2-7
The Family of Edith Christense Bohnstedt and the Bohnstedt Hansen Family
The Descendants of Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Bohnstedt, part 4
by Thomas Allen Bohnstedt, California USA
(the text of this page is my intellectual property. Please do not copy and repost without my written permission)
When I first did research on the Danish Bohnstedts for the 1998 Printed Edition of A History of the Bohnstedt Family, we knew nothing of the descendants of Magda Lovisa Bohnstedt and her sister Edith Christense Bohnstedt.
1. Portion of the Arveerklæring (statement of heritage) put together by Poul Johannes Bohnstedt, showing notations for Edith and Magda BohnstedtOn the Arveerklæring put together by Poul Johannes Bohnstedt in the early 1950's there are notations for both Edith Bohnstedt and her sister, Magda. For Magda, Poul typed:
7 Børn i 2 Ægteskaber [7 children from 2 marriages]
For Edith there was a similar notation:
8 Børn i Ægteskaber [8 children from marriage]
At that time this is all we knew of the children and descendants of Magda Lovisa and Edith Christense Bohnstedt. As we saw in previous portions of this work (The Families of Johanne Augusta Bohnstedt and Magda Lovisa Bohnstedt) we have learned a great deal more about Magda's children, including a couple of things that came as a surprise to her own descendants.
Like Magda, all we knew of Edith's children and descendants was this simple notation. But thanks to the efforts of Sonja Bohnstedt, and with help from Frank Bohnstedt-Petersen, we now know a great deal about this family, and the perpetuation of the Bohnstedt name within this family line. In fact, the addition of this 'Bohnstedt Hansen' family line doubled the size of the known Bohnstedt family in Denmark, perhaps more.
This is due to the manner in which the Bohnstedt name has been used in this family line, and is an excellent example of the way family surnames are often used in Denmark. In so many cases in this family line the Bohnstedt name was used, but was given at first as a middle name, while still giving the father's last name to the children as a family name. But because the Bohnstedt name was given so many time as a middle name it became a family identifier, just as much as a last name.
Edith Christense Bohnstedt was born in 1893 in Hjørring, Denmark, the fifth child of Heinrich and Marie Bohnstedt. Some records show her name spelled "Edit" (without an "h", but in letters to her from America, her older brother Henrik spells her name "Edith". According to Sonja Bohnstedt (one of Edith's granddaughters), Edith played piano in theaters during the early days of silent movies and was also a piano teacher who gave private lessons.
Edith's first child, Kristian Bohnstedt Hansen, was born in 1917 in København, Denmark, and four years later she married the boys' father, Kristian Carstensen Hansen in 1921 in Skjern. During the years 1922 - 1929 Edith and Kristian had seven more children: Grethe Marie Bohnstedt Hansen (1922), Helmer Bohnstedt Hansen (1923), Kaj Bohnstedt Hansen (1925), and Aage Bohnstedt Hansen (1926).
2. Edith Christense Bohnstedt (Hansen) with her first child, Kristian Bohnstedt Hansen, about 1918
3. L-R back: Kristian Carstensen Hansen and wife Edith Christense Bohnstedt Hansen
L-R front: Ketty, Edith, and Molly Bohnstedt Hansen circa 1932Edith and Kristian's last three children, Edith, Molly, and Ketty were all born in 1929. Edith (the daughter) was born in January of that year, and apparently Edith was pregnant again about one month later, and in November of 1929 the twins Molly and Ketty were born. The twins were Edith's last children; she may have very well had enough of giving birth from that time!
4. After Edith's first child, Kristian, was born in København, she, Kristian and the boys father moved to Skjern, where they established a significant Bohnstedt family line.All of Edith's children were given "Bohnstedt" as a middle name, creating a new Bohnstedt family line; "Bohnstedt Hansen". The Bohnstedt name was still officially used as a middle name in this generation, not properly as part of a surname, as in the hyphenated Bohnstedt-Petersen. But as mentioned above, it is also an accepted idea that the purpose for giving all of these children such a middle name was for the purposes of carrying the Bohnstedt name forward. As we shall see this certainly was the case, and the Bohnstedt name continued to be carried as a middle name, or in some cases given or adopted as a surname for many of Edith's descendants.
