Today is the 121st anniversary of the birth of Anna Bøg and a good time to tell a little about her early life.
Born to master carpenter Jørgen Madsen and his wife Karen Bøg Rasmussen on May 13, 1888, in Odense, Anna Bøg was baptized “Anne Kirstine Bøg Madsen” on June 10, 1888, at St. Knud’s in Odense.
Anna Bøg’s mother, Karen, was the granddaughter of Christian Bøg, a foundling infant discovered in 1792 in Fruens Bøge, a grove of beech trees alongside the Odense River. (His story is an intriguing one that we are reserving for the anniversary of his baptism in September.)
Anna Bøg had two older brothers: Christian (born 1885) and Peter (1886) as well as four younger siblings: Marie (1889), Johannes (1890), Elizabeth (1891) and Rasmus (1892). There was also an eighth child, Emmanuel, who lived only a few weeks.
The home was devout and loving. During Anna Bøg’s early childhood, the family lived at Fredensgade 40 in Odense. It was a small house with a garden in back and a carpenter shop where her father worked. During the winter, he made doors and window sashes for houses that would be built the following summer.
When Anna Bøg was still a girl, Jørgen Madsen built a six-unit two-story apartment house at St. Knudsgade No. 58, also in Odense. There the family had a large garden where they grew both flowers and vegetables. There was also a garden house where they drank afternoon coffee.
In 1898 or 1899, while continuing to own the St. Knudsgade building, Jørgen Madsen built another six-unit two-story apartment house at Alexandergade No. 17. The family had hoped to remain permanently at Alexandergade but in 1900 there was a general strike in Odense and Jørgen Madsen was unable to work. The strike went on for several months leading him to trade his two apartment buildings for a farm in the nearby countryside, in the vicinity of Ringe-Nørre Højrup.
While Jorgen Madsen was a skilled and successful carpenter, he was a man of the city and less successful as a farmer. When the farming venture failed after a year, the family remained in the country but moved into a small house and Jørgen Madsen went to work for other farmers. Christian had already apprenticed to a tailor. Peter, who had worked in a series of jobs in Odense since he was eight years old, had helped his father with the farm. When the farm failed, Peter went to work for another farmer, as did Johannes. Anna found domestic work and Marie went to live-in with her mother’s sister, her Aunt Stine, helping with child care and domestic chores.
In 1902, Anna Bøg was confirmed at Nørre Nærra Church and, a few years later, left home for Haslev to attend the folk high school, thus becoming the only one of the children to obtain more than a basic education.
The three oldest brothers immigrated to the United States: Peter in 1905, Christian in 1907 and Johannes in 1908.
By 1908, the family’s financial situation had improved and Jorgen Madsen had built another home. When Peter came back to Denmark for a visit that year, however, he persuaded his parents to emigrate to America. So, on August 27, 1909, Anna left for the United States with her parents, Marie, Elizabeth and Rasmus on the steamship “Hellig Olav”.
The family arrived in New York in October, 1909, and went immediately to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where Jørgen Madsen’s brother was living. Peter, Christian, and Johannes (his name now Americanized to John) pooled their money and presented their parents with a home on Grant Street in Cedar Falls, reuniting the family under the same roof. There, Anna Bøg initially found work as a domestic but would soon go on to employment that would help prepare her for her missionary vocation.
(The years 1909 to 1919 will be described in a future installment.)
Sources for the text include: Søren Bøgh website and the life stories of Marie Madsen Petersen, John Bøg Madsen, and Peter Bøg Madsen. Courtesy of H.B. Petersen, Marcia Madsen Miller, and Roger Lais.
Images (For a better view, click to enlarge):
Top picture -The Madsen family circa 1900. Back row: Peter, Christian, and Anna. Middle row: Marie, mother Karen, Rasmus, father Jørgen, and Johannes. In front of Johannes: Elizabeth.
Courtesy of Ruth Macaulay and her son David Macaulay.
Second picture - Karen Bøg Rasmussen (right) with her sister Maren Kirstine (The “Aunt Stine” for whom Anna’s sister Marie went to work at age 12).
Courtesy of Roger Lais.
Third picture - The family in front of their home on Grant Street in Cedar Falls, probably taken in 1913 at an engagement celebration for John and his future wife, Anna Petersen.
From left to right: Christian and his wife, Dina; Marius Petersen (Marie’s husband) and Marie (seated in front of Marius); Anna (in front of Marie) and her brother, Peter (next to Anna); Rasmus (standing next to Marius); Karen and Jørgen; Elizabeth (seated in front of Jørgen) and Elizabeth's husband Gust Nykvist; and to the far right, behind the large bouquet of flowers, John with Anna Petersen, the sister of Marie's husband Marius.
Courtesy of Roger Lais.
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