Andrew Jensen Syndergaard, Pioneer of the Month ---February 2010

Andrew Jensen Syndergaard was born on May 11, 1851 in Sundby, Denmark and died on  May 19, 1912 in Mt. Pleasant, Utah.  Andrew was the son of Jens Christian Syndergaard and Ane Kirstine Larsen, (Annie Catrine Laursen).  His father died when he was seven, and his mother, with two sons (Peter and Andrew) and two daughters, (Ingaborg and Elsie Marie) came to Utah, crossing the plains in an ox-train under Captain Madsen.  They arrived in Mt. Pleasant in October 1962.  Later another sister, Ane Marie, came to Mt. Pleasant.  Here his mother bought a farm, which the boys worked.


At the age of 14, Andrew stood guard at the temple site in Manti.  The Indians were very hostile at that time.  A large Indian that jumped out from a pile of logs was shot to death almost within arms reach of him, an experience that tormented him for years.

During those early years, no one paerson went out of the city limits alone.  They went in companies when they cut hay in the meadows and if a member of the party got very far from the rest, the whole company, the whole company stopped until he could catch up.

In his early life, he did freighting to Pioche, Nevada.  He was one of the men commisssioned by President Brigham Young to haul the oxen for the St. George Temple from Salt Lake to St. George, which was a difficult task over the roads which were then not better than a cow trail.

In 1868, he went east in Bishop William S. Seely's Company.  He was about 17 years old then.  This was to bring immigrants to Utah.

He married Marie Johansen, daughter of Niels and Christiana Johansen on October 18, 1869 at the Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Utah.  At this time he was 18 years old and built a house for his new bride at 389 West Main Street, in Mt. Pleasant.

Andrew was a Black HawkWar Veteren.
He was always active in civic affairs.  He was one of the first town marshals.  He served on the City Council.

Insert from the Mt. Pleasant Book - page 167

"The December 4, 1889 city record shows that Councilman Syndergaard moved that coal oil lamps be placed as follows.  One at Hans Nielsen's corner, one at N.S. Nielsen's corner, one at Peel's corner, one at the Co-op corner, and one at Church Square.  The five coal oil coal oil lamps, which were said to add a dignified appearance to the city."

Andrew also worked on the Sanpete Valley Railroad,  He delivered ties from Pleasant Creek Canyon to near Freedom.  He was also active on all frontier projects, building roads, exploring forest, cutting timber, etc.  He and his brother, Peter, joined John Hasler's Brass Band which was  organized in 1870.

One of his outstanding accomplishments was befriending the Indians.  They always camped in the yard, fed their horses from the hay stacks and ate their meals at the table, made their beds on the floors when the weather was cold.  The Indians often counseled with him about many things.  These were the indians that lived in Thistle Valley.  Their Bishop finally forbid them, imposing in that manner, so they camped at the Tithing Yard but they, the Indians, came to the house to visit and often sneaked their outfits into the yard, inspite of their Bishop's request not to do so.  One old Indian spoke of him as "Heap Big Man - Heap Good Man".  Andrew always said the easiest way to get along with the Indians was to keep their friendship.

Andrew and Marie had 13 children.  Andrew, Gertrude, Kate, Annie M., Hyrum, Anthony, James, Olive, Parley, and  Hortense.  Lars, Anna and Joseph died at early ages.

compiled by Della Fern Barentsen Standlee (Great-great granddaughter of Andrew)
Inserts taken from the"Mt. Pleasant Book" 1859-1939; "History of Sanpete County",
parts of the history written by Annie Elizabeth Jensen, (wife of Neil Anthony Syndergaard, 9th son of Andrew)

Andrew's wife, Marie Johansen Syndergaard Biography will be posted tomorrow.

C.N. Lund - - - Pioneer of the Mont - - - July

Obituary of Christian N. Lund printed in THE CALL, Mt. Pleasant, Utah May 7, 1921 no. 747.

