Info Sought on Greenlandic Cover Written in Danish
Jan 31, 2024 12:01:45 GMT
kasvik, JeffS, and 1 more like this
Post by Catweazle on Jan 31, 2024 12:01:45 GMT
Here we have a pre-stamp letter dated 1862, sent locally within Greenland to one Assistant Ingemann (?)
Sounds a bit cryptic to me. I'm lost. So, who is this Mr Teijstenten and who is the widow Susanne Sodstad? What is their relation to the recipient of the letter, Ingemann?
Can you read this handwriting? Have I got the name correct?
Do you know who Ingemann was? Did he have anything to do with the early European explorers in Greenland? I shared this item over on another forum, but am keen to get more information and tidbits from our members who may be lurking around here...
What else can you tell me about this letter? Who was the recipient? Who was the sender?
The entire is dated 1862 and looks to have been written in Christianshåb (Qasigiannguit) on the Western coast of Greenland. Today it boasts a population of only 1000 inhabitants! Was the recipient – Ingemann (?) – in Claushavn (today known as Ilimanaq) which is a tiny town with a population today of only 53 inhabitants!
Who on earth lived there in 1862? That makes Christianshåb sound like the 'big smoke'!
Here's the letter inside, written in Danish:
Google Translate suggests this as an English translation:
That the widow Susanne Sodstad, is entitled
to Sorente and Lorsingelses. (forsögelses ?) The company .....
an annuity of 15 per annum, should not be exempt.
let me hereby notify Mr Teijstenten (may be assistant) with
Tieförende and this is calculated from the day her husband died. (Zusp. Serial No. 144/1860)
Christianshaab, 28 October 1862 (signature)
to Sorente and Lorsingelses. (forsögelses ?) The company .....
an annuity of 15 per annum, should not be exempt.
let me hereby notify Mr Teijstenten (may be assistant) with
Tieförende and this is calculated from the day her husband died. (Zusp. Serial No. 144/1860)
Christianshaab, 28 October 1862 (signature)
Sounds a bit cryptic to me. I'm lost. So, who is this Mr Teijstenten and who is the widow Susanne Sodstad? What is their relation to the recipient of the letter, Ingemann?
Facit Norden 2022 tells us that the earliest Greenlandic domestic mail sent within the country prior to 1938 can unfortunately only be dated if the contents of a letter are included and the sender thought to add a date by hand at the time because mail under 10kg was sent FREE of charge! It could also be handed over to ship captains for transport up or down the coast. Proper date stamps as we know them were only put into use on Greenlandic mail from 1938, when most generalised collections begin with the steel engraved stamps of Christian X of Denmark. Of course, there were the Pakke-Porto (parcel post) stamps used in Greenland before 1938 but not on these earlier pre-stamp entires or covers from the nineteenth or eighteenth centuries.
