Soren Christian Sorensen Malle

(Note: Karl Brent Somers’ father Wilford Karl Somers was the son of Elizbuth Melinda Sorensen Somers who was the daughter of Soren Christian Sorensen Malle)

My great grandfather Soren Christian Sorensen was born 151 years ago today in 1862, in Gudumlund, Denmark to Jens Christian Sorensen and Ane Kirstine Jensen. Gudumlund appears to be a small community, perhaps no more than a few farms, outside of Aalborg. Soren was the seventh of eight children born into this family. Soren’s parents joined the Church on January 4, 1860. On June 26, 1872 Jens, Ane, and three children, including my great grandfather, boarded the ship NEVADA to come to America and Utah. Their oldest daughter, Ane Cathrine, had left the prior year. Their four other children died in infancy. The ship arrived in New York on July 8, 1872.

Up until 1826, Denmark utilized the patronymic naming system to give last names to children. In this system, Soren’s last name normally would have Jensen or his father’s first name, Jens, plus the addition of “sen”. The Danish government abolished the patronymic naming system in 1826 although it took several decades for the Danes to fully adopt the change. This undoubtedly is why his name was Sorensen rather than Jensen, but he also went by the last name of Malle—Soren Christian Sorensen Malle. Malle, which means catfish in Danish, is the name of a place in Denmark. Perhaps it is the place or near the place where the Sorensen’s originally came from in Denmark prior to settling in Gudumlund. There isn’t a record of Soren’s father going by Malle, but his grandfather and great grandfather did use the name Malle.

Upon arriving in Utah, the family settled in Sanpete County, perhaps in Ephraim.

According to our family’s oral history, Soren proposed marriage to Thirza Malinda Peterson in 1882 when he was 20. She died before they were married.

When my great grandmother Mary Bosshart was about 15, Soren came to her home to ask directions to another home. She went out to point the way to him. He didn’t look where she was pointing but just looked straight at her. Soren then became a regular visitor. After Mary’s brother became ill, many of the neighbors including Soren, would come to sit with him. During these visits, he and Mary would stay up most of the night playing cards. One night Mary’s father said, “Soren Sorensen either you marry that girl or stay away from here.” He couldn’t stay away so shortly thereafter on November 24, 1886 they were married. He was 24 and she was 16. They were sealed together in the Manti Temple on February 27, 1889. At Soren’s and Mary’s sealing, Soren was also sealed to his deceased fiancé, Thirza Malinda Peterson, with Mary serving as proxy for Thirza.

Soren and Mary with Edward and Marlin

Soren and Mary made their home in Willow Creek in Sanpete County. Mary’s father, John Bosshard, settled Willow Creek in about 1874. The town’s name changed to Axtell upon the arrival of the railroad and post office arrived in 1891.

While they lived in Axtell, they had eight children—Soren Edward, James Marlin, Elizbuth Melinda (my grandmother), John Henry, Wilford Vinson, Freeman Leonzy, Mary Ledora, and Meralda Dorthella. Interestingly my grandmother had the same middle name, Melinda, as Thirza.

By the early 1900’s, Soren was having an increasingly hard time supporting a growing family. He heard about land in Box Elder County from some former neighbors who had moved to East Garland in Box Elder County. Soren and his son Marlin went to look around. They liked what they saw and bought an eighty-acre farm. Upon returning to Axtell, Soren told Mary that they had bought a farm between two big rivers. She said, “I don’t want to live there; I’m afraid of floods.” But he told her she didn’t need to worry because the riverbanks were plenty high enough to contain any floodwaters.

In 1905, Soren and Mary sold their home in Axtell and bought a torn down log house. In March, Soren and his sons loaded the logs, all of their livestock, and a hive of bees on the freight train to move north. Mary took the younger children and her mother on a passenger train. The train stopped in Collinston, where the neighbors who had moved before them met them and helped them move to the farm. They lived with these neighbors until they built a house. They cleared the farm of sagebrush and made it ready for planting.

In addition to farming, Soren worked at the sugar factory in Garland. The factory processed sugar beets into sugar. Soren’s daughter Dorthella said that Soren would fill his lunch bucket with raw brown lump sugar, take it home, and give it to the kids as candy.

After the family had been in East Garland for a few years, a sales agent from a produce company in Ogden sold Soren enough gooseberry bushes to plant an half acre. The firm would then buy the berries from them.

Three more children—Ira Evan, Walter Marion, and Sidney Christian—were born to Soren and Mary while they lived in East Garland.

Probably in early August 1910, Soren was repairing a binder when a handle slipped and hit him braking his collarbone. He was in a lot of pain and Mary wanted him to go to the doctor. He refused because he felt the doctor would only cause him more pain.

On August 10, he sent his second son Marlin out to irrigate the sugar beets while he trimmed the gooseberries. One of the boys came and told him that their cows had crossed the Bear River. Soren got his horse and dog and went down to cross the river and drive them back to their pasture. His plan was to cross the Bear River, drive the cows back across, and then go up the river to where the water was shallower to come back across.

In the meantime, Mary was outside their home when one of their sons told her of Soren’s plan. She told him to get down to the river and drive the cows to the pasture as they came across the river. He soon came back and told Mary that the cows were still on the other side of the river but the horse was on their side and there was something black in the river. He said he thought his father had drowned. Mary went down to the river where the horse was and found the dog lying by Soren’s hat. She told Marlin to go get help. He went to where some men were thrashing grain. The news spread and soon there were many people helping. The women took Mary back to the house. Some of the men got a hay rake and started dragging the river for Soren’s body. They found his body in the early afternoon.

Soren’s obituary said he had fallen off or been thrown off the horse. The doctor at the scene said he didn’t drown as he didn’t have any water in his lungs. He either died from a blood clot or a heart attack.

Soren died at the age of 48. He was buried in the East Garland Cemetery on August 12. At the time of his death, he left a family of 10 children. The eldest son, Soren Edward was serving a mission Norway and their youngest son Sidney Christian was born 10 days later. In the midst of this tragedy, Marlin said to Mary, “Don’t cry, Mother, I will help you raise the family.” He was like a father to the children. Mary always kept a picture of Soren over her bed.

 (Adapted from the “History of Soren Christian Sorensen Malle” by Dorthella Sorensen Selman, Soren’s and Mary’s eighth child who was six at the time of Soren’s death.)