Home of Caratat Conderset Rowe Jr. and wife Tryphena Marie ~~~ Researched and Compiled by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

History of Mt. Pleasant's Doughboy

"Doughboy"is an informal term for a member of the United States Army or Marine Corps. Today it is especially used to refer to members of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. (A popular mass-produced sculpture of the 1920s, the Spirit of the American Doughboy,   
Courtesy of Wikipedia 



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The following comes from History of Mt. Pleasant.

World War

When the United States entered the World War, the people of Mt. Pleasant loyally responded to every call, and made a record of which it may well be proud. One hundred and eighteen boys enlisted from Mt. Pleasant, and a number of Mt. Pleasant's sons enlisted from other communities. As the boys, one by one or in groups, boarded the train, great crowds, although sad at heart, cheered them as they left for the front. Three of the number died in service. Ralph Braby, while in California, was drowned, Jacob Hafen died of disease, and Henry Merville Zabriskie was killed in action, over seas.

The Sanpete County Council of Defense was organized as follows: J. W. Cherry, chairman; Burke McArthur, secretary; Ed. Johnston, treasurer; Committee chairmen, Finance, N. S. Niel­sen; Publicity, ,Burke McArthur; Legal, J. W. Cherry; Sanitation and Medicine, Ed. Johnston; Food supply and conservation, L. R. Anderson; Industrial survey, Orlando Bradley; Labor, Christian Willardsen; Military affairs, J. Morgan Johnson; State protection, H. R. Thomas; Survey of man power, L. P. Brady; Woman's work, Mrs. G. W. Martin.

In June 1918, there were deposited in the Mt. Pleasant Com­mercial and Savings Bank, by Mr. N. S. Nielsen, county chairman of finance, to the credit of W. G. McAdoo, treasurer of the Nation­al American Red Cross, seven thousand five hundred dollars.



The citizens went over the top in the various other drives conducted. Liberty bonds, postal savings, Soldier's Welfare Re­lief, Christmas boxes, tobacco, conservation of food, etc.

Local committees were organized, among them the local Red Cross. The officers of this organization visited the neighboring cities, Fairview, Fountain Green, Moroni, Wales, Chester and Spring City, and in cooperation with them, purchased material and sewed articles called for. There were checked out something over $3.000, which had been obtained by weekly canvasses made by wo­men and girls, and by other volunteer donations other than the National drives. Mt. Pleasant headquarters were established at about 122 West Main, where the women, some representing differ­ent organizations, met and did sewing, etc., required. Many ship­ments of goods were made. The officers at this time were: C. L. Johns, president; Mrs. Grace Madsen and Miss Irene Nielsen, vice presidents; Miss Hilda Madsen, secretary and treasurer.



Mt. Pleasant History (1939) pp 199-200 by Hilda Madsen Longsdorf

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The original location of the Dough Boy was right in the center of the intersection of State Street and Main Street.

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 Honoring all soldiers in all wars .

"To Honor Those Who Left Our Midst To Fight For Freedom" 

In 2008 the "old armory" now recreation center  was given the artist touch with Soldiers from all wars painted on the south exterior wall. 

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Journey of Faith ~~~ Erick and Caroline Gunderson

With permission of David R. Gunderson, we include the following book to our blog.   I will do a few increments at a time, as I have done with the Andrew Madsen and James Monsen histories.  I will also paste the pages over to David's own blog page: http://davidrgunderson.blogspot.com/

When there are attachments noted, I will provide a link.  I have also included the index, as it will show what is coming up down the road.  This book will be of interest to not only the Gunderson Family but also to the Brotherson, Ericksen, Peel,   Madsen, Larsen and more.

See Attachments :
29: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=823365018368490611#editor/target=page;pageID=8954331665718716211
  30: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=823365018368490611#editor/target=page;pageID=3151074452049021063;onPublishedMenu=pages;onClosedMenu=pages;postNum=1;src=link

31: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=823365018368490611#editor/target=page;pageID=5664710933502724662;onPublishedMenu=allpages;onClosedMenu=allpages;postNum=0;src=link 

Spring City on KUED

  

Stephen C. Jacobsen, Engineer, Roboticist and Biomedical Pioneer passed away at 75.

Shared by David R. Gunderson

a cousin

  Steve was the son of Evelyn (Madsen) and Charles Jacobsen of Mt. Pleasant.

Stephen C. Jacobsen, Engineer, Roboticist and Biomedical Pioneer passed away at 75.

Jacobsen, Distinguished Professor of Engineering at the University of Utah, was at the forefront of robotic and biomedical device design.

He was the biomechanical engineer behind a number of firsts in medicine: the first artificial heart implanted in a human, the first artificial wearable kidney, and the Utah Arm, which allowed amputees to precisely control an artificial arm with tiny twitches of a chest or shoulder muscle.

Like Tony Stark, the inventor-entrepreneur in “Iron Man,” Jacobsen often took on whimsical design challenges just for the fun of it. His most successful company, Sarcos (now Raytheon-Sarcos), founded in 1983, built mechanized dinosaurs for the Universal Orlando “Jurassic Park” ride and the animatronic pirates for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride at Disney theme parks. His company was also commissioned by Wet Design to engineer the robotic controllers for the spectacular Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas.

“The robot we built for Bellagio weighed 700,000 pounds with 125 individual robotic fountains that collectively had 1,130 motions that were under control,” Jacobsen told a Salt Lake Tribune reporter in 2011.

