This page is under construction - it still needs to be edited and fact checked

The Eighth and Youngest Known Child of Hans and Christiane.  Henry B. Christensen – The youngest of Hans and Christiane's children, born in August 1872. Records point to different listings for his birthplace.  The 1875 Kansas state census and the 1880 U. S. census list it as the Atlantic Ocean.  The ship passenger record in late July 1872, showing his family arriving in Quebec, does not list him, and pre-dates his birth date.  It could well have been taken after they boarded, and Henry was born during the voyage.  One census shows him born in Denmark.  The 1920 census shows him born in New York--probably more accurate-- he could have been born on the trip from Europe to Quebec.

The letter of Ida Miller is on the stationary of her uncle Henry in 1895 – from Morganville in Clay County, and he was married in Clay County in 1897 according to records.  He was in Kansas during the 1900 census, and next appears with a different wife in the 1920 Wisconsin census.  He's shown in Eau Claire directories there in the 1920's and 1930's and is shown living there at the time of Ida Kate's own death in 1951.  His probate and obituary were recorded there in 1952.

The first known record that included Henry was the 1875 Kansas State Census in Shannon Township, Pottawatomie County, Kansas in an entry taken on March 1, 1875 – with Henry shown as Henry, 3.

The 1880 Wisconsin census in Waupaca County, listed above in the section on his father and mother, shows Henry age 7, born "on the Atlantic Ocean".  In the 1885 Kansas state census he is shown in Leonardville, Kansas with two of his brothers and his mother, age 12, born in New York.

An 1891 letter to Ida Christensen Nash appears to be from Henry:

“Leonardville, Kans. Oct 8, 1891.

Mrs. Ida Nash

Dear Sister:

It has been a long time since you have herd(sic) from me so I will write you a few lines: If you will please ask Fred about that letter of Fathers and have him send it. I am going up to Iowa the first of next month, to get Hary(sic) and Ida. But I do not want you to mention it yet. Chris and John are in Kansas City to the fair.

Tomorrow I run in a bicycle race at the Riley Fair. I send you my picture, I am not going to run on that bicycle, but on a safety. I expect to win the race.  I am still at Staffords. Did you know that John has sold their building in town here? That is the harness shop. He is still running the one at Riley but it is his now. I suppose you herd (sic) about Hattie Newman getting married to Frank Erkelsburg(?).

They are living in the big house. Millie Erkeldurg(?) ran away Chicago and got married to a man by the name of Elis Ludwick. Fred Newman is away to Lawrence to school. And Edith Stafford Ellen Halstead and Hugo H. is going to Manhattan. (This is the end of the letter, there must be another page that is not included. It is unclear which brother of Ida's it is from, but it must be Henry, as all the other brothers known to be living in Kansas at the time were mentioned in the letter).”

There are pictures taken of Henry in Kansas at the time his brothers and mother lived there.  In family memorabilia is a letterhead previously mentioned that shows that Henry was living in Morganville, Kansas -- nearby Leonardville, and had a business of stoves and metal appliances of some sort, ca 1895.  

In the Leonardville history published in the early 1980’s, there is a photograph from the Ostlund Studio in Leonardville (there is also a photo from this studio of Chris Christensen during this time) that shows an “unidentified man with his bicycle”.  This photo is surely of Henry Christensen.  There’s a July 26 1897 article in the Clay Center Times that states: “H. B. Christensen of Leonardville rode over on his wheel Saturday evening late and stopped long enough to mail a letter.  He mounted his wheel a few minutes before it commenced to rain and pulled out for Morganville.  He has not been heard from since, and if this gentleman did not experience riding a few feet forward and as many or more sideways then we will miss our guess.”  I have been in touch with the Riley County Historical Society to find out the best way to add to the record that the photo in the Leonardville book was in fact Henry Christensen.  I have sent them the Clay Center Times news article, and another photo of Henry to support my view.  They have indicated that there’s a web page that they can use to identify the photo of the “unidentified man”.  I was sure that I saw this photo in various Christensen photos, but I cannot find it at this time.

Clay County, Kansas marriage records [This is the county where Morganville is located] show that Henry Christensen married Belle Taylor on May 12, 1897.  In the Leonardville Monitor of May 20, 1897, there’s a “Monitor Supplement” of May 13, 1897, that includes the item “Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Christensen attended the wedding of H. B. Christensen at Clifton, yesterday.”

