General Christian Christensen is a Dual Citizen of Denmark and the United States
by Kathy Warnes
Christian Christensen loved his native Denmark, but economic necessity compelled him to forge his economic future in the United States. After decades of succeeding in America, including becoming a Civil War general and a prominent banker, he returned to Denmark fully intending to spend the rest of his days in his native land. In Denmark, he discovered that things had changed drastically in during the years of his absence. Pulled between two countries, he had to make a choice.
Christian Christensen Is Born In Denmark, but Immigrates to the United States
Christian Christensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 26, 1832 into a family of modest means. His parents weren’t wealthy, but they gave Christen and his brothers and sisters the best education they could afford.
In 1846, at age 14, Christian took a job with a dry goods firm in the city of Elsinore, the English version of Helsinger, located on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. He worked at the dry goods firm until 1850, when Edward Beck, Danish counsel at New York, visited Denmark. Edward Beck became acquainted with Christian Christensen and he convinced Christian that he could forge a future in America. Christian immigrated to New York, arriving on June 10, 1850.
Citizen Christensen Settles In Brooklyn, New York
When Christian T. Christensen arrived in the United States from Denmark in 1850, he left King Frederick VII, the last King of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch, on the Danish throne. The records aren’t clear whether Christian was one of the drops in the trickle of approximately 60 Danish immigrants entering the United States between 1820 and 1850 to seek better lives for themselves and their children. The trickle didn’t become a flood until about 1860. Between 1820 and 1990, over 375,000 Danes immigrated to the United States, with the vast majority arrived between 1860 and 1930.
Christian settled in a United States at a time when Milliard Fillmore had taken over the presidency for the deceased Zachary Taylor and Congress passed the compromise of 1850 in an attempt to pull the United States away from the precipice of Civil War.
After he passed through Castle Garden immigration and explored his surroundings, Christian Christensen took a position of bookkeeper with the firm of Davis Henriques, large wine importers. His ties to America were strengthened when he met Miss Emmy Laura Schott, a native of Brooklyn of Danish descent, and they married on March 19, 1853. They eventually had nine children..
Beginning in 1850, Christian kept the books for Davis, Henriques until they went out of business in 1855. Then he became a partner at Pepoon, Nazro & Company, a note brokerage firm, working for them until the Civil War began in 1861.
In the eleven years between his arrival in America and the outbreak of the Civil War, Christian became intimately involved in the welfare of his Scandinavian countrymen. He served as President of the Scandinavian Society of New York, an association formed to keep the memories of the old Fatherland alive, and to provide a place where young Scandinavians could find recreation, acceptance and sympathetic counsel.
Christian Christensen Forms a Scandinavian Company That Joins the First New York Volunteers
After the fall of Fort Sumter in 1861, patriotic fervor swept both the North and South, and Christian Christensen formed a company that included every unmarried man from the Scandinavian Society of New York. The men elected Christensen First Lieutenant, and the regiment drilled for three weeks at a camp on Staten Island before it traveled South to join General Benjamin F. Butler’s forces at Fortress Monroe on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula.
By 1864, Christian had been commissioned Assistant Adjutant General and Chief of Staff to Major General E.R S. Canby, commander of the Military Division of West Mississippi. On March 13, 1865, Lt. Colonel Christensen was commissioned Brigadier General by brevet “for faithful and meritorious services,” and between April 10 and 13, he took part in the month long siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, Alabama, the last engagements of the Civil War.
General Christian Christensen Trades in Coffee and Citizenship
When he returned from fighting in the Civil War in 1865, General Christensen accepted a position as confidential clerk at B.G. Arnold & Company, a large coffee and bean importing firm in New York. He became a partner in 1868 and remained there until the spring of 1877.
The General participated civic affairs, serving as an advocate of Home rule for Brooklyn, a member of the Citizens’ League of Brooklyn and a Brooklyn Park Commissioner. He pioneered development in the beautiful Park District, and built his home on the corner of Eighth Avenue and President Street, away from what he called “the crowded American cities.”
For 30 years General Christensen was member of Plymouth Church and a prominent officer for another ten years, enjoying close cooperation and friendship with his pastor Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. He was also a member of the Loyal Legion of the United States and of the Grand Army of the Republic. An ardent Republican since the party began in 1854, he believed that good men and good policy should be placed above party obligations
General Christian Christensen Goes Into Banking
In the spring of 1877, General Christensen accepted an offer to become cashier of the Nevada Bank of San Francisco, remaining in San Francisco for a year and then returning to New York to organize a branch of the Nevada Bank. In 1880, he took the position of manager of the banking house of Drexel, Morgan & Co., and on July 16 1890, he became president of the Brooklyn Trust Company.
.General Christian Christensen Returns to Denmark
General Christian Christensen retired from the presidency of the Brooklyn Trust Company, and tidied up his American affairs. In the fall of 1901, he sailed to Denmark for a long holiday, saying that he wanted to reacquaint himself with the Denmark that he had left so long ago and so ardently missed. His friends said that he never regarded America as anything but a necessary substitute for Denmark.
