Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Gravestones from Memorial Day 2013
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Peter M. Peel and wife Christianne Peel
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Mary Miranda and Christian Frederick Peel
Bengta and Lars Pearson
Annie Madsen Pearson
This is the backside of my parent's gravestone, Neldon and Helen Rigby.
I was listed here as Helen K.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
J. Axtel Bjelke
It is exciting for us when someone comes to the Relic Home to do family research with the goal in mind to do a Family History Book. They are always happy to find material at the Relic Home in the form of artifacts, pictures, obituaries and biographies. After they have put together a wonderful family history and published it for their family, they always give us a copy in appreciation for what they learned there at the Relic Home. The following was one of the first instances. James W. Pyper did a family history that included that of his grandfather J. Axtel Bjelke and Mina Simpson Bjelke. Many of us remember the Bjelkes. This history is especially of interest to me (Kathy Hafen) because Axtel's brother Oscar was my maternal grandmother's third husband. My mother had herself sealed to this line although Oscar was not her real father. She lovingly called him "Uncle Oscar".
There will be several segments to the Bjelke Postings.
to be continued.......
Monday, February 3, 2014
Sunday, February 2, 2014
The Relic Home and Blacksmith Shop Entertain Fourth Graders
Each year the Relic Home and Blacksmith Shop entertain the North Sanpete School District Fourth Grade Students. The above collage shows Virginia Mower telling about some of her own artifacts from the Navajo Indian Tribe. Children are sitting on the stairs and also in the blacksmith shop watching Peter do his handiwork. Each child leaves with a "prairie diamond" which is what the men would give their women when asking them to marry them while crossing the plains.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Christen Andersen and Karen Jensen Christensen ~ Pioneers of the Month ~ February 2014
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Christen Andersen and Karen Jensen
Originally compiled and typed by F. Fern McIntosh JacoDs
Retyped by Belva Jones McIntosh June 2000
Most parenthetical comments and highlighting done by Beverly McIntosh Brown
Christen Andersen was the first of his ancestral line to
come to America. He was born February 18, 1796, in the
farming community of Svenstrup, in the Parish of
Taarnborg,County of Soro, Denmark. He was the son of Anders
Nielsen and Dorthe Christensen. On December 1, 1823 he
married Ingeborg Nielsen at the parish church at Kirke-
Stillinge, a short distance from this birthplace. Ingeborg
was born in Kirke-Stillinge Parish November 21, 1789. She
was the daughter of Niels Hansen and Maren Christensen_(who
were the grandparents of Dorothea Maria, wife of Peter
Mogensen) and was previously married to Jens Sorensen, who
had died.
Apparently Christen and Ingeborg lived at Kirke-Stillinge
because their two children were born here.
1. Maren: born 16 Aug 1825; died 8 Oct 1887;
Married 9 Dec. 1853 to Peder Christensen Jensen.
2. Anders: born 9 Dec 1828, died 10 Dec. 1828, the day
after his birth.
Ingeborg did not survive the complications of the birth of
her second child and passed away six days later on December
15 1828.
The following year, on May 8, 1829, Christen married Karen
Jensen at Korsor, Soro County, the harbor city on the west
coast, near Svenstrup, his birthplace. She was born April
3, 1805 at Sr. Hojrup, Svendborg County, Denmark, on the
Island of Fyen. She was a daughter of Jens Hansen and
Sidsel Hansen. For a short time they must have lived at
Stillinge in the Parish of Kirke-Stillinge, for the first
child, Anders, was born the~re, but the other six children
were born in Svenstrup, a few miles away from where their
father, Christen, was born. The children are:
1. Anders: born 18 Nov 1830; died 29 Nov 1917; married
(1) 1 April 1859, Nilla Pedersen; married (2) 18 Jan
1864, Kirsten Nielsen; married (3) 10 June 1876,
Christina Jonsson; married (4) 14 Feb. 1884,
Christina Frantsson.
2. Dorthe Marie: born 26 May 1833; died 13 Dec 1834,
age 19 months.
3. Jens: born 26 May 1833; died 29 May 1833, three
days after birth.
4. Jens: born 10 March 1835; died 21 April 1897;
married (1) Kirsten Nielsen; married (2) 23 Jan 1862,
Ane Christine Larsen.
5. Niels Christian: born 31 July 1839; died 1866;
married 19 October 1862 Kirstine Nielsen.
6. Ingeborg: born 17 May 1843; died 26 May 1843; age 9
days.
7. Ingeborg: born 28 April 1846; died 26 Oct 1917;
married 14 Jan 1865, Jacob Christensen.
The Mormon missionaries came to Denmark in 1850 and the
family was converted. The oldest son, Anders, was the first
to be baptized, and two months later on May 19, 1853,
Christen and Karen were baptized. The three other living
children followed soon after. Many of the new converts were
immigrating to the United States to go to Utah. Jens, the
second son of Christen and Karen was the first of the family
to leave their homeland in January 1855. On May 1, 1860,
two other sons, Anders and Christian followed him. Two
years later these two were able to send money to their
parents for their passage.