Jacobsen assembled eclectic teams of engineers, prototype builders, programmers and artists to dazzle military leaders with innovative solutions for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) challenges. For remote surveillance in enemy territory, one team designed a pole-climbing, robotic snake mounted with a spy camera. But the invention that continues to receive the most YouTube love, with well over a million views, is the Sarcos exoskeleton suit. This wearable robot suit power-assists soldiers so that they can repeatedly pick up heavy pallets of supplies without tiring. The online videos of this technology were so impressive, that the production artists for the “Iron Man” film visited Sarcos to get ideas for the film.

“You’re carrying yourself; the robotic suit carries the load,” Jacobsen said in a 2010 interview.

Jacobsen was also a pioneer in the development of extremely small medical devices and surgical tools. He designed micro-pumps for the wearable drug delivery and blood-chemistry sensing. He refined wearable monitoring systems for remotely assessing the location and physiological state of soldiers in the field. He developed a surgical guide wire and catheter that enables less invasive neurological procedures. And he built prototypes of miniature cameras that could be swallowed or inserted into a body to wirelessly transmit photos of organs, bones, and other biological systems.

Jacobsen was born in Salt Lake City on July 15, 1940. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father was a commercial artist and amateur inventor. Jacobsen grew up around tools and had a passion for taking things apart to see how they worked.

“As a teenager, he completely disassembled an MG sports car in our basement, then painstakingly put it back together again,” said his sister, Charlyn Dalebout.

Jacobsen majored in mechanical engineering at the University of Utah, but at the end of his junior year university administrators asked him to leave because of poor grades and an unfortunate practical joke that resulted in a large explosion in the engineering building.

He was given a second chance by Wayne Brown, Ph.D., former dean of engineering, who called him into his office and said, “Steve, you are the smartest kid I have ever had the privilege of teaching. If you can keep a ‘B’ average, we’ll get you back into school and get you a degree.”

Jacobsen graduated in 1970 and went on to get a masters degree under the mentorship of surgeon Willem J. Kolff, M.D., and engineer-physician Clifford Kwan-Gett, M.D. Both were doing pioneering work on mechanical hearts and kidneys in a new division of artificial organs at the University of Utah. Jacobsen did early prototyping on what eventually became the Jarvik-7, the first artificial heart to be successfully implanted in a human.

“Steve saw beauty in nature and in motion, especially in the motion of mechanical devices,” Kwan-Gett said.

Jacobsen was accepted into the engineering Ph.D. program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under the direction of Robert Mann, Ph.D., the renowned engineer and rocket scientist who designed some of the first electro-mechanical artificial limbs and prostheses. In this lab Jacobsen learned the complex algorithms for robotic control theory and how to apply them to body mechanics. He shared an office and design ideas with Woodie Flowers, now an MIT professor emeritus and the former host for the PBS television series “Scientific American Frontiers.”

“Steve could see so many things at once. He saw parallels that crossed domains. His limit pushing was infectious,” said Flowers.

He is survived by his wife, Lynn Jacobsen; his sister, Charlyn Dalebout; and two children Peter Jacobsen and Genevieve Boyles; and two grandchildren, Aiden and Avery Boyles.

Jacobsen’s impact has been recognized through many national and state awards. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists. He won the Leonardo Da Vinci Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Pioneer of Robotics Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and the Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology. In 2012, Jacobsen received one of five “Most Prolific Inventor Awards” by the University of Utah’s Technology Commercialization Office for having more than 200 inventions. He was recently honored with the Utah Genius Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the University of Utah Innovation and Impact Award. He has held the rank of distinguished professor in Mechanical Engineering since 1996, research professor for the Department of Bioengineering since 1983 and research professor for the Department of Computer Science since 1992. He was the director for the Center for Engineering Design between 1973 and 2007. He has 170 technical publications, 276 technical invited presentations, more than 200 patents issued in the U.S., 123 foreign patents, and 50 trademarks issued. He is the founder of nine companies (Sterling Research Corp., Raytheon-Sarcos, Sarcos Research Corp., Micro-Drugs, Inc., Eye-Port Corp., Motion Control, Inc., IOMED, Inc., MicroJect Corp., Precision Vascular Systems, Inc.).

YouTube Video of Madsen Sheep Camp

So You Want To Be a Blacksmith

Utah Becomes A State

45 Star Flag

Deseret Evening News   January 4, 1896

Salt Lake Herald January 10, 1896

In 1896, Utah, the third state in the Union to grant woman suffrage, was admitted as the forty-fifth state in the Union, and Heber M. Wells was the first Governor of Utah chosen by the people.

History of Mt. Pleasant p 177

Hilda Madsen Longsdorf

Sculptor Cyrus Dallin, sculptor of Paul Revere

Please Click Here: Sculptor Cyrus Dallin, sculptor of Paul Revere, honored in North End on 150th birthday

And Why Do We Share This With You?

 Cyrus Dallin was a nephew of our own Cyrus Wheelock and spent time here in Mt. Pleasant.  He is found on page  305 of the Mt. Pleasant History:

  The men and women who took part in our theatricals during the early years of our dramatic efforts to render public service. The real leader and organizing genius was the Englishman, John Wallis, who had con­siderable ability and did much towards securing the formation of an efficient troop. Assisting him were the following gentle­men, according to my recollection: J. A. F. Beaumann, Alma Bennett, R. N. Bennett, W. W. Brandon, John Carter, Thomas Fuller, Henry Larter, Christopher Johnson, Gus Johnson, H. P. Jensen, Albert Candland, Thomas Gledhill, John Dallin, Cyrus Dallin, Orson Lee, William McArthur, William Morrison, James Reynolds, Bent Rolphson, Alof Rosenlof, Allen Rowe, William Rowe, Conderset Rowe, Joseph Gribble, John H. Seeley, Hans Han­sen, James Wishaw, Richard Westwood, and Cap Clem.

