Mads Christian Anderson and Carolina Peterson

History of Andrew Martin Peterson and wife Mary Susannah Dalley ~ Pioneers of the Month September 2015

Mary Susannah DALLEY
Birth:
10 Feb 1857
Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete, Utah

Death:
26 Apr 1922
Fairveiw, Sanpete, Utah

Father:
Charles Edward DALLEY
Mother:
Elsie Ann ALDRICH

Christian Brothersen and His Family ~ Pioneers of the Month ~ May 2011

The Life Sketch of Christian Brotherson  and  His Family

The life sketch of Christen Brothersen (Brodersen) is presented in two parts. The first part focuses on the family’s early life in Denmark and their emigration to America. The second part focuses on their life in their new homeland. 

Part 1: Focuses on Life in Denmark and the Family’s Emigration

Christian Brothersen was born, 14 June 1811 at Idrstrup, Maribo, Denmark. a son of Bohne Brothersen and Anne Margrette Rasmussen. At the age of thirty-five years, he married, Anne Mortensen on 13 February 1846. Anne was born 3 February 1824, a daughter of Martin Jensen Menboe and Dorthea Knudsen. Three children were born to Christian and Anne in Denmark: Dorthea was born 19 Dec. 1847; Hans on 15 Feb 1849; Bohne on 4 April 1851.   

                       

A sorrowful event occurred in this family when Bone was an infant of only a few weeks of age. The mother, Anne Mortensen Brothersen. passed away on 26 May 1851. Mainly out of symphony for her sister’s children; Elsie Mortensen went into the Brothersen home, married Christian and cared for the children. It seems that Christian was a wealthy man. When missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints visited his home and brought the message of the restored gospel, the father embraced it with all his heart, as did Elsie.  Quick preparations were made and this family planned on going to Zion. Two children were born to Christian and Elsie; Martin, who was born 30 May 1853, at (Faister?) and Ane who born on 8 Jan. 1856.

Map showing the location of Idestrup, Denmark, the home ofChristian Brotherson

The following year, 1857, this family joined a company of emigrants and sailed to America. Hans was Seven and Martin was only three years of age at the time. (Reference -pp 401- 403  Vol. 6. "Heart Throbs of the West" a History of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers.) The company journeyed westward immediately. At Iowa City, Iowa, they became a part of an Overland Emigration Company and were outfitted there and were bound for Utah, beyond the plains.

There were 330 people, 3 wagons, and 68 handcarts with which to make the journey. The journey was hazardous and eventful. The leader also walked and tried to keep up the spirits of his people. On13 September 1857, the company arrived in Utah, with a division of the United States Army hot on its heels.  They with many others, moved southward from the Salt Lake Valley into Sanpete.

           Brothersens on the Passenger List of the Westmoreland (1857)

                        (Family Members are Indicated by Arrows)

                  

Christian Brothersen settled his family at Fort Ephraim where the settlers from Springtown, or the Allred Settlement, had fled for protection from the Indians. They remained there until early in 1859, when

Christian went to Mount Pleasant to assist in the building of the fort. This was completed in July of 1859. Like many others, the family lived in dugouts, until log or adobe houses could be built.

After moving to Mt.  Pleasant, the Brotherson family went through a period when they had only a small bit of wheat for food which they kept in one corner of the room.  Each day, Christian would prey that they could make the food last until they could get more.  The Lord did bless them and the food did last so that the family did have something to eat.

Martin moved to Indianola to plant and cultivate crops. They also had cattle and sheep. Those were the days that tried their soul, Hans, Martin, and Christian Brotherson and other members of the family stood guard against Indians led by Chief Black Hawk from April 1865 until a treaty of peace was signed in Mt.  Pleasant at Bishop Seeley’s home in 1872.

A close up map of the location of Idestrup, Denmark

  

Part 2: Focuses on their Life in Utah

BIOGRAPHY OF CHRISTIAN BROTHERSEN (BRODERSEN)
by Ila Brotherson Tidwell

My great grandfather, Christian Brotherson, was one of the noble pioneers who entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1857. He it was, who gave to our family our pioneer heritage, a gift for which should be forever grateful and thankful. It is a great challenge to us as his posterity to achieve through our own efforts. We must improve and build upon the faith, standards and ideals he so valiantly preserved for us. It was he who looked beyond his own time; he had the foresight and vision. He saw the necessity of freedom. He accepted the restored gospel of Jesus Christ when missionaries came to his door. It was his soul who first accepted the principles and truths that has been a guiding star for us to follow. It was he who had the faith and courage to want to establish a new home and new way of life for his family and posterity.

Christian Brotherson was not only a pioneer, he also helped to conquer this western land and make it a frontier civilization. In doing this, he gave us a land of freedom in which to live. He gave us the opportunity to live under the protection of the Stars and Stripes of America. It is a glorious privilege and blessing to live in a land, where by our own choice, selection and work, determine our progress and status in life. He also represented the vision, faith, culture and strength of our ancestors in the Old Country of Idestrup, Maribo, Denmark.

He was born 14 June 1811. One record says Idestrup the other says Veggerlose, Maribo, Denmark. His father's name was Bohne Broderson Magnesson. He came from Germany as a German Soldier to Denmark. He married Ann Margrethe Rasmussen. They had a family of ten children. The first four were boys and the last six were girls. Christian was the second son. This is all we know of his childhood.

Grandfather married Ann Mortensen in Denmark on 13 February 1846, he, being thirty-five years old and Ann only twenty-two. There were three children born to this couple. Dorthes Brotherson, born 18 December 1846; Hans Brotherson, born 15 February 1849; Bohne Brotherson, born 3 April 1851. From what we can get from memories handed down---the young mother had complications from the last childbirth. When the little son, Bohne, was only six weeks old, his mother, Ann, died. This was 26 May 1851. She left three small children under four years of age to the care of her husband, Christian. The family was very fortunate in having Ann's younger sister, Elsie. She came into their home and cared for this new baby, a little girl four, and a small boy of two. This was a handful for Elsie, but she loved and wanted to care for her sister's children.

