Jens Marinus Jensen

Jens Marinus Jensen is the third of four children born to Peter Christian Jensen and Ane Catherine Olsen, both of Denmark. The couple married in 1862 in Denmark. In 1867, after joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they boarded the ship “Manhatten” to immigrate to America. Jens was just 6- months-old when they made the trip.

According to family history, they were three days on the North Sea before they reached England. From there they traveled by rail to Liverpool and stayed three days. They boarded the ship Manhatten arriving in New York on July 4, 1867. Due to the holiday, they remained on the ship until the next morning. Custom Officers inspected their clothing and took their names. Once cleared they continued their journey by train and within seven days they arrived at the North Platte. There, the family purchased oxen and wagons to take them across the plains. Indians burned provisions and destroyed rims of the wagon wheels. This detained them by three weeks

With other Saints, the Jensen family joined the Leonard G. Rice Company bound for the Utah Territory. The company left North Platte, Nebraska on August 11, 1867.

Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, premature birth, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. Cholera, a bacterial disease caused from contaminated water, infected many of the travelers. In Wyoming, 7-month-old passed near Fort Laramie, Wyoming. He was buried that same evening.

Their precious son was missed by the family. When his brother was born two years later, they named the baby after his brother, Jens Marinus.