Elsie K. Bjerregaard

Born: 11/11/1839 in Nordjylland,Denmark

Married: / /1857 in

Died: 02/06/1911 in Salt Lake City, UT.

Notes: Buried in Brigham City, UT.

Elsie was born an illegitimate child of Anders and Bodil Nielsen Bjerregaard and was 18 years old when she came to Utah, and was 27 years old when parents left Utah and went to Missouri.

Elsie married into a polygamist family and was the second wife of four.  Elsie was the mother of ten children in this family. There were a number of different spellings of her name, they are Elsie, Elsa, Kirstine, Christina, Kjerstine Bjerregaard.

The Bjerregaard families first stop in Utah was Brigham City and this is probably when Elsie met her husband, Larus C. Christensen.  When Lars Christensen died he left his property to Elsie, his second wife, and Melvine, his third wife.

At the time of the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, UT, Andrew (the seventh child and brother of Elsie) came up from Ephraim, UT, and probably visited with her before going to the event. Possibly the only time they saw each other after she was married.

The sister of Elsie, Annie K. Bjerregaard Beal, the wife of Henry Beal a polygamist, left Ephraim, UT and went to Brigham City and stayed with Elsie to have her youngest child. She stayed with Elsie about a year and a half. 

Elsie lived out of town up in the hills where Annie could hide. She did this because the law was that if the wife of a polygamist man had a child he would have to give up his wife or go to jail. This hiding procedure was called the Under Ground Railroad.

In July, 1995,  I, D. Byergo and wife went to Brigham City, UT. to visit friends and collect more information on the Christensen family. During a visit to the Brigham City Museum my wife found a plate that belonged to Elsie Bjerregaard Christensen donated by Renda C. Billings.

Another death date for Elsie: 02/ /1910 Logan, Cache, UT.

More about Annie in her memo.  (coming soon)

Her husband Larus C. Christensen

A History of Larus C. Christensen written by Delome Billings tells more about the life of Elsie. This story will be kept with the Christensen Family History.

Spouse: Larus C. Christensen

Born: 08/02/1825 in Taars, Denmark

Died: 06/16/1909 in Brigham City, Box Elder Utah

Notes:  Larus (Lars) Christian Christensen A polygamist who had 4 wives who were,

Lars was the father of 23 children, 10 are with Elsie. Lars fourth wife bore him no children. Lars died at 84 years old.

Larus's father, was a Dane also born in Taars but his mother was a foreigner, from Finland, who died when he was about three years old.

On visit to Brigham, July, 1995 I, D. Byergo and wife went to visit friends and look for more information on the Christensen family. We found a article telling of the purchase of a clock for the Courthouse tower.

Lars Christensen was assigned the task of installing this instrument and he then maintained.  In 1948 the clock stopped and a very good friend of mine, Frank Troxell, and Bill Simonson were asked to repair it. Frank's wife told me that they worked for hours on it before the repair was completed.

Frank became a Watch Maker and he also played the trumpet. A strange twist !!! Lars could repair anything and music was his first love that he passed on to his children.

Her Child Christena Christensen

Child: Christena Christensen

Born: 09/18/1859 in Brigham City, UT.

Died: 04/07/1931 in Brigham City, UT.

Her Child Ephraim Christensen

Child: Ephraim Christensen

Born: 07/22/1861 in Brigham City, UT.

Died: 11/08/1862 in Brigham City, UT.

Her Child Eli Christensen

Child: Eli Christensen

Born: 07/16/1863 in Brigham City, UT.

Died: 06/04/1865 in Brigham City, UT.

Her Child Christian Christensen

Child: Christian Christensen

Born: 11/10/1865 in Brigham City, UT.

Married: 02/13/1896 in

Died: 05/19/1940 in San Francisco, CA.

Note:  Christian (Chris) played the Piano. Chris died while visiting his son, Willam's Ballet Studio in San Francisco.

Her Child Frederick Christensen

Child: Frederick Christensen

Born: 01/10/1868 in Brigham City, UT.

Died: 11/13/1957 in

Note:  Frederick (Fred) Christensen. Fred played the Chello. He also had a dance studio in Seattle, Washington with his daughter. His wife's name is Grace. Frederic divorced Grace in 1930 and began gambling.

Her Child Moses Christensen

Child: Moses Christensen

Born: 02/12/1870 in Brigham City, UT.

Married: / /1898 in

Died: 10/30/1920 in Portland, Oregon

Notes: Bur: Portland Cremetorium, OR.  Moses (Mose) Christensen. Mose played the violin and he also had a dance studio in Portland, Oregon with his son Victor.

Another birth date found / /1871.

Her Child Lars Peter Christensen

Child: Lars Peter Christensen

Born: 08/21/1872 in Brigham City, UT.

Married: 10/12/1900 in

Died: 06/04/1944 in

Note:  Lars Peter (Pete) Christensen. Pete played the violin and horn. He also was a dance instructor. Pete had no children. Pete was like a foster father to his sisters family, who was Jorinda Helene Billings. Pete's left hand was crushed in a molasses mill. This made it impossible to play the violin. He later learned to play the trumpet and played in one of the early orchestras with his brothers at Saltair in its heyday. 

Pete and his brothers left Brigham City and came to Salt Lake and organized the dancing school in 1893. They fathered the ballet in the west, and started the school band system in Utah. Pete played in the orchestra of the Salt Lake theater, and the family held forth every summer on the podium of the old Knutsford hotel at Saltair.

Gradually the Christensen method pushed its tracks over summit and vale of every important dance center in the United States and Europe.

Her Child Joseph Christensen

Child: Joseph Christensen

Born: 05/23/1875 in Brigham City, UT.

Her Child Jorinda Helene Christensen

Child: Jorinda Helene Christensen

Born: 01/16/1878 in Brigham City, UT.

Died: 09/24/1932 in Brigham City, UT

Her Child Aaron Christensen

Child: Aaron Christensen

Born: 08/29/1880 in Brigham City, UT.

Died: 06/04/1897 in Brigham City, UT.

Devere Byergo