This presents a sad beginning in the life of Christian Brotherson. He did not loose the desire to care for his babies even though his heart was broken at the loss of his sweetheart in the beautiful years of their youth. Those who know grandfather, lived with him, those who lived near him and those who remember him now, tell us he was a devoted and kind father from the very beginning. He was now forty years old and had always had responsibilities on his shoulders. It hadn't been too easy living in a family of twelve children. Each one must take his share of the load. Great grandfather, being old when he was married, had accumulated much. He was prepared to stand on his own two feet. We have a tithing receipt given him in Denmark in 1857 for 349.00. That was a big tithing to be paid in the Old Country at one time. This tithing receipt is really very valuable. There aren't many in keeping. It was issued before they counted money in Krones. Money was then rigs dollars. I took this tithing receipt to Johanna Madsen, who is from Denmark.

She said we should have it put in a museum so people could see it. It was among the first tithing receipts given in Denmark.

Maybe it was the feeling of loyalty and responsibility for the children of her sister; we hope it was love for both the children and their father that prompted Elsie to become a mother to Christian’s three small children. They were married on March 19, 1852 in Denmark.

These children were very fortunate in having a second mother come into their home to help care for them. But as the story unfolds, Great Grandfather Christian had more dark clouds on the horizon as well as sunshine.

During the time, or shortly after he married Elsie, while they were still on their honeymoon, missionaries from America, representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints, (Mormons as they were called) knocked at their door. Christian said in his own words, "I know from the first, their message was true." Erastus Snow brought the gospel to these Scandinavian people. Maybe it was he who knocked at Great Grandfather's door. However, he and his wife, Elsie, soon become loyal converts to the Mormon faith. There were two children born to this union.

Their first, a baby boy, was born 14 May 1853. They named him Martin after his Maternal Grandfather. On January 8, 1856, a little girl came to bless their home. They named her Ann. (Her home was where the Pioneer Relic Hall now stands in Mt. Pleasant, Utah).

After the Restored Gospel had come into their lives, their ideals and ambitions were to come to America. When their little boy, Martin, was only five; their baby girl only eighteen months old, they decided to come to America.

This was a big sacrifice in those days, as well as a blessing. They had to part with friends and relatives, home and it's comforts, worldly possessions, all for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the desire to worship God in a new world. Their ideals as parents were high education, culture, patriotism, and freedom was the pattern of their lives, the desire for their children.

They were patriotic and loyal to the Church they loved so much. Great Grandfather was a well to do man in Denmark. He had servants who helped care for household and did much of his work. When he was almost ready to come to America, he hired a man by the name of Hyrum Arnoldsen to help him and his family to America. He paid his way to this new land.

They sailed on the Westmoreland, from Liverpool, 25 April 1857. The leader of their company was Matrthias Cowley. There were some 544 souls who come to America on this ship.

They landed in Philadelphia. It was only two months since they had left their home in the Old Country. On 15 June 1857 they were prepared to begin their trek across the plains to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

They joined the 7^th Handcart Company under the leadership of Christian Christiansen. (Interesting to me was this notation. He was the first Elder ordained in Scandinavia. This was done by Erastis Snow in 1851.)

There was much to be done in preparation for the journey to Zion. The conditions they had left in their homeland were heart rendering---friendly relationships and family ties were often broken. Fathers, Mothers, sisters and brothers became almost strangers. Many showed enmity towards their loved ones, who had embraced Mormonism. With sad and broken hearts, but with the testimony burning in their soul, they faced another new experience different than crossing the water. Now they must pull a handcart across the plains. These activities were carried out with joy and anticipation.

There were 330 souls in this company, three wagons, and 68 handcarts. Rightly, it was named the "Christian Christiansen Handcart Company". In one these handcarts were all their possessions. Christian had a family of five children, his wife, himself and a hired man. He had a baby of two who had to ride or be carried and a little boy almost five. I have heard him (Martin) tell many times how he walked all the way, or most of the way, barefoot. His feet were so callused that he could step on prickly pares and not even flinch. He told how happy he was when his mother would pull the handcart and his daddy would carry him a little way. He also told of how his father would hold him at night until he went to sleep. He also told how he liked to see the campfire at night, hear them sing, climb on his daddy's lap and go to sleep.

They built fires only once in a while because the Indians were beginning to attack the Saints. In fact the first attack they had by Indians was in 1857.

The weary travelers moved slowly every day, stopping only long enough to eat and sleep. Behind them was the Johnson Army. They preferred to keep out of their way. But one afternoon some supply wagons that were ahead of the army caught up with the handcart company. They moved slowly pulling the handcarts and so many walking. The army had a lame oxen. They told the pioneers they could have half if they would dress it by the next evening. During the night a heavy rainstorm made the roads so muddy the army wagons mired deep in the mud and moved very slowly. The Saints pulled their light carts out of the ruts and moved on, soon leaving the army wagons far behind. The Saints had all the oxen. That night they camped near a large stream of water. The Indians helped the women and children across the stream. The Saints didn't ever see Johnson's Army again.

They had many hardships but I feel my Great Grandfather was really blessed. He and all his family reached their destination.

Here is one experience Grandpa told that happened while coming across the plains. A little girl that was the same age as baby Ann died. They had nothing to bury her in, so they wrapped her little body in a blanket, put her head in a brass kettle to keep the dirt from her face and placed her in a lonely grave. These were the heart-rending experiences that tested their faith. Sometimes they felt they couldn't carry on.

One of the abilities that God gave us when he created us was the ability to see ahead, the vision to do today what will be best for us tomorrow. Great Grandfather's faith was really tested.

Besides the hardships they endured crossing the plains, he could see every day he was loosing his wife's love. For reasons we do not know, she became the object of another man's desire to covet a lovely woman. Great Grandfather was very kind and understanding with her. He loved her very much. He needed her to help rear their children. His oldest girl was only nine years old. He had a baby only two and three other children. They all needed a mother's love and tender care. Christian told her this, "If you are dissatisfied, I will not prevent your leaving." He must have been a good man with an understanding heart. The man who took his wife was none other than the man whom Great Grandfather had hired to help him while crossing the plains. He had paid his way and in return Mr. Arnoldsen took his wife. We can't find if Great Grandfather took his wife with him into the settlement at Ephraim or if when they reached the Great Salt Lake Valley she went with this other man.

They reached the valley on Sunday, 13 September 1857. They lacked two days of being three months crossing the plains. When they had finished their journey over, in fear of Johnson's Army, most of the company was sent by the church leaders to Ephraim. The tired souls struggled on to Fort Ephraim. There Christian housed his family in a cellar or dug-out until the spring of 1859.

