Preface to MJC Ancestors book

Here we are at the end of another volume of family history—this time we have focused on Grandpa M.J. Christensen, or Joy as his family members called him. In this volume  we explored some of the roots of thatgreat and very dear man. We have looked back two generations to the families of his parents and grandparents. Because we have worked on these histories previously and even published them be­fore, we thought this volume would be simple and easy. Didn’t we gather all we could in 1993 when we put together “Grandma’s book”? Weren’t we instrumental in publishing the history of Asmus Jorgensen and his wives for the Jorgensen family organization? Hadn’t we read Grandpa C.N. Christensen’s missionary pamphlet over and over in our youth? Yet as we prepared the materials once again for what we hoped was a better and more understandable format, new information has come to light, more ideas have sprung forth, and new technology has made our work both easier and harder. Easier because information is so much more readily available. Harder because it is difficult to decide when to stop.

As Ray Christensen commented when he submitted the chapter on Axel Christensen, “It is May 31st [2006], so I am stopping with what little that I have done for Axel Christensen and sending it to you.  I found some interesting stuff, not because I looked all that hard but because there is so much more that is available easily these days.” We had given him a deadline that once seemed realistic, but unlike Ray, I have continued to extend our research and our deadline. You will notice that I have switched to first-person singular in that confession, and I do confess that it is I who has struggled with perfectionism in finishing the project. In short, I apologize for taking so long though I hope it will be worth the wait.

The availability of great research opportunities and typesetting programs has made using less than the best seem unsatisfactory. So this work has taken much more time and greater energy than we had supposed. But the lessons have been similarly enlarged as well. I ask myself these questions, especially at midnight or one or two o’clock in the morning, after a full day of working with the materials at hand, both successfully and unsuccessfully. What is the purpose of this book? Why have we spent so much time, energy and money on producing this volume and others? For me, the answer is central to my faith in God. I relate to a particular verse in the Book of Mormon. The first verse. If you know this verse, you may be thinking about the “born of goodly parents” part. But while I certainly love and appreciate my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc., the part I love the most in that verse is this: “having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God.” I believe that there is a direct correlation between our afflictions, feeling highly favored, and having a great knowledge of the goodness and mysteries of God. And I see that correlation in the stories of my ancestral families.

Mormon gives this statement as the purpose of the book he edited: “to show...what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers” (Book of Mormon Title Page).  Mormon’s son Moroni expresses his hope for his readers: “that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men...and ponder it in your hearts” (Moroni 10:3). I think the reader of  this book will also see that the “tender mercies” of the Lord are with our family, even through their adversities.

The people of this book were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of them were the first in their family to join this Church, and they joined when the Church was in its infancy. In most of their lives there was no peer or family pressure to be a Mormon, quite the contrary. They were not perfect by any means, but they were believers. Their stories reveal their perspective and their faith.

Who is the Bert N & Anna Christensen Family History Committee?

Our mother, Anna Christensen Whitney, did most everything she did in an exceptional way. She was an outstanding mother and homemaker. She did all the classic Mormon homemaking activities like raising children, sewing, canning, baking bread and working in the Church. She was also good at reciting poetry, loving others and doing genealogy. Our dad, Bert N Whitney, was a schoolteacher and school administrator. In the summer when he wasn’t teaching, he attended graduate school in various places and we spent the time visiting historical sites there. He didn’t hesitate to tackle big projects or do things differently than most people. He built three homes for his own use during his lifetime and established a family camp in the mountains.

Our mother and father had a large family—10 children. I don’t know about the rest of my brothers and sisters, but that always made me feel a little different, even a little out of place. Feeling different can be a negative experience or it can be a positive influence.  We sometimes lost our identity growing up in a large group.  There were so many girls (8) in our family that we all learned to answer to “one of the Whitney sisters.” But our experience in “group identity” has also been a strength. We have strong family bonds. Combining our talents makes it easy to take on huge tasks and even expect to accomplish them, no matter how outrageous. Mom and Dad both tended to “think outside the box.” We, as their children, tend to think outside the box too.

I’ve long admired my brothers’ ability to do things like build roads and bridges. My brothers, like my dad, seem larger than life to me. But one day it occurred to me that my sisters and I do the same kind of thing. We envision a family history book that includes all the available research on our family. We realize that we are talking about two books, or three or many more. They turn out to be books with lots of pages. Of course we will transcribe and include all the letters and journals we have as well as scan and use all the photos and documents we can find. We think a great book should be thoroughly researched, indexed and professionally typeset and bound.  We are also raising large families and working in the Church, at home, and sometimes in the workplace and community, but we find that we receive lots of help from those on the other side of the veil. Adele Matthews has remarked more than once at the extra angelic help she has experienced with children and chores when she has been busy working on these projects. We have lots of talent in our family and we have been taught to work hard and rely on the Spirit’s direction. But we see that we can’t do it all, even with the resources we have.

Not to worry. We have more generations of people coming along who know about computers, who also have big ideas and lots of skill and talent. So the next vision that comes to us is a vision of working together as family members to accomplish our dreams and to dream new dreams. What about a family website? A family archive? Reunions, research trips, videos, slide shows and on it goes. The sky’s the limit. We have now enlarged the Bert N & Anna Christensen Whitney Family History Committee to include whoever would like to join. Our motto is “Leaving a Living Legacy,” and I think this book represents some of our best efforts in that direction.

