Hans Peter Jensen (1844-1931) and Karen Marie Nielsen (1845-1926) histories, Part 1

I have decided I am going to start looking for histories of my ancestors and share them on this blog so that they will be more readily available to any of their descendants who would like to read them. If there is anyone who has any of these histories (or other documents with stories), I would love it if you would share them with me so I can make them available to our family here. Please feel free to share any of these posts with people who would be interested.

I am starting with a history of Hans Peter Jensen and Karen Marie Nielsen. They are my great-great grandparents. I have a pdf copy (sent to me by Sue Stevens) that is readable, but the pictures are not great because, as she said, this is a scan of a copy of a copy of a copy . . . Sorry about that. Apparently the original is in the special collections section at the BYU library. If there is anyone in that area who would like to get scans of the original and send those to me so I can put better images here, that would be great. It is about 30 pages long, so I will be breaking it into parts. I assure you it was well worth the read for me (or I would not be bothering to put all this effort into sharing it with you).

Here we go.

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Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5
Part 6

Part 7

Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12

Hans Peter Jensen and Karen Marie Nielsen

Title Page

Table of Contents

(Edit: Somebody uploaded some pictures of Karen Marie and Hans Peter onto Family Search, so I am replacing my terrible quality photos with the better ones from Family Search where possible.)

Foreword

The information presented here is a compilation of family records made available to James William Whiting by his Mother, Marie Jensen Whiting, and from correspondence and oral interviews with family members. These stories represent a collection of several documents written mostly by Harriet Lucinda Whiting Jensen (wife of Joseph Jensen and the 4th child of Hans and Karen), and Harriet and Joseph’s daughters-Clara Jensen Arnett, Marie Jensen Whiting, Nelda J. Carlson, Muriel Jensen Cox, and Fern Jensen Butler. Additional sources are a letter written by Morris Bissell (son of Caroline Jensen Bissell, the first child of Hans and Karen) and the letters of Veda Tweede Durfey and Thelma Tweede Butler, daughters of Mary Eliza Jensen Tweede. It is hoped that other descendents [sic], reading this account, will know of other stories and photographs available through their families and will be willing to add to this record.

Original records are archived in the BYU Special Collections. Please send corrections or additions to: James William Whiting, 153 E 400 North, Springville, Utah 84663, phone 801-489-8116.

- June 2004-


Emigration

THE MINNESOTA (June 1871)

“The first company of this season’s emigration of Scandinavian Saints sailed from Copenhagen in the evening of June 23, 1871, bound for the land of Zion, on board the Steamship “Humber” in charge of President William W. Cluff....The whole company consisted of 387 souls. After a successful voyage; the “Humber” arrived safely in Hull, England, on June 26th, from which place the emigrants were conveyed by rail to Liverpool the following night. After arriving safely in Liverpool in the morning (June 27th), the emigrants, 397 souls, including a Scotch family, embarked on the Steamer “Minnesota,” which sailed the following day (June 28th) with its precious cargo for New York, where it arrived 14 days later (July 12th). From New York, the journey westward (by rail) was resumed on the 13th and the company arrived in Ogden, Utah, July 21st. Here the company was dissolved, some of the emigrants going north, many to Salt Lake City, and others farther south to other cities and towns. The journey from Copenhagen to Utah was made in four weeks....” Two of the passengers on this voyage were Hans P. Jensen and Karen M. Jensen (Source, Mormon Immigration Index).

If the tossing and turning of the ocean for three weeks was not trying enough for two weary passengers and Karen Marie being pregnant, the trip from New York by railroad was not very comfortable either. The year was barely two years following the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad (May 1869). Although surely much easier than by oxcart or handcart, you can imagine this ride would not have been comfortable either. The fare in the summer of 1869 was $150 for first dass and $70 for immigrant. By June, 1870 from New York to San Francisco­ had dropped to $136 for first dass a, S100 for second class, and $65 for third class or immigrant. First Class meant a Pullman sleeping car but immigrants sat on a bench. We can only imagine which category Hans and Karen would be traveling.

Thus begins our story of Hans Peter Jensen and his wife Karen Marie Nielsen Jensen in America.

>>Part 2