Biography courtesy Springville Museum of Art.

Cyrus Dallin was born in Springville, Utah, in 1861. His talent for modeling with clay was discovered while he was young. Friends later put money together and sent him to Boston in 1880 to train with the sculptor Truman A. Bartlett. He traveled to Paris in 1887 and studied at the Academie Julian. Successful in his studies in Paris, he was accepted into the Paris Salon where he won an honorable mention.

By 1900, Dallin was a teacher at the Massachusetts State Normal Art School, and the recipient of a contract for a monumental statue of Paul Revere to be placed in downtown Boston. He began his work on Paul Revere in 1883. A first through fifth model had been created during years of frustration, until the commission approved his final version in 1899. It took another 40 years to get the monument erected on the Paul Revere Mall near Old North Church in 1940. The Paul Revere statue, as well as those of Jane Dallin (1904), Scout (1910), and Appeal to the Great Spirit (life size at the Museum of Fine arts, Boston, 1912), are typical Dallin works of generalized dignity.

On a 1903 trip to his home town, Cyrus Dallin was invited to make an inspirational speech to the town's students; he agreed, and during the lecture, became sufficiently moved by the example his own success could provide that he offered to donate the plaster model for this fifth Paul Revere to the Springville schools.

Dallin came back to Utah every now and then, as he did for the unveiling of his Moroni atop the Salt Lake Temple in 1892-93. However, this former Utahn remained in the East, where he pursued a rather happy artist's life, riding on the crest of the popular vogue. He won a gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition for Sioux Chief, and at about the same time designed the model for a large Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors Monument , which won first prize in a 1906 competition.

Another major Dallin work that he had started in the late teens and completed in 1921, is Massasoit, which overlooks Plymouth Bay in Massachusetts. Another casting of the figure stands in front of the Utah State Capitol Building.

Dallin produced most of his work in the East, and in 1923 he received a master's degree from Tufts College, and in 1936 Boston University bestowed an honorary doctorate upon the "Old American Master." In 1943, at the age of 82, the artist died at his home in Arlington Heights, Massachusetts. The sculptor is often remembered for the words he spoke on his final trip west in 1942, "I have received two college degrees . . . besides medals galore, but my greatest honor of all is that I came from Utah."

Cyrus Dallin was born in Springville, Utah in 1861. Two circumstances of his early life in the western wilderness profoundly influenced him - the proximity of the little log cabin where he was born to the lofty Wasatch Mountains, and his familiarity with the Indians in their native haunts. The first awakened and fostered in him a love for sublimity of form; and the second furnished him with an unfailing source of material for his creative work.

A the age of eighteen, Dallin went to Boston to begin his art studies. In 1888, he went to Paris, where he remained until 1890, studying at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and at Academie Julien under Henri Chapu. He returned to America in 1890 and moved to Massachusetts.

Cryus Dallin not only created statues of Native Americans, but he was also well know for his portrait statues. Among these are: Sir Isaac Newton for the Congressional Library in Washington D.C., General Hancock in Gettysburg, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. The principal monuments executed by Dallin are the Pioneer Monument in Salt Lake City, and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Syracuse, New York.

Cryus Dallin has received many medals and honors both in America and in Europe. Among his many awards are a gold medal from the American Art Association of New York in 1888, a first class medal in 1893 from the Chicago Exposition, and a gold medal in 1904 at the St. Louis Exposition. In 1909 he received a gold medal from the Paris Salon, an honor which had then been conferred on only six American sculptors.

Home of Mons N. Norman and wife Julia Charlotte Johanson ~~~ Researched and Compiled by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

