Jens Nielson
Born: 26 April 1820 at Isle of Laaland,Tirsted, Maribo, DenmarkLIFE SKETCH JENS NIELSON
Who but Jens Nielson could represent Bluff, Utah, should only one name be allowed on the list? Bishop of the small LDS ward in this tiny community for 26 years, often the only man within its bounds for weeks on end, peacemaker with angry Indian neighbors, and survivor of survivors, Jens Nielson fully equals Bluff.
Jens and his first wife, Elsie Rasmussen, joined the LDS church in their native Denmark in 1850. This cost them friends, status, and property. After Jens, completed a mission there, they, with six-year old son, Niels Jens, left Denmark for Utah in 1856, traveling from Liverpool aboard the Thornton.
Son, Niels Jens, was among those who perished before the Willie Handcart Company was rescued, and Jens, the father, only survived because Elsie put him in the handcart and pulled it on her own after his feet were so frozen he could not go on. Their ward, nine-year old Bodil Mortensen also perished that night. Jens and Elsie were assisted to Salt Lake City, now childless and without resources, as Jens had given the money he brought from Denmark to the Church back in Iowa to assist in outfitting the handcart company. Brigham Young sent them to Parowan to help in that settlement. Here Jens married another Danish woman, Kirsten Pedersen, who he had baptized in Denmark and who had come to Utah in an earlier handcart company (1856). Shortly after his second marriage they were called to go help settle Paragonah, then Panguitch, and finally they moved to Cedar City.
In Cedar City, he built a twin-home for his wives, Elsie and Kirsten, then made it a tri-plex after marrying Katrina Jorgensen. The three women became friends as well as wives. Elsie bore three more children, Mary (1860), Julia (1862), and Agnus (1865); Kirsten bore Jens (1858), Hans Joseph (1860), Jens Peter (1862), Margaret Christine (1864), John (1866), Francis (1868), Lucinda (1872), Caroline (1874) and Hyrum (1878); Katrina added Annetta (1875), Uriah Albert (1877), and Freeman August (1878) to the Nielson home. Of these, Jens (1858), Agnus (1865), John (1866), and Hyrum (1878) died as infants or young children.
Jens had pledged to God because of his earlier survival, that whatever the Church leaders asked, he would do willingly. So, when Apostle Erastus Snow extended calls to saints in Parowan and Cedar City to go to the San Juan in 1879, Jens felt he was called, even though his name was not read. "It is the voice of the Lord to me to go, so we will go," he said. Sons Hans Joseph, and Jens Peter were called, as was son-in-law Kumen Jones and his wife, Mary. Jens felt his pioneering experience would be of help.
Jens was appointed chaplain of the San Juan company and captain of the first "ten." When discouragement settled over the camp, it was Jens who said, "We must go on whether we can or not," and "If we have plenty of stickie-ta-tudy we cannot fail." His faith and encouragement got the company back to work to create the road over impossible country. He said the hole in the rock expedition was worse than the handcart trek twenty years earlier. With him traveled his wife Kirsten and her children; Elsie's daughter, Mary, accompanied her husband, Kumen Jones. Elsie, and Trena remained in Cedar City, waiting for the new settlement to be established.
Fort on the Firing Line details the difficulties faced by Jens and the others who settled Bluff and bore those trials under his leadership there. He brought Elsie and Julia to Bluff in about 1882, and sent them back to Cedar to help Trina through a serious illness, but they left Trina before she died in 1884. Trina's children were brought to Bluff about 1885. He and his sons established a thriving cattle business; he founded the San Juan Cooperative, and became a prosperous mainstay of the community. He built homes for his two wives, and otherwise beautified the town. He never felt the call to Bluff was rescinded, even though many others took advantage of releases on two separate occasions. Faithful to his call, he died at Bluff at age 86, still the "father of Bluff."
Sources:
1 Nielson, Jay P. A History of Jens Nielson
2
Blogspot: Hole in the Rock Remembered"
3. Jones, Kumen. Notes on the San
Juan Mission
4. Lyman, Albert R. Fort on the
Firing Line. 1948.
5. Lyman, Albert R. History of
San Juan County. 1918.
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Jens Nielson
Jens and Kirsten Nielson Family
(back) Jens Peter, Margaret;
(center) Jens, Hans Joseph, Kirsten, Francis;
(front) Lucinda and Caroline
Uriah Albert and Freeman August Nielson
Jens and Elsie Nielson Home 1950
Jens and Kirsten Nielson Home