The 1890 book of the history of Washington, Clay, and Riley Counties has a biography of William H. Taylor.  He was born in 1838 in Williamson County, Illinois.  He was shown to have married Mrs. Taylor, who was born in Tennessee and raised in Williamson County, the daughter of James and Catherine Ann (Clapp) McInturff.  There were nine children, five of whom were dead by 1890 -- three infants and twins Eddie and Myrtie.  The four surviving children were Joanna May, James H., and twins, Nannie C., and Belle S.  It is possible that this Belle was the Belle who married Henry Christensen, particularly since Belle's 1900 census listing shows she was born in Illinois.

The 1895 Kansas State Census for Mulberry Township in Clay County shows Elizabeth Taylor, 54, born in Tennessee; with J. H., male, 23, born in Illinois, and Bell, 21, born in Illinois.  By 1905, Belle Agnew, 30, born in Illinois – with D. W. Agnew, 24 – is shown in Barnes, Washington County, Kansas.

[The connection between the Belle of this biography and Belle as Henry’s wife is further strengthened by a GEDCOM file posted on the Rootsweb network.  Designed to focus on the McInturff family, the file shows that Belle Sabra Taylor, daughter of William H. Taylor and Elizabeth Emeline McInturff, married Henry Christensen.  The file is in error in that it suggests that Henry was born in Williamson County, Illinois – the birthplace of Belle.  However, the file notes that Henry and Belle were divorced.  This would fit with their marriage in 1897, entry together in the 1900 Kansas census, and the fact that Henry showed up in the 1920 Wisconsin census with a second wife.

A subsequent e-mail from Eugene McInturff, who placed this file on-line, stated: “I finally found my source of the info on Bell.  It was Raymond L. Kringer of St. Louis, MO.  He was a foreign correspondent for the St. Louis Dispatch.  Unfortunately Raymond died 18 Jun 1998 at age 92.  My correspondence with Raymond dates back to Jan 1978 and he does not give any details about the divorce.  He does, however, state that Bell was married to a man by the name of AGNEW.”

There is a probate in the Clay Center Times of June 8, 1905 for William H. Taylor, M. J. Watson Administrator.]

There’s an item in the Leonardville Monitor of October 25, 1900: “Mrs. H. B. Christensen and Ida Miller spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Morganville with Mr. C.”

Henry is shown in Leonardville City, Bala Township, Riley County in the 1900 census, in an entry taken on June 22, 1900.  Henry is head, 27, a travelling salesman born in Denmark in August, 1872, having immigrated in 1872, naturalized, and in the country 27 years.  He was shown as married to Belle C., 25 a millener born in January 1875 in Illinois, with her father born in Illinois and her mother in Kentucky.  With them is Ida Miller, 14, niece, at school, born in Iowa with both her parents born in Denmark.

Riley Co DB 89, p. 510.  Henry B. Christensen and Belle C. Christensen his wife of Clay County, Kansas to William H. Taylor, Clay County.  February 22, 1901.  Five hundred dollars.  Lot 17 in block 1 in the City of Leonardville.  Signed by Belle C. Christensen and Henry B. Christensen.  P. M. Harman, Notary Public, certifies that the Christensens executed the deed. [I believe that William H. Taylor was the father of Belle Christensen.]

There is a mention of Belle coming to visit Ida Miller in 1903, which she mentions in her condolence letter to Lizzie Christensen, John’s widow: “Aunt Belle is coming to visit me about the middle of January.  I call her Aunt Belle although she is not my Aunt anymore.  I always thought so much of her, and she was so good to me.  I think it is too bad they could not live together, but I think it is all her folks fault.”

The December 1903 obituary of John W. Christensen in Otter Valley News (from Snyder Oklahoma) of December 24, 1903 lists John’s surviving siblings – John’s twin Chris, a brother and sister in South Dakota (Fred and Ida), a sister in Denmark (Marie), and a brother in Chicago.  There is no record of Rasmus/Charley after 1890 – and Henry is the only other sibling, so this obituary – if accurate – implies that Henry was in Chicago in 1903.

H. B. Christensen is shown in the 1910 census as a lodger with Samuel Adamson in Cascade Township, Dubuque County, Iowa, in an entry taken on April 19, 1910.  H. B. Christensen is 35, single, a lodger and merchant in clothing.  He is shown as born in New York with both his parents born in Denmark.  There are twenty-one lodgers at this address.