I have read from history that trail of the Saints, who went to Ephraim, could be followed by blood on the snow. The first winter they almost starved. Grandfather Martin tells of the winter of 1858 when they only had a little mound of wheat, in a corner to last until the next harvest. His father would raise his hands, close his eyes and pray to the Father in Heaven to bless this little bit of food that it would last them. Martin, only a boy, testified that it seemed to not diminish very fast and it lasted so that these faithful pioneers could subsist until the weeds began to grow in the spring and they could dig roots to eat.

My heart aches for Great Grandfather Christian with the sadness that he must carry in his heart alone. He had five children under ten years of age whom he must love, instruct, feed and care for. He must be a mother and father to them. What his faith and courage must have been. We owe him so much.

In the spring of 1859 he came among the first settlers to what they called Hamilton Settlement. He helped to build the stone fort. His name appears on the Pioneer Monument erected in honor of the first settlers. He took up land and built his first home in America. It was on the corner just south of where Alton Brotherson now lives. He lived in a cellar or dug-out until he and his boys finished their first home in Hamilton Settlement which later became Mt. Pleasant.

They lived here until the children all married. Then Christian moved to the north part of town. This was in his declining years. They say even then Great Grandfather's home was the play ground for all the neighborhood children. He always had lump sugar, raisins, or candy to give to them. Sometimes when he didn't have these, he would give them an egg and let them take it to the store and get what they would like. Many people of Mt. Pleasant have told me Christian always wore a long beard, and it was white as long as they could remember. If the children loved to play around his door, I think the story of his life and what he was has been pictured.

After his wife, Elsie, had gone with the hired man, they settled in Ft. Green. Later, they moved to Moroni where they made their home. Great Grandmother Elsie regretted what she had done before very long. She wanted her children but her new husband did not. She would come and get the children and have them one or two days. She still loved them and realized she had made a mistake. When they were with her, her new husband was mean to them.

One time, when Martin, my grandfather, was only seven, he was going from Mt. Pleasant with Arnoldsen to see his mother. They got to what we all know as Fiddler's Green. Later it was known as Riverside  Park. (It was a dance hall, race track, and swimming pool). A nice place at one time but it was rather wild and was disbanded. They said they called it "A place between Heaven and Hell".

Arnoldsen stopped the wagon and told Martin to get out. He said he was going to stop and water and rest the horses. So the little fellow climbed down from the wagon. The man hurriedly whipped the horses to a run and drove away. The child was astounded when he realized he was left alone and it was getting dark. He was all alone, the Indians were real ferocious. He might get lost or even perish in the darkness of the night. He sadly thought, "What shall I do, go home to Dad or go on to see Mother?" He quickly made up his mind and began to run after the wagon. He thought, "If I can just stay far enough behind so he doesn't see me but I can see the dust of the wagon, I wont' be afraid."

After separating from his step-father, he fairly flew. He began to tire after he had followed a trail out through the fields and over the hill for a long way. It was a shorter way. He said, "I prayed in my heart as I ran faster and faster that the Lord would help me get to my mother first. I did get to Mother before he did and told her what he had done." Grandfather tells of how his mother took him in her arms and cried like her heart would break. "You must go back and live always with your father. He is a good man and will always be good to you." When Arnoldsen arrived, he was surprised to see the boy and also angry. He made Martin go to bed without any super. Great Grandmother sent him home the next day with a friend as I remember. I do remember what his father said to him when he returned, "My little Mart, I felt I should never have let you go after you had gone."

On another occasion when Martin was helping Arnoldsen haul hay, he was pitching the hay on the wagon and I felt impressed to move. He looked up just in time to dodge a pitch fork. The man had aimed it at his head.

Martin tells this story about his boyhood also. "I went for a walk up in the hills. I was sitting on a big rock, I felt the presence of someone, I knew not whom. I knew I was being watched, likely by Indians. What should I do? Suddenly, I began singing loudly, so I could be heard by anyone nearby. The fear left me; I was not molested or harmed, for which I was thankful."

Great Grandfather Christian probably loved or had a great deal of respect for Elsie. He always knew how she was and when she needed help. Grandfather said, "My father often took her flour, meat, fruit and other foods and clothing for her and her children." She had a real hard life and many times didn't know which way to turn. Her husband lived in polygamy. He had four wives. It was hard for him to care for all in those days.

Great Grandmother was a beautiful woman. She had light brown hair with beautiful dark blue eyes. She was slender and average height; had a pleasing disposition but was quiet. Sometime in her life she hurt her shoulder. Some say it was from her helping pull the handcart across the plains. We don't know. But we do know her one shoulder drooped and hurt all her life.

She was sealed to Arnoldsen in the old endowment house in Salt Lake City on 16 August 1862. She told Christian many times she wished she could break that sealing.

She didn't want Arnoldsen. Christian[1] evidently wanted his first wife because he went and had her sealed to him 19 September 1889. His children were married at this time and so they made the choice of who they would be sealed to. My Grandfather, Martin Brotherson said, "I want my father." He was sealed to his father and his mother's sister, Ann, Christian's first wife. Christian died on 9 August 1893. He was buried in Mt. Pleasant City  Cemetery. Christian was 82 years old when he died. Elsie was 67 years old when she died. He lived a year and four months after she passed away.

A picture of the Hans Brotherson family circa 1901

Soon after the Death of Hans Brotherson
Background:  Hans Brotherson .(In Picture Frame)

Back Row (Left to right)t: Parley [Parley Pratt], Tina [Clementine], Francis [Francis], Boone [Bohney], Lora [Lorenza Christine], Hans [Hans}, Chris [Christian],

Middle Row (Left to right): Orsen [Orson Hyde], Rakkie, [Fredrickka], Rhea [Maria], Maggie [Annie Margaret], Grandma Frederikka [Frederickka Andrea], Nels [Nels Douglas]

Front Row: Floyd [Ferdnand Floyd] on the left, Vernon [Vernon Hamlet] and Heneretta [Heneritta] on the right.

A Portrait Picture of Hans Brotherson 

  

[1] Christian Brothersen (Brodersen) was endowed in the Salt Lake Endowment House on 8 July 1865.

Erick and Caroline Gunderson ~~~ Pioneers of the Month ~~~ January 2011

Our friend, David R. Gunderson, has just published a book entitled “Erick and Caroline Gunderson’s Journey of Faith from Norway to Sanpete”. He has been assisted by a cousin, Betty Gunderson Woodbury. Both are contributors to our Mt. Pleasant Pioneer Blog. David has been working on this book for a long time. His research and personal knowledge of, not only the Gunderson family, but also of Mt. Pleasant history is extensive. Betty has been working on the family genealogy and collecting items of Utah family history all of her life.





