Heritage Trail: Sorensens in Denmark

Visiting Denmark this summer, we had the fantastic experience of finding the Sorensen home and church in Fjenneslev, Soro, a tiny hamlet about an hour southwest of Copenhagen. Various relatives have made pilgrimages here over the years, so the home's inhabitants, an older couple (also named Sorensen but no relation), have become used to this, and have even themselves visited Utah. Having only seen black and white photos of this home over the years, I was surprised at how colorful the area is, and at the yellow home. The house is set just back from the church, which has a pond behind it and a graveyard as part of the enclosure (although no ancestral headstones to be seen there). 

the Sorensen home in panoramic view

Nicolai Sorensen and his wife Malena raised a large family in Denmark, and their son Isaac was a teenager when they left for Utah, so he would have known and remembered the area as well.

In Copenhagen, we stopped the wharf where there is a statue "Christina" honoring the LDS pioneer emigrants, and found the stones with our ancestors' names inscribed on them. I felt that Nicolai and the other pioneers who were persecuted for their religious beliefs in Denmark would be so pleased to see the Copenhagen temple now gracing their homeland.

Copenhagen temple and "Come Come Ye Saints"

finding the pioneers' names in stone at the harbor

Nicolai also played the violin in the orchestra at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, which we enjoyed visiting. We found a statue there honoring the conductor he would have known, Hans Lumbye, who was particularly noted for composing the Champagne Gallop music. 

orchestra statue at Tivoli Gardens

at Tivoli Gardens

Each Danish town has a sign as you enter and leave the area, and it was exciting for me to approach a town name I'd read and typed on so many genealogy forms over the past few decades! Fjenneslev is only a dozen or so homes collected around the twin-towered church/cemetery/pond, and surrounded by beautiful green fields and endless sky. The house's official address is 4 Langtoftevej, 4173 Fjenneslev, Denmark, although we thought it was tricky to find number 4 and had to walk around a bit and knock on the door to verify we had the right place.

The current owners continue to farm the land behind the Sorensen house, although they have now hired help. They were in the middle of a repainting project when we stopped by. The home's interior was updated in the past few decades to have a more modern kitchen and has several rooms lined with bookshelves (and a bit of a musty odor). It's built around a central courtyard, which was used for cooking and farm animals, and two wings of the house are still set up as barns. It's picturesque and well worth the visit if you're in the area!

Sorensen home and church 

the church is famous for having this ancient Viking runic stone

touring the Sorensen home

Sorensen home

Fjenneslev twin-towered church

We drove past signs for Vemmelev, which is a half hour further west right near the coast (where you leave the island of Zealand to cross to Funen at Nyborg, on the several mile long West Bridge--a toll of about $40). Unfortunately we didn't have the time to stop and look at Bertha Poulsen and Mary's native church there. (I need to do some more research on Bertha's island home and her grandfather in the Danish king's guard and identify that more closely.) We loved Denmark and hope to return someday!