Individual Details
(21 May 1840 - 26 Jan 1920)
History of Christen Pedersen Compiled by Lloyd R. Pierson From material left to me by my mother, Alta Peterson Pierson and other sources as noted There is disagreement in the family as to how the name should be spelled. Each is entitled to his own opinion. I have corresponded with a man who is a native of Denmark living in Vust. He is writing a history of the area and one of the family farms he is listing in his history is that farm where our Christian(Christen) grew up. The parents are the same as our Christian Petersen, as are his birthday and the year he immigrated. I am satisfied that my great-grandfather that settled in Manti was Danish and his name was Christen Pedersen. He changed his spelling after he arrived in the U.S. Christen Pedersen was born 27 May 1840 in Holm Thisted, Denmark. He was the second child of Peder Christian Christensen and Maren Mortensen. He had three brothers and two sisters. His mother died in 1855 and his father married Anne Thomsen. Eight children, four daughters and four sons were born to this union. He heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ from Mormon missionaries, received a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel, and was baptized into the Church 22 October 1862. He was the only member of his family who accepted the gospel. He had to forsake home and family for accepting the message of the hated Mormons. He told the following story of this event: After I was baptized and came home, my Mother detected that something was wrong, and inquired as to the reason. I then told her that I had joined the Mormon church. She said, “I could have guessed that.” She told me that I had better leave before my Father came home, but I said that I would rather tell him myself, which I did. Father then ordered me from the house without any supper, or without any of my personal things. My mother gave me permission to sleep in one of the outbuilding that night. After Father had retired, Mother brought me a quilt and a bowl of bread and milk. I lef t before daylight and that was the last I saw of my family. Christen worked at whatever job he could find until he had sufficient funds to immigrate and came to Utah in 1864. In 1840 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints established a system for bringing converts, who wished to come, from Europe to wherever the Church was located. Eventually this gathering place was Utah. The Church made all of the arrangements for their travel, but required that each convert make financial arrangements. Between 1840 and 1890, 452 ships were chartered and a total of 91,517 Saints were transported from foreign countries to the USA and then on to Utah by land. In July 2000 a compact disc was published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints containing all of the known details about these voyages. Included are the passenger lists(Saints only) for each voyage and such personal accounts kept by the passengers as could be located. The extraction and recording of these records in preparation for publication were, for the most part, done by members of the Family History Center at Ricks College located in Rexburg, Idaho. The records used in making this CD were personal voyage accounts, the European Emigration Card Index, European mission registers, LDS publications, and customs lists. The compact disc is entitled, Mormon Immigration Index and is available in many Family History Centers and may be purchased at most Church Distribution Centers. The compact disc is designed to be searched by computer. The researcher can search for an individual by giving his name, year of birth and year of embarkation. In entering the name to be searched for it must be remembered that a mission recorder took the information from the person boarding the ship and then wrote it in the register. He spelled the names as they sounded to him, I entered: Christian Pedersen, born in 1840 and departed from Europe in 1864. The computer found an individual: Christen Pedersen from Denmark born in 18 40 and left for America in 1864. The dates match and Christen certainly is close in sound to Christian, therefore, I have extracted the following from the CD, including some personal accounts written by other people on the journey. Christen would have had similar experiences. From the general notes that were kept about preparations for leaving Liverpool, England: On April 13, 1864, the English steamer 'Sultana' sailed from Copenhagen, Denmark, with 353 emigrants from different conferences in Denmark, excepting a few from Fredericia, who, on account of the war, had to go direct to Hamburg. This company was in charge of President Jesse N. Smith, who returned home from a successful mission to Scandinavia. Elder John Smith, who on account of poor health had labored in the mission office in Copenhagen, and Christoffer Holberg, who had labored in Sweden, also left with this company, returning to their homes in Zion. The following Elders who had presided over conferences, were among the emigrants; Niels C. Edlefsen, Peter C. Geertsen, Peter C. Carstensen, Nils C. Flygare, Anders Swedlund, Jens Hansen, Lars Nilsson, Anders Pontus Soderborg and Jens C. Olsen. A number of the