Christian N. Lund was born in a little straw thatched dwelling lying by the roadside just out of Seest, Pr Kolding, Denmark, January 13th, 1846,of good honorable parents. He received a splendid common school education and was so proficient in his studies that the principal of the school offered to put him through college and give him opportunity to work for his board, but his parents having embraced the religion of the Latter-Day Saints, chose to ignore the offer. He was baptized into the church March 21st 1856. At the age of 19 he was called to labor in the ministry as a missionary in his native land, and did so well that he was soon appointed president of a branch.

Alone and without friends, at the age of 22, he took what was the same as steerage passage on the last sailing vessel to cross the Atlantic with Mormon immigrants. The voyage lasted fifty seven days. the weather was bad, disease was rampant ofthe vessel and forty one souls died on the voyage. He crossed the plains with the last ox team that carried Mormons to Utah, arriving at Salt Lake City, September 25, 1869. He worked some in Cottenwood and Echo canyons. On October 9 of the same year, he married Petra A. M. Neilsen, an immigrant girl from his native country. On the evening of their marriage they started for Sanpete with an ox team driven by Lars Neilsen of Ft. Green. Arriving there they started out to end their "honeymoon" trip by walking to Mt. Pleasant, carrying all their earthly possessions in their two hands. But they overtook Aaron G. Omen, with his ox team and rode with him to this city, arriving on the 18th day of October 1869, living for a time with his brother Neils, who was here. They moved to Moroni in the spring of 1870 and lived as did many others in a cellar, or dugout. He took up land in Wales, but fate or circumstance drove him back to Mt. Pleasant, where his mission seemed to lie and he has been prominent and well known for over fifty years. In 1876 he was set apart as one of the seven presidents of the 66th quorum of seventy. He clerked in the first Co-op store,worked in the canyons and at farming. He was a member of the United Order anddid some work on the Manti Temple.

In 1879 he went on a two-year mission to Minnesota in company with Erick Ericksen, which mission was filled with honor. To know the circumstances under which he went and labored on this mission would apall the strongest elder of today. In 1882 he was elected a member of a constitutional convention which endeavored to procure statehood for Utah. On August 21st 1882, his wife died, leavving himn with five small children.

On October 9th, 1884, he married Anna Neilsen, a lady who had lately arrived from his native land. To this union was born six children, five of whom survived. On December 5, 1907 she died leaving him with these five living children and one Toral, (Torval) deceased. Since her death, her daughter, Amanda Lund Christiansen died in 1910.

In 1884 he was elected Mayor of Mt. Pleasant, was re-elected in 1886 and re-elected in 1888, having previously served two terms as a city counselor and two terms as city recorder. In the fall of that year he toured all Southern Utah in company with Cyrus H. Wheelock and Wilford Woodruff for his church in the interest of the temples. In 1887 he was elected superintendent of the Co-op store which position he held for seven years. In 1888 he was elected a member of the legislature and upon his return home was twice elected Justice of the Peace.

He served as a ward counselor to Bishop William S. Seely. In 1890 the two Mt. Pleasant wards were united as one and he was chosen Bishop. This made the largest ward in the church at that time. He held this position and served with unswerving fidelity for twelve years. In the fall of 1893 he was again elected to the legislature from a district comprising of Sanpete, Juab and part of Utah Counties. He later served as U.S. Court commissioner for Sanpete and was judge in a number of cases. He also served as county U.S. Land Commissioner.

He was closely connected with the public schools and was one of the state's strongest champions of education in every phase. He served as a trustee and school board member for over thirty years with singular credit and ability. He supported every school house from the smallest to the two large and beautiful structures of today. His efforts in educational lines extended farther than this district for he was a board member of the Snow Normal------------at one time offered the presidency of the old Union Hall. Upon this occasion he delivered one of the most eloquent political addresses ever heard in this city.

