Maren Mikkelsen1795-1856The Mormon Pioneer from Albek

PREFACE

MAREN MIKKELSEN is the mother of Elsie Marie Jensen Peterson. Elsie Marie became the wife of Lars Peter Peterson in Albek or Albæk, Denmark, on November 26th 1852. Elsie Marie Peterson’s oldest daughter is Anna Marie Peterson (Annie), who came to Utah with her parents and two brothers in October 1862 after sailing across the ocean to New York Harbor. Annie Peterson married Jens L. Peterson, also from Denmark. Their youngest son is George Peterson, who was born in 1885 in Richfield, Utah. George Peterson’s surviving children, who had families of their own are Iris who married Lloyd Sheets and is the mother of Gary Sheets; George Vernon, who went by Vernon and married Virginia Erickson; Maurine, who married Morris Cooper and then Lavell Gleave; and Jean, who married Wayne Edward Roberts and then Donald Henderson of Livingston, Montana.

Maren Mikkelsen is the grandmother of my great grandmother, Annie Marie Peterson; so she is my Great Great Great Grandmother. Her father is Michel Pedersen of Vorsaa, Albek, Denmark. So her maiden name would be Michelsdatter or Michelsen. However her last name of Mikkelsen is used on the LDS listing of the William Hodgett Ox Train Company roster at the Mormon Handcart Park at Martin’s Cove in Wyoming. This is because this is her new married name. She was traveling with her second husband, Ole Mikkelsen, whose name is listed right above hers. He is only 42 and she is 61. Her name is written in gold because she died while crossing the plains with the ox train company. No further record has been found of Ole Mikkelen, so it has been assumed that he might have traveled back to Denmark or to some other location where Danish immigrants were gathering.

It was about 10 years ago, while living here in Georgia that I learned that Maren Mikkelsen was a Latter-Day Saint and that she was a Mormon Handcart Pioneer. I was working at the Jonesboro Family History Center on Wednesday night as I have done for years while living here. I was looking at LDS genealogical records on CD’s. I was looking at the pedigree listing of Lars Peter Peterson and his wife, Elsie Marie Jensen Peterson. I know that her mother was Maren. But as I looked at her mother’s listed data, I noticed her Death Date was simply 1856. But her Death Place listing gave me a great surprise revealing information I had never known. Her Death Place was “crossing the plains with the Wm. Hodgett Ox Train Company.” That was the first time that I had ever known that she had personally joined the Mormon Church and that she had made a noble effort to gather with the Saints in Zion in the Great Salt Lake Valley. Since then I also learned that her younger daughter, Johanna Marie Jensen, was immigrating at the same time but with the Willie Handcart Company because she was younger, age 21, and much more capable of walking all 1300 miles than was her 61 year old mother. It was easy to find their baptism date now that I knew that I should look for it. They were baptized on April 9th 1855. Also, Johanna Marie Jensen became Mrs. John Paternoster Squires in Salt Lake City in 1857. She became the mother of five children—two who lived to bear children of their own.

Maren Mikkelsen’s oldest daughter, Elsie Marie Jensen Peterson, came to Utah with her husband in 1862. Three of their seven children survived. I am a descendant of their oldest daughter, Anne Marie, who married Jens Peterson and had a son, George Peterson.

GEORGE VERNON PETERSON JR. “BUD” September 2010 Updated February 2014

1

Updated and RevisedFebruary 2014

George Vernon Peterson Jr.

The Saintly Widow of Albæk—Maren MikkelsenMaren Mikkelsen of Albæk, became a widow on March 16th 1842, when her husband, Jens Thorsen, passed away. At that time her oldest daughter, Elsie Marie, was 9 years old and her youngest, Johanna Marie, was almost 7. Maren had grown up in the rural area of Albæk, and was now raising a family of her own there—Albek would be a good English way to spell and pronounce the rural’s city’s name. Anyway, Maren and her husband had been married for 18 years. It took them six years before they had their first child—a boy named Thor Jensen after his father in the unique Danish way—Thor Jensen was the son of Jens Thorsen, but her only lived for ten months. Then their first daughter, Elsie Marie Jensen, or Jensdatter, came along three years after that in 1833; then Johanna Marie Jensen, two years after that in 1835. The place of birth is this area often listed as Fourholt, Albæk, Hjorring, Denmark. A stone—The Fourholt Rock—with the Fourholt inscription can still be found in that area as can be seen on page 24.

The Book of Mormon was translated from English to Danish in 1850 and Mormon missionaries began visiting the communities—especially the rural areas—of the Kingdom of Denmark. Many converts to the Mormon Church—including Maren Mikkelsen, her husband, Ole Mikkelsen, and her daughter, Johanna Marie Jensen—sailed from Aalborg or Copenhagen, Denmark, and from there sailed to Kiel, Germany, and then took a train to Hamburg. Then from there they sailed to Liverpool in 1856 and joined up with many emigrating Saints from the British Isles or directly to New York City as Maren’s oldest daughter, Elsie Marie and her husband, Lars Peter Peterson, did with their family in 1862. Then taking the railroad far west to its ending at Iowa City in 1856 and then creating wagon trains or handcart companies for the last 1300 miles to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Maren Mikkelsen was one of those Danish citizens who invited the Mormon Elders into her home to hear the good news about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter days through the Prophet Joseph Smith. She was able to verify the truthfulness of these teachings through the prayerful reading of the Book of Mormon. At this time, Maren’s youngest daughter, at age 19, was still at home. So Johanna Marie also got to listen in on the teachings of the Mormon Elders. Maren’s oldest daughter, Elsie Marie, was now married to Lars Peter Peterson since November 26th 1852, but they also lived in that rural farming area of Albæk. They then had two children, Annie Marie, almost two, and James Christian was just half a year old.

It was on April 9th 1855 that both Grandma Maren and her youngest daughter, Johanna Marie, were baptized there in Albæk in a nearby stream. Elsie Marie was disappointed because she could not be baptized at the time. She was not able to get the approval of her husband, Lars Peter, and so all she could do was to watch as her mother and her younger sister were baptized by the Mormon Elders and see them confirmed as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Johanna was baptized just eight days before she turned 20 on April 17th 1855. Her mother, Grandma Maren, had just turned 60 years old back on March 16th.

In a letter from Church headquarters dated October 29th 1855, known as the Thirteenth General Epistle from the First Presidency—Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Jedidiah M. Grant—sent to all the Church membership, the call was given for the European Saints to come to Utah by handcarts the following season starting in the springtime of 1856. During the previous growing in Utah there had been a draught causing a slowdown in the repayments to the Perpetual Emigration Fund made Saints who had

2

already gathered there. Therefore the Church did not have sufficient funds to help assist all who wanted to come in wagons pulled by oxen. Brigham Young felt impressed with the concept of handcart usage and the reduced cost it would be for emigrating saints to make the gathering. And he was right, by the time all 10 handcart companies had made their way to Utah there would be about 3000 saints who had gathered to the Latter Day Saint’s Zion that was radiating from the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

Also the author has been deeply impressed beginning back in 1997 when our stake put on Goin’ to Zion as part of the Church’s Sesquicentennial Celebration that one of the reasons for the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies to be caught in the early snows of Wyoming and to suffer so was so that we, as a people, would never forget the Handcart Pioneers and even imitate them with our youth reenactments so that as a people we will be ready to use Handcarts to travel with our food storage to Independence, Missouri, for the building of the New Jerusalem—our first of many Cities of Zion. Gas will not be readily available because of the wickedness of men.

