Christen and Jens Skadhede Christensen in the USA

Christen and Jens Skadhede Christensen

In 1893 two brothers Christen and Jens from Bøvling in Western Jutland went to America. After a long travel by carriage and boat to Copenhagen, they embarked Thingvalla and arrived at Ellis Island in New York April 15 1893, as a modern webpage shows:

Ellis Island passenger record

First Name: Christen

Last Name: Christensen

Ethnicity: Denmark, Scandinavian

Last Place of Residence: Denmark

Date of Arrival: Apr 15, 1893

Age at Arrival: 26 Gender: M Marital Status:

Ship of Travel: Thingvalla

Port of Departure: Copenhagen

Jens went back to Denmark and to his beloved one while Christen stayed and over the years he sent at least 15 letters in Danish to his brother.The last one is sent in 1940 to the occupied Denmark, and in 1945 his widow Anna tells about his death.

Undated letter from 1893-94

Manning, Iowa, June 30th 1901

LIBERTY CREAMERY COMPAGNY, August 3 1902

Manning, Iowa, Aug 14th 1916

Wilkee Wis., U.S.A. Jan 14th 1924

Manning Iowa, July 31th 1928

Manning Ia, Jan 2th 1929

Probably 1929

Manning Ia, Jan 1st 1930

Milwaukee, Febr10th 1937

Milwaukee, Jan 1th 1939

Milwaukee Wis., April 18th 1939

Harlan Iowa, Dec 13th 1939

Harlan Ia. May 2th 1940

Harlan, Iowa. Oct 22nd 1945

The letters preserved by Jens come with big intervals. First there are letters concerning the daily life, his education as a dairyman and the foundation of Liberty Creamery Company in 1900 and Jens’ marriage i 1902. Then in 1916 he tells about ”a big lawsuit that has been much mentioned in the newspapers as ’The big Christensen Case'”. He helped an old man that was tricked out of 110 acres of land and about 3500 dollars by a gang of criminals.

In the 1930’es he tells about drought, grasshoppers, while the farmers get poorer and poorer and the economically conservative politicians will not help.

Christen rages over the taxes but at the same time wants help from the republican government.

The following is a translation into English of these letter

. - . - . - . - . - . - .

Undated letter from 1893-94

Manning, Iowa, U.S.A.

Dear Brother.

Now I have given up buying a farm in Denmark, and you may soon give notice to the bank and the savings bank to draw the money, that I have there or where else you have placed them. The main reason for giving up buying a farm in Denmark is the ever rising taxes – to think that you now are paying ten times as much in taxes as you did a few years ago, if it continues that way for some years you had better give them the farm. For it's the same as confiscating all property.

Greetings from your brother

C. S. Christensen

BRI. Manning

Iowa, U.S.A.

Manning, Iowa, June 30th 1901

Dear Brother.

I received your letter and your and Kristian's portrait, it's already long ago, but it's always hard to begin writing, besides I never write in Danish except when I am writing to Denmark, so you will understand it isn't much. I am glad, Kristian's still doing so well studying. But what's he studying for, that you have never told me, he must have had a purpose, will he be a minister or a lawyer, it must end with something some day.

Now, Jens, you wrote that you perhaps will come back to America, what's that, I thought you had been cured of America. Yes here the times are good now. A farmhand gets $25 a month, $2 a day when harvesting corn or hay. It's the best times we have had in America since I came here. Yes, I would like to go Denmark for a journey, but it's hard to tell when I will get so far.

I can see in your letter that Anton has married and is living at Sti in Flynder, who is back at home now, yes Søren is soon a grown-up guy.

Are Madsen's children still there, where are the two that were at Sti, where are the boys from Vester Skadhede, Niels and Peter and Jens Peter and so on, is Marie in Vester Skadhede married, where are the children from Villensgaard and Fladhede and Storebjerg, has Thor married, I have heard that Søren is.

Now something from here. Kristian Andreasen is married and lives in Nebraska, near Hartvig. Frederik Rasmussen and Søren are in Colorado, Søren has not yet married, he is the only one left.Gregers is married and lives halfway between Marne and Atlantic, you may remember the place, where the road turns and there is a huge apple garden that the road goes around. Maybe you know Gregers' wife,she is the daughter of Martin Petersen (the one who lived next to the big king Kristian in Marne). I don't know her name.

You know I am on the new creamery that was build last winter, it is 10 miles north of Kimbalton and 9 miles south of Manning.

