Johanne (Hanna) Marie Mathiasen Lundgreen is Steve's great-great grandmother, born in Denmark in 1872. Her husband Hans Madsen (Steve's great-great grandfather) was born in 1870 in Denmark. Hans died of diabetes at the age of 33, leaving Hanna a widow with four children.
When Hanna was a child, some LDS missionaries came to the home of her family. Her oldest sister and two of her brothers joined the Church, and then came to Zion. They often wrote to Hanna, begging her to come too; but she didn't want to leave their mother, as their father had passed away.
After the death of her husband, Hanna worked as a seamstress to provide for her family. Her husband Hans had been a tailor, and she had worked with him, so she continued to sew in their shop. She later moved to Glamsbjerg with her two daughters to work as care taker for a Lutheran meetinghouse. Her sons worked at a bakery in Køng.
At this time, Hanna's nephew Peter C. Lundgreen came from America came to Denmark as a missionary for the Mormon Church. Hanna had heard some about the Mormons and wanted to know more. Peter stayed with Hanna for several days and explained everything to her. She understood it perfectly and would have been baptized then, but she wanted her children to know about it first. And besides, she was currently taking care of the Lutheran church. She later gave up the care of the church and moved back to Odense.
One day years later, Hanna was taking the train home after visiting her sons. She found a seat and a man came and sat across from her. Hanna was reading a newspaper. He started to talk to her and said he was from America, but Hanna didn't pay any attention to him. She didn't want anything to do with anyone from America; they didn't mean anything to her. She kept reading her paper, and he kept talking. He said he was going to visit a sister in Odense. This is when she looked at him. He had a pin on his tie with a picture of a woman on it. She looked again and recognized her sister-in-law she hadn't seen in 28 years. She said, "Oh, that is Aunt Chrstina." He stood up and came over and put his arms around her and said, "Then you are my own little sister." Many on the train who had witnessed it all were deeply moved by the unusual meeting of a brother and sister after such a long time.
Hanna's brother Peter Mathiasen Lundgreen was serving a mission for the Mormon Church and had Come to preach the gospel to his relatives. When they got to Odense, the girls and Max (Anna's future husband) came out to meet them. She told her daughter Martha this man was from America. She didn't tell them he was her brother. Martha didn't even want to shake hands with him. Hanna said, "Well, Martha, you will have to do better than that, because this is my own brother, and your uncle from America!" Then they all threw their arms around him and made him very, very welcome.
He stayed with them for many days and taught them the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Martha was the first to be baptized. Hanna sought her Heavenly Father earnestly in prayer, to know if this was really His true church. One day she knelt down by her sofa and prayed with all her heard and said to God, " Like Jacob of old, Oh God, I will not give up before you bless me with the knowledge whether or not this is the true church." And God did bless her with the knowledge and assurance that this was the true church. She then wrote to her brother and told him she was ready to be baptized.
Anna and her fiance Max (Marinus Christensen) wanted to be baptized too. They were baptized along with Hanna on the same couldy night, with the wind blowing and the water cold. Later that year, both of Hanna's sons were also baptized into the Church. It was a real joy that all in their family now belonged to the true church.
The family came to America, and Anna and Max (Steve's great-grandparents) waited until they came so they could be married in the temple. They were married September 5, 1918 in the Manti Temple.
They all went to the temple the same day and had their temple work done. Hanna was sealed to Hans, and all of the children were sealed to their parents.
One more experience, written by Steve's Grandmother Lillian Christensen Hatch, pg. 128 (source listed below):
After the death of Hans, "Hanna was beside herself with grief! She visited Hans' grave often and asked her Heavenly Father to take her to heaven too. Then one night, while walking in their back yard, she suddenly felt someone beside her. Turning quickly, she saw her beloved husband, Hans, standing there in a beautiful white suit (Because she had helped Hans in his tailoring business, she noticed that suit immediately.) 'Oh, Hans, why did you have to go and leave me here to take care of our four little children along?' she asked him. He told her he was doing some very important work where he was, but he had to come to tell her that there would com a day when they could be sealed together for eternity! He told her not to miss that opportunity. Then he asked about their children, and she told him, through her sobbing, about them. When she looked up to talk to him again, he was gone! But this visitation by her beloved Hans made her realize she must be both a mother and father to their four small children."
When Hanna's brother came to Hanna, he saw how active they were in the Lutheran church and "wondered what he could tell them about the LDS Church that would attract their interest in it. That night, as he prayed, he asked Heavnly Father what he could talk about that would interest them in knowing more about the Church; and he received an answer: "Talk about eternal marriage." So the next day after breakfast, he told them about how Hanna could be sealed for eternity to her beloved Hans. Hanna said her heart runed over when her brother Peter told them this, and she remembered seeing her husband, Hans, in their backyard, and how he had said to watch for the opportunity for them to be sealed for 'all eternity.' (pg. 134)
The highlights of Hanna's life in her own words:
"What are the hopes that have grown with the years, nourished in pain and born of our sorrow, christened by grief, baptized with our tears, clothed with resolve and faith in the morrow. Yes, our lives are full of mysteries so deep that we cannot fathom all the years may bring. The angels must have some secrets which they keep. We hear the music but not the words they sing: our mothers' songs of the long ago, old fond memories today. Sing them tenderly, sweet and low; hear the echose far away, calling up scenes of days that are past, pictures in shadow, true to the last."
"Nothing means more to me in this world than the faith I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. I say this with thankfulness in my hear to God. I know that Christ lives, and is the Son of the Living God. And through all my weakness, I know that I am His child. With dearest love to my children and their children." (pg. 45)
Source: "Our Danish Ancestors Hans and Johanne Madsen, Their Forebears and American Descendants" Edited by Harold S. Madesn
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