Chapter 4
Chapter 6
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Chapter 5
In February, 1870 (the date of the Danish census), Hans and his family, with the exception of Soren Peter, lived in the center of the city of Aarhus. The record includes Hans and Ane and 4 of their children: Mette Marie, Anders Wilhelm, Caroline Sophia and Parley Peter. 1 Also listed are two missionaries listed living in their home: Erik Christian Henrichsen and John N Hougaard. Elder Henrichsen later lived with his family in Provo, Utah, where he was a well-known and respected potter. John Hougaard is possibly related to the President Howgaard mentioned in the Ane Nielsen history. Also, there is a reference to John Haugaard returning from Scandinavia in July, 1870, on the Ship Minnesota, along with many members and church leaders. He is listed as a "Returning Elder". 2 The census record says that John Hougaard is 27, married, and from Utah Territory, U. S. America. He was born in Falster, which is on the same island as Copenhagen, in the south end of the island.
Eric Christian Henrichsen served as a missionary in the Aarhus area of Denmark from 1869 to about 1871. He was originally from Veile (or Vejle) in the southern Jutland peninsula area of Denmark. He kept a detailed journal of his mission experiences during this time. The journal is part of the Eric Christian Henrichsen collection in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections department of the Harold B. Lee Library of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. 3 The journal, of course, is written in Danish and requires translation into English. There are a number of entries in his journal that refer to H. Sörensen, or Elder H. Sörensen. [Note: In every case, Elder Henrichsen uses ö instead of ø, which are interchangeable in Danish.] Since Elder Henrichsen lived in the home of the Sorensens and Hans was actively involved with the missionaries, we can probably assume that this H. Sörensen is our Hans Sorensen. There are several other Sörensen men mentioned in the journal and nearly all include a name or initial (e.g. Lars, Jens, Rasmus, etc.).
From the references found in Elder Henrichsen's journal, it is clear that Hans was called upon and served faithfully with the missionary elders in Aarhus. The first reference is dated Sunday, Dec. 12, 1869, and mentions an anointing for the healing of the sick: "After meeting, Elder H. Sörensen and I laid hands on Br. K. Emmertsen's head and I anointed him to bless for the recovery of his affliction." 4 Two weeks later, Hans was involved in a meeting in Pannerup, a small village 10 kilometers north, of Aarhus: "I was in the morning with Elder H. Sörensen and Teacher F. Petersen in Pannerup and held a meeting where Jens Pedersen lived. We had a good little meeting." 5 Hans is mentioned a month later as Elder Henrichsen records "(an) assembly of the saints desiring to fast and pray for Elder Ole Jensen's son long having a sickness. After that Brothers Hougaard, H. Sörensen and I anointed Br. Peder Rasmussen's little son." 6
A lot of activity happened in the last half of February, 1870, that involved Hans. In his 18 Feb. 1870 entry, Elder Henrichsen recorded his missionary work in Tiilst, a suburb of Aarhus about 5 km northwest of the city: "I missionaried (tracted) in Tiilst and the area and had a meeting. Elders J. H. Hougaard and H. Sörensen came forward with 3 sisters from Aarhus." 7 The next day's entry is reminiscent of the conditions when Hans and Ane were baptized 12 years earlier: "Dinnis Rasmussen and his wife came in the evening and requested baptism. Br. H. Sörensen and I went and broke the thick ice. Elder J. Hougaard baptized them. After that I, at the request of Br. Hougaard, confirmed Dinnis and I confirmed his wife, Mette Marie. Elder H. Sörensen assisted." 8 The next day's account (Sunday, the 20th) is very long and involved, and quite difficult to translate. The basis of the story is that they were holding a meeting and a couple of strange men came (he used the Danish word for "foreign" or "strange"), one who was of some note (identified with a Danish flag) and there was some heated discussion ("obscene calling out") and difficulty with those men. H. Sörensen spoke in the meeting and Elder Henrichsen also worked to calm the people (bade the Saints to "behave" or to be true). The men left and calm was restored. After the meeting Elder Henrichsen and Elder H. Sörensen counseled together and telegraphed Brother Hougaard. 9
The last reference that could be found mentioning H. Sörensen is dated Tuesday, 5 Apr. 1870: "Brothers Hougaard, H. Sörensen and J. Petersen came in the evening, and we had a good meeting." 10