Write soon.

Your affectionate brother

C.S. Christensen

(Box 202) Manning, Iowa

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LIBERTY CREAMERY COMPAGNY, August 3 1902

NAT. McFADDEN, President. PETER WITTRUP, Secretary J. D. VINDING, Treasurer.

**********************************

MANUFACTURERS OF FIRST-CLASS BUTTER.

C.S. CHRISTENSEN, Manager.

Manning, Iowa, R. F. D. No. 1 August 31902

Dear Brother. Jens S. Christensen.

I am glad that I now can congratulate you and Kirstine, as I have always valued her very much, and I hope and wish that you may have a long and happy life together. But Jens, why has it taken you so long, it's now 8 long years since you told me, that you wanted to go home to Denmark for a wife, and that it should be Kirstine Jensen, if she would have you, and now it's taken eight years, and then you have only become engaged, will it now take another 8 years before you get married, then you will be old folks, but it will surely not turn out that wrong. I would like to make a journey home to Denmark soon; but whether I come to your wedding will probably be difficult. Now give my greetings to Kirstine, and hopefully soon mary, because I think you must know each other enough by now, but in Denmark all things takes time. I knew a girl here, that got married, and they had only known each other for 8 hours before they got married. But then, that was very quick.

Then you can tell Niels Skov and his wife that Marinus may come to me, and can live in our place as long as he wishes and I will take care of him to the best of my ability, he can work for me, if he wants to, as I have also had a farmhand or I can help him find a job. I think I will work at the farm next year, as I am getting tired of the work at the creamery. The times are the best we have seen in America. In the harvest a farmhand gets 2 dollars a day, and those who work monthly gets 25 to 28 dollars. Maize costs 60 cent per bushel, wheat 65 cent, barley 50 cent, oats 45 cent per bushel. Pigs cost 7 cent per pound, fatted cows 6 to 8 cent, and the land around here costs from 65 dollars until close to 100 dollars per acre. It's all the double of the worth, when you were here. And the land in Nebraska is worth 45 to 50 dollars per acre. Jens Stigsen and Thora went to Wisconsin last spring and they seem to value it. I bought 80 acres land here last autumn for 45 dollars per acre. Now I have sold it for 65 dollars and have bought another for 55 dollars. But the man to whom I sold could not raise the money so the deal had to be cancelled.

My farmhand this summer came over here last spring, he was a lieutenant at the dragoons, he had a preliminary degree when he started at the dragoons in Randers; then he was at the military academy in Jægersborg near Copenhagen and then he has served one year as first lieutenant in Odense at Funen. Julius Andersen, the dairyman at Kimbalton Creamery went home last autumn and bought a farm in Funen. But he soon got tired of that and then he sold it again and lost 3000 kroner and went back to America, now he has bought a farm here and again works at a creamery. So I am almost afraid things would go the same way for me if I went back to Denmark.

I have not found the photography of you and Kristian and if you have got another please send it to me, as I would have it enlarged. I have got the portraits of Father and Mother enlarged and there is a good similarity. When Marinus arrives, then let him buy a ticket to Manning Ia. and then show my address to the station master. Then I will leave a message there. Remember me to everyone, that will be glad to have a greeting from me. But especially greetings to you and Kirstine from your brother

C.S.Christensen
Manning, Iowa

R.F.D No. 1 U.S.A.

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Manning, Iowa, Aug 14th 1916

Dear Brother.

I have received two letters from you and have not answered. I sent 6 photographs of the family to Skadhede last spring and hope that you have received them, there was one for the old folks and one for each of my brothers and sisters. Here we have not had good times on the farm, our prices have not been higher and hardly as good as before the war; as we can't sell to Germany, and England regulates all that we can sell to neutral countries, the market for our products has not been so good as before the war. But the prices of the things we have to buy has gone high up, as the fabrics have been busy making ammunition for the war.

I have just won a big lawsuit that has been much mentioned in the newspapers and was called 'The big Christensen Case'. It was an old man named George Wilson that fell in the hands of a gang of criminals in Omaha and they tricked him out of 110 acres of land and about 3 to 4 thousands of dollars, and as he had no relatives, I took the case for him. First I was appointed his guardian and then I brought an action against them and now I have won the case and have got the land back to the old man and a judgement against them for 3600 dollars.But as their property is in Nebraska, I must now go for them in Nebraska and hope to bring them in prison where they belong. But it's not without danger as it's a desperate gang and they have threatened both me and my lawyers' life, but it's a righteous case and then you must not be afraid.

