HISTORY OF MT. PLEASANT ~~~ WRITTEN BY HILDA MADSEN LONGSDORF 1939

 

BIOGRAPHY OF ELIZABETH HARVEY TIDWELL ~~~ Contributed by MJ Harvey

 

 

Allen Leon Beck ~~~ Former Mayor and Friend to All

 

Allan Leon Beck

4/28/1933 ~ 3/14/2023

Allan Leon Beck, 89, beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, passed away peacefully on March 14, 2023, at his home in Orem, Utah, surrounded by his family just short of his 90th birthday. Allan was born on April 28, 1933, to Earl Hafen Beck and Ruth Olsen Beck in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. He was one of five children, Earl Duane (passed at birth), Allan, Eldon, Earlene and Ruth Ann.

He grew up in Indianola, Utah, and was always very active and loved spending time outdoors, hunting, fishing, and playing football, basketball and track. He graduated from North Sanpete High School in 1951, and afterward attended the University of Utah in 1952. He served in the Utah National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve, spending time overseas in Taiwan. Allan was very proud to be a Veteran and had a great love for our nation’s flag.

He married his high school sweetheart Marian Ruth Nielson on June 4, 1953. They were married 25 years and were blessed with four children, Mark Allan, Malinda, Marianne and Matthew.

Allan had a love for learning and could build or fix anything he put his mind to. He built the first workable television in the area at Indianola in 1949. It is now in the Fairview Museum. He installed the first TV in Mt. Pleasant at Herman Beck’s home before TV stations moved their transmitting stations high on the Oquirrh Mountains west of Salt Lake City.

He founded Beck’s TV, a local business in Mt. Pleasant in 1958. His son Mark Allan took over the family business in 1980 and it continues today as a retail home furnishings business on Main Street.

In January 1958, he engineered and installed Sanpete County’s first television translator relay site, located at the base of the mountain east of Mt. Pleasant. This translator station made TV possible for Mt. Pleasant and surrounding towns and is still functioning today.

He held many offices in the Chamber of Commerce, including the president. He was a charter member of JC’s and the Sanpete County Search & Rescue and held several offices in both organizations. He served as Mayor of Mt. Pleasant (1978-1980) and worked hard to make improvements to the city, including the municipal sewer system and settling ponds west of the airport. He also was able to get the airport improved from gravel to a paved landing surface.

On July 23, 1980, he married the love of his life Betty Moulton Harvey at “The Lake” in Indianola, Utah, and increased his family by two children, Craig and Katie Sue. They were later sealed in the Provo Utah LDS Temple on April 28, 1984. They made their home in Orem, Utah.

They loved spending time in Indianola, and created a Hideaway there, constantly improving and caretaking the pond on the mountain (“The Lake”) and considered it their home away from home. Their family, including children and grandchildren, have come to love The Lake and the beautiful surroundings that Allan has been instrumental in creating.

Allan also worked at Wells Distributing and then Ryan Distributing, both in Salt Lake City, as Service Manager of their appliance division, and later worked at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center (Provo) in the Engineering Department, fixing and maintaining all the electronics in the facility. He retired from Intermountain Healthcare in 1996 so that he could spend more time in his favorite place, Indianola.

He is survived by his wife, Betty Moulton Beck and 6 children, Mark Allan (Laura) Beck, Malinda (Scott) Overman, Craig (Carolyn) Harvey, Marianne (Patrick) Davis, Matthew (Becky) Beck, Katie (Eric) Peterson, 24 grandchildren and 60 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Monday, March 20, 2023, 11:30 a.m. at the LDS chapel on 500 South 600 West Orem, UT. Viewing 9:00-11:00 a.m. prior to the service. Interment will be in the Mount Pleasant City Cemetery. Many thanks to Dignity Home Health & Hospice team, especially Markae, Marisela and Melissa who took great care in assisting Allan in his final days.

Click Here to Watch Funeral Services Live. The Live Zoom Link will activate at 11:15 a.m. MST prior to services.

