- There are some unusual circumstances with his various wives. Some of these are simply temple sealings and it is currently unknown as to why they occurred.
Initially (prior to Nov 2018), he was not linked to his first wife, Caroline Frederikke Bastian.
Thomas' father, Wilhelm, was a member of the LDS Church and emigrated to Utah in 1885 (with his wife Anne and Thomas' youngest brother Wilhelm). His entry in Passport to Paradise indicates that the family was living in København (Copenhagen) prior to leaving. This residence lead to finding Thomas also in Copenhagen.
First, there is an 1884 christening entry for Thomas (which also, for unknown reasons, prefixes "Carl" to his name). Due to his parents being "Mormons" (as it says in the birth register), Thomas was not christened in the state Lutheran church at the time of his birth in 1859, and the birth register only records the date of his birth (without a christening). Thomas was baptized into the LDS church at age 10. However, at the age of nearly 25, he received a Lutheran christening on 16 Aug 1884 in Holmens parish in Copenhagen, just prior to his marriage, the following day (17 Aug 1884), to Caroline. This event has been improperly indexed, but the original record indicates that he was born in 1859 and christened in 1884. As for why this happened, perhaps there was a Lutheran church requirement for him to christened a Lutheran before being allowed to marry there.
Five years later, when Thomas emigrates in 1889, Caroline and young Thomas Elin are listed with him. (The child is listed with an age of 2 years and 6 months, making his birth in [approx] April of 1887, rather than the 1886 that appears in all subsequent US records.) No birth record is found nor indexed in the April 1886 or 1887 timeframe in either Holmens parish or in Trinitatis parish (where father Thomas was living at the time of marriage). (For more details of this emigration, see the entry for Thomas' father Vilhelm.)
It is unknown what happens to Caroline. (There is a woman named "Caroline Bastian" who in 1903 becomes the second wife to Anders/Andrew L. Nelson of Provo, after his first wife dies. The census indicates the same age and immigration date, but then, at her death in 1931, her father is identified as "Chris Jepperson" ....)
n the 1900 census at Salt Lake, Thomas, both father and son, are listed with "wife Gusta", with the indication that Thomas and Gusta have been married for the past 14 years. This is also contradicted by the fact that a marriage of Thomas and "Gusta Evans" is LATER recorded in Farmington in November of 1905, 14 months after the birth of a son Stanley in September of 1904. There is no known document for this birth. Oddly, on Stanley's marriage record in 1927, it states that his mother is named "Selma". There are no clues as to whether this is an error or who this "Selma" might be.
Gusta dies in November of 1908 at Bingham Junction (Midvale). In 1910, Thomas is found, with son Stanley, "widowed" in San Francisco as a "stationery merchant". (He was a tree inspector in 1900.) Is this perhaps just a temporary residence??
However, in the interim, there is an entry in the Utah Marriage Index (no actual marriage entries) indicating that "Thomas E. Vissing" marries "Martha Jane Welch" in August of 1909 in Salt Lake.
Martha Jane Welch, née Tonks, was married to Thomas Welch in Salt Lake in 1879, but he dies in 1902. They were living in Morgan, Utah.
The marriage index above gives ages that are MUCH farther from reality than usual: it indicates that Thomas was born in 1879, when he was actually born in 1859. It indicates that Martha was born in 1869 when she was actually born in 1860.
These unusual discrepancies would call this whole marriage into question, particularly when both turn around and marry someone else a few years later. But then the ordinance dates add another twist: Thomas' initiatory and endowment ordinances are recorded in Salt Lake on 18 Aug 1909, the exact same date of the above marriage to Martha. However, a proxy sealing for this marriage is recorded as 1994. So, if a sealing did occur in 1909, its record has been lost or misplaced, along with the reasons for such.
The next marriage of Thomas, to Anna Maria Poeschmann, has no civil record. The 1920 census shows them together in Salt Lake with son Stanley and with child Anna Melva born to them. (He is now a real estate agent.) It asserts that Anna immigrated in 1914 (no record found for this). Yet a granddaughter of Anna asserts that they were married in February of 1913. However, the ordinance record gives a sealing date of 10 Dec 1914.
Finally, there is another unusual sealing.
On 03 Oct 1940, Thomas is sealed BOTH to his deceased wife Gusta (Augusta) and to an otherwise unknown woman, Jensine Johanne Holm. There is birth and death data (1860 Vejle to 1887) in the Tree, but it is wholly unsourced and of unknown origin. The tree also asserts that she is the daughter of Lauritz F. Holm, but there is no birth record in Sankt Nicolai parish and she does not appear with the family in the 1870 census.
Thomas then dies in 1943, and his wife Anna continues until 1960.
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