Historian's Corner

Working in Denmark in Days Gone By

by Donna Christensen Thomas, National DSS Historian

Do you remember what it was like to get and have your first job, perhaps as a teenager. Our Danish ancestors had a system and expectations for that process. A former intern for the Museum of Danish America, Jesper Jacobsen, described the process as follows: "Following confirmation [affirming one's baptismal pledge as a Christian], only a few lucky young people had additional schooling or were able to find apprenticeships. The vast majority were given a Skudsmaalsbog, or Employment Character Reference Book in which all future employment was to be recorded, and left home to work, often as farm hands and domestic servants. Without proof of confirmation one could not find work and would have to beg for a living, which was illegal." You may find an example of a Skudsmaalsbog for Thyra Jensen (Danish Employment Character Reference Book) (Nyborg, Denmark): 1880. Card Stock. Title page printed with date of 1880, but handwritten references within all date from 1908 to 1918. Unpublished personal booklet with place of publication/use taken from the Nyborg Police Station rubberstamp (1918) noted within - and not from the publishers location. Quarter black cloth with brown paper over stiff card, sewn binding with string bound wax seal sewn through text block, narrow 16mo (5-7/8 inches tall), pp. [1]-48, pages 1-6 with printed text, 7-10 with manuscript references, rest are blank. Volume with light wear, some toning, occasional spotting and a few light creases. Very Good. it is priced at $150. Imagine your female fore-sister" perhaps one hundred or more years ago. An article found in my hometown Audubon, Iowa, newspaper about one hundred years ago further enlightened the process in an article entitled "The Rigid System in Denmark": "In Denmark few housewives have trouble with their servants. A system has been perfect3ed which guarantees a housewife honest and good servants, as well as independence and fair treatment to those employed. When a young woman obtains employment she goes to a police station and gets a book which testifies to her good character, and in which is entered the name of the woman into whose service she enters. Without this book of character a servant cannot secure employment. This book she gives to her new mistress; In return she gets a key to the front door of the house. The servant enjoys absolute independence. Should she desire to leave the service, she is required to give her mistress two weeks' notice. When she left she received her book, and reports off at the police station. Should several weeks or months elapse before she again secures employment she is requir3ed to give an account of herself, and tell where she has been at the police station." If you are pursuing family history research, keep in mind that if a person was fourteen years of age or older and not found living with their family of origin, you may find them living with a neighboring family in the area and designated as a servant in the household. Sometimes they did so at much earlier ages if the family particularly needed the income and others' were able to supply it, perhaps stacking firewood, carrying water, washing clothes and cooking. The rural children typically attended school every other day, so they had time and were taught to help with the work in the family as young children and trained further with each successive employer.

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August

Edith Andersen • August 29, 1921 • 100 years old • Lodge #163, Joined April 9, 1995