James Harvey Tidwell and wives Elizabeth Harvey Tidwell and Emma Sanders Tidwell ~~~ Pioneers of the Month June 2016

Jam
James Harvey Tidwell

Contributed By SJ Knuteson · 15 July 2013 · 0 Comments



HISTORY OF JAMES HARVEY TIDWELL Information furnished by Ora Hutchinson Peterson — granddaughter. Arranged by Nora Lund — D.U.P. Historian. James Harvey Tidwell was born 29 November 1829 in Washington, Clark County, Indiana. His father, John Tidwell had moved to Indiana with his mother, Sarah Goben Tidwell from Kentucky, after his father William Tidwell’s death while returning from participation in the war of 1812. His father John married Jane Smith December 10, 1828 and James Harvey became their first child. His brothers and sisters were —— Willian Nelson, Mary Jane, Jefferson, Lyman, Marry Ann, Martha, Margaret, Sarah, John, Emma Jane, and Emeline Maria; three dying in infancy. James’ father, and no doubt his Mother, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter—Day Saints 25 September 1835, being baptized by Elder Levi Bracken. This was when James was 6 years old. As long as he could remember, he was taught Mormnonism and lived by the guiding truths of the gospel. When he was 10 years old his parents took their family and on September 11, 1839 they left Clark County, Indiana to gather with the Saints in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois. They reached there November 6, 1839. It was in Nauvoo on August 25, 1841 when James was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter—Day Saints. He was 13 years old when the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred at Cartage jail, June 27, 1844. With the rest, he felt great sorrow at this terrible outrage. He remembered well all the mobbings and persecutions this defenseless people were obliged to endure. It was in the dead of winter of 1846 when the Tidwell family crossed the Mississippi River on the ice and sought refuge in the more friendly state of Iowa. The migration west to the Rocky Mountains commenced in 1847 but James and his folks didn’t leave Council Bluffs (Kanesville) Iowa until June 8, 1852. He was a sturdy young man of 23 years. His father didn’t stay in Salt Lake only few days he moved south to the new settlement of Pleasant Grove in Utah County. It was in Pleasant Grove that James Married Elizabeth Harvey on August 28, 1853, and on 2 February 1857 the Salt Lake Endowment House he took as his 2nd wife Emma Sanders. In June of 1859 he took his two families and traveled with his father’s family and a group of others over the mountains some 80 miles to Sanpete County. He figured there was more land and better advantages for a growing family. They chose the town of Mt. Pleasant, which was at the very year being resettled. An attempt had been made in 1852 to settle Pleasant Creek, but the people had been driven to Fort Ephraim by the Indians. May I quote from the Mt. Pleasant write—up in the Sanpete County book “These Our Fathers” page 95, “As soon as the last wagon pulled into the circle at Mt. Pleasant on organization began to be effective James Ivie was chose President. William S. Seeley was chosen Bishop with four counselors -- James H. Tidwell, Peter Y. Jensen, Perry McArthur and Justus W. Selley. Under the direction of James Ivie the Fort was built. Even while living in the fort the men, going in groups for protection from the Indians, broke up the virgin soil for planting and pioneered an irrigation system to get the water from the creek to water their crops. James took part in the Black Hawk up rising to protect the community, but when peace was established the men built homes for their families and moved out of the Fort. James was a successful, hardworking farmer and livestock man. His wife Elizabeth lived in town. But his wife Emma and her large family lived on a farm between Mt. Pleasant and Moroni, Later she lived in Moroni. Throughout all his life James H. was faithful to his church duties and taught his children to live by the gospel standards. He was honest in his dealings with his fellow men and paid an honest tithing to the Lord. In the late summer of 1896 he went to Wellington, Carbon County to visit, his son who was living there. Before he left he went around to all his children and said good bye to them. He was enjoying his stay until he took very ill. Everything was done for him that was humanly possible but he passed away September 2, 1896. He was taken home to Mt. Pleasant for burial. He was only 67 years of age. He left both his wives, widows, to mourn his death. Elizabeth died 6 June 1905 and Emma died 5 October 1916.