With David’s permission we post January’s Pioneers of the Month: Erick and Caroline Gunderson, excerpts taken from the book.



In times of crisis, the fate of peoples and nations is often described as "hanging on a thread".  In fact the fate of our Gunderson family did hang by the threads that held a big black button on the foul weather smock that Erick was wearing during a storm on the North Sea.  During this storm, a huge wave crashed over his small fishing boat and washed him overboard.  He was able to get back to his boat, and save his life (and that of our family), because this button caught on a line or a piece of netting that was trailing out from his boat and the button's threads held.



Erick brought this button with him when he came to Utah and my Uncles Doug, Shy, and Glen recalled of playing with it when they were children.  It would be nice to have this button now but it has been lost.  But it must have looked like the one shown here.





The families of both Erick and Caroline lived in Riser, Aust-Agder (East-Agder) Provence, Norway, which is a small fishing and resort village located about 125 miles south of Oslo. It borders the North sea and Oslofjord. Risor was known from Viking days for its strong ships and expert seamen. Like all Norse communities , it had a tradition of Viking raids on England, France and other parts of Europe. In the early 19th Century, Risor, though small, had become an important shipping center in Norway and roughly 100 sailing ships made it their home port. It was in this small community on August 27, 1830, that Erick Gunderson, a son of Gunder Ericksen and Annie Jensen, was born into the world.



At this time Norway was actually a part of Sweden, having been annexed in 1815 from Denmark at the close of the Napoleonic wars, after nearly 400 years of Danish rule. Opportunity for education above elementary school was not readily available to the people of Norway, unless they were a member of the clergy or of the aristocracy. The family had always been close-knit and must have had the means to allow the children to receive a little better than the average education and training. (At this time, Norway was still using patronymic names so Erick Gunderson’s father’s name was Gunder Ericksen) Not much is known about Erick’s growing up years, but he was a fisherman by trade and probably went to sea with every fishing expedition available to him in order to help meet the family’s needs.

The Aurora Borealis as seen from Norway.  Erick and the other members of the family would have been familiar with these spactacular sights.

The family must have enjoyed all of the wonderful Norwegian festivals. They would have especially enjoyed the Yuletide celebration with rice pudding, and small prizes, and coins hidden in the Yule cake. They must also have looked forward to the Midsummer Festivals with all of its traditions as well.



In about 1851, when Erick was 20 or 21 years old, he went to Scotland (Glasgow) to learn the trade of shipbuilding. It is not known how long he apprenticed in Scotland, but it was probably for a period of about one year. Since English is the common language among the sailors of the North Sea, Erick must have had some command of the English language before he went to Scotland. While there, his English skills probably improved markedly. This must have aided him greatly when he came to America.



The first Mormon missionary to Norway was Elder Hans F. Petersen. He was brought to Norway by a Norwegian sea captain, Svend Larsen, of Osterrisor (Risor), who had become interested in the message of the church, while delivering a load of lumber at Aalborg, Denmark. Elder Petersen arrived on 11 September 1851 and with the help of Captain Larsen began to lay the foundation for the work on the next day. In Norway the missionaries received a mixed welcome. Some Norwegians readily accepted them and embraced the Gospel, while others tried to have them jailed or expelled.



It was to this situation that Erick returned to Norway from Scotland. Some members of his family had heeded and accepted the Gospel. Other family members were bitterly opposed. As a result, Erick withdrew from the family, decided to just ignore the Mormon problem and married his childhood sweetheart, Inger Elizabeth Evensen on 13 January 1853. Some of her family members had also accepted the missionary’s message and joined the new Church but she apparently remained indifferent.



Saddened by his lack of interest in this new religion, his younger sister, Torbor, pled with Erick and Inger to just listen to the Elders and then decide. Finally, they agreed. He and Inger soon accepted the message and were baptized on 23 April 1853. He was the 35th member and she the 36th member added to the Church rolls in Norway according to the records. His father, Gunder Ericksen; his mother, Anne Jensen; his sister, and other family members preceded them as members. His parents joined the Church 19 September 1852. The first baptisms in Norway were on 23 September 1851. (Note that Erick’s future wife, Caroline and her blind mother Maria became the 7th and 8th members of the church in Norway on 25 June 1852.)



Svend Larsen, the ship captain who brought the first missionaries to Norway was baptized 23 September 1851 in Aalborg, Denmark. He immigrated to Utah in 1854.



About one year after they joined the LDS Church, Erick and Inger were blessed with a beautiful baby girl who they named Anne Torine. She must have been a wonderful and welcome addition to their home.



Erick, along with other family members, heeded the call to gather to Zion. In mid-November 1854, Erick (age 24), Inger Elizabeth (23), their daughter, Anne Torine (nearly a year old), his father, Gunder (50), his mother, Anne (48), his sister, Torbor (18), his brother Jens (22), Jens’ wife Anne (22), Erick’s Uncle and Aunt Henrik (36) and Ingeborg (35) Erickson and their family, Erick Bertel (13), Torborg (10), John Andreas (5) and Ingeborg (6 months), departed their beloved Norway together. However, due to a problem with ships in Liverpool, Jens and his family had to cross the Atlantic on the next ship, the Charles Buck. Karen Dorthea, and her husband Niels Johannes Petersen probably stayed in Norway to settle up the estate and to care for their grandparents Erick and Torborg, who died in 1857 and 1858 respectively. The Petersons emigrated in 1863.



One cannot help but wonder how the family members felt as the familiar scene of the Risorflekken, the large white stone, that marks Risor harbor, faded into the distance for the last time, as they sailed out into the North Sea. This would be the last sight they would ever have of their beloved home town, Risor.



The first leg of this trip was from Norway to England. This passage was carried out on a 132-ton Danish paddlewheel steamship called the Cimbria. This voyage has been clearly described in the book “Saints on the Sea”. “There is no other body of water quite like the North Sea. It is often unpredictable, violent and treacherous - - and particularly so during the winter monts. Of all the North Sea passages made by Mormon emigrants, probably none was as terrifying as that of the small Danish steamer Cimbria. It left Copenhagen on 24 November 1854. Some 300 Scandinavian Saints were crowded on board when the 132-ton paddle-wheeler sailed out of the harbor. Although the sea was very rough, the Cimbria reached Fredrikshavn on the east coast of Jutland the following morning. There 149 additional emigrants from Aalborg and Vendsyssel joined the company, further crowding the 160-foot ship. (Our Gunderson family members probably crossed to Denmark to join this company of emigrants at Fredrikshaven.)







