August is almost over so I am blogging about my August ancestor. She has been one of my hardest to trace, but luckily I have found a few records about her.
Emeline "Lena" Maria Nelson was born in Denmark (probably in or near Thingstrup) on December 10, 1848. Her parents were Nels C. Jensen and Inger Katrina Euwalden (or something like that).
I do not know much about her early life in Denmark. She at least had a relationship with an Anders Brogoard Christensen and became with child. She had a daughter Inger Katrina Nelson, known as "Katie". Katie was born in 1873.
In 1884, Lena and her daughter Katie immigrated to the United States from Denmark. I do not know what they did for the next 10 years or where they lived. Without the 1890 census I haven't found them. Even with it, they would be hard to trace. I have searched state censuses and come up empty handed, just lots of Maria Nelsons which may or may not be right.
Somehow Katie meets my great-grandfather and they get married in 1897 in Kearney county, Nebraska.
Ten years later in 1907, Katie's mother Lena marries Katie's father-in-law Lars Jorgensen. So Katie's father-in-law becomes her stepfather. This marriage takes place in Kearney county, Nebraska.
I then can find Lena and Lars Jorgensen listed in the 1910 census living next door to Lars' son Rasmus and his wife Ricka and two doors away from their children Chris and Katie in Cheyenne county, Nebraska.
I then have Lena's death certificate that says she passed away 13 Jan 1914 in Minden, Kearney county, Nebraska. She is buried in the Jorgensen family plot in the Fredricksburg cemetery, but a photo request has not yielded a photo of her gravestone. I have implied from this that she is in an unmarked plot.
I have no photos of Lena, just a marriage and death certificates. Perhaps some perusing in the Cheyenne or Kearney county newspapers could yield more information on my great-great-grandmother. A trip west might be in order for that.
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