Family History

Christian Munsen went out to Minnesota and stayed somewhat in touch with the family. This picture was found in a photo album belonging to L.S. Munson which mainly had Lee family photos so we were initially confused as to who it was until we compared it to the photo of all the Monsens on the Monsen page.

We are in touch with two of his descendants, Jeannie Mayer in South Dakota and Dave Munson in Minnesota.

Here are some details of his life from a grandaughter's memories from her mother:

He was a carpenter and worked in a sawmill but received a call from the Lord and decided to enter the ministry and became a Lutheran Pastor in a mission church in New York City....Sadness entered the home in 1903, his wife had a nervous breakdown and had to enter a sanitorium at Kings Park, New York. She was a patient there for twenty years before her death in 1922. A housekeeper was employed to take care of the Munson children and the home. Her name was Nina Thompson, a native of Norway.

In 1910 Christian was called to a mission church at Faith, SD. Having heard of the easy way of homesteading land there, he packed his belongings and he and the family started for the West. Life on the prairie was entirely different than a city life. Their home was a two room tar paper shack, miles away from any neighbors. The closest place to get their mail was seven miles away at Faith, and many times Martha and her sister walked both ways to get their mail. Their food was limited and many meals consisted of milk mush and dried bacon.

Several years after Martha's mother died in New York, her father married their housekeeper Nina. Pastor Munson and Nina served parishes in Norway,Iowa, Arlington,SD, Sisseton, SD, and Minneapolis, MN. They retired in Minneapolis where Christian died in 1943.

Research at ancestry.com found the following.

Christian Munsen got his divinity degree at Trinity College in Brooklyn and was pastor of the Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church in Minneapolis (which still holds its services in Norwegian).

His first wife died in 1903. He had 4 kids with her two sons (Lewis, Christian) and two daughters (Anna, Martha).

The records stop there.

He didn't have kids with his second wife, Nina.

There's record of him speaking at a funeral in Minneapolis in 1928.

In 1940, he was living in South Dakota, but still maintained a primary residence in Minneapolis...