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- should make his planned trip to China after which he was to be made a Ship's Captain. Only then could the marriage be arranged. Chresten went to China, but he never returned, because his ship sank and he drowned. (This story was told to me by Peter Godt, Rendsburg). It appears that sexual morality has not changed much over the years, as Ann was pregnant before Chresten left! The boy was named Christian Anderson. He was raised on the family farm by his Grand
father and was probably adopted by him, because he was registered as Christian Godt when he married. This Christian Godt is my Great Great Grandfather (page 10).
- Christian Godt had 5 children. Son number 3, Christian Hinrichsen Godt, is my Great Grand Father. He was born in Rinkenaes in 1831. For many years he was Captain of the ship "Fidelitas" and sailed on South American and Far Eastern voyages. I have inherited his very beautiful maho
gany sea chest with his name engraved on it, and several documents about his travels around the world. When he retired from the Fidelitas, he bought a ferry company in Egernsund. He died in 1893 and was buried at Broager Cemetery.
- Christian Hinrichen was married twice. His first wife died in 1871 (page 15). His wives gave birth to 10 children among them child number 4 Heinrich Friedrich Godt, who was my Grandfather (Mogen's). My Grandfather was born in Altona (Hamburg) where his father (the captain) lived at the time. Several of the children were born on the ship. My Grandfather returned to Egern
sund, where his father had bought the ferry company. My Grandfather was born in 1864 and died in Egernsund in 1946, when I was 16 years old.
- I remember very well my Grandfather. He was a retailer at Egernsund. He seems to have run a good business, which he closed down around 1917, as he could not obtain goods to sell, due to World War One. At the time he was 53 years old and a fairly wealthy man. Unfortunately his fortune was in German Marks, and he lost most of it after the region reunited with Denmark in 1920. He had built a house in Egernsund where he lived until he died. He was married to Marie Cecilie Berggren, who was born in Egernsund. I do not know much about my Grandmothers' family. The name Berggren seems to be of Norwegian or Swedish origin, and her family probably arrived in Egernsund as sailors.
- I got to know my Grandmother very well, as she was also my God Mother, and lived until 1952. As a teenager I spend part of every holiday visiting her. She gave birth to five children.
- 1) Christian Paul Godt (my father) 2) Aunt Inge 3) Uncle Heini and two more girls who died from croup at the age of approximately 2 and 11 years (page 26).
- My father was born on January 18th 1899 and grew up in Egernsund. When he was six years old he fell into the harbour and nearly drowned. He was unconscious when he was pulled from the very cold water. He developed a bad case of pneumonia and for awhile it appeared as if he would not survive. (They had no anti-biotics at that time). He missed a year of school while recovering.
- When my father was 15 he started as an apprentice in a retail business in Flensburg. In 1916, at the age of 17 he was drafted into the German Army. He did his basic training in Konigsberg in the eastern part of Germany, which today is in Russia and is called Kaliningrad. After training he was sent to the Western Front, where he lived in the trenches under poor sanitary conditions with lots of rats and lice. He was wounded by an exploding grenade and taken to the camp hospital where he contracted dysentery. This incident my have saved his life, as many of his young friends from Egernsund were killed during the war.
- When Germany was finally defeated in 1918 and the Kaiser fled to Holland, the political situation in Denmark began to heat up. As part of the peace treaty, a referendum was to be held
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