Origins of Hans Adolph Thomsen, James's Father

 


Hans Adolph Thomsen was born on 18 February 1835 in Brabrand, Aarhus, Denmark.  Karen was born on 8 September 1833 in Aaby, and the two were married on 14 November 1858 in Aaby.  Aaby and Brabrand are now suburbs of Aarhus, and are respectively located 4 and 8 kilometers West of Aarhus.  Hans and Karen were married in the "old kirke" in Aaby.  There are two churches in Aaby today.  The Abyhoj Church was completed in 1945, and the Aby Church was built between 1872 and 1873 as a replacement for the previous Romanesque church (probably where Hans and Karen were married).  Some of the granite blocks from the old church have been reused in the new one, which is located today at C.A. Thyregods Vej 47 in Abyhoj.  

New Aaby Church



Crucifix from Old Aaby Church, located in the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen.  From the Museum: "Wooden crucifix covered with gilt copper plates.  The crowned Christ in Majesty is known only from western Europe and Scandinavia.  The figure, which is missing the original cross, is probably the oldest piece of church furniture in Denmark. 1050-1100 Aby Church near Arhus."

The crucifix from the original church is the oldest crucifix in Denmark, and is now housed in the National Museum in Copenhagen.Although the Aaby Church is no longer standing, the original church in Brabrand where Hans would have been christened is still standing. 

Brabrand Kirke from the South May 2011

Sixteenth Century Altar



Brabrand Lake to the South of the Church Yard

  The oldest parts of the Brabrand Church were built between 1200 and 1250 A.D. and the church was extended towards the west between 1300 and 1500.  A tower was added in 1700, which was replaced by the current tower in 1880.  The Church was remodeled in 1924.   The original altar dates from 1595, but the current paintings date from 1895 by Jens Hansen Aarslev.  My guess is that this church is where Hans Adolph Thomsen would have been christened in 1835, and where his parents (Cai Thomsen and Inger Marie Petersdatter) would have been married on 19 December 1834, and where they would have been buried (Cai died on 29 July 1881 in Brabrand, just after the church acquired its current tower, and Inger died on 1 August 1877).   Inger would have been christened there shortly after her birth on 14 March 1802.  Her parents (Peder Nielsen and Marie Kirstine Sorensdatter) were married there on 29 April 1801.  Peder and Marie died in Brabrand on 18 April 1834 and 8 April 1850, respectively, and so were probably buried at the Church as well.  But neither Peder's family nor Marie's family originated in Brabrand.


A. Brabrand      B. Aaby      C. Lyngby      D. Lisbjerg

 Peder and Marie were born in Lisbjerg and Lyngby, respectively 12 km northeast and 6 km northwest of Brabrand, and so moved to Brabrand sometime between about 1770 and 1801.  When Peder Nielsen left Lisbjerg to move to Brabrand near the close of the 18th Century, his family had lived in Lisbjerg for over 100 years, since 1683 when his grandfather Herman Smed was born there.  When Marie Sorensdatter Left Lyngby for Brabrand, her family had been there at least since 1727 when her father Soren Jensen Gartner was born there. 

Lisbjerg is home to a Romanesque church built in the 11th Century.  Peder Nielsen would have been christened in this church, and his family would have been christened and buried here since at least 1683.  The original gilded altar was created in 1135 and was donated to the national museum in 1867.  From the National Museum:

The altar ornamentation consists of a frontal and a retable.  The Lisbjerg crucifix is too large for the retable arch and was not intended for this location.  In the reconstruction the big crucifix in accordance with some pegholes in the retable has been replaced by a Crucifixion (Christ between the Virgin and St. John). 

The oldest and strangest of the Danish golden altars.  The crucifix, which is closely related to the Aby crucifix, is the oldest part of the Altar.  AS it is too large for teh retable arch, it must have been meant for another place in the church.  The reliefs on teh retable represent at the bottom Christ among the Apostles.  In the round sections at the foot of teh arch are portrayals of Lazarus in the Boston of Abraham and Abraham Sacrificing Isaac.  At teh top is Christ flanked by the Virgin and St. John the Baptist togetehr with the two saints of medicine: Cosmas and Damianus.  In the middle frontal is the Virgin and Child in Heavenly Jerusalem.  According to the inscriptions, the twelve female figures in the side sections represent teh Christian Virtues together with two female saints: the Irish Brigida and the Toman Tecla.  The cast figure of the Virgin is perhaps imported from France, while the other figures and ornamentation show English stylistic influence.  The long Latin inscriptions with deep theological content, some of them in verse, indicate a close relationship between the clergy and the artisans.  About 1125-1150.

 

 

Although James's maternal grandparents originated around Aarhus, Cai moved to the area as a young man from his ancestral home in the Duchy of Schleswig 250 km to the south.  Cai was born 29 December 1806 in Grimsnis, currently in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. His father Hans Adolph Thomsen was born in Grimsnis on 23 November 1772 and died there on 5 April 1818, when Cai was eleven.  Cai's mother Augusta Benedicta Nissen died on 4 March 1814 in nearby Roest, Schleswig-Holstein (Now Germany)  There must be some story as to how Cai went from being an orphaned 11-year old in Schleswig-Holstein to living in Brabrand where he was married at age 27, but I do not have the details of this story.  When Cai left Schleswig-Holstein in the early 19th Century, his father's family had lived there for at least 150 years since his great-great grandfather Henrick Moeller was born in Kappeln about 1665, and his great-grandfather Hinrich Thomsen was born in Grimsnis about 1683.  His mother's family lived there for almost 200 years, with his great-great-great grandfather Hans Kraack being born in Kappeln about 1647, and his great-great-great grandfather Hans Simonsen being born in Mehlby about 1647.  The First and Second Wars of Schleswig (1848 and 1864), in which the Kingdom of Denmark fought with the Prussia and the German Confederation over the Duchy of Schleswig, would come too late to be the driving force behind Cai's relocation to Brabrand.  Cai's move from Schleswig to Brabrand is certainly a story that needs to be told.