The General’s wife Emmy Laura did not accompany her husband to Denmark. The rigors of the Denmark’s winter climate appealed to General Christensen, but not to Mrs. Christensen so she took an apartment in Brooklyn with her two unmarried daughters Hope and Violet. They planned to go abroad in the spring of 1902 to visit the General and travel through Europe for a year.
In the story chronicling his departure,The Brooklyn Eagle reported that General Christensen was impressive with a strong face and white hair and goatee, and his method of working was systematic and thorough. He had suffered business reverses twice in middle age, but he rebounded and regrouped his fortune.
General Christian Christensen Returns to the United States
In a story dated October 21, 1902, the Brooklyn Eagle reported General Christensen’s return to New York. When General Christian Christensen returned to the United States, Christian IX ruled as King of Denmark and Theodore Roosevelt held the presidency of the United States. Labor unrest unraveled the fabric of society in Denmark and the General returned to the United States to labor unrest, including the Anthracite Coal Strike, the Chicago Teamster’s Strike, and the Cripple Creek Colorado Miner’s Strike.
The General had visited old familiar places in Denmark and he rejoiced to see them again, but he also realized that time had brought many changes to his native land. He dined with Crown Prince Frederick and had been presented to King Christian IX. The General remarked that he couldn’t understand how a little country like Denmark could pay the King $270,000 a year. We only pay our President $30,000, and the King, while a most estimable man, is of absolutely no service to the country.”
He noted that nearly everyone he spoke with seemed to have friends and relatives in America. “They look upon America as the land of promise,” he said. He noted that Danish laborers followed the American coal strike with interest.
After he returned from Denmark, Christian reestablished himself in his Brooklyn home, admitting that he had found no place that appealed to him as did America. He anticipated retiring, “I shall be 71 years old in January and after working for fifty years I feel that I am entitled to a rest. My wife and myself will celebrate our golden wedding in March and we both feel that after working as hard as we have for the past fifty years that we have earned a little rest,” he told the Brooklyn Eagle on October 21, 1902.
References
Grenier-Snyder, Ellen. Brooklyn: An Illustrated History. Temple University Press, 1996.
Jespersen, Knud, J.V. A History of Denmark. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Quad, M. From Field, Fort and Fleet: Being a Series of Brilliant and Authentic Sketches. Henry Whittlemore, 1885.
Reiss, Marcia. Brooklyn Then and Now. Thunder Bay Press, 2002.
Christian Christensen loved his native Denmark, but economic necessity compelled him to forge his economic future in the United States. After decades of succeeding in America, including becoming a Civil War general and a prominent banker, he returned to Denmark fully intending to spend the rest of his days in his native land. In Denmark, he discovered that things had changed drastically in during the years of his absence. Pulled between two countries, he had to make a choice.
Christian Christensen Is Born In Denmark, but Immigrates to the United States
Christian Christensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 26, 1832 into a family of modest means. His parents weren’t wealthy, but they gave Christen and his brothers and sisters the best education they could afford.
In 1846, at age 14, Christian took a job with a dry goods firm in the city of Elsinore, the English version of Helsinger, located on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. He worked at the dry goods firm until 1850, when Edward Beck, Danish counsel at New York, visited Denmark. Edward Beck became acquainted with Christian Christensen and he convinced Christian that he could forge a future in America. Christian immigrated to New York, arriving on June 10, 1850.
Citizen Christensen Settles In Brooklyn, New York
When Christian T. Christensen arrived in the United States from Denmark in 1850, he left King Frederick VII, the last King of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch, on the Danish throne. The records aren’t clear whether Christian was one of the drops in the trickle of approximately 60 Danish immigrants entering the United States between 1820 and 1850 to seek better lives for themselves and their children. The trickle didn’t become a flood until about 1860. Between 1820 and 1990, over 375,000 Danes immigrated to the United States, with the vast majority arrived between 1860 and 1930.
Christian settled in a United States at a time when Milliard Fillmore had taken over the presidency for the deceased Zachary Taylor and Congress passed the compromise of 1850 in an attempt to pull the United States away from the precipice of Civil War.
After he passed through Castle Garden immigration and explored his surroundings, Christian Christensen took a position of bookkeeper with the firm of Davis Henriques, large wine importers. His ties to America were strengthened when he met Miss Emmy Laura Schott, a native of Brooklyn of Danish descent, and they married on March 19, 1853. They eventually had nine children..
Beginning in 1850, Christian kept the books for Davis, Henriques until they went out of business in 1855. Then he became a partner at Pepoon, Nazro & Company, a note brokerage firm, working for them until the Civil War began in 1861.
In the eleven years between his arrival in America and the outbreak of the Civil War, Christian became intimately involved in the welfare of his Scandinavian countrymen. He served as President of the Scandinavian Society of New York, an association formed to keep the memories of the old Fatherland alive, and to provide a place where young Scandinavians could find recreation, acceptance and sympathetic counsel.
