Morten (Pedersen) Mortensen (1828 - 1891)

Born 27 May 1828 in Hårbølle, Fanefjord, Mønbo, Præstø, Denmark

Husband of Berthe Gregersen — married 1853 in , , Denmark

Husband of Dorthe (Knudsdatter) Mortensen — married 10 May 1859 in the Atlantic Ocean

Husband of Karen Katrena (Olsen) Mortensen — married 19 Dec 1870 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Husband of Martine (Christoffersdatter) Mortensen — married 19 Dec 1870 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Descendants

Died 6 Jun 1891 at age 63 in Colonia Díaz, Chihuahua, Mexico

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Derek Maude [send private message]

Morten (Pedersen) Mortensen was a Latter Day Saint pioneer.

Morten (Pedersen) Mortensen has a connection to the LDS Church. Join: LDS Project Discuss: lds

Biography

Morten Pedersen was born in Hårbølle, Fanefjord, Mønbo, Præstø, Denmark on May 27, 1828. He was the son of Peder Mortensen and Lene Pedersdatter. tHe was christened on June 22, 1828 in Fanefjord, Præstø, Denmark.^[1][2]

He was confirmed in the Church of Denmark on October 18, 1841 in Fanefjord, Præstø, Denmark.^[3]

Morten met with Mormon missionaries for the first time in the spring of 1855, and soon, he and his family became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.^[4] Morton was baptized on June 30, 1855.^[2]

Morten's parents and some other family membets left their home in Møn, Denmark on March 31, 1856, but Morten remained behind to serve as a missionary.^[4] He served in the Scandinavian Mission of the LDS church from April 1856 to April 1859.^[5] According to a family history, it was on this mission that Morten met and baptized a man named Knud Jensen and four of his daughters, including Dorthea Knudsdatter, who would later become Morten's wife.^[4]

After completing his mission, Morten made plans to join his family in Utah. He took a steamer from Copenhagen to England on April 1, 1859.^[4] He then traveled from Liverpool to New York on the ship William Tapscott, departing on April 11 and arriving on May 13.^[6] He married Dorthea Knudsdatter at sea on May 10, 1859.^[4][7] After immigrating to the United States, Morten used his father's surname of Mortensen.

After arriving in New York City, the LDS members travelled to Florence, Nebraska by rail and steamboat.^[7] From there, Morten, Dorthea, and Dorthea's sisters traveled west with the Robert F. Neslen Company.^[8] They traveled with a division led by Christian Jeppesen, Sr, arriving in Salt Lake on September 15, 1859.^[7]

Morten and Dorthea settled in Ephraim, Utah, where they had two children. They then moved to Gunnison, Utah around 1862.^[4]

He was sent on a second mission to Scandinavia on May 5, 1867. He returned on August 10, 1870.^[2]

He was sent on a third mission to the "Lamanites" on October 11, 1875.^[9]

This story was related by Amelia Jenson Topham:

Peter and Lane [Lena] Sanders Mortenson joined the church in Denmark and were anxious to come to Utah. It was a tremendous undertaking with a large family and a crippled father. Peter was so crippled with rheumatism that he couldn’t walk and had to be pushed in a wheel chair. Their oldest son was called to do missionary work in Denmark and one child had died.

Peter and Lena started out from Denmark with their eight children. The trip across the plains, in Willies Hand Cart Company, started just two weeks before the ill fated Martin Hand Cart Company, and suffered many hardships. Peter Mortenson, no being able to walk was pulled across the plains to Salt Lake in an old hand-cart by his family and on to Parowan in the winter of 1856. They arrived in Salt Lake City about November 9, 1856. They were immediately sent to Parowan, arriving here sometime in December, 1856. They were wonderfully blessed and made the trip without any serious trouble, being on the road a whole year.

Upon arriving at Parowan there was no place to house them so the Bishop very graciously opened the doors of the Log Council House to the weary travelers. The spacious fireplace afforded warmth and cheer as well as a place to cook their food. The good people weren’t long in bringing in the straw ticks to sleep on and soon they were comfortably lodged in the meeting house. How thankful they were to be at their journey’s end. Here they lived until a log cabin was ready for them but the nights were so cold that it froze the sack of potatoes that had been given in to them.

Peter Mortenson was a cooper and shoemaker by trade and although he was unable to walk he could still work with his hands. He helped to make many wooden tubs and buckets and was one of the main ones to help start and operate the wooden tub and bucket factory.

He managed to keep the little feet of his loved ones covered, making little slippers out of the tops of worn out boots. He’d tack them onto wooden soles made from scraps of lumber that he’d dress down with the grease from bacon rinds to make them hard and irresistible to water and wear; then he’d paint them. The children were Martin, Hans, Anders, Lars—who married Cornelia Decker, Stena—who married Yorgen Hanson, Mettie—who married Christian Rasmussen, Mary—who married Peter M. Jenson, and Caroline—who married Thomas Durham.

So the Log Council House was not only a church and recreation center, but a haven of rest to those weary feet that had trudged across a continent. As long as Peter Mortenson lived he was pushed and pulled to Church in the old handcart every Sabbath Day.

