Engeline Jorgine Dam

Biography

Born in 1863 in Denmark, Engeline was born the second of six children. Her parents had Engeline and her siblings help with work such as sewing, selling fish, herding cows, and farming potatoes. Her father never joined the church and died when she was young, but her mother taught Engeline and her siblings the gospel. Engeline would sneak off with her mother to attend church meetings even though it was a long and difficult walk. The two would also stay up late together sewing and talking about the gospel. Many at the time opposed Mormonism, including her grandmother, so Engeline’s mother snuck her children out in the middle of the night to be baptized. A year later, with two of her siblings, she had to leave their mother behind, traveling to Utah with a missionary elder. She came to America in 1876 at age 13 and arrived in Ogden, Utah by train. In 1878, she married Hans Peter Marker Hansen at 15 and they settled in Box Elder County. They went on to have five daughters and one son, three of which passed away before Engeline did. Hans passed away after they had been married for 36 years. After that, Engeline became a temple worker in the Salt Lake Temple. She remained faithful all her life and passed away in 1957 at the age of 93.