Family tree of
Søren Nielsen & Lene Dræby Kottal

News: Hans Ejnar Petersen

Søren's great-grandfather's ancestors have been added

My fiancée Søren Nielsen's grandmother Bodil Gjerlund Petersen was born in Grindløse at Funen, but her father Hans Ejnar Petersen was originally from Lolland. He was married to Maria Magdalena Hansen in 1935 and they had 4 girls.

Hans Ejnar's family lived at Lolland for many generations. The oldest known ancestors were born in the beginning of the 1700s. Hans Ejnar's 3 x great-grandparents Peder Hansen and Giertrud Pedersdatter lived at a farm in the village called Reersnæs in Østofte parish at Lolland. Their firstborn son Hans Pedersen was married in 1771 to Bodel Cathrine Nielsdatter, who was a daughter of Niels Rasmussen Issen.

The surname Issen is new to me and I have not been able to find much about it, yet, but quite a few people at Lolland used that name in the 1700s, and there are still people today who are named Issen and Isen. I think it might have been derived from either the name Ibsen or Jessen, but I don't know for sure, so I would very much like to hear from people, who know something about this surname.

Besides ancestors of both Hans Ejnar's father and mother, I have also added descendants of their ancestors' siblings, in all those cases where I have found them so far. For instance, the couple mentioned above Peder Hansen and Giertrud Pedersdatter had a daughter by the name of Maren Kirstine Pedersdatter. She was married twice and had a total of 10 children. Her first husband was Christen Hansen Hvid and the second one was Povel Pedersen; both of them provided for their family by being millers at Keldernæs Mill in Stokkemarke parish at Lolland.

A lot of people from Lolland have written about the life at the island, and many historical sources about Lolland are particularly well-kept, and therefore I will regularly add new information about Søren's ancestors from Lolland.