"The Government of New Brunswick...in the interest of introducing into the province from the Scandinavian countries, about 500 persons of whom two-fifths should be males 18 years of age and upwards, and in pursuance thereof the Government of New Brusnwick undertakes: (1) That each male emigrant over 18 years of age should have 100 acres of good farming land with good accessible roads, a chopping of two acres to be made on each lot of 100 acres at the expense of the Government, the immigrant to be employed to do such chopping. A suitable temporary building or buildings to be provided for the reception of the immigrant, upon or a short distance from his lot, such temporary building and the lot on which it stands to be reserved for school or othe rpublic purposed. On three years' actual residence a grant to be issued from the Crown to each male settling as above. (2) That the able-bodied males over 18 years of age would receive employment on the railwyas or at other works, at the rate of, or at not less than one dollar per day, for a period not exceeding two years. (3) Any grants of land which the New Brunswick Railway Company agree to make to labourers in the employment of said company will be guaranteed by the government." New Brunswick Free Grants Act, 1872

My first view of New Brunswick

The day was cool and overcast when my family and I arrived at Saint John Harbour on that spring day in 1883. My name is Laurine Petersen, but my father and mother call me "Lena". My family and I come from Vaerslo, Denmark. In a couple of months I will be eleven years old, and the last two weeks have been the biggest adventure of my life.

My mother and father have been talking about coming to Canada for a long time. He had letters from others who had started a new life here on 100 acres of free government land. I used to listen to my parents in the evening, sitting at the kitchen table and talking about Canada. It was going to be a wonderful place for my family and I, and give us a chance that we could never have staying in the old country. I knew that Canada was some place far off, some exciting place. I had no idea it would be like this.

This new country that was to be our new home didn't look anything like Denmark. Where were the farms and fields I was used to? Instead of green fields and little villages, all I could see was trees and rocks. Saint John seemed to be built on one huge piece of rock. The buildings all looked different.

Even the sea wasn't the same. The smell of the salt air had a sharp "tang" to it. I overheard one of the crewmen on the steamer say that here in the Bay of Fundy the ocean rose and fell more than 40 feet with the changing of the tides. And there is a place in Saint John called the Reversing Falls, where the rising tides actually turn around the flow of the broad river flowing into the sea. Our ship doesn't have to go through these "Reversing Falls" As our steamship passed Partridge Island, my father My father, Lars Petersen, had said that this was the next step on the long voyage from Denmark to our new home in Canada. I Ever since the first of our fellow Danes had left for the wilderness of New Brunswick in May 1872t John was a moderately sized city , with a busy port. What impressed me most, however, was the rock ledges. The entire city seemed built on a huge rock We were on the steamer Empress

We had left Copenhagen 10 days earlier on the steamer Caspian and had arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There my father Lars and mother Maria, as well as my four brothers Neils, Ludwig, Wilhelm, and Hans

Market Slip at high tide, Saint John, New Brunswick ca 1902

Ships berthed at North Market Wharf Saint John, New Brunswick ca 1890

Lena Petersen as a young woman in New Denmark, New Brunswick

Lena Petersen Crabtree in South Effingham, New Hampshire ca 1916

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Sources of information: Earle, Emily Mae. Footprints in New Brunswick, an Historical Account of Victoria County, New Brunswick. Perth, NB. 1960. Lanken, Dane. New Denmark, the legacy of Canada's first Danish settlement lives on in northwestern New Brunswick. Canadian Geographic. Sept/Oct 1993. New Denmark Women's Institute. History of New Denmark. June 19, 1967. Poitras, Jean-Guy. Recensement 1891 Census, Madawaska and Victoria Counties, Province of New Brunswick. June 1996. Poitras, Jean-Guy. Recensement 1901 Census, Madawaska and Victoria Counties, Province of New Brunswick. June 1996. Saint John, New Brunswick website