Karen Sophie Pedersdatter

  Generelle notater:

Hun blev født den 3 juni 1852, døbt i kirken den 1 august 1852, datter af husmand Peder Hansen og hustru Trine Henningsdatter af Stensby.
(Kilde: Kalvehave kirkebog 1848-1859, opslag 88, Præstø amt).

My grandmother, Sophia Hansen, was born on the island of Sjælland, Denmark, on June 3, 1852. Her home was but a few miles from the city of Cophenhagen and a quarter of a mile from the sea. She was the ninth child of a family of ten. At the ago of 16 years she joined the L.D.S. Church. She was baptized in the Baltic Sea on December 13, 1868. Because of hatred and persecution toward those adhering to the Mormon faith she was baptised at 12 o'clock at night. The sea was frozen with a foot of ice which needed to be cut away for the baptism to be performed.

Just a few days after her 17th birthday she started west. She was accompanied by her brother, Hans J who had been a seaman, her mother and two sisters. They sailed from Copenhagen to London, from there to Liverpool by train. Then on Thursday, July 15th set sail on board the steamship, Minnesota, for New York. On board the ship were about 600 Latter Day Saints with C.C. Olsen in charge. After 12 days on the Atlantic they arrived at Castle Garden, New York harbor, July 28th, 1869. Here they were held in quarantine for two weeks. From New York they traveled by to Omaha. Here again they camped in box cars for several days. Finally they arrived at Taylor Switch, Ogden on August 6th, 1868. Remaining in Ogden but a few days they the traveled by wagen to Salt Lake City and then to Provo.

The long and tedious journey was too much for the young lady so that she became quite ill and was some time in regaining her heath. Upon arriving in Provo she was placed in the home of Peter Madsen. There was also at this time an Indian girl living with them at the Madsen home so she and the Indian girl soon because acquainted. In about a year and a half she left Provo and came to Mound Fort, Ogden, Utah. On June 3rd of that year she was eighteen years old. On the following July 4th she was married to James Jensen at Five Points.

James Jensen. the son of Peter C. Jensen and Annie Hansen was born in Hjorslow, Denmark on June 10th 1853. There were but two children in the family, himself and his sister who died as as a baby.. In company with his mother and father he joined the church and startrd west at the age of nine. From Copenhagen they sailed to Hamberg, Germany. On on Tuesday the 15th day of April 1862 in company with 410 other Scandinavian Saints the boy James and his mother and father set sail from Hamburg on the sailing vessel Franklin for New York. The Latter Day Saints were under the charge of Christian Madsen. After being tossed around on the Atlantic for six weeks and two days, during which time much sickness and hardship were endured and during which an epidemic of measles broke out, which took the lives of 50 children. On May 29th they landed in New York Harbor.

James' given name at bith was Jens Petersen. It was the custom in Denmark to name each child of the family a different name. They didn't have a family name like we do. When James' folks discovered the custom in American they changed his name to James Jensen, thus taking his father's last name.

From New York they traveled by rail to Florence, Nabraska, arriving there on June 9th. Here they organized the first independantly owned and outfitted companies to cross the plains. The company was still in command of Madsen and and was augmented most of the time by the company of Ola N. Liljenquist, whose company had sailed from Hamburg a week later than Maden's.

500 immigrants with 80 wagons began the long trek across the plains. It was a long hard trip and at times it seemed as if the journey would never end, yet it was a magnificent adventure for a boy of nine years. He was seeing a new world, new adventure, buffalo, deer, bear and indians. They were Black Hawk Indians and they liked longed haired scalps.

They started the long journey in spring and it was fall when they arrived. It was on Tuesday, September 23rd, 1862 when they arrived in Salt Lake City. From Salt Lake James and his parents went to Pleasant Grove, then to Mt. Pleasant and on to Fort Ephraim. In 1864 his mother died and his father decided to return to Omaha. Omaha was a town with about 25 adobe huts and business shacks. Here the boy James as a means of earning his living, peddled apples from a basket carried on his arm. early in 1868 the boy prevailed upon his father to again come west. This time they came as far as Fort Benton by rail and then by wagan the balance of the journey.

At the age of 15 James went to work up Weber Canyon helping to build the grade and lay the rails for the Union Pacific that was soon to link the east to the west. Later he came to Mound Fort. Here he met his future wife and they were married on July 4th, 1870. They lived at Mound Fort for a time, then moved to Harrisville and some three years later to Pleasant View.

