Married Peder Mathias Makkeprang 23 December 1843 in Denmark
Sophie Margrethe-Samuel-Mary Ann-Dixie
Died 28 November 1908 in Cedar City
Buried in Cedar City
1860 Census
1870 Census
1880 Census
1900 Census
Sophie Margrethe Sorensen was born on 2 Mar 1820 in Branderslev, Maribo, Denmark. She died on 28 Nov 1908 in Cedar City, Iron Co., Utah. She was a daughter of Christian Julius Sorenson and Margritte Hansen. Her mother and mother's sister were married the same day to two brothers. The eldest child in each family were born just one week apart. Margaret was the oldest in her family. She was the only child since her mother died when she was but three weeks old. Her father being an officer in the army, she was taken by her mother's sister, Kristina, who the one that was married the same day as Margaret's mother.
She lived with this family until she was ten years of age, when her father remarried. She then lived with her father until she was married on 23 December 1840 (or 1843), to Peter Mackelprang, also of Rudby, Lowland, Denmark.
They lived in Rudby for some time, Peter following his trade as a tanner and shoemaker. Peter often took boys as apprentices to learn the trade. However, Peter and Margaret soon became tired of the city life and moved to the country. They took with them a boy who had been mistreated by his father. The boy soon married, and Peter and Margaret built a home for him. When Peter and Margaret left, the young couple said that they had never been treated better by anyone than by them.
When the Mormon missionaries preached the glad tidings of life eternal in their prosperous little island, Margaret accepted the message willingly, feeling in her soul that it was of divine authority and believing that her husband would soon see the light. She was baptized in the spring of 1854 (or 1855). After the harvest, when Peter had joined the Church, they moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, where they lived for one year. Peter was called to act as a missionary among his countrymen during the last six months of their stay in Copenhagen.
After Peter had labored at this call for six months they began to make preparations for the journey to Zion. Margaret was given a blessing that she should reach Zion with all her family although she was very weak. When Annie Eva Mackelprang (later Bailey), their seventh child, was five weeks old they started on their way on the ocean trip in a sailing boat. Although Margaret was very sick crossing the sea, never being out of her bed, she clung to the promise given her and trusted in her faith. She was the only woman who didn't lose a child on the trip which lasted eleven weeks and five days.
The trip across the plains was accomplished by ox teams. Knute Peterson was the captain of the company. At the Missouri River they had to leave all the luggage that was not absolutely necessary to their existence. Margaret told of the cooking utensils, stove, feather beds, pillows and other comforts that were left on the bank of the river. She also told later in life of how she smuggled cloth she had bought for the children for extra clothes. This same cloth was later given into tithing upon their arrival in Utah.
Through Margaret's and Peter's supply of money and big-heartedness, four young people emigrated with them as far as Salt Lake City, where they divided the train of emigrants, as was the custom. These young people moved to Sanpete County to live with their relatives who had come to this country before them.
Margaret and Peter were sent south with their family and others. They located in the Old Fort, northwest of what is now Cedar City, Utah. They arrived 14 November 1856. They lived in the Old Fort for many years and then moved up to the "New City." Here Mary Mackelprang (later Jones) was born 3 September 1857. They lived at first in a shed with willows woven around to form a room. During the summer they built two rooms above it, the children carrying the water from the creek to mix the adobes. This was one of the first houses built in Cedar City, which stood at First South and Third East. In the cellar stood the old brick oven which served for baking.
Peter and Margaret were endowed and sealed to each other on 14 October 1859 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. On 2 June 1887 in the St. George Temple the family was adopted to President Wilford Woodruff.
Later they moved back to the Old Fort. It was here that a daughter, Margaret "Maggie" Mackelprang (later Perkins) was born on 19 September 1860. Peter bought a four room house in the "New City," and the family moved into it, living there for the rest of their lives. Bishop Lunt asked Margaret on many different occasions to prepare for the twelve apostles when they would arrive for conferences or visits. Margaret always prepared for them and did all she could to make them comfortable.
Peter and Margaret were a very hospitable couple, and the emigrants from the north would try to arrange their drives so as to "make Brother Mackelprang's" for the night. It is told that twenty outfits camping in and out of the lot was no uncommon sight.
Margaret was a devoted Relief Society worker. Her name often appears in the old minute books for deeds of charity. While neither she nor Peter were before the public much, their faith was deep-rooted and the paying of an honest tithing was one of their strong points.
Margaret was an excellent cook and seamstress and did much of this type of work for the poor and needy. Because of their faithfulness to the gospel, both Margaret and Peter were called to take their second anointing. Peter died fifteen years before Margaret. Margaret died 28 November 1908 in Cedar City, Utah. They left behind them a posterity of eight children, two preceding them to the great beyond, also four hundred and fifty descendants at the time this sketch was written.
The children are:
Stina, who died at nine months of age
Christian, who married Lenore Bailey
Christina, who married Martin Chatterly
William, who married Adelia Terry
August "Gus", who married Jane Parry
Julius, who married Martha Jane Perkins and Margaret Jane Stephens
Anna Eva, who married Nephi Bailey
Mary, who married Frederick Jones
Margaret, who married Daniel Perkins
Peter, who married Kathryn Perkins
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