traveling elders, who had diligently labored in the ministry, also emigrated with this company. On Tuesday, April 26th, the ship 'Monarch of the Sea' cleared for sailing, and on Thursday, April 28th, sailed from Liverpool, England, with 973 souls on board. Patriarch John Smith was chosen president of the company with Elders John D. Chase, Johan P. R. Johansen and Parley P. Pratt, junior, as his counselors. Elders were also appointed to take charge of the different divisions of the company. During the voyage there was considerable sickness and some deaths, mostly of children. In the morning of June 3rd the 'Monarch of the Sea' arrived at New York where the landing of the emigrants at Castle Garden at once took place. In the evening they boarded a steamer for Albany, N. Y., and from there they t raveled by train to St. Joseph, Missouri; thence by steamer up the Missouri River to Wyoming, Nebraska, from which place most of the Scandinavian Saints were taken to the Valley by Church teams, of which 170 were sent out by the Church that season. Thus about four hundred Scandinavian emigrating Saints crossed the plains in Captain William B. Preston's company of about 50 Church teams, that left Wyoming, Nebraska, in the beginning of June, and arrived in Salt Lake City, Sept. 15, 1864. This description of this ship were taken from the book, Ships, Saints, and Mariners by Conway B. Sonne Ship:1979 tons: 223' x 44' x 24' Built: 1854 by Roosevelt Coyce & Co. at New York City, New York Of the Mormon companies crossing the water under sail, the two largest were transported over the Atlantic in the largest sailing ship used by the Saints– the Monarch of The Sea. According to one of these passengers, “she was an excellent vessel, large, roomy, new and clean.” The first company, consisting of 955 Saints, sailed from Liverpool on 16 May 1861. Elder Jabez Woodard Presided over the passengers, which included some returning missionaries. His counselors were Elders Hans O. Hansen and Niels Wilhelmen. The second company, totaling 974 Saints, sailed from Liverpool on 28 April 1864. Elder John Smith, patriarch to the church, was in charge of the emigrants. His counselors were Elders John D. Chase, Johan P. R. Johansen, and Parley P. Pratt Jr. This company represented many nations, particularly Scandinavia. Although the voyage of thirty-six days was quite peasant, the death toll was unusually high, forty-five according to George Q. Cannon and forty-one according to the passenger list. Most of those who died were apparently children. The ship arrived at New York on 3 June. A big three-decker, this clipper ship was exceptionally strong and fast and operated in the Washington Line out of New York. Built with the usual three masts, a round stern, and billethead. After more tha n a quarter of a century in service the Monarch of the Sea was reported lost in 1880. Christen resided in Ephraim, Utah for one year and then in 1865 came to Manti where he worked at anything he could until he had enough money to buy a farm. He eventually accumulated 50 acres. He farmed and raised livestock. He married Berte Marie Madsen about 1867 and they were sealed in the Endowment House in 1869. To them two children were born, Mary and Christen. Mary died at the age of 15 months and his wife died 25 June 1873. He was left with a little boy three years old. He married Helena Margrethe Nielsen 1 October 1873 in the Endowment House. To this marriage were born six children, three sons and three daughters. He owned one half block in the southeast part of town, now sixth south and between first and second east. When he first came to Manti he lived in a dug out or cellar. It was here he lived with his first wife and after his marriage to his second wife they lived in the dug out until after their second child was born. Before the birth of their third child, he had built a large adobe home. This was one of the nicest homes in the town at that time. They planted an orchard consisting of all types of fruit trees. They also planted all types of berries and raised a large garden. This along with their grain, livestock, and poultry made them self sustaining. They washed and carded their own wool, made batts for quilts, spun wool into yarn and made their stockings and material for their clothing. They saved their worn out clothing, washed and dyed it, and then cut and sewed it into strips. These strips they made into carpets and rugs. The parent-child relationship in this home was ideal. There was no partiality shown toward any of the children from the oldest to the youngest. Love and understanding was the governing factor in their home. So great was the love of Christen Pedersen and his wife toward young people that it not only included their own family, but all the f riend
Events
| Birth | 21 May 1840 | Vust Holm, Vust, Thisted, Denmark | |  | |
| Christen | 7 Jun 1840 | Vust, Thisted, Denmark | | | |
| Marriage | 1867 | Manti, Sanpete, Utah, United States - Birthe Marie Madsen | | | |
| Marriage | 29 Sep 1873 | Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA - Helena ( Elene) Margrethe Nielsen | | | |
| Death | 26 Jan 1920 | Manti, Sanpete, Utah, USA | | | |
| Burial | 29 Jan 1920 | Manti, Sanpete, Utah, United States | | | |
Families
Endnotes