Twenty years earlier in a letter to the elders of the Church in September 1835, the Prophet Joseph Smith addressed the importance of a physical, literal gathering of saints in the latter days with these words, “the subject of gathering—is a principle I esteem to be of the greatest importance to those who are looking for salvation in this generation, or in these, that may be called, “the latter times.” All that the prophets…have written…in speaking of the salvation of Israel in the last days, goes directly to show that it consists in the work of gathering.” (see Fire of the Covenant by Gerald N. Lund, Book 2)

There are two very important reasons for the literal gathering of Israel in the last days. First, it is for strength, protection and defense; and second, for the building of Temples as happens whenever Israel gathers in righteousness.

Sailing to America

On April 23rd 1856, a large steamer left Copenhagen, Denmark, loaded with emigrating saints from both Norway and Denmark (see Fire of the Covenant, page 72). “On Wednesday, April 23, 1856, under the leadership of Elder Johan A. Ahmanson, 161 emigrating Saints bound for Utah, sailed from Copenhagen per steamship ‘Rhoda’. The route taken by this company of emigrants was by steamer to Kiel, by railroad to Hamburg, by steamer to Grimsby in England and by railroad to Liverpool. The company arrived safe and well at Liverpool, April 29th. On Sunday, May 4, 163 Scandinavian emigrants sailed from Liverpool per ship ‘Thornton’, together with about 600 Saints from Great Britian….” (www.lib.buy.edu/mormonemigration/voyage.php)

Grandma Maren Mikkelsen (age 61), her second husband, Ole Mikkelsen (age 42), and her daughter, Johanna Marie Jensen (age 21) were with these 161 Scandinavian emigrants who came to Liverpool to join four more companies of Mormon emigrants form the British Isles to sail on the Thornton to New York City.

On May 4th 1856, 764 Mormon emigrants sailed from Liverpool, England on the Thornton. Most of these emigrants were from the British Isles. But one hundred of them were Scandinavians from Denmark and Norway. Grandma Maren Mikkelsen, Ole Mikkelsen, and Johanna Marie Jensen were with this group which was led by Johan Ahmanson, from Sweden, who moved to Denmark, joined the Church and served a mission in Norway. He could speak the Swedish/Danish/Norwegian languages as well as English. The appointed priesthood leader over the entire emigration ship was Elder James G. Willie, who was returning home to Utah after serving a four-year mission in the British Isles. Instructions given to the whole group on board the ship were that the voyage of the Thornton would take about six weeks, they would be sailing to New York City, from there they would go by railway to the Great Lakes, then take a steamer across the

3

lakes to Chicago, then back on to the railway to Rock Island to cross the Mississippi River, and then on to Iowa City, where the railway ends. At Iowa City, there would be Church agents—also who were missionaries returning home from England—who have gone ahead to prepare things to their arrival.

During the six week crossing, the daily schedule was to rise at six A.M. and retire at nine P.M. Morning prayers were at seven, evening prayers half an hour before lights out. Worship services were daily at two P.M. and Sabbath day services were held each week also. General instructions were to conduct selves as disciples of the Master.

Excerpts from Journal and Autobiographies of Members of the James G. Willie Company From Liverpool to Iowa City

“Soon after leaving Liverpool, the emigrants were divided into seven wards or districts, over each of which a presiding officer was appointed. During the voyage Captain Collins was very kind to the emigrants, allowing them a great many extra privileges which were duly appreciated by them. He also gave the elders full liberty to preach and hold meetings on board as often as they pleased, and frequently he, together with the ship’s physician, and other officers were attentive listeners to the preaching and joined in singing the songs of Zion. Considerable sickness prevailed among the emigrants of whom a number were old and sickly. Seven deaths, three births and two marriages took place on board…”(www.liv.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php--General Voyage Notes)

“The sea voyage took 6 weeks and several deaths occurred and once the ship was in a calm and the Saints fasted and prayed and the Lord showed forth his power in our behalf. He also came to our deliverance in a terrible storm, when the ship caught fire and we called on Him for our preservation. Food was at a premium. One week was so stormy, that the ship was driven back 500 miles. Six weeks was a long time to live aboard ship, in cramped quarters. However, our Captain didn’t ill treat us, but he was a very cruel man and we were many times pained by witnessing his abuse to his crew. In a way, this experience strengthened us for our more severe trials ahead.” (www.liv.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php--Autobiography of Ann Jewel Rowley)

“During the passage a number of meetings were held, both for preaching and amusement, and the captain was very particular in not permitting the sailors to disturb these gatherings. Before disembarking written testimonies were exchanged between the Saints, the captain and the ship’s physician, expressing the good feeling and pleasant cordial understanding which had prevailed between all concerned during the entire voyage. The captain and doctor, in trying to respond to the testimonials tendered them were both overcome by their feelings and shed tears of emotion. On the fourteenth of June, the Thornton arrived at New York, and a tug boat landed the emigrants at Castle Garden, where they were kindly received by Apostle John Taylor and Elder Nathaniel H. Felt. On the seventeenth of June, the company left New York and travel by rail to Dunkirk, N. (New) Y. (York) where they boarded the steamer Jersey City and sailed to Toledo, Ohio, where they arrived on the twenty-first. The following day they reached Chicago. While at Toledo the emigrants were treated unkindly by the railway hands. On the twenty-third the company left Chicago by rail in two divisions, one leaving a few hours after the other. At Pond Creek the emigrants learned that the bridge at Rock Island had collapsed while a train passed over it. Apostle Erastus Snow and other elders from Utah were on the train when the accident happened, but escaped unhurt. On the twenty-sixth of June emigrants continued the journey from Pond Creek and arrive at Iowa City the same day.” (www.liv.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php--General Voyage Notes)

4

“Sun. 4 (May 1856) The ship Thornton sailed from Liverpool, England, with 764 Saints, under the direction of James G. Willie. It arrived at New York June 14th, and the emigrants, continuing the journey by rail at Iowa City, June 26th.”

“We arrived in Liverpool the following day, April 30 (1856), at half past two o’clock, and we took our lodging in the New York (hotel in Liverpool). We afterwards went to rise at five o’clock to look after the luggage which was lying in the steamer all night, and we brought it to the ship the same day. We entered the ship and got our birth and our beds made up and slept in the vessel that night.”

“ May the 2nd (1856)—The ship was taken out of the dock at seven in the morning. Nothing particular transpired this day. We lay in the river all day.”

“Sunday morning the fourth of May (1856) at four o’clock we started for sea. We had a good meeting in the forenoon up on deck. We had some good instructions from Brother Willie on obedience and cleanliness. He is President over all the Saints in the ship and is very kind in looking after the Saints that are sick.”

“Monday the 5th (1856) we had fair winds and we sailed fast all day. On account of high wind and the rocking of the vessel, there was good deal of sickness. We were spoken to by another ship. When tow days at sea we had seen several other vessels at a distance. I may mention that we had a birth on Friday night.”

“Tuesday the 6th (1856) wind and sickness much of the day.”

“Wednesday the 7th (1856) sickness greatly abated. This night there was one death of an old woman from the Cheltham Conference in England, age 75 years.”