Hamilton Grade 8 ~~~~ circa 1910 ?.......Unknown Year

Eleanor Augusta Dehlin Erickson,

Eleanor Augusta Dehlin Erickson, 1862-1940

Contributed By Kristi Guerrette · 16 March 2014 · 0 Comments

"I was born in Salt Lake City, "somewhere on State Street" on 6 Aug.1862. My parents were Paul Paulsson Dehlin and Elna Waldemar Dehlin who immigrated to Utah from Malmohus, Sweden sometime during the 1850s. I remember nothing of the house there. The family moved to Mount Pleasant, Utah, and this is my first recollection. Before I was old enough to go to school I used to go to the neighbor's house and sing for them by the hour. I sat in their big armchair in front of a large fireplace. In the evening one of the boys, Willie Rowe, would carry me home --- so you see I was just small. I must have started school before I was six years old, because I don't ever remember not being able to read. My teacher was "Auntie Hyde". The schoolhouse was a small log building with rough slabs for the benches, no backs, and no tables except a long ledge built along one side of the room. When I was about 11 years old, a certain Mr. Rowley, who was blind, came from Provo to teach someone to play the organ for the choir. They chose Tina Morrison, Celia Jensen and myself to learn. He wrote out the manuscript and told me to watch the notes as he played the melody. Of course, I had a good ear for music and I learned the pieces by ear very quickly. Gradually the other two stopped taking the lessons and the full burden was left to me. I wasn't satisfied to play by ear alone, so any time I could get books on the rudiments of music, I would study them. I put this knowledge and what I could learn by myself together and in that way I figured out what I know today. I never really had any formal lessons or training in learning to play the piano. I have put in over 50 years of Church playing during my life: choir, Sunday School, Mutual, and Relief Society. In the choir work I sometimes did both the conducting and the accompanying at the same time. My closest friends when I was young were Hulda Neilsen and Louise Neilsen. They were not related although they were both my cousins --- one on my mother's side of the family, and one on my father's. My mother died when I was only seven years old. Two years after she died my father went on a mission to Sweden. Edith and I stayed with Aunt Olive Neilsen while he was away. He was back from his mission only two years when he took sick and died. I was only 13 at the time. He had married again, but we girls never lived with him and his new wife. We had a house of our own across the lot from them. Sometimes he lived with us before he died. After his death, Hilda taught school and supported us. Little girls should never mind doing dishes today with plenty of soap and water and good dishtowels. Cloth was so scarce in those days. We would rinse the dishcloth real good and wipe the dishes on that, instead of a towel. Aunt Olive raised one of her babies with only three diapers. Mr. MacMillan, a Presbyterian minister, had a school near his church there in Mt. Pleasant. Hilda taught for him sometime, and then, on the advice of the Church Authorities, she took the position in the Mormon Church school. There was such a crowd of children that the school couldn't accommodate them all, so I took the overflow class when I was just 14 years of age. There were thirty or forty odd pupils in the class which I taught. The Church rented a room close to the school for the overflow class. Mr. MacMillan offered to send me to college and give me a musical education provided I would spend five years teaching for the Presbyterian school. I felt I could remain true to my own belief and still work in another church, but my sisters and guardians were strongly opposed to it, so I reluctantly gave up the offer. Mr. MacMillan seemed to understand, however, and was always most kind to me. Knowing how I loved reading, he made an effort to direct my reading. All my life I have held him in high esteem. In 1879, at seventeen years of age, I attended the University of Deseret in Salt Lake City, where I took the regular course. My father's two sisters, Aunt Olive and Aunt Tildy, saw that I received this training. When I returned home, I taught the school that was in the Social Hall where I had between fifty and sixty pupils. At that time, I was eighteen years of age." (The story of Augusta's life thus far was as she personally told it to her granddaughter, Margaret Erickson Young, daughter of Alif Dehlin Erickson (Lief), eldest son of Augusta. when Margaret lived with Grandma and Grandpa Erickson in Raymond to take her 12th grade of schooling in 1933 - 34. The outline was found upon her death in one of her drawers, and compiled by Augusta's eldest daughter, Elna Erickson Bennett, and her daughter, Catherine B. Masters.) The story continues in Elna's words: "Augusta and Alif Erickson ("Ma and Pa") were married 5 Jan.1882. They met in Mt. Pleasant. They drove in a wagon to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City (about 100 miles) for their marriage so they could be married for Time and all Eternity. The Salt Lake Temple was not finished at that time. They lived in Mt. Pleasant. Their first child, a daughter, named Elna Augusta was born 6 Nov. 1883 and their second daughter, Ina Mae came to join them on 19 Dec. 1885. Alif was called to serve on a mission in Norway on April 9, 1889. Elna was five and Ina three when he left. He sold a team of horses and a wagon to help finance himself. While he was gone, "Ma "taught at the Seminary, gave music lessons and played in a dance orchestra to help support us and him. Ina and I stayed alone at night and tended ourselves."Ma" would just tell us where she was going, turn out the light and go ---we were not afraid. "Pa" was gone for two and a half years, and when he returned, the family got to go to meet him at the train at the Thistle station about thirty miles north of Mt. Pleasant. When "Pa" left for his mission, "Ma" wouldn't go to Moroni to see him off. She wanted to say goodbye at home. So Uncle Ed took a two-wheeled cart, horse drawn, and took me along. Just the two of us took "Pa" to Moroni. While he was on his mission, the railroad was put in. The railroad company wished to buy part of our farmland as a right of way for the railroad. "Ma" sold it to them. She had to forge "Pa's" name to do it, and the railroad company appreciated it, so in return for this kindness they gave the family a pass to go to Thistle to meet "Pa". I always had this over Ina. I was the last one to see him go, and the first to recognize him when he returned. He was wearing a black Van Dyke beard and Ina didn't know him. "I can see him! --I can see him, "Ma!"-----"Oh, you can't either. You won't know him." ----But I did! "Pa" was a farmer when he and "Ma" were married. When he returned from Norway, he and Uncle Henry started "The Erickson Meat and Grocery Store" in Mt. Pleasant. It was called a Green Grocery because it was the only store which sold fresh fruits (bananas and oranges) and vegetables. "Pa" was always interested in cattle. He would have to go out and get meat for the store. He would be up at five and work until dark. He was seldom able to attend Church."Ma' became very tired of the Sunday work, and when the Church advertised for settlers for Canada (Southern Alberta), "Pa" went up to see the country. He made the trip with Moroni Seeley and August Nelson. They went on the train and were gone two weeks. He was impressed with the straw stacks. He was asked why he went up there in the wintertime. His answer was, "I am sure I can stand the summers if I can take the winters."

