Danish Roots

A principal reason to be in Copenhagen is to visit the village here from which my wife's grandfather migrated to the U.S. more than 100 years ago. We have the Danish census household data from the 1860 census showing my wife's great-grandfather who was born and living in Tranekaer--a small (and very beautiful) village on Langeland ("Long Island")--about 2.5 hours from Copenhagen, and from the 1880 census we have data for her grandfather, who at the time was only one year old--having been born in and was living in Tranekaer. The household listing from the census included my wife's grandfather, his parents and two older siblings, and a lot of other people, including a stable boy and house maid. A few years after the 1880 census was taken, my wife's family left for the U.S., settling first in Iowa, and then in South Dakota, where many family members still live (and where my mother-in-law was born). The highlight of the village--which turns out to be a popular summer resort these days--is the castle: