Born in Norresundby, Aalborg, Denmark

Daughter of Hans Peter Jensen and Anne Marie Clausen

Married - Abraham Hunsaker, 13 Nov 1858, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Children - Ila Hunsaker, Anna Maria Hunsaker, Leo Hunsaker, Esther Hunsaker, Frederick Hunsaker, Benham Hunsaker, Newman Hunsaker, Hans Peter Hunsaker, Julia Hunsaker, Margaret Hunsaker

History - Cathrine Jensen's mother, Anna Mariah (Ane Marie) Clawsen, was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Denmark. Her father, Hans Peter Jensen, was head gardener at the palace. The two fell in love and were married and had four children—John, Cathrine, Anna, and Frederic. Shortly after their marriage, the couple accepted a new and strange religion, Mormonism. Because Cathrine's mother married beneath her station in life and because of her acceptance of this new religion, her parents, who were the wealthy owners of a steel mill, disinherited her from her full inheritance and cut her off from her family.

Cathrine was born on 12 February 1843, in the town of Norlundy, Denmark. Not being used to the hardships she had to suffer after marrying a poor man, Cathrine's mother died soon after her fourth baby was born. Her children were taken care of by Julia Jensen until Cathrine's father remarried. Aunt Julia also accompanied the children when they emigrated to the United States in about 1849.

Cathrine's father went on a mission for the LDS Church in Germany. There he met Sarah Clason, who became his second wife, and Sarah's sister who later became his third wife. Upon his remarriage Sarah took care of the children of Anna Mariah Clawsen, but was never very good to them. After she had children of her own, she was very partial to her own children and unfair to her stepchildren.

Later, Anna Mariah Clawsen's children received some of their mother's inheritance, but Sarah took this money to build a house for herself and her sister. John Jensen, Cathrine's brother, said that he had to learn to read and write by himself while herding sheep on the hills near Mantua, Utah. Frederic, the youngest brother, died of the measles while sleeping outside in a granary in the middle of winter. Cathrine and her sister Anna had to go out to work when they were very young.

Cathrine was 13 years old when she went to work for Eliza Collins, the first wife of Abraham Hunsaker. Eliza felt sorry for Cathrine and employed her mainly to help her and to give her a place to live. Cathrine, who always loved Eliza, appreciated her kindness and called her "Aunt Eliza."

Cathrine married Abraham Hunsaker on 15 November 1858, just before she was 16 years old. She became the mother of 10 children, all of whom lived to maturity except two. For the first part of her married life she lived in the Big House in Brigham City.

When Abraham moved to Honeyville, she went there to live in about 1874. For many years she lived in the house by Salt Creek, west of Honeyville. She moved into Honeyville later. While in Honeyville she cooked for the older boys who farmed and herded livestock.

She had many experiences with stray Indians who came begging for food. She was always afraid of the Indians, and one time took her small children and hid out in a cornfield for several hours until some Indians had gone away from her home.

Cathrine was called "little grandma" as she only weighed 90 pounds. According to her brother John, this was no joke, however, as she had had to contend with hunger much of her life. Cathrine never had very good health, although she lived to be 84 years old. She had a nervous condition, probably brought on by malnutrition in her early life. She was a faithful little lady and expected all of her children and grandchildren to be ladies and gentlemen.