On 26 November the steamer resumed her voyage and the weather was fair until the next afternoon. Then a strong wind came up, and its rising fury forced the captain to seek haven in the nearest Norwegian port. He put into Mandal (formerly known as Vesterrisor), an excellent harbor sheltered by high and steep granite cliffs. Here the Norwegians offered the Saints accommodations on shore for several days until the wind diminished. The elders preached to some of the villagers, and several were later converted.



On 7 December the Cimbria once again put to sea, but the improved weather soon changed for the worse. Before the end of the day a violent storm struck. The waves became mountainous, and the wind shrieked through the rigging. Tons of water crashed over the bow, shattering the bulwarks and some boxes on deck. The captain once more sought safety in Mandal’s harbor, but the strong currents and winds made it too dangerous to head toward Norway. The vessel returned to Fredrikshavn, where she anchored on the ninth. During this storm the emigrants huddled below decks, suffering from the cold, the pitching of the ship, and seasickness. Once on shore again, a few of the less hardy refused to travel farther, but most of the Saints recovered their courage and even held public meetings.



It was not until 20 December that the captain felt the weather would permit setting out again for England. For a day the sea was favorable, but the following night the storm returned with the appalling savagery of a mindless beast. Great masses of water threatened to capsize the little steamer, and the twisting troughs between waves seemed designed to break her back. For hours the Cimbria battled the ferocity of the winds and the high seas, while the miserable passengers were too cold and sick and too busy holding on to their bunks, tables, or anything secure to think of much else but prayer and survival. The vessel, shuddering and quivering with each wave, tried to turn back for a third time. Then, in the afternoon of the twenty second, the wind veered to the north. The captain changed course and continued on to Hull. On 24 December the battered steamer with her exhausted crew and thankful passengers anchored in the River Humber. The following day-Christmas-the Scandinavian Saints traveled by rail from Hull to Liverpool, where most boarded the Yankee square rigger James Nesmith bound for New Orleans.”



The Cimbria passengers arrived a day or two too late for the ship they had been scheduled to use, and the Church Immigration Agency hurriedly located the ship James Nesmith. It was quickly equipped for passengers and on 7 January 1855, with 440 Scandinavian Saints, and one English Saint, it sailed for America. (The ship being too small for the whole company, 24 people were left to come later. Jens and his family were probably among these.) The company leader of the Saints on board both the Cimbria and the James Nesmith was Peter O. Hansen, a returning missionary. The voyage began with the ship being towed out of the Liverpool harbor down the river Mersey, past the light house and into the open sea where the sails were unfurled and a course was set for the new world.



During the winter, the prevailing winds in the North Atlantic are westerlies, and emigrant ships had to tack (sail into the wind) for most of their crossings. This results in a fairly rough and long voyage. However, crossing the Atlantic in the winter made it possible to cross the plains in the summer and this was crucial.



Many of the Mormon emigrant ships had wonderful choirs which performed during the dedication and prayer for safe journey services which were always held at the outset of each emigration voyage. One of the great gathering hymns, “Ye Elders of Israel” with its inspiring message, “O Babylon O Babylon we bid thee farewell, we’re going to the mountains of Ephraim to dwell” was one of the favorites. Both the emigrants and many of the ships officers and seamen took courage from these dedication ceremonies and the continued prayers for safe voyage. Over the 30 years of emigration by sail only one vessel, in 176 was lost.

After a 47 day passage, the James Nesmith arrived in New Orleans on 23 February 1855. The passenger list that was presented to the New Orleans Customs Office shows that the family had all arrived safely, except for Anne Torine who had died on 20 January.



The 1850s travel on the rivers was fraught with many dangers. Among these were diseases, especially cholera, exploitation by unscrupulous gamblers and boat personnel, running aground or being caught on a snag, sinking, falling overboard and being ignored, thievery, etc. However, until 1856, when the railheads were extended to Iowa, it was the best means of transportation available. The Charles Buck, on which Erick’s brother, Jens traveled, was the last Mormon emigrant ship to land at New Orleans. It departed from Liverpool on 17 January and arrived at New Orleans on March 14, 1855, after a 53 day passage.



Within a day or two after their arrival the Gunderson/Ericksen family began their voyage up river. Two steamboats, the Moses Greenwood and the Oceana, carried James Nesmith travelers to St. Louis, where they arrived March 7. Those who could not immediately afford passage to Salt Lake City took the steamboat Polar Star to Weston, where they sought employment.



On March 12, 1855, about 175 of the Mormon emigrants from the ship James Nesmith resumed their passage from St. Louis to Atchison, Kansas aboard the steamboat Clara. It was a trip bedeviled by delay and disease. At Leavenworth low water compelled the steamer to lay up for a time during which another Mormon company arrived. There twenty Saints died of cholera and on the way to Atchison nine more deaths were recorded. This 351 ton sidewheeler was skippered and partly owned by Joshua Cheever. A year later the Clara was sunk by ice at St. Louis.



On 25 March 1855 while the family was at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, Erick’s younger sister Tobor Kristine (18) married Simon Fredrick Halversen (26) from Brekke Osnoy Ostfold, Norway.



Erick’s parents, and his Aunt and Uncle, Henrik and Ingeborg Ericksen, and the rest of their family members that came on the James Nesmith, reached Mormon Grove at Atchison, Kansas in early June. There they began preparations to cross the plains and with the exception of Erick and his family, they continued west with the Secrist-Guyman Wagon Company which left from Mormon Grove on 13 June and entered the Salt Lake Valley on 7 September 1855 after a 57 day crossing. They settled in Spanish Fork and prepared for the arrival of the rest of the family.



Erick remained in Mormon Grove at Atchison, Kansas until 1856. Family records say that Inger, who was pregnant, contracted cholera. The baby, a boy who they called Earl Even, was born on 25 October and soon passed away. Inger died two days later and they were both buried at Mormon Grove. The rest of the family had left in June and it was too late for Erick to find and join a company and follow his family to Utah in 1855, so he worked to prepare to go on to Utah during the next immigration season. In 1856 he arrived in Utah during the week of the 16th of September 1856, after an 81-88 day crossing and joined the family in Spanish Fork.



