Mette Jensdatter

Born 6 February 1817 in Denmark to Dorthe Kirstine Mortensdatter and Jens Nielsen (marriage record)
Married Christian Fredericksen 10 February 1843 in Denmark
Mette-Dorthea-Elnora-Afton
Died 6 October 1874 in Hyrum
Buried in Hyrum

Mette Jensdatter was born on 6 Feb 1817 in Frankerup, Eggeslevmagle, Soro, Denmark and was christened on 16 Mar 1817 in the same place. Her parents were Jens Nielsen and Dorthe Kirstine Mortensdatter. Mette married Christian Fredericksen on 10 Feb 1843 in Hyllested, Soro, Denmark. They had 6 children between 1843 and 1859, Kirsten, Frederick, Marie, Karen, Dorthea Christine and Hannah, in Oreby, Hove, Soro, Denmark.

Sylvia Marie Jensen and M. Stone, some descendants of Christian and Mette, write that after Christian and Mette joined the LDS Church, they wanted to come to Utah to be sealed together. However, Christian had consumption and died before they were able to leave Denmark. Christian's last request before his death was for his wife Mette to come to Utah to have them sealed together. Mette left 6 few months after Christian's death (he died in December of 1870) with their two unmarried daughters Dorthea and Hannah.

At that time in Denmark it would have been necessary for Mette to have the consent of a male member of the family before she could take Dorthea and Hannah to America. Her son first gave his permission, but shortly before they were to sail, he decided that he did not want her to leave. The missionaries helped Mette and her two daughters hide so he could not prevent them from leaving.

They sailed on the ship "Minnesota" to Liverpool, England, and then on to New York. They came to Utah by rail since it was a few years after the railroad had been completed. They ended up in Hyrum, Utah, just outside of Logan.

On 18 June 1871 Mette was able to fulfill Christian's request to have them sealed together. Niels Jensen (who would become Dorthea's father-in-law in 1873) stood in as proxy. On 23 June 1871, Niels and Mette were sealed together for time.

Mette had a hard time in Utah. She did not like the black bread they had to eat. Dorthea told her children about the difficulties of coming to a new land and that Mette suffered a lot. Dorthea and Hannah cared for her until her death. One morning she told her daughters that Christian had been there and told her that he would be back to get her the next Tuesday at a certain time. She died the next Tuesday at the appointed time.