Karen Marie Jensdatter

Biography

Karen Marie Jensdatter was born on May 23, 1812 in Knudegaard, Øland, Hjørring, Denmark. She was the third of eleven children. Her family was well-off and had a large farm with many animals and some hired help. On July 4, 1845, Karen married Jens Gotfredsen, a cooper by trade. Her family considered this marriage to be a step down. While they did not much like her husband, Karen and her children were always welcome visitors at the family farm. Karen and Jens had five children together, four sons and one daughter.
In 1850, Karen joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with Jens and his family. They started to save money so that they could immigrate to Utah to join the other saints there. Around 1853, Karen and Jens moved to Aalborg. Karen had her youngest son there, who died just a few days after his birth.
At the end of 1855, they had saved enough to leave Denmark forever. Karen and her family crossed the Atlantic on the John J. Boyd. They had a stormy and incident-riddled voyage, but finally arrived in New York on February 15, 1856. The family made it to Illinois by March of 1856, but they lacked the means to travel any farther. Jens struggled to make a living and Karen, weary and undernourished, contracted pneumonia. Her lungs had been weakened by spending many hours at the loom breathing in lint throughout her life. She died on July 4, 1856 at the age of forty-four. She was buried in Alton, Madison, Illinois. Eventually, her family safely made the journey to Utah without her.