The Bodie Connection

Martin Holmdrup worked at

the Standard Mill

in

Bodie, California, 1878-1909

The Standard Mill, September 1998

MARTIN (MORTEN)HOLMDRUP³ RASMUSSEN (RASMUS² MORTINSEN, MORTEN¹ LARSEN) was born June 03, 1848 in Holmdrup, Skaarup Parish, ved Svendborg, Denmark, and died June 18, 1921 in San Francisco, California, of Mitral and Tricuspid Insufficiency. He married (1) GYDE MAE BRANDT December 13, 1883 in Bodie, California, daughter of PEDERJENSEN BRANDT and ANNE BOISEN of Denmark. He married (2) JENSINE PETRINE BRANDT 1899 in Bodie, California, daughter of PEDERJENSEN BRANDT and ANNE BOISEN of Denmark, sister to Gyde Mae.

Martin Rasmussen Holmdrup

Gyde Mae Brandt Holmdrup

Jensine Petrine Brandt Jacobson Holmdrup

Martin (Rasmussen) Holmdrup:

Martin Rasmussen name changed to Holmdrup by the U.S. Immigration personnel upon his entry to the U.S. in San Francisco, California.  Holmdrup was the village in Denmark where Maritn was born.  The name change was a common error made by U.S. Government Immigration.

Martin married Gyde Mae Brandt, December 13, 1883 in Bodie, California.

Martin was buried on July 19, 1921, Buried in Gardnerville, Nevada in the Garden Cemetery.

Emigration to California: 1874, from Holmdrup, ved Svendborg, Denmark.

Naturalization: August 04, 1884, Judge R.W. Briggs, in Bodie, Mono County Superior Court.

Green Street looking toward Main Street, September 1998

The Methodist Church on Green Street, September 1998

More About Gyde Mae Brandt Holmdrup:

Born: September 23, 1863 in Wester Lindt ved Gram Schlesveg-Holstein, Denmark

Married: December 13, 1883, Bodie, Mono County, California

Died: February 18, 1892, aged 28 of complications in childbirth, Buried in the Masonic or Ward Cemetery on Boot Hill, Bodie, California

Jensine Petrine Brandt was Gyde's younger sister born in 1872.

More About JENSINE PETRINE BRANDT:

Married to Mr. Jacobson in Kansas or Nebraska in 1895, had a daughter, Meta Jacobson, born in Kansas in 1895, widowed in 1896, moved to Bodie in 1896 to live with widower Martin Holmdrup (brother-in-law) to take care of his three children.

Married: Martin Holmdrup in 1899.

Jesine died in Gardnerville on November 11, 1928, of heart disease.She was buried on November 14, 1928, Gardnerville, Nevada, Nevada Garden Cemetery.

More About MARTIN (MORTEN)HOLMDRUP RASMUSSEN:

Martin Holmdrup bought the Smith Milk Ranch in 1885 from Jerome Smith with a partner and good friend, Andrew Arrild.  In 1886, Martin Holmdrup bought out his friend and partner.  The Ranch, which was 5 acres, seventeen cows, one bull, two horses with harness, one spring wagon, one sleigh, all milk cans, milk pans, and buckets, was located at the edge of town, on what is called the Aurora Road, across the road from the Bodie Tunnel Mill, which was next to Bulwer Tunnel Mill; it is now the picnic ground.

Assesors Map from 1961, Mono County Courthouse

This is a photo of the Milk Ranch/Picnic Grounds on the Aurora Road, September 1998

The Holmdrup (Rasmussen) family lived at the Ranch for several years, they also owned a house on Wood Street, near Mill Street, Lot 13, Block 24, which would be between the Klipstein House and the house on the corner of Mill Street  at Wood Street.  The Holmdrups sold that house to Mrs. P. Perry.  It was the same property which sold on December 6, 1883 to L. Hollander, the Jeweler and Watchmaker, by R.M. Briggs, who was the Superior Court Judge for Mono County in Bodie.  It was bought by the Holmdrups from L. Hollander sometime between 1883 and 1889. 

Assesors Map from 1961, Mono County Courthouse

The author, Chuck Campbell, on Lot 13 at Wood Street, Bodie, California September 1998

Martin Holmdrup married Gyde Mae Brandt around that same time, December 13, 1883.   The wedding was held in Bodie by Reverend J.H.D. LaMatyr and witnessed by their cousin, Peter Staal and good friend and soon to be partner, Andrew Arrild.  My grandmother, Clara Matilda Holmdrup was born that following October 3, 1884.

After giving birth to five children, with three daughters surviving, Gyde Mae Brandt Holmdrup died in 1892, at the age of 28, after giving birth to Gaj (Guy) Marvin Holmdrup, who died several weeks later.  Gyde, Guy, and Harry (who died earlier in 1890, age 4 weeks) are buried in the Masonic or Ward cemetery on Boot Hill. 

According to an account written in the 1950's for Desert Magazine by my Great Aunt Emma Louise Holmdrup Sartor (the third daughter), they lived near the Babcock Engine Fire House on Standard and Mill Streets when she was a little girl, "Where a huge bell would clang out a warning for the firemen to gather to pull the two-wheeled fire engine (cart) to the scene of the fire." The bell was also used to tap-out the age of any townfolk as they were being carried to their final resting place."  According to the 1900 Census, at the age of eleven, Aunt Emma lived at 5 Mill Street which might have been the same house as the one near to the fire house, which was near the Standard Mill.  They must have also lived there in October of 1898, because both Aunt Emma and Nanny (our grandmother, Clara Matilda) told the story of watching (after their father woke them up from sleeping) the Standard Mill burn to the ground while sitting on the front porch of the house at 5 Mill Street, (just across the road).  They said it was very exciting and scary.