By now there were five children in the family: myself, Ina, Lief, Daisy and Allan. Ina and I remained in Mt. Pleasant for the time being. Allie and I had married and we had our first baby, Norma, who was only about seven months old. Allie went with "Pa" and the other families. A train was chartered and five families went. They took their furniture, cattle, and everything they owned. There was one coach for the people. They settled in Stirling."Ma" and :Pa" left behind a beautiful new home. It was built of white pressed brick in 1900. There was a new bath, new range, rugs, piano ---everything so lovely ---it was one of the nicest in the town, and was the first to have a bathroom. There were four bedrooms with a beautiful winding stairway. A big watertank pumped water in from the well, and we had a cesspool and a kitchen sink. There was no furnace but "Pa" had planned to put one in. "Pa" said if "Ma" wanted to stay, he would go to Canada alone but she said 'No, she wanted to be with him' so the lovely home was sold. In 1955 I got to go through the home again. It had the same bathroom fixtures and pantry. Allie and I were in Mt. Pleasant visiting and as we were driving by, Allie stopped the car and said he just wanted to look. He went up and rang the doorbell and told the lady, "I was married in that front room." The lady invited us in and took us through the whole house.It was a very happy experience for both of us. The home made quite an impression on the people of the town. Daisy was only about ten when she asked,"Ma" ---"Ma" --are we rich?" ----"NO, NO, we aren't." "All the girls in school think we are." -----"Well, we aren't".---"I'm sure glad they don't know we're as poor as we are." We all laughed about this. The Ericksons lived in Stirling from 1903 until 1910. Alif had been homesteading about 20 miles east in Wrentham but Allie and I had moved to Raymond, about 7 miles west of Stirling, and since Daisy and Ina were both working in Raymond, "Ma" and "Pa" decided to move to Raymond also. Ina and Daisy eventually moved back to Utah, marrying fellows from there. Lief was later settled on the Stirling farm and Allan on the Wrentham one. "Ma" and "Pa" bought a nice home right across the street from Allie and I, where they lived until they were taken in death."Ma", who had played for the choir since she was 12 years old, was organist for both the Ward and the Stake until she was 65 years old. Then Emma Dahl took over in the ward, and N. Lorenzo Mitchell became the stake organist. She was chorister in both ward and stake Relief Society for many years. There was always someone in her home to practise ---either a quartette, a duet, a solo--whatever. When I was a very small girl I made up my mind that when I got my own home, I would never leave dirty dishes for my children to do. All those years I was growing up, "Ma" was always busy giving music lessons or practising as an accompanist with a person or a group, and I think she liked playing the piano better than she liked doing the dishes because that was always my job. I remember staying up so late at night ---so tired, and longing to go to bed, but I had to wait for "Ma" to eat, but while she was at the piano I cleaned up the dishes although sometimes I was so tired I could scarcely keep my eyes open. Having not forgotten this, I have always done my dishes even though I might have to leave other housework for my children to do after school. (End of Elna's story. Continued by Elna's daughter, Catherine Bennett Masters): Grandma Erickson was a quiet, pleasant woman. She was about 5'4" tall and 'a little wide'. She had beautiful long dark hair, which she usually wore in a bun on the top of her head. I remember her brushing it ---she'd brush it forward over her face and it would nearly touch the floor. When she died at 78, she had more brown hair than grey. We used to love to go over to her home and listen to her play the piano, and accompany herself and Grandpa as they sang duets. She sang in a strong mellow alto voice and Grandpa had a beautiful tenor voice, both of them always right on key. They loved to sing together and were asked to perform often. I remember Grandma's Swedish pancakes ---how one of them completely filled her big iron skillet. Mom never made this kind of pancakes so they were a real treat to us. Two more of her specialties were her Christmas cakes and puddings. On a planned day in the fall she would walk across the street to our house, hair freshly done up in a bun, a clean apron covering her house dress, ready to put the holiday goodies together. Each one usually took the better part of one day. After she died, Mom continued on alone. It had become a family tradition. Those cakes and puddings were the very best in the world. I have never tasted any that were any better. We kids would often go over to her place to take milk or fresh butter, or freshly baked bread or the mail and she would often ask us to stay and eat with them. We were shy and would usually say 'No, we were not hungry', then Grandpa would grin and reply, "Any day I'd rather feed a man who admits he's hungry than one who says he isn't. The one who says he isn't hungry always eats the most." Grandma was an avid reader. She would read by the hour while Grandpa was working in the garden and the yard. He always arose about four or five each morning in the summer time, and then by seven at night, although it was still very light outside, he would be in bed. Grandma would sit up until late every night reading, doing some handwork and listening to the ten o'clock news, and then she'd sleep until ten the next morning. She had cataracts on both eyes, had surgery to have them removed and suffered a great deal from this. But the suffering didn't disturb her as much as the fact that she could no longer read with ease. For much of the time she had to be content with just listening to the news on the radio. Sometimes she struggled to read with a big round magnifying glass. Her beloved Etudes (music magazines) would sit stacked up in the front room on a chair or on top of her music cabinet and gather dust --- magazines she had spent so many hours pouring through when her sight was better. She had some sort of infection, probably sinus, that caused her severe headaches. She couldn't tolerate cold air and remained inside the house a good deal, especially in the winter time. This was in the last years of her life. It was very hard for Grandma when Grandpa had his stroke. It happened in July of 1939. He and Grandma had just finished entertaining their Johansen friends from Cardston area, and had sung several duets for them. The company had barely left when Grandpa began acting very strange and was forced to lie down on the living-room couch. The doctor was called and we were told he had suffered a stroke. Weeks later he got so he could walk over to our place but his left side never fully recovered. His leg dragged, his arm was unsteady, and his face, mostly his eye, was affected. Suddenly, after years of being waited on by her husband, Grandma now found the tables turned. It was now necessary for her to do the "waiting" on him. We always thought Grandma would be the first to go because she had had so many health problems over the years. By Christmas time he was completely bed-ridden and finally passed away on the 24th of January 1940. Grandma had been so involved in helping Mom take care of him she was heard to say at his passing,"I hope the Lord will take me fast when it is time for me to go. I don't want to linger and have to have loved ones wait on me day and night. I don't want to be a burden on anyone." She was given her wish. One afternoon that fall she went to her garden to gather potatoes for her dinner. She was carrying them in her apron. As she walked up her stairs to the back door, she suddenly fell forward. Gen, who lived in the other part of her house, and a neighbor, John Kimball, carried her into the house and she was pronounced dead by the doctor when he arrived shortly afterwards. In death she looked so beautiful and peaceful, just like she was sleeping. She had gone so suddenly and looked so natural. This was such a sharp contrast to the way Grandpa looked when he was laid away. He had been ill for so long and was so thin we could hardly believe it was him. As I look back, I am so proud of the manner in which Mother and Dad took care of Grandma and Grandpa Erickson in their later years. Each fall as Dad and the boys filled our coalhouse to ensure us a warm house all winter, they always brought another load or two for our grandparents across the street. As they grew too old to care for their cows and chickens on their own, eggs and fresh milk always found their way across the street to them. Each spring, when loads of manure was hauled from the farm onto our town garden, some of it was always taken to their garden. Many times Mom sent us girls over to to help Gram can her vegetables and fruit. One thing I remember especially was helping her with her pickled beets. As long as a beet was in her garden, we'd can beets! Each fall when sugar and flour and oatmeal and other staples were purchased in 100 lb. sacks for our winter supply, enough always went across the street. I remember Dad asking, "How much will "Ma' and "Pa" need?" when the buying was done or as pig or a beef was slaughtered. Seldom did we eat Sunday dinner without them, and Mother was often heard to say,"I wonder how "Ma" is fixed for bread." when she took her own out of the oven, or "fixed for butter" as she finished churning her cream into butter. Grandpa always loved the fresh, cold buttermilk --- the best drink in the world when he was all hot from mowing his lawn or working in his garden. For several years each Friday after school, I ran over and did the weekly cleaning for Grandma so I would be free to work on Mom's house on Saturday. Mother did their weekly wash for years ---until Gen married and moved into the other part of Gram's house. Then she took over the washing and ironing, much of the cooking and, of course, the cleaning. When Grandma and Grandpa were younger and had better health, they often spent their winters in Utah with Daisy and Ina. They would generally stay until spring, and come home in time for the Old Folks' Party near the end of March. At about this time each year, Mother would send Gen, Bernie and I over to clean up their house. It was quite an experience. There were stacks of old newspapers, paper sacks and empty boxes to burn. Gram was an avid stringsaver. She would wind any piece, no matter how long or how short, into a ball; and we would find string balls all over the house. We had the best fires in her kitchen range, getting rid of all the stuff that we were certain she would never use. If they hadn't gone to Utah every so often, there may not have been room for our grandparents in those rooms! We really cleaned everything out, but I don't think either of them missed the things we did away with. I like to remember Grandma when she was at her beautiful piano practising with someone or playing as she and Grandpa sang duets. They knew many. I particularly loved to hear Grandpa sing, "The other day I nearly found a quarter I've never been so near a thing before (can't remember this line) And with a string they hauled it back again." The other one I remember was one he sang in Norwegian. We had no idea what the song was about but it sounded like "Frog on manure, Fort Mindy adore". I wonder if any in the family but Grandpa knew what it meant. Then there was the cute little chuckle Gram had when she told a joke. She loved to tell the funny things her grandchildren did and said. Sometimes she would be so tickled that tears would run down her cheeks.

