Jens Christensen Cornum 1828-1906

HISTORY: JENS CHRISTENSEN CORNUM (1828-1906)

Compiled and typed by Marilee Cornum Vannoy, 22 March 1995.

Jens Christensen Kornum, was born May 3, 1828, in Vester Bronderslev, Hjorring County, Denmark.  The County of Hjorring is in the North end of Denmark, which lied between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.  His parents, Kristen or Jensen and Else Marie Poulsen, were both from Hjorring County.  In Denmark the place of birth is usually given as the Parish's name, which is Vester Bronderslev.  Jens was probably born at Vester Kornum, and then christened at Vester Bronderslev, which name he was given Jens Christensen.

Jens grew up on a farm, named Vester Kornum, there is even a house there that it named Kornum.  Jens was the fifth generation of his father's line, to live at Vester Kornum.  His great great grandfather, Markvor Jensen, born 1673, of Tolstrup Parish, Hjorring, Denmark, married Johanne Kristensdatter, in 1701.  All there children were christened in the Tolstrup Parish, but it is record their fourth child, Kristen Markvorsen, was born at Vester Kornum.

Jens was the fifth of six children, he was the first born son, and had a baby brother, Poul, born two years after him.  He had lost all of his sisters by the time he was 15 years old.  He had twin sister just 4 1/2 years older, one was stillborn, and the other, Ane died when she was 15 years old, Jens was 11 at the time.  Then his sister Mariane who was only 1/2 years older than him, died when he was 11 also, she had just turned 13.  His oldest sister Matte Kirstine, was eight years older than him, she married and she died at the age of 24.

When Jens was 26 years old he lost his mother, Else Marie, she died in 1855, at 65 years old.  Just before his 30th birthday he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He was Baptized the 4th of March, 1858.  At the age of 34, Jens left his home of Vester Kornum, to join the rest of the Saints in Utah.  He left for America from Hamburg on the 15th of April 1862, on the ship "Franklin".  He left behind his father, Kristen, who later died in 1865, at the age of 70, and his brother Poul, neither ever joined the Church.

Little did Jens know when leaving Hamburg, was also leaving his future wife, Ane Thomine Magrethe Laursen, and her mother Ane Thomasen Laursen.  Who were also new members of the Church.  They left behind there home in Fourholt, Albaek, Hjorring County, and Ane Thomine's father, Peder Laursen, and two sisters Mette Marie and Maren, her other sisters LaursSine and Ane Kirstine had previously went to America.  Mette Marie followed in 1867, with her husband and small daughter.

Earlier in Denmark a child's surname was his father's given name with "sen" added to the sons, or "datter" added to the daughter's name.  Therefore, Ane Thomine Magrethe Pedersdatter, was her name when christened.  But in 1850 Denmark passed a law of taking a fixed surname, which was the same as the father's surname.  So by the time Ane Thomine sailed for America, in 1862, she went by the name of Ane Thomine Magrethe Laursen.

Also Jens Christensen, his Danish name, took the name of Kornum when leaving on the ship, the "Franklin".  We are not sure why he did this, but there were many Christensen's, that being a common name.  Jens was from Vester Kornum, and made Kornum his fixed surname, being Jens Christensen Kornum.  When arriving in America, he Americanized the spelling to Cornum.  The following log is of the "Franklin" Company that departed from Hamburg, on 15 April 1862.  Source is FHL film #025696, Indexed Emigration Register of Scandinavian Mission #80:

"The number of Saints emigrating from Scandinavia in 1862 was greater than in any previous or subsequent year.  No less than 1,556 souls, in four different companies sailed from Hamburg on four chartered vessels destined for Utah.  On Tuesday, April 15th, the ship "Franklin" sailed from Hamburg with 413 emigrating Saints, nearly all from the Aalborg and Vendsyssel Conferences.  They were in charge of Chr. A. Madsen, an Elder returning home.  He chose Jens C. A. Weibye and Lauritz Larsen as his Counselors.  On board ship the company was organized into eight districts with Jens Christensen Kornum as one of the presidents.  Elder Jens C.A. Weibye gives the following account of the voyage across the Atlantic:  We went on board the "Franklin" in the evening of Tuesday (Apr 8th) and I was appointed to locate the emigrants in their bunks below deck.  These bunks, 160 in number, were so wide that three persons easily could have room in one of them side by side.  After getting our baggage in order, we received our rations of provisions.  These consisted of beef, pork, peas, beans, potatoes, pearl barley, rice, prunes, syrup, vinegar, pepper, coffee, tea, sugar, butter, rye bread, sea biscuits, water, flour, salted herring, salt and oil (for the lamps).  We lighted 11 lanterns every night, 6 of which belonged to the ship and 5 to the emigrants.  We hired an extra cook in Hamburg for 90 rigsdaler, and besides him two of our brethren served as assistant cooks.  We thus had our dinners nicely cooked in about the following routine, viz, Sunday we had sweet soup, Monday pea soup; Tuesday and Wednesday, rice; Thursday, pea soup; Friday, barley mush, and Saturday herring and potatoes.

Some of the emigrants carried the measles with them from home, and the disease soon spread to all parts of the ship, so that no less than 40 persons, mostly children, were attacked at once.  Many of the emigrants were also suffering with diarrhea, which caused very much weakness of body.  We lost the appetite for sea biscuits, but learned to soak them in water or tea from 8 to 12 hours, which softened them so that they could become more palatable.  The sick were served twice a day with porridge made from barley, rice or sago, and almost every day pancakes could be had by the hundreds for the sick who could not eat the "hard tack" (sea biscuits).  Wheat bread was also baked for some of the old people.  We held a council meeting every night, and the sanitary conditions of the ship's apartments were attended with great care.  Three times a week the ship was thoroughly fumigated by burning tar.  A spirit of peace prevailed and very few difficulties occurred.  The captain and crew were good-natured and obliging, and so were the cooks, who even served the sick when they were not on duty.

Thursday, 19 May 1862, in the forenoon, the "Franklin" arrived at New York.  The emigrants were not allowed to go ashore, because of some cases of measles yet existing among them.  Finally the sick were taken to the hospital, and after two more nights and a day, they were allowed to go ashore.  They left New York 31 May at 9:00 p.m. by rail.  The company arrived at Florence Neb., on Monday, June 9th, at 10:00 p.m.  Among the 48 persons who died in the "Franklin" company during the voyage on the sea, was Brother Jens Anderson from Veddum, Denmark, who with his own means had assisted 60 or 70 poor Saints to emigrate.  He died on the North Sea on the 25th of April.  On the way from New York to Florence, two children died. Eleven person (4 adults and 7 children) died while staying at Florence and a young girl died on the Plains, making in all 62 in the "Franklin" company who died between Hamburg and Salt Lake City.  On Tuesday, June 10th, the emigrants pitched their tents a short distance north of Florence, and the necessary purchases of oxen, wagons, cows, etc. were attended to.

The Saints left Florence, Neb. with the Lewis Brunson Company on 17 June 1862.  There were 212 persons and 48 wagons.  To begin with, we traveled only a few miles each day, which was a good thing for us, who were unaccustomed to drive oxen.  We generally had good camp grounds and only occasionally we had to camp where we could not obtain water.  As a rule there was an abundance of grass for the oxen, and at times also sufficient fuel to be fond, but a great part of the way the sisters had to content themselves with cooking over fires made from sunflower stems and "buffalo chip".  Nearly all able-bodied men and woman had to walk most of the way; some of the women rode in the wagons only across the larger rivers, while they would wade across the smaller streams like the men.  Sometimes the women and children were carried across the streams by the men when it was feared the oxen could not pull the wagons with their heavy loads.  We did exactly what our leaders told us to do, and consequently everything went well with us, for we could not read in books how and what to do, either on the voyage across the ocean or on the journey across the Plains....  The company, consisting of 211 persons, arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 29 August 1862.