“Thursday the 8th (May 1856) most of all the Saints is able to be on deck as the sickness is leaving them very fast and as there is not much wind. The old woman that died yesterday was buried in the water at ten o’clock, and another death took place this day. She was a Danish girl, age 7 years. She died at two o’clock p.m. same day. We had another birth on Wednesday the 7th, being the second we have had as yet.”

“Friday the 9th (May) and Saturday the 10th (1856) the wind was rather contrary which caused the vessel to rock very much. Two ships seen on both these days.”

“Sunday the 11th (May 1856) the wind more favorable and the day being fine, we were called on deck. We had a first rate meeting. We were addressed by Brother Attwood and Brother Miller. After the meeting the Captain of the ship stated that we were one thousand miles from Liverpool.” (www.liv.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php--Autobiography of Archibald McPhail)

“Thursday the 15th (May 1856) the day being fine, there was a great number of us on deck and at the same time there was one of the sailors up aloft working with a spare spick—some of them are made of iron but this one was wood. He happened to let it fall, and it came down on my wife’s head, but did no great damage. However, the first mate seeing it came over and struck the sailor several blows on the face to the infusion of blood. On the same night the Captain requested all to come on deck to see some rockets he was going to set up which had a very fine appearance in the water.”

5

To the west of Liverpool is the Irish Sea, but to the south of Liverpool is the Mersey River.

“On Sunday the 18th (May 1856) being a fine day we had a good meeting on the deck.”

“Monday the 19th (May 1856) all well-a better wind.”

“Tuesday the 20th (May 1856) all well and in the afternoon a small open boat was seen at a distance from which the ship was steered and in coming to it we found it almost filled with water with no person in it, and she was split in the stern. We are now supposed to be on the banks of Newfoundland, and on the same afternoon saw a large ice barge (iceberg) but a good distance off. This same night the ship went on fire in one of the cooking houses on deck, but by good management it got out.”

“Wednesday the 21st (May 1856) all well. A ship spoken. She came within a hundred yards of us. This afternoon to (two) of the sailors had a good fight. This night we had another birth, being the third one we have had on board.” (www.liv.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php--Autobiography of Archibald McPhail)

“Thursday the 22nd (May 1856) all well. On this night or rather on the morning of Friday the 23rd (May 1856) about three o’clock it began to blow very hard and continued to increase until it blew a complete gale and continued till Monday morning about five o’clock when afterward it cleared up a fine day with not so much wind as would blow out a candle. Yesterday we saw another ship in the gale like ourself, but we only could see her now and again when she was on the top of the wave. During the gale the water stove in the glap window that was in the hatchway and came down where were in the lower deck in torrents until it went over our shoes and with the rocking of the ship it would carry with it pots, pans, kettles, and waterpots with great furry, but was moving about such heavy chests, trunks, boxes, etc., which we had to lash us tight or have our legs broken. There was one Brother the name of Laird thrown up against a chest and got his leg out of joint but got it put in the next day and is getting better very fast.”

“This day, Monday the 26th (May 1856), being very fine, all the women were called upon deck and heard a good sermon while the men stayed down below and cleaned out the ship.”

“Tuesday the 27th (May 1856) all well”

“Wednesday the 28th (May 1856) all well and a fair wind. There was another death tonight. It was a child belonging to a sister from Shropeshire Conference in England. He was about one year old. This is the third one since we left Liverpool.”

“Thursday the 29th (May 1856) The morning fine and all well. We have seen this day four large bergs of ice. Two of them seen in the forenoon and two in the afternoon. There was an accident happened this afternoon to a boy belonging to a Danish sister. He fell down the hatchway form the upper deck down to the lower one—a distance of 20 feet. He was severely injured on the head but it is thought that he will recover. We had another wedding this night. A brother and a sister from England. It was Brother Willie that married them. Brother Findley was married on Sunday the fourth, also by Brother Willie.

June 1, Sunday (1856), the day being fine, we were all up on deck and hear a good sermon from Brother Willie and Atwook and in the afternoon we came in sight of two large barges of ice.

Monday, the 2nd (1856) a fine day and fair wind. The boy that fell down the hatchway died today about eleven o’clock a.m. and was buried in the water at three o’clock p.m. the same day.

“Tuesday the 3rd (June 1856) contrary wind and in the afternoon the mist came in so they had to keep the ship bell constantly ringing.”

6

“Wednesday the 4th (June 1856) the mist of yesterday has cleared away with a better wind. Thursday all well with the exception of one death—a girl from England age ten years.”

“Friday the 6th (June 1856) a fair wind, and the Captain of the ship thinks we will be in sight of New York tomorrow. We had another death this morning, aged three years, this being the seventh we have had on board the ship.”

(McPhail, Archibald. “Archibald McPhail Comes to Zion” IN Voices From the Past: Dairies, Journals and Autobiographies, comp. by Campus Education Week Program (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1980) pp.61-64)

“…on Sunday, the 4th of May, 1856, set sail in the good ship Thornton under the command of Captain Collins. It was a sailing vessel with very few conveniences. There was one cook stove for each deck and our family was allowed to use it for an hour each week. The ship’s diet was largely bean biscuit soaked overnight. This would still be dry in the center in the morning. But we were happy and after a voyage of thirty-one days we landed in New York, Saturday Evening, June 4, 1856. Our journey from New York to Iowa was by train and boat… In Iowa we were assigned to travel with a handcart company under the command of James G. Willie.” (www.liv.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php--Autobiography of John Oborn)

Journal Accounts from Iowa City with the Willie Handcart Company

“Our journey from New York to Iowa was by train and boat…. In Iowa we were assigned to travel with a handcart company under command of James G. Willie. Our one hundred was under the supervision of Millen Atwood. We left Iowa City, July 15, 1856. The train consisted of one hundred twenty handcarts, six wagons, and six hundred souls. We arrived at Florence (Winter Quarters) August 11th and a week later, after repairs to our handcarts, we started. It was very apparent that the handcarts were poorly constructed. We left Florence, following closely along the Missouri River, going about 10 miles a day. Father would usually pull and mother and I would push. At the end of the day’s journey we would pull our carts into a circle, a meeting would be held and instructions given. I was but a boy of 13 years, but I never shall forget the testimony and the wonderful spirit of sincerity and loyalty of all members of our company. (www.liv.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php--Autobiography of John Oborn)

“Our guides kept us pretty well supplied with buffalo meet, which at the time was plentiful. There were thousands. On August 29 (1856) we encountered a tribe of Indians. They were friendly to us and told us of a murder that had been committed by another tribe of Indians a few days previous to this in which a lady and her child were victims. Our train passed the scene of the murder and we buried the remains.”

“We passed through Fort Laramie on September 30 (1856), where a few supplies were bought. We soon began to realize that we had started our journey too late in the year. There were no more buffalo to be found, and our rations were getting low. We were reaching the foothills near Rock Springs. We had already had some snow and the weather conditions looked unfavorable. Our scant rations had reached the point where the amount ordinarily consumed for one meal now had to suffice for a full day. From here on it is beyond by power of description to write. God only can understand and realize the torture and privation, exposure, and starvation we went through. Now word reached us that we must hasten or winter would soon come upon us. Instead of speeding up, the weakened condition of our older members slowed us down.”

