1863 - 1930
Anna
Maria Jensen was born August 9,1863, somewhere on the plains between Omaha,
Nebraska and Salt Lake City, Utah. She was the daughter of Hans and
Maren Larsen Jensen.
Her mother, with two boys and one girl, had left Denmark to emigrate to Utah as converts to the LDS Church. Her father was unable to harmonize his feelings religiously with those of his wife; therefore, he chose to remain in his native country. They parted, perhaps never to meet again. Such were the sacrifices often called for in response to religious convictions.
The journey from Winter Quarters, now called Florence, Nebraska (located
six miles north of Omaha), was taken in wagons drawn by oxen. This
method was of necessity laborious and slow, full of dramatic incidents
and many hardships. It was while on this journey that Anna Maria
was born.
It is supposed that the little group came to Brigham City, Utah, where
after about three years her mother married a man by the name of James Larsen,
who had two children by a former wife. The uniting of these two families
brought trouble to the children of the new wife. It became necessary
to find homes for them among friends, and this was not always satisfactory.
Marie was at this time about three years old and had been placed with a
lady of the town. This did not prove to be a happy home. When
the lady left the house for long or short periods, she would shut Marie
up in a room to be sure she would be there when she returned, and also
to be sure of her safety.
One day Marie's mother made her a visit. She found her alone and after visiting her for a short time, made ready to go. Marie pleaded to go with her, for her "mother," as she had been taught to call her, was unkind to her. Marie's mother inquired around from neighbors to learn the real condition, and found that what the child said was true, so she found a new home for her. Just who these people were is not known.
In 1870, when Marie was 7 years old, her sister Hannah married Alfred Goodsell, and Marie went to live with them. As she grew older and could help with the housework or other work, as was often expected in those days, she worked for others to help meet her necessities. She had only one dress made of calico, this she wore on weekdays, and on Saturday night she would wash it out to wear clean on Sunday.
In about 1877 or 1878 the Goodsells moved south to Potato Valley. Marie accompanied them, but within a year they returned and made their home in Snowville, Box Elder County, and later they moved to Newton, Cache county, Utah. During this time her mother had also moved from Brigham to Newton and later to Weston, Idaho (Franklin county).
Marie was grown to womanhood, 19 years of age, and she took an active
part in social and religious activities in the ward. Here she met
John Jenkins, and married him on October 12, 1882 in the Endowment
House in Salt Lake City, Utah. Brother Jenkins had two families before
this, so Marie became his third wife.
John had received a call for a mission to England, so immediately after
their marriage in Salt Lake City he departed for his mission and Marie
returned to Newton to make her home until he returned.
Marie continued to work around for people where she could get employment and at times would visit with her another when she felt she would be welcome. As she was not welcome at home with her mother when her stepfather was there, she had to watch her chance to visit while he was away.
Brother Jenkins remained in the mission field only one year, receiving an early release because of ill health. In the spring of 1884 Marie and John Jenkins moved to a ranch at the Big Meadows, west of Weston about 10 miles, where he had a dairy ranch. Her work was mostly that of making butter and cheese, which was sold at Weston and here and there, wherever a market could be found. This industry offered but a meager income, for their product had to be sold at a low market price in those days, about 8 to 122 cents a pound in bulk, not molded. In the fall Marie came back to Newton, traveling by ox team, which was very slow. She lived with Mary Oviatt, John's first wife when in Newton for the first year or two. When John purchased a small farm on the east side of the creek this became her home.
One the 10th of August 1884 Marie's first child, Oliver, was born.
In 1886 she was sustained as second counselor to Susan Barker in the Relief Society organization.
On November 16, 1886 her second child, Mariam, was born. She lived only 1 1/2 years. On the 12th of April 1888 she was called to part with this little girl. This loss had to be sustained by Marie alone so to speak, for her husband was serving a term in the state prison, for unlawful cohabitation as the statutes defined it. He was soon released and advised not to return on a similar offense, but he answered that he would be faithful to his families even if he should be forced to serve another term.
He returned to Newton and with Marie moved back to the summer dairy ranch. This he did hoping to be out of the way from the officers whom he felt would be looking for him on account of his challenge at the time of his release.
As winter was approaching they prepared to move away from their summer isolation to more consistent winter quarters. This time they went to Treasureton, Idaho. While there on March 19, 1889 another son, Moroni, was added to their family. He in a measure filled the vacancy caused by Mariam's death.
That spring instead of going back to the ranch, they went to Teton Basin, Idaho, taking with them 113 head of young cattle. It was necessary for John to drive the cattle and Marie to drive the team on the wagon with her children. In the Snake River country, there were but few bridges and many times they were forced to ford the river. This was perhaps thrilling, but full of danger. But they survived it all and arrived safely. John came back to Newton that fall on account of feed for his cattle, but Marie remained in Teton all summer and winter. That winter she made her home with John's brother, Henry Jenkins, and David Nelson. The following spring, 1890, she returned to Newton with Naham Curtis, but moved again to the dairy ranch. For there was splendid hopes of a good market for their products, because of the railroad construction work going through Cache Valley and through Bear River Canyon into Box Elder County. They sold butter and cheese to the various railroad camps and canal camps. The canal leading out of Bear River Canyon was built at this same time. John Jenkins contracted to furnish the beef needed while the work was going on. He furnished about I00 head of beef.
