Sep 9, 2008

Anyone Speak Danish?

My mother has an original passenger contract for our ancestor Herman F. F. Thorup. The bulk of the text is written twice, once in English so that makes it a lot easier. I did make out that it is for passenger: Herman Thorup age: 53 whose occupation is: Missionary. He is traveling from somewhere to Boston Massachusetts and they guarantee to get him there.

Danish Passenger Contract

In the earlier years of mass immigration, there were several complaints by passengers of being "swindled" by their emigration agents. As a result, various laws were passed requiring agents to be certified by the government and for every passenger to have a signed and stamped passenger contract. They were to carry this with them for the entire journey to protect their rights and ensure they arrived at their desired destination under the terms originally agreed to.

Herman F F on Danish Mission

Herman F. F. (Right) with mission companion in Denmark

1 comment:

Great Grandma Lin said...

I will email you some friends in Sweden who could probably read the Danish for you. They work in the Copenhagen temple. Fun stuff.