Daniel J. Sorensen, and his wife Sabina Mary Rooch (Roach)

Daniel Sorensen died in the desert near Pahrump, Nevada. He met his untimely death as a result of an exploration of Death Valley in the summer of 1892. He lost his way and died from exposure. I have in my possession a copy that is 5 pages long that details the death of Daniel. He was able to pen some notes upon his death. These notes indicate that he wanted his family taken care of, and that he kept notebooks. The article which details his death refers to "this city" several times, and I am thinking the city is Anaheim. (Using my powers of deduction...haha.)

The wife he left behind is known as Sabina Mary Rooch or Roach. I have seen the last name spelled both ways, equally. From a copy of a write up about her:

"Sabina was born in Boston, Mass. on 28-Feb-1849. She was the 1st child of J. Frederick Rooch and Eva Marie Gunther. She had 1 sister and two brothers, 1 half sister and 1 half brother. She came to San Francisco in 1851 or 1852 and in 1860 went to Anaheim with the original colonists.

She married Daniel Sorensen on 17-May-1866 in Los Angeles and they had 7 children. They settled on the land that Daniel and his brothers Christian and Anton bought from Pio Pico, the last Spanish Governor of Calif. At this time this area was in the middle of no where and it was hot and dusty. Sabina was a city girl and this had to be a traumatic experience for her. She not only took care of her husband and children, but also took care of the household chores for her husbands two brothers and 6-8 ranch hands for the main meal in the afternoon.

Even with all the men around, she had trouble getting some things done. She would ask and ask for someone to cut some wood for her stove and she was usually ignored. One day she stopped asking and let the wood run out. That afternoon she went outside and clanged the bell for dinner and all the men came running for their meal. They came in the house and she was sitting in her chair. They all stood there silent looking at the table. It had one platter with a pigs tail on it. They turned to her and she said, "No wood, no dinner."

She was always having to chase the pigs from her vegetable garden because the pens needed fixing. Many times she asked for the pens to be fixed but to no avail. One day she saw them in her garden and instead of chasing them, she grabbed a gun, went outside and shot every one of them. She went into the house and say down. The men hearing the shots came running. They saw the dead pigs in the garden and went into the house to check on her. She said, "If someone will remove the dead pigs from the garden I will get a vegetable for our dinner but it will be a cold day in hell before we will have any pork."

Frustrations were many for this young girl. Needless to say it was a hard life for her and this is probably the reason Daniel sold his interests in this land to his brother. Sabina and family returned to Anaheim in 1876.

Two of her children, Fredrick and Willie, preceeded her death. Her daughter Sophie preferred a more cosmopolitan life and moved to San Francisco, though she maintained a home in Los Angeles also. The others remained in Southern California. She moved to Los Angeles about 1910 and remained there until her death on 25-Aug-1918. She is at the Inglewood Park Cemetary."


I don't know who wrote this. I believe it was one of her daughters, and it was passed down. I was able to find cousins from that line who graciously shared that information with me.

Her father, Fredrick Rooch seems to have died in 1859 in San Francisco. This is a note I have made myself. I (of course!) did not write down exactly where I got this information, but I also have this written down:

"Died or buried Dec 11 1959, age 38 yrs, 9 mos, 25 days. Buried in Lone Mountain Cemetery, San Fransisco, CA. Grave #4, tier 64, ridge."

Her mother, Eva Marie Gunther Rooch was born Setember 14, 1824 in Germany and died Jan 31 1891, buried in Anaheim Cemetery.
She remarried after her first husband's death to Henry Boldt (1825-1878)

Her Siblings:
Pauline Rooch (1853-1907)
Fredrick Lorenz Rooch (1855-1866)
John William Rooch (1857-1933)

Half Siblings:
Berth (Bertha?) Boldt (1864-1943)
Laurence Henry Boldt (1867-1937)

Daniel J. Sorensen

I feel compelled to start with Daniel J. Sorensen. For the longest time, nothing was known of how the "Sorensen" line came to be, except that family lore told of three brothers from Denmark who sailed to Los Angeles and jumped ship in the mid 1800's settling there. It was thought that Daniel was one name, and maybe a Christian. The third was unknown.