It was about 1877 that he started selling dry goods and merchandise. Loading his wagon at Ogden he made trips to various parts of the country, especially down to Sevier County, taking as pay for his goods, mostly eggs and grain. Later he made a headquarters for his store in the old brick house that stood in a field on the Willard Gragun Farm. Here Mrs. Jensen kept the store and cared for the family while he operated the store wagan. From here they moved to the old adobe building that stood on the spot where Gragun brick store now stands. The abobe store, well stocked at the time, burned down in 1893, bringing him a loss of $2000.00. At various ties he had as partners while in the merchandise business, Edward W. Wade and Wily C. and Wilson Cragun. He shipped the first car of fruit in Weber County.

After retiring from the general merchadise business and up to the time of his death he engaged in growing and shipping fruit and produce. He was Superintendent of the school but never had any education. He and Sophia were parents of ten children.

James Jensen had the reputation of being an honest and trustworthy man. It had always been his code to be such. He was a great lover of nature and any work that had to do with it. He was never one to complain. If the weather was extremely hot or bitter cold, it was all right with him. If he didn't feel as well as he might, no one ever knew about it. Until the last year or so of his life he had enjoyed extremely good health. Even then, with a cancer gradually taking his life, he refused to give up. He insisted on being in the fields helping to see to the harvesting of the crops. He and his youngest son, Joseph, worked together on their farms. It wasn't until the very last that he became that he became so ill he was confined to his home. Nature was his joy, but the laws of nature soon claimed him. He passed away at 6 A.M. Tuesday April 24, 1934.

Sophia Jensen was a wonderful housekeeper and cook. She was immaculate about herself. Even in her last years she loved nice clothes and jewelry. She was very particular about her hair and always powdered her face when going out. She loved to garden and until she passed away she spent a great deal of time with her flowers. She had one fault, that of complaining. She always seem to have something wrong with her physically, but her active life contradicted this to a certain extant. She was a very thoughtful person. There was never a birthday or Christmas that she didn't remember her children and most of her grandchildren with some little remembrance. She loved to shop. There was seldom a Saturday came but she went to Ogden for the day. It didn't matter whether it was mid-winter or the heat of July, she still went.

Her cupboards always contained lot's of good things to eat. At 11:30 A.M. on the 23rd of May 1933 she passed, a year and a month after the death of her husband.

The Life Summary of Karen Sophie
When Karen Sophie Pedersdatter was born on 3 June 1852, in Stensby, Præstø, Denmark, her father, Peder Hansen, was 46 and her mother, Eva Cathrine Henningsdatter, was 41. She married Jens Pedersen on 4 July 1870, in Mound Fort, Ogden, Weber, Utah Territory, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 6 daughters. She lived in Kalvehave, Bårse, Præstø, Denmark in 1860 and North Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States in 1880. She died on 23 May 1935, in Pleasant View, Weber, Utah, United States, at the age of 82, and was buried in Ben Lomond Cemetery, North Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.

  Begivenheder i hendes liv:

• Bopæl, 1860, Kalvehave, Bårse, Præstø, Danmark.

• Konfirmation, 1866, Kalvehave, Præstø, Danmark.

• Indvandring, Jul. 1869.

• Udvandring, 10 Jul. 1869, Ogden, , Utah, United States.

• Bopæl, 1880, North Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.

• Udvandring: Liverpool to NYC (after coming from Copenhagen to Liverpool), 15 Jul. 1869, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, United Kingdom.

• Indvandring: arriving from liverpool, 28 Jul. 1869, New York City, New York, United States.

• Bopæl, 1910, Pleasant View, Weber, Utah, United States.

• Bopæl, 1920, Pleasant View, Weber, Utah, United States.

• Bopæl, 1930, Pleasant View, Weber, Utah, United States.

Karen blev gift med Jens Pedersen, søn af Peder Christian Jensen og Anne Hansdatter, den 4 Jul. 1870 i Mound Fort, Weber, Utah, USA. (Jens Pedersen blev født den 17 Jun. 1853 i Serridslev, Hjørring, Danmark, dåb den 9 Jul. 1853 i Serridslev, Hjørring, Danmark, døde den 24 Apr. 1934 i Pleasant View, Weber Utah, USA og blev begravet den 26 Apr. 1934 i Ben Lomond Cem. North Ogden, USA.)