FRANK AND MARIA BOHNE ~~~PIONEERS OF THE MONTH ~~~ AUGUST 2024

 

 

HOME OF HENRY MARTIN BOHNE
Father of Frank Bohne
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On a farm in Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete County, Utah, just across the line from Fairview, stands a two-story rock house; boarded up, run-down, gate askew and overgrown. This house was once beautiful and cared for. It once sheltered a lively family who proudly owned it theirs saying: “My father built our house. He hauled the stones from the hills miles from our farm – the same kind of stones were used to build the Latter-day Saint temple in Manti.” They were a large family that lived in that rock house.

The father was a serious man – a good man. His name was Henry Mortin Bohne, and he had come to America from Denmark at the age of 12 with his mother, a sister and three others. His father was dead. Together they pushed a handcart across to Salt Lake Valley, and then settled in the fort at Mt. Pleasant.

It was while living in that fort that Henry met and wooed Juliett Day. They both belonged to the Church and went to the Mt. Pleasant Ward together. The story is told of Henry leaving the Fort one day and as he reached the gate he met Juliett coming out at the same time. “He grabbed her right there in his arms and that was it.” A few months later they were married; but it was several years before they finished building the rock house.

When Henry built that house he didn’t have much money. He had only 60 acres of land and some sheep. He worked very hard doing most of the building himself, but hired an old masoner, who was good with the small hand chisels they used, to square off the rocks. His oldest boys, Henry and Frank helped and Joe and the younger ones watched with wonder as one rock was placed upon another, and their house rose above the fields.

Abner Bohne was born in this rock house on June 10, 1882. “It must have been a good day,” he says. And “No, I didn’t have a doctor; what would I need a doctor for?”

Henry and Juliett had been married for 16 years when Abner came to them. Juliett had already borne 11 children, but only 5 still lived.* Abner joined four brothers and sister in a struggle for sustenance in the strong rock house.

Schooling for Abner was a secondary consideration. As a very young boy he spent much time helping with the chores and herding his father’s sheep. Education was not compulsory and Abner was lucky to get in one or two months a year at the Birch Creek School House half-a-mile away from their home. During that time he completed the first, second and fifth readers. They didn’t have grade classifications then.

Abner experience many different teachers – some good, some bad. One of his teachers professed to be Christ. Abner’s sister, Lettie, and another girl got in a scuffle during the lunch hour one day while the professor was at home. When he returned he found Lettie with her lip bleeding from a cut resulting from a fall during the scuffle. Well, that professor went back across the street to his house to pray about the situation; then came back and gave Lettie a terrible licking. The other children were indignant. It had been an accident – nobody’s fault. Abner and a bunch of the boys got on horses and with tin cans, drummed the professor out of town for about 3 miles. It was a wonder they didn’t get put in jail.

Most of Abner’s teachers were farmers or their wives without much training or aptitude for the profession; then came Mrs. Vina Phelps, a teacher who showed Abner that she understood him and cared about him. She drew him out and made learning enjoyable for him. Abner thought a lot of her.

Abner started school in Cardston after his family came to Canada, but he was 18 by that time, and able to earn his own money. He just couldn’t stay interested in studying books.