♀Mette Andresen

Mette Andresen (about 1742 – 22 April 1821) was the wife and widow of Jens Petersen, the smith of Fidde in Henne parish on the west coast of Jutland, and the mother of ten children. She was betrothed at Kløvgaard, a farm whose mistress, Marine Andersdatter, later carried two of her children to baptism. She was the fourth great-grandmother of Frederic Roger Curtis (1928–2007), through her son Laust Jensen (1783–1868).

Early life and marriage

In the Danish records of her own parish she appears as Mette Maria or Mette Marie Andersdatter, a patronymic meaning “daughter of Anders”; the German-language registers of Schleswig, where her son later settled, render the same name as Mette, née Andresen. Where she was born is not known. The censuses give her age as 45 in 1787 and 58 in 1801, and her burial entry as 79, which together point to a birth early in 1742; no such baptism appears in the Henne register, so she was probably born in another parish.

Her betrothal to Jens Pedersen, the smith, took place on 4 October 1764 at Kløvgaard, a farm in Henne parish, and they married at Henne on 6 November. A betrothal was usually held at the bride’s home. Kløvgaard was not her father’s farm, however: in 1741 it belonged to a Jens Sørensen, and later it was the home of Laust Jensen and his wife Marine Andersdatter, who was about five years older than Mette. Marine carried Mette’s daughter Else Maria to baptism in 1766 and her son Bakken in 1787, and both couples gave a son the rare name Bakken. The two women may have been sisters, but no record found says so.

Children

The couple had ten children, baptized between 1766 and 1790. A daughter, Marine, born in June 1772, died at seven months in January 1773, and the name was given again to a daughter born in 1777; another daughter, Kirsten Marie, was buried in 1791 at the age of seven and a half. In 1787 the family was living at Nederfidde with six children at home, the eldest 13 and the youngest a year old. The seventh, Laust, was baptized at Henne on 25 April 1790. Jens died in 1798.

Widowhood and death

The census of 1801 found her still at Nederfidde, a widow described as Huuskone med Jord, a cottager’s wife holding her house with a little land, with two of her children, aged 14 and 11, living with her. She did not remarry.

She died at Nederfidde on 22 April 1821 and was buried at Henne on 28 April. The burial register records that she was living til Aftægt hos Jens Danielsen. An aftægt was a retirement agreement under which an elderly person handed over a holding in return for board and lodging for life; she was living on such terms with Jens Danielsen in Nederfidde. The register does not say how he was related to her, if at all.