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Note: Came to Utah 1860
Lucina Johnson Jensen 1855-1901 Lucina Johnson was born April 5, 1855, in Savannah, Andrew County, Missouri, the third daughter of Jarvis Johnson and Hester Ann Jackson.
Lucina's father, Jarvis, was at Council Bluffs when Captain James Allen rode in asking for volunteers to be mustard into the service of the United States Army. At sixteen years of age, he stretched as high as he could so that he would be tall enough to become a member of the 'Mormon Battalion.' He was the youngest member of Company C of the Battalion. Along with other members of the Battalion who had been discharged in California, Jarvis entered the Great Salt Lake Valley. He made preparations to return to Missouri to marry his childhood sweetheart, Hester Ann Jackson. Jarvis had received a land grant from the government and farmed for a few years. Hester and Jarvis became the parents of three daughters and two sons before leaving for Utah. As the years passed, Jarvis longed to return and join the Saints in Utah, so he sold everything he had and started with his wife and children for Utah.
About May 1859, Jarvis sold their property and treasures to accumulate and secure a good outfit for the journey. They joined a company of Saints and all went well for a time. Then, sickness befell the company while traveling along the Platt River in Nebraska. Lucina's mother was among those stricken and she died May 11, 1859. Jarvis undertook the ordeal of digging the grave and placing within it his dear young wife. Then, gathering his children, he continued on to Utah.
Lucina arrived in Utah after the tragedy of losing her mother and the hard ordeal of crossing the plains in 1859. After arriving in Salt Lake City, Brigham Young sent Jarvis to Box Elder (now known as Brigham City) to help with building there. Jarvis took a second wife that year, Sarah Jane Angell, daughter of Truman O. Angell. Lucina and her siblings adapted to the new area and their stepmother at a very early age. Not much can be found about Lucina during these years.
On December 2, 1872, at the age of 17, Lucina married Denmark Jensen in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City by Daniel H. Wells. Denmark was the son of Mads Christian Jensen and Maren Hansen Jensen and was born on the plains of Nebraska, near Wood River. Having been the first child born in America of Mormon emigrant parents, he was given the name of Denmark in honor of their native land.
Denmark and Lucina bought a small city lot and in a short time built a small two room house. Denmark went to work in the sawmill with his father-in-law, Jarvis Johnson. In his spare time, Denmark would work to improve their home and city lot, building two additional rooms, a nice barn, and other building. They planted an orchard and had many flowers. It was here their first child was born on September 16, 1873, and was given the name of Jarvis Daniel.
In 1874, Denmark was hired to run a sawmill in Logan Canyon, and Lucina went with him and did the cooking with Denmark's sister Rebecca. Here many exciting things happened and the young couple had many experiences, some good and some not so good. The timber was hauled to the top of the ridge and let loose to slide down the steep hillside. The logs would slide at a terrific speed and come to a stop near the mill yard. One day while waiting for the men to come to dinner, Lucina, Rebecca, and baby Jarvis walked out to the bridge near the house. While they were standing on the bridge, the logs crashed through the cook house. Everything was upset and broken. If the women and baby had still been in there preparing the dinner as usual, they would probably all have been killed. Nonetheless, in the area there was plenty of wild animals; deer, elk, bear, and the streams were full of fish. The Jensen's had a pleasant and happy summer.
Their second son, Benjamin Denmark, was born on January 16, 1876, in Brigham City, Utah. The following summer the mill was moved to the extreme south end of Cache Valley to a place now called Paradise up in Pine Canyon. Here again Lucina and Rebecca took charge of cooking for the crew.
The following year, Denmark accepted a job with Mr. Dalton to run his mill in Willard Canyon. Their third son was born on March 10, 1878, at their home in Brigham City and given the name of Anders Christian. In May of the same year, they sold their home in Brigham and bought a farm in Honeyville, a little town just north of Brigham. They moved to the farm as soon as they could and began to put in crops. It was on this farm that their fourth son, Parley Pratt, was born on April 24, 1880.
April 6, 1881, Denmark received his first call to fill a mission for the church. He was called to labor in the state of Minnesota. Denmark was gone until December 1882. During this time Lucina worked the farm, cared for her family, and supported her husband in his church calling. He arrived home late in the evening of December 7. Denmark wrote, "My wife and my son Jarvis met me, it was one of the happiest hours of my life."
In March they sold their farm to Brother Hunsaker for four hundred dollars and moved to Beaver Dam where they lived in Beaver Dam with Lucina's family. Denmark then traveled to Mink Creek, Oneida County, Idaho, bought a small place, and went back to get his family. On March 22, they arrived in Mink Creek to make their home. Some land was plowed and some grain, wheat and oats, planted. They also planted some potatoes by the end of May. Denmark had accepted a job running the mill for which he was paid two dollars and a half per thousand feet of lumber. On June 22, the family moved back to the lot and built a granary which they lived in while he built them a home. On September 1, they moved into their new home. It had two rooms, the front room was sixteen by seventeen feet, and the back room was eight by seventeen feet. It was not completely finished, but it was constructed enough so they could live in it.
On September 5, 1883, a fine baby girl was born to Lucina and Denmark, and she was given the name of Ada Melissa. Preparations were made for the winter, the family had enjoyed a good year. On January 1, 1884, the Jensen family went to Brigham City and Beaver Dam to visit relatives and friends. This was a wonderful three weeks for the young family.
In April they sold their place in Mink Creek and headed for Rexburg, Idaho. Here he again obtained logs and built a house. They lived in their new home for three weeks while Denmark worked on a ditch for water rights. They then sold out on the twentieth of June and went to Portneuf Valley. Here they obtained a quarter section of land and settled on it.
Lucina and Jarvis went to Mink Creek for the cows and furniture and Denmark and Dan remained behind to get out logs. In one week Lucina returned and there was enough timber to build a house. The house was eighteen by twenty-one feet.
On December 31, 1884, a baby girl was born and was given the name of Esther Lucina.
May 8, 1885, Denmark received a letter from President John Taylor notifying him he had been called to labor in the Washakea Mission. (Washakea is an Indian reservation and is located thirty miles north of Brigham City in Box Elder County). On December 1 if that year, Denmark received permission to go home and prepare the family a little for the winter. The family had managed under Lucina's watch eye and were well. He remained at home until December 22 doing what he could to make his family comfortable for the winter and then he returned.
In the spring, Denmark took his family to Washakea. They lived there until July and then moved back to Chesterfield. He returned to work with the Indians and run the sawmill at Washakea and was released on February 2, 1887.
In the spring of 1888, they moved to their new farm eight miles west of Chesterfield. Here they built a log house and was busy all summer getting the home and farm in order. Denmark secured a job running a sawmill at Eight Mile Canyon, located just above Soda Springs, and for the next three summers ran sawmills around this area.
The winter of 1895, Denmark was called to serve a home mission. This was a special mission to visit all the homes in all the wards of the Oneida Stake. This took five months.
January 28, 1889, Lucina gave birth to a son which they named Urban Jensen. Also, July 24, 1890, Isaac H. was born on his father's thirty-seventh birthday. Lola Maren was born April 4, 1892; and Ray was born October 22, 1894, all in Chesterfield, Idaho
Denmark was occupied with mill work and this occasioned another move, this time to Gentile Valley with the mill located in Turner's Canyon.
Denmark was again called to a mission on December 3, 1896, this time to the northwest. They were the first missionaries sent to Oregon and Washington. Their release came March 30, 1897. In July, he was called to return to Oregon and was set apart to preside over the Oregon conference until he was released on April 1, 1898, having organized several branches.
July 24, 1898, the Bannock Stake was organized with Lewis Ponds as President and Denmark Jensen as his first counselor.
A daughter Allein was born on June 24, 1901, at Thatcher, Idaho.
It was in Gentile Valley that Denmark felt he was really tired. Denmark writes in his journal, "Here I met the first great sorrow of my life. The great loss of my dear wife, Lucina. She died October 7, 1901, leaving me with eleven children, the youngest one was four months old."
Lucina's is now buried in the Brigham City Cemetery.
Through all histories, so little has said of Lucina. She must have been a very remarkable woman, one of great faith, devotion to her family, industrious, and supportive of a husband who was called to four missions during their nineteen years of marriage. She helped in setting up numerous new homes for her family as they homesteaded in new areas of northern Utah and southern Idaho. She cared for their family, home, stock, and provisions while her husband was away. She gave birth to eleven children, all living to raise families of their own. She not only endured the hardship of crossing the plains, but also in losing her mother at the tender age of six. What a great legacy she leaves her descendants.
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