Morgan 6 & 7: Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas Christensen

Marinus Christensen

b. 6 June 1863 Torslev, Hjørring, Denmark
m. 6 June 1883 St. Johns, Apache, Arizona
d. 23 July 1927 St. Johns, Apache, Arizona
b. 24 July 1927 St. Johns, Apache, Arizona
Wife: Frances Ann Thomas
Father: Jens Christensen; Mother: Karen Marie Johannesen

Frances Ann Thomas Christensen
b. 4 May 1864 Nephi, Juab, Utah
d. 17 August 1950 Flagstaff, Coconino, Arizona
b. 19 August 1950 St. Johns, Apache, Arizona
Husband: Marinus Christensen
Father: David Nathan Thomas; Mother: Adeline Springthorpe

For information on the early life of Marinus Christensen, read the entry in the Tanner section on Mary Kjersten Christensen and family. Mary married Ove C. Oveson. Her mother and adopted brother Marinus lived with her family.

Marinus continued to live with the family, moving with them to St. Johns, Arizona, in the summer of 1880, and was considered by neighbors as the oldest child, being generally called Oveson, until his marriage, when he took his proper name of Christensen.

Marinus and Frances Christensen.

Marinus Christensen was married to Frances Ann Thomas, daughter of David Nathan Thomas and Adeline Springthorpe, June 6th 1883, at St. Johns, Arizona. She was born May 4th, 1864, at Nephi, Utah.

A page from the 1900 census of St. Johns, Apache, Arizona, showing the Christensen family. (Marinus was not born in Utah.)

David N. Thomas was a blacksmith by trade and owned a shop in St. Johns, where he died August 14th, 1888. His son, brother of Frances (Fanny) died there, too, and not long between the two deaths. Marinus Christensen took over the blacksmith shop and was caring for the mother (Adeline S. Thomas), but she decided to go to Utah, to do work in the Manti Temple. Not long after leaving St. Johns she was taken suddenly ill, and died, and was buried at Manti, April 6th, 1891.

(L to R) David, Marinus, Addie, Jessie, Frank, Fanny, Elmer.

Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas Christensen had the following children:

• Adeline, born July 1, 1884, St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona. Married Andrew Smith Gibbons. Died 1975, age 91.
• Anne, born July 26, 1886, St. Johns. Died 1887, age 1.
• David Thomas, born August 2, 1888, St. Johns. Married Iness Jolley. Died 1949, age 61.
• Marinus Elmer, born November 26, 1890, St. Johns. Married Hildegarde Garnatz. Died 1959, age 68.
• Jessie, born June 13, 1893, St. Johns. Married Harold Morgan. Died 1980, age 86.
• Francis Lee, born April 18, 1898, St. Johns. Married Nellie Vanetta. Died 1962, age 64.
• Paul Anthon, born November 26, 1901, St. Johns, died May 9th, 1908, St. Johns. Cause: Children built a bonfire. Paul’s clothes caught fire. Burns and shock.
• Joseph Laurence, born September 8, 1903, St. Johns. Married Susan Ellis. Died 1984, age 80.

The blacksmith shop. Marinus is standing on the right.

Marinus Christensen was a blacksmith all his life, and his shop was a place where the men of the town loved to gather and spend an idle hour. The blacksmith was always jolly and entertaining and his happy laughter was good to hear. He was a law enforcement officer many years, and was noted for his ability to deal with offenders, and his kindly yet firm stand for right. He was a leader in the Band, and also in the Sunday School Choir. He was Sunday School Superintendent in both Ward and Stake for many years, and dearly loved that work, and also the children. But the thing that he will be remembered by among the townspeople more than any other, was the Comic Recitations he used to give, and the Character parts he played in home theatricals. He was a splendid Comedian, and a great hit with his audiences.

Frances Christensen and children at Marinus' funeral.

He died at St. Johns, Arizona, July 23rd, 1927, and was buried there.

Frances Christensen, Jessie Morgan, Addie Gibbons.

His wife, Fanny, lived for many years after her husband’s death. She was in the Relief Society presidency for many years, and was one who was always on hand to help in sickness, take charge of making clothing and dressing and preparing the dead for burial. In those days we had no undertaker, and neighbors and friends attended to this work. The last few years of her life she visited among her children a part of the time, though she did not give up her home, and enjoyed to be alone there sometimes. She was visiting her children in Flagstaff when she had a paralytic stroke, from which she died August 17th, 1950 and was buried at St. Johns, Arizona.

[Note: the middle article seems to be from a Flagstaff paper rather than the Tribune, and why do two articles call her mother "Caroline"?]

Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas have a posterity of progressive and intelligent citizens, good neighbors and trustworthy friends.

From Margaret Godfrey Jarvis Overson. George Jarvis And Joseph George De Friez Genealogy. Mesa, Ariz: M.J. Overson, 1957.

[Note, February 15, 2014: changed the spelling of Inez Jolley to Iness, at the request of her granddaughter Laurel Christensen.]

Picture of the horseshoes from www.flickr.com/photos/tombothetominator/2792049406/.