 

HISTORY OF EMMA SANDERS TIDWELL






Contributed By SJ Knuteson · 15 July 2013 · 1 Comments

HISTORY OF EMMA SANDERS TIDWELL Born 23 Jan 1841 — Nauvoo, Illinois Died 5 Oct 1916 — Moroni, Sanpete Co., Utah Came to Utah 1850 Married James Harvey Tidwell — 1857 History filed by Granddaughter Ora H. Lund D.U.P. Historian History arranged by Nora Lund, D.U.P. Historian Information furnished by a Grandaughter, Ora Hutchinson Petersen Arranged by Nora Lund, D.U.P. historian




Emma Sanders was born 23 Jan. 1841 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois. She was the 9th child in a family of 12 children born to Moses Martin and Amanda Armstrong Faucett Sanders.
 Her brothers and sisters were: William, Carl - died young, Richard Twigg, John Franklin, Rebecca Ann, Martha Brown, David Walker, Joseph Moroni, Sidney Rigdon, Eliza Jane, Hyrum Smith and Moses Martin Jr.
 Emma’s parents were from the deep South. Her father was born in Georgia and her mother in Tennessee. The family made their home in Tennessee until 1829 when they moved to Montgomery County, Illinois.
On the 28th of January, 1835 her parents were baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter—Day Saints. They moved to Far West, Missouri where the Mormons were gathering at that time. By 1839 we find them living in Nauvoo, Illinois assisting in the building up of the City, participating in the  building of the temple, where they received their endowments in January of 1846.
The prophet Joseph Smith loved little children and took a special interest in grandmother, naming her Emma after his wife Emma. She remembered sitting on his lap. It was a great sorrow to the Sanders family when the Prophet was killed.
When Emma was 5 years old her family left their home in Nauvoo and took refuge in Iowa. Her father was one of the stalwart men who assisted all he could in getting the Saints across the Mississippi river that cold winter of 1846. Thousands of people who had fled with scarcely nothing but their lives made quite a city at Winter Quarters.
Early in January of 1847 the Lord made it known to Brigham Young. President of the twelve apostles, who was leading the Saints, that it was time to go the long distance to the Rocky Mountains to find refuge for his harassed people. Martin Sanders and his family made the necessary preparations to cross the Plains in 1850 and arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake that fall.
Martin didn’t remain long in Salt Lake because President Young sent him on to colonize new settlements. His history says he was called to different towns He was one of the first to move to Fillmore and in 1859 he was called to settle Fairview Sanpete Co. and he stopped in Mt. Pleasant.
His family story is that Emma was working at a boarding house in Fillmore. As she came down the stairs into the main dining room, she immediately attracted the attention of one of the men there. This man was James Harvey Tidwell, a freighter. He had a wife and child at home in Pleasant Grove, and had no particular thought of going into polygamy, though the practice was being encouraged by the Church authorities. But as he beheld this beautiful, young 16 year old girl with golden red hair, sparkling blue eyes and a pleasant smile, he knew that he was going to marry her.
He made her acquaintance, courted her and married her in the Salt Lake Endowment House Feb 26, 1857. Emma’s first child was born in Pleasant Grove 26 Nov. 1858. His name was John Franklin Tidwell. He married Caroline Johanson.
It was in June of 1859 when Emma’s husband accepted the call to Sanpete County and they made their way to Pleasant Creek (Mt. Pleasant). No doubt Emma’s folks were among the group, which would naturally please her, The north end of Sanpete Valley was indeed promising for new homes.
