From Standard, Alberta…..
The Nielsen Family
Home
In November
2007, the Danish Canadian National Museum & Gardens acquired the Nielsen Family Home. The building
owned by the Sundgaard family of Standard since they bought the farm from the Nielsens in 1989, was built around 1912.
The Sundgaards donated the farmhouse. Significant contributions from Arne Nielsen, Arne’s
sister, Miriam (nee Nielsen) and husband Dean Richert of Regina and Arne’s sons, Allan and Garry, allowed the home to
be moved from Standard, Alberta to its new site at the museum and for on-going restoration of the building and re-acquiring
some of the original furniture. This house sat on a quarter section of land bought in 1912 from the Canadian
Pacific Railway (CPR).
“Ready Made Farms” with
a house, barn, shed, dug well and outhouse and fenced and plowed land were advertised, built and sold by the CPR to attract
settlers to the Canadian Prairies.
In 1910 in response
to this settler’s promotion Arne Nielsen’s father, Aksel Nielsen, visited Alberta. He and his
traveling companions were invited to homestead a quarter section of land in the Standard, Alberta area. After
viewing the farming prospects in the area he decided to give it a try. He returned to Iowa and worked two
more years to build a stake for his new adventure.
Aksel returned
to Alberta in 1912 and began developing his own farm. In order to get a start he also worked for other
farmers in the area whenever he could.
During the winter
of 1913-1914 Aksel returned to Denmark and stayed long enough to persuade Marie Katherine to return to Canada with him to
become his wife. On April 3, 1914 Marie and Aksel were married in Gleichen, Alberta.
In the four-room clapboard house they ate their first meal on an old wooden trunk. (The trunk is
still in the Nielsen Family home at the museum.)
Aksel and Marie
raised seven children at this farm – Ejvind, Esther, Ruth, Lillian, Miriam, Gerhardt and Arne. The
house became crowded with only four rooms – two bedrooms, living room and kitchen. The children slept
crammed into double beds, crowded but cozy. The bathroom facility was an outhouse and the lighting was
by kerosene lamps in the earlier years and later by gas lamps with white mantles.
Aksel and his bride, Marie, brought “old country” gardening skills to the Standard countryside.
There were a variety of vegetables grown and an orchard with plums, apples and cherries. They also
kept chickens, pigs and cows.
As children became
of school age they trudged on foot to the brick four-room school in Standard.
Most of the family’s social activities centered on the Lutheran Church. The family was also
involved in the community of Standard with baseball and Boy Scouts.
Aksel
and Marie were very proud of their Danish background and traditions. Only Danish was spoken in the home.
Christmas was celebrated in the true Danish fashion on Christmas Eve and as the family began to leave for jobs away
from Standard, this was a very important day for everyone to get together.
Aksel H. Nielsen was born in the small Danish village of Kjong, Fyn in January 1890 and passed away in 1972.
Marie Katherine Nielsen from Kjong, Fyn passed away in 1954. They taught their family many things
– pride in their work, how to be thankful, first to God and then to others and how to pray. They
did not emphasize worldly goods, but rather honesty, hard work and pride in oneself and in family.
The
Danish Canadian National Museum & Gardens is proud to accept this donation from the Nielsen family. It
is a part of the Danish immigration story that the museum wishes to represent.
To Dickson, Alberta…..
The Nielsen House was moved to Dickson,
Alberta on December 3, 2007. Svend E. Nielsen, President and Per Danielsen, director, prepared the foundation
for this historical home. Thank you to Nick Nicholson who cleared the land and for the use of his machinery.
A big thank you to all others who helped.