About the “Other Wives”

Some of the quiet heroines of this book are women who have not had their stories told before, at least not in our family history—we call them the “other wives.”  These are women of courage and faith. There are six of them in this book—Edith Rushton, Ingre Olson, Harriet Andrina Sandberg, Anna Laura Lamb, Josephina Olsson, and Anna Beata Andreason. None of them had the “honored” position of first wife. None of them are the literal ancestors of M.J. Christensen, but they are certainly part of his ancestral family. In fact Edith Rushton Christensen was the only mother he could ever remember.

As Beth Breinholt wrote the history of Ingre Olson, Axel Christensen’s second wife, she included a wish to know more about her than just the bare facts. She wanted to see Ingre’s picture and hear some of the warm memories her family had of her. The miracle involved in meeting Maxine Rasmussen was the answer to this desire. Maxine invited us to lunch and shared photographs, history and even poetry from her family. That history went from having no photographs to a chapter rich in personal memories and photos. We have been blessed to meet this previously unknown cousin. She is like us. We look like each other, she loves family history, has written her own book, and she is a very skilled quilter. As we talked, we acknowledged the problems that Ingre and Anna Marie, Axel’s plural wives, had with each other during their lifetimes, and how those problems had impacted our extended family. But we also rejoiced in the restoration of good family relations that our meeting represented. We believe that our feelings were a reflection of forgiveness and love on the other side of the veil as well.

Maybe, like me, you’ve never thought much about these women before. We have always focused on the direct ancestral line. Some of these other wives were even divorced or separated from their husbands. But my perception of family and family history has been broadened in recent years. I’ve come to see that family history is not just about a straight-line pedigree, but about aunts, uncles, cousins and extended family. They all deserve our attention. As we have prepared this book, we had to scramble to find or put together a history about most of these women. That was part of the hold-up in getting this book published. But what interesting women they are, and how I appreciate getting to know them better! I have marveled at their struggles and have rejoiced in the healing that has come with the years.

It is our hope that including the stories of the “other wives” in publishing this volume will help to extend more positive regard, forgiveness and love into the history of this family—in this present year, reaching into the past, and extending into the future. We hope that you won’t skip over these chapters, but will read about these noble and interesting women and that you will be as charmed by them as we are.

In Gratitude

There are many people who have made this book an outstanding labor of love. We are grateful for the help we have received from the descendants of the “other wives” just mentioned. Our thanks go out to Marco Callister and her daughters, to Terry Woodward and Leona Olds, who are descendants of Anna Laura Lamb, and to Maxine Rasmussen, a great-granddaughter of Ingre Olson. Through Terry and Leona we received photographs, histories and documents illustrating this branch of the Jorgensen family. Leona and her husband Leonard graciously shared the resources they had used in writing their book about Leona’s family. Terry provided us with many photos, including a much better version of the only known Asmus Jorgensen photo, scanning it for us just as the book was being finished.

We are so grateful for the work of our Christensen cousins. In this volume Mary Thomson wrote the story of Asmus Jorgensen and Ray Christensen put together the information for Axel and Ane Marie Christensen. They both finished their parts within our original deadline and gave us the foundation we needed to keep working as the book continued to expand. Judy Scott has been an outstanding support as have our other cousins who have cheered us on and refrained from criticism.

The members of the Bert N and Anna Christensen Whitney Family History Committee have been faithful to the vision of family history that we were taught by our parents. We have now expanded that vision and also expanded the committee members to include another generation. That new “blood” has enriched and supported this work! We give special recognition to Jeni and Rex Goodman who have done the proofreading of most of the chapters. We also appreciate Jake Breinholt’s invaluable work on setting up and maintaining the Christensen-Johnson family history website. McKay Whitney gave us our first electronic picture pedigree. Julie Price helped with editing and Jerica Price did research. Laurie Goold did typing. And there are others who, although unmentioned, are nevertheless appreciated. This includes those who have offered needed financial support.

As the committee chairperson, I cannot give enough thanks to my wonderful and supportive sisters. Beth Breinholt is my right-hand woman. She meets with me Tuesday after Tuesday and helps me formulate plans and then takes assignments home and completes them for the next week. Annalee Barajas serves as typesetter. Few people realize the hours, the artistic talent and attention to detail that this job requires. As I watch her work week after week, month after month, and year after year on this project, I am filled with admiration for her gifts. There are many times when she adds to the research or our understanding of the research when her keen perception catches or questions something I had missed. Jill Price is our faithful genealogist. She keeps us on the straight and narrow path of meticulous research and advises us on the latest developments of family history in the Church. Adele Matthews has taken over the treasury worries from Brenda Whitney. What a job that is! These sisters have also done typing, scanning and organizing for the various chapters. We also thank our sweet husbands for their love and support. They are patient and faithful in this work as well. Our other sisters and brothers also support us emotionally and spiritually.

Finally, we give thanks to our ancestors. Most of them fall into the category that J. Reuben Clark called “Them of the Last Wagon.” With President Clark, we say:

[We] wish to speak a few further words of humble tribute and thanksgiving to them, and especially to the meekest and lowliest of them, those great souls, majestic in the simplicity of their faith and in their living testimony of the truth of the restored gospel, to those souls in name unknown, unremembered, unhonored in the pages of history, but lovingly revered round the hearthstones of their children and their children’s children who pass down from generation to generation the story of their faith and their mighty works, and the righteousness of their lives.

May this book be a means to that end.

Joy Whitney Stubbs

Chairperson, Bert N and Anna Christensen Whitney Family History Committee