Comments welcome: see address on Home page
Comments welcome: see address on Home page | HOME | Bohn/Pedersen | from Jens O.A.Kofoed bio |
More about this Kofoed family history, please click here.
| Jens Otto August Kofod/Kofoed, was our immigrant "Koford" ancestor (great-grandfather to my generation). He was born in 1852 on the 8th of August. I assumed he was named for his birthdate, but have been advised that this probably isn't true: a Dane would not have confused this name with a date. |
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Jens O.A. Kofoed lived in eastern Bornholm, (Østermarie). Erik Gornitzka of Bornholm has created a database including Jens' father's line. It was researched using church books (kirkebøger) of Bornholm & other sources, I believe. Jens O. A. was son of Jens Frederik Kofoed (b. Sep 1812, Østerlars, aka Jens Kofoed Almegaard) and Petrea Johanne Mortensen Skovgaard (b. 10 Mar 1816, Klemensker), per this research. The Kofoed surname (including its other spellings) is very common, and rather illustrious, on the island of Bornholm. Jens's direct ancestor, Jens Pedersen Kofoed, was "Bornholm's Liberator", successfully leading the charge against Swedish domination in 1658. He has NOT been forgotten...! Around age 19, Jens left home, emigrating to Jamestown, NY, where he stayed with his older brother, Frederik (Fred) Kristian Kofoed. (Kofoed is also spelled "Kofod" in many records for these siblings.) Eventually Jens went West, ending up in Oakland, California, working as a carpenter and cabinetmaker. |
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| Newly wed Kofords |
His older sister, Signe, was living in Pennsylvania, working as a domestic. She befriended another Bornholm girl, Caroline, and the two of them headed West, stopping in California on their way to Australia. In California, Signe introduced her friend to her brother, Jens, and the trip to Australia was forgotten.
Jens and Caroline were married in Oakland in 1879.
(For more on Jens, see what his daughter, Carrie, wrote about him in an autobiography.)
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| Jens' brother, Fred Kofod & wife, Lena, Jamestown (?), New York |
