The Rasmussen Family

My research on the Rasmussen family began with some notes that were written by my grandfather (Dennis E. Donahue) when he was interested in his mother’s (Clara Rasmussen) heritage. Dennis had begun researching his own family history during the time of letter writing and long before my luxury of using the internet as a valuable resource. I only had Dennis’ grandfather’s name (Hans Peter Rasmussen) and that of his children (including Clara) with a few years of birth attached. It is believed that Dennis was aware of his Danish heritage (he was ½ Danish!), and had visited Denmark when he was abroad during WW2. Unfortunately, his letters home to Canada from Denmark have been lost along with his interpretation of his mother’s family homeland. Recently I discovered the names of his mother, her siblings and father on the 1905 Wisconsin State census, and from there, all of my other information exploded. Clara’s parents, Hans Rasmussen & Mary Berta both came from Denmark to America to farm. Hans Peter was born and raised in Odense by parents Niels Rasmussen & Maren Kristine.