Background
Karl Amussen, the third son of Danish sea captain Karl Asmussen and his wife Petra Asmussen née Johansen, was born in Køge, Zealand just outside Copenhagen, Denmark on May 20, 1825.
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Carl Christian Amussen
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Not wishing to follow in his ancestor"s footsteps, Amussen apprenticed as a watchmaker, jeweler and dentist.
Career
His skill in jewellery-making was so great that he spent sometime as court jeweler to the Czar of Russia. Additionally he was involved in that trade in Great Britain, Russia and Australia and circumnavigated the globe twice over the course of his lifetime. In 1857 Amussen moved to Christchurch, New Zealand where he opened a jewelry store.
The stamp on the booklet noted that it had been published in Liverpool, England and so he traveled there to the headquarters of the church.
Amussen was then called to serve a mission in New Zealand where he organized an Latter- Day Saints (Mormons) congregation in Kaipoi. In 1868 Amussen returned to Salt Lake City where he met Brigham Young and, upon Young"s advice, purchased land on Main Street where he built a jewelry store.
He brought supplies via covered wagon and the mirrors that once adorned his store were later used in the Salt Lake Temple. The Amussen Building, designed by pioneer architect William Harrison Folsom, was the first fire-proof building in the Utah Territory.
lieutenant was constructed of sandstone with a slate roof, cement basement and pane glass windows.
The two-story store towered over the surrounding one-story adobe structures and remains standing to this day as a testament to its sound construction. Amussen was also connected with the early American department store, Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. He was ordained a Seventy by Joseph Young.
After Amussen retired from the jewelry business he invested in real estate in Logan, Utah and owned business properties in the center of Logan.
