In the 19th century, many Europeans emigrated to the USA – The Land of hope and opportunities. Due to the huge economic recession, it’s stated that from 1820 to 1930 around 336.000 Danes fra choose to leave their home country and seek a better life in America. At that time the expected average salary was much higher in the USA and people hope for a better and more free life.

It reproduces the atmosphere before the emigrants board one of Thingvalla Linien’s Atlantic steamers and sail from Copenhagen to New York City. On the right, a final farewell is taken. A single woman had to find the handkerchief. A group of bedraggled wives sit among their few possessions. The orange seller clearly has his business going. Photo: ARoS Aarhus Art Museum/Wikimedia Commons
Read more history (in Danish) about the emigration from Denmark to the USA
Fun facts. Did you know, that…
- Mount Rushmore was made by a son of a Danish immigrant (John Gutzon de la Mothe Borgium).
- That the huge amount of great Hollywood actors have Danish blood running through their veins. Like: Viggo Mortensen, Mads Mikkelsen, Connie Nielsen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Scarlett Johansson. And movie directors like Bille August, Susanne Bier and Lars von Trier.
- Famous literature is created by Danish writers. Hans Christian Andersen, Karen Blixen and Søren Aabye Kierkegaard.
- Danish architect and designer. Part of the “Danish Modern” style. Jacobsen is famous for his furniture designs, such as ‘The Egg Chair’, ‘The Ant Chair’ and ‘The Swan Chair’. Also the Tech company B&O.
- That the Danish company LEGO has taken the name from two Danish words, meaning Play Well (‘leg’ + ‘godt’). And the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos’ is a grand son of a Danish immigrant (Ted Jørgensen).
- Read more about Danish Americans on Wikipedia.
Some of the Thranum people went to the USA
We have Thanum people living in the USA. I have located people who mainly lived in Washington and in South Dakota.
Here are my working notes for my work trying to connect all the dots.
At the moment I don’t know from which ancestors the USA offspring comes. It seems that some of the American citizens have a family source coming from Norway. And some coming from Denmark.
Thranum in Washington

