Most Danes in the 18th and 19th centuries were poor farmers in small villages, growing grains and beans, rearing cattle, and sometimes fishing. The Lutheran Church, also known as the People’s Church, was also a central part of the Danish community and culture. In Denmark, much of the land was owned by the King or a small number of noble families. Danish farmers had few rights and were required by law to stay in their village and work for the local landowners.
In the 1780s, sweeping political and agricultural reforms transformed Danish rural life and opened the door to future emigration to North America. The government eliminated the forced residency of villagers, allowing them to seek work in other areas. By the 1780s, over 1,700 elementary schools existed in eastern Denmark alone. In 1817, elementary education became compulsory. Also, by the mid-1800s, farms of less than 20 acres were banned, creating a surplus population of landless labourers. These became Denmark’s earliest immigrants. Beginning in the 1850s, many Danish farmers sought religious freedom, land, and higher wages in America. Many Danish people settled in Utah, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. Between 1850 and 1900, almost 25,000 Danes joined the Mormon Church. In fact, early Mormon converts made up most of Denmark’s emigrants in the 1850s and 1860s. Many of these were rural farmers and artisans from northern Denmark, and many of these converts emigrated to Utah.
The last quarter of the 19th century in Denmark saw an explosion of migration to urban areas and to America. Low wages in Denmark and the offer of plentiful land in America promised many Danes a higher standard of living. Between 1868 and 1900, 189,000 Danes immigrated to North America, with the largest numbers coming from poor, rural northern Denmark and the far south island of Zealand. Migrants were often men motivated as much by adventure as by economics.
Many Danes settled in the American Midwest because the Homestead Act offered 160 acres of farmland to immigrants who planned to become citizens. Formerly poor peasants, Danes in America became farmers with large holdings. Chicago was also a popular location to settle, and 10,000 Danes lived there in 1900.