Emma was strong and healthy, willing and able to do her part in aiding in the pioneering of this lovely valley. She lived in the Fort which was the first thing built for protection from the Indians who were always lurking around. Added to the ever present Indian danger there was the concern about the food lasting until another harvest, and about obtaining clothing with which to keep warm. As soon as a log cabin could be built, or a dug—out made, families moved from the Fort to their own settlement lots. Their place vacated in the Fort was occupied by a new settler.
When the drum would beat, all would rush back to the square for safety. John Tidwell and Hans Simpson were the “Minute Men” of that day. Their horses were left saddled and bridled so that in case of Indian trouble they could ride quickly to Manti or Thistle Valley for help where soldiers were stationed. Black Hawk and his painted warriors terrorized the women and children, and he led his braves in many battle against the white people. (Taken from the book “These Our Fathers”, Mt, Pleasant write—up.)
From the family group sheet at hand, we notice that Emma Tidwell regularly gave birth to new babies after coming to Mt. Pleasant.
Her 2nd child, William was born l8 July, 1860. He married Ana Draper;
3rd Child, James, born 6 Feb. 1862 married Lauraetta Draper;
4th child, Martha Ann, born 22 Dec. 1863, married John William Pritchett;
5th child, Joseph Martin. born 18th Dec., 1865, married Martha M. Morgan;
6th child, Albert, born 9 Feb. 1868, died 1876; 7th child Rosetta, born 30 Nov. 1869, married John Johansen;
8th child, Willis Hyrum, born 17 Feb. 1871, married Esther Nielson;
9th child, David (twin) born 3 Nov. 1873 -lived 3 hours;
10th child, Nathan Alvin (other twin, lived to maturity but never married);
11th child Cyrus Delbert, born 28 June, 1876, married Calista Vicena Bai1ey;
12th child, Amanda Venretta, born 12 April, 1879, married John U. Bailey;
13th child, Lewis Willard, born 13 Feb. 1881, married Macel Evella Cook;
14th Child, Emma Irene (my mother) born 1 May, l883, married Sidney James Hutchinson.
In 1865 Emma Tidwell bid farewell to her parents and brothers and sisters because her father had been called to the Dixie Cotton Mission in St. George. It was there her father died on Nov. 8th, 1878. Her mother died in Tonto Basin, Gila, Arizona where she gave birth to Moses Martin Jr. who was born when his parents were sent there to help colonize that section.
James Harvey Tidwell established a home for his wife, Emma, and her little children on the farm called “The Bottoms”, located about half way between Mt. Pleasant and Moroni. Her home was of logs with a dirt floor. Gunny sacks were hung at the windows in lieu of glass. Emma was so very frightened when the Indians would come and stick their heads through the opening demanding——”piggy meat and sugar”. Other frightening experiences she and her children encountered were when the U.S. Marshals would come looking for her husband, trying to arrest him and put him in prison for co—habitation.
On the farm, she and the little boys would break and milk wild range cows. From the milk, she would make butter and cheese. Besides supplying her own family, she kept the 1st wife and her family supplied with these commodities also.
Finally Emma’s husband moved her and her family to Moroni where some of the older children were living. Her home was a comfortable two—story frame house, made out of rough lumber. Here she remained the rest of her days.
Emma had a natural talent for taking care of the sick. She was the first person called, or sent for, when help was needed in sickness. She was away from home a good deal of the time in her lifetime taking care of the sick. She knew the medicinal value in herbs and was very successful in using them. She was only 55 years old when she was left widow. Her husband, James Harvey, went to Wellington, Carbon County, to visit his son William Henry. While there he took sick and died Sep. 2, 1896.
It was a great sorrow and loss to his wives and children when he was brought back in a casket. He was laid to rest in the Mt. Pleasant cemetery. Emma lived on being lovingly cared for by her children until Oct. 5, 1916 when she died at the age of 75 years. She was buried beside her husband in Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete County, Utah.