This would have been the view from the front porch in September 1998.

This is a photo of 5 of the 20 stamps used at the Standard Mill to crush the ore.

Martin married Gyde's sister, Jesine Petrine Brandt Jacobson  in 1899. Jesine had been married before in Kansas or Nebraska, then widowed in 1895-96. She had a child, Meta Jacobson in 1895.  She then moved to Bodie in 1896 to live with her then brother-in-law and take care of the three (four with her own child Meta) girls, Clara, Theresa and Emma.  All three of Gyde's children, according to stories told by Aunt Emma and Nanny (Clara), they did not get along well with their Aunt/Stepmother.  Of course, it could have been just normal 12-16 year-old adolescent problems.  But all three daughters left home as soon as they were able.  Bodie was also not a great place to be in 1900-1906 if you were a young girl.

The view from Wood Street at Mill Street, Site of the Holmdrup home.

Clara Matilda left home in 1899 to go to school in Sacramento.  She took the stage coach to Sonora and then caught the train to Sacramento, where she lived with her Uncle Hans and Aunt Anna.  She later got typhoid fever andhad to go back to Bodie to recover.   She left again, after her recovery, in 1901, later moving to Loyalton, where several of her friends also had moved.  It was there that she met Charles F. Campbell.  The got married in Reno, Nevada on December 23, 1902 by A. C. Welch, Pastor of the M.E. Church, Reno, Nevada.

Aunt Emma left Bodie in 1906 and lived with Uncle Hans and Aunt Anna in Sacramento where she worked as a telephone operator. Later marrying Samuel A. Sartor on March 5, 1912 in Pueblo, Colorado by Rev. J.H. Hawke, Pastor of the St. Paul M.E. Church, witnessed by her sister Clara Matilda Campbell (who was living in western Kansas at that time) and by Ella B. Hawke, the Pastor's wife.

Theresa also left home between 1900 and 1904, moving to San Francisco where she became a nurse.  She was working in a San Francisco hospital during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  She married Hugo Theodore Wildenradt in San Francisco.

Martin and Jesine moved from Bodie in 1909 to Gardnerville, Nevada, where Martin was the mail carrier.  He died in San Francisco, while visiting his daughter Theresa , June 18, 1921.  He was buried in Gardnerville, Nevada in the Nevada Garden Cemetery. He was 73 years-old.  Jesine died in Gardnerville on November 11, 1928.  She is also buried in the Nevada Garden Cemetery in Gardnerville.  She was 58 years-old.

Here are some of their friends who lived in Bodie.  See if you know them.

Let me Know! mailto:campbell@silcom.com

Mable Metzger and Ella Arrild    Ella (Arrild) and Jim Curry

Dolly Cain & Mable Metzger     Ella Arrild & Lottie Swazey

Mable Metzger                         Maud Metzger

Mae Thompson                         Miss McDonald    

Maggie & Lucius Nelson             Maggie Nelson & Son

Ruth Arnold                                  Mrs. Faulkner

Lucy Andrews

Children of MARTIN RASMUSSEN and GYDE BRANDT Born in Bodie, California are:

L. to R. Elvira Theresa, Clara Matilda, Emma Louise Holmdrup, Bodie, California

Meta Jacobson, Bodie, California 1903

Martin Holmdrup's Daughters

CLARA MATILDA HOLMDRUP⁴ (RASMUSSEN) (MARTIN (MORTEN)HOLMDRUP³ RASMUSSEN, RASMUS² MORTINSEN, MORTEN¹ LARSEN) was born October 03, 1884 in Bodie, California, and died September 19, 1982 in Santa Ana, California. She married CHARLES FRANKLIN CAMPBELL December 23, 1902 in Reno, Nevada, son of JAMES CAMPBELL and ZERELDA Ann RICE.

Clara and Charlie Campbell, 1930's

Clara and Charlie Campbell, 1920's

Children of CLARA (RASMUSSEN-HOLMDRUP) and CHARLES F. CAMPBELL are:

Theresa, July 4, 1899, Bodie California

Child of ELVIRA  Theresa HOLMDRUP and HUGO WILDENRADT is:

Meta, 1903 Bodie, California

Martin Holmdrup's Brother in Sacramento

HANS³ RASMUSSEN (RASMUS² MORTINSEN, MORTEN¹ LARSEN) was born May 07, 1867 in Ollerup, Svendborg, Fyn, Denmark, and died April 09, 1942 in Sacramento, California. He married ANNA CHRISTIAN HANGINA PETERSEN May 08, 1896 in Sacramento, California.

Hans and Anna Petersen Holmdrup in Sacramento, California c.1900

More About HANS RASMUSSEN Holmdrup:

Born: May 07, 1867, Ollerup, Svendborg, Fyn, Denmark

More About ANNA CHRISTIAN HANGINA PETERSEN:

Died: January 2, 1924 in Sacramento, California

Children of HANS RASMUSSEN and ANNA PETERSEN are:

ELLEN "ELLA" ANINTA RASMUSSEN⁴ HOLMDRUP (HANS³ RASMUSSEN, RASMUS² MORTINSEN, MORTEN¹ LARSEN) was born June 09, 1896 in Sacramento, California. She married FRANK POLKINGHORN.

Child of ELLEN HOLMDRUP and FRANK POLKINGHORN is:

Children of FLORENCE HOLMDRUP and WILLIAM LEWIS are:

NIELS CHRISTIAN³ RASMUSSEN, b. November 12, 1863, Ollerup, Svendborg, Fyn, Denmark; d. Est. 1888-1899 California.

More About NIELS CHRISTIAN RASMUSSEN HOLMDRUP:

Died: Thought to have been murdered in California during a robberyafter leaving Bodie.  He was never found by the family.