Four Dollars and a Dream - The Story of Peter Christensen - Part 1

I didn’t grow up knowing much about Pete Christensen except he was born in Denmark, owned a bakery and could be a little prickly to get along with. It wasn’t until I started researching his life that I discovered that there is a lot more to Peter Christian Christensen that just those three facts.  

To understand Pete, you have to understand where he came from.  His story began in Døstrup, Hinstead Herred, Ålborg County, Denmark, the land where his father's family lived for several generations  His father, Laust (also known as Lars) Christian Christensen was a lieutenant in the Danish army, whose parents died young,  He married Elsie Kirstine Pedersen from Torslev in November of 1880, three months after the birth of their first child, Ane Katrine.  Their second child, Gjertrud, was named after Laust's mother. and then came Peter, on the 18th of May, 1884, the third of eleven children and the oldest son

Laust/Lars & Elsie Christensen

In 1890, the family lived on a farm and consisted of Laust (33), Elsie (30), Gjertrud (8), Peder (5) and Marianne (3). Laust was a farmer. “Katrina” was about ten years old and is not listed in the household. The family was poor – as soon as the kids reached ten or twelve years of age, they were sent to live in other households to work – the boys as farm laborers, and the girls as household servants, taking care of kids and keeping house. Katrina had likely assumed these duties in another household by this time.

By 1896, Laust acquired the position of “landpost”, or our equivalent of a postman. The last of their eleven children, Karl, was born in 1900 and died the same year at eight months of age. Life was hard; Laust had tuberculosis and was unable to do his job much of the time so Elsie quietly did it in his place.

Sometime before the year 1900, it had been Pete’s turn to leave his parents’ household and provide for himself. He was working as a farm laborer in 1900, some distance from home. Laust Christensen succumbed to tuberculosis in March of 1901 at the age of 44. Within a month 16 year old Peter Christensen was on a boat bound for the United States with $4 in his pocket.

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Before continuing with Pete’s journey, I think it’s important to know some of what the younger children experienced after the death of their father. Elsie still had four children in the household ranging in age from four to nine, and she needed a way to support them. With Laust’s job gone, she packed up her family and moved to the city where she took a job at a brewery. The older children took care of the younger children but they were largely on their own. Her daughter Caroline, seven years old at the time, recalled in her diary, “I don’t remember when we got ready for school, but it was up to Laura to see that we got ready. The boys were so young. I know there were times we never got to school.” She went on to say, “Sometimes Mother would lock us in our apartment for a whole day and we had to feed ourselves. As we got older, we were a wild bunch. Laura would get us into all kinds of mischief. I know we sometimes even stole things. We used to take a sack and go down to the harbor when the big ships would come in. They would bring coal in from foreign lands. We would pick it up when they spilled some. That was what we kept warm with. I know we were poor, but Mother would not take help from anyone.” She described her mother as a “beautiful, proud woman,” but also “hard” and not very affectionate toward her children. As the children were sent to other households, most were compliant, but Laura ran away several times. It was a hard life for them, and they rarely went to see their mother once they left the household. They were required to stay in the other homes until their confirmation, at which time most of them left Denmark completely.

To be continued...

Some photos courtesy of Barbara Johnson and Cynthia Christensen

Henry D. Giard

Of the handful of visible gravestones in Peck cemetery, two, although broken, are very legible.  One of those stones belongs to Mary A. Rounding, and information on her life can be found in the previous blog post.  She was in Dakota Territory for only a year and a half, making it challenging to find information on her.  Even more challenging is Henry D. Giard, whose stone is also very legible.  But Henry was in Dakota Territory a mere 4 months before he passed away at the age of 31 - not long enough to leave a good paper trail.

However, an article in the Dakota Huronite (Huron, SD) mentions his arrival in Beadle county in the March 08, 1883 edition.  "H. D. Giard, Levi Giard, Adolph Giard and Dan'l Bottum, who with their families comprise a party of 13, have arrived in the city from Cohoes, N.Y.  The gentlemen are all bright looking, energetic young men who appear to be firm in their determination to make their western venture a success.  They cannot well help succeeding."  Levi and Adolph are documented as brothers, and Daniel Bottom is the husband of their sister, so it's a reasonable assumption, barring the absence of any hard evidence, that Henry is a brother to Levi and Adolph.

Further circumstantial evidence is their choice of land.  Adolph and Levi had cash purchase of land in Cornwall township, as did Henry.  The location of their land, in relation to each other, also suggests a close family tie.  Henry and his wife Alice homesteaded their land, and Alice "proved up" on the claim Dec. 13, 1889, as a widow.