 

A GreenHorn Swede in America - - - Autobiography of William Olson

My first taste of genealogy came when I found this history in my grandparents' attic.  Why it was there, I have no idea.  The auto biography is of William Olson.  Even though I have Olsen ancestors, this is not one of them.  However, for me it was exciting to find this history.  I must have been only about 13 at the time and the bug for genealogy has never left me.  Hopefully, someone out there will appreciate reading it.  I remember sharing it with Maxi Olson Christiansen several years before she died.  Whether anyone else has it, I do not know.

My father, John Olson, and my mother, Sophia Maria Skrevelus, were both born in Jamjo Soken Bleking Lan, Sweden.  Father was born October 27, 1818, and mother was born December 24, 1819.

In 1848 my father sold his farm in Sweden and moved over to Bornholm, a little island 16 by 20 miles square, in the Baltic Sea.  He bought a farm there, consisting of thirty acres.  He stayed there until 1866. My mother having joined the Mormon faith, was baptized in 1852, being one of the first to be baptized in Scandinavia.  In 1866, my father sold his farm, horses, and cattle, and turned his money over to the Church to emigrate the people that were not able to help themselves.  He kept enough to emigrate his own family which consisted of Kathryn, myself, and Andrew and Hannah Maria and James.  I was born on Bornholm, the third day of June, 1853, and was baptized the tenth of April 1866.  We sailed from Bornholm the twelfth of April as far as Kjobenhagen where we stayed ten days then we took a boat for Keil, Germany and from there by train for Hamburg, Germany.  The next day, May 25, we went on board the sailing vessel "Kennelworth". Captain Brown.  We were nine weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean.  Our food consisted of sailor hardtac, fat bacon, cabbage, and black coffee.  The bugle would wake us up in the morning at seven o'clock.  We had to be on deck for exercises for one hour then we had breakfast.  When the weather was so that the ship didn't roll too much we would dance for a couple of hours.  On Sundays we had religious services. Two returned missionaries, Samuel Sprague and Martin Lund from Ft. Green had charge of the company, 686.  Thirty-six of the emigrants died and were buried at sea.  They would sew them up in heavy canvas bags with about fifty pounds of rocks at the feet to sink them.  They would place the corpse on a plank and at a signal from the Captain, they would tilt the plank up and the corpse would slide into the ocean.

The Captain and sailors treated us fine except the cook.  He was the meanest man I ever saw.  In the morning he would yell, "Come to breakfast, you Mormon S of Bs".  Our ship caught fire from the kitchen but after a few hours of fire fighting it was put out after burning part of the kitchen.  On the 17th of July we landed at Castlegarden, New York.  That night we took a steam boat for New Haven.  We were a moltley crowd traveling on foot carrying our luggage and carrying babies and some leading one or two.  The road or street was not paved and the mud and slush came up to our shoetops, and a howling mob followed us and called us all the dirty names they could think of and pelted us with mud clods.  From New Haven we took a train for Detroit, Chicago, Quincy, Ill., and Saint Joseph, Missouri, the terminal of the railroad.  From there we sailed up the Missouri River on a river steamer as far as where Omaha stands now.  There was but seven houses there then, and they were just small lumber houses.  There they were moving the biggest house up the hill with three yolk of oxen.  We started our journey across the plains the second of August.  We traveled with sixty five wagons, five yolk of oxen on each wagon.  Three hundred and twenty five oxen.  Joseph L. Rawlings was captain of the real large train.  He had one helper or vice captain, one teamster for each wagon and five night herders that took that herd of oxen out to feed and drove them into camp in the morning.

We had the bugler we had on the ship so that the bugle would call us at six o'clock in the morning.  We had one hour to get breakfast and then the oxen would be driven in so we would be ready to start by eight o'clock.

In the evening the music would start up, the young and old would dance for an hour.  All the young folks had to walk, the old would ride most of the time.  At nine o'clock in the evening the bugle would sound for prayer before going to bed.  My father bought a cow in Iowa.  He intended to lead that cow not only to Salt Lake but to Mt. Pleasant, a distance of twelve hundred miles.  He would turn her with the oxen at night to feed.  A good many oxen got alkalied and died, and I wished many times that our cow would get a drink of alkalie water but she came in every morning.  But she got tender footed.  There was plenty of shoes of the oxen but they were too large for the cow; so we had to tie pieces of gunnisac or anything we could find along the road around her feet so that she could travel.  And I was in the same condition.  We had been on journey so long that my shoes and clothes were worn out but I could pick up old clothes that other companies had thrown away.  Sometimes I would have on two rights and sometimes two lefts.

Our food was sourdough bread, fat bacon, buffalo meat, coffee and sugar.  We were not allowed to kill anymore buffalo than we could eat.  We were not allowed to waste any of the meat.

