History of Jens Jensen (Frojd) submitted by great granddaughter Grace Olsen

• Born 5 August 1813 in Dalkopinge, Malmohus, Skane, Sweden.
• Died 25 November 1865, killed by Indians near Circleville, Piute, Utah
• Married Hanna Hansson about 1831-2 in Sweden
• Came to Utah 29 August 1863 in the John R. Murdock Company

(Information taken from the history of his daughter Johana Nielson in possession of Grace Olsen, and from a family group sheet submitted by LaRane Brown. Added facts searched and history arranged by Nora Lu? historian for Grace March 1972. Electronic copy edited by Elaine Young December 2011.)

Jens Jensen was born 5 August 1813 in Dalkopinge, Malmohus, Skane, Sweden. He was the son of Jons Hamarstrum Anderson and Margreta Jonasson. The Swedish people were an industrious, hard-working people, learning trades and professions of different kinds. They were builders, contractors, artisans, mechanics, fishermen and farmers. Jens was a fisherman, and lived by the sea. He was a mature young man at the age of 19 when he married Hannah Hansson. She was born 26 February 1807 in Kropp, Skivarp, Malmohus, Sweden. Her parents were Hans Jonsson and Elsa Hansson. This young couple made their home in Trelleborg, Malmohus, Sweden, where they became the parents of 10 children: Margaret, Elsa (died as a child), Petter Croon, Elsa, stillborn child, Johanna (died as a child), Hans, Johana, Jens, and Bengta.

Everything was going along quite well for Jens and his family. They were faithful members of the Lutheran Church. Then something happened which changed their entire lives; they joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This was a fairly new religion in Sweden. The first missionary to expound the truths in that country was Elder John E. Forsgren. He had come from Utah early in 1850, in company with Apostle Erastus Snow and others to dedicate the Scandinavian countries to the preaching of the everlasting gospel. Even though Elder Forsgren was a citizen of Sweden, when he commenced converting people to Mormonism, he was mistreated, put in jail and even banished fro the county - but he came right back and baptized ore people. As time went on, more missionaries arrived and many of the hones-in-heart became members of this true but unpopular religion. From the group sheet we note that Hanna was baptized on 5 May 1859, so perhaps Jens was baptized at the same time.

After joining the church, the Jensen family had a great desire to emigrate to Utah. the history of the daughter Johana says they were on the ocean six weeks and they crossed the plains in John R. Murdock's company in 1863. From Andrew Jenson's Church Chronology of 1863 (p. 69), we find that the most likely ship for the Jensen's to sail would be the "Electric" which sailed from Hamburg, German on 18 April 1863 with 366 Scandinavian saints, under the direction of Soren Christophersen. The company arrived in New York on 5 June and at Florence Nebraska 19 June 1863. On page 17 of volume 7 of Our Pioneer Heritage, we note that John R. Murdock's company left Florence, Nebraska, on 29 June with 275 souls and 50 wagons; arriving in Great Salt Lake City on 29 August 1863. Johana's history says the family went first to Payson, then Goshen, the Ephraim, where they decided to make their home. They certainly couldn't have stayed at these places very long, because in April 1864 a call came for a number of families from Ephraim to go to Piute County and make new homes.

This little place they settled was called Circleville, because of the natural circle of the valley through which the Sevier River ran. It was about 110 miles southwest of Ephraim in a very sparsely settled area. The men folks build dugouts to house their families and started to till the virgin soil and plant crops. Most of the wheat got frozen before it was matured that first fall. The people were obliged to grind what they had in a little coffee mill, making very coarse flour. They nearly starved. From the time these hardy pioneers arrived in Circleville to make a settlement, the Indians resented them. They said the white men were killing the deer, fishing their streams and farming their grazing grounds. They figured the livestock of the settlers belonged to them and they were going to take then, and they did on many occasions. Some they just shot down needlessly. Then in the summer of 1865, trouble really started in Manti between a few and a few white people. The quarrel spread like wildfire and Chief Black Hawk led his warriors in a terrible war which lasted for about 4-5 years. His aim was to kill all the white people and many did lose their lives in a most cruel manner.

Great grandfather Jens Jensen (Frojd) was one who these ruthless murders killed. He was returning from Ephraim where he had been to get a load of flour and other supplies. The book Indian Depredations in Utah by Peter Gottfredson (p. 179) gives an account of this killing. It is told by Mrs. Ellen A. Nielsen of Spring City, who with her husband Mads and other of the party on their way home to Circleville on 25 November 1865, miraculously escaped the fate of the four who were killed. Mrs Neilsen said the group had camped at Marysvale and after they broke camp the next morning the teams were strung out along the road. They were within three miles of Circleville and thought they were going to make it through without any trouble from the Indians. But as the Neilsens drove up over a hill they saw a herd of cattle being driven by Indians toward the mouth of the canyon. Upon seeing the Nielsens, the Indians, with a blood-curdling yell, let eh cattle and rode toward them. One of the Indians was in the act of shooting Mr. Neilson, but when he pointed an old revolver at the Indian he backed away. Mrs. Nielsen jumped from the wagon with a two-year old child in her arms and hid in a slough with water up to her neck. The Indians shot one of the Neilson horses that was hitched to the wagon then turned their attention to the wagon and its contents. They emptied the four on the ground, cut the feather bed tick and scattered all the feathers, and threw all the dishes out of the wagon. They also took all of their clothing.

"While they were destroying the contents of the wagon, an old man named Froid, who had traveled in our company, arrived at the top of the hill and saw the Indians. He might have escaped alright if he had gone back himself at once, but he ran around his steers to drive them back. The Indians saw him and followed him into the hills about a mile and killed him." His body was later found by members of the party and taken to Circleville to his sorrowing wife Hanna and his children. They were shocked and grieved that their husband and father had met such a terrible death on the day of 25 November 1865. Mrs. Nielsen speaks of Jens as "old gentleman Froid" but he was not old in years, having just passed his 52nd birthday when he met his tragic death.

The Froid family was not the only ones who were grief stricken and bereft that same day. "At the time when the Indians took the stock at Circleville they killed Hans Christian Hansen, who was about a mile or more east of town with the stock, and Orson Barney and Ole Heilerse two boys thirteen years old, who were out searching for cows on that fateful day." Hannah and the rest of the people were glad when the call came for them to abandon the town for the time being and return to Ephraim. She died in Santaquin, Utah, Utah, at the home of her youngest daughter Bengta Peterson.