Mathias Christian Lund – Christening Record
1851
JensenJN, a member of the forum, gave me some additional insights into some of the information.
Re: Witnesses Names — Kofod is a name uniquely originating at Bornholm, and it was fiercely defended by the family. It did not allow anyone outside the family to take it.
There were different spellings of the name: Kofod, Koefod, Kofoed, and Koefoed.
I went back and asked for some clarification about the vaccinations. I wondered what it was for and who “Grove” may have been – a person or maybe organization? He responded:
The short answer is that the vaccination was against smallpox. Denmark had had some epidemics and it became mandatory to be vaccinated against it. The Danish word for “smallpox” is “Kopper”. You will in some marriage entries find a remark like “har haft de naturlige kopper” (“has had the natural smallpox”). At times it just abbreviated to “Nat. Kopper.” Such people were exempt from the vaccination.
TO INVESTIGATE: This record was really interesting and gave me lots of new information. It also brought up questions about Mathias’ last name. At birth he was Funch, when he immigrated he was Funk, and in all US records he’s Lund. Interestingly, in the US 1880 Census he is Mathias C Lund but his father is listed (on another page) as Dedrick Funk. All his siblings (in the US) took the name as well. Why the name change? When? Where did the name Lund come from?