5. Funeral of Kristian Carstensen Hansen, 1939. L-R: Kristian's family; Grethe, Molly, Edith, Helmer (back), Ketty, Edith Christense Bohnstedt (wife), and Kristian Bohnstedt Hansen. Not in the picture are Aage and Kaj Bohnstedt Hansen
6. Grave of Edith Hansen BohnstedtEdith's husband, Kristian Carstensen Hansen, died in 1939, and unfortunately did not live to see his children begin families of their own. However, they did have descendants, and some research into all of these descendants revealed some interesting name variations and use of the Bohnstedt name.
The first two of these children to marry were Kristian and Kaj.
Kristian Bohnstedt Hansen, was a weaver by trade, and married in 1946. He and his wife Helga had one child, a daughter named Inge-Merethe Bohnstedt Hansen. We were informed that Inge never married or had children.
Grethe Bohnstedt Hansen operated a delicatessen store in København. She married Poul Lauritz Hansen, a driving instructor. According to some family sources, when Grethe and Poul were married in 1949 they both changed their last name to Bohnstedt. They had one daughter, Birgitte, in 1960.
7. Grethe Bohnstedt Hansen and her husband, Poul Lauritz Hansen, circa 1940According to Frank Bohnstedt-Petersen, he remembered that when his nephew, Michael Bohnstedt-Petersen, was about 18-19 years old, he (Michael) was given driving instructions by someone named Poul Bohnstedt, but Michael was not aware at the time that he was related to Poul's wife, Grethe.
Helmer and Molly Bohnstedt Hansen were the last two of Edith's and Kristian's children to marry. Helmer, a textile weaver, married in 1950 to Rosa Pedersen. They had two children, Lillian (1949) and Kjeld (1953). Helmer and Rosa followed what had by now become a tradition within the Bohnstedt Hansen family of giving the Bohnstedt name as a middle name.
8. Helmer Bohnstedt HansenLillian again followed this tradition when she and her husband, Poul Erik Jensen, had their two daughters, giving them the Bohnstedt name as a middle name: Lone Bohnstedt Jensen was born in 1971 and Mette Bohnstedt Jensen was born in 1976.
Lillian's daughter Lone kept this tradition alive when her two children were born. Lone Bohnstedt Jensen had married Carsten Leander Jensen and they gave their children the names Tobias Bohnstedt Leander Jensen, and Magnus Bohnstedt Leander Jensen.
Kaj, a civilian employee for the Danish military, also married in 1946 to Marie Grønkjaer Jensen. At the time of this writing Kaj and Marie are still married and in 2006 celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary surrounded by children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Kaj and Marie had five children all given the middle and last names "Bohnstedt Hansen"; Ulla Christense (1946), Jytte (1947), Bent Kristian (1949), Jørgen (1952) and Joan (1954). We were told that all were born in Viborg, with the exception of the youngest, Joan, who was born in Kjellerup, Denmark. From these five children came numerous descendants, many of whom carry the Bohnstedt name in one form or another.
From Ulla came three children, one of which changed his name from Henrik Kaj Wiinblad Jensen to Henrik Kaj Wiinblad Bohnstedt, and whose daughter, Alison, now carries the surname Bohnstedt.
From Jytte came two daughters, Mariann and Viviann, who carried their father's last name of Kristensen, and his middle name of Bjerregård, but also the middle name of Bohnstedt, creating a name conglomerate of Bohnstedt Bjerregård Kristensen. Mariann and Viviann both married, but the husbands of both women changed their last name to Bohnstedt upon marriage, and Mariann and Viviann did as well. As a result, both Mariann and Viviann's children (and therefore Jytte's grandchildren) all carry Bohnstedt as their surname.
From Bent, a building surveyor, came three children from two different marriages, Johnny and Torben from the first, and Kristian from the second. All three were given Hansen as their last name, but were also given Bohnstedt as a middle name. Johnny and Torben also fathered sons, and although they carry the surnames of Hansen (Johnny's son Kevin) and Agerup (Torben's son Gustav was given his mother's name of Agerup), both of the boys still carry Bohnstedt as a middle name.
