Christian Hansen BUSK was born 8 April 1859 in Busk, Denmark. He and his two sisters came from a fairly well-to-do family who had financial dealings with the State of Sweden which at that time was a part of Denmark. Being the only male heir, Christian stood to inherit the family farm. However, his parents disapproved of his courting Christina whose family was not so well-to-do. So Christian decided to come to America and told Christina he would send for her as soon as he earned enough money for her passage. Christian came to America in 1883 and settled for a short time in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where he worked in the shipyards for a few months. Christina's parents sent her brother Jurgen to America to make sure that their daughter’s future was safe and secure.
Anna Christina HANSEN was born 14 October 1860 in Denmark. Christina also came to America in 1883. Christina’s voyage took six weeks and was very difficult. Many passengers were seasick and Christina did what she could to help them. Christian and Jurgen met her at the dock and she and Christian were married immediately because there was no place for a newly arrived, Danish-speaking, unmarried young girl to dwell. The marriage took place on 23 October 1883 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Aanon OLSEN and N.P. KNUDSEN were witnesses.
In 1884, the couple moved to Minnesota because Christian saw an ad in a local newspaper about a Danish settlement in Westbrook (Cottonwood County) Minnesota. On 30 June 1892 Christian HANSEN was granted a homestead certificate from the Land Office at Marshall, Minnesota, for 80 acres of land. Christina’s brother, Jurgen, accompanied them and also settled in the area. During their years in Westbrook, Christian applied for United States citizenship (in the District Court of Murray County, Minnesota) and it was granted on 27 October 1891. In 1893 Christian decided to change the family name to BUSK, which was a county in Denmark, because the name ’Christian HANSEN’ was so common. In those days, all you needed to do to change your name was to go to the county courthouse and say you wanted to adopt a new name. Eight children were born to Christian and Christina BUSK in Minnesota.
In 1902, the family moved to Marvin (near Summit in Osceola Township, Grant County), South Dakota, because Christian’s homestead in Minnesota was too small to provide acreages for his sons when they came of age. Christian bought a great deal of land there to properly take care of his family. The land he bought was pure prairie farmland with no buildings or trees.
About 1908, Christian became very ill with bronchial trouble. A doctor in Rochester, Minnesota, advised the family to change climates and so Alfred took over the farm and Christian, Christina, and Myrtle moved to Cooley, Washington to stay with Christina’s youngest sister. After about six weeks, however, his health had not improved significantly and they moved to Portland, Oregon. That move didn’t help his health either and so they decided to move back to South Dakota. On 2 September 1913 Christian Hansen BUSK died. Although he had suffered from bronchial trouble for many years, dropsy (right congestive heart failure) was listed as the immediate cause of death. The funeral was held at home with the Rev. Victor RYBERG officiating. Burial was in the cemetery west of Summit.
Christina remained in South Dakota. During World War I, Dave left for the army and Christina knit over 100 pairs of socks for the allied soldiers as she walked after the cows. She was always a buffer between her children and their father who was stern but just and fair. She played games with them and had fun, but never wore make-up, jewelry, or curled her hair. On the day before Christmas Eve she and the girls made peppernuts to celebrate "Little Yule". The recipe for the rolled-dough pastry treats has been handed down in the family for several generations.
On 7 April 1923 Anna Christina HANSEN BUSK died at her home in Summit after a short illness from pneumonia and other complications. The funeral was held at the Baptist church with Rev. ANDERSON officiating. Burial was in the Summit cemetery beside her husband.
Please check out my family tree and see if we are related. I have provided two views for you to peruse. The first is presented as a "Dynamic Family Tree". The other is in a linked sequence of Family Group Sheets.
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The set of linked family group sheets and the name index were created with a program written by Rob Jacob and called GedPage. The dynamic family tree is created by a program written by Michael Horey and called DFTCom (Dynamic Family Tree Compiler) |
 
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