Your affectionate brother

C.S. Christensen

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Wilkee Wis., U.S.A. Jan 14th 1924

Dear Brother!

According to the savings-bank books No. 1277 and 1278 and that in the bank, you know, I will take care of them myself when I come home. I don't know when I will arrive, but I will let you know soon. Here in America the conditions for farmers are very bad, we have all worked with heavy losses and the government's statistics shows that more than 2 millions have left their farms and gone to the towns to get work in the years 1921 and 1922. 8 till 10% have gone bankrupt and another 15% can't pay the rents, but they have stayed at the farms, because their creditors have let them be and have not yet taken the farms away from them. Just think, that's 25% of the farmers in America that have gone bankrupt in those 2 years. I can hold my own for some years; but if this situation continues long enough then every farmer in America will go bankrupt, that's for sure, and the strange thing is that the wages are high and the business and the industry are doing well.

Our politicians and legislators have not talked about other things the latest 3 years than helping the farmers, but that's all they have done, and now our president says that the farmers must help themselves, and the farmers are now getting desperate and I would not wonder if an upheaval will take place before long. It's the capital and the trusts that rules this country, you know. Ford Motor Co. now has an income (profit) of about half a million a day, that adds up.

Here about the farmers are not as badly situated as in Dacota, Iowa and Nebr. Here it's all dairy cattle and we run our farms almost as you do at home.

I have a cow that gives about 80 # of milk a day, the Babcook tests hows 3.8 till 4% fat, that's 4 # of butter a day. She gets about 18# of concentrates and 40 # ensilage besides hay a day. It's a Holstein Frisian grade. I have also some thorough bred with genealogical tables back to some record-holders; but they are not nearly as good as this one, and we call it a (scrup).

All the best wishes to everyone,

Your brother.

C.S. Christensen

Kristen Skadhede Kristensen

Translator's notes.

1. The #-sign probably means pounds.
2. He uses the word 'scrup' in parentheses without translation - maybe he means scrub.

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Manning Iowa, July 31th 1928

Dear Brother!

I received your letter some days ago. I am not in Wisconsin any more, as you know. But I am back on the old farm 10½ miles north of Kimbalton, Iowa. Concerning the taxation authority you can write and tell me what you want me to testify, then I will get a Notary Public to testify my signature and put a stamp on the paper. This I can do with good will, because I am familiar with the taxation conditions in Denmark as I once a week for many years have read Report from Denmark. When 90% of the taxes are used for support and relief funds,then it's wrong. The greater manors and castles are all ready destroyed by taxes, as you know, and now I suppose the smaller farms are next in turn and everything that can be taxed must be sucked out to the utmost, because those who will not work must be fed and they must live well too. Here in America the conditions are good for everyone except the farmers. The farms are only worth one third of the value 7 to 8 years ago since the capitalists rules in U.S.A. and that is about as bad as the socialists.

It turned out as I feared, I got back this farm, then I tried to keep both farms, but I got a bad farmer on the farm here, and it became overgrown with weeds, and I didn't get enough to pay the rents of the first mortgage and the taxes, I had to send money every year from Wisconsin to keep the farm here, so last year I got stuck. I couldn't pay the rents and the taxes on both farms, I then preferred to keep the farm here in Iowa, but I suffered a great loss in Wisconsin, about 15.000$, I had to sell the farm for less than the worth of the buildings. Now I have a rather big debt on this farm, but I hope I can make it. It's terrible how things have turned out here in Iowa, almost half of the farmers have collapsed and the rest are on their last legs and don't know how long they can hold out, and if it continues as for the latest 7 years all the farmers will go bankrupt. They can't continue selling their goods for less than they cost to produce. The government continues to promise to help us, and twice both the Senate and the House has passed a bill that would help the farmers, but the president has vetoed them both, he's the capital's enforcer, as you know. This autumn there's election for a new president and they both promise to help the farmers, but once he's elected, the tune is changed.

C.S. Christensen

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Manning Ia, Jan 2th 1929

Dear Brother.