Alif Erickson

Alif Erickson

Contributed By Kristi Guerrette · 16 March 2014 · 0 Comments

by Margaret Young, a granddaughter

Erickson Meat and Grocery

"Alif Erickson, of the Erickson Meat and Grocery Company, was the son of Henry and Ingeborg. He was born in Spanish Fork, Utah, on July 14, 1858, being the seventh child of eight children born to Henrik Erickson and Ingeborg Gunderson. They were converted to the LDS Church in Norway, and later, immigrated to America. In 1860, when he was just two years old, the family moved to Mt. Pleasant where he was raised as a farmer."

I have no information at all on his childhood years, but I do know that his father,Henrik Eriksen was born in Asmundhavn, Senlov, Norway on 4 October,1818, that he married Ingeborg Gunderson in Risor, Norway on 17 December, 1840, that they had three children who died in infancy in Norway, and that they brought two children, a boy (Erick Bertle) and a girl (Torberg Elizabeth) with them when they came to America. I know they crossed the plains in the middle 1850s because I have found a record of that crossing on microfilm. His brother, Henry, was born in Lehi in 1856 and he was born two years later at Spanish Fork and his younger brother, Edward, was born in 1860 at Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete Co., Utah, according to the family group sheets I have from my father, Alif Dehlin Erickson. From this, I must assume that Henrik brought his wife and two young children - a boy and a girl, came across the plains about 1855 or 1856, in time for Henry to be born at Lehi on 28 July 1856. From there, they must have journeyed southward to Spanish Fork where my grandfather, Alif, was born on 14 July, 1858. Four years later, in 1862, the last child, Edward Allen, was born in Mount Pleasant; they, having lived there for about two years. In 1864, Alif's father died suddenly from diphtheria, leaving Ingeborg with 4 boys and a girl to support, so we may well imagine that these children learned early how to work and assume responsibility and to help manage the affairs around the family home. Again, according to the information I have, Erick would have been nearly 14, and Torberg Elizabeth nearly 11 when they came across the plains in 1855, so they were both substantially older than Alif, who was only 2 when they moved to Mount Pleasant; in which case , these two older children would be well into their teen years before their father passed away and old enough to be good help to their mother when she was widowed.

