History:
Martina C. Thompson Sorensen was born Oct. 25, 1859 in Denmark, the only daughter of Parley Thompson and Inger Marie Madsen. She had three brothers - James, Niels, and Soren. Martina came to Utah with her parents. Her Mother was the only member of her family to join the L.D.S. Church and was disowned by her family for doing so.
Inger's family told her that she would bury her children in the ocean and would never reach Utah alive. All of her children had whooping cough on the voyage and, late one night in a severe storm, one of the masts on the ship was broken and crashed at their feet. Inger Marie gathered her children around her thinking the ship would sink at any minute but their lives were spared. After nine weeks on the ocean they landed in New York.
The Thompson family immigrated to Florence, Nebraska and there joined the John Murdock Company for the trek to Utah. They arrived in Salt Lake City, Sept. 12, 1861. The Thompson family moved to Draper in 1870 when Martina was eleven. She was then baptized by Absalom Smith and confirmed by Joseph Rawlins. Martina's brothers were musicians and she loved to dance, so she went along with them to the dances, where the brothers furnished the music.
Peter P. (Christian) Sorensen was born on October 16, 1857 in Denmark to Lars Sorensen and Maren Kirstine Pedersen. The year of his immigration from Denmark to Utah is unknown to this writer.
Peter and Martina were married January 28, 1880 in the Old Endowment House. They traveled in a wagon from Draper to Salt Lake for the ceremony. They were the parents of 10 children.
