13-Danish Texans
Early Danish Arrivals
Relatives of most Danish Texans immigrated
from Denmark between 1860 and 1930, but
a young painter, Charles Zanco (1808-1836),
arrived in the Lynchburg area in 1835 as local
residents prepared for war against Mexico.
Before the group of men left for the war,
Zanco painted a flag-a single five-pointed
star with the word Independence beneath it.
"Hurrah for the Lone Star!" Charles Zanco
died at the Alamo.
)
Christian Hillebrandt arrived in Louisiana
in 1820 and started ranching. Ten years later
he moved his cattle into Jefferson County,
Texas. By 1840 he owned 21,000 acres, and,
at his death in 1858, he had 9,000 cattle,
1,100 horses, 13 slaves, and 1,500 acres near
present-day Beaumont. Hillebrandt was a What do you think these Danish boys in Danevang
very successful rancher.
are getting ready to do?
A group of 20 Danish families settled in
northern Lee County, which became known
as "Little Denmark." Most were farmers; a
few were tradesmen, such as a saddlemaker,
carpenter, bricklayer, and cabinetmaker.
The first year was a lot of hard work, and
the cold-weather crops that had grown in
Denmark failed in Texas. But the Danes' life
improved when they changed to growing
cotton and raising pigs and cattle. The next
year, in 1895, they started their first public
school in the community hall.
Other Danes settled in Williamson County,
Rocky Hill near Fredericksburg, and Wharton County. The Danish Folk Society bought
25,000 acres of land south of El Campo for
resale to fellow countrymen looking for a place
to farm and have religious freedom. Jan Peter
Olsen was the first to buy, followed by the
Larsens, Madsens, Hansens, and Andersens,
and the Danish colony of Danevang, the
"Danish field," grew quickly in the summer
of 1894.
Until 1932 Danevang was 11 miles of dirt
road, often muddy, from any town. Located
away from other people, the Danes developed
a great sense of community and doing
things together. In 1897 the first organized
cooperative business was formed, a mutual
fire insurance company, and a few years later,
a telephone exchange was established. The
Danevang Farmers Cooperative Society was
formed to buy at lower prices large quantities
of chemicals to rid the cotton of bugs.
Early Danish Settlements
The peak years of immigration were between
1885 and 1895, with more single Danish
men arriving than men with families. Many
of the men now came for adventure and to
make their fortunes. Others had left because
of the bad times in Denmark.
Danish Cultural Folkways
The Danes adapted smoothly to Texas life.
Although speaking Danish among themselves, most Danes also knew German, and
some spoke English as well.
The Danish custom of eating six meals a day
probably started our habit of coffee breaks
and late-night snacks. They say in Danevang
that if you get two Danes together, at least
one of them will bring a coffeepot. And at
Christmas it is a custom to have at least seven
different kinds of Danish cookies served
along with your coffee!
The most famous Danish pastries are the
Christmas wreath coffeecakes and the rolled
Yule logs covered with rich chocolate frosting. It is also possible that Danish kringle was
the inspiration for today's pop tarts.
The people of Danevang came together for
birthdays, anniversaries, public holidays, and
housewarmings in their jointly owned community hall.
When a new house was being built, neighbors helped with the building and then held
a housewarming celebration when the new
family moved in. A long table or buffet loaded with food, including Danish open-faced
sandwiches, was set up, and the neighbors
would arrive for a day of relaxation and pleasure after their hard work.
Amazing Danish Texans
Karl Hans Peter Marius Nielsen Gammel
(1854-1931), leaving behind his wife and
family, arrived in New York and traveled to
Chicago, where he stayed with his sister and
worked as a jewelry salesman. Moving on,
Hans went into business in Austin, selling
writing paper, jewelry, and lemonade.
Hans was a great reader and one day bought
a box of books. In 1877 Gammel started
what became the "Oldest Bookstore in the
State." He moved his Austin business several
times, but his love of reading led him to collect Texas books. He salvaged some from the
state capitol when it burned. Today many of
his rare Texas books are in the University of
Texas library.
John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (18671941) was born near the Nevada-Idaho border to a Danish immigrant and studied art
in California and France. He was a painter
until about 1900, when he began working
as a sculptor. He very much liked to work
on giant projects. Coming from Georgia, he
adopted San Antonio, Texas, as his home and
lived at the Menger Hotel, where many artists lived, for 15 years. There he came up with
the fantastic idea of carving four giant heads
in the South Dakota granite hills on Mount
Rushmore. The project took 15 years, and
when he died, his son, Lincoln Borglum of
Beeville, completed the massive sculptures.
Borglum's statue of the Texas cattle trail drivers is located at the Trail Drivers Association
in Brackenridge Park in San Antonio. He had
planned for it to be much, much bigger, but
he ran out of money.
Web site: www.texancultures.utsa.edultexansoneanda11