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- THE BENTSEN FAMILY
Danmark (Denmark) is a small country made up of a number of islands. The island of Bornholm where Jeppe Bentsen (Yeppa Benson) was born is a small, rocky island far to the east of Danmark proper. His wife Maren Kirstine Hansdatter Kofoed was also born in Bornholm. They lived in a small village and had a family of eleven children, five died as children:
1. Bendithe Ipsdattter b 7 Jan 1833; d 16 Mar 1833 ker, Bornholm.
2. Martha Kirstine Ibsdatter (Bensen) b 19 Jan 1837 ker, Bornholm; d 1 Oct 1878 Newton, Cache, Utah.
3. Karen Kirstine Ipsdatter b 20 Mar 1820; d 2 Apr 1821 ker, Bornholm.
4. Karen Kirstine Ibsdatter (Bensen) b 21 Mar 1828 ker, Bornholm; d 11 Mar 1863 Rexburg, Fremont, Idaho.
5. Hans Koffed Ibsen (Bensen) b 30 Mar 1822 ker, Bornholm; d 1887.
6. Jeppe Peter Ibsen b 29 May 1829; d 16 Apr 1830 ker, Bornholm.
7. (Jens) Jeppe Peter Ibsen (Bensen) b 26 Apr 1831 ker, Bornholm; d 21 Jun 1898 Newton, Cache, Utah.
8. Jacob Ibsen b 29 Apr 1834; d 3 May 1835 ker, Bornholm.
9. Christina Ibsdatter (Bensen) b 11 Jun 1826 ker, Bornholm; d 28 Dec 1909 Lehi, Utah.
10. Anna Margrethe Ibsdatter b 6 Jul 1827; d 10 May 1835 ker, Bornholm.
11. Christian Peter Ibsen (Bensen) b 21 Sep 1838 ker, Bornholm; d 1 Oct 1878.
Their daughter M. Christine Ibsen (Benson) went to Copenhagen to learn dress making and tailoring, accompanied by her elder sister Karen Kirstine Ibsen (Benson), most likely to learn the same trade.
When Apostle Erastus Snow, leader of the Scandinavian mission, arrived in Copenhagen 4 June 1850, accompanied by George P. Dykes and John E. Forsgren, they were among those who heard their testimonies and believed that they were men sent of God. The first converts were baptized 12 August 1850.
Christine received a testimony, and was baptized 24 August, 1850,(2) by Elder George P. Dykes. Karen was baptized on 25 October 1850.(3) They were very faithful members and assisted the Elders in their missionary work. In the summer of 1851, they were called by Elder Erastus Snow to accompany the Elders and act as interpreters. They were anxious for the family to hear the message, so when Bro. Andreas Agren was called to go to Bornholm in 1851, he was:
"...accompanied by two native sisters, the Benson's, who were active in the Copenhagen branch. The sisters sincerely bore their testimonies and their lives were consistent with what they spoke, and five persons were soon baptized by Bro. Agren as the first converts on Bornholm." (4)
The sisters not only accompanied them to their hometown, but also took them to their parents' home. Here the missionaries were made welcome and established their headquarters in this humble home.
On 10 July 1851, their mother, Maren, their brother Jens Peter Ipsen (Benson), and Jens Nielsen, who was to become Karen's husband, were all baptized.(5) In a short time her father, Jeppe, 11 November 1851,(6) and Martha Kjerstine Ipsdatter (Benson), 15 February 1852,(7) joined the church. There is no information to indicate whether their brothers Christian Peter Ipsen (Benson) and Hans Kofoed (Benson) ever embraced the gospel.
Many of the new members became very earnest in their desires to emigrate to Zion and the Church responded. Arrangements were made for a large company of converts to leave for America by the latter part of December of 1852, and nearly three hundred persons living in the Scandinavian countries were ready to say goodbye to their native land. Elder John E. Forsgren was placed in charge of this large company of emigrating saints.
Soon after joining the church the family home burned to the ground, no doubt hastening the decision to cast their lot with the Saints in America. In December 1852, Jeppe and his wife and three children, Jens Peter, Martha and Christine, left Bornholm aboard the paddle-wheel steamship "Obotrit" heading for Copenhagen to join this first large company of Saints bound for Utah.
