Johanna Maria Hansen Corlett was the first of eleven children born to Peter and Hansine 'Sina' Petrine Madsen Hansen. Her father, Peter Hansen had previously emigrated with his first wife and daughter to Utah in 1861 and settled in Hyrum, Utah. After the death of Peter's first wife Johanne Sophie Jensen on 14 Feb 1865 in Hyrum, Utah and the marriage of his daughter Ane Sophie Hansen to Jens Monsen on 19 Apr 1865, Peter was called on a LDS mission back to his native homeland in Denmark. Peter left Utah in May 1865 and began serving his mission on 2 Aug 1865. He was appointed to preside over the Øernes Conference beginning the same time. As a traveling elder he preached and did missionary work on the islands of Fyn (Funen), Lolland, Falster, Møn and other small Danish islands. It was while on his mission that he met and married his second wife, Hansine Petrine Madsen on 27 Sep 1867. A year later on 13 June 1868, Johanna Maria Hansen's parents Peter and Hansine emigrated from Copenhagen, Denmark on the ship "Hansia/Hansa" and arrived in Hull, England on 16 June 1868. They then took a train from Hull to Liverpool. They left Liverpool on the ship "Emerald Isle" on 20 June 1868 with Hans Jensen Hals as president of the company and arrived in New York on 14 August 1868. (See LDS/FHL Film# 025692). From there they took the train from New York to Benton, Wyoming, the terminus of the Trans-continental Railroad in 1868. Enroute their first child, Johanna Maria Hansen was born on 23 Aug 1868 on the train near Fort Kearny, Kearney County, Nebraska. Fort Kearny is near present day Newark, Nebraska. Johanna Maria's birth was briefly mentioned in a 23 August 1868 journal entry of Hans Jensen Hals, who as the traveling Mormon company president kept a very detailed account of the overall journey of the Latter-day Saint company from England to Salt Lake City. His journal entry states: "Sunday, 23--We crossed North Platte river. A Sister Hansen gave birth to a child (a girl) in the cars." When the train finally arrived at Benton Wyoming the Hansens along with others in the company outfitted with the "John G. Holman" wagon train (62 wagons, abt 650 people) and arrived in Utah on 25 Sep 1868 (See Journal History 24 Sep 1868, p. 1; and Deseret News Vol. 17, p. 257). The family settled again in Hyrum, Utah and later moved in 1875 to Bennington, Idaho. Family sources indicate that as a young woman, Johanna went to Wyoming (near Opal, WY) to work on a "cow camp," likely as a cook or laundering clothing. This may have been where she met George Walters, the father of her oldest child Orene. She later met Edward John Corlett and they married on 12 May 1897 in Montpelier, Bear Lake, Idaho. From this union she had two additional sons.

Edward John and Johanna Maria Hansen Corlett moved from Wyoming to Boise, Idaho in 1921 along with sons Fred Wesley Corlett & Edward John Corlett, Jr. There they purchased a farm in Meridian, Idaho.

Idaho Death Certificate Number: 123085
Maria Hansen Corlett

OBITUARY: Monday Feb. 17, 1941, Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho

"Pioneer Idaho Woman Dies"
Mrs. Marie Hansen Corlett, 72, of Route 2 Meridian, died at a Boise hospital Sunday night after a long illness, aggravated by a fall at her home Saturday. She was an Idaho pioneer.
Mrs. Corlett was born in Nebraska, Aug. 23, 1868, while her parents were en route from Denmark to Hyrum, Utah. In 1875, at the age of 7, she moved with her parents to Bennington, Idaho.
She was married to Edward John Corlett May 12, 1897, in Montpelier, Idaho. The family moved to Boise Valley in 1921, residing on a ranch eight miles west of Boise since that time.
She is survived by her husband; three sons, Fred of Cutbank, Mont.; Orene of Woolford, Alberta, Canada; and John of Boise; one brother, Henry Hansen of St. Joseph, Mo.; four sisters, Vera Hansen of McGrath, Alberta, Canada; Mrs. Lige Bourne, also of McGrath; Mrs. Monte Smith of Aetna, Alberta, Canada, and Mrs. C. O. McOmber of Great Falls, Mont.; also three grandchildren.
The body is at Robison Funeral Home in Meridian. Funeral arrangements are pending.

(info provided by contributor #47656541)