Thranum in South Dakota

Thranum in USA
Search results from the homepage ancestry.com. Many of the data are protected behind a pay-subscription wall. But I can see a lot of names of Thranum people who live or lived in the USA.
- Petra J. Thranum. Death 1938 Bon Homme, South Dakota
- Anton Thranum. Birth xxxx in Norway. Migrated to USA, arrival in New York (1873-1952).
Residence: Minnesota, Hennepin, USA. - Anna G. Thranum. Arrival in New York, USA.
- Edw S Thranum, spouse: Peter Frogge. Birth 1871 Norway. Arrival in USA, South Dakota
- Gekeo Thranum. spouse: Haggie, birth 1871 in Norway.
- Mr. H. Thranum, passenger list for arrival in New York.
New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957
Hubert Fuller Thranum = Hubert Huller Thranum, søn af Joachim Otto Thranum og Juliette Davilda Mathilde. - Nellie Thranum, born ca. 16.07.1906 in South Dakota, USA. Source MyHeritage. MyH.
Thranum in Norway
Search results from the homepage ancestry.com. Many of the data are protected behind a pay-subscription wall. But I can see a lot of names of Thranum people who live or lived in Norway.
- Kirsten Marie Gulbrandsen Thranum. Born xxxx. Death 1895
- Georg Johannes Thranum.
- Anton Thranum. Birth xxxx in Norway. Migrated to USA, arrival in New York (1873-1952). Residence: Minnesota USA.
- Johan Konvad Thranum. Birth between 1812 – 1938.
- Ingvald Jørgensen Thranum. Death 1912.
- Anne Marie Thranum.
- Edward Thranum. Birth 1817 in Norway. Residence South Dakota, USA.
- Edw S Thranum, spouse: Peter Frogge. Birth 1871 Norway. Arrival in USA, South Dakota
- Ole Thranum.
Thranum who migrated to USA
At Dansk Emografisk Database / Dansk Data Arkiv = https://ddd.dda.dk/ there is a search functionality to locate people who left Denmark. A seach for ‘Tranum‘ (without H) gave this result: (source ddd.dda.dk)
Navn: | Tranum, Maren | Stilling: | Barn |
Alder: | 09 | Bestemmelsessted: | Genesqo, Illinois |
Kontrakt nr.: | 613100 | Forevisningsdato: | 9/14/1869 |
Sidste oph.sogn: | Øland | Sidste oph. amt: | Hjørring |
Sidste oph.sted: | Øland S., Hjørring Amt | Bestemmelses land: | USA |
Bestemmelses by: | Geneseo | Bestemmelses stat: | Illinois |
Skibsnavn: | Indirekte | ||
IDkode: | I6971T0315 |
Navn: | Tranum, Kirsten Marie | Stilling: | Barn |
Alder: | 11 | Bestemmelsessted: | Genesqo, Illinois |
Kontrakt nr.: | 613100 | Forevisningsdato: | 9/14/1869 |
Sidste oph.sogn: | Øland | Sidste oph. amt: | Hjørring |
Sidste oph.sted: | Øland S., Hjørring Amt | Bestemmelses land: | USA |
Bestemmelses by: | Geneseo | Bestemmelses stat: | Illinois |
Skibsnavn: | Indirekte | ||
IDkode: | I6971T0314 |
Navn: | Tranum, Ane Jensen | Stilling: | Hustru |
Alder: | 49 | Bestemmelsessted: | Genesqo, Illinois |
Kontrakt nr.: | 613100 | Forevisningsdato: | 9/14/1869 |
Sidste oph.sogn: | Øland | Sidste oph. amt: | Hjørring |
Sidste oph.sted: | Øland S., Hjørring Amt | Bestemmelses land: | USA |
Bestemmelses by: | Geneseo | Bestemmelses stat: | Illinois |
Skibsnavn: | Indirekte | ||
IDkode: | I6971T0312 |
Navn: | Tranum, Niels Sørensen | Stilling: | Søn |
Alder: | 15 | Bestemmelsessted: | Genesqo, Illinois |
Kontrakt nr.: | 613100 | Forevisningsdato: | 9/14/1869 |
Sidste oph.sogn: | Øland | Sidste oph. amt: | Hjørring |
Sidste oph.sted: | Øland S., Hjørring Amt | Bestemmelses land: | USA |
Bestemmelses by: | Geneseo | Bestemmelses stat: | Illinois |
Skibsnavn: | Indirekte | ||
IDkode: | I6971T0313 |
Navn: | Tranum, Søren Pedersen | Stilling: | Landmand |
Alder: | 53 | Bestemmelsessted: | Genesqo, Illinois |
Kontrakt nr.: | 613100 | Forevisningsdato: | 9/14/1869 |
Sidste oph.sogn: | Øland | Sidste oph. amt: | Hjørring |
Sidste oph.sted: | Øland S., Hjørring Amt | Bestemmelses land: | USA |
Bestemmelses by: | Geneseo | Bestemmelses stat: | Illinois |
Skibsnavn: | Indirekte | ||
IDkode: | I6971T0311 |
Navn: | Tranum, Kirstine | Stilling: | Jomfru |
Alder: | 26 | Bestemmelsessted: | Fremont, Neb. |
Kontrakt nr.: | 181100 | Forevisningsdato: | 9/30/1885 |
Sidste oph.sogn: | Aalborg | Sidste oph. amt: | Aalborg |
Sidste oph.sted: | Aalborg | Bestemmelses land: | USA |
Bestemmelses by: | Fremont | Bestemmelses stat: | Nebraska |
Skibsnavn: | Hekla | ||
Bemærkninger: | ANM: Hecla. | IDkode: | D8587T0102 |