Niels Madsen
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The family was poor. The children were expected to help all they could. Denmark in the year 1814 had begun compulsory education to the age of 14. The children's parents could pay to send their children for more education or they became apprentices in a vocation. Their son Carl became a carpenter apprentice.
They were a religious family. Believed in prayer. They were active in the Lutheran Church and good friends with the pastor and his wife (Aunt Hannah). As the Mormon religion was new in Denmark, I felt it must have been a challenge to accept this new religion. The records state Niels was baptized October 4, 1875. All of his family joined the church in 1876 while living in Denmark and received their endowments in the Manti Temple in the 1880s. I do not know when the family immigrated to the United States. Their children were grown when they joined the church. Their son, Carl Emil, had to leave Denmark or go to jail because of being a member of the church. The Judge told him to go to America so he could practice his religion. I assume Carl came first and then the parents came later. I do not know when the two older sisters came. The remembrances recorded by Aunt Edith Nielsen Farnsworth (granddaughter) differ from the dates on the records. The immigrating Danish people were settling in Spring City, Utah and that is where Niels and Anna made their home. They did not learn English. The Danish people were skilled craftsmen. I do not know the skills of Niels. Anna and Niels had six children: Petrine Elizabeth, Bertholine, Carl Emil, and three sons that died as infants: Mads Peder, Soren, and Soren Peder. Written by Alice Jo C. Ellsworth
2nd Great-Granddaughter "The Remembrance of Carl Emil Nielsen and Sine Oline Jensen Nielsen" March 23, 1997 |