Caroline Maria Jensen Hansen Olsen Dorius

After the family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they decided not to come to Utah because her father's health was not good.  However her sister and her husband had already come to America.

They received the news that the couple had been killed by Indians, and had left a baby.  Caroline's mother, Anna, wanted to know what happened and so Anna, Caroline and her brother, Jens, decided to go and find out the details.  They took enough money so that they could return to Denmark.

The journey aboard ship was rough, the heat in New Orleans was unbearable, and when they got to St. Louis, they had to use their return money to purchase a wagon.  Many in their group died from cholera, and Anna also died just as they were going to cross the Missouri River.  She was buried on the banks of the river on August 11, 1866.  Caroline and Jens had no choice but to go on.  They arrived in Salt Lake city on October 22, 1866.

They traveled to Ephraim, Utah and immediately asked the townspeople about her sister's death.  They had been outside the fort working in a potato field, when Indians rode up and killed everyone but the baby.  The Indians picked up the baby and rode off, but finally returned and left him.  A black smith in Manti took him in.

Caroline married Lewis Olsen Dorius in the Spring of 1867, as his second wife.  His first wife had died in childbirth.  In Denmark, Lewis's name had been Ludvig Larsen, and was changed in America to Lewis Olsen.  His mother, who was divorced, married a man by the name of Dorius, and so Lewis and all his children were known by the surname of Olsen Dorius.

Caroline's baby layette was very meager.  She had only a little shirt made from a handkerchief, and two diapers made from an old shirt.  She worked in the Relief Society as a teacher and counselor.  She also worked in the Manti Temple doing housekeeping chores.  They grew their own fruits and vegetables, made candles and soap, and attended quilting bees.  She sang at many funerals.

At the end of the Black Hawk War, the Indians came to smoke the peace pipe. Caroline then met the Indian Chief who was responsible for her sister's death.  He sat in her kitchen and told her he was sorry.

Children:

Julie Ann Maria, 5 February 1869

Lewis Nicholai, 22 December 1870

Hannah Dorminda, 14 November 1872

Orson Martin, 8 April 1875 (died as a child)

Charles, 6 August 1877

John, 15 February 1880 (twin-died as a child

Katherine, 15 February 1880 (twin-died as a child)

Clara Josephine, 20 August 1885

(Source: Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, Volume I A to E, International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, p.829)