© 2008 Tony Kirkman

The Danish Kirkman family is descended from a Danish fisherman, Neils Albrecht Kirkemann, and his wife Ane Josefine Atchinson Kirkemann of Kalundborg, both born about 1805-1810 in Copenhagen. They had seven children in Kalundborg: Christian Wilhelm Kirkemann b 1828, Christoffer Nielsen Kirkemann b 1831, Frederik Christian Kirkemann b1833, Wilhelmine Josephine Kirkemann, b 1835, Nielsine Henriette Kjerkmann b1838, Carl Christian Ferdinand Kirkemann b1840, and Caroline Christine Kirchman b1842.

 

Christian Wilhelm apparently was the only child to emigrate to America. He left home at age 14 in 1842 and spent 10 years as a crewman on sailing ships. In 1852, when Christian was 24, he made port in New  York  City,  and  wound  up  in  the  Greenpoint,  Brooklyn,  where  Christian  married  

Danish , New York,USA

Bertha Marie Olsdatter, a 29-year-old immigrant from Stavanger, Norway. They moved to Little Neck, Long Island in 1857. Christian (“The Captain”) had three children by his first wife: Nelson b 1853 in Greenpoint,  and Frederick b 1857 & Emma b 1860, both in Little Neck, NY. His second, late-life, marriage to Ellen Elizabeth Lee Sparrow, produced Christian William III b 1882 in Bridgeport CT, Ellen II b 1887 in Manhattan NY, and Charles b 1889 in Jersey City NJ.

 

In the late 1870s, eldest son Nelson married Sarah Mott. They had 8 boys (Christian William II, Richard Frederick Nelson, George Moore Still, Samuel, Washington, Adam, James and Albert), and 3 girls (Bertha, Sarah and Mary). The most noteworthy member of the Captain’s second family was Christian William Kirkman III, b 1882 .Like his father, Christian III had two marriages. His first wife was Edith Elizabeth Foster Kirkman of Flushing. In 1906 they had a son, Christian William Kirkman IV, but they divorced soon after. In 1909, CWK III  married Anna Jelinek Fiala, a divorcee who had 3 children. Legend holds that Anna chased CWK III from New York to Minnesota and forced him to marry at gunpoint!

 

To learn more about this family, visit Chris Kirkman’s web site, beautifully authored by Chris’s late father Don.

Key Locations

 

• Kalundborg,

    Denmark

• Greenpoint, NY
• Little Neck, NY
• Jersey City, NJ
• San Francisco, CA
• Washington, DC