Jens Christensen Cornum and wife
Ane Thomine Magrethe (Pederdatter) Laursen

       While in Florence Nebraska, Jens and Ane Thomine were married, on 17 Jun 1862.  So as the came across the Plains, they were husband and wife.  Along with them on this journey was mother, Ane Thomasen.  They finally arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, after a long journey of 136 days since sailing from Hamburg.  On the 1880 Census of Denmark, Peder Laursen was listed as living with his daughter, Maren, and her husband, Niels Christian Christensen in Brunvang, Voer, Hjorring, Denmark.  He was listed as 85 years old, a Widower, and a Lutheran.

Jens and Ane Thomine and mother Ane, went to Pleasant Grove, Utah, where her sisters, Ane Kirstine Reynolds and LaursSine Heiselt's families were already living.  Jens was a carpenter, he and Ane Thomine made their home in Pleasant Grove, from 1862 until after 1877.  They had six children, why living there, Ane Tomine "Annie T." born in 1863, Jens Christensen "Chris" born in 1865, Paul Heber born in 1868, Elsie Marie born 1871, Peter Elijah born in 1873, and Mary born in 1877.

Jens and Ane Thomine and their children all moved to Sanford, Colorado.  Sometime Ane's sisters LaursSine and family also moved to Sanford.  But her mother Ane, and other sisters, Ane Kirstine, Mette Marie, and Maren all stayed in Utah.  While living in Sanford, Annie T. died at the age of 27 years, she had never married.  Each of the other five children all married in Sanford and raised their families there.  Hilda Jefferson, the daughter of Peter Elijah, could remember her mother telling how Granddad Jens Cornum would love to come over to see Hilda.  He would set and rock his little granddaughter by the hours.

Cornum Brothers
Chris, Pete, and Heber (sitting)

Jens loved his family very much, and upon leaving Denmark, he brought with him a history of his family lineage.  It was written on parchment paper, and rolled up as a scroll.  Written on it is his family bible, in the form of a family tree.  It starts with Jens, 4 greats grandfather, Markvor... and wife, Sidsel..., it continues to list their descendants of seven generations.  Jens' father, Kristen and his brothers and sisters, are the last of Jens direct line, listed on the paper.  Although Jens has written his own name and information on it, as Kristen's son.  The original paper is in the possession of Sally Mortensen, a great granddaughter of Jens, of Sanford, Colorado.  Marilee Vannoy has a xerox copy of it and of all of Jens' personal kept records.

Jens did genealogy, and a lot of Temple work for his family.  After his wife Ane Thomine died in April of 1890.  He spent a lot of time with his daughter Elsie Marie Cornum Mickelsen, traveling to Manti, Utah, to do Temple work.  He kept a Temple Journal of his work and he and Elsie are listed as most of the proxies for them.  He did most of this work in 1890-1892.  Sally Mortensen also has the original book of his Temple Journal, which lists his mother's side of the family also.

Jens resided in Sanford, Colorado, until his death, November 25, 1906, at the age of 78 years.  He was buried by his wife Ane Thomine, and daughter Annie T. in the Sanford Cemetery, Conejos County, Colorado.  All six of the their children are buried there in the Sanford Cemetery.  He has left a great descendancy which he can be very proud of.  As we are so proud of him, to set the example of excepting the Gospel and joining the Church, and leaving his beloved homeland of Vester Kornum, which we are proud to carry the name of now.

The following are the 6 Children of Jens C. Cornum

Annie Tomine Cornum, 1863-1891

Jens Christian "Chris" Cornum, 1865-1948

Paul Heber Cornum, 1868-1928 (known as Heber)

Ellis Marie "Elsie" Cornum Mickelsen, 1871-1936

Peter Elijah Cornum, 1873-1942

Mary Cornum Poulson,  1877-1950

Closeup of Mary Cornum