Hansen Family Plot in the Provo Cemetery

On Memorial Day this year, our family went to the Provo Cemetery, as we do almost every year. We spent some time at the Hansen Family plot which contains the grave of my 2nd great-grandparents, Peter and Mary Hansen. They both emigrated from Denmark with their spouses to Utah. My grandfather lost his first wife Ane to cholera on the plains outside of St. Joseph, Missouri, along with three of his little boys within a very short time--about one month. It's a sad story but it's also one of admirable resilience. He brought his one surviving son, Jorgen, to Utah.

He married his second wife Maren (Anglicized to Mary) some 9 years later in Utah  She had been married before but lost her first husband at an unknown date. I wish I knew more about her but she left very few records, although I could do more research! Peter and Maren had 6 more children together. The youngest two were twins, Enoch and Ephraim. Ephraim is my great-grandfather and is buried in California. He is the father of my grandfather William Hansen. Ephraim lost both of his parents about the age of 17.

Here are a few pictures of the grave marker for Peter and Maren and Ane with some of my relatives:

We were standing around talking about the graves around it and people were wondering who was buried in the different graves and what our relationship to them is. So I got out the map:

Hansen Family Plot:

Peter Hansen:  grandfather of William Hansen (my grandfather) 

Mary Catherine Hansen: grandmother of William Hansen

Also memorialized on the grave marker is Ane Danielsen, first wife of Peter, who died on the plains of cholera.

The 4 yellow boxes are empty plots owned by a woman named Dorothy Hansen.

Jorgen Hansen:  son of Peter and Ane Hansen, only son to survive the plains crossing--owned a house on 8th South in Orem as an adult.

Nielsine Caroline Marie Hansen:  1st wife of Jorgen, had 12 children, five of whom died young and are buried in this plot (Eliza, Henrietta, Louis, Korah, Francis). Korah actually lived to adulthood but was in her 20’s when she died. Francis’s grave is in the bottom left grave--a pink box which does not show a name but has a marker on it.

Alma Nathalia Nielsen Hansen: 2nd wife of Jorgen, married one year before dying in childbirth. The child survived to adulthood but is not buried here.

Soren Nielsen: father of Jorgen’s 1st wife, Caroline.

Petrine Ameila Berg Nielsen: mother of Jorgen’s 1st wife, Caroline.

Minnie and Fredrikke Louisa: sisters of Jorgen’s 1st wife, Caroline.

Ethel Lyen: not related.

LaRue Atnip: not related.

Enoch Hansen: twin brother of Ephraim Hansen, father of William Hansen (my grandfather)

Rachel Fern Gatherum Hansen: wife of Enoch Hansen.

Rachel Ruth and Gatherum Hansen: children of Enoch and Rachel. Rachel died at the age of 2, Gatherum on the date of his birth.

The box that says simply “Hansen” is a baby born to Ephraim and Maud Hansen in 1909 who died at birth. He is named "Willis Edward Hansen" on FamilySearch (ID: M4MY-1C3). The blank pink box below "Hansen" is a baby born in 1914 named Melvin Hansen (ID: LLMQ-9BY). He was born to Ephraim and Maud and died at birth. Neither of those graves has grave markers but all the rest do. Ephraim and Maud had very little money and I'm sure they would have placed markers if they had had the money to do so. Maud died at the age of 48 due to a weak heart. They lived in Utah but later moved to Arizona and then California for her heart. The lower elevation probably helped. They adopted a child they named Charles in California. Ephraim married two more times after Maud died. I look forward to meeting them someday in the next life.

Ephraim, Maud, Ethel, and William Hansen (probably taken about 1914)

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