Dr. and Mrs. Niels Nielsen, Medical Missionaries

Dr. Niels Nielsen was the head of the medical mission at Siuyen and the founder and director of Siuyen Hospital. Anna Bøg worked with Dr. Nielsen when she filled in for the head nurse, Anna Busch, when Busch was on furlough in 1923. Also, Anna Bøg continued to work with the Bible women at Siuyen Hospital after she founded the women’s mission station.

Gullach-Jensen’s 1937 book on the Danish missions in Manchuria includes this moving description of Dr. Nielsen’s early life:

“Niels Nielsen was born June 29, 1875 in Hodsager Parish, Yllebjerg Mark, Denmark. His parents were poor small landholders who worked from sunrise to sunset and thus had little time to educate their children. Nevertheless, when Nielsen was still a small boy God made him aware of sin . . . In a dream he saw the savior with a crown of thorns and began to love him . . . He was eager to see the larger world and was overjoyed when he reached six years of age and was sent out to tend cattle. . . .

“At twelve years of age, Nielsen read for the first time the ‘Mission Message’ [apparently a book or periodical]. God called him to bring the Gospel message to the pagans, but how to accomplish that was for him a mystery. He wished to become an ordained minister . . . but becoming a minister would require a lot of money and he did not know how to obtain it. He imagined himself a sailor who would become stranded on a desert island where there were pagans. That way he would have an opportunity to tell them about God. These were his childhood dreams of the future. The day he gave his heart to God, he asked for neither position nor reward, but only for God to place him where he could be of greatest benefit.

“Nielsen began his years of education and they were long and rough. He worked for Pastor Torms in Aulum and confided in him. Torms gave him his initial academic training and prepared him for entry to the Seminariet in Norre Nissum. He did his best but was hampered by his lack of early education. Moreover, so as not to ask for money he restricted himself to bread and water, and this produced mental and bodily depression. He wondered, ‘Am I made for this?’ He asked God for a sign as to whether he should continue or abandon his studies. That same day, he received an invitation from the parsonage to dine there for a month. That sign could not be misunderstood.

“During the summer holidays, he worked at the dam works between Thyborøn and Harboøre to obtain money for his studies in the winter. Besides earning money he was a spiritual adviser for many of the workers. At the same time he developed bonds of friendship with the parish at Harboøre, which meant that during the ensuing years the parish helped him toward his goal of becoming a graduate medical doctor.

"To reach this goal as fast as possible, he decided to go to America. He traveled free of charge as a waiter. Throughout many unusual events, step by step, God paved the way for him. Through the subsequent years he had to work hard as a manual laborer to survive but he progressed in his studies. To his great surprise, one day he found himself on the honor’s list … He went to the head of the school and asked him what the fastest route to the mission field would be. The man replied that a watermelon could grow in three months, but an oak tree -- and whatever has the nature of an oak tree -- needed time to develop. He advised Nielsen that he would require about another ten years of study."

In 1895, Niels Nielsen became engaged to Ane Kirstine Jørgensen.* They met while the future physician was in Viborg for obligatory military service. Ane Kirstine Jørgensen was born on March 1, 1873 in Vinding by Holstebro.

The couple had a long engagement, marrying on September 5, 1902. In 1906, Nielsen obtained his medical degree from the University of Minneapolis. Mrs. Nielsen also received her nurse's training in the United States. Both Dr. and Mrs. Nielsen became American citizens.

In 1907, D.M.S. sent Dr. Nielsen to China, and from 1909 onward he served as a medical missionary at Siuyen. The medical mission included Siuyen Hospital, a polyclinic, and a nursing school where both male and female Chinese were trained as nursing professionals. Dr. Nielsen established the polyclinic in 1909 and the hospital in 1913.

Mrs. Nielsen, who went by her middle name, Kirstine, was an active collaborator with her husband throughout the couple’s years in Siuyen. Along with nurse Anna Busch, Kirstine Nielsen headed the nursing school. During their many years in Siuyen, Anna Bøg and Kirstine Nielsen became good friends.

A major event in Dr. Nielsen’s life was his capture by Manchurian bandits on April 11, 1933. He was held hostage by the brigands more than six months during which time he lost 47 pounds. On October 25, 1933, he was finally released. The Danish author, Kirsten Bergreen Buch, who was born to Rev. and Mrs. Niels Buch in Mukden with Anna Bøg in attendance, and grew up in Manchuria, told us, "I remember one of my classmates, Poul Aagaard Poulsen, rushed into the classroom waving a telegram, 'Dr. Nielsen is free. Dr. Nielsen is free!' By 'classroom' I, of course, mean our tiny room in the Danish boarding school in the town of Antung (Dandong)."

Dr. and Mrs. Nielsen served faithfully in Siuyen until 1940 or 1941 when the Japanese ejected them from Manchuria because they were American citizens. According to the California Death Record, Dr. Nielsen died in Los Angeles on November 4, 1945, at the age of 70. And, according to the same source, Mrs. Nielsen died in Los Angeles on Christmas Day, December 25, 1947, at the age of 74.

Sources:
Buch, Kirsten Berggreen; letter to Preben Jørgensen, March 3, 2005.
Gullach-Jensen, Thyra; D.M.S. i Manchuriet (Copenhagen, 1937), pp. 35-38.

Image:
Dr. and Mrs. Niels Nielsen, from the Danish Missionary Society’s Missionary Album for 1934.
All D.M.S. items used with permission.
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*According to various D.M.S. sources, Ane Kirstine's family name was Jørgensen. We have been informed, however, that her father was Niels P. Tingsager of Vinding, Holstebro, Denmark.