A Wife for Erick Comes from Norway



Erick left Norway in late 1854 with his parents, his sisters, a brother-in-law and a small child and other family members. In 1857, two years later he was a single widower in Utah probably living with his parents. How lonely he must have been. However, things were about to get better.



As the Gundersons and other families, one by one left Risor to go to Zion, another member of the Risor Branch of the Church, Caroline Johnson, longed to go to Zion also, but she just couldn’t leave her widowed and blind mother alone in Norway. Recognizing the strong desire of her daughter to join the Saints in Zion, Maria encouraged her to go. However, Caroline always replied that she could never leave her mother alone in Norway. Finally, Maria said, “If you won’t go without me, I will have to go with you.” When Caroline asked how they could do that her mother said that “they would just face the problems, one at a time. “ In the spring of 1857, they did just that.



Maria (age 54) and Caroline (age 22) departed Norway on Saturday, 11 April 1857, with a group of saints from Christiania (Oslo), Norway and sailed to Copenhagen aboard the Norwegian steamship Viken. In a calm sea, the vessel arrived at the Danish port the following day. After a five-day delay this company-about 540 emigrants under the direction of Hector C. Haight, President of the Scandinavian Mission, boarded the Danish screw steamer L.N. Hvidt and traveled to Grimsby (just south of Hull). From that English port they traveled by train to Liverpool. Soon after they arrived in Liverpool, they boarded the ship Westmoreland.



The Westmoreland left Liverpool on Saturday, 25 April 1857 and arrived at Philiadelphia, Pa on Pentecost Sunday, Sunday, 31 May 1857 after a 36 day passage. The emigrants then boarded the train to go to the trail head in Iowa City, passing through Baltimore and Wheeling along the way.



At Iowa City, they joined the Seventh Handcart or Christian Christiansen Handcart Company which departed on 12 June and, traveling over the Mormon Trail, arrived in the Valley on Sunday, 13 Sep 1857.



One of the other passengers on the Westmoreland was C.C.A. Christensen who was a convert to the LDS faith in Denmark and had served a mission in both Denmark and Norway. Before his mission, he had studied painting and illustration in Copenhagen for several years. It is interesting to note that he lived for a time in Mt. Pleasant and took an active roll in the early developments of that community.



The Arrival of the Christiansen Handcart Company in the Sale Lake Valley



“Along the way lay the skeletons of worn out oxen, but these heroes and heroines endured …With their lips half eaten up by saleratus dust, and clothed in rags, with almost bottomless shoes on their feet, yet they greeted with songs of delight the rising sun which let them see Salt Lake City for the first time.”



“What changes have taken place since that time in less than one week our emigrants are now brought here from the Atlantic coast, where they disembark after a few days pleasant ocean voyage by steamship, while we in those days were tumbled about by sailing ships for several weeks , uncertain of the time when we could expect to see the promised land. And then the journey by land over the great, empty plains and high mountains on foot, poorly supplied with food and clothing- in short, subjected to almost every deprivation that people could bear and endure, and that for all of thirteen weeks.” (taken from Nebraska History p. 344 “By Handcart to Utah, the Account of C.C.A Christensen, translated by Richard L. Jensen)



Caroline and Erick Meet, for the second Time, and Start Life Together



On his arrival in Utah on 16 September 1856, Erick joined his parents in Spanish Fork and began to work to further establish the family in Utah. He probably worked as a carpenter and also at farming, but nothing else is known about this first year in Utah, except that we guess he was very lonely.



Caroline and her mother arrived in Utah on 13 September 1857, about one year after Erick’s arrival. As noted, they had traveled in the Christiansen Handcart Company which crossed the plains together with the Cowley Ox Cart Company in which Erick’s brother Jens Gunderson traveled. While crossing the plains, Jens and his family surely would have become acquainted with their Norwegian friends. Caroline and her mother, Maria that they had probably known for many years, maybe even from childhood, and associated with the Osterrisor Branch of the LDS Church in Norway.



Since they were friends from “home” and had crossed the plains together, it would only be natural for Jens and his family to invite Caroline and her mother to join them in Spanish Fork. Communication between family members in Utah and family members in the Midwest may have been difficult in those days, but some information must have been exchanged, if only by word of mouth. In any case it is likely that Jens knew or was able to find out where the rest of the Gunderson family was located.



How happy the Gundersons in Spanish Fork must have been to have Jens and his family safely in Utah, and to greet friends from “home”, and to get all the latest news about their friends and family back in Norway. They all must have had a wonderful reunion.



Quickly, Caroline and Erick became interested in each other and on Monday, 12 October 1857, only about four weeks after Caroline’s arrival; they were married (sealed) by none other than President Brigham Young in the President’s Office in Salt Lake City at 12:30 p.m. They were late endowed in the Salt Lake Endowment House on 22 November 1861 with B. Young, W. Woodruff, and S.L. Sprague officiating.



Imagine finding a partner from “home” in far off Utah. One that spoke your native tongue, and who remembered the Risorflekken, the midsummer festivals, the picturesque Risor Harbor, the beautiful church by the sea. One who loved all the special Norwegian foods and songs, one who knew all the old friends from “home”, and one who remembered all the other special things that you remembered from your past. Then you will know how blessed Erick and Caroline must have felt to have found each other.



On 6 September 1858, Erick and Caroline had a daughter who they named Lurine Elizabeth Gunderson. She was born in Spanish Fork and died on 28 December 1861 in Mt. Pleasant.

Erick and Caroline Gunderson Relocate to Mt. Pleasant



Considering many factors, we believe that Erick came to Mt. Pleasant in the spring of 1859. It is likely that Caroline came a bit later after the birth of her second daughter, Maria Elizabeth, which occurred on 17 Feb 1860. Therefore, Erick would have been in Mt. Pleasant to assist in building the first and second forts, to divide up the land, and to clear it for planting. They would also have participated in the defenses mounted during the Black Hawk War, probably joined the United Order and played a major role in the erection of the first Mormon Church in Mt. Pleasant. They would have participated in the building of the first plants and mills and obtaining new farm equipment.



Being a carpenter by trade, his services were greatly in demand as he helped build many of the early and later homes, churches and school houses in Central Utah. He worked on every temple that was erected in Utah during his lifetime as well as the Salt Lake Tabernacle, and for the most part, he volunteered his services.

