorthe Petersdatter who were crofter people.

Søren Larsen and Kirsten Jensdatter were married on January 29, 1840 in Wiig church.

Ane was number three of Sørens and Kirsten's six children:

Lars from 1840 (lives in 1845 with his uncle Mads Larsen at Hvidlykke in Eskildstrup - Mads also houses Søren and Kirstine in their old days)
Peder from 1842
Ane from 1844
Marie from 1846
Trine from 1848
Jens from 1851

Ane was confirmed in 1858 at Højby church

Ane apparently lives a relatively carefree childhood in the lap of the family.

As mentioned, Ane gets married to Niels on April 5, 1872, and they have 6 children together before Niels tragically drowns on October 17, 1883.

It would have been natural if Ane, who in October 1883 was 39 years old, and had children aged 1,5 to 10 years who needed care, had sought to be remarried. But Ane didn't do as most other widows would have done, and did, at this point.

Ane chose to fend for herself. It is not known what she lived by. In the censuses she is typically listed with acquired housewife and / or weaver. But done well, she has.

She lived, and managed, in the house matr. 10h Yderby which Niels built, until her death.

It requires a little history:

In June 1904, Ane is 60 years old, and she lives alone with her daughter Anna Katrine Sophie at matr. 10h Yderby, which they have been doing since the youngest son, Karl Laurits, has flown from the nest - probably around 1892-1894.

Here are the two in matr. 10h from the 1901 census

Anna Kristine Sophie is neither married nor engaged at this time. She has probably "devoted her life" to caring for her mother Ane - implied, it is probably not unlikely that Ane herself had a big finger in deciding which men Anne Katrine Sophie should circumvent and which ones she certainly should not be with.

In June 1904, however, Anna Kristine Sophie became pregnant with Anna Valborg (read more about that story here). Persistent stories in the family claim it happened to one of the country's rushing turnovers. This "story" will make sure that Ane has a strong finger in the game. Because it is very difficult, not to say impossible, to find out who the grandfather, in the shape of this "road-rushing swindler", really was. It is interesting that, on Anna Valborg's birth record in the church book, NOTHING about a child father is mentioned. There is usually, as a minimum, an outlined child father, but there is no mention of whether a father could possibly exist at all.

I think this is because Ane, who was widowed and probably not completely unknown in the relatively small community in Yderby on Odden, has had the priesthood requirement of the parish priest Pedersen in Odden church, and has convinced him that nothing like preferably about any child father at all in the church book.

There is just the little "aber-dabei" about this that would, however, fit poorly with Ane's otherwise full control over everything, that she would let her young daughter and caregiver become pregnant with a random "rushing sweetheart". I will therefore allow myself to question whether this story is true. We can never solve it, but I have a suggestion for another story, which can be read here.

But at least we can see that Ane has control over things and that she has the power to make things happen the way she wants them to happen.

But Ane was also helpful to both daughter and grandson. Because Anna Katrine Sophie later becomes housekeeping help by Lars Peter Larsen (with whom she later gets married and has a son (Poul)). During this period Anna Valborg lives with Ane in matr. 10h, while Anna Katrine Sophie lives with Lars Peter Larsen, along with his daughter, who is also a peer with Anna Valborg.

Below are censuses from 1906 and 1911 which both show that Ane lives with her daughter and granddaughter on matr. 10h

And census from 1916 where Ane lives alone with the grandson, and Anna Kristine Sophie lives with Lars Peter Larsen and his daughter

Ane died on March 21, 1928, aged 84, after doing quite well in a long and certainly very hard life.