Ernstine Anine's mother was Ane Marie Sørensen Vand (b. 6 March 1848 in Rolsø), who was also the mother of Jens Sørensen Vand - a well-known birdwatcher in the Wadden Sea.
Ane Marie was married on 27 July 1879 in Hasle Church to bricklayer Jens Peter Hansen (b. 16 Feb. 1854 in Fruering).
At the census of 1 February 1880, Ane Marie's son Jens was living with the newlyweds in Hasle.
Shortly after - 26 February 1880 - Ernstine Anine was born in Hasle parish; but she was not baptized until 3 October 1880 in Vor Frue parish in Aarhus.
On January 3, 1883, the next child – Ane Marie Caroline Hansen – is born, and she is baptized at home on January 17, 1883 in the parish of Vor Frue in Århus. The family lives at Frederiksalle 85.
The day after the baptism at home - on January 18, 1883 - Ane Marie (the mother) dies.
What happened then?
And what became of the family - the father Jens Peter Hansen and the children? After unsuccessfully searching censuses and probable confirmation times in the parishes of Århus; there was only one thing to do: Search on Google.
Thank God, both first names "Ernstine" and "Anine" were quite special and the combination was completely unique. And it paid off in the Icelandic newspaper Visir from December 19, 1912:
Top left column: Married to shoemaker Ole Thorsteinsen on December 14, 1912. Ernstine Anine has the title (in English) "assistant commander".
And here the trail ended. Searching in Iceland is not so easy without knowledge of the language.
Ernstine Anine's life from 1883 thus remained unknown to me with the exception of the wedding in 1912 in Iceland.
In 2020 I received an email from one of Ernstine Anine's great-grandchildren - Hildur Kristin Thorstensen. She had found her great-grandmother's family on my website.
After a bit of writing back and forth, she asked if I could read and translate her great-grandmother's improvised life story. Because young Icelanders are not that familiar with Danish - and it was also in cursive.
And, yes, of course, I was sent six pages in perfect Danish. And it was written shortly before she died on November 1, 1974. Fantastic to read an account from the 1880s and 1890s written by someone who was almost 94 years old and had lived at least 60 years in Iceland.
Unfortunately, Ernstine Anine only managed to write about the first 16-18 years of her life.
Later, Hildur said that her great-grandmother never talked about her upbringing and family in Denmark. And she didn't want her life story to become public knowledge either. So only a few in the family knew about it.
Now back to 1883
After reading Anine's childhood and youth memoirs, her and her family's - grim - fate can be clarified.
As previously written, Ane Marie (Ernstine Anine's mother) dies on 18 January 1883.
During a visit to the home in this connection, Jens Peter's father (Hans Jensen b. 22 September 1821 in Egå) falls down the stairs; is badly injured and dies on 19 January 1883. He lived in Skåde and the death is in the church register for Holme parish.
On 28 February 1883, Ernstine Anine's newborn little sister dies in Vor Frue parish in Århus.
Jens Peter remarries Ane Mette Mortensen on 26 April 1884 in Holme church. Jens Peter then lives in Århus.
Ane Mette Mortensen dies on 27 February 1890 at the Mental Hospital in Århus. She is registered as divorced; and works as a nurse at the hospital.
On June 2, 1889, Jens Peter married again (for the third time) to Johanne Erikke Pedersen in Aarhus Cathedral. He then lived in Skåde.
At the census on February 1, 1890, Ernstine Anine lived with her grandmother (Ane Jensdatter b. December 19, 1828 in Viby J) in Skåde.
On March 20, 1891, Jens Peter and his newest wife had a son: Arnold Robert Hansen (Kondal) in Aarhus Parish. They then lived in Knudrisgade 19.
Jens Peter committed suicide by hanging on May 14, 1891 in Aarhus Parish. Still lives in Knudrisgade 19.
Jens Peter's mother (Ernstine Anine's grandmother) died on March 25, 1894 in Mårslet. She ran a grocery store in Hørret. She was buried on March 31, 1894.
The next day - April 1, 1894 - Ernstine Anine was confirmed in Mårslet.
After this, Ernstine Anine went out to work on various farms.
Her obituary in an Icelandic newspaper states (in my translation):
In 1907 Anine, also on behalf of the Salvation Army, came to Iceland and became so attached to the country that she stayed here forever, never finding anything other than that this was her place.
When she married in 1912, Ernstine Anine was an auxiliary commander in the Salvation Army. She worked with relief work her whole life.
In her marriage to Ole Thorsteinsen she had 6 children, and today she has over 130 descendants.
Summary
To summarize, Ernstine Anine's mother, grandfather, younger sister, stepmother, father and grandmother died before she was confirmed. The six closest people in her family. No wonder she never talked about her childhood later. It was too traumatic!
In the summer of 2024 I visited her great-granddaughter Hildur - who cleared up this whole story - her husband, child and parents at Hildur's place, who lives outside Akureyri in Iceland. A really lovely experience!
In the summer of 2025 Hildur, her husband and now 2 children and her parents visited the undersigned in Brabrand. We took a trip around Aarhus and the surrounding area and saw the places where Anine had lived. A special experience was the visit to the old grocery store in Hørret.
Data about Ernstine Anine Hansen