Jørgen and Thurider Torina (née Magnussen) Bert(h)elsen

This chapter of our family history introduces you to our Scandinavian connections which include ancestral links to Denmark, Sweden and Iceland. Listed below are a few interesting points that I have gleaned about our Danish ancestry on a personal visit to the Augustenborg local Archives—

• Jørgen, son of Anna, was her third child out of wedlock; she refused to disclose the father's name;
• he was living with his mother at Hunslev;
• was confirmed on 19 April 1824, the second day of Easter;
• was scheduled to be confirmed on 25 April 1824 but the event went ahead earlier due to a rescheduled sailing date;
• his knowledge—a clever boy with a good head; behaviour—unstable temperament;
• his mother was Anna Catharine Berthelsen, daughter of Christian Bertelsen, born c1732;
• Anna's father was retired with a few acres of land;
• other children—Christian Bertelsen of Hunslev (now spelt Hundslev);
• godparents - Jørgen HESS, Johannes Hanse VOGT, Hunslev; Christian GUDE, Augustenborg; Maria, wife of Christian PEDERSEN, Hunslev; Catharine Christina, daughter of Christian PHILEPSEN, Notmarkskov (Notmark woods).

The Danes were noted seafarers and Jørgen, a sailor, married Thurider Torina Magnussen at Helgafell, Snæfellsnes, Iceland on 27 December 1836. Thurider's parents were Magnus Jonsson (born c1775) and Thuridur Thordardóttir, the daughter of Thordur Thordarsson and Gudridur Thorsteinsdóttir. These families originated in various parts of Iceland including Keisbakki, Snæfellsnes, Ljarskogur, Hjardarholt, Dala, and Blonduhlid, Snoksdalur, Dala.

Jørgen and Thurider were parents of two sons that I know of—Christian Magnus (born Iceland) and Jørgen born at Hundslev on the island of Als. The island lies to the south-east of the Jutland peninsula in the province of Slesvig, formerly a duchy. The census records of 1845 for the parish of Notmark, which encompasses Hundslev, have disclosed that Thurider was widowed by this time, aged only 34 years, and living on charity. Such were the humble beginnings of our antecedents.

As one would expect of a sailor, Jørgen was often away from home for great stretches of time and according to a family source he relocated his wife and son Christian from Iceland to his home port of Hundslev pre-1840 so that he could see them more often. Jørgen's good intentions were not well rewarded as I have reason to believe that Jørgen sailed away one day (pre-1845) and neither he nor the ship he sailed on were ever heard of again.

Christian Magnus was born 18 September 1837 at Snæfellsnessysla, Iceland and married Kirsten Christensen. They were parents of Jørgen Magnus Bertelsen, born 10 November 1871. The Danish have long been recognised as excellent record keepers and so I was able to obtain the following personal details about Christian:

Source: Augustenborg local archive records show that—

• Christian was confirmed at Notmark parish church on 7 March 1852;
• his date of birth is confirmed as 18 September 1837;
• both his knowledge and behaviour were assessed as, "very good”;
• his father, Jørgen, was (by this time) deceased;
• his father had a house and leased a small piece of land for farming purposes;
• his mother was Thurider Magnusdottar of Hunslev (old spelling).

About this time war was never far from the minds of duelling nations and in the war that ended in 1864 between the Danes and the Prussians, Christian was wounded in the hind quarters. Family sources relate that his injuries required him to sit on a ring to cushion his behind and the family teased him and jokingly said that he "must have been running away" to receive such an injury! More about his brother, also named Jørgen follows.

It is appropriate here to comment on the family name. The spelling raises some questions as records show it to be Bertelsen—without an 'h'. Whether this was due to a literacy problem or one of erroneous transcription, it is subject to conjecture. Jørgen, the son, was listed as Berthelsen in the shipping records to Queensland in 1871 and again in his naturalisation records. And so it is by the spelling which includes the 'h', that the name has been perpetuated by the Australian descendants.

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