Andrea Larsen Arnesen |
Neils Schoug Haarbye was born on 20 April, 1807 in Halden, Ostfold, Norway. His parents were Andreas Haarbye and Anne Cathrine Schoug. Neils married Andrea Larsen Arnesen in 1839. Andrea was the mother of a two-year-old daughter when she married Neils. Neil's occupation was as a ship carpenter in the seaport city of Halden. Andrea's daughter by an earlier marriage was Elise Sheele. Andrea and Neils Haarbye also became the foster parents of a young boy named Carl Johan Andreassen. Elise and Carl Johan were raised by Niels and Andrea as siblings. Elise was 12 years older than Carl Johan. Their daughter, Elise, grew up and met Carl Christian Anthon Christensen while he was a missionary in Norway and the two married aboard a ship when returning to Utah in 1857. In 1865, Carl Christensen, better known as C.C.A. Christensen returned to Norway for a 2nd mission. When he was released from this mission in 1868, he returned to America, bringing his wife's mother and father, Andrea and Niels Haarby, and their 19-year-old foster son, Carl Andreassen. They sailed on the ship, the John Bright and upon arrival in New York City, they traveled by trail to Laramie, Wyoming, where they were met by a mule train sent to bring the arriving immigrants to Salt Lake City. They were part of the John R. Murdock company and arrived in Salt Lake City on August 19th, 1868. C.C.A. Christensen, who was an artist, painted a picture of their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. The painting shows Elise Scheel Christensen greeting her husband, and her parents and brother who she had not seen in eleven years. The original painting hangs in the Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum in SLC and a copy hangs in the LDS Church History Museum. Niels, Andrea, and Carl Johan made their home in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. Neils again worked as a carpenter. Carl changed his name to John Haarbye Anderson after settling in America. Carl Johan had been taught the craft of rope making and after coming to Utah, worked as a rope and cable maker in the Utah mines.
Niels and Andrea lived in Mt. Pleasant from their arrival in August 1868 until Niels died in 1895. He was 89 years old and after his death, Andrea went to live with her daughter, Elise, and son-in-law, C.C.A. Christensen in Ephraim, Utah. Andrea lived another twelve years, dying in 1907 at the age of 93 years old, and is buried in the Christensen plot in Ephraim."In Frederikshald, Andrea Arnesen Scheel Haarbye lived near the water front (in Norway). She made herself busy by opening a bakery. She baked bread, cookies, crackers, and cakes raised from yeast. The tourists vacationing in the fjord would buy her wares. She baked a bread they called Verta Ra Ra. Molasses, cardamon and other ingredients went in." From a handwritten story included in a family file, kept by great-great-granddaughter Lela Stott.