"A crowd of onlookers gathered at the wharf in Copenhagen to witness the departure of 293 Mormons, including children, on the small steamer "Obotrit." It was 20 December 1852. These emigrants were in charge of Elder John E. Forsgren, one of the missionaries who came with Apostle Erastus Snow to introduce Mormonism into Scandinavia. The rabble on the dock jeered and cursed the Saints for following "that Swedish Mormon Priest" Forsgren to America.. The vessel sailed away from the custom house at four o'clock in the afternoon. After a stormy passage and much discomfort in cramped quarters, the emigrants arrived safely on the evening of 22 December at Kiel. They traveled on by rail to Hamburg and then took the steamship 'Lion' to Hull, England."(8)
During their short stay in Hamburg, Jeppe encountered a dog that bit him severely on the leg. on Christmas morning they boarded the steamship "Lion" bound for Hull, England. After encountering a furious storm on the North Sea, the "Lion" arrived in Hull, England, 28 December 1852. From Hull, the emigrating saints took the train to Liverpool, where they arrived 29 December 1852.
"A severe storm was raging on the North Sea, a storm which claimed about 150 ships, and the people of Hull were greatly surprised when the 'Lion' appeared on the Horizon.
"After a train ride to Liverpool, England the emigrating Saints went aboard the packet ship 'Forest Monarch', which was hauled out of the dock and anchored in the river Mersey on the last day of the year. Here the ship lay at anchor for two weeks awaiting favorable winds. One night the ship became entangled with another ship, and sustained some damage. A few days later, during a heavy storm, the 'Forest Monarch' got adrift, pulling up both anchors, and at just the right moment was saved by two tug boats from running aground. One emigrant had been bitten by a dog, and was counseled to return to shore and wait for the next company. So when sails were actually hoisted, 16 January 1853, the company under President Forsgren's direction numbered 297.
"The Atlantic crossing was tedious. The provisions were poor and the supply of fresh water inadequate to reach New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, where they arrived 6 March 1853. Four deaths and three births occurred."(9)
Several reports mention that Jeppe was excluded from the company at the time of boarding the "Forest Monarch." The passenger list of departures from Liverpool(10) and of arrivals at New Orleans(11) shows Jeppe Bensen, a 54-year old carpenter, to have been on board the "Forest Monarch" when it arrived from Liverpool on 19 March 1853. His wife, Maren, Christine and Martine (Martha) were also listed. Our position is that he recovered sufficiently during the two weeks the ship was moored in the harbor and river that he was able to rejoin the company. This is substantiated by the "Journal History of the Church" which shows that Jeppe, his wife Maren, and Christine, Jens Peter, and Martha crossed the plains in the John E. Forsgren Company.(12)
From New Orleans they went up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri where they stayed for about a month and then on to Keokuk, Iowa which was the outfitting station that year. There they secured supplies, wagons, and oxen for the journey. Most of the oxen had not been worked and few of the men had experience in driving teams. This resulted in many upset wagons in gullies and ditches. Finally, with 34 wagons and about 130 oxen, the company rolled out from the camping grounds near Keokuk, Iowa on 21 May 1853. There were a thousand miles of plains, hills and mountains to cross, rivers and streams to ford, blistering summer heat with wind storms and summer showers, hot days and cold nights, especially as they neared the Rocky Mountains. The wagon company was always on the alert for Indians. On 30 September 1853, nine months after leaving Denmark, they reached Salt Lake City, Utah.(13)
The parents, Jeppe and Maren, settled in Lehi, where Maren died about 1856. Their daughter Martha was working in Salt Lake and when she went to Lehi to visit her parents, found her mother dead and buried.
Christine was married to Mons Andersen, 3 July 1854, and lived in Salt Lake City until April 1858, when they moved to Lehi.
Martha Kjerstine married Jonathan Pugmire on 21 March 1856. She also married William Milton Bell on 9 April 1859.
Jens Peter's marriages are to be found in his history in Chapter 1 of this volume.
Karen Kirstine, and Karen's husband Jens Nielsen (James Nelson) and their baby daughter left Copenhagen on Monday 26 December 1853 aboard the steam ship "Eideren" bound for Utah, under the leadership of Hans Peter Olsen, a missionary from the valley, who had labored about 10 months on the island of Bornholm. Like the preceding company, these emigrants traveled by way of Kiel, Gluckstadt, and Hull to Liverpool, where they arrived 9 January 1854. Here they were compelled to wait nearly two weeks, during which time the greater portion of the children were attacked with fever, resulting in the death of twenty-two of the little ones. Two adults also died. On 22 January 1854, the emigrants went aboard the ship "Benjamin Adams," together with a few German Saints.
