Page VIII and Page 3

     On page VIII we're introduced to his notations relating to the various units of measurements that were used in Denmark. While this actually is quite interesting it also presents me with somewhat of a problem. There are some things in the Danish language that can't, and to some degree shouldn't be translated. So here I was trying to figure out whether or not I should be trying to translate terms that might not have a translatable counterpart in the English language. So what I think I'll do here is translate as much of the text on this page as possible but keep the various terms denoting the units of measure in their Danish form. At the bottom of the page I'll include a link to a list of terms and how much their corresponding metric values might be.

-1 Skippund = 20 Lispund
-1 Lispund = 16 pund
-1 pund = 32 Lod
-1 lod = 4 Ounce
-1 ounce = 4 kvintin
-1 kvintin = 4 drachme
-1 dozen = 12
-12 dozen = 1 Gros
-1 Snes = 20
-3 Snes = 1 Skok (60)
-4 Snes = 1 Ol (80)
-5 Snes = one hundred (100)
-6 Snes = a big hundred (120)
Nails, root vegetables and eggs were sold according to their count.
-1 tønde = 8 Skæppe
-1 Skæppe = 4 Fjerding kar
-1 Fjerding kar = 2 Ottingkar
These measurements were used for salt, root vegetables and all kinds of seeds. In regards to fruit you should always pile as much as possible onto a Skæppe when portioning.
You needed 10 Langholmskjærer to a knippe and 20 knipper to a load.
You needed 20 neg in a trave. There were 20 Høbånd in a trave and 3 trave in a knippe.
-Cherries, lingonberries and prunes were all pickled.
-Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, red currant and black currant were eaten directly off of the plants while the rest were left.
-Pears were cut in half, dried and used instead of raisins.
-The hair that was cut off of the horse's mane and tail as well as hair from cow tails and the hair that was harvested during grooming of animals or the butchering of pigs was spun into rope and used in clothing.

Here now begins our journey through the pages of the Hemmingsen text, Page 3:

    "I'm writing this down so that my children might gain a better understanding where I hailed from. Where I was born, reared, educated and raised. How I have attempted a multitude of things. How I've toiled and labored in order to make ends meet. After everything was said and done, I've come to the realization that the old adage; "Stick to what you know," still rings true! It means that one should stick to one craft or profession because by darting from one occupation to another you only end up being a jack of all trades and master of none. It should also be remembered that with every new thing that you attempt always ends up costing you money one way or another. Either it turns out to be a waste of time, or you have a constant need for expensive tools. Not to mention the multitude of ways one might end up loosing out by moving from place to place. However, if worse came to worse such travel could be beneficial. Because he who has the courage and will to engage in any job offered will seldom remain unemployed for long."

So I suppose that I personally would have a hard time trying to sum up Niels Hemmingsen's overall intentions with this text. In his waning years he might have intended to leave a legacy behind in order to leave something behind that would attest to him having been here. When the Danish immigrants came to the New World they came in numbers that were far less than those of their Scandinavian counterparts. So when they got here, their options for marrying someone with their own national makeup were limited. They were therefore forced to intermingle with other nationalities. The Danes began to disappear into the still emerging American identity and perhaps needed reminders such as this text to keep their heritage alive.



https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danske_m%C3%A5leenheder