Melsen, Jomfru

Ingeborg Martine Christensdatter, født den 28. august 1843 i Mosbjerg. Ud af en søskende flok på 5 børn var Ingeborg den næst yngste datter af husmand Christen Christensen Melsen, som levede af sin jordlod i Lille Steendrup eller Øster Blæsbjerg ved Mosbjerg, og hustru Maren Isaksdatter.

Ingeborg blev husbestyrerinde i Skagen hos forhenværende strandingskommisionær, branddirektør og exam. jur. Niels Kjelder i ejendommen Markvej 2, som han havde overtaget efter sin søster Bolette og hendes mand toldinspektør Thomas Andersen, som siden 1850 havde boet i huset, tidligere ejet af bagermester Melchior Augustinus Saxild – Niels Kjelders svoger, som var gift med hans søster Anna Sørine Kjelder.

Kjelders hustru, Nielsine Pouline Mørch, født 1825 (altså 13 år yngre end Niels Kjelder), var død i 1860, kun 35 år gammel. Sønnen Lars døde som 9-årig året efter i 1861, og datteren Engel Katrine, født i 1854 må iflg. Fabritius i ”Et Kunstnerhjem” var opdraget andetsteds.

Så han fik en husbestyrerinde som var fra Mosbjerg ligesom hans afdøde hustru. Lokalviddet havde døbt hende ”Jomfru Blæs” – måske kommer det af Blæsbjerg.

Niels Kjelder er født i København i 1808, men bor i 1845, ligesom Ingeborg, i Mosbjerg. Han var søn af præsten Lars (Lauritz) Kjelder, og boede på præstegården, så der kan sagtens have været et kendskab imellem familierne.

Hos branddirektør Niels Kjelder – kaldet Woller, boede Jomfru Melsen i de østre værelser, der hvor Anchers Hus i 2022 har billetsalg og personalerum.

Niels Kjelder var efter sigende udsædvanlig stor og tyk. Han skulle veje 20 Lispund, hvilket svarer til 140 kilo, og ”havde ikke set sine egne knæ, endsige fødder i lang tid”.

Der røg nogle romtoddyer ned en gang i mellem og hans livret var ”krophoveder”, en yndet ret i Skagen i gamle dage. Den bestod af kogte torskehoveder fyldt med vandgrød, kogt med korender (rosiner) og torskelever, hvilket gav en gennemtrængende lugt og smag af levertran.

Jomfru Melsen skulle passe meget på ikke at komme for tæt på Kjelder, for så slog han ud efter hende.

En gang om året, lånte hun bager Saxilds vogn og, med et helt pund sæbe og en skrubber kørte hun af sted med Woller til Grenen, hvor hun fik hjælp af en fisker til at få ham stillet ud i vandkanten og skrubbet. Der lagde sig ligefrem olie på bølgerne af det fedt der kom af!

Jomfru Melsen blev dog hos Kjelder indtil hans død i 1880. Som tak for tro tjeneste (eller som trøst for svig og smerte) indsatte han hende i sit testamente som arving – efter eget valg: Ejendommen eller kr. 2.000,00. Hun overtog ejendommen.

Til skifteretten udtaler hun, at hun ”ikke stod i egentlig tjenesteforhold til afdøde”. Så må man ligge i det hvad man vil.

Efter overtagelsen lejede Jomfru Melsen værelser ud, blandt andre til Holger Drachmann, hans svigerfar, fabrikant Culmsee og Drachmanns hustru Emmy. Senere til de svenske og norske malere, Oscar Björck, Krouthén, Christian Krohg og Charles Lundh.

Salg til Ancher

Som bekendt køber Anna og Michael Ancher huset af Jomfru Melsen i 1884 for en pris på kr. 4.500,00, hvilket iflg. Ancher og Alba Schwartz ”straks fik en frier til at melde sig på banen”. Iflg. Industrimuseet fik en faglært arbejder omkring kr. 900,00 i løn om året, så beløbet svarede til 5 års lønninger.

Måske har Alba Schwartz (igennem MA’s notater) ret i at frieren måske ikke var helt fin i kanten.

Samme år 14. april bliver Ingeborg, som 41-årig, nemlig gift i Viborg Domkirke med den 9 år yngre handelsagent Thomas Asbjørn Ravnsgaard Lund fra Tolne, født 1.11.1852 i Viborg.

Thomas Asbjørn Ravnsgaard Lund var i som 18-årig handelselev hos købmand Carl Halberg, Hjultorvet i Viborg.

I 1889 idømmes han ved Landsretten i Viborg halvanden års forbedringshus arbejde i Straffeanstalten i Horsens med afsoning fra 1. maj 1889 til 1. november 1890. Forseelsen er vekselfalsk. Han har ændret beløbet på 7 veksler for at skaffe penge til større varelager.

Fange nr. 451 beskrives som spinkel og bleg, gråsprængt hår og forlorne tænder i overmunden. Thomas Asbjørn har ikke aftjent værnepligt – han blev kasseret på grund af spinkelhed!

I 1901 har parret adoptivdatteren Ebba Lund, født 1896 i København. 1896 er også året, hvor familien flytter fra Mosbjerg til Frederikshavn.

I 1901 bor parret Danmarksgade 26, 2. sal i Frederikshavn og Thomas Asbjørn er stadig handelsrejsende. Ved folketællingen 10 år senere i 1911 er adressen Boulevarden 25,5 i Aalborg, som de flyttede til i 1904.

