Kirsten Jensen Nielson was born on August 29, 1835, in Denmark. Due to strained circumstances in the family, she studied tailoring in order to maintain the family. She was left to come to America as best she could. Her father was still alive, but her mother had died. In 1857, they joined Captain Morton's handcart company and crossed 1300 miles of torturous plains. Kirsten met Jens Nielson, who had baptized her in Denmark, and she became his second wife in April, 1858. During the next years she worked hard to maintain her family of nine children.
In 1880, she came with her husband to San Juan and endured the hardship of that journey. She was a great student of the Bible, a woman of deep faith. Her natural culture was apparent to all who saw her. She was very active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving especially in the Relief Society. In 1888, she was made President of the Bluff Ward Relief Society and served in that capacity about twenty years. Two years after her husband's death she passed away on December 19, 1908, in Bluff. Her children were Jens, Joe, Margaret, Hyrum, Francis, Lucinda, Caroline, and Johnny (Uriah and Beatrice Nielson Family Reunion 1996).