Niels Christian Johansen (Pioneer of the Month - March 2010)

Niels Christian Johansen

Chris (Blacksmith)

Married:  Gertrude Jensen

Born:  March 17, 1872   ---   Mt. Pleasant, Utah

Died::  November 11, 1947  ---   Mt. Pleasant, Utah

History written by Etta Marie Johansen Larsen (daughter)

In 1872 Mt. Pleasant, Utah, Sanpete County, was a bustling little town boasting a population of 3,000 people.  The people were divided in four groups: those in the southeast part of town were called the "Rocky Heaven" crowd, no doubt named because of the rocks brought down by the creeks in past ages.  In the southwest part of town lived the "Copenhagens" or "Copenslogans" group.  The Danish people congregated in this area.  "Dog Type" was the name tagged on the residents of the northwest part of town.  Northeast residents were answered to the "Buttermilks"; maybe they milked cows or churned butter.

Dad was born March 17, 1872 to Niels and Kirstine (or Christena) Marie Anderson Johansen (Johannes) in the southwest part of Mt. Pleasant in a small adobe house which is still standing and hasn't changed a lot.  H was the eldest of eight children, six boys and two girls.  He also had half brothers and sisters, as Grandfather had been married before.  He was blessed in 1872 and given the name Niels Christian after his father.  His relatives called him "Chris the Blacksmith", but to mother it was "Christian".  He was baptized April 1, 1882, by J.J. Wallis and confirmed April 2, 1882, by Peter Monsen (neighbor) and H. J. Brown.  Dad was made an elder on December 8, 1885 in the Mt. Pleasant South Ward which was shortly before he married mother.  He was made second counselor in the Y.M.M.I.A. of the Mt. Pleasant South Ward, October 2, 1901.

Dad was always an active church worker and served at various times with the Sunday School, the M.I.A., and the Priesthood in Mt. Pleasant North Ward.  He was a Seventy at the time of his death.

I suppose Dad grew up learning to work as there were chores to do, such as hauling wood in for winter, herding cows on the street, helping with the vegetable garden as everyone had a garden those days, helping Grandfather thresh his wheat in the fall, and also helping to haul the hay as Grandfather owned a small piece of ground in the southwest part of town.  He probably helped clean and pick the burrs out of the wool so Grandmther could card the wool for quilts.  Grandfather was a weaver and had his own loom.  I can see Father as a child having many friends, playing with the Copenhagen kids in that part of town.  Some of the games were steal sticks, run-my-sheep-run, stink base, Danish ball, rounders, leap-frog, nip cat, kick the can, mumble peg and marbles in the spring.

He was 24 years old when he courted and fell in love with a shy, timid Danish girl from the north part of town.  He and Gertrude Jensen married January 1, 1896, in the Manti Temple.  They went to Manti with two other couples in a bob sleigh, staying overnight with friends, and came home the next day.  They lived two blocks east of his parents in a small adobe house.  They lived there only a short time and then moved over on Main Street to Grandmother Jensen's home to take care of her until she died October 21, 1899.

Blacksmith shop was located at approximately 350 West Main

To them were born eight children:  Christella, Pearl,  Heber Christian, Francis Simon, Mable Christine, Aldevea Gertrude, Lester Delbert and Etta Marie.  After his marriage he herded sheep for a short time.  Later he went into the blacksmith business with George N. Clemensen.  After working with him for a few years and learning the trade, he went into the blacksmith business for himself.  He build his shop on Main Street on the southwest corner of Grandmother's lot.  Blacksmithing was a good, steady job.  Dad worked hard, being very skilled in blacksmithing, he was a perfectionist in his work.  Early of a morning he would usually sharpen hay knives so as not to waken the neighbors.  H often shod the horses in the afternoon after the sun had gone behind the shop, or he would work under the apricot trees.  When by accident Dand and horseshoing would get on the lawn and near Mother's flower beds, she would get very upset.  Toward fall he would be working mostly on plow lays and wagon wheels as the farmers would be getting ready to haul coal from Fairview Canyon.  The rims, which were always metal, would have to be smaller than the rim base, so it was up th the blacksmith to heat and stretch the metal rim, so it would fit snugly over the wooden edge.  The plow lays would have to be sharpened and often iron would have to be fastened onto the toe of the plow lay.  The farmers would do their fall plowing just as they do today.  Dad saved all the scrap iron he could find and it came in handy, especially during the war years when iron was scarce.  The fire in the forge had to be red hot when he was working so anyone standing around would get a turn pumping the bellows by hand.  One could almost tell what type of iron or steel was being pounded out by the ring of the anvil, as each had its own tone or beat.  It was music to ones ear, as a neighbor said.  I think Dad made the most money on shoeing horses.  Of course, I'm sure it was the hardest and most difficult to do.  Some of the men a few years ago told me he got fifty cents a shoe and he furnished the shoes and nails.  Many happy hours were spent with Dad in the shop, pumping the bellows, dodging the sparks as he pounded out a horseshoe or plow lay on the anvil, using up his chalk to draw pictures on the walls, a handfull of nails  to hammer in the big log that served as the doorstep for the shop.  The kids coming to and from school would stick their heads in the front door.  Dad would give them a few nails to hammer in the log.  Some of the ladies from the South Ward would tell how their kids took the long way home so they could visit with the blacksmith.  The grandkids also liked to be at the shop; sometimes they would run away from home.  Dad would soon send them back home; he didn't want the little ones around unless their mothers were wit to watch them.Blacksmithing was slow in the winter time and that was good as Dad needed a rest, for he worked so very hard.  The folks always had a good supply of food on hand; flour, grain mash, and in the cellar with long rows of smoked hams, shoulders, and sides of pork hung from the log ceilings.  In the big cupboards were shelves lined with bottles of fresh peaches, pears, apricots, plums, big crock jars of jam, pickles, relishes and of course a couple of five gallon cans of honey.  Then there was the milk cupboard with a tight screen on the front for the milk, cream.  Potatoes, carrots and parsnips were kept out in the dirt cellar which was in the corral.  Dad and Mother had two gardens, one a small one which we kids were responsible for planting, watering, and weeding.  Then we could take vegetables from it whenever we wanted as long as we didn't waste any.  We would have play dinners of fried potatoes, carrots, cooking on almost any stove in the neighborhood.  Dad always had a milk cow, chickens and pigs.  He owned five acres of ground west of town.  He would raise grain on one half and hay on the other half.  Every few years he would change the hay and grain ground.  There was a row of fruit trees down the center.  He would exchange work with the farmers to use their horses and implements to do his harvesting, so you can see there wasn't much in the food line that Mother and Dad had to buy at the store.  A little sugar, coffee, a can of salmon or maybe a piece of cheese, but Mother would always have to ask Dad for the money.  I sure had my share of going to the shop and asking Dad for money for groceries.  I didn't mind because he would usually find a couple of pennies in the bottom of the old leather purse fo me to spend for candy.  H was surely free-hearted when he was spending the money himself.  He liked to surprise  us by bringing home treats.  One day he had gone to town to get horse shoe; soon he came back in a truck with a big phonograph and several records, os for days after that he would bring a record home.  At Christmas time Mother would say that he was a big show off because he gave us so many presents.  Each summer he would see that Mother and I would have a train trip to Axtel to visit Mother's brother, Andrew.  Dad would cry when we left and he'd cry when we came home.  He was a very emotional person.  He would shop for all of  Mother's clothes and sometimes he would bring home several pairs of shoes for Mother to try and she would keep the pair that she liked best.  He would take the others back to the store.  He would buy the best grade of calico for her dresses and aprons.