On May 1st 1896, he departed for Europe to take charge of the Scandinavian mission, embracing the countries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. He filled his position with great credit and even made some history while there, as the people he represented had some controversy with the government and he made an able written defense throught the U.S. Minister for his people to the King of Denmark. He traveled over much of the European Continent and saw many of the most noted historic places. Upon his return home in 1898 he took up his home duties again. In December of that year he was honorably released from being bishop of Mt. Pleasant and at a meeting presided over by Anthon H. Lund he was chosen and set apart as the first president of the North Sanpete stake, which office he filled to the satisfaction of everyone, until honorably released because of failing health fourteen years later. At the time of his release he was set apart as Patriarch which position he held and ministered in up to the time of his last illness.

Before passing away he called each of his children to his bedside and gave them such a blessing and such advice and counsel as his feeble condition would permit. His last days and nights, when he could talk, were, to his family, the most inspiring of his life, and not one of them can ever forget the magnificent nobleness of his mind and spirit, when the poor broken body was slowly going into dissolution.

He has, in his life-time preached more funeral sermons than any other man in this section. As a funeral orator he was unsurpassed and was generally at his best in that capacity. As an expounde of the faith and a defender thereof he was second to nonein ability and knowledge. The people mourn him as a father who has served them unselfishly and left with them the noble example of his pure and stainless life.

Seeley, William S. ------- October 2008

Bishop William Stewart Seely, the first Bishop of Mount Pleasant (Sanpete Stake), Sanpete County, Utah, was born May 18, 1812, in Pickering, Home District, Upper Canada, the son of Justus A. Seely and Mehittabel Bennett. Becoming a convert to "Mormonism" under the instruction of John Taylor, he was baptized in 1838 and migrated to Nauvoo, Hancock county, Illinois, where he resided until 1846, when he became an exile, like his co-religionists, and departed into the western wilderness. He came to Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and lived for some time in Salt Lake City and afterwards in Pleasant Grove, Utah county. When Mount Pleasant, Sanpete county, was re-settled in 1859 he became one of the founders of that place, where he spent the remainder of his years and where he was active in everything pertaining to the growth and welfare of that commonwealth. When Mount Pleasant became an incorporated city, William S. Seely was elected its first mayor, and he acted as Bishop of Mount Pleasant about thirty years. He took part in all the military movements during the Black Hawk war and also filled two missions to Canada, one in 1873 and the other in 1878. In 1868 he went as captain of a Church train as far east as Laramie after immigrants. Bishop Seely married three wives, two of whom survived him. His first wife was Elizabeth De Hart, who died April 6, 1873, after bearing her husband several children, of whom Elizabeth, Emily, Moroni, Emmeline, Joseph N. and Lucinda were still living in 1898. His second wife was Ellen Jackson, whose children are Justice L. and William S. The Bishop's third wife was Ann Watkins and her children are William A. and Anna R. Bishop Seely was not only a prominent citizen in local affairs, but was well and favorably known throughout the Territory of Jenson, Andrew. LDS Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City, UT: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901. Utah. He died at Mount Pleasant, Sept. 17, 1896.


In August 1885, William S. married his fourth wife, Susanne Foster. They did not have any children.



Ellen Jackson Seely, Second wife of William S., died on January 17, 1908. She was 89 years old.

Ann Watkins Seely, third wife of William S., died April 18, 1927. She was 81 years old, and was buried in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.


Final Peace Treaty. Several peace conferences with the Indians had been held in different settlements. A meeting was held at Mt. Pleasant, September 17, 1872, at which General Morrow, Apostle Orson Hyde, Bishop Amasa Tucker, Bishop Fredrick Olson, Bishop W. S. Seely, Colonel Reddick Allred met at Mt. Pleasant with a great number of Indian Chiefs and braves, among whom were Tabiona, White Hare, Angizeble and others who were known to have encouraged depredations under Chief Black Hawk. The concluding peace treaty was signed at this time. That meeting was held at the home of William S. Seely. (the current Mt. Pleasant Relic Home) also see: http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/source/0,18016,4976-5975,00.html