7

“Each day one or more would die. A few more days, and then came the most terrible experience of my life. This was October 20th (1856). Winter had come, snow fell continuously. Movement in any direction was practically stopped. Our scant rations were now gone. Ten or twelve of our members, faithful to the last, were buried in a single grave. Starvation was taking its toll. A day or two later my own father closed his eyes, never to wake again. He, too, had given his life cheerfully for the cause that he espoused. We buried him in a lonely grave, its spot unmarked. This was not far from Green River, Wyoming. During these terrible times it seemed only a matter of days before all would perish.”

“We resorted to eating anything that could be chewed; even bark and leaves of trees. We youngsters ate the rawhide from our boots. This seemed to sustain life. Then when it seemed all would be lost, already 66 of our members dead, like a thunderbolt out of the clear sky, God answered our prayers. A rescue party, bringing food supplies from Great Salt Lake, sent by President Brigham Young, came in sight. Those who have never had this experience cannot realize its intensity. I shoveled snow out of our tent with a tin plate belonging to my mother’s mother. We were cared for by a dear brother who was very kind to us. He seemed like an angel from heaven. We left our handcarts and rode in his wagon and slowly, but safely, he brought us to Zion. We passed through Fort Bridger on November 2, and arrived in Great Salt Lake City, November 9, 1856.”(Oborn, John, (Autobiography) Heart Throbs of the West, Comp. by Kate B. Carter, vol. 6 (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1945)pp.364-66 (CHL)

Grandma Maren Mikkelsen, Ole Mikkelsen, and Johana Marie Jensen cross the Great Plains

Maren Mikkelsen, her husband, Ole Mikkelsen, and her daughter, Johanna Marie Jensen, arrived in Iowa City—the end of the railroad west—on June 26th 1856. The Church agents there were packing up getting ready to head on to Salt Lake Valley. They were completely surprised at the arrival of the four hundred immigrating saints who were ready to build handcarts, get them supplied and begin the 1300 mile journey to the Great Salt Lake Valley. But they were even more surprised when they learned that another larger company of immigrants was about a week behind them being led by Elder Edward Martin. Apparently the letter that had been sent from England by the European mission president, Apostle Franklin D. Richards had been lost and had not been received. This was also the case with the letter that must have been sent to Brigham Young in Salt Lake City so that resupply stations could be set up along that Handcart trail as had been done for the other handcart companies of 1856. Elder Richards would be delivering the message personally to Brigham Young at the time of October Conference Before that he had passed the two groups immigrating saints from the two ships Thornton and Horizon that had left Liverpool prior to his departure. Elder Richards’ party were in fast carriages drawn quickly by horses and passed the Martin and then Willie Handcart companies on their way to Salt Lake City.

This was all that President Young needed to get the massive relief effort underway to rescue the 900 Handcart Saints out on the Plains facing the winter storms and starvation. The handcart treks were made possible because they were resupplied in places like Florence (Winter Quarters), Fort Laramie, and Fort Bridger. But there were no resupply wagons out on the Mormon Trail for the Willie and Martin companies because the last of the three anticipated companies had already arrived in the valley. No one in the West knew that these two great handcart companies were coming.

The Lord knew all of these things were happening and allowed it to happen. He always knows what is best of us and blesses the faithful accordingly. He must have a purpose in this. My personal guess is that He wants Latter-Day Saints in our day to never forget these two suffering handcart companies and to

8

keep building handcarts and to have re-enactment treks with youth and their leaders. Why? When it comes time to build our first great City of Zion in Jackson County Missouri, I believe it will be necessary for us at that time to mostly come using Handcarts! That is the impression that comes to me.

The Church agents in Iowa City did all they could do to get wood for the handcarts and to get flour to supply them. They would they used was green because there was no time to let it dry and harden. It was late in the season and they needed to be on their way as quickly as possible to avoid the winter weather as they crossed over the high Wyoming plateau and the Rocky Mountains.

When it was time for the Willie Handcart Company to leave Iowa City, the Edward Martin Company had been at Iowa City for only a couple of days. Behind the Martin Handcart Company that would be coming one week later would be two Ox Train Wagon Companies—Hodgett and Hunt. Maren Mikkelsen was 61 years old and she was encouraged to go with a wagon company so that she would not have to help push or pull a handcart. So she and her husband, Ole Mikkelsen, would leave Iowa City with the William Hodgett Ox Train Company. Her daughter, Johanna Marie Jensen, who was just 21, would continue on with the Willie Handcart Company. So on July 15th 1856, as the Willie Handcart Company left from Iowa City, Maren Mikkelsen said good-bye to Johanna Marie not knowing that that would be the last time they would greet each other in this life. Grandma Maren Mikkelsen would die while crossing the plains in 1856 with the William Hodgett Ox Train Company.

From a living descendant of Johanna Marie Jensen Squires, I have recently learned of Ole Mikkelsen, age 42, being Maren Mikkelsen’s second husband. I was thinking Mikkelsen was just a misspelling of her maiden name which would have been Maren Michelsen because her father is Michel Pedersen. But I was mistaken. Our distance Squires cousin is Sandra Jensigne Schettler Pitts—Sandra Pitts. She and her husband, Harvey, live in Salt Lake City at 628 H Street, SLC, Utah 84103-3248 and their phone number is 801-355-3193. So Ole Mikkelsen would have been with Grandma Maren at the time of her death and at the LDS Handcart Park in Wyoming his name of Ole Mikkelsen 42 is listed just above the name of Maren Mikkelsen 61. Her name is in gold because she died along the way. I also learned from Sandra J. Pitts that Grandma Maren died while traveling in Wyoming between Ash Hollow and Chimney Rock. If we could learn from the journals the day to day trek of the William Hodgett Ox Train Company then we would have a closer date the 1856 for her passing. I have seen an account that had her death as July 1856. The might be so. Sandra Pitts is the daughter of Leta Bessie Squires, who is daughter of James Jensen Squires, who is the son of Johanna Marie Jensen Squires, who is the daughter of Maren Mikkelsen. Elaine and Carvel Wayland went to visit Sandra while they were serving a Church headquarters mission in Salt Lake City. This is a picture she gave us of Johanna Marie holding a baby daughter.

In order to keep the handcarts light in weight, each individual could only take 17 pounds of personal items including bedding and pillow and changes of clothes. Many treasured items were abandoned in piles there at the Handcart Camp just south of Iowa City and the railroad. This property today is on property owned by the University of Iowa and jointly maintained by the university and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The property is located just west of Mormon Trek Boulevard that passes through the west side of the campus near sport and recreation fields.

9

Johanna Marie Jensen Squiresholding her baby daughter.