Eleanor Augusta Dehlin

I also know that Alif was married to Eleanor Augusta Dehlin in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on 5 January, 1882. Augusta was the third daughter of Paul Paulson Dehlin and Elna Waldemar Dehlin who had immigrated from Sweden to America shortly after the gospel was preached in Sweden in the early 1850s. Augusta was born "somewhere on State Street" in Salt Lake City on 6 August, 1862 according to her words. They also went to settle in Mount Pleasant when she was a very small child, so they would have to have met during their growing up years in Mount Pleasant. When Alif began to work for himself, he purchased a farm, a nice 80 acre tract. He was a member of the city council for three years and served with C.W. Peterson. In the Wrentham History book, my Uncle Allan states that he was Sheriff of Sanpete County for a time. He opened the Erickson Meat and Grocery Co. in partnership with his brother, Henry. Ferdinand Ericksen had a law office upstairs in the same building. ("Uncle Ferd", as we always heard him referred to in our family, was no relation, he being a Dane, but his family has always held close ties with ours, since his wife's sister (Aunt 'Mina) was married to Uncle Henry.) It was a fine brick building, and they had a good stock of fresh and canned meats, groceries and provisions. Alif's responsibility was to do the buying and slaughtering of the animals, so he always had many cattle and horses around his place. He was a stockholder in the Electric Light Company and Mt. Pleasant Roller Mills, of which he was a director; which, in my mind qualifies him as a public-spirited individual who was willing to give of his time to the community in which he lived. They had five children: Elna Augusta (Nell Bennett) born 6 November,1883; Ina Mae (Olsen) born 19 December, 1885; Daisy Genevieve (Carlson) born 2 February, 1892; Alif Dehlin Erickson, born 25 November, 1893; Oscar Allan Erickson, born 7 December, 1895. On 9 April, 1889, Alif was called on a mission to Norway, the home of his parents. He sold a fine team of horses and a wagon to help finance his mission. His wife, Augusta, who was talented in music, went to work teaching school, giving music lessons, and playing in a dance orchestra to take care of her needs and those of her two little girls. He was away for two and one half years, and when he returned, his oldest daughter was almost old enough to be baptized. They had lived in an adobe house up to this point, but by 1899 or 1900, Alif had a fine new modern brick home built beside the old one and reputed to be the first home in town with an indoor bathroom. Then he bought his wife the best piano he could find in the country, according to his son, Alif Dehlin (Lief, my father). Around the turn of the century there was much talk of the opportunities available to settlers in Canada. So, in the winter of 1902, Alif came up to explore the prospects of bettering himself financially. He travelled by train, stayed two weeks, and said he needed to see the country in the winter because he knew he could stand the summers. He was favorably impressed, so after settling his affairs at home, he set out on a mixed train with five other families and all their earthly possessions for a destination in Canada. We can only imagine his wife's consternation when he decided to leave that fine, new house and start all over again in a strange new land. They loaded all their possessions onto a mixed train consisting of approximately twenty boxcars for the livestock, machinery and household effects, a passenger coach and a baggage car for the convenience of the people on the train. The people rode in the one passenger car, while the men rode with the animals, machinery and all the household effects, arriving at the Stirling Siding station in Northwest Territories, Canada on April 23, 1903, in company with the families of Moroni Seely, Oscar Barton, Peter Meiling, Nels Eliason, James Bradley, and Edward Erickson, a younger brother. Uncle Allan specifies 52 people coming on that train. My dad remembers how hard the wind was blowing the next morning after they arrived, compared to what he was used to in Utah. Alberta was not in their address yet, but was formed from a part of the Northwest Territories just two years later, in 1905. Alif had intended to settle in the Magrath area when he had seen it the year previous, but they had to unload everything from the train at Stirling because the railroad was not finished any farther, so he bought a small two roomed house on the west side of the village, which the family shared with the former owners for several weeks. They slept in a tent for most of the summer. They weathered the famous "May Snow Storm" of May 15th when they endured drifts 6-8 feet high with 3 feet on the level. The snow cover was so deep that it didn't even freeze the blossoms on the currant bushes and on the gardens. Many cattle and sheep were lost in the storm, but we were fortunate to have shelter in a barn for our animals so we didn't lose any. Two men of the Wrentham district lost their lives in that storm as they were herding their father's sheep. Many were the hardships which were common in those days! His first farm was a 40 acre parcel two miles south of the village, which he broke up with a walking plow and four mules. Later, he acquired another 40 acres adjoining it, and broke it up the same way. Much of his time was spent doing teamwork on the irrigation canal and breaking sod for others in order to get money to expand his own operations. By 1908, he had acquired a homestead near Wrentham (which his son, Allan, later owned), a quarter section west of Stirling (which his elder son, Lief, later bought and farmed until his eight children were grown), and later, two parcels of 80 acres each two miles farther west on which they raised hay. (They called it "The Hay Farm.") At the homestead, they began raising horses because there was almost unlimited free pasture on the prairies. He became prominent in the area for his good stock. He loved his animals and gave them the best of care. He had learned to be a shrewd business man and a hard worker. By being energetic and thrifty, he was gradually able to acquire enough of this world's goods to make his family comfortable. In 1910, he moved to Raymond to live because two of the girls were working there, and one was married there and they could all be together. Also, the Knight Academy was just completed and he had two boys old enough to take advantage of the education it offered them. But he continued his farming operations in the Stirling and Wrentham areas with the help of his two sons, using Raymond as his home base. Since, as was stated before, his wife, Augusta, was talented in music, she was very much involved with the people in the community as a church organist and choir director, a piano player in orchestras and programs, and also as a piano teacher. She was never too busy to give of her time to practise for the enjoyment of others. She instilled in many of her posterity, a real love for music of all types. Alif loved music and had a fine tenor voice. The two of them sang together to her accompaniments on the piano, and were invited to perform often in the three communities. They lived together in their home in Raymond until 1940, when Alif passed away following a stroke on January 24th at 81 years of age, and Augusta on October 10th in the same year at the age of 78. Grandpa Erickson was past 60 years old when I knew him, but I was impressed that he was a tireless worker. He always had a big vegetable garden and kept it carefully. He was generous in sharing his produce with others who needed it. Harvest time was always exciting for him, and he was always on hand to see that everything went on as it should and to help at whatever he was able to do. Since his experience was as a butcher in his younger years, he helped with the butchering on the farm until he had taught my dad what he knew, and he also taught him the fine points of curing of hams and bacon. He was always alert to opportunities that would assist him in providing a better life for his family. I remember meeting an old Raymond native in Calgary in the early 1980s, who had known the Ericksons there. At once, the thought came to him of a wonderful stallion my grandfather had which, to use his very words, "threw the best colts in the country". I I remembered this big roan horse around their place when I was very small. Grandpa used to lead him to drink at the watering trough each day, and stand and wait patiently for him to finish, he often trotted him around the yard for exercise when I thought he was too old to put himself through that. He spent a lot of time brushing and curry-combing his coat, all of which I thought, in those tender years, was too much work for him and that he would do better to get a "pet" that was easier to care for in his old age. Oh, the innocence of childhood! Times were often tough even in my childhood, but nothing compared to the early days in this country. Land had to be broken under adverse conditions, rocks had to be picked from the farmland without benefit of any modern labor-saving machinery which we know today, and life depended on the brute strength and determination one had to survive in a new country. My father and grandfather endured the scorching heat of summer, the chilling blasts of the Canadian winters, the incessant west wind, and often the raging prairie fires which swept through the country in the dry years. Life became better when they graduated to the use of horses in their farming operations, but nothing like the mechanized farm life we know today. How grateful we are for the folks who came early and stayed on to make it the wonderful place it is today! I join my dad as he said in the Wrentham History book-"Homestead Country, Wrentham, Alberta" "Dad, through his energy and thrift, gradually acquired the means to give us, as a family, some of the things that make life bearable and a little more meaningful, and I honor him for the good example he set for us."

