Jorgen Jorgensen

The main reason for the pilgrimage to Bornholm was because my great-great-grandfather, Jorgen Jorgensen (in English, it's pronounced "Yearn, Yearn-sen" - which is why he changed it to John Johnson when he came to Box Elder County, Utah), emigrated from this island in the 1850s. Vestermarie is the town/parish he was from. You have no idea the thrilled my Mom and I got when we arrived. (We rented a car.)

This is the church he went to/where he was christened.

The inside.

Many old Danish churches have boats hanging from the ceilings to honor the source of so much of their livelihood. Sailing, fishing, trading. This is how it was done.

This is the baptismal font where he was christened.

We found this darling groundskeeper who let my mom play the organ.
("Come, Come Ye Saints" - a spiritual moment!)
He was out mowing the cemetery which surrounds the church and we snagged him.
Thank goodness my mom speaks German because that was the only way to communicate with him - and that was even a stretch.

Pindelokkegaard is the first of JJ's farms we found.
Gorgeous, well-kept. No one to be found to speak to.
We think we were there at peak European holiday season.

View of the church from Pindelokkegaard.
("Gaard" = farm in Danish.)

Galingegaard
Farm #2 in disrepair.

Haakelegaard. In severe disrepair. We found people there (ok, so she was topless but she decided to put on a shirt after about 10 minutes... whew!) and they are making the white structure to the left into summer vacation rentals.

It isn't everyday that you can go back to the exact places where your ancestors lived and worked. We were beyond thrilled and it was a life-changing day for us.