Excerpts from Journals and Autobiographies of Members of the James G. Willie Handcart Co.From Iowa City to Great Salt Lake Valley

As we traveled along (across Iowa), we presented a singular, and sometimes an affecting appearance. The young and strong went along gaily with their carts, but the old people and little children were to be seen straggling a long distance in the rear. Sometimes, when the little folks had walked as far as they could, their fathers would take them on their carts, and thus increase the load that was already becoming too heavy as the day advanced…. The most affecting scene, however, was to see a mother carrying her child at the breast, for mile after mile, until nearly exhausted. The heat was intense, and the dust suffocating, which rendered our daily journeys toilsome in the extreme…(John Chislett at www.xmission.com)

A little less than four weeks’ traveling brought us to the Missouri river. We crossed it on a steam ferry-boat, and encamped at the town of Florence, Nebraska, six miles above Omaha, where we remained about a week, making our final preparations for crossing the plains. The elders seemed to be divided in their judgment as to the practicability of our reaching Utah in safety at so late a season of the year, and the idea was entertained for a day of two of making our winter quarters on the Elkhorn, Wood river, or some eligible location in Nebraska; but it did not meet with general approval. (John Chislett at www.xmission.com)

We started from Florence about the 18th of August (1856), and travelled the same way as through Iowa, except that our carts were more heavily laden, as our teams could not haul sufficient flour to last us to Utah; it was therefore decided to put one sack (ninety-eight pounds) on each cart in addition to the regular baggage. Some of the people grumbled at this, but the majority bore it without murmur. Our flour ration was increased to a pound a day; fresh beef was issued occasionally, and each “hundred” had three or four milch cows. The flour on the carts was used first, then weakest parties being the first relieved of their burdens….(John Chislett at www.xmission.com)

We reached Laramie about the 1st or 2nd of September (1856), but the provisions, etc., which we had expected were not there for us. Captain Willie called a meeting to take into consideration our circumstances, condition, and prospects, and to see what could be done. It was ascertained that at our present rate of travel and consumption of flour, the latter would be exhausted when we were about three hundred and fifty miles from our destination! It was resolved to reduce our allowance from one pound to three-quarters of a pound a day, and at the same time to make every effort in our power to travel faster. We continued this rate of ration from Laramie to Independence Rock…(John Chislett at www.xmission.com)

We had not travelled far up the Sweetwater before the nights, which had gradually been getting colder since we left Laramie, became very severe…. Cold weather, scarcity of food, lassitude and fatigue from over-exertion, soon produced their effects. Our old and firm people began to droop, and they no sooner lost spirit and courage than death’s stamp could be traced upon their features. Life went out as smoothly as a lamp ceases to burn when the oil is gone. At first the deaths occurred slowly and irregularly, but in a few days at for frequent intervals, until we soon thought it unusual to leave a camp-ground without burying one or more persons (John Chislett at www.xmission.com)

“17 Miracles” is a great film about the Willie Handcart Company

The movie 17 Miracles was produced by T.C. Christensen and was released in 2011. It follows that account of the Willie Handcart Company. However, the miracles portrayed were collected from the journals and autobiographies of members of all ten of the epic handcart pioneer treks. Jasen Wade stars

10

as Levi Savage who advises the Willie company not to cross the plains at so late a date in the season but wait until spring arrives. Jasen Wade is married to a distant cousin of my father’s mother’s family; she is Eva Eliza Barton Peterson. This film is available on DVD from DeseretBook.com for $12.99.

The Rescue from Great Salt Lake Valley

After both the James G. Willie Company and the Edward Martin Company sailed from Liverpool, Elder Franklin D. Richards, apostle and president of the European Mission, left with a small group of men and traveled to American on a fast packet ship, landing in New Orleans. They took a riverboat up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, changed to a smaller boat and steamed up the Missouri River to Florence. They arrived there at Winter Quarters just five days after the Willie Company had left. There they met the Martin Company and the two wagon companies that were to follow close behind them—Hodgett and Hunt. Maren and Ole Mikkelsen were there with the Hodgett Ox Train Company. Elder Richards’ party had made the entire trip in just 26 days compared to 53 days for the Willie and Martin companies. There they were outfitted with horses and fast light-weight carriages and headed off to pass the Willie Handcart Company and beat them to Great Salt Lake Valley. The Martin Handcart Company would head west from Florence in just four more days.

Elder Richards was amazed to find out that the Church agents in Iowa had had no idea that two more handcart companies were arriving after they had sent off the first three—the Ellsworth, McArthur, and Bunker Handcart Companies with a combined total of over 800 immigrants. Surprisingly, the last two

unannounced handcart companies were by far the largest. The Willie Handcart Company had 404 members and the Martin Company, 576.

“On October 4 (1856) the Richards party reached Salt Lake City and conferred with President Brigham Young and other Church leaders. The next morning the Church was meeting in general conference, where Young and the other speakers called on the Church members to provide wagons, mules, supplies, and teamsters for a rescue mission. On the morning of October 7 the first rescue party left Salt Lake City with 16 wagonloads of food and supplies, pulled by four-mule teams with 27 young men serving as teamsters and rescuers. The party elected George D. Grant as their captain. Throughout October more wagon trains were assembled, and by the end of the month 250 relief wagons were on the road.” (Wikipedia: Mormon Handcart Companies)

“Meanwhile, the Willie and Martin companies were running out of food and encountering bitterly cold temperatures. On October 19 (1856) a blizzard struck the region, halting the two companies and the relief party. The Willie Company was along the Sweetwater River approaching the Continental Divide. A scouting party, sent ahead by the main rescue party, found and greeted the emigrants, gave them a small amount of flour, encouraged them that rescue was near, and then rushed on to try to locate the Martin Company. The members of the Willie Company had just reached the end of their flour supplies. They began slaughtering the handful of broken-down cattle that still remained while their death toll mounted. On October 20 (1856) Captain Willie and Joseph Elder went ahead by mule through the snow to locate the supply train and inform them of the company’s desperate situation. They arrived at the rescue’s party’s campsite near South Pass that evening, and by the next evening the rescue party reached the Willie Company and provided them with food and assistance. Half of the rescue party remained to assist the Willie Company while the other half pressed forward to assist the Martin Company. The difficulties of the Willie Company were not yet over. On October 23 (1856), the second day after the main party had arrived, the Willie Company faced the most difficult section of trail—the ascent up Rocky Ridge. The

11

climb took place during a howling snowstorm through knee-deep snow. That night 13 emigrants died. (Wikipedia: Mormon Handcart Companies)

By the time the rescue party had reached the Martin Handcart Company, their progress had become so slow that the Hodgett Wagon Train Company and the Hunt Wagon Company had caught up to them. They were holdup together, trying to survive in the bitter weather.

Arrival to Salt Lake Valley

When the Willie Handcart Company arrived in Salt Lake Valley, there were many Saints gathered at the mouth of the canyon welcoming them and ready to take them right into their homes and nourish them and comfort them until they were ready to move into places of their own. The handcarts had been left behind when enough wagons had arrived so that there was plenty of room for the Handcart Pioneers to ride in. Johanna Marie Jensen, or even Johanne Marie Jensen as it was spelled in Denmark, was there with them. That was November 9 th 1856 . She would have to wait for the arrival of the Martin Handcart Company to find out that her mother had not made it.

The Edward Martin Company along with the Hodgett and Hunt Wagon Train Companies entered the Salt Lake Valley a day sooner than had been anticipated by the valley residents. It was on Sunday and they were meeting in the old adobe tabernacle on Temple Square. The Sabbath meeting was immediately adjourned when a messenger arriving on horseback entered the tabernacle and informed Brigham Young that the last handcart companies of the season were just entering the city. This is the moment that Johanna Marie would find out about the passing of her dear mother out on the trail while crossing the plains with the William Hodgett Ox Train Company. That is information that has been passed down to us. The day and the place of her burial have been lost to us. It would be hard to keep track of paper and penciled records in a snow-stormy, starvation-wrenching blizzard. Changes are pretty good that Grandma Maren died soon after the arrival of the first snow storm on October 19th 1856, and that she is buried somewhere near Martin’s Cove where the Martin Company waited over until the rescuers could reach them. This was when the two wagon companies—the Hodgett and the Hunt—joined up with the Martin Company as they held over in the snowy blizzard at Martin’s Cove. From there they were brought home safely in the rescue wagons with sufficient quantities of flour and meat to sustain them. The date of their arrival into the valley was Sunday, November 30 th (1856), exactly one month after the rescue party had found them at Marin’s Cove. The Martin Company purposely had more of the sick and the aged with them because of the two ox train wagon companies that followed immediately behind them and had combined with them as they suffered and struggled to endure through the snowy blizzard conditions at Martin’s Cove. They had more than double the deaths of the Willie Company. As many as 150 of the original 567 members of the Martin Handcart Company perished along the way.

