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Peter Lassen - Danish Pioneer of California (13 pages)
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Page: of 13
Historical Society of Southern California
4 ]
Peter Lassen
new petition in good style “by the applicant himself,” and
signed it Peter Lassen Farum. In this second appeal to the king,
Peter asked to be relieved from the artillery corps and to be
allowed to emigrate to “the Danish colony in America,” because
he could not make a living in Denmark. Beyond this we know
no details, only that it was a troublous period in Danish history.
After the defeat in the war with Sweden and the loss of Norway,
Denmark suffered a psychological and economic depression; the
revitalization sparked by Bishop Grundtvig had not yet begun.
Hence this disappointed but eager blacksmith sailed for a new
life across the Atlantic, stopping first in London and then in
Boston. It was early in the Nordic emigration and there was no
real Danish colony in America; a few fellow nationals could be
found in Massachusetts and even, as Peter later discovered, in
far-off California.* Essentially Peter Lassen at age thirty was
alone. He had to earn a living and he had to leam a new lJanPeter Lassen
ermission of the Huntington Library, Reproduced by
San Marino, California