The Indians were friendly whenever they came to our camp.  Captain Rawlins would give them sugar and beads and small mirrors.  It was orders from Brigham Young to always treat the Indians kindly.  That is the reason we never had a train destroyed or a man killed during the twenty-three years we carried emigrants across the plains.  We sent an average of twelve trains each year.  There were many other trains destroyed and teamsters killed.  We came to one train that had been burned and all hands killed.  There was nothing left but the wagon tires. We stopped and buried the dead.  The Indians had gone - there was nothing left but the smoking embers of the  wagons.  When we got up in the Rocky Mountains, we had several snowstorms and suffered for the want of shoes and clothes.  We reached the Salt Lake Valley October 4th on a Sunday afternoon.    People from Salt Lake met us about ten miles from Salt Lake with cake and sandwiches and apples.  That was the happiest day of the whole journey.  It was the first cake and apples I had tasted since we left our home in Sweden.  Everybody in the country that had oxen and wagons in the train would come and get them in the spring.  Brigham Young would call for a train from each county and then each bishop in each town would make a call for so many oxen and wagons.  If a man had two yoke of oxen he would let one yoke go.  If a man had two wagons he would let one go and the teamsters were called by the bishop and the captain by Brigham Young and all of them served without pay.  All the provisions were furnished for the train by the tithing department.  After staying in Salt Lake a week, we got a chance to go with a man to Mt. Pleasant so I took up the march with the cow again.  We reached Mt. Pleasant October 18th.  In the spring of 1867, I was drafted into the Utah State Militia and acted as homeguard and guarded travelers from one settlement to another as the Indians were on the warpath and killed a good many of our people and in the fall of 1867, I was called to go out to Sevier County and help the people to get away from them.  I drove a yolk of oxen and wagon belonging to Peter Miller and I had two small families, nine persons all toll, and brought them to Mt. Pleasant.  In the fall of 1869, I went out to Weber Canyon to work on the railroad, the first to come into the valley.  I worked during the winter for Thomas Stewart from Logan and the next summer I worked for Bishop West from Ogden and in November, when his contract was done I walked home carrying my bedding on my back.  I had just one hundred dollars that was the most money I had ever made  and I was very proud of the fact that I could bring home that much money.  That is the reason I walked home the one hundred and forty miles as my father and mother had no cow at this time.  I bought a cow with fifty dollars and I bought five acres of land with the brush on for the other fifty dollars.

In the fall of 1970, I hired out to the Miller Cattle Company in the southern part of Utah as cowboy and worked for them two years for thirty dollars a month.  In October 1873, I was called to go to St. George to work on the St. George Temple with twenty other boys.  We left Mt. Pleasant on the 8th of November with four teams to haul our bedding and provisions for the winter.  We had had bad weather most all the way.  It snowed every day for sixteen days so that when we got to Beaver City we had three feet of snow.  From there to Belvia the road was almost impassable.  We had to break the road all the way for a hundred miles.  All the low places in the road were drifted full so that when our teams got into a low place they would go in clear up to their sides, then we would tie a long rope to the end of the wagon tongue and all us boys would pull them out that way.  And that would happen every mile or two.  Then we fastened the rope to the end of the wagons and then we would take hold of the rope two and two and break the road for the teams and help to pull the load.  When we camped we would dig four and sometimes five feet of snow away to get to the ground so we could make a fire to cook our food---baking our bread and frying our bacon and making some coffee.  Wood was hard to get because it was covered with snow.  At night we would crowd six of us into each wagon to keep warm.  We had that way of traveling for five days.  We reached Belvia that night at twelve o'clock.  We had not stopped for dinner because we could find no wood to make a fire and it was cold and the wind blew so hard that we couldn't make a fire.  It would blow away as fast as we could make it so we crawled into a man's barn and burrowed down in the hay without any dinner or supper and we had to divide our blankets with our horses to keep them from freezing to death.  The next morning the wind was still blowing hard so that we were unable to make a fire; so we packed up and drove down five miles into Dixie where it was warm.  We stopped at Grapevine Spring, had breakfast which we needed and enjoyed as we hadn't tasted food for more than twenty-four hours.

