Samuel Barnhurst & Ane Marie Jensen 3 G Grandparents

This was taken from a blog by Wes Larson (who is apparently a distant cousin)
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Samuel Barnhurst and Ane Marie Jensen. Samuel Barnhurst is another one of my Great-Great-Great Grandfathers. Shortly before his birth, his family immigrated from England to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they became established and attained some measure of wealth and prestige. In 1857, Samuel was thirty years old and married with two children. He was enjoying the benefits of his family's status and earning a very good living working in the family business.

Samuel was working on a research paper on religion. He was writing about the changes that happened to long established European churches when they moved to America. Soon after he started his research, he heard about an American church that believed in angels and had a new bible written in gold. He became very interested and discovered more about it. He found it a very practical church, and a very workable religion. He began to talk about this new and interesting church to his associates who kidded and teased him about it. Despite the ribbing, they listened to what he had to say.

His wife and one of his sisters heard about the discussions with his friends and wanted to know what he was learning, asking him to explain it all to them. They told him not to bother with those friends who thought it was funny, but to tell only them about it. They assured him that they would listen any time—and they did. He was delighted to explain this new Gospel to his wife and sister, and even had plans for them all to be baptized soon and join the new church.

One evening he came home a little early and, not wanting to disturb his butler at a busy time, came quietly around to the side door and entered with his key. The door to the music room was ajar and he could hear conversation. He stopped to listen to find out whether he should prepare to be a host to guests and who they might be. What he heard changed his life. Speaking, was his wife, his sister and the minister of the Anglican Church. They were all very concerned about his studies of the American church. The Barnhursts were very concerned about their social position in relation to this new church, its members, its beliefs and the reputation of its founder, Joseph Smith. They could not bear the stigma of it all.

As they discussed their designs to put an end to Samuel's conversion, Samuel listened in. The plan was that when Samuel rang the front door bell that evening, the butler would come to take his coat. Before it could be completely unbuttoned, the butler would jerk the coat down and around him, using the coat to pin his arms to his sides. His wife and sister would rush to each side of him to immobilize his arms and the minister would gag, blindfold and tie him up. They would then carry him out the back door where a carriage was waiting to take him to incarcerate him in an insane asylum. It was much less disgraceful to have a family member known to be insane than known to be a Mormon! Hearing this, he silently went upstairs, kissed his two sleeping children good-bye, then went out to the stable for his horse and left.

He went to join the Saints and arrived at Salt Lake City August 7, 1857. Soon after he arrived in Salt Lake City, Bishop Peterson came to see him. Bishop Peterson, who spoke Danish and English, was the leader of a Danish-speaking congregation. They talked a bit and the bishop said to him, "You are a fine healthy young man. You should marry and raise a family". Samuel told him his story. He said he already had a wife and children in Philadelphia and didn't have the heart to go courting. The bishop told him, "You can take a second wife." The bishop then asked, "If I can find you a good, decent young lady, will you marry her and have a righteous family with her"?

Ane Marie Jensen was born in Denmark in 1833. By the time she was twenty-one years old, she was apprenticed to a fine sewing house in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1854. Ane lived with her parents and their other children, but was engaged to be married. While living and working in Copenhagen, she met the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were proselyting in the area. At first, Ane Marie was merely curious as she listened to the missionaries. Then, as she listened more, she began to deeply value the principles she was learning. She started to talk to her fiancé and her family about the things she was learning.

They listened and asked questions, but they were not happy about the idea of leaving their Lutheran church and joining this very strange American church. Her fiancé felt it was a disadvantage for a young couple to saddle themselves with, and even told her that he could not marry her if she joined that church! Her parents said it would shame them and the whole extended family if she joined. Ane made the decision that she would do as her family felt was best and went to the meetings no more. She still worked for the house and made clothes for nobility, but no longer felt the joy she had before.

