Jens Jensen was born in a small country town in Denmark called Horsens, on Sept 21, 1848. His parents, Jens Samuelsen and his wife Karen, made their living doing farm work. Jens was the 7th child in a family of 11 children. Obedience, honesty, and reverence for God was taught. When he was seven years old, he was hired out to herd geese. At that time people were not hired out for a day, week, or month, but by six months or a year at a time. Jens continued to work for this family until he was 22, when he was called into the Kings service in training for a soldier. After two years of service, he came back to work for the same people.
About this time Jens met Marie, who as born on February11th, 1853, in Sulsted, Denmark, as the oldest child in a family of six. Her parents were Jens Rasmussen and Jensine Christiane, and Marie had been raised in poor circumstances. Marie would be hired out during the summer and then come home in the winter to take care of her sick mother. Jensine finally died, leaving a baby nine months old. The children were sent out to relatives and Marie was again hired out. Jens remarried and the children were gathered back together again, but met and married Jens Jensen. Marie was trained in tailoring and dress making. She bought a sewing machine and became very efficient in sewing.
Jens and Marie were married on June 5th, 1876. They stayed in the country for a short time, but soon decided they could live better if they moved to the city of Aalborg, which they did about 1877. Marie went to work in a laundry to help get bedding and furnishings for the new apartment in the city, while Jens worked as a mason for the same contractor for eighteen years. He was a very efficient brick layer and cement worker and became foreman of the men working for the contractor. Marie lost her first three babies due to overwork, so she quit work to care for her next baby and six more children were born to them during the 1880s and early 1890s.
About 1891, Andrew Jensen, a missionary from America came to their home. This was Jens's childhood neighbor from Horsins who had embraced the gospel and emigrated to Utah, then came back to serve a mission in Denmark. He vowed that as soon as he came to Denmark he would find Jens and Marie and share the gospel with them, which he did. Marie knew right away that it was true. Many afternoons were spent discussing the gospel principles and when Jens came home the discussions continued long into the night. The gospel was a great comfort to them because their 4-year-old girl had died in 1888. Her death had given them much sorrow because they didn't know if they would ever see her again. On June 26th, 1892, Jens and Marie were baptized. They lost all of their friends and most of their relatives when they joined the church. About this time, a niece and nephew of Marie's came from Russia where their parents were working and had sent their children to Denmark for schooling. Since Jens and Marie were Mormons, the niece and nephew were sent to a different relative in the city. The relative didn't send the children to school, so later they came to live with Jens and Marie. These children also learned of the gospel and later when their parents returned from Russia, all were baptized into the church.
Now the spirit of the gathering to Zion came to Jens and Marie, but they didn't have enough money for a family of seven to travel to Zion. When Andrew Jensen was released to come home, he offered to bring the oldest child, a girl of 13 (Kate) and give her a home until Jens and Marie could come. So Kate was sent 7,000 miles away. This was a great trial and test of faith on their part. Kate left with Andrew Jensen on April 26th, 1893, and Marie was very lonesome for her. On July 24th, 1893, Christine was born to them. A missionary from Brigham City, L.F. Johnson, said when he came home that he would send for James, their next oldest, now 11 years old. On August 11th, 1893, James was sent with strangers to Zion. This was hard for Jens and Marie, but their faith kept them going. They worked hard. Besides Jens's usual work in the day time, he was janitor in evenings for a large club house, and firing the furnace in a church. He also had such jobs as white washing to make more money so the time could come soon when the rest of the family could come to join the children already in Zion. Their daughter, Johanna, remembered sitting on a chair in the meeting house to be named, since the sprinkling of infants, such as she had, wasn't correct. How they prayed to the Lord to help them come to Utah! Johanna was baptized on May 21st, 1894, at nearly midnight in the Linafjord. Someone walked over the railroad bridge crossing the fjord and everyone was quiet at the waters edge underneath the bridge so they wouldn't get caught.
On July 24th, 1895, the family left Denmark to come to Utah. It took nearly a month. The family was very seasick on the voyage. They sailed from Aalborg to Copenhagen, then crossed the North Sea, then spent five days in Glasgow waiting for the steamer to take them across the Atlantic. They spent 12 days crossing the Atlantic Ocean, landing in New York Harbor in the afternoon. Jens was very sick and all their belongings had been taken from the ship and placed in a large warehouse where all the trunks were opened and the custom agent searched them for anything that wasn't allowed. Marie discovered that their bedding with the other sacks were missing, so she hunted through the warehouse until she found it. With two large rolls and sacks and with the baby on one arm, dragging bedding with the other, she finally got them to the rest of their luggage where Jens sat in terrible pain. Mary and Johanna sat with Jens, not daring to leave him for fear they would be lost. They traveled eight days by train to Utah. They ate food that they had brought from Aalborg. The family arrived in Manti on August 18th and in Centerfield on August 22, 1895, where they went to the home of Andrew Jensen. Kate had gone to live in Sterling with Bishop C.N. Christensen, whose wife was in and needed help (Kate had been there for two years). People were good to the family, but Johanna remembered being mercilessly teased by the other children for her clothing and accent.
Life was very different to their way of living in Denmark, but their testimony and love of the gospel made them feel it was a better way. Work was scarce, and no one had money to pay for hired help. Jens took whatever jobs he could get to support his family, but it was hard to get food and clothes. They were blessed of the Lord and conditions became better. They added to their house and planted trees and a garden. James came home from Brigham City, but later went back here and married. The girls married in Centerfield. Jens and Marie were worn out. They went to live with Johanna, where Jens died on July 14th, 1918. Marie lived with Johanna for another five years, then went back to the home that Jens had built for her. Her sons-in-law built Marie a home next to Johanna's, so Marie went to live there. She died on November 15th, 1933. Her last deed while conscious was to pay her tithing. She tried to be perfect in every way. Kindness and honesty were her watchwords and motto.
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