- LIFE HISTORY SKETCH OF AMELIA THOMSEN CHRISTENSEN
Written by her granddaughter, Aurilla Hansen Jensen, as it was told her from time to time, when she lived with her grandmother, while attending school. (Written December 1955). Note: Inserts of additional information taken from earlier versions of the writings of her grand-daughter, Aurilla Jensen enclosed with [ ] symbols.
"Amelia Thomsen, was born 17 December 1832 in Aalbaek, Raabjaerg, Hjorring, Denmark. [She was christened 26 December 1832 in Raabjerg, sogn, Hjorring, Denmark] She was the middle child of Thomas Christensen Munk and Mette Marie Madsen. She had two sisters and two brothers: Magnus Christian Thomsen, born May 27, 1827; Daniel Peter Thomsen, born Jan 5, 1842; Ane Helvig Thomsen, born March 27, 1829, and Kirsten Marie Thomsen, born August 20, 1845; all were born in Aalbaek, Raabjaerg, Hjorring, Denmark. Amelia was the third child in the family.
"She had long black hair, blue eyes and was about 5 feet 5 inches in height. Amelia attended school in Denmark. When she was 14 years old (1846), she received her confirmation into the Luthern Church.
“She used to help her father drag fish to the shore with nets from the sea. Grandmother told me that she didn’t start her period until late in her teens, likely because of the cold water she was exposed to from fishing with her father. She also used to say, “My name is Ah-mile-a Munk” [This is where oral tradition carries the Munk name with her.]
"When the missionaries (Apostle Erastus Snow) came to Denmark in 1850, several of the family joined the L.D.S. Church and were baptized. Amelia was baptized in April 1852, her mother was baptized 15 July 1852, her brother Daniel Peter was baptized 8 January 1856, her sister Kirsten Marie was baptized 20 Nov 1856, and her father was baptized in Sept 1857 but later left the Church.
"Amelia's dearest friend was Amelia Hyrup. (The wife of William Knudsen and mother of the Knudsen brothers of Brigham City). William Knudsen and Amelia Hyrup were married and came with the first saints to Utah, in 1854. Amelia longed to go to Zion and be with her girlhood friend, Amelia Hyrup Knudsen. [Amelia Munk was unhappy because she was the only member of her family who had joined the L.D.S. Church at that time, and she longed to go to Zion, and to be with her girlfriend.]
"One day a group of saints were getting ready to sail to America. One of the girls in the group (Nicoline Christensen) changed her mind, and decided not to go to America. She told Amelia that she could go in her place. Amelia hurried home and packed her clothes, returned and boarded the ship. She was out at sea before she found out that there was no passage paid for her. The decision was made to leave her in England. The thought of being left in England was too much for grandmother. She had no knowledge of the English language, so she decided to hide in the ship (likely the Westmoreland) just before it was ready to leave Liverpool. The ship was far out in the Atlantic before she was discovered.
"Amelia Munk was a good “sailor”, that is, she was not seasick nearly so much as many of the other passengers, and therefore, there was plenty for her to eat during the voyage. After six weeks they landed in Philadelphia. The group then paid her train fare to Omaha. Grandmother joined the Seventh Handcart Company. The Company walked from Omaha to Salt Lake City, Utah. [She left there with the Israel Evans Handcart Company from Iowa City on May 22, 1857 with 149 souls and one wagon. She helped pull a handcart to Utah].
My grandmother Amelia Munk was with this company. "After completing this trek with the Seventh Handcart Company, my grandmother, Amelia Munk, was left sitting alone, under the bowery in Salt Lake City. Tired from a hard journey and alone in a new world. While she was sitting there a stranger came by and asked where she wanted to go she replied, “to Box Elder,” that being the name of Brigham City at that time. The stranger pointed north, and she started walking again. She walked alone from Salt Lake City to Brigham the 14th day of September 1857, stopping over night at a farm along the way.
"When she arrived in Brigham she located the home of William Knudsen. She lived with her friends, William and Amelia Knudsen, and helped her friend with her family during the time she lived at their home.
"In 1860 Amelia became the wife of Jens Christensen. She was 28 years of age and he was 63 at the time of their marriage. His first family was all grown. His first wife, Ane Christensen, died in 1862. Jens and Amelia had four children [who were all born in a little cabin north of the Knudson house of 1st east & 1st South in Brigham]: Anne Marie, born April 2, 1861 (my mother); James, born Jan 6 1864; Amelia, born Dec 19, 1867; and Martha, born March 6, 1870.
"Jens Christensen died in 28 April 1873, when their youngest, Martha was three years of age. Grandmother was left to raise the children. My mother, Anne, went out to work for other mothers, to help them with their families to earn what money she could to help her own mother along. James was only 9 years old, so grandmother had a hard time until they were old enough to help earn their own way. They had a small farm where they grew wheat and vegetables. [They also had some cows, which she milked all the time. She would much rather work in the fields than do housework.]
"Grandmother had a good singing voice, she used to sing at parties. She could also shear the sheep, card the wool, spin it into yarn, dye it, and weave it into cloth. I had a green dress made of cloth that she had made, when I was a little girl. I also had a stocking which she knit from the yarn that she had made. [She made her own candles for light...Grandmother lived in the time of the United Order and some of the Mormons did not like it very well. Grandmother said you had to stand in line and wait for some things to eat, especially meat. She said she would stand and hold a baby in her arms and wait for long as four hours. Then when Mr. Stark, the butcher waited on you, you would have to take what you got or go without.]
"She could read her Bible without the aid of glasses, when she was 80 years old. Even at 80 she like to sing songs from her hymn book. She loved the gospel and knew it was true. [One day she came up from the barn and sat on the kitchen table in sort of a daze. She said her oldest sister, Ane Helvig came to her in a vision. She was wearing a white dress and her long red hair done in braids. Grandmother felt that she should be baptized for this sister and that was the reason she appeared to her in this vision. She went to the Temple and had this work done.] Her faith was steady even to the last. She died 28 November 1914, at the age of 82. She died at her home located at 202 South 1st West in Brigham City, Utah. [She was buried in the Brigham Cemetery in her son James' plot.]
"Other members of her family also joined the church and came to Utah. Her brother Daniel Peter Thomsen, after the death of her father in 1914 in Aalbaek, her mother and her sister, Kirsten Marie emigrated to Utah. Both her mother and sister died in Brigham City and were buried there."
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1832 - 1914 (81 år)
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