It would have been after this day, that Johanna Marie Jensen would have written home to Albæk to inform her older sister, Elsie Marie Jensen Christensen (later Peterson), the wife of Lars Peter Christensen (Peterson) of the passing of their mother, Maren Mikkelsen—the Saintly Widow of Albæk —who now has so many descendants who have lived and are now living near the valleys of the mountains of the Great Salt Lake. When Elsie Marie received Johanna’s letter, she was really sad, but with the birth of her second daughter on June 12th 1857, she named her Maren in honor of Elsie’s dear mother. But then Elsie became motivated and anxious to follow her mother’s footsteps and join the Mormon Church and travel to that Mormon Zion. Lars gave her permission to join and Elsie Marie Jensen Christensen was baptized on November 29, 1857, about a year after she had received word of her mother’s passing.

12

Back in Salt Lake City, Johanna Marie Jensen became the wife of an Englishman, John Paternoster Squires in the Endowment House on February 19th 1857. Her husband was a Mormon Pioneer Immigrant from England. They became the parents of three boys and two girls—Catherine (1858), James (1860), John Willard (1863), Alice Marie (1865) and Samuel Posternoster (1867). Now they have a great posterity as can be seen on the descendant roster on the last pages of this account.

Elsie Marie and Lars Peter Peterson

Back in Denmark, Elsie Marie Jensen Christensen (Peterson) and her husband, Lars Peter Peterson, struggled with their religious differences. These differences even brought them nigh unto divorce, but at last, over a four year period of time, Elsie Marie prevailed, and Lars Peter was baptized on October 14 th 1861. The call to gather with the Saints in the Great Salt Lake Valley was still being preached to all the Saints of Europe. So Lars Peter and Elsie Marie immediately went to work in preparing to emigrate to Utah. They sold most of their possessions taking with them only basic things. They sold their house, and their furniture was auctioned off. In April 1862, it was time for them to leave Denmark behind them. A neighbor hitched up his team to his farm wagon and drove Lars and Elsie’s family of eight the 15 miles to the seaport Aalborg. From there they sailed south along the eastern side of the Danish peninsula to the German port of Kiel. From there they took the train to Hamburg. It was while on the train that their six-year-old daughter, Maren, became deathly sick. She died as they were reaching Hamburg. Lars had a coffin made for little Maren before boarding the Good Ship Franklin on April 15th 1862. There were 413 emigrating Latter-Day Saints on board.

Lars Peter and Elsie Marie were the Christensens on the Franklin with their six children, Anna Marie (9), James Christian (7), Maren (6), Niels Peter (4), Ole Christian (2), and Christian (10 months). This is because Lars Peter was the son of Christen Pedersen. So he was Christen’s son, or Christensen. However the story has been told at Lars Peter Peterson Family Reunions that when Lars Peter was being questioned by the immigration official at New York Harbor, he was told that he had to have the same last name as his father, so the official wrote his name down as Lars Peter Peterson, so that they would have the same last name as his father in Denmark.

When their ship made it out of the Elbe River and into the North Sea, then their little Maren, age 6, was buried at sea. Then an epidemic of measles was on board. Forty-eight children were buried at sea as they crossed to New York Harbor. On Sunday, May 4th 1862, Elsie Marie’s youngest boy, Christian, died in her arms and was buried at sea. He was 11 months old. Then the very next Sunday, May 11 th, her next youngest son, Ole Christian, died and was buried at sea. He was almost 3. It was truly a sad time for this courageous family.

So Elsie Marie Jensen Peterson and her husband, Lars Peter Peterson, and their three surviving children, Anne, James (Jens) and Niels Peter, arrived safely at New York Harbor on May 29th 1862. It was at the immigration office on Castle Garden that Lars Peter became Lars Peter Peterson instead of Lars Peter Christensen. Trains took this large group of immigrants from New York City through Chicago and onto Quincy, Illinois. They took a boat down the Mississippi River to Hannibal, Missouri, then a train across Missouri to St. Joseph and then a boat up the Missouri River to Florence (Winter Quarters), Nebraska.

It was on June 10th 1862, that the C.A. Madsen Company, that Elsie Marie and Lars Peter were a part of since leaving Hamburg, put up their tents at Winter Quarters and joined up with three other large companies of Mormon immigrants who had also sailed from Hamburg at the same time. There were now 1500 Mormon Pioneers getting outfitted for their covered-wagon journey to Salt Lake City. Now they

13

needed to have wagons, oxen, cows, stoves, cooking utensils, and other items for their 1100-mile journey over the Mormon Trail to Salt Lake City.

I can only imagine that as they arrived in Salt Lake City that Lars Peter and Elsie Marie would have parked their wagon at Johanna Marie’s home for a few days so that the two sisters could visit and be reunited. But perhaps it was so late in the season that they had to hurry on and get settle in before winter.

Lars Peter, Elsie Marie Jensen Peterson, and their three children were sent to settle in Pleasant Grove in Utah Valley. There Elsie Marie gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on October 9th 1862, but Mother Elsie only lived 8 days more, passing away on October 17th. The infant daughter lived only a month, passing away on November 10th.

Here is a picture of the headstone for Elsie Marie Peterson and her infant daughter with the same name at the Pleasant Grove Cemetery. Living in Georgia, I called and asked my daughter, Suzanne Peterson Olson, living in Orem, Utah, to take her family to Pleasant Grove and take this picture that she then emailed to me and I was able to cut and paste it into this history back 2010 when I was putting it together for the first time.

While attending BYU as a married student with a car, I took the time to visit Ila Christensen Toronto in Spanish Fork. Recall that she was raised by Grandma Annie Peterson who was there in Pleasant Grove with her mother and father and two younger brothers. Annie Marie Peterson was only 9 or 10, but vivid were her memories of her mother’s passing. Ila Christensen Toronto relayed this story to me. She had heard it from her grandmother who had raised her when Ila’s parents had passed away leaving their six children as orphans. “Her mother had some very elegant dresses that she had brought with her from Denmark. Lars Peter sold these dresses to help with the expenses associated with his wife’s illness and burial. Annie missed her mother so much. At times she would see another woman wearing one of her mother’s beautiful dresses and she would be so heart-broken that she would hurry home, throw herself onto her bed and cry her heart out.”

Lars soon remarried. He married Mrs. Maren Anderson on December 8th 1862. Annie and her new stepmother did not get along so she was sent to live with an aunt in Salt Lake City—a Mrs. John Squires. As I learned this from Ila Toronto, she had no idea that this Mrs. Squires was the younger sister of Elsie Marie’s and that she had left Denmark with her mother, Maren Mikkelsen, back in 1856 to become Handcart Pioneers. A year after Johanna Marie Jensen arrived in Salt Lake City with the Willie Handcart Company, she married John Paternoster Squires in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. She became the mother of five children. This is the aunt—Aunt Johanna Squires—that Annie, at the age of 10 or 11, went to live with in Salt Lake City, where she learned the domestic skills with looms, and spinning wheels and shearing sheep and carding wool. These skills would help her to provide for her own family in the years to follow.