I received the money just before Christmas. I had received your letter and a letter from the bank about a week before the letter with the money arrived, as the letter with the money was registered, as you know, and therefore shall be certified at the different post offices.I can hardly see, how I could have got through this year, had you not sent me these money, and I had never thought, I could get help from this side. Now I will make good use of the money. And I can't see why I shouldn't make it now. As I wrote I have not as much debt as I had before when I lived here and then was what you call a well-to-do man.You have had the same bad luck, although not to the same degree as here, I suppose, almost everybody that were wealthy farmers have lost everything they owned, when the land property depreciated to one third of what it was, well, in many cases to one fourth. There are farms around here, that in 1920 were sold for $400 per acre and more and now are sold for about $100 per acre. This was done by setting the prices of all farm products so low, that great losses were the result. As an example: my former neighbor, Anders Christensen, sent a cart-load of maize to Chicago and when the freight and the commission was deducted, he was left with 17 cts. per bushel and he had paid 12 cts. per bushel to get it harvested, so he got 5 cts. per bushel for his maize. A man who lived in Montana. sent a cart-load of sheep to Chicago and when the sheep were sold it could not pay the freight and the man got a bill of some dollars. He wrote back that he had no money, but he could send some more sheep. Now, this is exactly what happened and everything else were alike. Now the prices are not so bad, but still they have kept below the cost of production. The industry and the wages are still at their highest, and there isn't a farmhand that hasn't got his own automobile, and most of them with closed coach, but most of the farmers have to drive in an old Ford Mobile that we can buy for $50 or less.

Thor Madsen told me to remember him to you, I visited him yesterday, he is now 85 years, but he is still hale and hearty and of sound mind, you wouldn't think that of such an old man. He said that he had had so many good talks with you as you understood him the best. He told me that he and you had talked for so long one night, that he had been shot out.

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Probably 1929

[The first page is missing. Jens must have added the year '1930', but if you compare what Christen tells about Gregers in this letter to the letter of Jan 1st, 1930 (where Gregers has died), this letter must be older]

I have just visited Trine Nørmark, she has lost everything she possessed except the house, but she has nothing to live from as all her money was placed in bank stocks and the bank went bankrupt when the farmers couldn't pay the bank. Her youngest daughter that is not yet married and had her money as 2nd mortgage in the farm has also gone down. Gregers has also lost his farm, as you know, and thus I could go on unendingly, those who had money in the bank, and the bank went bankrupt, and those who had invested money in land, if it was 2nd or 3rd mortgage, it was canceled immediately and the big loan companies that only mortgaged one third of the farm's value have had to take over many farms, and many people have bought these farms without deposit, just by taking over the 1st mortgage that usually is about $100 per acre. And therefore the farmer question has been the guiding in both the big political parties, and they both promised to do more for the farmers than the other, but it's the capital that rules in America. And the republican party that was reelected and that has ruled in 8 years and has put off the farmers with talk and pats on the shoulder, but kicks in the behind. Our politics are sorotten that you can't make it out. Two bills to help the farmers have passed both in the House and the Senate, but was vetoed by the president. But you bet, it was all a comedy. These senators and representatives that were going home to be reelected by the farmers passed these bills, but in advance it was decided that the president,who didn't run again for election, should veto them, and thus the comedy still plays, and the stupid farmers were fooled and blinded again and again.

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Manning Ia, Jan 1th 1930

Dear Brother.

I can see in your letter that you shall appear before the "Landsoverskatteraad" (i.e. the supreme taxation authority)next spring. If they should want more evidence than you've allready got for that the money were mine, then let me know what they want and I will send it with stamp and signature from Notary Public. Here in America the times are even harder for the farmers than last year. We get 35 cts. per # (pound?) of butter and 16 dollars for a pig of 200#. Oats 36 cts. per bushel and corn 65 cts. and it can't cover the cost because everything the farmers must buy as well as the wages are expensive. A farmhand gets 50$ a month in the summer and 7 cts. per bushel for picking corn, and everybody has an automobile, most of them with closed coach, but I now drive in an old Ford Mobile that you can buy for $15 to $30 as everything must be new and smart, so the old Fords are thrown on the rubbish heaps and sold as second-hand iron, and many farmers who are over head and ears in debt and must leave the farm still drive a smart automobile. I can only just pay the interest and the taxes, but I don't drive a smart auto.

At the latest election each party would do more than the other to make the farmers enjoy the same status as the industry, and the republicans won by promising the farmers immediate support and called in the House and the Senate for an extra session, and they have performed a great play all the summer for us, but nothing has been done and nothing will be done as long as that party is in power. For if a law is passed that really would benefit the farmers, it is vetoed by the president. This has already happened twice and will happen again if such a law was passed. President Hoover has no sympathy for the farmers.