Rumor (and a census) had it that Daniel was a well witcher and died of thirst on the desert.

Research has uncovered the following facts about our Daniel J. Sorensen:

• He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. I have two possible birthdays for him: 1829, or 27 Nov 1831. His middle name might be Justesen. (One record from Family Search shows this.)
• He did sail around the cape and landed in L.A. He shows up in the 1860 Census of Los Angeles (might be Anaheim...I will confirm this).
• He left Denmark with two of his brothers, Christian (recorded as Mads Christian Sorensen... need correct DOB) and Anton (recorded as Magnus Anthon Adolph Sorensen born 8 March 1838). See below for notes on the brothers.
• His parents names are Daniel Sorensen, born 1790, and Karen Marie Madsdatter, born about 1807.
• He married Sabina Rooch Boldt in 1866 in the Los Angeles area... possibly San Bernadino.
• He had seven children.
• He died on the desert.

A living descendant relative was kind enough to email me a few years ago and share some information she had on the family. One document is as follows:

"Daniel J. Sorensen

1829-1892

A native of Copenhagen, Denmark, Daniel Sorensen began life as a sailor, following the sea from boyhood. While yet a young man he came around Cape Horn to America, and for awhile after his arrival in California was employed in mining. Subsequently, with his brothers, Christian and Anton, he came to Southern California locating near Whittier, where he bought land and for a few years was engaged in raising grapes, the ranches belonging to himself and brothers being just opposite the reform school grounds. He also set out walnut groves, and for a time devoted himself to raising nuts, a profitable industry. He was a man of great enterprise, practical and capable, and was one of the first to use the water from the river and mountain streams as motor power. He developed the water power for the South Riverside Light and Water Company and for R.B. Taylor of Corona. Before completing his work for the latter, Mr. Sorensen, while prospecting in Death Valley, where he owned land, lost his way and perished, in the desert, his death occurring in August, 1892, at the age of 63. Mr. Sorensen married Sabina Roach in 1866, and they had seven children."

Taken from: A History of California Volume II

I wish the source was more complete^. But there it is for now.

• His seven children's names are: Daniel (1871 or 10 Jan 1872-29 June 1931), Sohpia (1873 or I have also recorded the DOB of 03 Sep 1870-13 Oct 1948), William (1876), Albert (shows as Bertia on the 1860 Census) (1878), Pauline Mary (1868...I have complete data on her.), Frederick C. (31 May 1867-10 Sept 1871), Edwin (12 Apr 1883 Whittier, CA- 16 Feb 1920)

Typing this out is getting me organized and helping realize I need to cite my sources better. I will edit as necessary!

*Note on Sorensen brothers: There is an elementary school in Whittier named the Christian Sorensen Elementary. I am doing more research in this area. Sources indicate that the brothers bought their land from Pio Pico.

Introducing...

Hi! welcome to our blog about our efforts to find more about our ancestors! My Aunt Diane and I share a common interest and love for preserving and researching our family history. Being several states and time zones away, and wanting to share our efforts with the family, this blog is born. This blog will be turned into a book eventually. We will share names, dates, pictures, and stories.

If you see information that is incorrect, please comment and share what you know. If I've learned anything, I've learned that lots of folks are not so good about writing down sources. I've become more meticulous in this area myself, and would appreciate the "where" the information was obtained. We are all human here people.

It is my hope that this is useful for someone else, as well as my own family. The following surnames will be researched and talked about. I will keep the living family names under wraps unless they give permission to be talked about.

Sorensen (sometimes Sorenson)
Rooch Boldt
Rider (turns to Reiter the farther back you go)
Cobb
McCall
Wenbaugh
Moll
Plassmann
Lueck
Muir
Crosby
Strowbridge
Lennington
Tuttle

Some spellings of the surnames change, of course. I put down the most common (what I have seen the most)

We will label each post with a surname, and this should allow an easy search of the posts to find relevant information about each family.