Kristian Frederiksen

   Recently I was able to attend a Frederiksen Family reunion.At the reunion some of the Frederiksen family members had put together a family book of our Frederiksen history and present day family members. In this book is the story of my husbands 2x grgrandfather Niels Christian Frederiksen, that I would like to share with you. Please give credit to the ladies that worked hard and long on this book and to the lady that translated 9 pages of Danish to share the story of our forbearer. Thank you Carolyn, Sharon, Ruth & Michelle.

     Our Past....................

        The Heath King Kristian Frederiksen Who Planted Nordby Heath

     In exchange for a payment of an annual tax to the Crown, the Nordby and Stavns farmers have had grazing rights for their livestock on the desolate and pathless Nordby heath for centuries.
      In the 1800's, the heath by M�rup and Kanhave was enclosed by a large stone wall that stretched from sea to sea. Inside peaceful idyll was, however, brought to an end by an unusual Earl's initiative.

          The Son of a Small Landholder from Orby

     In 1865, the young 27-year old Earl's son, C.F. Danneskiold-Samso, was enormusly preoccupied with the new ideas- that the Dutch heaths barren earth should be cultivated and planted. Why not begin on Nordby heath?
      He made his idea reality,(1) With the decision to plant Nordby Heath in 1865, the young ambitious Earl's son set about pioneering work that would have to stand up to strong currents of dissent (2).
      This comprehensive and difficult work was placed in the hands of a clever worker who since 1857 had earned his way working for merchandise inspector A.W. Kruse of Brattingsborg. his name was Niels Kristian Frederiksen, but was known as Kristian Frederiksen.
       In the beginning, Frederiksen was both confused by and critical of the large project, but when guaranteed his future no matter what the outcome of the planting, he joined in. He was offered a new modern planter dwelling, a set annual salary and 21 loads of straw, 2 loads of hay, and 10 t�nder )3= of corn annually. He also received the promise of an extra daily wage for participation in the planting.
        Kristian Frederiksen came from a family of small landholders from �rby, where one was not accustomed to the great , wild luxuries but rather to hard and laborious work from early in the morning until late at night. He was the son of a small landholder Frederik Friis Troelsen and was born Christmas Eve, December 24th, 1829. He left �rby School in 1844 with "A 'Good' foor Proficiency, and a 'Very Good' for Hard Work". After some years working for farmers he, he conscripted to the Navy, For 6 years, he was away from his home island and sailed the seas.
         In 1857 he returned to Samso and began work oat Bratingborg. Frederiksen has an eye for a young widow in Pillemark, whom he married a short while later.Her name was Ingeborg Jorgensdatter, and she had lost her husband in May of 1856. He was the well-known carpenter and picture-carver, Morten Jorgen Jensen, whose renaissance work was admired far outside the island. Ingeborg and his little stepson, Morten jorge, would become Kristensen's best supporters int he fight to transform Nordby Heath into a forest.

           Angry Nordbyers and an Unemployed Shepherd

         On May 25, 1866, as his two wagons drove from onsbjerg along Selvig Bay with furniture and family, Kristian Frederiksen knew that this task was his greatest challenge to date.
         How he would tame the self-willed farmers of Nordby and M�rup, he kept a deep secret. The family drove toward uncertainty, torward the heath that would be their home for more than 40 years. In the beginning, they lodged with stepparents: the landholders J�rgen Nielsen Bakke and Dorthe Marie Madsdatter, Kanhave.
         The next day, Frederiksen contacted the old shepherd in M�rup whose house lay along the heath on the outshirts of town. The shepherd had herded the Nordby and M�rup farmers' livestock on the heath for many years. He now received the news that he would be unemployed from this day forward.
         The next day, the Nordby and M�rup farmers had to remove their livestock from the heath, and from that time forward, they were forbidden to pick heather or to dig peat for burning purposes.
         With the earl's edict in hand, which gave him " unrestricted disposition to make any decision regarding the heath's planting", Frederiksen set out to Nordby. Here, from the foot of the clock tower, he announced the new prohibitions. The Nordbyers became angry that their centuries-old rights had been taken away, and they reacted violently against this ' unfairness' in the following year.

