Aalborg, Denmark

When we first moved to Germany, we devised a mission for our family: see as many countries in Europe as possible.  Our time here in Germany is waining, so when Matt had a four day weekend we decided to not waste it.  We took the kids out of school and headed up for a quick trip to Denmark.  This is about as far into Scandinavia as will get into, but it was still extremely enlightening.

A lot of the Jeppson line is from Denmark, in fact most of it is until Pedar Jeppson immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1800's. and settled and died in Pleasant Grove, Utah.  So we are not exactly sure why the spelling of the Jeppson name switched from the danish sen to the english son...most danish in America still use sen at the end and never switched it.  For some reason Pedar changed his spelling from Jeppesen to Jeppson when he passed through Ellis Island, but his father, Jeppe Christiansen kept his sen spelling.  I find it fascinating...but it probably bores you :)

So this trip we are exploring some roots.  We went to Aalborg, Denmark, where most of the Jeppson line is from, there abouts.  Pedar was born there, along with his father Jeppe.  So was his mother, Ane.  Aalborg is a big city now, split up into a bunch of different neighborhoods, with different names then in the 1700 and 1800's, so it was difficult to track down the exact area.  Some were very outlying farming communities too, that no longer exist.  We did find Nere Sundry, which, as best we can tell, is now NorreSundby.  This is where Pedar was born.

 An old castle, now public offices, in downtown Aalborg

 Typical wood timber architecture...you see this, along with stucco and brick all through Denmark.

 A preserved row of city homes.  The dates ranged from late 1500's to early 1600's

 Front view of some of the homes...I thought they were so cute!

They are now shops, no one really lives in them anymore.

Matt by the sign of the neighborhood where the man who brought our Jeppson name to America was born.

Nothing was preserved in that neighborhood...it is very built up now with apartment buildings and shops.  The church isn't even there anymore...it is a community square now.  So we weren't able to find much, no gravestones or possible dwellings.  It was still a neat experience to walk where ancestors have walked.  And it was cold!