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| Andrew Jenson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Assistant Church Historian | |
| 1886 – November 18, 1941 | |
| Called by | Wilford Woodruff |
| Predecessor | Franklin D. Richards |
| Successor | Preston Nibley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Anders Jensen (1850-12-11)December 11, 1850 Torslev parish,Hjørring, Denmark |
| Died | November 18, 1941(1941-11-18) (aged 90) Salt Lake City,Utah, United States |
| Resting place | Salt Lake City Cemetery 40°46′38″N111°51′29″W / 40.7772°N 111.8580°W /40.7772; -111.8580 (Salt Lake City Cemetery) |
| Spouse(s) | Kirsten M. Sorensen Emma T. Howell Bertha T. Howell |
| Parents | Christian Jenson Kirsten Andersen |
Andrew Jenson, bornAnders Jensen, (December 11, 1850 – November 18, 1941) was aDanish immigrant to the United States who acted as anAssistant Church Historian ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for much of the early-20th century. Jenson also served the church aspresident of theScandinavianMission.
Anders Jensen was born in Torslev parish,Hjørring, Denmark. His parents joined the LDS Church when he was four. He left Denmark for the United States in 1866. He traveled across the North AmericanGreat Plains in Andrew H. Scott's ox company.[1] On coming toUtah Territory he anglicized his name toAndrew Jenson and settled in theSalt Lake Valley.
In 1873, Jenson was ordained aseventy in the LDS Church byGeorge Q. Cannon and sent on amission to Denmark. In 1876, he translated the history ofJoseph Smith intoDanish. Jenson served a second mission to Denmark from 1879 to 1881. While in Denmark, Jenson established a monthly periodical calledMorgenstjernen, which he continued to publish in Utah after his return. After eight years, the periodical changed its name to theHistorical Record and was published in English.
In 1886, Jenson became a part-time employee of the LDS Church, receiving a small monthly allowance. His assignments included conducting interviews and gathering photographs, historic documents, and other documentation during a trip to historic church sites in the eastern United States. Jenson also gathered similar documents from various churchstakes and missions throughout the church, which led to the writing of a manuscript history for each LDS Churchward and stake. Jenson was appointed as a full-timeAssistant Church Historian in 1897. Along withJohn Jaques, Jenson was the Acting Church Historian from 1899 until the appointment ofAnthon H. Lund as Church Historian in 1900. Jenson would continue on again as Assistant Church Historian until his death.[2]
During his time in the Church Historian's office, Jenson was a prolific writer, presenting the history of the Latter-day Saints from an orthodox perspective. He was also a remarkable archivist of historical material and continued to collect records and diaries for the Church Historian's office.
Jenson compiled the four-volumeLatter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, a church chronology and an early Latter-day Saintbiographical dictionary. He was also closely involved with the compilation of theJournal History of the Church, which has been described by Utahhistoriographer Gary Topping as...an immense scrapbook compilation consisting of several hundred volumes of various historical records (in its later years mostly newspaper clippings) documenting Mormon history from the beginning of the church until well into the twentieth century.[3] Jenson's contribution included its chronological organization and a running subject index on thousands of index cards. He also compiled the "Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". Among the men he worked with in Church Historian's office wasJoseph Fielding Smith, who later served as Church Historian and eventually asPresident of the Church.
During the 1890s, Jenson collected all the records he could find concerning theMountain Meadows massacre. This archive including his own field notes, excerpts of witnesses' diaries,affidavits, newspaper reports, and the transcriptions from the LDS Church's internal investigations. Many participants in the massacre were granted complete confidentiality for the contents of these interview transcriptions. Since Jenson's time, these files were closed to the public and were not available for use by historians. However, in August 2008, LDS historiansRonald W. Walker,Richard E. Turley Jr., andGlen M. Leonard publishedMassacre at Mountain Meadows throughOxford University Press. A decade in the making, research for the book finally draws from the Jenson archive.
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