MY MEMORIES

Charles Glenn Petersen

1983 - Mississippi Years

Finding Grandpa (continued)

The Viborg Archives was only a few blocks from the train station. I spent the next hour or so looking for anything about Peter M Petersen, nothing. Finally with less than an hour left, an archivist named Carston Thiedle took pity on me and decided to help me. He asked if I had looked in the military records, he said in those days every young man had to register. Again no Peter M Petersen. So out of desperation I suggested we look for Jens Nørgaard Pedersen. We found him but the information square about his birth place was empty. Carston said maybe one of the smudge marks in the square was a ditto mark, meaning the same town as the guy above Jens. It was Redsted. So back to birth records looking for Jens Nørgaard Pedersen in Redsted who might be a clue to my grandfather from a place that was about the guy above Jens in military records. I'm constantly looking at my watch, time was running out. We found Jens' birth record and thus his parent's names. I knew the birth date of my grandfather based on his tombstone back in Ringsted, Iowa. With 15 minutes to go, we found a Peder Pedersen with the correct birth date with the same parents as Jens. I just knew I had found him. I made some quick notes and physically ran down the street to the train station with 5 minutes to spare. All I could think of all the way back to Copenhagen was, 'I found him. They were wrong. I found him.' And thus began my love affair with the island of Mors.

I get chills running up and down my spine every time I tell this story and this time was no different. You probably got more than you wanted, but you have to admit it is a great story. If it hadn’t been for this tour and my findings there, I would never have written my book and never have come in contact with many Danish friends.