Anna Elsina Kofoed

Anna Elsina Kofoed was born March 19, 1842 in Arnager, Denmark to Hans Ancher and Cecelia Munch Kofoed. She is the mother of Clarence L. Funk and James W. Funk.

Conversion and Westward Journey

When Anna was a child, she was stricken with a sickness that all the doctors in Bornholm, Denmark could not help her. Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints visited the Kofoed home and healed Anna. After this experience, the Kofoed family were baptized as members of the Church.1

The Kofoed family began their journey to Utah in 1857 when Anna was the age of 15. Anna wrote about her journey on the ship from England to the United States, "When the ship landed it was surrounded by a crowd of starving people who even clamored for the dish water to get what food it contained from the soiled dishes." The Kofoed family joined the Liljenquest Wagon Company and traveled to Omaha, Nebraska to obtain money to travel to Utah. They finally arrived in Utah in the fall of 1860.

Richmond, UT and Weston, ID

Anna married Christopher Madsen Funk on Nov 15, 1861 and moved to Richmond the same year. Christopher was from the same island as Anna in Denmark but did not know each other until they moved to Utah. They lived in the Richmond Fort for a few years before Christopher was called to be a leader and bishop of Weston, Idaho. They lived in Weston up until 1867 when Christopher was released as bishop and they moved back to Richmond. While in Weston, many of her family moved to settle. Her parents Hans Kofoed and Cecelia Munch, two of her brothers Anker A. Kofoed and Jens H. Kofoed and family, and her sister Johanna M. Kofoed Georgenson and family.2

Family Life

Anna gave birth to seven children with only three living to adulthood, Clarence Lorenzo Funk, James William Funk, and Cecelia Mathilda Funk. In 1881, Christopher died in a horse accident, making Anna a widow at the age of 39 and to take care of three children at the ages of nine, seven, and four.1

In 1883, Anna remarried a Richmond citizen who only married Anna for her land, as stated by local family histories. The man was abusive to Anna and especially to her sons. After some time, she sent her sons to live in Weston so that she could mend or remove her relationship with her husband. While married, she gave birth to one child, Hannah Elizabeth. She ultimately divorced her husband, changing her married name to Funk again.2

Epilogue