Mother would go with Dad to Sacrament Meeting and the old folks parties.  She liked the picture shows and he took her often.  After I got a little older, he would say, "Take your Mother to the picture show, I'm too tired to go tonight."  Often if he three of us were home alone, Dad would say, "Sis, run up and get us an ice cream cone."  There was Gunderson's Candy Store a block and a half east of our home and it sure got a lot of Dad's money.

Dad was the boss and all we kids knew it.  If there was any arguing or quarreling going on up at the house, Dad was soon up there straightening us all up. Dad handled the money and if we ever wanted money for a show ticket or whatever, we had to ask Dad and he wasn't one to hand it over very freely.  I'm sure this was the way Mother wanted it.

Dad loved to entertain and play with his children and grandchildren, telling ghost stories, romping on the floor with them.  He would get on his knees under the big dining room table and walk it all around the room.  Mother would hold her ears when the kids would start to scream and yell.  The year 1918 when the whole family had the flu and we were all quarantined, he put up a big swing in the shop and built a whirly-gig out in the garden spot.  When almost everyone had the flu, Dad would go with Dr. Syndergaard to the homes of the sick in Mt. Pleasant and the neighboring towns.  Sometimes the horse and buggy would get stuck in the mud and Dad and the doctor would have to get out and lift the buggy up out of the mud.  Sometimes they would be gone all night.  A few weeks ago, an old neighbor, Ray Seely, told me about Dad coming down to their home in the middle of the night to borrow their old gray mare so he could go to Schofield to ber with Heber who had the flu.  The doctor had called and said Heber had taken a turn for the worse.  Dad rode all night long, but with Dad's faith and doctoring, Heber got well and was able to come home.  Dad was a good nurse and when we were sick, he usually was the one that nursed us.  I remember that he had a bottle of consecrated oil in the bedroom window.  He honored his Priesthood and used it whenever he felt it necessary. 

Dad was with the volunteer fire department most of his married life.  There were  many major fires, like the one in 1898 that destroyed most of the buildings on the north side of Main Street.  Also in 1930, Pat Cammer's barn burned with tow little ones, four and two years old in it.  Dad was the one that found them.  This really upset him for a long time.

Mt. Pleasant weathered three major flood in 1893, 1918,1946.  All went roaring down through the main section of town, distributing mud, rocks and debris on each side of Pleasant Creek, through homes, stores and streets.  The one in 1918 Louis Oldham lost his life.

The year Dad was born, 1872 the first post office was built in a small log building.  The same year the Indians and the white men signed a Peace Treaty ending the Black Hawk War.  The D & R,G Railroad started its run from Salt Lake to Mt.  Pleasant in 1890, as well as the telephone system from Fairview to Mt. Pleasant.  The first telephone and telegraph operator in Mt. Pleasant was Annie Johansen, (Little Annie) who was Dad's half sister.

In 1929 came the depression and the banks had to close their doors.  Some families went hungry, but not the N.C. Johansen family because of the storage that Dand and  Mother had on hand.  They had to help the married kids out with their little families.  Dad did have to drop all we kids life insurance and he borrowed money on his life insurance policy to pay his taxes on the land and home.  There just wasn't any money to be gotten.  He lost around $200.00 in the bank.  He did work for the farmers and they would pay him in produce which was anything from hay or grain to raspberries or honey.

Wednesday, October 22, 1941, was Dad's first trip to Salt Lake City.  He went with Gottfred and me into Granite Furniture Store to buy our furniture.  A few years later, he visited in there with LaRue and Bud.  Bud took him to all the interesting places.  He never stopped talking about what a good vacation he had.

Dad loved celebrations, like the 4th of July when he would put his anvil out in the middle of the road and at the break of dawn, he would blast off dynamite, waking up the whole town.  He was often duptized to help the town marshal at celebrations.  He was often called to serve on the jury, which he said he didn't like.  He was water master for many years, served on the stove committee for the old folks part, was president of the committee in getting the old folks pension into effect before we had social security.

Dad was large in stature, over six feet, weighing from 225 to 250 pounds, a giant of a man.  As long as I can remember, he wore a mustache and he loved to make the ends curl.  He wore a cul on the top of his head, as his hair was quite wavy.  His family broke his heart many times, but he still stood by them supporting them in all things.  He loved them very much.

In later years, Dad didn't have mujch to live on.  I asked him once why he didn't collect some of the money that the farmers owed him.  H had two record books in the shop.  When he did work for someone, he would write their name and what he had done  in one of the books.  Then when they paid him, he would cross their name off.  There were many names that weren't crossed off.  He said, "I guess they have paid me and I've forgotten to cross their names off, if not, it doesn't really matter, they are all honest men."  I remember him burning the one. but I believe he kept the other one.  Maybe he did believe that some of them owed him.

I don't remember of Dad being sick much of the time, only the spring he would get really sick with the hives.  They found out later that it was the fruit which seeds that was causing them. By not eating those fruits he was okay.  In his later years he had arthritis really bad and all I remember he did for it was a copper bracelet on each wrist.

Dad was a frank, plain-spoken person, kind, homest and full of fun.  He was respected and loved by his family and friends.  He retired in 1944 and passed away November 11, 1947.