Danes and Icelanders in Michigan

Introduction

3 Introduction D anish immigrants have played an important role in Michigan’s development .1 Danes generally integrated smoothly into the American fabric and became successful and productive citizens. Compared to Swedish and Norwegian immigration, Danish immigration to America was a stream rather than a mass exodus. From 1820 to 1905 an estimated 225,000 Danes emigrated .2 Very few early Danish Americans settled in Michigan. In 1850 there were thirteen Danish-born persons in Michigan; by 1870 there were 1,354; and in 1890, there were 6,335. Danes were always a small number in terms of the larger Scandinavian immigration. They dispersed across Michigan with concentrations found in Detroit, Greenville, Manistee, and Menominee. A large percentage of the Danish immigrants were single men seeking work, land, and opportunity. Forty-one percent of Danish immigrants from 1868 to 1900 were unmarried men. During this period Danes primarily worked blue-collar jobs; however, they soon transitioned to higher management positions. They also played pivotal roles in the development of Detroit’s auto industry. Danish immigrants came from a rich and proud history. Around the turn of the first millennium the Viking age came to a close when Scandinavia was integrated into mainstream Europe. Denmark emerged as a unified nation in the 1100s, and in 1387 Denmark, Norway, and Sweden entered a tenuous 4 Howard L. Nicholson and Anders J. Gillis alliance, the Kalmar Union. This joined the Scandinavian countries together under the Danish crown. The union helped facilitate Denmark’s supremacy, making it the most formidable Baltic power of the Middle Ages. Danish power was challenged. The Swedes, led by Gustav Vasa, broke off from the Kalmar Union in 1523. An intense rivalry followed as the former Kalmar Union countries quarreled to control trade, levy tariffs, and impose taxes on the valuable loads of timber and foodstuffs that flowed out of the Baltic region. In 1660 Denmark transitioned to absolutism, making the monarchy hereditary and even more powerful. Despite monarchical gains, the crown suffered setbacks. During the seventeenth century Denmark surrendered large portions of its territory to the Swedes as a consequence of the Karl Gustav wars. During the Napoleonic Wars, more than a century later, Denmark did not fare much better. Pinched between the great European powers, Denmark chose an alliance with France. The result, as historian Knud J. V. Jespersen noted, was that “Denmark ended up as the biggest loser from the Napoleonic Wars.”3 Denmark’s chief loss was Norway. Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroes, however, remained in Danish possession as a testament to Denmark’s former might. Denmark lost more territory to Prussia during the nineteenth century. Domestically, the vestiges of feudalism and a population explosion left arable soil in short supply. Many Danes left rural life to find work in city factories. Employment opportunities, however, did not keep pace with Denmark’s growing population. Furthermore, in the 1860s military conflicts, territorial losses, suppression of Danish culture, and threats of conscription from neighboring Prussia convinced many to emigrate.4 America, including the state of Michigan, was viewed as a place with much promise. Many of the earliest Danish immigrants to the United States were from eastern Denmark, especially Zealand and Lolland-Falster.5 After 1885 many of Michigan’s Danish immigrants came from Jutland.6 Danish immigrants frequently left behind parishes where they were fortunate to own a few hectares . Michigan’s growing lumber and mining industries and, subsequently, the auto industry provided Danes with many opportunities. ...