She likely traveled with her parents, Hans Carl and Marie Kirstine Bruun Albreitsen, and at least two other siblings. They traveled on board the ship "Tuscarora" in 1857. The ship manifest shows the family's surname as "Albrechtsen," and her age as being five years old.  However, the ship manifest shows her name as "Maria J. Albrectsen," but the index to the manifest incorrectly shows her name as "Maria Jacobine Albrectsen."

She is recorded as having been rebaptized in the Mt. Pleasant Ward on 2 November 1862.

Early Danish records list the surname as Albrechtsen or Albreitsen.  Her baptism record shows her surname as "Albrectsen"

The birth date listed is actually a christening date.