Jørgen had two sons, Dennis and Allan, who carry Bohnstedt as a middle name. At this writing they do not have any children.
The only children of the newest generation of Kaj's descendants who do not carry the Bohnstedt name are are Joan's two children, Jacob and Louise Weirauch Jensen, who carry both their father's middle name and last name.
Three of Edith's and Kristian's children, Aage, Edith and Ketty Bohnstedt Hansen, all married two years later in 1948.
Aage married Krista Sørensen and they had two children, Sonja and Poul. (Sonja is the researcher who helped collect all of the information for this Bohnstedt Hansen line). Although Sonja, a job training instructor, was given the middle name of Bohnstedt and the last name of Hansen as a child, she later dropped the use of Hansen, and used only "Bohnstedt", even after marriage.
9. Aage Bohnstedt Hansen, age 23 (picture taken 1949)
10. Aage Bohnstedt's granddaughter, Doctor Eva Bohnstedt ChristensenSonja's two children, Ulrik and Eva, were given Bohnstedt as a middle name, and their father's last name of Christensen as their surname. Ulrik's son, Asger (born in 2004) was again given Bohnstedt as a middle name and the mother's last name of Winther for his surname. Sonja's daughter Eva is one of the many success stories from the Danish Bohnstedt family line: In 2006 Eva graduated from Medical school to begin her career as a medical doctor.
Poul, a tax official, and his wife Kirsten had three children, Stine, Peter and Sara, all given Bohnstedt as a middle name and Hansen as a last name at birth or as children.
Edith married in 1948 to Svend Erik Jensen, a cabinet maker. They had two children; Jette (who was born in 1946, almost two years before Edith and Svend were married), and a son, Jan. Both children were given the surname Jensen, and Jan was given the middle name of Bohnstedt. However, Jette, born six years before Jan, was given the middle name of "Bohn". Edith's third child, Per, was never given the Bohnstedt name at all, and only carried his father's surname of Graugaard.
11. L-R: Ketty, Edith and Molly Bohnstedt Hansen
Molly married Alfred Nyegaard Kristensen in 1950 and that year their first child was born, whom they named Elsemarie Nygaard Kristensen. Elsemarie was married in 1970 and she married Aage Knak Nygaard, and their children were given the middle and last names of ' Knak Nygaard ' .
12. Molly Bohnstedt Hansen, late 1940's or early 1950'sIt is unknown why Molly and Alfred did not give Elsemarie the Bohnstedt name, even as a middle name, because they certainly did give their next two children the Bohnstedt name; Bjarne Bohnstedt Kristensen was born in 1953 and Birgitte Bohnstedt Kristensen was born in 1960.
Bjarne married Ellen Bækhøj Ablidstrup in 1977, and apparently preferring the most unusual of those names available for selection, they gave Ellen's family name of ' Ablidstrup ' to their children as a surname. But following the practice of many within this ' Bohnstedt Hansen ' line, they gave ' Bohnstedt ' as a middle name along with Ellen's middle name ' Bækhøj '.
Birgitte and her husband, Kim Børge Rosendahl, adopted two children, a boy and a girl, whom they named Thomas Bohnstedt Rosendahl, and Lotte Bohnstedt Rosendahl, following a slightly more traditional (for Denmark) convention of giving names.
Ketty and her husband, Freddy Jensen, had two children, Annette (1948) and a son, Birger (1953). Both were given the middle name of Bohnstedt and the last name of Jensen. When Annette was married in 1979 to Jan Højrup Knudsen she changed her name to Annette Bohnstedt Knudsen.
See Also:
2-12 / Genealogy 2-3-1: Denmark 1 (The Descendants of Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Bohnstedt)
2-15 / Genealogy 2-3-4: Denmark 4 (The Descendants of Edith Christense Bohnstedt & the Bohnstedt Hansen Line)
5-12 / Appendix K: Danish Genealogy Charts
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