So Lars Peter Peterson and his new wife, Maren Anderson, loaded up their wagon with the two oxen, Tom and Jerry, and left Pleasant Grove and went to settle in Richfield, Utah in March 1864, taking with them Lars Peter’s two boys, James Christian and Niels Peter. They were moving among the very first settlers of Richfield. James Christian would eventually marry Ruth Jean Rio Baker in 1878. At first they lived in Richfield, but eventually they would go way off into the east mountains and help settle Boulder, Utah, and work with herding cattle. Niels Peter would continue farming in Richfield, then return to Denmark on a mission, the he would marry a Swedish girl, Augusta Johnson, in 1886. He met her on the ship upon his return to the United States. They would have eight children. Mary Monson was in my Richfield Third Ward when I was growing up. She is a younger daughter.

14

Annie Marie Peterson, who went to live with her Aunt Johanna Marie Squires in Salt Lake City, would marry Jens Peterson from Denmark in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on August 3, 1867. Jens and Annie then went to the LDS Cotton Mission about 80 miles of St. George, where they lived along the Muddy River near where Overton, Nevada, is today. It was there that their first daughter, Alice Marie Peterson (Hansen), was born on August 19th 1869. But Annie and her husband. Jens, would soon move to Richfield, where Annie’s father and her brothers had settled. They moved into the Old Adobe House there on the northeast corner of 3rd East and Center Street. Johanna was born there on January 1st 1872. James arrived in 1874, and became “Uncle Jim” from Firth, Idaho. Annie Peterson (Christensen) was born there in Richfield on May 7th 1876. Joseph, in 1878. Then George was born on January 25, 1885. It was just a week later that Johannah died on February 1st 1885; she was only 13.

The father, Jens L. Peterson (this is the name on his headstone), passed away on December 18 th 1887. The marriage had lasted ten years, but he was much older than Annie—about the age of her father, Lars Peter. Then much later, it was Joseph Peterson who died on December 30 th 1914. I remember hearing that he had served a mission in Denmark, had returned home and was building himself a house when he passed away.

The northeast corner lot at Third East and Center Streets, where the old adobe house once stood was where Annie and Jens Peterson lived since the 1870’s has been a family corner for all these years which is about 140 years. Those family members who have lived on or near that corner include Jens and Annie Peterson, George and Eva Peterson, Vernon and Virginia Peterson, Elaine Peterson and Carvel Wayland, and Marial Peterson and Jay Sorenson, and Beth Wayland and Brent Reese, who live there now and all of the children of these families.

I recently found a colored picture to go with the black and white one that I have hand for years of the Old Adobe House that once stood on that corner. I was the home of Jens and Annie Peterson until about 1917 when the widow Annie Peterson moved to the Heber Christensen home when her daughter, Annie Peterson Christensen passed away and then Heber and Grandma Annie Peterson moved in to tend her orphaned Christensen grandchildren—Alten, ILA, George F., McKay and June. (six I believe). Then the old adobe house became a storage shed for George Peterson’s plumbing supplies—pipes and toilets and sinks.

The Old Adobe House

15

George V. Peterson1051 Brookview Lane

Hampton, Georgia 30228770-473-7776

gvpeterson@email.com

October 15, 2002

Sandra Jensigne Pitts628 H StreetSalt Lake City, Utah 84103

16

Sandra Jensigne Pitts628 H StreetSalt Lake City, Utah 84103

The reply I got from this letter was that Sandra was on an LDS Mission and she did not have access to the picture then.

In 2009, when Elaine and Carvel Wayland were on a Headquarters Mission in Salt Lake City, I got them to go by, talk to Sandra and get this picture of Johanna Marie.

Dear Sandra,

You must be a cousin of mine. I am also a descendant of Maren Mikkelsen (or Michelsen). But I come through her daughter, Elsie Marie Jensen Peterson (Mrs. Lars Peter Peterson); it looks like you descend from Johanna Marie Jensen Squires (Mrs. John Paternoster Squires). I have been looking for descendants of Johanna’s as I have been writing a pamphlet about Grandma Maren Mikkelsen.

Johanna had two surviving sons, John Willard Squires and James Jensen Squires. You must descend from James since you were named after his wife who was Jensigne Madsen. I found your name on the LDS Ancestral File as a Submitter for John Willard Squires. Are you a granddaughter? What is your lineage back to Johanna? Do you know of descendants from both sons? I am including a list of descendants with this letter so you will see how much I know and just how much help you could be to help me know about your branch on the family tree. When I get my family history booklet printed, I will be certain to send you a copy as well as other copies to living adults on your end of the family tree.

My descent from Maren Mikkelsen is as follows: Maren Mikkelsen – Elsie Marie Jensen Peterson – Anna Maria Peterson – George Peterson – George Vernon Peterson – George Vernon Peterson Jr. This is me! So Grandma Maren Mikkelsen is my Great great great Grandmother. Did you know that she and Johanna sailed from Liverpool on the Thornton in 1856?

Did you know that James Willie was the elder in charge of their ship? Johanna left Iowa City with the Willie Handcart Company. Maren waited behind and followed the Martin Handcart Company as part of the William Hodgett Ox Train Company. Maren was 61 and was allowed to ride in a wagon pulled by oxen because of her age. However, she did not make it. She died somewhere out on the trail. Exactly what day or where, we do not know. Both her name and Johanna’s can be seen on the roster plagues at the Handcart Park and Ranch in Wyoming. Maren’s name is in Gold Maren Mikkelsen 61 because she did not survive the journey.

Thanks so much

Bud Peterson(George V. Peterson Jr.)

PS: You said that you had a picture of Johanna Marie Jensen. Would you please send it to me?

Email Message September 9, 2010

FROM Sandra J. Pitts at jharvey57@msn.com TO George Peterson at gvpeterson@email.com

SUBJECT Johanna Marie Jensen Squires

Dear George,

17

Thank you for the family history information you sent.

Johanna M Jensen Squires only married once. I don’t know how the name Anderson got listed as another husband for her.

If you are a member of the LDS Church and have access to new.familysearch.org (nfs) you will see most of Maren Mikkelsen’s descendants there. I can send you her descendants that I have documented if you don’t have nfs.

You may or may not know that Maren had a child, Kirsten Bethelsen, born out of wedlock to Berthel Nielsen at Fourholdt, Albaek, Denmark, 31 March 1818. The child died young.

Maren had a third marriage to a man who was 19 years her junior. His name is Ole Michelsen and they married at Albaek on 16 Oct 1842. Ole crossed the plains also and arrived in Salt Lake the same time Johanna did. It seems that he returned to Denmark because he does not appear in any Utah records after his arrival is noted.

I descend from Maren through Johanna’s son James’ 8th child, Leta B Squires Schettler.

I hope this is helpful.

Best Regards,

Sandra J.S. Pitts

Author’s Comments February 2014

We keep learning things as we go along.