In these early years of the 1870s, the family emigrated to America, but not all together at the same time. Mette Marie was first. On January 2, 1871, Mette Marie married Peter Christensen in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah. 11 Both of them also received their endowments the same day. 12 One family history says that she was married in 1869, but the census in 1870 clearly shows her as 18 and unmarried in early 1870. We don’t have the details of her emigration, other than the note in the LDS records that says she emigrated 12 July 1870 (see footnote in Chapter 4). Ane's history explains: "Finally Mette Marie was the first to get the opportunity to leave. This was done by signing a note that she would work for a year after her arrival there to pay for her passage. " 13 Andrew William says, "In 1870 my elder sister got helped out. " 14 Caroline was baptized the following year, on April 8, 1871, in Aarhus. 15 She, with her mother, emigrated to America a few months later on June 23, along with Parley Peter. Andrew William reports, "In 1871 the Lord opened the way so that my mother and younger sister and brother got off." 16 According to Caroline's history, they did not have enough money to go as a family. Her history is off by a year, but this is how she described the process: "In the year 1870 my mother and my youngest brother, Parley P. Sorensen, and myself emigrated to Utah. My mother took my young brother to my sister's home to live, and she hired out to do general housework in order to help get money to emigrate my father and my brother, William Sorensen. Brother William Cluff was president of the Scandinavian Mission at that time and had just received his release to return home. He paid for my emigration and sent me to his parents' home in Provo, Utah." She also said, "My mother and we two children came over on the first steamship that ever crossed the Atlantic." (There had been other steamships cross, but theirs might have been the first of that size.) The group sailed on the "Humber" from Copenhagen to Liverpool, arriving there on the 27th of June, 1871. The group, with the addition of a few people from Scotland, boarded the "Minnesota," a 2000 ton ship, and sailed the next day for New York. William Wallace Cluff, recently released as president of the Scandinavian mission, was the leader of the group. They arrived in New York on July 12th. It was reported that "The day after the arrival of the emigrants in New York (July 13th) a desperate fight between conservative Irish and Orangemen took place in the city of New York, in which many persons were killed and wounded, but the emigrants were not molested in any way." 17 They departed for the west and arrived without incident in Ogden on July 21st. Caroline stayed with the parents of President Cluff in Brigham City while her mother and Parley stayed with Caroline's sister and her husband, Peter Christensen, probably in Salt Lake City.
The costs of the journey from Denmark to New York City were 6 pounds 10 shillings for adults and 3 pound 3 shillings for children, for the ocean voyage, and 9 pounds 16 shillings for adults and 4 pounds 18 shillings for children for the rail fare from New York City to Salt Lake City. 18
According to the Wallace Sorensen history, "Grandmother hired out to do house work in Salt Lake City, to help earn money so that her husband and other little children could come to America, or Zion. Day after day she left her little children and went to work. Many times she would cook pastry and sell them; and many times she would iron at night to make a few extra pennies. She was an expert at ironing the stiff bosomed shirts and stiff collars worn at the time. After many months of hard work and saving, her husband was sent for." 19 Caroline writes in her history that she stayed with a family in Brigham City and her mother worked to earn money to pay for Hans and Andrew William to come in the following year.
Hans and Andrew William left Denmark in 1872. Andrew William reports, "Brother P. Madsen was then President, and he promised me in the name of Jesus, if I would be faithful, that the Lord would open the way for Father and me next year and that when I got to Zion I would be blessed a hundred fold. My father was not so strong as he might be. … There was nothing else to do but work. A year went by and it was a hard one. Father and I would get up in the morning as soon as we could see and kept on until it was dark at night; but the time went and in the month of June 1872, our deliverance came for me and Father to go home to Zion, to the place where God has said that his people should gather." 20 As previously mentioned, their oldest son, Soren Peter, and his family were not going with them. Andrew William states, "… there was still one left whom I loved as dearly as those who had gone before. He had no excuse so far as the Gospel was concerned because father had taught him that for years and he was now a married man and was able to judge for himself." 21
Soren Peter remained in the "old country." Soren did come to Aarhus with the family, but by the time of the 1870 census, he was no longer with the family. He married Ane Petersen who was also from that area. They remained there and raised their family. One of their children did join the church and came later to Utah. This was their daughter Sophia Christene Sorensen.
Hans and Andrew William departed from Copenhagen on June 21, 1872, on the steamship "Otto" which took them to Hull, England. They took a train from there to Liverpool where they boarded the ship "Nevada." It was reported that the Atlantic journey from Liverpool to New York was fairly rough and stormy, lasting between June 26, 1872, and July 10, 1872. 22 They arrived in Utah on July 17, 1872. Anton Lund was their leader.
