Across Oceans, Across Time ® … The Life & Times of Danish Immigrant Chris Sorensen

By Angela Stanford, Curator of Collections & Registrar, Museum of Danish America –

The transit shown here was used for surveying in the tiling business by Chris Sorensen, a Danish immigrant who settled and worked in Iowa.  The photograph shows Chris and his youngest son Hans around 1946.  This photo, along with the transit itself, was recently donated to the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, Iowa, and joined a set of 46 diaries kept by Sorensen between 1911 and 1970.  Those were donated by the family just a few years ago.

Lars Christian (Chris) Sorensen was born in Veddum, Denmark on October 11, 1883, and later moved to Skeland.  After immigrating to the United States in November 1904, he settled first in Wallworth, Wisconsin, and went to work on a dairy farm.  He and his brother Marinus later moved to Clear Lake, Iowa where in 1906 they took contract tile jobs, and formed the Sorensen Brothers drainage company.  They hired several other Danish immigrants to work for them.  Chris took correspondence courses to learn drainage engineering, and also studied to become a U.S. citizen, receiving that in 1917.  He added farming to his resume beginning in 1921, and continued to tile and survey for other tilers throughout his life.

In 1912, in Albert Lea, Minnesota, Chris married Petra Caroline Mogensine Christensen Bach Sorensen, an immigrant from Thorsø, Denmark.  Petra died in 1936, and Chris in 1970.

The Museum of Danish America is located at 2212 Washington Street, Elk Horn, Iowa 51531. Become a member – Contact the Museum at: 1-800-759-9192 or www.danishmuseum.org or follow the Museum on Facebook.

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