(Photo: Caption – Pioneer Dies. Mrs. Sena Jensen)

Mrs. Jensen’s Death Mourned by Many

Matriarch of Middlewest’s Largest Family Buried

Mrs. Soren Jensen, 83, prominent Washington county pioneer and matriarch of the largest family group in Nebraska, if not in the middlewest, died at 10:30 Thursday night at her home on west Nebraska street. Ill for more than three months, Mrs. Jensen’s recovery was doubtful from the outset and as she gradually grew weaker it became apparent to the family that her death was a matter of only a few days.

One of the true pioneers of Washington county and an example of what was accomplished through the industry, fortitude and bravery of the early residents, who helped transform a veritable wilderness into one of the most productive regions in the United States, Mrs. Jensen’s death was mourned by thousands.

At the funeral services, held Sunday afternoon from the First Lutheran church of Blair, hundreds were unable to gain entrance and the procession to the cemetery was two miles long. While automobiles carrying the mourners were turning into the burial grounds there were machines that had not left the church. Observers said it was the longest funeral procession in Blair in recent years.

Pallbearers were six of Mrs. Jensen’s seven sons. They were: J. P., Nels M., Omaha, Edward, Henry, Andrew, Fremont, and Albert. James H. Jensen, another son, who lives in Long Beach, Calif., was unable to be present for the funeral. He was here, however, in September, when the thirteen children of Mrs. Jensen gathered around her bedside in the Blair hospital for a reunion. This reunion took the place of the annual Jensen family picnic, scheduled for Fontanelle park in Omaha in August and postponed because of the illness of the head of the family.

The immediate survivors of Mrs. Jensen are her 13 children, all grown men and women, the youngest 37 and the oldest 63. They are Mrs. Jens Black Jensen, Mrs. Peter Svendgaard, Mrs. Ed Gilbertson, Mrs. Mary Voss, Mrs. George H. Kuhr, jr., Mrs. Henry Voss, James, H. J., Peter, Nels M., Edward, Henry, Andrew and Albert. James lives in California, Mrs. Henry Voss in Millard, Nels in Omaha and Andrew in Fremont. All the others are residents of Blair.

In addition, Mrs. Jensen is survived by 63 grandchildren and 73 great-grandchildren. The number of these descendants alone establishes the fact that there is no one in the middlewest who leaves a larger number of direct descendants. Through the marriage of her descendants Mrs. Jensen was related, in varying degrees of kindred, to more than 700 persons.

Mrs. Jensen was born January 12, 1848, in Denmark, and with her parents emigrated to America in 1860, as members of a Mormon colonization expedition. With the north and south torn by the Civil war dissention, they made their way westward in a covered wagon and in the fall of the year arrived in St. Joseph, Mo. They came then by steamboat to Omaha. While at the Mormon camp at Florence, Mrs. Jensen’s father Jens Petersen, learned that polygamy was practiced among Mormons in Utah and with several other members of the pioneering expedition revolted and abandoned the trip westward.

In Omaha Mrs. Jensen was baptized into a reorganized branch of the Mormon church, the Josephites, and her father was the first missionary of that faith to preach in the old settlement of DeSoto. Among the other pioneers who were members of the Mormon emigration from Denmark to America and who revolted against the practice of polygamy were the parents of the late Magnus Johnson, Mrs. Ole Jacobsen and C. John Nelson. With the death of Mrs. Jensen the only living survivor of the expedition is Mrs. Lena Jorgensen, 92, who lives on West Colfax street.

Intensely patriotic, Mrs. Jensen, during the World war, watched with keen interest the activities of her six grandsons, who were members of the army. They were, Howard Jensen, Lyle Reeh, Walter Gutschow, Peter Diestel, Elmer Jensen and George Drevsen. In addition, she took a marked interest in the war work of her daughter-in-law, Mrs. J. P. Jensen. The latter received five citations from the American Red Cross and later won national recognition while serving for seven years as a department service officer.

A Christian throughout her life, Mrs. Jensen was, after her marriage, a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church while she was a resident in the Orum vicinity. Later she joined the Lutheran faith, but regardless of religious allegiance she was a faithful communicant and devoted worker for the cause of Christianity throughout her life.

Active until three months ago, Mrs. Jensen won recognition four years ago where she was awarded first prize by the Blair Chamber of Commerce for the best kept lawn in the Fourth ward. She did all the work herself to qualify for the prize and even as late as this fall took an active interest in the planting of her garden.

Mrs. Jensen’s husband, one of Washington county’s wealthiest citizens died in 1917.

Apparently realizing that death was imminent, Mrs. Jensen asked on Thanksgiving day that the family quartet, composed of four children of Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Jensen, come to her home and sing to her. The four, John, Edith, Dorothy and Alfred Jensen, did so and Mrs. Jensen told her grandchildren that she had enjoyed the concert, which included hymns and Danish folk songs immensely.

Note: Since the actual death date was not given, the news article date was used.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~