Theodor'sstory

The information for Denmark and translations with copies of birth records, newspaper articles, and pictures of "Holmgard" and the house in Vesterende, where Theodore and his siblings grew up have come to me directly from Tina Holm (no known relation) as a result of her research in the archives located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Tina worked under my direction and she was paid for her time and expenses.

I have not been to Denmark but both my brother and sister have visited there. During the year 2000 my sister and her husband, traveling in Denmark with their

daughter and grandson, actually met Tina and her daughter. They were together long enough to have lunch and to attend an amusement park in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, toward the end of that year we lost all contact with Tina and this brought an end to all research in Denmark for the time being.

Before we go any further, I need to explain the Danish custom of naming their children with the father's first name and adding "sen" for a son and "datter" for a daughter. For example: you will see below that Lars Willadsen (who was the son of Willads Olufsen) was married to Maren Pedersdatter (who was the daughter of Peder Terchelsen).

Theodore was the twentieth of twenty-two children of Peder Andersen Holm and Anke Marie Lindberg. We have records for twenty-one children - someone before Theodore is missing. Two sets of twins and two other children died at or shortly after birth; eight of the remaining sixteen supposedly came to the United States. We have been unable to locate ship's passenger lists for either ports of departure from the old country or for ports of entry in the United States which have any of the siblings's names. It is my understanding that some of the records from German ports were burned during the war. And since we do not know the port of entry, the year, or the name of the ship, finding a name that we can relate to will be improbable.

We do know that Peder Andersen Holm, Theodore's father, was the second son of Lars Willadsen and Maren Pedersdatter living at "Holmgard". Lars and his brother Hans were co-owners of "Holmgard" until 1827 when Lars acquired total ownership. Lars took the name "Holm" as did most of the former owners. Peder was the first of our family line with the name "Holm".

Danish newspaper articles from July and August 1985 by local historian H. P. Jensen of Agerskov, tell the story of "Holmgard" and trace its history back to 1513. Recent construction work uncovered the remains of a wooden floor which indicates the farm was there at least back to the year 900.

The farm did not come into the hands of our "Holm" family line until sometime after 1771 when it was acquired by Peder Olufsen and his family. (not sure at this point how Peder is related or how long he was the owner of the farm)

But Willads Olesen (Olufsen) was the owner at the time of his death in 1799. "Holmgard" passed from the estate of Willards Olufsen to his sons Lars and Hans Willadsen in 1801. Lars gained total ownership of the farm in 1827.

When Lars died in February 1858, he left the farm to his oldest son, Willads Holm, Peder Andersen Holm's oldest brother. Lars Willadsen Holm, took over the farm in 1900 and sold it in 1928. Click here