The following Story is from Alice Peel Hafen 

In about 1885, Grandpa Ericksen (Henry Ericksen) and his brother Allif started a meat and grocery store in Mt. Pleasant. Grandpa managed the store while Alif ran the farm and livestock; buying, feeding and slaughtering for the store. They would notify the townspeople that on a certain day they were going to kill a beef in the evening and bring it to the store the next morning, so that people could get a "hunk" of meat.

There were steaks, roasts, boils, stews or hamburger - just a chunk of meat. They would start cutting just back of the ears and end at the hind shank. all the cuts sold for the same price per pound; whether it was the neck or the porter house. Then, to carry it home, the customer whittled a sharp stick, jabbed it in the piece of meat and went home to mama, to have it prepared for the family dinner. There was no paper, twine or plastic to wrap the piece of meat in.

In 1893, they built their store on Main Street and took in another partner; brother-in-law, Judge Ferdinand Ericksen. The store was incorporated as the Ericksen Meat and Grocery Co. Their store was in a two story brick building with a full basement. It was considered one of the finest institutions in the community.

Ferdinand Ericksen was a lawyer and occupied three rooms on the second floor for his law practice. The town doctor, Dr. W.W. Woodring, occupied the other two rooms on the second floor.

In 1920, Soren M. Nielson and Uncle Harry, Henry's son, bought the store. Then in 1925, Uncle Harry, bought Nielson's half interest and owned and managed the business alone. Uncle Harry put in about forty five years operating the store. They did their own slaughtering and feed their own livestock such as hogs, lambs and cattle. Before the meat packers came into the state, they shipped out daily loads of dressed meat to Salt Lake City, Bingham, Eureka and also Carbon County.

During those first twenty years of operation they started to make their own lunch meats, bologna, minced ham, corned beef, head cheese, hamburger and sausage. But when the big packers came into the state that phase of manufacturing was discontinued. Until 1925 they handled the livestock with a first class saddle horse. After that, motor trucks and trailers were used to move the livestock between range, feed lot and slaughter house.

Ice was used in the store coolers until 1915, when modern refrigeration was installed. Before that, ice blocks were stored in the ice house under sawdust, and used to refill the store's ice about once a week. With the advent of electric home refrigerators, the store discontinued using their own ice supply.

After Uncle Harry sold the store, there has been several companies using the Main Street building, including Al and Naomi Berti's Red and White store, Terrel's Red and White Store.

The Ericksen Meat and Grocery Co. had a lot of competitors come and go, but operated for over sixty two years. And since 1986 it has been the home of the Mt. Pleasant Pyramid, the local newspaper.