Brev fra Amerika
Lagt online den: 18. september 2022

Redaktionen har modtaget et brev fra Amerika, nærmere bestemt fra Cathy Kristiansen fra Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.

Hun faldt over vores hjemmeside, oksenvad.dk, i sin søgen efter information om hendes fars forfædre, som levede i Oksenvad Sogn. Især Mogens Lorenzens beskrivelse på vores ide fangede hendes interesse.

"I came across your names on Oksenvad.dk, a site that came up during my Google during research into the old Torskov (Taurskov) Mølle and Mølledammen. Of particular interest was the wonderful document written by Mogens Lorenzen in Norway, covering what he remembered from living in the area and what he had heard about its history. There is no email address listed for him, but I am hoping to convey to him how much I appreciate his document and the excellent amount of information he provided so clearly."

Vi er ved at skabe kontakt mellem Cathy og Mogens.

Men i hendes søgning faldt Cathy over en drukneulykke på Mølledammen.

"The reason I am interested in this topic has a sad basis. My fathers ancestors lived in Oksenvad sogn and during genealogical research into my tip-tip-oldemor, Cathrine Nielsdatter Bøttcher, who was a jordemoder there between 1840 and 1866, I spotted something terrible in the church book death records -- five young people were out on a boat on Mølledammen and drowned. One of them was a møllersvend, the others were teenage girls."

Eftersom hun er forfatter vil hun gerne skrive en artikel om dette. Men hun ønsker også at være mere præcis i sine oplysning og her efterlyser hun lidt mere information fra os, der stadig bor i området og måske har familie, der kendte til ulykken eller som kan hjælpe hende med andre informationer.

Har vi f.eks. nærmere information om hvornår søen blev drænet eller tørlagt? Og har vi flere informationer om slottet, der tidligere lå ude på engarealet øst for Mølby?

"Thanks so much for writing back quickly and with fascinating additional information! I am happy to attach my rough draft article for you to distribute for feedback. It would be good to make the final version as accurate and as interesting as possible, both for the genealogical societys newsletter and for your site (also for my reputation :-)! Please send any suggestions my way, positive or negative."

"One point that confuses me is when the lake was drained. I think Mogens said 1960. By Google Maps, there is hardly any water left today. What drove the mills power in its later years? Electricity? Also, is there a clear idea of when the Mølledammen was built -- in 1800 or much, much earlier? Was there once a castle ("Tauskov borg") on this spot? I could find no history about this."

"I wonder if it could be that some people living in Oksenvad sogn today know if they are related to the drowned young people? It seems that all the victims had siblings and some of their descendants may still be in the area. It would be interesting to know."

"Aside from my tip-tip-oldemor, who was born in Arrild but then worked as a midwife in Oksenvad, my tip-tip-oldefar Hans Christian Dam, a tailor, came from Nustrup sogn. My oldemor grew up in Sommersted (and had 12 adult children). So who knows, I might be related to some of your readers!"

Nedenfor kan I finde et oplæg til artiklen som Cathy er ved at skrive.

Har I kommentarer, rettelser eller tilføjelser, så send dem til peter@mller.dk. Jeg vil så samle dem sammen og sende dem til Cathy. Jeg videregiver også jeres email-adresse medmindre I beder mig om ikke at gøre det. Det vil gøre det muligt for Cathy at kontakte jer for uddybende spørgsmål. Cathy læser fint dansk, men skriver kun på engelsk. Jeg kan også give jer Cathys email-adresse, hvis I ønsker at kontakte hende direkte.

Se også: Draft: Tragedy at Mølledammen, near Mølby, on Monday 23 May 1836