Maren Nørmark's son, Gregers, died the 4th of December of a heart attack, he had lost Blackster the Pop Corn King farm as you know, but he had rented it and still lived there, 440 acres of land. It leaves wife and children in a bad mess. Jens Andreasen has payed for his farm, as you know, and he can easily ride out the gale. Hartvig has a lot of land in Nebr. and has no fear. Fred Rasmussen as well on his sugar farm in Col. Kristian has got started well and has bought a cheap farm. Trine had almost all her money placed in bank stocks and the bank went bankrupt, so she lost everything except the house, that she lived in, she is now 72 years.

Your brother,

C.S. Christensen

U.S.A. Manning Ia.

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Milwaukee, Febr 10th 1937

Dear Brother.

I couldn't get everything written in the last letter so I will continue. We didn't grow a thing, what the grasshoppers didn't eat was burned by the drought and the heat, the fields were black as a desert and we had neither hay nor hope. I couldn't see a way out to save the livestock, so I held an auction on everything, but it gave every small prices, as almost everybody were in the same situation as I. And it couldn't pay all my debt. But as the first thing I paid the interests and the taxes of the farm.

I can't believe that this part that is among the best in America will become a desert. We had nothing to live on, so we rented the farm and went to Milwaukee, where 7 of our children lives, and we stay at their place. Here the times are not as bad and all the children have had a job. Milwaukee Wis. is a big city with 730.000 inhabitants,it's situated 90 miles north and a little to the west of Chicago at the great Lake Michigan and the climate is good, it's not as warm in the summer and not as cold in the winter, but how things will go here, I can't say, and there are small chances to get a job as it is hard for the young ones and I am old.

Indeed, at a place not so far away the farmers passed a rope around the neck of a judge and pulled him down from the court and led him to across road and threatened to hang him, but however they let him go, and shortly after we got a new government (democratic) and then the farmers were considered, a Federal Land Bank was established, that took over our farm loans from the Lone Company at 3½ %, and other credit banks were established by the government, where the farmers that could not loan money elsewhere could get money at a cheap interest, and then a sort of control was established of what the farmers could sell, something similar to your pigs card for example, I had the latest two years breeded and sold 100 fat pigs per year,then I only was allowed to breed and sell 85 pigs, but the government paid me for the 15 pigs and it was the same for corn (maize), if you had had 100 acres of corn, you should leave 20 acres uncultivated and the government paid us for the 20 acres that we should leave uncultivated and this made the prices go up, but then the drought came 2 years ago and all our income was what we got from the government. The worst thing I have passed through is having a livestock and nothing to feed them; we had to buy both hay and corn and pay through the nose. We paid $15.00 for weed and $30.00 for good hay per ton, 2000#.

I slipped through the winter with the money you sent to me and loan that I got from the government. But in the spring I got ill and the doctor thought I should have a dangerous operation. Then I was sent to the state's hospital paid by the state in Iowa City, but I wasn't there long. The professors thought I could avoid an operation and that this condition was caused by worry, that is constantly being tormented and torn to pieces! Then I got medicine and was ordered to be glad and not worried about anything. I couldn't work much, you see. I am now an old and broken man, but I got enough help from my own children, we had a fairly good harvest , but both the oats and the maize were of bad quality and we got a fairly good price.

Then last winter we had the coldest winter for 125 years, we had lots of snow and the soil was in a good condition for the seed and the beginning was good for everything. But alas, then came the grasshoppers in multitude and ate all our hay and oats, and then came the drought and the heat as we have never seen before and for 2 months the temperature was far above 100 degrees, 115 degrees, even up to 120 degrees and people and horses died of the heat. In Iowa alone daily about 100 men died of the heat, but after a couple of weeks not so many died of the heat and mostly they were children and old folks. And all the crops were burned, yes, they proved that it was possible to fry an egg on the pavement in Audubon, after the heat dropped I sold everything at an auction.

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Milwaukee, Jan 1st 1939

Dear Brother.

Today is New Year's day and again a year has passed away, time goes by unceasingly and now we are old men. It seems so short ago you were here in America. But don't you feel like taking a journey over here again to U.S.A., that Kristian Ilvad once said meant "Ussel America" (i.e. poor America), and that's almost, yes, fully true. You have the means to make a journey, and bring Kristian if he likes. It's not the same as when you were here, now it's a pleasure to travel over the see, for young as well as old, and your boys can take care of the farm.

