Photos of William Smith and Mary Moss

And these are the other Smith photos from Gene Halverson. William Smith is my 2nd great grandfather, the eldest son of Jorgen Christiansen Smith and Mette Marie Villardsen Johannesen Smith. William Smith married Mary Moss. Both William and Mary were born in Utah, and both were children of Danish immigrants.

William Smith

Mary Moss

William Smith

William Smith and Mary Moss Smith

I love this picture of Mary Moss and William Smith with some of their grandchildren.

left to right: Jay Coleman Smith [son of Eugene Smith and Sarah Malinda Coleman], Mary Moss, Madge Eugenia Smith Huntsman [daughter of Eugene Smith and Sarah Coleman], Cleone Snow (front) [daughter of Ada Smith and John Snow], Cella Smith Coleman [daughter of William Cappie Smith and Ruby Perry], William Smith Chidester [son of Eliza Lucinda Smith and James Parker Chidester], William Smith, & Deama Smith [daughter of Eugene Smith and Sarah Coleman].  Guessing from the ages of the babies, this picture was taken around the spring or summer of 1918.  (The baby in William Smith's arms, William Smith Chidester (who went by Smith), was the eldest brother of my grandfather, John Leo Chidester).

 

And these last two are of James Andrew Smith, a younger brother of William Smith

James Andrew Smith

Smith Family Photos

I just wanted to post the Smith family photos that Eugene Halverson shared with me. These are of my 3rd great grandfather, Jorgen Christiansen Smith, and my 3rd great grandmother, Mette Marie Villardsen Johannesen Smith. There is also a picture of Jorgen's 1st wife, Christina Maria Bertelsdatter Berkedahl Smith; and Jorgen's 3rd wife, Wilhelmine Pedersen Swenson Smith. I am so excited to finally see photos of this side of my family! 

Jorgen's 1st wife, Christina Maria Bertelsdatter Berkedahl Smith

Jorgen's 3rd wife, Wilhelmine Pedersen Swenson Smith

My 3rd great grandparents, Jorgen Christiansen Smith and Mette Marie Villardsen Johannesen Smith

Jorgen and Mette Smith, Black Hawk Reunion

Danish Smith Ancestors

Throughout my years doing genealogy, I have mostly focused on my researching mother's ancestors because my paternal grandmother does a lot of research on my father's side, so I've stuck to my mom's side for the most part. But over the last year or so everytime I happen to glance at my gneealogy file and see some Danish ancestors on my dad's side, I think that I need to look into that family line a little. I've put it off, mostly because I don't know anything about research in Denmark. But a week or so ago I decided not to put it off any longer.

The line I was interested in is that of my paternal great grandmother, Eliza Lucinda "Cindy" Smith Chidester. Cindy was married to James Parker Chidester and they had seven children. My grandfather, John Leo Chidester, and his twin sister Jean were the youngest children of Jim and Cindy Chidester. Cindy's parents were William Smith and Mary Moss. Both William and Mary were born in Utah, and both were the children of Danish immigrants who came to America as new members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints. And William Smith and Mary Moss happened to be my only two great, great grandparents who I didn't have a copy of at least one photo of. I didn't really know where to start in my research, as there were several different Danish lines I could have started with. So I decided to see what I could find about William Smith and Mary Moss. Before going to any genealogy sites, I just did a google search to see if anything happened to come up. Not suprisingly, I didn't find anything relavent for William Smith and Mary Moss -- not the most uncommon names out there. So I decided to see what I could find for William Smith's parents, Jorgen Christiansen Smith and Mette Marie Villardsen Johannesen. Pretty soon I came to the website of the Hamaker family, "Hamaker's Homestead" at , and this family happens to have a relation to my Danish Smith ancestors. And there was a pretty lengthy history for Jorgen Christiansen Smith with some photos, and info about a number of other related Smith relatives. I tried contacting the author of the website, but my email was returned. Luckily, they had posted the names and email addresses of all the people who had contributed family histories or photos to the website, so I was able to contact Eugene "Gene" Halverson, the author of the history on Jorgen and the contributor of the majority of Smith photos on the site. Gene and I have since been sharing genealogy via email daily, and he has been very generous to take the time to send me numerous histories that he has written and family photos. I am still taking the time to read through all the histories, but the first one I have started to read about Jorgen and his wives is very interesting.

