Mary Christine Jensen

Mary Christine Jensen (Graham)
Married: John Graham, 14 August 1873

Children:
John Richard b. 1 Dec 1873
Mary Elnora b. 30 Jan 1876
Peter b. 31 Dec 1878
Wilford Moroni b. 14 May 1880
Elizabeth Velinda b. 20 Jun 1882
George Alma b 3 Jul 1884
Christina b about 1886
Martha Lovina Rebecca b. 11 Jun 1887
Tilman Rivers b. 9 Sep 1889
Geneva Romania b. 24 Mar 1892
Maitland b. 31 mar 1894
Ellis Earl b. 30 Mar 1896
Loyal b. 11 Sep 1898


Mary Christine Jensen was born 5 Sep 1855 to Peter Christen (Christensen) Jensen and Maren (Christensen) Anderson. Her parents were born in Denmark and joined the Church there in 1853. They crossed the plains with the Hans Peter Olsen Company, reaching Salt Lake City, October 5, 1854. Two children were born to Peter C. and Maren while they lived in Salt Lake City. They were Maren Mary) Christena, September 6, 1855, and Heber Christen Jensen, 1857. Heber Christen died soon after birth. They suffered many hardships while living here, as did many of the Saints, living at the times of Sego roots. Peter C. spent some time working on the Salt Lake Temple wall.

In 1858 Mary’s parents and family were called with other Scandinavian Saints to help settle Ephraim. While in Ephraim, her brother Peter Christen, Jr. was born March 19, 1859. That same year they moved to Mount Pleasant, where they were among the first settlers. Here another brother, Alma was born 24 Oct 1861.

Word was sent to the Scandinavian settlers in Sanpete County offering twenty acres of good ground to each family that would settle in Richfield. About twenty families left Mt. Pleasant, among them, Peter C. and Maren and their children. They stopped at Redmond for a short time but continued on to Richfield. Due to continual Indian troubles it was decided to abandon the settlement on the Sevier. The last of the settlers left Richfield with 130 wagons on 20 April 1867.

Peter C. Jensen as we know him today used the surname of Christensen as did his family until about 1880. Family records state that their last child, Caroline Cecilia, was born and died here in Richfield in 1864. While the family lived in Richfield Peter C. took a plural wife, Ane Kjirsten Sorensen, from Denmark. His family, now two wives and four children, returned to Mt. Pleasant, where they remained for three years. He and Kjirsten had two more children born here. They then moved to Fairview, six miles north of Mt. Pleasant on the Sanpitch River.

It was here that Mary married John Graham on 14 Aug 1873. They were later sealed in the Manti Temple on 27 May 1891 and had their children sealed to them. At this time they had nine children, although a baby Christina had died. It is uncertain whether she was stillborn or died immediately after birth. A gravestone is erected in the Fairview cemetery with the name Baby Christina with no date.

John and Mary homesteaded some land in a place that was known as Herd House, receiving its name from the sheep that were herded there and a little old house in the valley. According to daughter Nora, “We used to move out on this land in the summer time and back to town in the winter. My mother always sent us to Sunday School and Primary when we were in town. I will never forget how happy we were.” Mary Christine and Ane Kjerstin, who were the oldest daughters of each of Peter C’s wives, were having children at Milburn at the same time as the youngest of the Jensen children were born. These "cousins" spent their early years feeling more like brothers and sisters than as uncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces. Lifelong attachments were formed.
From Nora: “After we moved back and forth a few times, on the farm, my parents became tired, and they sold our home in Fairview and moved to Milburn to stay when I was thirteen years old. In the meantime people wanted homes and they came to the Herd House to get land to settle on. It became a branch of the Fairview Ward. We had a presiding elder, Peter C. Jensen, who was my Grandfather, and after a few years the Stake Authorities organized a Ward and set apart as Bishop, James W. Stewart, First Counselor, William E. Mower, Second Counselor Peter C. Jensen, Ward Clerk George A. Zabriskie, Mary C. Graham President of the Relief Society. I was chosen Secretary of the Primary. Mother held the position until her death. They named the Ward, Milburn.”

Nora was widowed at a young age and “received word that Mother was dead. I returned home and have lived with my father and brothers and sisters. We were 13 in family with my boys and me. Finally my father died October 2, 1914, at the age of 63. I still stayed until my boys and my brothers and sisters are all married.”

In the 1880 census John and Mary C. were living in the Fairview precinct with children Elnora, Peter and Wilford. Mary’s mother Mary (using the surname Christensen) and her brother Alma, then 18, were living with them. John’s brother Richard, 26 years old and single, was also living with them. After this census was taken in 1880, Mary’s father Peter C. Jensen purchased a farm farther north on the Sanpitch River at Milburn. Peter C. and Kjirsten moved with their children to the farm, living in a small log cabin. His wife Maren remained in Fairview living with daughter Mary and John Graham. At this time she was in very poor health. As Maren's health continued to fail, she was moved to Milburn so they could attend to her wants easier. She passed away 8 October 1887 at Milburn and was buried in the Fairview (lower) Cemetery.

Mary died in 1900 just shortly before the census was taken, leaving John with 9 children at home ranging from age 20 to 1 ½ years old. Nora

1880 Federal Census, Sanpete Co., Utah,
Fairview Pct., 1 June 1880: 59, 62
Graham, John 28 Farmer Eng. Eng. Eng.
Graham, Mary C. 24 wife Utah Den. Den.
Graham, John R. 6 son Utah Eng. Den.
Graham, Elnora M. 4 dau Utah Eng. Den.
Graham, Peter 2 son Utah Eng. Den.
Graham, Wilford 1/2 son Utah Eng. Den.
Christensen, Mary 54 mother-in-law, md. Den. Den. Den.
Jensen, Alma 18 bro-in-law, single Utah Den. Den.
Graham, Richard 26 brother single Eng. Eng. Eng.

1900 Milburn, Sanpte, Utah (census taken 25th of June, Mary (wife) died 26 of May 1900, so marital status of John was inaccurate)
317 318 Graham, John Head WM Aug 1850 49 md 27 yrs ENG ENG ENG 1862 38 na farmer
Wilford M. son WM May 1880 20 single Ut ENG ENG section hand
Malinda daughter WF June 1882 17 single UT ENG ENG
George A. son WM July 1884 15 single UT ENG ENG
Rebecca daughter WF June 1886 13 single UT ENG ENG
Tilman R. son WM Septe 1889 10 single UT ENG ENG
Genvia R. daughter WF Mar 1892 8 single UT ENG ENG
Mateland daughter (that’s what the census said!) Mar 1884 6 single UT ENG ENG
Earl E. son WM Mar 1896 4 single UT ENG ENG
Loyal son WM Sept 1898 1 single UT ENG ENG