The map above, shows the land of the Giards, NE of Hitchcock, South Dakota.  The blue marker shows the location of Peck cemetery, and to the NE of that marker is where the Giard lands are located.  The Green "L" is Levi's land; the blue "H" is Henry's land, and the red "A" is Adolph's land,

In March, 1883, the brothers and their brother-in-law arrived in Dakota Territory.  In July, 31 year old Henry was laid to rest in Peck cemetery.  What, exactly, happened in those four months may be lost to history.  

Henry and Alice had two children - Blanche, b. 1881 in New York, and Boyd, b. 1883.  Alice appeared to have remarried William Goodman, and left South Dakota.

The Short Life of Mary Rounding

Way out in the middle of nowhere, along South Dakota highway 28, sits a quiet little unobtrusive cemetery.  It’s something you could drive by a million times and never realize it was there – unless you happened to see the white sign saying, “Peck Cemetery - Dakota Territory” hanging from a fencepost.  Although the few remaining stones are toppled and broken, someone neatly mows the final resting place of these pioneers, all of them with their stories that have mostly been lost to time.  Most of the stones are unidentifiable, but among them sits the grave of Mary A. Rounding, a young woman who left this earth in 1883, far from her home.

               Mary was the daughter of John and Cynthia Rounding of Mount Carmel, Illinois.  Her father was in the service of the Union Army and died before his daughter had even turned two years old.  A member of Company G, 41^st Infantry, he fought in the infamous Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. This bloody, savage battle lasted two days, hard fought by both sides.  It was an important victory for the Union as it allowed Ulysses S. Grant to penetrate the interior of the South and make his way to Corinth, Mississippi.  The wounded hero survived for a short time, but sanitation was lacking and disease was rampant.  Two weeks after the end of the battle, John succumbed to his illness and wounds on April 20, 1862.  His widow was left to raise their tiny daughter without him.  He was a hero.  But not the only hero in his family.

               Young Mary, the namesake of her maternal grandmother, grew to young adulthood with her mother, stepfather, and seven half-siblings.  In the spring of 1882, she left her family behind and accompanied her great-uncle, Capt. Samuel B. Lingenfelter and his wife Mary Eliza to Altoona township, Dakota Territory.  Mrs. Lingenfelter had several children, and also was in the later stage of consumption so Mary’s presence was greatly needed and valued. 

               On a stormy evening in August 1883 everything changed.  A vicious cyclone hit the Altoona area, destroying buildings, crops, livestock, and anything in its path - which unfortunately included the Lingenfelter home.  Mary shielded the children from flying debris and hail the size of chicken eggs.  While trying to rescue them from the rubble, Mary sustained a serious spine injury and died less than a week later.  Mrs. Lingenfelter, who herself would pass away two months afterward, spoke with the highest of praise for Mary.  Heroism must run in their family. 

               Out there in the middle of nowhere, under a broken gravestone, lies Mary Rounding.  She was a valiant soul who, like her father, gave her all – her very life – for the good of others.  Her story deserves to be heard and known and remembered.  SHE deserves to be known and remembered.  

Photo courtesy of Stan Phillippi, Jan. 2025

Source List

Photograph - Stan Phillippi

Jennifer Littlefield

Obituary of Mary A. Rounding, Mount Carmel Register, Sept. 20, 1883.

1906 Beadle County, South Dakota Plat Map

Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls, Illinois State Archives  https://apps.ilsos.gov/isaveterans/civilMusterSearch.do

"Tempest Tossed - Mr. Carmel People in the Dakota Cyclone" - Mount Carmel Register, Mount Carmel, Illinois.  Thursday, Aug. 2, 1883, Page 1

"Wabash County, Illinois Families" Public Family Tree.  Yelobug author. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/1567687/person/250040240371/facts

1860 United States Federal Census

1870 United States Federal Census

1880 United States Federal Census

1885 Dakota Territory Census

Illinois GenWeb Civil War, Company "G" 48th Illinois Infantry

https://civilwar.illinoisgenweb.org/civilwar/r050/048-g-in.html

American Battlefield Trust, "Shiloh - Pittsburg Landing."  https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/shiloh

Obituary of Cynthia Riggs Rounding Ravenstein.  Mount Carmel Register, Mount Carmel, Illinois.  Aug. 24, 1914. Page 1.

Obituary of Mary Eliza Harris Lingenfelter.  Mount Carmel Register, Mount Carmel, Illinois.  Thursday, Nov. 8, 1883, page 4.

Find-a-Grave.com