Lars Peter Jensen
(Lars Peter Olsen)
1844–1911
Residence: Mayfield, Sanpete Co., Utah
Arrival date in Copenhagen: 4 May 1883
Missionary labors: Ålborg Conference
Departure date from Copenhagen: 2 April 1885
Name of departure ship: Milo
Birth date: 28 March 1844
Birthplace: Sandhuset, Sæby, Holbæk, Denmark
Father: Jensen, Ole
Mother: Rasmusdatter, (Ane) Marie
Spouse: Jensen, Mette Katherine
Marriage date: 22 January 1870
Marriage place: Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Death date: 29 March 1911
Death place: Richfield, Sevier Co., Utah
Burial place: Richfield, Sevier Co., Utah
Lars was baptized on 11 January 1866. He fulfilled a local mission in Denmark under the leadership of President Knud Peterson. When it appeared that he would be drafted into the military, President Peterson released him from the mission and advised him to immigrate to America. In 1866, Lars followed his advice and immigrated to the United States. He settled in Draper, Salt Lake County, Utah. He struggled to learn the English language (see Baker, “The History of Lars Peter and Mette Cathrine Jensen,” 1).
After his marriage to Mette Jensen, who had emigrated from Denmark in 1870, Lars and his bride settled in Parowan, Iron County. There he worked on a farm until 1881, when he and his family were called to settle in San Juan County. In their efforts to reach San Juan, they crossed the Escalante River twenty-seven times. They settled in the fort at Bluff City, San Juan County. Indians often visited the fort and they formed a friendship with Lars (see Baker, “The History of Lars Peter and Mette Cathrine Jensen,” 1).
Lars was residing in Mayfield, Sanpete County, when he accepted a mission call to Scandinavia in 1883. He arrived in Copenhagen on 4 May 1883 and was assigned to labor in the Ålborg Conference. Upon completion of the mission, he departed from Copenhagen on 2 April 1885 aboard the steamer Milo (see Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission, 273, 275, 289).
After returning to Utah, he and his family resided for many years in Richfield, Sevier County. In that community, Lars served as the water superintendent on the local canal and is credited with helping lay the first cement sidewalks (see Baker, “The History of Lars Peter and Mette Cathrine Jensen,” 2).
He accepted a second mission call to Scandinavia in 1903. On 19 August 1903, he arrived in Copenhagen and was assigned to labor in the Copenhagen Conference (see Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission, 397, 399). After completing this mission, he returned to Richfield, where he died in 1911 at age sixty-seven.
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