Andrew William says that while they were in Copenhagen (Kjobenhavn) they saw many people who went past them, including "two boys. They asked me if I was a Mormon. 'Yes,' was my reply. One of the boys had a shovel handle which he struck me with. I fell to the ground. I do not remember how long I lay there but when I got up I was very sick." 23 They boarded the ship "Minnesota" and traveled to New York and then on rail to Utah. Andrew William says that he was continually sick and even worse with sea-sickness through the voyage. He reports later that "One day, my father came down and told me the ship had sprung a leak and that I would have to try to get up. I told him it could not sink too soon to suit me, just so I could get out of my misery. They got the leak stopped and the next day I heard someone talk about land. … [The next morning] I was awakened by shouts of 'Land in sight!' I jumped up, seemingly well, and got up on the deck and ran over to the front end of the ship and stood there looking at the various fish until we arrived in the harbor of New York. I must say my joy was great!" 24 The group arrived in Salt Lake City on July 18, 1872. Andrew William reports: "in the evening we reached the blessed city of Salt Lake. The station was lighted up with lanterns so that the platform was light. I looked out and saw my dear mother, sisters and brother amid the crowd. My heart leaped with joy and it was not long until I had my arms around my mother's neck and also the rest of the family and was made welcome. … we were escorted to some meeting house in the city where a long table was set for all the emigrants. On the table was all the good things of the earth to eat that could be thought of. … After supper father and I went to a little house my mother had rented and she had everything very comfortable. … We now again joined in prayer and again thanked our Heavenly Father for his protection over us." 25
Hans' brother Jorgen and his family came later in the same year, 1872. They left Copenhagen at the end of August: "On Friday, Aug. 30, 1872, at 1 o'clock p.m., a company of 260 emigrating Saints sailed from Copenhagen, per steamer 'Cato,' accompanied by ... returning missionaries" 26
In describing their new life in Utah, Andrew William wrote about what they needed to do to earn money: "We attended a meeting in the grand tabernacle and listened to the sweet music. After enjoying ourselves we then talked about what we should do to make a living. My sister knew of Bishop Rolly in the 19th ward that wanted a boy to drive his team. … We had to haul the gravel up on Main Street. … I stayed with the Bishop for three weeks and got my money every Saturday night. I now got me some clothes and paid my mother's home rent and gave her what I had left." 27 He continued to work and worked also for some men on a farm, etc. and earned "enough to pay my emigration … and helped my parents all I could." 28
The first person of this extended family to join the church, Christiane, Jorgen's daughter, was the last to emigrate to Utah. She married Lars Peter Christensen in Denmark and started raising a family. They emigrated in 1875, leaving Copenhagen on June 24th, then taking the "Idaho" for the journey to New York, leaving Liverpool on June 29th, arriving July 13th. The company arrived in Utah on July 22, 1875. 29
1. Danish Archives Online, Århus 1870 Census, Nørrebrogade 6 (Kobn: Amt: Holbæk, Sogn: Gierslev ) Opslag 25.
Hans Sørensen (44), Ane Nielsdatter (47), Mette Marie Sørensen (18), Anders Wilhelm Sørensen (14), Sophie Caroline Sørensen (11), Parley Peter Sørensen (7), John N Haugaard (27) Falkerslev, Falster Missionary Utah Territory U. S. America, Erik Chr. Henrichsen (22) Weile (Vejle) Missionary.
2. Millennial Star, #30, page dated July 26, 1870.
3. MSS 2026; E.C. Henrichsen Family Papers (1868-1990's); 19th-20th Century Western Americana; L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
4. MSS 2026, LTPSC, first (1869) journal, p 73, dated Sunday, 12 Dec. 1869.
5. ibid, p 77, dated Sunday, 26 Dec. 1869.
6. ibid, p 91, dated Monday, 31 Jan. 1870.
7. ibid, p 95, dated Friday, 18 Feb. 1870.
8. ibid, p 96, dated Saturday, 19 Feb. 1870.
9. ibid, pp 97-96, dated Sunday, 20 Feb. 1870.
10. ibid, p 112, dated Tuesday, 5 Apr. 1870.
11. LDS Endowment House records, Sealings, volume F FHL Special Collections film 1149516, p 187, entry number #20148, Sealed 2 Jan. 1871 by Joseph F. Smith, Witnesses Elias Smith and S. H. B. Smith
12. LDS Endowment House records, Endowments, volume G FHL Special Collections film 1239501, p 231, entry #17 (females) for her, and entry #13 (males) for him. Both Jan. 2, 1871.
13. Ane Nielsen Sorensen history, p 4.
15. LDS church records, Aarhus, Denmark film 0041938 page 166:
Sophie Caroline Sorensen, birth date: 30 April 1858, birth place: Torbegaard, baptized 8 April 1871, Aarhus by N. J. S. Provstgaard, confirmed 9 April 1871, by H. Strade, emigrated June 1871.
17. Mormon Migration, Liverpool to New York - Ship Minnesota, 28 Jun 1871; The Harold B Lee Library (Brigham Young University) URL: http://lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php?id=244 Sources listed on that page: BMR, Book #1041, pp. 152-170 (FHL #025,692); Customs #661 (FHL #175,701); SMR, 1870 (FHL #025,696) [recorded on page 160 in the ship records]
18. As recorded in "Emigration, Hans Sorensen Family." author unknown, unpublished.
22. Mormon Migration, Liverpool to New York - Ship Nevada, 26 Jun 1872; The Harold B Lee Library (Brigham Young University) URL: http://lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php?id=264 Sources listed on that page: BMR, Book #1041, pp. 209-223 (FHL #025,693); Customs #717 (FHL #175,718); SMR, 1872 (FHL #025,696)
26. Mormon Migration, Liverpool to New York - Ship Minnesota, 4 Sep 1872; The Harold B Lee Library (Brigham Young University) URL: http://lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php?id=246, source listed: BMR, Book #1041, pp. 232-252 (FHL #025,692); Customs #1013 (FHL #175,721); SMR, 1872 (FHL #025,696)
29. Mormon Migration, Liverpool to New York - Ship Idaho, 30 Jun 1875; The Harold B Lee Library (Brigham Young University) URL: http://lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration/voyage.php?id=176, source listed: BMR, Book #1042, pp. 16-22 (FHL #025,693); Customs #621 (FHL #175,755)