As the months went on, she began to feel very cold. First her feet wouldn't stay warm, then her fingers never got warm and finally they became so cold she couldn't hold her needle. She took this as a sign to her that God was not pleased with her choice. So she made an arrangement to be baptized on July 20, 1854. Winter was over, bu the ice on the river that runs through Copenhagen was still breaking up and ice floes were floating by on it. Despite the cold, she was going to be baptized. When she went into the water it caught her breath, but said it was no colder than her hands and feet. When she came out of the water, her hands and feet were warm and she used her hands to warm her face. She was not chattering with cold, but felt warm all over. She took this as a sign that not only was God pleased with her choice to be baptized but that it was a sign that she was a part of the true church.

Three years later, Ane Marie had earned enough money to travel to America to join the Latter-day Saints. Once she reached land, she traveled by wagon and then on foot to Salt Lake City. She reached her destination on September 18, 1857.

At Salt Lake City she worshiped with a Danish congregation. Soon after she settled, the bishop, Brother Peterson, called to see her. "You are strong and healthy and young,” he said. “You should be married and raising children," he told her. "I don't have the heart to be courted,” she said and then told him about her broken engagement in Denmark and about a man on the wagon train who wanted her to be his second wife. "Well, in that case", he said, "If I find a fine decent young man for you, will you marry him?" She knew it was her duty and desire to raise up a righteous generation, so, "Yes, I will", she said.

Ane Marie Jensen and Samuel Barnhurst met November 29, 1857 and were married the same day. She knew no English and he had never heard any Danish, but with the help of Bishop Petersen, they would each learn Danish and English.

My ancestry is tied to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When these people crossed paths with the Church, the course of their lives were changed. No longer could they stay in comfortable ignorance of the Gospel truths they heard. They each felt an obligation to make sacrifices for their faith. Were it not for their sacrifices or faith, my history would be very different than what it is.

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He was born in Phildelphia 24 Aug 1827 to Joseph Barnhurst and Pricilla Underhill and married Anna Elizabeth Thompson, moved to St. Louis, left there to come west and married Ane Marie Jensen, they eventually settled in Hatch, Garfield Co., Utah and he is buried there.

Ref: Letter from LaVell Dean Robinson - 6 May 1993

Samuel was a miller and school teacher. He and Anna Marie Jensen were married in the office of Brigham Young in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Ref: Letter from Dennis Alger - 7 May 1997

Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, p. 738

BARNHURST, SAMUEL (Son of Joseph Barnhurst and Priscilla Underhill of England). Born Aug. 24, 1827. Came to Utah Aug. 7, 1857, with company bringing Apostles John Taylor and Erastus Snow and other returning missionaries. (Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, p. 738)

Married Anna Marie Jensen Oct. 1857 (daughter of Jens Christian Peterson and Sophia Christensen), who was born Sept. 23, 1833, Denmark and came to Utah Sept. 13, 1857, Christian Christiansen handcart company, traveling part of time with Johnston's invading army.

Their children: Anna Mary B. Nov. 18, 1858, m. John Z. Alger April 6, 1877; Mary Anna b. Nov. 18, 1858, m. Niels Ivor P. Clove; Samuel James b. Nov. 1860, m. Laura Ann Hatch Jan. 21, 1886; Priscilla Sophia b. May 6, 1863, m. William R. Riggs Jan. 17, 1886; Jens Christensen b. Aug. 18, 1865, m. Hulda E. Sandin; Julia Anna Marie b. April 15, m. A. W. Huntington; Joseph Erastus b. May 8, m. Lillie Dale Adams.

Samuel also married Elizabeth Bauer, but there are no known children from this marriage.

In Utah, Samuel was a school teacher and a miller. His family was asked to help settle Circleville, Utah during the Black hawk War and was later told to leave because of the danger. From there they moved to Cedar City, Utah and from there to Hatch, Utah, where Samuel soon died and is buried.

Ref: Descent chart - Robert Barnhurst
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