Christian Christensen Forms a Scandinavian Company That Joins the First New York Volunteers
After the fall of Fort Sumter in 1861, patriotic fervor swept both the North and South, and Christian Christensen formed a company that included every unmarried man from the Scandinavian Society of New York. The men elected Christensen First Lieutenant, and the regiment drilled for three weeks at a camp on Staten Island before it traveled South to join General Benjamin F. Butler’s forces at Fortress Monroe on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula.
By 1864, Christian had been commissioned Assistant Adjutant General and Chief of Staff to Major General E.R S. Canby, commander of the Military Division of West Mississippi. On March 13, 1865, Lt. Colonel Christensen was commissioned Brigadier General by brevet “for faithful and meritorious services,” and between April 10 and 13, he took part in the month long siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, Alabama, the last engagements of the Civil War.
General Christian Christensen Trades in Coffee and Citizenship
When he returned from fighting in the Civil War in 1865, General Christensen accepted a position as confidential clerk at B.G. Arnold & Company, a large coffee and bean importing firm in New York. He became a partner in 1868 and remained there until the spring of 1877.
The General participated civic affairs, serving as an advocate of Home rule for Brooklyn, a member of the Citizens’ League of Brooklyn and a Brooklyn Park Commissioner. He pioneered development in the beautiful Park District, and built his home on the corner of Eighth Avenue and President Street, away from what he called “the crowded American cities.”
For 30 years General Christensen was member of Plymouth Church and a prominent officer for another ten years, enjoying close cooperation and friendship with his pastor Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. He was also a member of the Loyal Legion of the United States and of the Grand Army of the Republic. An ardent Republican since the party began in 1854, he believed that good men and good policy should be placed above party obligations
General Christian Christensen Goes Into Banking
In the spring of 1877, General Christensen accepted an offer to become cashier of the Nevada Bank of San Francisco, remaining in San Francisco for a year and then returning to New York to organize a branch of the Nevada Bank. In 1880, he took the position of manager of the banking house of Drexel, Morgan & Co., and on July 16 1890, he became president of the Brooklyn Trust Company.
.General Christian Christensen Returns to Denmark
General Christian Christensen retired from the presidency of the Brooklyn Trust Company, and tidied up his American affairs. In the fall of 1901, he sailed to Denmark for a long holiday, saying that he wanted to reacquaint himself with the Denmark that he had left so long ago and so ardently missed. His friends said that he never regarded America as anything but a necessary substitute for Denmark.
The General’s wife Emmy Laura did not accompany her husband to Denmark. The rigors of the Denmark’s winter climate appealed to General Christensen, but not to Mrs. Christensen so she took an apartment in Brooklyn with her two unmarried daughters Hope and Violet. They planned to go abroad in the spring of 1902 to visit the General and travel through Europe for a year.
In the story chronicling his departure,The Brooklyn Eagle reported that General Christensen was impressive with a strong face and white hair and goatee, and his method of working was systematic and thorough. He had suffered business reverses twice in middle age, but he rebounded and regrouped his fortune.
General Christian Christensen Returns to the United States
In a story dated October 21, 1902, the Brooklyn Eagle reported General Christensen’s return to New York. When General Christian Christensen returned to the United States, Christian IX ruled as King of Denmark and Theodore Roosevelt held the presidency of the United States. Labor unrest unraveled the fabric of society in Denmark and the General returned to the United States to labor unrest, including the Anthracite Coal Strike, the Chicago Teamster’s Strike, and the Cripple Creek Colorado Miner’s Strike.
The General had visited old familiar places in Denmark and he rejoiced to see them again, but he also realized that time had brought many changes to his native land. He dined with Crown Prince Frederick and had been presented to King Christian IX. The General remarked that he couldn’t understand how a little country like Denmark could pay the King $270,000 a year. We only pay our President $30,000, and the King, while a most estimable man, is of absolutely no service to the country.”
He noted that nearly everyone he spoke with seemed to have friends and relatives in America. “They look upon America as the land of promise,” he said. He noted that Danish laborers followed the American coal strike with interest.
After he returned from Denmark, Christian reestablished himself in his Brooklyn home, admitting that he had found no place that appealed to him as did America. He anticipated retiring, “I shall be 71 years old in January and after working for fifty years I feel that I am entitled to a rest. My wife and myself will celebrate our golden wedding in March and we both feel that after working as hard as we have for the past fifty years that we have earned a little rest,” he told the Brooklyn Eagle on October 21, 1902.
References
Grenier-Snyder, Ellen. Brooklyn: An Illustrated History. Temple University Press, 1996.
Jespersen, Knud, J.V. A History of Denmark. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Quad, M. From Field, Fort and Fleet: Being a Series of Brilliant and Authentic Sketches. Henry Whittlemore, 1885.
Reiss, Marcia. Brooklyn Then and Now. Thunder Bay Press, 2002.