I worked all winter blasting and quarrying rock for the temple.  The foundation was made of black lava rock and the other part is red sandstone.  In the spring of 1874, we were all released and returned home.  In November, of that year I went out to Pioche, Nevada and worked in the mines one year and left for home the first of January 1975,

The 10th of April in 1876, I married Sarah Jane Tidwell in the Endowment House at Salt Lake City by Daniel H Wells.  My wife was the daughter of James Harvey Tidwell and Elizabeth Harvey, native of West Virginia.  Her Great-grandfather, John Tidwell, was one of George Wahington's old soldiers who fought all through the Revolutionary War.  The Tidwells were natives of Indiana.  Both the Tidwells and Harveys were pioneers of Utah and the Tidwells were Pioneers of Mt. Pleasant, Utah. 

As a result of that marriage we had six children born.  William Aurthur, born first of April 1877, Jonathan Harvey, born July 30, 1879, Berkley, born July 31, 1881.  Guy Randolph, born 9th of October 1883.  Theodore, born the 3rd of November 1885.  Mary Estella, born the 8th of November 1892.

When I married, I had a yolk of oxen and a wagon and fifteen acres of land and a lot with a little one room log house with a dirt roof and a lumber floor, one door and a little window.  I had one door and window opening in the north side and the south opening dobied up.  Our furniture, all homemade, consisted of one bedstead, one table and two chairs and a little cookstove made of cast iron, that I paid thirty dollars for in Salt Lake, and I also had one cow.  That was a small beginning but it was our own.  We didn't owe anybody a cent and we didn't have to pay house rent.  We lived in that house two years and it was the two happiest years of our lives.  We think of it as our "lovenest". In 1878 I bought sixteen acres of land.  I had then 31 acres --- considered in those times to be a nice little farm.  My wife was a very saving woman so that we managed to save up a few hundred dollars every year.  In 1884, I bought two thousand head of Jonas Ericksen's sheep.  I paid two dollars and fifty cents a head.  I mortgaged my farm to the Nephi bank to pay for them and I was ten years paying that mortgage.  Grover Cleveland was elected President and the democrats were in power so that they removed the tarrif on wool so that for years I had to sell my wool for five cents a pound.  In 1896, I was elected councilman for two years; and in 1898, I was called to go on a mission to Sweden.  I left home on the fourth of November and went by rail to New York and on the 13th of November sailed on the steamship Penland, Captain Neilson from Philadelphia.  We landed at Liverpool on the 25th of November.  From there we continued by rail the next day for Grimsby.  The next day we went on board the steamship Northenden, Captain Marsden and set sail for Hamburg 400 miles away.  From there to Kil by railroad and from Kil to Kopenhagen by steamer.  We landed there December fourth, 1899.  I was set apart to go to Sweden, the birthplace of my ancestors.  I traveled over the country from east to west and from north to south.  I found many of my relatives, both on my father's side and my mother's side; and they were all fine, intelligent people.  They were farmers, builders, contractors, shoemakers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and a good many of them were pilolts.  Some were pilots over in England.

Sweden is a most beautiful country in the summertime, especially Stockholm built on five islands.  I enjoyed  my work among the people there very much because they were very kind and hospitable.  I had good health all the time I was there.  I traveled all over Denmark and Germany.  I stayed in the mission field just two years and a half.  Then I was released the 6th of April 1902.  I left Sweden the 8th by way of Kopenhagen, Esberg, Denmark; and by steamer from there to Liverpool, England.  I left Liverpool on the 13th and went on board the beautiful steamer, Commonwealth for Boston.  We had five days of stormy weather, but it was fine as I nor any of the Olson family get seasick.  I got home on the 28th of April and found my family all well.  My wife had done well at home.  I had sold my sheep and the boys had tended the farm.  Before I left home I had sold my sheep as my boys were too young to take care of them; however, when I reached home, I borrowed some more money and bought 1500 head of fine ewes.  My son, Guy, took care of them until I sold them in 1927.  I gave two dollars and fifty cents per head and I sold them for $26.00 in 1927.