            The Heath King Makes Himself Respected

          Spite and insults absolutely did not deter Frederiksen. Time and time again, he noted that he was unwanted in the parish. The "Senehares" (4) and Earl's lackey to boot, should not think that he could do as he pleased with the Nordbyers.
          At the end of May 1866, the same year the Danish Heath Associaton changed, Frederiksen began planting the so-called 'Triangle' near Kanhave. The next two months would be pure hell for Frederiksen. From sun up to sun down, he was on the heath, planting wth all his strength. With his 10-year-old son, Morten Jorgen, he dragged water from the canal and watered the trees that did not want to grow properly.
          Kristian frederiksen watched over his plants like a king over his subjects, and therefore Nordbyers gave the flattering but also slightly ironic nickname, "The Heath King."
          The unpopular 'Heathking' met with many disappointments in the beginning, but he understood that he needed to be respected by the sometimes obstinate farmers of Nordby and M�rup.
          Now and then the trees that were planted the day before were found thrown onto the beach the next morning. Many of the newly planted sruce trees disappeared this way. But Frederiksen didn't give up. Instead, he carved an ash whip and when those sinners who would not behave came, they danced!
         Pity the unfortunate one who once tried to remove a couple of trees and got caught in the act. Many, by all accounts, had received a learning lashing that they never forgot. Those who had to crawl home on all fours and stay in bed for at least a week after having tasted the lash on their backs never again sabotaged Frederiksen's plantings.

              The Spitefulness Continues

          Since the Nordbyers had no luck with their sabotage actions, they tried to reciprocate by making the Heath King a laughing stock at every possible opportunity.
          Harmful remarks such as," Why did he not turn his plants upside-down, for then they would grow much better," or "it is better to plant trees on the beach so one does not need to water them" were by no means unusual.
          One M�rup farmer even had the nerve to tell Frederiksen "that if just one of his trees became big enough that it could hold a person, he would hang him (Frederiksen) in it with pleasure." That the man about 20 years later actually did hang himself in one of the newly-planted trees on the heath, certainly had nothing to do with the earlier promise.

              When the Secret of the hard Pan Soil was Solved

         However, Kristian Frederiksen was not a man who let himself be put out by adversity. With inexhaustible toil and a heap of sound sensibility, he succeeded in gradually wrestling the secrets from the heath.
          In June and July of 1866, Frederiksen had planted the first 500 trees on the heath, but they did not grow as planned. Many trees were uprooted due to the stiff west wind that at times streamed in over the barren and flat stratch of heath. The second problem was that the trees needed nourishment in the light hard pan subsoil (5) of the heath.
          Another attempt was made, and this time all details were taken into account. Frederiksen solved the problems in a very practical manner without help from others.
          Before the planting could occur, a hole with a diameter of about 10 "thumbs" was dug. The hard pan subsoil was then broken and placed in heaps lengthwise along the holes' westernmost edge, so that the plantings were sheltered from the west wind. In the heap of the newly dug holes, he placed grass and heather, which served as fertilizer for the plants. To remove the hard pan subsoil, he sunk the surface of the holes about 2-3 thunbs, giving additional shelter to the trees. The strategy was now in place, so Frederiksen gave his forest workers their diggin contract.

