bigpigeon.us webpage Mormon History > Kirsten's Descendants > Kirsten's Daughter, Karen Bondo, updated by RAC 22 Dec '17.
Kirsten Pedersen's daughter, Karen Jensen, remained in Denmark when Kirsten emigrated in 1861. (Because of the patronymic naming system used in Denmark at the time, Karen took on her father's first name, "Jens", rather than his last name, "Henriksen", as her surname. Later in the United States this confused some people, so Karen has sometimes been called Karen Henriksen.)
In 1867 Karen Jensen/Henriksen immigrated to Iowa with the Gregers Acton family, who settled in Boomer Township near Council Bluffs, Iowa.
In Boomer Township Karen met and soon married Laurits Christian Bondo, also a young Danish immigrant. Several years after marrying, Christian and Karen left the wooded hills of southwestern Boomer Township for the nearby prairies of northeastern Hazel Dell Township.
The extended Bondo family were stalwart members of the Blair branch of the Danish Lutheran Church, worshipping at St. Paul's Lutheran church in Boomer Township, which lies west of the town of Neola. Three of the Bondo sons became pastors.
In 1911, fifty years after Kirsten Pedersen immigrated, Kirsten's daughter, the widow Karen Bondo, journeyed to Utah. Kirsten Pedersen had died years earlier, but Karen met with her sister, Johanna Timerman, who gave Karen their mother's old Danish bible.
Kirsten Pedersen's daughter, Karen Jensen, remained in Denmark when Kirsten emigrated in 1861. (Because of the patronymic naming system used in Denmark at the time, Karen took on her father's first name, "Jens", rather than his last name, "Henriksen", as her surname. Later in the United States this confused some people, so Karen has sometimes been called Karen Henriksen.)
In 1867 Karen Jensen/Henriksen immigrated to Iowa with the Gregers Acton family, who settled in Boomer Township near Council Bluffs, Iowa.
In Boomer Township Karen met and soon married Laurits Christian Bondo, also a young Danish immigrant. Several years after marrying, Christian and Karen left the wooded hills of southwestern Boomer Township for the nearby prairies of northeastern Hazel Dell Township.
The extended Bondo family were stalwart members of the Blair branch of the Danish Lutheran Church, worshipping at St. Paul's Lutheran church in Boomer Township, which lies west of the town of Neola. Three of the Bondo sons became pastors.
In 1911, fifty years after Kirsten Pedersen immigrated, Kirsten's daughter, the widow Karen Bondo, journeyed to Utah. Kirsten Pedersen had died years earlier, but Karen met with her sister, Johanna Timerman, who gave Karen their mother's old Danish bible.
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, photo courtesy of Tom McLaughlin
Christian and Karen Bondo had ten children, all of whom married and had children.
Karen Bondo flanked by descendants, 1917
You can view a gallery of several contemporary photographs of Pottawattamie County, Iowa locations near where Kirsten Pedersen's daughter, Karen (Jensen) Bondo, lived.