Sortenstjerne

Sortenstjerne (English: Black Star), also spelled Sortenstierne, was a Danish family.
General
The family came to Denmark in the 1750s with Abraham Sortenstierne (b. ca. 1749 in St. Croix, † 31st October 1831 in Kalundborg). The little boy was brought to the kingdom by a shipper named Møller, who sold him to the nobleman Frederik Christian Rosenkrantz to Rygård. Rosenkrantz gave him support and education. It was likely also he who created the name Sortenstierne to represent and to honour Abraham's origin in Africa.
In the middle of the 1770s, Abraham Sortenstierne had a relationship with Lene Larsdatter. The couple got the daughter Anne Cathrine Abrahamsdatter Sortenstierne (b. ca. 1777).
On the 11th of September 1778, Abraham Sortenstierne married Anna Kiærulf. Her name indicates that she could have been of the noble family Kiærulf, but her parents are not known. The couple got the following children: Susanna Abrahamsdatter Sortenstierne, Frederik August Abrahamsen Sortenstierne, Frederike Dorothea Abrahamsdatter Sortenstierne, Ivar Abrahamsen Sortenstierne, Marianne Abrahamsdatter Sortenstierne, and Hans Peter Abrahamsen Sortenstierne.
On the 12th of June 1813, Abraham Sortenstierne married Ellen Olsen. The couple got the following children: Caroline Abrahamsdatter Sortenstierne and Charlotte Abrahamsdatter Sortenstierne.
Abraham Sortenstierne and his son
Abraham Sortenstierne and his son Frederik August Sortenstierne had together with a man named Josef Froos been sentenced for crimes such as thievery. Froos, who was considered as the gang's leader, received whipping and thereafter penal servitude for the rest of his life. Sortenstierne and his son were placed in a reformatory for respectively 1 1/2 and 2 years.
Rosenkrantz sent a request for pardon to the King, asking to receive allowance to take Sortenstierne and his son out of the reformatory and send them to St. Croix, which then was a Danish colony.
Rosenkrantz introduced his letter writing the following:
«To the King! A human, who by its birth was destined to slavery, I have tried to make lucky for itself and useful for the country and its fellow humans, but my intention has failed. This is Abraham Sortenstierne, of black colour, born into slavery on St. Croix, who as a child was brought here by shipper Møller, and who 40-50 years ago was bought by me, whereafter I gave him education in Christianity and the knowledges which could make him capable of serving and doing other services in a house and on an estate: thus, he has learned cooking and conditory, to play various instruments, to ride, and to shoot, and when I 20 years ago accepted his marriage, I established him as a marksman with a house and all necessities, but an unordered life with drinking and gambling has corrupted him and finally brought him into a gang which on many places has committed thievery.»
Fearing punishment since she had complicity in the illegalities, Sortenstierne's wife, Anna Kiærulf, had drowned herself, leaving three young children alone. Rosenkrantz took care of them and placed them in the houses of «proper people of the farmer estate».
Rosenkrantz wrote further that despite what Sortenstierne and his son had done, he had not lost all goodwill for them. He wished to see «some fruit of my kindness towards these humans». Furthermore, he explained that he formally could have sold Sortenstierne to a foreigner, thus getting rid of the problem, but that he was far away from wishing to place Sortenstierne in that circumstance from which he had saved him. Rosenkrantz therefore suggested, if the King was willing to accept it, that he should give Sortenstierne and his son a passport of freedom, pay their travel to St. Croix, and there give them a basic foundation of living. He meant that the father and the son, who both were craftsmen, indeed would be useful in the colony.
After having been introduced to the case, it had most graciously pleased His Majesty to accept Rosenkrantz's suggestion. It meant that Sortenstierne and his son were to be sent out of the country. However, it may not seem like they ever went to St. Croix. If that happened, at least Abraham Sortenstierne returned to Denmark, as he in 1813 married his third wife.
Goldenbaum descendants
Of Abraham Sortenstierne's many children, it seems that only the first-born daughter got issue. In 1802, she married Johann Friederich Goldenbaum, who was from Rehna in Mecklenburg, Germany. His parents were Johann Matthias Goldenbaum and Catharina Maria Brauer.
Descendants:
* Christian August Johansen Goldenbaum
** Johan Frederik Christiansen Goldenbaum
** Jens Peter Christiansen Goldenbaum
*** Hans Lauritz Jensen Goldenbaum
*** Caroline Marie Jensdatter Goldenbaum
*** Anna Oline Jensdatter Goldenbaum
*** Ida Louise Jensdatter Goldenbaum
*** Johan Frederik Jensen Goldenbaum
** Ludvig Christiansen Goldenbaum
*** Ema Jacobine Ludvigsdatter Goldenbaum
** Anne Marie Christiansdatter Goldenbaum
* Johanne Henriette Johansdatter Goldenbaum
** Jacobine Nielsen
** Hansine Petrine Nielsen
** Birthe Louise Nielsen
** Anna Nielsen
** Hendriette Frederikke Nielsen
** Anna Albertine Nielsen
* Mogens Ludvig Johansen Goldenbaum
** Johan Frederik Mogensen Goldenbaum
** Johan Lauritz Mogensen Goldenbaum
* Peder Poul Goldenbaum
* Peder Poul Goldenbaum
* Lars Goldenbaum
* Louise Sophie Goldenbaum
Literature and sources
* Klitgaard, Jan: Abraham Sortenstjerne
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