The Soren Bovbjerg Family

Soren and Chris Bovbjerg fist settled in the U.S.A. after coming from Denmark, Soren in Iowa and Chris in California. Soren spent one winter in Tyler, Minnesota, attending the Danebod Folk School.

In the spring of 1917 Soren came to Standard where he met his brother Chris. The brothers came to Dalum together and purchased a half-section of land, later owned by Lars Jensen.

They started breaking the land and were lucky to have a fairly good crop in 1918. Meanwhile, they were busy making hay from the lush prairie grass that covered the unbroken land. They sold this hay for a good price to neighboring ranchers. The first year they worked with Walter Jensen and the next with Alfred Axelsen.

In 1919, after selling their land to Lars Jensen, they each purchased their own farm - Chris settling on the land where the Anton Toft farm is located and Soren four miles northeast of the church, nearer to East Coulee.

Soren built some primitive farm buildings, mostly from poplars and mud, and a small frame house for himself. Here he lived and worked mostly alone until 1930 when he brought me over from Denmark as his bride. They said it was the third trip he made to Denmark to find a wife.

We were married on March 27 and arrived in Wayne on Good Friday of 1930. Chris Madsen met us with horse and buggy. We were travelweary but accepted the invitation to attend the Good Friday church service at Dalum. The service was held in the basement as the church was still not completed.

We were very tired, so did not hear much of the sermon but felt right at home. The service was conducted in Danish, the church style was Danish and the people looked Danish. It was exciting afterwards to be greeted by everyone. I felt I was being looked over and hoped I would not be found wanting. Everyone was vare friendly, although one of the men, in a fairly loud aside, remarked, "I thought you could have done better than that, Soren." This remark was often good for a laugh in later years.

It didn't take long to get to know all the fine Dalum people. We had many social gettogethers as all our entertainment was right in the comminity. We attended Danish folk meetings, ball games, birthday parties, Christmas parties and concerts. Always on Sundays there were the church services in our lovely little Danish church.

Life on the farm was interesting, too. At first I didn't realize how big the farm was, or how high the hills. One day I decided to take coffee out to the field to Soren and two hired men. After walking about two miles without locating them, I returned home with the lunch.

At first all the work was done with horses, but in 1939 we bought our first tractor and the work on the land became considerably easier for us.

In 1931 Helga was born, followed two two years later by Marie and in 1935 Einer arrived.

We were now in the midst of the hungry thirties. Crops were poor and prices poorer. The men started to peddle eggs, cream, chickens, meat, milk and even homemade brown bread, made from ground flour. The small sums thus realized were used for groceries, a few clothes and once in a while, for a small package of tobacco for Soren.

In 1936 the children and I made a trip to Denmark. We left in the spring and Soren was to follow in the fall when the work was done. We came back the following spring to the worst season the community had ever known. Many farmers harvested nothing and green russian thistles were the only "hay" put up in some cases for the stock. The government was providing hay for a limited number of cattle but bought the rest for 2½ cents per pound.

In 1941 we built our new house with full basement, bathroom and lots of living area. It seemed like a palace after having lived in a two-room shack.

Our children attended the rural school at Dalum and were confirmed in Danish by Rev. Rasmussen. The girls took part of their high school in Drumheller and part at Camrose Lutheran College. Helga attended University of Alberta for two years and then taught school until her marriage to Holger Madsen. He is now Pastor at Tarrence, B.C. They have three children, Esther, Stephan and Jeffrey. Marie graduated from the Canadian Bible Institute in Camrose. She married Morris Green from Kenora, Ontario. They make their home in Snow Lake, Manitoba, where Morris is Pastor of the Lutheran Church. They also have three children, Lois, David and Marlys. Einer inherited his father's deep love of music and so studied the violin. He spent three years at St. Olafs College in Minnesota and then went to Vienna, Austria, for a year of study. While there he met his future wife, whose home was in London, England. She was in Vienna studying German. They now live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Einer is studying speech pathology for his Doctor's degree. His wife teaches French. They have two boys, Charles Soren and Peter John.

Soon after Marie's wedding in 1958, Soren began feeling poorly and in spite of operations and treatments, he passed away the following year at the age of 71. He was buried in the Dalum church cemetery.

Our farm is rented to Chris Burskov, I enjoy my home in Drumheller, spending much time with my flower garden and visiting with friends and neighbors. I take many trips to visit my children, and often to go Denmark to visit relatives and friends.