I was back on the farm in Iowa last autumn and we have had a fairly good crop this year. I don't think I need to give up the farm yet,but whether it's wise to stick to it any longer I don't know, But anyhow everything is lost, so it doesn't matter. The farm does not a tall look the same as before, first the buildings are partly decayed as there for many years has been no money to keep in repair, but the dry years have caused big disasters. As you may remember the farm is situated 10½ miles north of Kimbalton where you have been, the land is less hilly as at Kimbalton and Elkhorn, more like around Marne,that you know. 40 acres to the west of the road and 80 acres to the east where the buildings lie, it's high and plane land where the road is, and there were tall trees on both sides of the road, 1/4 miles,and a lot of trees around the place, 2 good apple yards, one south of the house with twenty and some apple trees (winter apples), and a smaller one north of the house with 12 summer-apple trees and cherry trees and some plums and a lot of small fruits, and now it's all dead and dried-up, there's not a living tree of any size on the whole farmhand the buildings seem so lonely and deserted. The water in the ground sank so deep that the trees couldn't reach the humidity in the ground, and the wells dryed up, some people that could raise the money for that have sunk deep wells, about 400 feet, I have dug many wells in the lowest part of the farm, but haven't got water enough for the livestock, that should be kept, and a well of 400 feet costs$1200.00, so that's out of the question. Some time ago 6 farms were sold at a public sale around here, I know them all, the cheapest was sold for $31.00 per acre and the most expensive was sold for $50.00per acre, but that one also had big and good buildings; considering that value my farm could be sold for $40.00 or maybe $45.00 per acre,and I owe $65.00 per acre, so you can easyly figure out how much I own, and in 1921 I sold it for $275.00 per acre, $33,000.00 and those to whome I sold it were immediately bid $36,000.00, $300.00 per acre, that's the way things may turn out, but considering the prices of the farm products there's no sense in that the farmers thereabout should sell at so low prices, but it's the fear of failure of crops and nobody has any money, and the big loan companies will no more risk their money in land that so easily may risk failure of crops. Some years ago you could borrow more than $100.00 per acre of land only,but now it's over. The government took over most of the loans inland, as you know, so the loan companies got rid of most of them.But this one was a loan company from Lincoln Nebraska (Joint Stock Land Bank) that went bankrupt and farms that they had taken over were sold at an auction for cash.

Now I wish you all a happy New Year. And here we hope it will be better than the last one. You are well off, if not Hitler some day comes and takes what you have got. He has his plans for Denmark, but it shall be the last mouthful, a kind of second course, after the other nations that he will swallow.

With loving greetings to you all.

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Your brother

C.S. Christensen

1427 N. Humboldt Ave

Milwaukee Wisc.

Milwaukee Wisc., April 18th1939

Dear Brother.

Times are disturbed in Europe, and nobody doubts any longer that Hitler will start a war. England is making great preparations to be ready,maybe a war is already started when you receive this letter, and that Denmark can remain neutral is certainly impossible this time, and it seems rather likely that Hitler will subjugate Denmark at first, and that he could do, maybe in a few hours, by sending his navy up in the Sound and the Belts and Herman Göring could land with his air arm, it could all be done so quickly, before England and Sweden could come to the rescue.

Göring who is in charge of all German's military machine is fairly familiar with Denmark as he has been flying teacher near Copenhagen for 2years, and last autumn he was on vacation in Denmark for a month,which maybe not quite was a vacation. Germany has recently made great examinations in Iceland, and it all proves that it is very interested in Denmark; if Hitler occupies Denmark he will at first take over the mail services and the railways and confiscate all banks and all money affairs, and all the victuals you can export would go to Germany at a very low price, if a price would be allowed at all. That's Denmark's situation today. Money is streaming into America for safekeeping,especially from the countries that are threatened by Hitler, and it might by wise if you sold what you could spare and deposited the money in a bank here in America. I had a conversation with one of the leaders in First Wisconsin National Bank that is one of the big banks and their main office is here in Milwaukee, he said it could be done in different ways. You could send the money directly to the bank or you could send the money to me and I could deposit it in the bank in your name, but there was one disadvantage, when you would withdraw money then the signature and the papers would have to go to and fro twice, the easiest and quickest way would be that you sent the money to me and I deposited it in the bank in both your and my name, that's called a Joint Account, in that way you could deposit and withdraws mall or big amounts as fast as a letter could go to and fro. Your only risk would be if I died. Then you would be the only one that could withdraw the money, but the state of Wisconsin would demand a succession duty, as they would assume that I had a share in the money, I didn't ask how much that would be, but it will probably not be much. My successors couldn't touch the money.