Census

Census: Et Huus, 286

Date: 1834

Place: Haarbølle By, Fanefjord, Mønbo, Præstø, Denmark^[10]

Census: Et Huus, 286

Date: 1834

Place: Haarbølle By, Fanefjord, Mønbo, Præstø, Denmark^[11]

Census: 1 Huus, 259

Date: 1850

Place: Haarbølle, Fanefjord, Mønbo, Præstø, Denmark^[12]

Census:

Date: 7 Jun 1880

Place: Moen Coffy, Yavapai, Arizona^[13]

Marriages

Wife: Berthe Gregersen

Marriage:

I have not been able to find any sources or evidence to suggest that this marriage happened while Berthe was alive. They were sealed posthumously in the LDS church.

Wife: Dorthea Jensen

Marriage:

Date: 10 May 1859

Place: the Atlantic Ocean

Wife: Martine Rasmussen

Marriage:

Date: 19 Dec 1870

Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Wife: Karen Katrina Olsen

Marriage:

Date: 19 Dec 1870

Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Sources

1. ↑ "Denmark Baptisms, 1618-1923", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:H2FM-PFPZ : 23 June 2020), Morten, 1828.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Missionary Department missionary registers, 1860-1959; Book A, 1860 April 25-1894 April 27; Morten Mortensen, line 385; Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=ba363c10-3f8f-49eb-a2a2-e84ccb003aea&crate=0&index=14 (accessed: January 23, 2021).
3. ↑ "Danmark Kirkebøger, 1484-1941," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG87-D54T : 12 January 2021), Morten Pedersen, 18 Oct 1841; Confirmation, Fanefjord, Præstø, Danmark, , Rigsarkivet, København (The Danish National Archives), Copenhagen.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} Skousen, Emma Mortensen. "History of the Mortensens (From Denmark to America)." FamilySearch (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4), contributed by user Nanette Jones Clarke.
5. ↑ "Utah, Salt Lake City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Missionary Department, Missionary Registers, 1860-1937," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDW-RTS9 : 27 November 2019), Morten Mortenson, Utah Territory, United States; records extracted by FamilySearch and images digitized by Church History library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; citing , Missionary department missionary registers 1860-1959, CR 301 22, Church History Library, Salt lake City, Utah.
6. ↑ Scandinavian Mission Emigration Register, 1859, pp. 71 (FHL #025,696), Morten Pedersen. "Saints by Sea: Latter-Day Saint Immigration to America," Brigham Young University Library.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Christensen, Lucile and Jenniev Jorgensen Poulson. "A History of Mads Jorgensen." FamilySearch (accessed 11 January 2021), contributed by user Robert C Snow.
8. ↑ "Utah Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database, 1847-1868," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9B-CVRK : 10 February 2018), Morten Peder Mortensen, 15 Sep 1859; from "Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel: 1847-1868," database, > The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (https://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/ : 2004-).
9. ↑ Missionary Department missionary registers, 1860-1959; Book B, 1860 April 25-1894 April 27; Morten Mortensen, line 1291; Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=cfe60789-c0be-4a2d-bd6b-2ee1f2659c2b&crate=0&index=33 (accessed: January 23, 2021)
10. ↑ "Denmark Census, 1834," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGW1-5DY3 : 28 November 2017), Morten Pedersen in entry for Peder Mortensen, 1834; from MyHeritage. https://www.myheritage.com : 2016 citing Mønbo, 1828, 6, Rigsarkivet, København (The Danish National Archives), Copenhagen; FHL microfilm 100,949,182
11. ↑ "Denmark Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG6P-P487 : 17 November 2017), Morten Pedersen in household of Peder Mortensen, Fanefjord, Mønbo, Præstø, Danmark; from "Denmark Census, 1840," database and images, MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com: n.d.); Fanefjord, Mønbo, Præstø, Danmark, 12, Single Rigsarkivet, København (The Danish National Archives), Copenhagen.
12. ↑ "Denmark Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL6D-DR98 : 17 November 2017), Morten Pedersen in entry for Peder Mortensen, 1850; from MyHeritage. https://www.myheritage.com : 2016 citing Mønbo, 1828, Child, Rigsarkivet, København (The Danish National Archives), Copenhagen; FHL microfilm
13. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH2H-19K : 11 November 2020), Morten Mortensen, Yavapai, Arizona Territory, United States; citing enumeration district ED 30, sheet 484B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,254,037.

See also:

• Find A Grave: Memorial #32857921
• Skousen, Emma Mortensen. "History of the Mortensens (From Denmark to America)." FamilySearch (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4), contributed by user Nanette Jones Clarke.
• Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude. International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1998. Page 2061, 2064.
• St. George Temple Book, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• Fanefjord, Præstø, Denmark: Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages, Burials, Lists of Accession and Expunctions: 1825-1839 Call Number: FHL Film #50567, p. 285.
• Durham, Paul D. By The Skin of His Teeth: The Story of Thomas Durham: Pioneer, Musician. Sandy, UT: Planting Stick Press, 2010, p. 19.
• Dansk Demografisk Database, http://ddd.dda.dk/ddd_en.htm
• Dalton, Luella Adams. "History of Iron County Mission, Parowan Utah", p. 285.
• L. Derek Maude
• Horlacher, Gary. TLDS Euro Project, 30 Aug 2003.
• Jones, Fred & Mary (comp). Peder and Helena Sandersen Mortensen Family. 2007, Book on CD, Part II, Section 1, Pages 25-31.
• International Genealogical Index (IGI), 1994 Edition. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.