Thomas Asbjørn dør 21. maj 1925 på kommunehospitalet og efterlader hustruen Ingeborg Martine. Altså lever hun stadig. Hun bliver i kirkebogen, som efterlevende, benævnt Ingeborg Martine Nielsen (formentlig en fejlfortolkning af Melsen)

Det er ikke lykkedes at finde dødsdag for Ingeborg Martine.

Ingeborg Martine Christensdatter, born on 28 August 1843 in Mosbjerg. Out of a sibling group of 5 children, Ingeborg was the second youngest daughter of farmer Christen Christensen Melsen, who lived from his land in Lille Steendrup or Øster Blæsbjerg near Mosbjerg, and wife Maren Isaksdatter.

Ingeborg became a housekeeper in Skagen for the former beaching commissioner, fire chief and exam. jur. Niels Kjelder in the property Markvej 2, which he had taken over from his sister Bolette and her husband customs inspector Thomas Andersen, who since 1850 had lived in the house, previously owned by baker Melchior Augustinus Saxild - Niels Kjelder's brother-in-law, who was married to his sister Anna Sørine Kjelder.

Kjelder's wife, Nielsine Pouline Mørch, born in 1825 (13 years younger than Niels Kjelder), had died in 1860, only 35 years old. The son Lars died at the age of 9 the following year in 1861, and the daughter Engel Katrine, born in 1854 must have been raised elsewhere, according to Fabritius in "An Artist's Home".

So he had a housekeeper who was from Mosbjerg like his late wife. The locals had named her "Jomfru Blæs" - perhaps it comes from Blæsbjerg.

Niels Kjelder was born in Copenhagen in 1808, but lived in Mosbjerg in 1845, as did Ingeborg. He was the son of the priest Lars (Lauritz) Kjelder, and lived at the vicarage, so there may well have been some acquaintance between the families.

At the home of fire chief Niels Kjelder - called Woller, Jomfru Melsen lived in the eastern rooms, where Anchers Hus in 2022 has ticket sales and staff rooms.

Niels Kjelder was said to be exceptionally large and fat. He was said to weigh 20 pounds, the equivalent of 140 kilos, and "had not seen his own knees, let alone feet, for a long time".

He smoked rum toddy once in a while and his favourite food was "body heads", a popular dish in Skagen in the old days. It consisted of boiled cod heads filled with water porridge, cooked with currants (raisins) and cod liver, which gave a pervasive smell and taste of cod liver oil.

Maid Melsen had to be very careful not to get too close to Kjelder, or he would lash out at her.

Once a year, she borrowed baker Saxild's cart and, with a pound of soap and a scrubber, drove off with Woller to Grenen, where she had the help of a fisherman to have him put out on the water's edge and scrubbed. The grease that came off even put oil on the waves!

However, the maiden stayed with Kjelder until his death in 1880. In gratitude for her faithful service (or as a consolation for fraud and pain) he included her in his will as an heir - of his own choice: The estate or DKK 2,000.00. She took over the estate.

She told the probate court that she was "not in a real relationship of service to the deceased". Then you can make of it what you will.

After the takeover, Jomfru Melsen rented out rooms, among others to Holger Drachmann, his father-in-law, the manufacturer Culmsee and Drachmann's wife Emmy. Later to the Swedish and Norwegian painters Oscar Björck, Krouthén, Christian Krohg and Charles Lundh.

Sale of Markvej 2 to Ancher

As we know, Anna and Michael Ancher bought the house from Jomfru Melsen in 1884 for a price of DKK 4,500, which, according to Ancher and Alba Schwartz, "immediately prompted a suitor to come forward". According to the Museum of Industry, a skilled worker was paid around DKK 900 a year, which was equivalent to five years' wages.

Perhaps Alba Schwartz (through MA's notes) is right that the suitor might not have been quite so sharp.

The same year, April 14, Ingeborg, at the age of 41, is married in Viborg Cathedral to Thomas Asbjørn Ravnsgaard Lund from Tolne, a commercial agent 9 years younger, born on November 1, 1852 in Viborg.

At the age of 18, Thomas Asbjørn Ravnsgaard Lund was a trainee at the merchant Carl Halberg, Hjultorvet in Viborg.

In 1889, he was sentenced by the District Court in Viborg to one and a half years of corrective labour in the prison in Horsens, serving from 1 May 1889 to 1 November 1890. The offence is a forgery. He has changed the amount of 7 bills of exchange in order to raise money for a larger stock of goods.

Prisoner No. 451 is described as thin and pale, with grey hair and lost teeth in the upper mouth. Thomas Asbjørn did not serve in the army - he was discharged because of his thinness!

In 1901 the couple had an adopted daughter, Ebba Lund, born in Copenhagen in 1896. 1896 was also the year when the family moved from Mosbjerg to Frederikshavn.

In 1901 the couple live at Danmarksgade 26, 2nd floor in Frederikshavn and Thomas Asbjørn is still a travelling salesman. In the census 10 years later in 1911, the address is Boulevarden 25.5 in Aalborg, which they moved to in 1904.

Thomas Asbjørn dies on 21 May 1925 at the municipal hospital, leaving his wife Ingeborg Martine. So she is still alive. She is referred to in the church register as Ingeborg Martine Nielsen (probably a misinterpretation of Melsen)

It has not been possible to find the date of death of Ingeborg Martine.