DANISH SIDE: Birthday Postcard to a Young Boy

 The year was 1910 and the monarch was HM Frederick VII (1843-1912). His reign would show to be a liberal one with acceptance of the need for the Danish electoral voice. It was also the first time that a separate bicycle path was established around the lakes in Copenhagen to accommodate the heavy growth of cycles for the period.

But, out on the farmlands of Jylland a little boy is turning 6 years old and had received a postcard with a birthday greeting from his relatives.

That little boy was Peter (Møller) Hansen from the farm known as ‘Christoffersminde’ in Ustrup, south of Horsens…our grandfather.

Born in October 1904, he was the first born of Christoffer Hansen and Thora Møller.

The Postcard	Front
	:: The postcard was typical for the era. A little boy had been photographed back in 2/1890 (see date on lower left) in his birthday suit like a cherub innocent and sweet. It was aptly chosen by an unknown family friend or relative to send to their young boy on the occasion of his birthday.
	Back
	The postage depicted the king with the cancellation mark just a few days before the actual date of Peter’s birth. Addressed to: Peter Hansen Christoffersminde Ustrup Vr. Horsens

Detail of King, stamp and place of issue

Frederick VIII	Detail of 5 øre postage stamp with engraving of Frederick VIII. The stamp shown was the last one issued between 1907-12 for the king whose reign had only two more year left from the date of this postcard.	Postmarked: Glamsbjerg (Fyn/Funen) Postdate: 21.10.10 (dd/mm/yy)

The greeting was simple, it states:

Danish	Original	English
Kære lille Peter Hjærtelig Tillykke fra Inga or Hans Georg og Hilsen og Tak for sidst til hele Familien. Kommer Du naa med Far og Mor over at besøge os Inga og Barre glæde os dertil Hilsen fra hele Familien, Morten		Dear little Peter Heartfelt Congratulations from Inga and Hans Georg and greetings and thanks for last to the whole family. Should you come with your father and mother to visit us Inga and Barre would also (like to see you). Greetings from the whole family. Morten

Of course, this raises the question of who some of the people mentioned in the postcard might be. There are are names that need to be identified…and of course, the place of Stensgaard.
Putting Together the Clues
Using the fact that the postcard is stamped from Glamsbjerg in Fyn (Funen) and we have a name of Stensgaardvej in the southern part of the small town, it is quite possible that a farm once stood there and that Morten might have been the owner of  it back in 1910.
The first thing that I find is that prior to 1900 the town of Glamsbjerg was more a a village than a town and part of Køng parish.
Second, the name that has me most perplexed is Stensgaard. There is big nearby herregaard (manor farm) …but, this seems an unlikely connection. And then, there is the name of a street in the middle of Glamsbjerg that is called Stensgaardvej. Either it is named after that nearby herregaard and Morton was from there or there was a small farm in town with that same name that was his…either way, I don’t know.
Well, I have emailed the Glamsbjerg Archives and my old uncle to see if any of them have an answer. Until then, the mystery remains from whom this postcard was sent and who the other people might be that are mentioned.

The names mentioned are the following:

name	last name?	how related?
Inga	?	?
Hans Georg	?	?
Inga	?	?
Barre	?	?
Morten	?	?

Looks like there is more forensics to be done.
Stay tuned.

FOLLOW-UP...via email Monday, September 6, 2011:

from Ulla at the glamsbjergarkiv@assens.dk 

"I'm sorry to say that we have not been able to out find who the Morten is who sent a postcard to your grandfather. You are rig(h)t that a farm named "Stensgaard" once could be found in Glamsbjerg, but it was taken down in the 1970s. In 1910 this farm was owned by a man named P. Hansen Petersen."

Well, one part of the puzzle has been solved with this new information confirming there was a farm within Glamsbjerg called Stensgaard. Now to still find out who the names referred to in the greeting belong.