The next winter Marie spent with her mother in Weston and while here another son came to brighten her home, It was her son, Raymond (John Raymond), born May 15, 1891. The summer was spent on the ranch with her usual routine of duties and cares, as she assumed all responsibility connected with this branch of the family economics. This continued for several years without much variation, except the family continued to grow and cares increased. Two more children were added to the family: Ann Olivia was born October 2, 1893 at Newton, Utah and Wilford on November 12, 1895 at Newton.
In May of 1894, while they were living on the ranch, the United States Marshals were again looking for her husband, as they had been informed that he was again violating the statute against polygamy, or as it was more often called, unlawful cohabitation. He had hoped to be more or less unnoticed on his summer ranch as it was located in the hills north of Clarkston. But there was always someone ready to give information to the officers, and while in Weston one day in May 1894 a friend informed John that the officers were looking for him. He hurriedly returned to the ranch to get Marie. The family would then seclude themselves until the search was abandoned. But friends had also informed Marie of the search; she was frightened and had taken her family of four children to a spot in the thicket of mahogany trees, about 2 mile distant, where John had a bed, a secret place of retirement when he was at the ranch. Here she had put the children to bed and stood watching over them, hoping and praying for their protection. This was the picture that presented itself when John found them sometime in the night. The situation looked so divinely solemn that he has often said that he wished an artist could paint the scene and give emphasis to the sacredness of the setting.
They left the hills that same night and rode horseback to the Michael Clark ranch just above Clarkston. They traveled all night. They stopped and had breakfast, but they had to return immediately to the home to attend to the milking and churning. John did not stay at the ranch but decided that to be unnoticed and out of the way he would take the necessary equipment and go up in the mountains above Mink Creek. So before the month was over, he packed his belongings and went into the timber. He located near a saw mill and cut and sawed logs all summer. In the fall he got the privilege of using a comfortable house nearby to live in, so Marie joined him in August, and made her home there until winter set in when they returned to Newton. The experience Marie had in moving from one place to another, meeting with different experiences, touched a tender spot in her heart, and she was always ready to come and go whenever asked to do so. She never complained about it either.
One night while she was alone in the Mink Creek Canyon there was a terrible blizzard raging outside. She was alone except for the children, and being nervous and frightened of conditions as they were, she heard a noise as if someone was sobbing and scratching at the door. She called but no one answered. She called again several times and finally a man answered. She went to the door and there stood a man and a crippled child almost perished in the snow. They had walked over the mountain from Bear Lake on their way to Mink Creek and were caught in the storm and would have perished in the storm had they not been led to her door. She took them in, built up a fire, gave them warm food and cared for them until they were able to continue their journey.
In the meantime John had acquired considerable hay land in Star Valley and had become extensively interested in raising cattle. He took Marie to Star Valley and she made her home there for 6 to 8 years. Here she did practically the same kind of work as on the dairy ranch, with the addition of cooking for hired help, as her husband put up an abundance of hay, something over 100 tons annually.
While here two more children were added to their family; a son, Seymour, born May 13, 1898 and a daughter, Meda, born May 28, 1900. Both were born at Freedom, Wyoming.
In the fall of 1902 the family returned to Newton, Utah. Here her husband also operated a hay field, putting up some 200 tons in Newton, and in Weston where he harvested about 40 tons each year. This required much hired help and added to the domestic duties of Marie.
She added two more children to her family. LaVon was born in September 17, 1903, and Burton was born February 8, 1909, This made ten children, eight of whom were living. The death of Seymour on September 10, 1915 was a shock from which she never recovered, for he was just growing into manhood and then was snatched from her. She had not realized he was ill.
Her home was without water for culinary purposes when she first moved
to her home across the creek, and all the water used had to be carried
from the creek about a block away from the house, both for the house and
for the animals that could not be turned out. This was quite a hard
and tiresome task to do.
While she was not much of a public worker, she was always cheerful
in serving. She served as a counselor to Sister Barker in the Relief
Society in 1887.
When John's mother (Ann Davies Jenkins) became too old to care for
herself, he took her to live with him and she was cared for by Marie until
her death on February 14, 1905, at the age of 82. The following summer
Marie took her own mother (Maren Larsen) to her home and cared for her
until her death on February 9, 1906. She also cared for an elderly
widower who had become incapable, both physically and mentally, and had
to have close and constant attention. Rather than see him be sent
away to some charitable institution, Marie consented to care for him, for
a minor real estate consideration.
In November 1910 her brother Peter Jensen died at her home after a period of suffering with Bright's disease. And again we will state that her life was one of service which was rendered for the love of service, which after all is the test of a true Christian soul. Her disposition was congenial, as a result she made many friends. She took much pride in her household affairs and tried to extend all the pleasure and comfort she could to all connected with her home. Whenever anyone came to her home, she would always give the very best she had. Nothing was too good for them. She was not a selfish person. She was always a comfort in times of sickness and trouble.
Anne Marie never had the privilege of attending school, so all the knowledge she possessed of things temporal or spiritual, she gained through the hard school of experience. She left her family a couple of times and went to Logan, Utah to cook and keep house for some of the children of the families while they attended school.
In 1919 she suffered a severe attack of flu, as a result of which, in
her weakened condition, she became subject to asthma and later she became
a sufferer of gallstones for which she was operated on January 30, 1930.
Two weeks following the operation she suffered a heart attack which caused
her death on February 14, 1930. She was survived by 8 living children,
28 living grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren.