The earliest of the Biltoft generation was a copyholder farmer on the
estate Nørholm Gods, but there is no information of the generation before
that. The first known person was
Christen Madsen, born 23 October 1798 in Biltoft (Biltoft is a village) in
Næsbjerg Sogn. The generation also has
roots in Øse (Oese ) because Christen Madsen’s mother
Ane
Jensdatter was the daughter of Jens Knudsen and his wife Kjerstine
Iversdatter from Øse.
In college Christen Madsen took the last name Biltoft. When the Biltoft family came in contact with
the Vedsted family, there were two very different families that married. The Vedsted family was very lively, who liked
to go out and spend some money. The
Biltoft family was sober minded and financially minded; they knew how to save
money.
Christen Madsen Biltoft was able to give his children a good dowry, even
if he was only a parish clerk. In those
days that job didn’t bring you much money.
Often the children didn’t get any dowry and the wife often was placed in
the poorhouse.
Christen M. Biltoft was a very talented man, a tall and proud man, but
in his late years he didn’t walk very well because he weighted over 200 pounds.
He got his education at college in Nustrup in Sønderjylland. He graduated on 15 February 1821 with very
good grades.
In 1822 the teacher in Vester Nykirke died at the age of only 27; he
left a wife and two small girls. In
order to avoid her ending up in the poorhouse, the new teacher was required to
marry her. She wasn’t a widow for very
long; the young Christen M. Biltoft applied for the job and got it. He later told, ”I
was a young man who was good looking, and when I got to see the widow and talk
to her, I found out that I liked her.
She was good looking too, and so were the two small girls. We both agreed to get married, and it all
went well.” They were married 27 July
1822, and they had many children.
In school, Christen M. Biltoft was a very strict man. The children had to do their homework every
day. If they didn’t do it, then Christen
hit them; that was very common in those days.
One of those who got a big part of the hits was his own son Mads; he
didn’t do his homework very often. Mads’
youngest sister Lone was very sensitive and it was very painful for her to see
Mads get beaten. She often tried to make
him do his homework, but with no success.
In 1866, Christen M. Biltoft stopped as a teacher and bought a small
farm with one cow in Boldesager. Here
his wife died very suddenly before the end of their
first month there. Later on Christen
moved to live with his oldest daughter, Hansine, in Øse. She was a widow with many children, and was
very poor.
His last years were spent living with his son Mads Biltoft, who owned a
farm in Måde ( Maade ). Here Christen died 13 June 1873 – 74 ½ years
old.
Peder Wedsted Biltoft born 13. november 1825.
He had two sons, Christen and Jens, who traveled to Sønderjylland to
look for work. At that time many people
emigrated from Sønderjylland because the young people didn’t like the German
military service. Many left for America
and New Zealand. Christen and Jens liked
that idea and 31 August 1872 they landed in New Zealand. They liked it so much that they wrote to
their father that he should come to New Zealand too. Peter Wedsted Biltoft sold his farm and
bought tickets to Australia. With his
wife and six children, the youngest not yet one year old, he took the
boat. They didn’t go to New Zealand, but
to Queensland.
In the
meantime Christen and Jens decided that they didn’t like it there, so they sent
their father a letter telling him not to come, but it was too late.
Christen
and Jens went to Queensland to look around.
After a few years they met their father.
Peter W. Biltoft and all his family stayed there, and he died in 1897.
When Peder W. Biltoft was still living in Denmark, his wife died. After a few years, one of his friends gave
him the advice to marry again, and he recommended his housekeeper. He married her, but shortly after he found
out that she was pregnant; his friend had not been honest with him.
On the ship his new wife was not well behaved, especially not with some
of the crew on board the ship. Peder
felt her very disgusting. When they got
to Queensland, he told her that she had to leave. He kept her child even if it was not his,
because he knew that she could not take care of it. The baby sadly died after a year. Some years later the wife came to ask
forgiveness, but she did not get it.
Thøger Biltoft born 15. marts 1829
Was a farmer, and he enjoyed hunting very much. Even in his 80s he went hunting.
Mads Biltoft born 29 June 1835, was
in his young days a teacher. He also
loved his garden on the farm he had with his wife Karen Mortensen. His oldest son Morten was also a teacher in
Lourup and Bøgely near Slagelse, but he died young. His other son Christen Biltoft was a farmer.
Ane Rosine Abelone Biltoft born 5. november 1837
She was
known to be quite pretty, and was married at 19½ years of age on 13 June 1857
to Hans Peder Hansen in Novrup. She died
in 1920 at the age of 83.