Apparently, my great, great, great grandmother, Mette Marie Villardsen Johannesen, was the second wife of Jorgen Christiansen Smith, who was practicing polygamy. His first wife was Christina Maria Bertelsdatter Birkedal, and they were married when they still lived in Denmark. They came with several children to America. After settling in Utah, Jorgen took a second wife, 18 year old Mette, and they had several children. And Jorgen also took a third wife, Wilhelmine Pedersen, an older widow with three children from a previous marriage. The families moved around a lot, settling different Utah towns and dealing with the deaths of quite a few of their children through the hard living conditions. From Gene's history, it seems that they also dealt with the difficulties and jelousies of a polygamous family. I can't even imagine what that would have been like. Gene has given me permission to share his histories and photos on this blog, so I'll post the history of Jorgen Christiansen Smith here too.

Pedigree Chart of my Danish Ancestors

I also wanted to include a little pedigree chart of my great grandmother, Eliza Lucinda Smith. (Although some of the names have been abbreviated because they didn’t fit in the space provided, you get the general idea – feel free to contact me if you’re interested in any details).

Just click on the chart to zoom in.

Ancestors from Denmark

My paternal great grandmother, Eliza Lucinda “Cindy” Smith Chidester, has crossed my mind a few times lately. I have focused a lot on my mom’s German and Czech ancestors, and it’s intriguing to me to learn about Eliza’s Danish ancestors – I have no experience at all in research in Denmark, and their names and naming patterns are different than other cultures that I’m used to. So I thought I’d look a little closer at my Danish ancestors.

My great grandmother, “Cindy,” died just before I turned three years old, and I’m not sure how often I was able to visit with her while she was alive, but my mom always told me that we seemed to have a special connection. Her parents were William Smith and Mary Moss. William Smith was born in Fountain Green, Utah in 1864 and Mary Moss was born in Washington, Utah in 1865.

William Smith was the oldest son of Jorgen Christiansen Smith and Mette Marie Villardsen Johannesen. Jorgen and Mette had 12 children: William, Maria, Ane Christine, Mary Christine, James Andrew, Evadine Magdaline Margretha, Ane Laurine, Adlaida Smith, Eliza, Catrine Elise, John Christian, and Constantine Smith. Jorgen Christiansen Smith was born in 1823 in Fasted, Sondre-Hygum, Haderslev, Denmark, the 7th of 8 children of Christian Andreassen and Maren Jensen Svane. Mette Marie Villardsen Johannesen was born in 1841 in Norre Halen, Biersted, Ålborg, Denmark, the 4th of 8 children of Johannes Villardsen and Ane Christina Christensen. After moving to the United States, Jorgen and Mette were married on 21 Feb 1863 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jorgen died in 1908 in Thurber (now Bicknell), Utah and Metter died in Torrey, Utah in 1925.

And Mary Moss was the 5th child of Stephen Moss and Elsie Marie Iverson. Stephen Moss and Elsie Marie Iverson had 12 children: Annie Christina Moss, Jeppe Iver, Holger, Martin Harris, Mary, Andrew Daniel, Ada, Emma, Orinda, Joseph Reinhart, Clarinda, and Malinda Moss. Stephen Moss was born in 1825 in Overglud, Glud, Vejle, Denmark, the son of Holger Moss and Karen Sorensen. And Elsie Marie Iverson was born in 1829 in Vestbirk, Østbirk, Skanderborg, Denmark, the 3rd of 6 children of Jeppe Iverson and Anna Christina Mortensen. After coming to the United States, Stephen and Elsie were married on 31 Dec 1856 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Stephen died in 1881 in Richfield, Utah and Elsie died in 1920 in Torrey, Utah.

I would like to know more about my Danish ancestors, as all of this information that I have about them came from my paternal grandmother’s genealogy file. I would love to find stories or pictures of these ancestors. I cherish the photographs of my ancestors that I have been able to collect, and I have a copy of at least one photo of each of my great, great grandparents except William Smith and Mary Moss – I only have a handful of pictures of my great grandmother, Eliza Lucinda Smith Chidester, and I have never seen a picture of her parents, William and Mary (so if any of you relatives out there happen to have pictures of any of these family members, I would be very grateful for any copies that you would be willing to share). The one thing I do have is a life sketch written by my great grandmother, Eliza Lucinda Smith Chidester. (Actually, my dad has it). But I was able to read through her handwritten life story and type it out, so I will post that too.  She did mention her grandpernts in her life story, but I'm interested to know more about their lives -- why did they come to the United States from Denmark and how were their lives different before and after they came, what roles did the LDS church play in their lives, and what were their families like?

Photographs:
Eliza Lucinda Smith and her husband, James Parker Chidester
and
Eliza Lucinda Smith Chidester with her youngest children: twins, Mary Jean and John Leo Chidester (my paternal grandfather).