Tbigpigeon.us webpage History > A House Divided, updated by RAC 14 Feb 2020.
This webarea complements an article, also titled A House Divided, once planned for The Bridge, the journal of the Danish American Heritage Society. A House Divided tells of three siblings from Denmark who converted to the Mormon faith and came to the United States between 1855 and 1862, and their sixteen mostly-Mormon children who also immigrated. Within the United States, the extended family was divided both by religion and by geography, with most of the sixteen cousins living in or near Utah while four settled in the greater Big Pigeon area.
A House Divided evolved from my report Kirsten Pedersen's Relatives, written after I discovered the link between the Bondo family of St. Paul's Lutheran Church and John Erik Forsgren, who brought the first company of Scandinavian Mormon immigrants to Utah in September 1853. (Kirsten Pedersen, mother of Karen (Jensen) Bondo, married John Erik Forsgren after Kirsten immigrated to Utah.)
Peder Nielsen and Maren Christensdatter were the parents of the three siblings and grandparents of the sixteen cousins who comprise our A House Divided extended family. Peder and Maren were born in rural Aalborg Amt (county), southeast of the city of Aalborg, and died in rural Dronninglund Sogn (parish), Hjørring Amt, northeast of the city of Aalborg. You can access some information on the families of the three siblings via the links embedded in the following list of Peder and Maren's known children.
Peder Nielsen (1765 - 1848) & Maren Christensdatter (1771 - 1812)
Niels Peder Pedersen (1801 - 1888) & Johanne Pedersen (1810 - 1879) - family webpage
Maren Pedersen (1802 - 1881) & Jens Andersen ( - 1871)
Ane Katrine Pedersen (1805 - 1855) & Christen Andersen (1796 - 1855) - family webpage
Else Pedersen (1808 - 1848) & Peder Mogensen (~1801 - )
Kirsten Pedersen* (1810 - 1894) & Jens Nielsen
Kirsten Pedersen* (1810 - 1894) & Jens Christian Hendriksen (1802 - 1859) - family webpage
Kirsten Pedersen* (1810 - 1894) & John Erik Forsgren (1816 - 1890)
Additional links to my A House Divided materials:
Other Big Pigeon webpages with material about the families in A House Divided:
The stillborn article A House Divided used both material provided by Julie Allen of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and the results of my research into Kirsten Pedersen's extended family. Julie material can be found in her 2017 book, Danish but not Lutheran.
A House Divided evolved from my report Kirsten Pedersen's Relatives, written after I discovered the link between the Bondo family of St. Paul's Lutheran Church and John Erik Forsgren, who brought the first company of Scandinavian Mormon immigrants to Utah in September 1853. (Kirsten Pedersen, mother of Karen (Jensen) Bondo, married John Erik Forsgren after Kirsten immigrated to Utah.)
Peder Nielsen and Maren Christensdatter were the parents of the three siblings and grandparents of the sixteen cousins who comprise our A House Divided extended family. Peder and Maren were born in rural Aalborg Amt (county), southeast of the city of Aalborg, and died in rural Dronninglund Sogn (parish), Hjørring Amt, northeast of the city of Aalborg. You can access some information on the families of the three siblings via the links embedded in the following list of Peder and Maren's known children.
Peder Nielsen (1765 - 1848) & Maren Christensdatter (1771 - 1812)
Niels Peder Pedersen (1801 - 1888) & Johanne Pedersen (1810 - 1879) - family webpage
Maren Pedersen (1802 - 1881) & Jens Andersen ( - 1871)
Ane Katrine Pedersen (1805 - 1855) & Christen Andersen (1796 - 1855) - family webpage
Else Pedersen (1808 - 1848) & Peder Mogensen (~1801 - )
Kirsten Pedersen* (1810 - 1894) & Jens Nielsen
Kirsten Pedersen* (1810 - 1894) & Jens Christian Hendriksen (1802 - 1859) - family webpage
Kirsten Pedersen* (1810 - 1894) & John Erik Forsgren (1816 - 1890)
Additional links to my A House Divided materials:
- Pott. Co. > A House Divided - Endnotes provides another view of our three siblings and sixteen cousins.
- Pott Co. > A House Divided > Kirsten Pedersen's Story treats Kirsten Pedersen (Karen Jensen's mother) as the central character in an illustrated preview for A House Divided.
- A House Divided - Missions - report (primarily excerpts from Legacy of Sacrifice: Missionaries to Scandinavia, 1872–94)
Other Big Pigeon webpages with material about the families in A House Divided:
- Pott Co. > Big Pigeon Area has a link to my Immigration to Boomer Township from Dronninglund Parish report, which contains information on three cousins: Ane Margrethe Christensen (married Christian Peterson), Maren Christensen (married Jens Christian Christensen), and Karen Jensen (married Christian Bondo).
- St. Paul's > Early Families has links to the family reports for the Christian Bondo/Karen Jensen family and the Jens Christian Christensen/Maren Christensen family.
The stillborn article A House Divided used both material provided by Julie Allen of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and the results of my research into Kirsten Pedersen's extended family. Julie material can be found in her 2017 book, Danish but not Lutheran.