Alvina Jürgensen’s Roots in Germany

Alvina Jürgensen’s Roots in Germany

Alvina Jürgensen was born on Tuesday, 10 November 1840 in Friedrichstadt, a town in what was then known as the Duchy of Schleswig, a German-speaking area that was under the control of the Kingdom of Denmark. Today, Friedrichstadt is in Kreis Nordfriesland in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Even though Alvina and her younger sister Maria were born in Friedrichstadt, her family lived there only a short period of time. Her parents moved several times in what is today northern Germany before they emigrated to the United States in 1854.

A view of modern-day Friedrichstadt,
including the spire of the Evangelical Lutheran Church,
where Alvina Jürgensen was baptized.

Alvina's father was Gustav Adohlf Ludwig Jürgensen, who was born 15 October 1805 in Dänisch-Nienhof in the Duchy of Schleswig. Gustav's grandfather was from what was known as Swedish Pommerania [Swedisch Pommern], part of present-day Poland. He migrated to the Free City of Lübeck, where Gustav's father was born in 1770. Sometime in the first 35 years of his life, Gustav's father was drawn farther north to Dänisch-Nienhof, where on 2 September1805 he and Margarethe Braaker were married in the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Alvina's mother was Maria Catharina Dorothea Petersen, who was born 18 May 1809 in Satrup in the Duchy of Schleswig. Maria's parents were Lorenz Berend Petersen and Maria Magdalena Elisabeth Hagelstein, who were married on 16 June 1805 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Satrup.

Alvina's parents were married in Thumby on 18 January 1835 in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of St. John the Baptist [St. Johannes der Taufer].

The Jürgensens were married in Thumby, but lived in the nearby village of Böelulegraff. A son, Nikolaus, was born there 13 December 1834, as was their daughter, Friederica, born 24 January 1837.

Perhaps to seek work, Gustav Jürgensen, a master carpenter/cabinet-maker, moved his young family to Friedrichstadt some time between January 1837 and 10 November 1840, the date their daughter Alvina was born.

Friedrichstadt is up the Eider River from the North Sea. Its location on the Eider can be seen near the center of the map.

Detail from 1856 map of Denmark [and Schleswig-Holstein]
Geographisches Institut (Weimar, Germany)
David Rumsey Collection

An artist's view of Friedrichstadt's market square as it appeared in 1847.

An artist's view of Friedrichstadt's market square in 1847.

Five and a half months after her birth, Alvina was baptized at St. Christopher Church [Sankt Christophorus Kirche] in Friedrichstadt. The name given to her was Henriette Alvina Catharina Jürgensen, however, the name she used for most of her life was Alvina, although occasionally she was called Henriette.

An image of Alvina Catharina Jürgensen's baptism record as found in the Friedrichstadt churchbooks can be seen here.

The church in Friedrichstadt in which Alvina was baptized.

Other views of the church can be found here [to be added].

Nothing is known of Alvina's youth in Germany. As an adult, she seemed to have difficulty signing her name, so she likely had little education. She would have learned domestic skills from her mother and older sister.

Sometime after the birth of Alvina's younger sister Maria on 28 February 1843, the Jürgensen family moved again, this time to the small village of Stohl, near the Baltic Sea. In 1845 the family was enumerated in a census of the Dänischwohld Godsdistrikt. The record showed that the family rented a cottage and that Gustav worked as a carpenter/cabinet-maker.

While living in Stohl, the Jürgensens had two more children, Hinrich, born 10 January 1847, and Johanna, born 24 June 1851. They were baptized in the church in the nearby larger community of Dänischenhagen.

It was from Stohl, that Gustav and his wife Maria and their six children left for America in 1854.

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