Manuscripts Collection
Sofie Andersen was born on a farm in Rock Dell Township, Olmsted County, Minnesota on September 3, 1881. She was the daughter of Knud Andersen (who sometimes called himself Knud Orbeck) (1839-1922) and his wife Ane (Nielsen) Andersen (1849-1938), immigrants from Denmark. As a young woman Sofie spent time working as a servant or nanny for the families of Dr. Charles Mayo, Rochester, Minnesota and John Washburn, Minneapolis. She accompanied the Washburns on a trip to Europe in 1904.
Sofie married Andrew Peter Jensen in Minneapolis in 1911. Jensen was born in Denmark on February 17, 1871. They had three children: Elizabeth (Anna Elizabeth) (1912-1984), Elsie Marie (1916-1968), and Andrew Philip (1919-). Andrew died on July 3, 1937 in Bloomington, Minnesota. Sofie died on August 2, 1970 in St. Peter, Minnesota. Both are buried at Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis.
Elizabeth (Anna Elizabeth) Jensen was born January 21, 1912. She married Ivan John Spoors in St. Peter, Minnesota in 1940. They had one child, Alan John, who was born April 17, 1941. She married John Lyle Seaquist in St. Peter on August 20, 1955. They had no children. Seaquist apparently worked as a hospital librarian at St. Peter State Hospital in St. Peter, Minnesota. She died in November 1984.
The collection consists almost entirely of two typewritten narratives telling the history of the Andersen and Jensen families. Both were apparently written by Anna Elizabeth Jensen Spoors Seaquist.
The Andersen manuscript is written as if it was actually Sofie Jensen telling her own life story. It tells of Sofie's life experiences, including time spent living with and working for the Mayo and Washburn families; her trips to Europe with the Washburns; her parents; and her siblings and their spouses and families. Interspersed in the narrative are family photographs, newspaper obituaries, funeral folders, some steamship passenger lists (1904, 1910), Sofie's school report cards (1890, 1892), and some valentines (1905-1910). There is a letter (1907) written by Sofie to her mother in Danish or Norwegian on the letterhead of the Grand Hotel in Christiania (Oslo), Norway; a letter (1907) from Sofie to her brother Rudolph from Berlin, Germany, in which she describes what she saw on a tour of the royal palace in Stockholm, Sweden; and a lunch menu (1910) from the Hotel Bristol (Berlin?).
The Jensen manuscript tells about Sofie's husband, Andrew Peter Jensen, and his family. There are some family photographs, and there is information about Jensen relatives living at Peshtigo, Wausaukee, Wisconsin Dells, Milwaukee, and other places in Wisconsin.
The narratives contain some 57 photographs, including photos of Seaquist's parents (Sofie and Andrew Peter Jensen), her grandparents, and her aunts and uncles. There are some formal portraits and other pictures of members of the Mayo and Washburn famililes; photos of the Andersen farmhouse in Rock Dell Township; photos taken at the Rock Dell School, including a group photograph of the students and their teacher and a photograph of the school building; and some snapshots taken in Germany and Italy when Sofie was there with the Washburn family. There is a hand-tinted photograph of "Ankerhus," which is said to be the Jensen family home in Denmark. There is one tintype.
The collection also includes two "servants' conduct books" ([ca.1854], 1863) kept by Seaquist's maternal grandparents, Ane (Nielsen) Andersen and Knud Andersen, while they were living in Denmark, and in which are recorded comments by people for whom they worked before emigrating to America.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should
Accession number: 15,780
Processed by: David B. Peterson, October 2003
Catalog ID number: 09-00323719
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