Danish Immigration
The Danish Immigrant Museum and its Family History & Genealogy Center (FHGC) are continually seeking and collecting information on Danish immigrants who came to North America. To create a file for your ancestors, print our Immigrant Information Form, fill it out, and send it with accompanying documentation to:
Email or Mail to :
The Danish Immigrant Museum
Family History & Genealogy Center
PO Box 249
Elk Horn, Iowa 51531-0249
Honoring Danish Ancestors:
Danish ancestors may be honored in perpetuity by having a plaque with their names, dates of immigration, and area of settlement placed on The Danish Immigrant Wall of Honor. For information about submitting names go to the Danish Immigrant Wall of Honor.
Immigration Stories:
To hear stories about Danish immigrants and the many artefacts found in the museum collection listen to our weekly audio presentation, Across Oceans, Across Time®, broadcast locally by KJAN AM1220 and accessible through our broadcast link.
100 Pieces of Advice for Danish Immigrants (1911)
Some Facts about Danes & Danish-Americans in Iowa :
- 2000 Census: Iowans reporting Danish ancestry = 66,954
(Iowa, along with Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, and Nebraska, were the states reporting the largest numbers of residents with Danish ancestry.)
- 1990 Census: Iowans reporting Danish ancestry: 84,202
- 1920 Census: Iowans of Danish birth: 18,020
- 1910 Census: Iowans of Danish birth: 17,937
- 1870 Census: Iowans of Danish birth: 3,000
- 1856 State Census: Danish-born residents: 135
- The first Dane known to have settled in Iowa was Niels Christian Boye, who came to Muscatine County in 1837; he and his family moved to Iowa City in 1842. Boye died of cholera in 1849.
- Christopher O. Mynster settled in what became Council Bluffs in 1850; descendants still live there today.
- In 1867 a group of Wisconsin Danes moved to Cuppy’s Grove in Shelby County, organizing the first Danish-language Baptist congregation in the state and one of the earliest in the country.
- The first Danes came to Des Moines in 1867. Grand View College was established in 1896 as a Danish-language institution of higher learning.
- The first Danish-born county official in Iowa was Reverend Claus Laurits Clausen, of Mitchell County, who was School Fund Commissioner in the 1850s.
- Danish-born members of the Iowa General Assembly include Reverend Claus Laurits Clausen, of St. Ansgar (6th), A. M. Duus of Le Mars (22nd), and C. L. Lund of Algona (23rd).
- The first Danish-born lawyer in the state was William A. Mynster, of Council Bluffs, the son of settler Christopher Mynster.
- With the completion of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad (1868-1869) many former construction workers bought land in Cass and Shelby Counties, which, along with Audubon County, currently has the highest percentage of individuals of Danish ancestry in Iowa.
- By 1880 there were 1000 persons of Danish birth in Shelby County and 200 in Audubon County. Other rural communities with a significant percentage of individuals of Danish ancestry include Fredsville, Rutland, Newell, Ringsted, Latimer and Coulter.
- The first Danish-born physician was Dr. William Jepsen, who received his degree from the State University of Iowa in 1886.
- A Danish-style Folk High School (an adult continuing education school) was established in Elk Horn (Shelby County) in 1878 and served the Danish-speaking community until 1918.
- The first Danish creamery, which later became the first cooperative dairy, was established in Fredsville, near Cedar Falls, in 1883.
- The earliest Danish organizations in Iowa were The Danish Society of Clinton and Lyon Counties (1873); Danebo, in Council Bluffs (1878); and the Danish Brotherhood in America lodge in Davenport (1882).
- 40 Danish-born individuals from Iowa served in the Spanish-American War.
- Leo Hoegh, of Audubon County was Governor of Iowa from 1955-1957.
(Sources: US census bureau; Thomas Peter Christensen: A history of Danes in Iowa, New York: Arno Press, 1979)
