Wedding Wednesday: Jens Christian Petersen and Caroline Hansen

Jens and Caroline Petersen
December 10, 1892
Black Hawk county, Iowa

My father's grandparents were both born in Denmark and both came to the United States in 1888. Jens arrived with his parents, Peder and Elsia Jeremiasen. The Jeremiasen family's destination was Waterloo, Iowa. Jens and his siblings were listed with the surname Jeremiasen on ship's passenger list. In America, Peder retained the surname Jeremiasen, but all of Peder and Elsia's children took the surname Petersen. Once in America, my Danish ancestors stopped changing the surname with each generation.

I've not yet documented Caroline's arrival in America. Family lore was that she and Jens met on the ship. If that is the case, there is only one possible entry on the ship's passenger list that could be Caroline, a 16 year old female who was unnamed, but listed as Servant with another passenger.

It was just a few weeks ago when I discovered documentation of Jens and Caroline's marriage on FamilySearch.org. Their union is listed in the collection of Iowa Marriages, 1809 - 1992. This record shows that Elsia's maiden name was Lauridsen, not Polsdatter as I had been told by other family members and as was recorded in Jens' obituary. Jens' obituary also reports the family moving to Nebraska from Iowa about ten years before they actually moved. The Petersens moved to Nuckolls county Nebraska about 1905, between the births of two of their children.

On the marriage record, Caroline's parents are listed as Soren Hansen and Christine Nielsen.

The Family Search record shows that Jens and Caroline were married in Black Hawk county, Iowa. The wedding location may have been Cedar Falls, Iowa (that is from my notes from another family member). Cedar Falls is about ten miles from Waterloo, Iowa where the newlyweds lived.

Jens and Caroline Petersen
Hardy, Nebraska

Jens and Caroline were the parents of ten children: Emma Christine, Elmer Martinus, Otto William, Katherine Jereminia, John Theodore, Christine Dorothea (died as an infant), Esther Dorthea, Marvin, Margaret Leona, and Jess Carl.

Jens died in Hardy, Nebraska on August 9, 1948 and Caroline died January 7, 1962. Caroline's grave marker shows the original spelling of her name: Karoline.