                     Frederiksh�b is Founded along Lang�re Road

          An agricultural school in M�rup now began planting intensely, but Frederiksen still needed an offical residence.
          In the autumn of 1866, construction of an offical residence, given the name "Frederiksh�b" in memory of the 68-year-old Earl, began. The residence was completed in spring,1867 and Frederiksen and his family moved into the new home along Lang�re Road.
          Here he began the foundation of the approximately 1/2 square t�nde of a large garden that belonged to the residence. In addition, he cultivated about 5 t�nder of barren heath east of the residence. In the pase, a heath farmer had attempted to cultivate the easter+most piece of the heath. There is still evidence in a field beside Frederksh�b that it once was the heath farmer�s farm, and that place is still known as "G�rdstedet" (6).
          The heath had not been cultivated for the time immemorial, evidenced by the large quantities of stones that lay scattered about the terrian.
          Eyewitnesses have told how Frederiksen, with his energetic activities, gradually got the better of the difficult heath. Assisted by his son, Morten, and a pair of horses with the lyrical names" Seaman" and "Hulda," He began the laboruious task of clearing what wouls someday be his farmland.
          First he dug areound the stones and next lay heavy iron chains around the many large stones. The horses strained and then Frederiksen whipped them while shouting loudly. In this way he attempted to get the horses to move the stones. It did not work the first time, so they had to dig more deeply and try again.
          When a stone had been pulled halfway out of its bed, Frederiksen jumped down into the hole and put his shoulder against it. The stone would naturally fall back when the horses slackened.
          As for little Morten Jorgen, he helped get the stone up with smaller stones so it could be dragged away by sled.

              The Earl Must Get His Christmas Trees Elsewhere

          Despite many difficulties, eventually a little forest shot up out of the barren heath. Frederiksen's planting attempt was successful. A windbreak was planted along Nordby Road and it meant additional plant growth. "The Heath King" watched over his trees with an unusual zeal; the Earl himself noted it once around Christmas time when he sent his coachman northward. The coachman had received a message to pick up Christmas trees for the Earl, but he quickly found out that he was not to receive the rightful property. Frederiksen became furious. If the Earl wanted Christmas trees, he must get them somewhere else, because "it damn well won't be here," as Frederiksen very plainly expressed it. The coachman hurried back to Brattinsborg with his message. The Earl seemed somewhat surprised by the answer from his subordinate.
         The mystery was cleared up when the merchandise inspector intervened. He simply explained to the Earl that he may have just as well asked Frederiksen for his heart's blood rather than one of 'his' trees! To that the Earl answered, "His trees! And I have gone and thought they were 'my' trees!"

              The Heath King- A Hard and Complex Nature

        Kristian Frederiksen was a true friend of nature, who also had a burning interest in its future. Early on, he had collected a large fossil collection. He discovered several difficult-to-find oak tree trunks on the heath that stemmed from a time when the heath had been covered by a dense oak forest.
        Frederiksen could outwardly seem demanding and hard. If a poor fisher came by and asked for some fishing stakes, Frederiksen might tell him to go to 'h...,' and then just as quickly yell after the disappointed man: "Well,take that pile south of the agricultural school."
        Those who knew Frederiksen were clear that this was a facade. For even if he could curse like a sailor, inside he was deeply religiuos and in reality, kind. One never saw his rise from the table without first reading a chapter aloud from the New Testament or sing a psalm.

               The Last Hike Over the Heath

         If Frederiksen was unpopular when he came to the heath in 1866, his popularity grew in time with the forest on the heath. It was a big day for him when he, his children Morten Jorgen, Frederik, Marie, Karen and August, and his wife, Ingeborg, celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1907. The celebration was attended by an exceptional number of folks from the entire island. "The Heath King" was finally respected, even among his earlier 'enemies.'
         The next year, in 1908 Ingeborg died, but Frederiksen continued on undauntingly in his task until 1910. That year, he withdrew to a newly built house between Stavns and Kanhave, where he could look over his life's work: the forest on the heath. Here, with aan annual pension of 400 kronner (7), he enjoyed his well-earned retirement for eight years.
         Two days before he was to walk through 'his' forest to Nordby and home again, the 89-year old heath pioneer, Frederiksen felt unwell, and he died on February 25, 1918.
         Kristian Frederiksen was, paradoxically enough, buried at Nordby Cemetery with an unusually large group from hie early 'enemies' in attendance. No great monument was erected over the heath's planter, but instead, Kristian Frederiksen created a monument of not less than 726 t�nder of forestland. This was an achievement that even helped to teach Dalgas when, in 1883, he visited the island and inspected the magnificent planting project on Nordby Heath in Samso.