But by the time that I put into the history I had been writing, I put up a picture of an old Mrs. Johanna Anderson. I was all mixed up. When I sent a copy of the history to Sandra Pitts, she quickly got back to me saying, “That is not the picture that I sent to you. Johanna never got to be that old!” Johanna Marie died on 18 May 1867 after having turned 32 on April 17th. I really got mixed up.

Then in her email of 9/9/2010, Sandra mentions that Johanna Jensen and her stepfather, Ole Michelsen arrived in Salt Lake at the same time. However it is very clear at the Handcart Park in Wyoming that

18

Johanna Marie’s ChildrenCatherine Harriet Squires1858-1858 (25 days)James Jensen Squires1860-1916John Willard Squires1863-1928Alice Marie Squires1865-1867 (2 years)Samuel Paternoster Squires1867-1867

Johanne Marie Jensen 21 is listed with the Willie Handcart Company and that she would have arrive on November 9, 1856 with that company. And it is clear that Ole Mikkelsen 42 is listed with the William Hodgett Ox Train Company and that he would have arrived in Salt Lake with the Martin Handcart Company since the last three companies—Martin, Hodgett and Hunt—were rescued from the winter snows and starvation at the very same time and place. They arrived in the valley on November 30, 1856.

We just keep on updating as we keep on learning!

George V Peterson Jr. (Bud)

This is another picture of Johanna Marie Jensen Squires, this time with her husband, John Paternoster Squires, and a baby daughter on her knee. The oldest daughter lived only 25 days. This must also be their second daughter, Alice Marie, because she turned two just before she died.

Iowa City, Iowa

19

Albæk Church where Maren and Elsie and Johanna and Lars Peter Peterson and all of their children were christened and the adults were married.

The Fourholt farming neighborhood was located in the Albæk Church zone in the county of Hjørring in the Kingdom of Denmark.

I am George Peterson (Bud) and my wife, Patricia and I live just south of Atlanta, Georgia. For our summer drive out to Utah in 2010, we stopped in Iowa City, Iowa, because of Maren Mikkelsen and Johanna Marie being Handcart Pioneers. The reason that the Handcart Companies all began there was because that is as far as the railroad reached west back in 1856. From the Internet I had learned that the Handcart Park in Iowa City was south of the railroad tracks going through town and on the campus to the University of Iowa and that the park was jointly supported by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the University of Iowa.

When we arrived we had no trouble at all locating Mormon Trek Boulevard on the western side of the university campus where there are lots of athletic fields for soccer and baseball and running and such. Signs refer to this area at the Hawkeye Campus. We had a difficult time finding the Mormon Handcart Park. After driving about the campus for half an hour to forty-five minutes, we finally turned west off of Mormon Trek Boulevard on the Hawkeye Park Road and made a quick right onto Hawkeye Court and then saw the sign right in front of the park. By then we only had a few minutes to walk along the asphalt trail never reaching the end and seeing the handcarts in the grass as pictured on the Internet. Oh! How I wish there had been an sign at Mormon Trek Boulevard where Hawkeye Park Road takes off the left and then again at the start of Hawkeye Court signaling one more left turn! When I got home, I actually wrote a letter to the university facilities management asking them to add the two signs so that others can find it easily.

Mormon Handcart Park in Iowa City

Saturday morning, June 26th 2010, Patricia and I were looking for the Mormon Handcart Park. We had driven all night hoping to get to see it that morning. With Google on the Internet, I had estimated that Iowa City was 700 miles from Atlanta. It ended up being more like 900. From an Internet picture and information, I knew that the Mormon Handcart Park was located on property currently owned by the University of Iowa which was just a few miles south of I-80 and fewer miles south of the current railroad, also.

We were so surprised when we quickly found MORMON TREK BLVD. We figured the park should be just off that road. It was! But we struggled to find it because of the lack of signage. We walked out into the park for about half an hour but did not make it to the end of the asphalt trail. The Internet photo showed two or three handcarts sitting in tall grass. We never got to see them but perhaps they were where the trail ended.

However, our second goal for the day was to get to Council Bluffs, Iowa, that was 272 miles away before 5:00 pm and the likely closing of the Kanesville Tabernacle that was originally built by the Latter-Day Saints in December of 1847 after Brigham Young had returned from his first pioneer trip to Utah.

CONCLUSIONNovember 2010

Over ten years ago, I didn’t know that Grandma Maren was even a member of the Church. I only knew that she was the grandmother of my great grandmother, Annie Marie Peterson. Then I discovered that she was a Mormon Handcart Pioneer following behind the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies back in 1856. She was traveling with the William Hodgett Ox Train Company when she died at the age of 61. Her daughter, Johanna Maria Jensen, was up ahead with the Willie Handcart Company.

On the Wall Listings at the Mormon Handcart Park at Martin’s Cove in Wyoming, Grandma Maren’s is listed as Maren Mikkelsen 61. I thought that Mikkelsen was just another spelling of her maiden name Michelsen, but in the

20

writing of this current history, I have learned from Sandra J. Pitts—a descendant of Johanna Marie Jensen—that Mikkelsen is the last name of her second husband, Ole Mikkelsen, who is listed just above her name on the Wall Listing for the William Hodgett Ox Train Company at Martin’s Cove (see the front cover). With this information, I changed the original title of this history from “MAREN MIKKELSEN The Saintly Widow of Albek” to “MAREN MIKKELSEN The Mormon Pioneer from Albek”. I thought of using “The Handcart Pioneer from Albek”, but wondered if that was accurate because she was traveling with a Wagon Company drawn by Oxen. I added a Handcart Picture to the Cover to imply that she was very much a part of the Handcart Experience. She crossed the ocean with the Willie Handcart Company; and when the rescue came from Salt Lake Valley, the two wagon companies were there at Martin’s Cove to be rescued at the same time. They were all caught in the winter snows there and starving.

After my LDS Mission to Denmark and was a married student at BYU, I took time to drive to Spanish Fork after having made an appointment to visit Ila Christensen Toronto—sister of Alten Christensen of Richfield—who both were raised by their grandmother, Annie Marie Peterson, after the death of their parents. Alten explained it to me, “Being a girl, Ila knew a lot more about Grandma than I did.” From Ila I learned that when Annie’s mother died in Pleasant Grove after arriving from Denmark with her family and giving birth to a baby girl, that her father, Lars Peter Peterson, sold her mother’s elegant dresses to help pay for burial expenses. Annie was only 9 years old. She would see one of her mother’s dresses on a woman in the community and would miss her mother so much that she would hurry home, throw herself on the bed and cry her heart out. I also learned that when Lars Peter remarried, Annie and her stepmother did not get along. Therefore Annie was sent to live with an aunt in Salt Lake City—a Mrs. John Squires. Back then Ila did not know how and why it was that Mrs. John Paternoster Squires was her Grandma Annie’s aunt. Well after 40 years, I know now that this was her mother’s younger sister. Her mother was Elsie Marie Jensen Peterson, wife of Lars Peter Peterson and daughter of Maren Michelsen Thorson Mikkelsen. And Maren Mikkelsen is the mother of Johanna Marie Jensen Squires who came to Salt Lake City with the James G. Willie Handcart Company in 1856.

It is a thrill to put this information together and to imagine a future day when I pass from this life onto the world of departed spirits—The Spirit World—and be introduced to my ancestors by my very own parents and to have time to visit and reminisce and to pray and seek to sustain those who are making their journey this Mortality.

George Vernon Peterson Jr. “Bud” November 2010 Retyped and Updated February 2014

21