"The 'Benjamin Adams' sailed from Liverpool, England on the 28th with 384 Saints on board, arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA on 22 March 1854 after a pleasant and prosperous voyage. Eight deaths occurred during the voyage, namely two very old people and six children; two children were born on board and nine couples were married. One March 25, 1854, the company continued the journey from New Orleans by the steamboat 'L.M. Kennett' and arrived in St. Louis, Missouri on April 3, 1854. During the passage up the river, considerable sickness prevailed and fourteen of the emigrants died."(14)
" In St. Louis, where an organized branch of the Church existed, the immigrants joined the former company which had crossed the Atlantic in the 'Jessie Munn' and H.P. Olsen became the leader of all. Under him, the survivors of both companies continued the journey by steamboat to Kansas City in Jackson County, Missouri, which had been selected as the outfitting place for the Saints who crossed the plains that year. The Scandinavian immigrants made their encampment near Westport."(15)
"Of all the immigrating Saints of 1854, this large company of Scandinavians suffered most from the cholera epidemic. So great was the mortality rate from the fever, which struck the children in England, the deaths on board en route, the cholera, and the deaths of the march across the plains, that of the 680 persons who left Copenhagen in December 1853, about five hundred reached their destination, Salt Lake City, 5 October 1854."(16)
Karen and Jens' infant daughter was among those stricken with cholera. She died 13 April 1854 shortly after arriving in St. Louis.
Mette Kjerstine Marcusdatter (Ericksen), who would later become the wife of Jens Peter Ipsen Benson, was also in this company, along with her 7-year-old sister, Else Marie. Else, too, became a victim of the cholera epidemic, and died near Florence (Omaha), Nebraska.
Sometime later Jeppe married Christina Marie Aagensen who died in 1860. On 16 August 1862 he married Hanna Mathea Hansen (Hoffman) a convert from Norway(17), she had a daughter Henrietta. A son and a daughter were born to them in Lehi; Yeppa Jr. and Wilhelmina (Minnie). Next came a move to Weston, Idaho where Jeppe's first wife's relatives had settled, the Kofoeds. In the winter of 1871 Jeppe froze his feet, and died 1 January 1872 as a result, leaving his wife with two small children. The Benson family placed a marker at his grave in the Weston Cemetery a number of years ago.
Yeppa Jr. married Catherine Swivel, lived and reared their family in Weston where he served as Bishop for a number of years. Later they moved out to Weiser, Idaho. The daughter Wilhelmina, (Minnie) married Christian Lund, lived in Weston, died young and left a family of five small children. Henrietta married David Lapray, they too lived in Weston, she also died young leaving a family of small children.
FOOTNOTES
1. FAMILY NAMES
The names we have used for the family in this background history are those they used in Denmark. When they came to America they may have adopted new names.
For example, Jeppe's children gave up the patronymic surname and followed the American standard of retaining the father's surname. They all chose Bentsen then Benson as the family name.
Subsequent histories will use the "Americanized" forms.
Spelling of names is always a problem in family history work. We have adopted what we feel to be the most prevalent form of the various names
2. FHL film 0041940, item 1, p.13.
3. FHL film 0041940
4. Under the Midnight Sun, Albert L. Zobell, Jr., p. 25.
5. FHL film 0041939, item 4, p.2.
6. FHL film 0183404
7. FHL film 0041939, item 4, p. 3.
8. Ships, Saints, and Mariners, Conway B. Stone, Univ of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1987
9. Under the Midnight Sun, Albert L. Zobell, Jr., Chap. 11.
10. FHL film 0200173
11. Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports (FHL book 973 W2ger, vol. 4, p. 324, 325)
12. Journal History of the Church (FHL film 1259740)
13. FHL film 1259740
14. Detailed Emigration Account 1854, Seventieth Company, The Contributor, vol. 13, p. 508-509. (Logan, Utah Library)
15. Millennial Star, vol XVI, pp. 94, 256, 272, 297; also, Morgenstjernen, vol II, p. 53
16. Under the Midnight Sun, Albert L. Zobell, Jr., p. 58.
17. FHL film 0183404
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1795 - 1856 (61 år)