There’s an item in the Eau Claire Leader of October 16, 1910, “Mr. H. B. Christensen of Dubuque, Iowa was a visitor at the Elbert home during the week.”  In his 1952 obituary, Henry was shown as having been a resident of Eau Claire for 35 years – which would place his moving date there ca 1917.  I cannot find a marriage record for Henry and Elma in Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Iowa databases.

H. B. Christensen is shown in the 1920 census for Wisconsin in Eau Claire County in Eau Claire, 47, born in New York.  He is shown on 429 1/2 Water St.  With him is Elma Christensen, his wife, 29(8?), born in Wisconsin.  The census was taken on January 14, 1920.  Henry shows both his parents born in Denmark.  It shows that Elma's father was born in France and her mother in Germany.  She has no occupation.  He is shown as being a vulcanizer with his own store.     

In the 1929 Eau Claire City Directory, a Henry B. Christensen is shown as a vulcanizer, living with Elma B. at 429 Water.  They are listed as “householders”.  There is an identical listing for Henry and Elma in the 1931 Eau Claire City Directory.  Ida Kate's 1951 obituary lists her brother Henry as living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 

In the 1930 census, Henry is shown in Eau Claire City, Fifth Ward, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, taken April 2, 1930, with Enumeration District 18-12, Supervisor’s District 4, Sheet 1A.  Henry B. Christenson [sic] is shown as 55, age 38 at the time of his first marriage [sic – this must be the age at his marriage to Elma]; owner of his residence, valued at $3500, born in New York with both his parents born in Denmark.  Elma B., his wife, is shown as 38, age 21 at the time of her marriage, born in Wisconsin with both her parents born in Germany.  He is shown as a manager of a tire and radiator shop, and she is shown as a laborer in a tire and radiator shop.  They are shown at 429 (6?) Water St.

Henry is shown in the 1940 census at 428 Water Street in Eau Claire City, Ward Five, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, in an entry taken on April 3, 1940.  Henry Christensen is 68, married, born in New York, in the same place in 1935, manager and clerk of his own hardware store.  Shown with him is Elma B. Christensen, wife, 58, born in Wisconsin, living in the same house in 1935, no occupation for her listed (a crossed out one is there – clearly for the person below where the crossed out thing is written).

The Register in Probate Office in Eau Claire County has provided a document on the probate records of both Henry B. and Elma B. Christensen.  Henry B. Christensen is shown to have died on April 21, 1952 and was listed as a resident of Eau Claire County.  No heirs are mentioned but his widow Elma B. Christensen.  They had joint tenancy on a house in Eau Claire, and lands in Chippewa County the deed for which appears to have been recorded in 1935.  Among the other assets were stock in trade at a hardware store at 429 Water Street in Eau Claire, the address listed in the 1929 and 1931 city directory.

Henry's obituary, as run in the Eau Claire Leader Telegram (although for some reason I did not record the date, which is in April 1952), read in its entirety: "Henry Christensen Dies at His Home.  Henry B. Christensen, 429 Water St., died this morning at his home.  Funeral services will be held Thursday at 2 p.m., from the First Lutheran Church, the Rev. A.S. Tanner officiating.  The internment will be in the Forest Hill Cemetery.

Mr. Christensen was born in Denmark and has been a resident of Eau Claire the past 35 years.  He and his wife have owned and operated a tire store and filling station and later a hardware store on Water St., since coming to Eau Claire.  He is survived by his wife, the former Elma Elbert, of Eau Claire.

Friends may call Wednesday afternoon and evening and Thursday forenoon at Lenmarks."

The estate record for Elma B. Christensen shows she died on March 28, 1962 at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, aged 74 years.  She is shown to have left no children surviving.  The only surviving relatives listed were one brother and two sisters – Adolph G. Elbert, 80, brother; Mrs. May B. Hoffman, 76, sister; and Mrs. Madeleine Stassen, 78, sister, all of Eau Claire.

Her obituary, as run in the Eau Claire Leader Telegram, read in its entirety: "Mrs. Christensen Dies at Hospital.  Mrs. Alma B. Christensen, 74, of 223 Fourth Ave., a resident of Eau Claire for 45 years, died at Sacred Heart Hospital Wednesday evening.  She and her husband Henry operated a hardware store on Water Street for many years.

She is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Madleine Stassen and Mrs. May Hoffman, and a brother, Adoph G. Elbert, all of Eau Claire.  Funeral services will be at Stokes and Sons Chapel at 1:30 Saturday with the Rev. G.S. Thompson officiating.  Burial will be in Forest Hill cemetery.  Friends may call at Stokes and Sons Friday afternoon and evening and Saturday until the time of services."