Then there's another thing you must take into consideration and that is that the money will be exchanged into American dollars and if the Danish crown should depreciate, which it of course would, you would receive more crowns than you deposited. If not and the dollar depreciated and the crown rose, then you would lose, but that is probably impossible. Your signature, as well as mine, must in any case be registered here in the bank and that must be very accurate, I once forgot a stroke over 't' and it was immediately handed back tome and I had to make the stroke over 't' that I had done in my first signature. Now you can think the matter over, and if you should agree, then the sooner the better.

I will soon go back to the farm and I don't know how long I will stay there, but if I stay there for a longer period, I will let you know,and if you send money, it wouldn't matter if I deposited it in a bank in Iowa.. All the money that is deposited in a bank here in America is now guarantied by the U.S. government up till $5000.00, five thousand dollars, that law was passed some years ago when so many banks went bankrupt, and many people lost their money. So write to meat my address here, we are all sound and well.

Your brother

C. S. Christensen

1427 N. Humboldt Ave

Milwaukee,Wisc. U.S.A.

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Harlan Iowa, Dec 13th 1939

Dear Brother.

Thank you for your letter. It was not long on the way, it was written Nov16th and I received it Dec 3rd. Let me know if you receive The Pioneer fairly regularly. We have had an odd weather all the autumn and now towards Christmas, with sunshine and warm weather all the time. But we haven't had rain since August and the soil is very dry,and many people lack water, as many wells are dry, and it's not good if we get neither rain nor snow. The war takes its own course and things go from bad to worse, we listen to the radio every day, and get reports from all the belligerent countries. But we can clearly understand that they are not all able to say what they would like to,as they are all more or less subject to censorship.

In a couple of days I will go back to Milwaukee, where my wife and 9 of the children are living, but then I have to go back to here before May 1st; then I will be either on the farm, where I have reserved two rooms in the house for myself, or here with my eldest daughter, where I have been last summer. I have to stay 6 months a year in Iowa to get old age pension, and when I stay at the farm I can get exemption from taxation of the buildings and 40 acres.

Your brother, C. S. Christensen

1427 N. Humboldt Ave.

Milwaukee Wis. U.S.A.

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Harlan Iowa. May 2th 1940

2044-1486 (a number that is probably added by the German censorship; it's also added on the envelope)

Dear Brother.

For a long time I have intended to write to you, but it has dragged on. I am now back in Harlan where I stay with my eldest daughter. I still own the farm, but it's rented, but I think one of the boys will take it over, and if the war continues, there will probably be need of victuals again, and this year we have an old-fashioned spring with much rain and cold, night frost and snow. The farmers are in arrears with work as it's still raining, but they have not yet started grumbling, as they are more afraid of the dry and hot weather.

So many of my old friends around here have died in the latest year. Let me know how things are going for you and who have died and passed away lately. You don't have to write about the war, as I am sure we get better reports about the way of the world than you, and I hope you have trained saying "Hail Hitler". You know I am closely related to the Germans as my wife's parents are German, and 3of my sons are married to German girls, besides I have lived most of my life among Germans, and if those people that have come to Denmark are of that kind, you don't have to be afraid, they are good people.I have not yet been at the farm, then I will write more of the conditions.

C.S. Christensen

1214Durant St. Harlan

U.S.A. Iowa

Harlan, Iowa. Oct 22nd 1945

Now that the war is over and I can contact you it is with regret and sorrow that I have to inform you that your Brother Christen my Husband passed away the 9th of May 1944, he had a Heart ailment for a year and a half which left him lame on the one side but died suddenly and did not suffer any on May the9th of 1944. Now as to my self I live alone in Harlan Iowa. I have one Daughter living here at Harlan, had 3 sons in service of which two are still serving in China, and one of my Sister’s boys served four and a half years was just discharged from the navy,he was officer. I had 3 sons and one Daughter in Milwaukee Wisc., two Daughters in St. Louis Missouri. Now I would be greatly pleased to hear from you and your family. How you fared through the war now you can write me in the Danish language as I can read it. I will close with the best regard so write me soon.

Mrs Anna Christensen

Harlan

1018 Durant Str. Iowa