In two of my previous stories about Johann Friedrich Fechser (“The Indictment of Frederick Fechser” and “Romance Interrupted: Ida and Jep”), I have mentioned the second and third wives of Johann Friedrich Fechser, calling them Cathrine Amalie Rasmussen and Elizabeth Nielsen. Their last names had come from other people’s histories and family trees. Some other family histories and family trees instead gave different last names, but I used the names that seemed to be the most commonly accepted. Johann Friedrich Fecher, in his diary, referred to Cathrine as Trine Amalia Borresen and to Elizabeth with just her first name.
After finding further information in my research, I have changed the names of these two wives to more closely reflect these newfound facts: Cathrine Amalie Borresen and Elizabeth Rasmussen.
Elizabeth
While researching a story about another distant relative, Karen Hansen (whose story I have related in “The Troubled Life of Karen Hansen”), I found the following quote that seems to contain convincing evidence that Elizabeth’s last name actually was Rasmussen:
“After her husband’s death, soon as she could, Karen sold what belongings she had, and with the help of the Perpetual Immigration Fund of the Church, she gathered enough to bring herself, her two boys and a girl to the Salt Lake Valley in June of 1872. Her husband’s cousin Elizabeth Rasmussen Fixer, now the 3rd polygamist wife of Johan Fixer, the miller, in Mount Pleasant, sent her husband Mr. Fixer to Salt Lake to bring her and her children to Mount Pleasant, where she remained with them for a few days, until the Bishop, at that time, a Mr. Seeley located them into a one room adobe house. He also found them some acerages of wheat that had already been cut and got permission for Karen to glean the wheat to get some flour. She and her children got about two bushels which they stored in the attic of their little adobe home to dry and then she and the children tromped that wheat and blew the chaff, taking it to Mr. Fixer to grind it into flour for them.”
When reading this, I immediately determined that the “Johan Fixer” mentioned was actually Johann Friedrich Fechser, my second-great-grandfather, who was the miller in Mount Pleasant at that time. Karen Hansen’s first husband was Lars Isaachsen, the son of Isaach Larsen and Ane Rasmusdatter. Ane Rasmusdatter had a sister, Elizabeth Rasmusdatter (also known as Rasmussen), who appears to be the Elizabeth who was widowed in Denmark, traveled to Utah, and married Johann Friedrich Fechser. Although the Karen Hansen biography says that “Elizabeth Rasmussen Fixer” was the cousin of Karen’s husband, she was actually his aunt.
Elizabeth Rasmusdatter was born August 25, 1818, in Soderup, Holbæk, Denmark, to Rasmus Nielsen and Kirstine Hansdatter. She appears to be their youngest child. She was six years old when her father died on February 21, 1825. Her mother married Hans Jacobsen on August 25, 1826; and after this marriage, Elizabeth was raised in the Jacobsen household. Her birth record and most other records in Denmark give her first name as Lisbeth. She seems to have changed it to Elizabeth when she immigrated to America. I am assuming that the last name of Nielsen appearing in histories and family trees comes from the fact that her father’s last name was Nielsen, but the Danish naming convention of the time would have given her the last name of Rasmusdatter or Rasmusen.
Elizabeth married Jens Jensen on July 18, 1840, in Frederiksberg København, Denmark. They had one son, Peder Jensen, born June 16, 1840, in Frederiksberg. Elizabeth was widowed shortly after that, as she and her son can be seen in the 1845 Danish census living in the home of her mother and stepfather in Soderup and she is listed as a widow. Whether her son Peder died young cannot be determined. He would have been about 17 by the time she left for America, but he is not on the passenger list with her. I could not find either of them in the 1850 or 1855 Danish census.
Elizabeth is on the passenger list of the sailing ship Westmoreland that left Liverpool, England, on April 25, 1857, and arrived in Philadelphia on May 31, 1857. There are no records showing all of the members of the Seventh Handcart Company led by Christian Christensen, but Elizabeth is assumed to have been a part of that company, which left Iowa City, Iowa, on June 15, 1857, and arrived in Salt Lake City on September 13, 1857.
Cathrine Amalie
After researching Elizabeth’s records in Denmark, I went ahead and continued by also further researching Cathrine Amalie, and I was again able to find more than I had previously seen.
Catherine Amalie was born October 18, 1826, in Copenhagen, København, Denmark. She was born in Fødselsstiftelsenin, an institution where women could give birth anonymously and receive free medical care. Her birth name was listed as Thrine Amalie with no last name, and there were no names of parents in the birth records. Later records show many variations for her first name, including Trine, Trina, Trena, Cathrine, and Kathrine.
Cathrine was adopted as an infant by Peder Christian Borresen and his wife, Maren Jorgensdatter. She was just two months younger than their youngest son. Since there seems to be no credible recorded last name prior to her joining this family, I have decided that in my histories her last name shall be known as Borresen.
The 1834 census shows her living with the Borresen family and gives her name as Kathrine Amalie Olsen. Although some family histories give her father’s name as Ole Olsen, there doesn’t seem to be any documentation for this.
Her 1841 confirmation record gives her name as Thrine Amalia Borresen and gives her mother’s name as Karen Christiane Kirstine Borresen. This might indicate that her mother had some relationship to the Borresen family, but I couldn’t find the evidence of this. Some family histories say that Cathrine’s mother married Peder Christian Borresen after he was widowed when Cathrine was an infant, but census records show that this was not the case, as Maren Jorgensdatter was alive and married to Peder until her death on November 29, 1850.
I cannot find any documentation of a last name of Rasmussen for Cathrine Amalie, which is prevalent in so many family histories and family trees. If any family historians have any evidence that she once had the last name of Rasmussen, I would like them to present that evidence to set the record straight.
Cathrine Amalie married Peter Henrik Christenen on January 16, 1848, in Frederiksberg, København, Denmark. They had two daughters together, both born in Helligånd, København, Denmark: Anna Christine Christensen was born October 8, 1848; and Jensine Sophie Christensen was born November 30, 1851.
They joined the Mormon church and made plans to travel to Utah. They sailed from Liverpool, England, on January 24, 1854, aboard the ship Benjamin Adams. Their daughter Jensine Sophie died at sea prior to their arrival in New Orleans on March 22, 1854. They boarded the steamship L.M. Kennet for the journey from New Orleans to Saint Louis. Peter Henrik died en route to Saint Louis, so Cathrine Amalie and daughter Anna Christine continued the journey alone. Cathrine and Anna were part of the Hans Peter Olsen Company, which left Westport, Kansas City, Missouri, on June 15, 1854, and arrived in Salt Lake City on October 5, 1854.
Eric’s Roots 