Christen, Karen and their daughter, Ingeborg, and Christen's
daughter, Maren, by his first marriage, and her husband,
Peder Christensen Jensen, left Denmark in April 1862 and
went by ship to Hamburg, Germany. Four sailing ships, the
Athenia, Electric, Franklin and Humbolt, were at anchor in
the Elbe River to take 1556 Saints from Norway, Sweden and
Denmark to the United States. They booked passage on the
Athenia, a fair sized ship~ but with 484 passengers it was
overloaded. The Athenia was the 115th shipload of Saints to
leave Europe for the United States.
After getting settled on board, the passengers were sent to
get their rations consisting of beef, pork, peas, beans,
potatoes, pearl barley, rye bread, sea biscuits, three
quarts of water a day, flour, salted herring, salt, and oil
for their lamps.
The ship set sail from Hamburg April 22, 1861. For the
first two weeks the weather was fine and good speed was
made, but when they reached the Gulf Stream, about 300 miles
south of New Foundland Banks, there was a calm without any
wind for over a week. The temperature rose to eighty
degrees with high humidity and the water in the wooden
barrels became bad. An epidemic of diarrhea and bowel
complaints broke out. Because of poor sanitation and lack
of medicines, five adults and a number of children died.
Later measles broke out among the passengers. In a few days
thirty-three children and several adults had died.
After the hardships of forty-six days on the water, the ship
came into New York Harbor on June 7, 1862. Abraham Lincoln
was then the president of the United States and the nation
was involved in a civil war. Twelve days later, when the
sickness was under control they were able to pass
immigration inspection and leave by train for Florence,
Nebraska, the outfitting point for crossing the plains to
the West.
Five thousand persons made the crossing in 1862,
divided into thirteen companies. Christen and Karen were
assigned to the Ole N. Liljenquist Company. Able-bodied
men, women and children had to walk most of the way.
Christen was 66 years of age and Karen was 57. There were
many hardships on the long trek and also Indian
difficulties.
On September 23, the wagons reached the Salt Lake Valley.
Christen and Karen's sons were there to meet them and take
them to Mt. Pleasant where they had settled. Three years
later, in the summer of 1865, Christen, Karen and their
daughter, Ingeborg, went with their son Anders and his
family to Richfield, where they had been called to help
build up the settlement. They traveled to this outpost 85
miles south of Mt. Pleasant by wagon and horse team, cleared
land after their arrival, built a house, and planted crops
in the spring. The Indians made constant raids, stole
cattle and other belongings, and there were many killings.
Because there was no fort for protection, the settlement was
abandoned on April 20, 1867, less than two years after their
arrtval.
When Christen and Karen returned to Mt. Pleasant, he was
given a lot at the northwest corner of 6th South and 3rd West
Streets. His son Anders, helped him make adobe bricks and
build a two-room house using willows for lathe, mud for
plaster, and whitewash to make it beautiful. Also Christen
was given five or ten acres of land down Chris Ericksen Lane
at 5th South and 5th West Streets, which he farmed as long as
he was able to work.
In the fall of this year, after their return from Richfield,
Christen and Karen made a trip back to Salt Lake City and
were sealed in the Endowment House on October 26,1867.
Little is known of Christen during the next five years. He
was stricken with a paralytic stroke, which made him bedfast
for eleven years.
A grandson wrote: "The primitive
conditions, the lack of medical care, the absence of even
modest comforts, hard work, worry and deprivations and the
trials and discouragements which were so plentiful made life
for him hard to bear in the sunset of life. We should not
forget to appreciate the kind and noble work of his faithful
wife. She worked at his side in the heat of the day; she
helped him plow the fields and plant the crops; to build the
house and make it a home. She was at his side when they had
to stand off the Indians, when they were raided and driven
from their home. She helped bear the sorrow when the
savages massacred their son. She faithfully waited on him
for eleven years as he lay helpless with paralysis."
Christen's death occurred in Mt. Pleasant, March 21, 1884 at
the age of 88 years. Karen lived nearly 13 years longer.
She died February 9, 1897 at the age of 91 years, and is
buried in the family plot at the side of her husband in the
Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.
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Friday, January 31, 2014
Carrie Nielsen Hafen
Our granddaughter, Ady, recently asked us to help her with a historical report about her twice great grandmother, Carrie Hafen. Of course, we were delighted to help. The following was written by Peter about his grandmother. Quite a remarkable lady she was. The photos are in our family collection. We share it all with you now.
Carrie Nielsen Hafen
was born August 13, 1889 in Mt. Pleasant Sanpete County , Utah
Her father was a blacksmith
and wheelright. She grew up in pioneer
times with many hardships. She helped her family with the duties of early
pioneer life. Times were very different
then. Homes were small with none of the
conveniences of today. They had no
running water, electric lights or indoor bathrooms. Each home would have a coal or wood cooking
stove and a coal or wood heating stove or fireplace.
She, along with her sister,
Bertha, had a normal childhood of that era.
They would work and play together as a family. She was a beautiful young lady and at the age
of 19, she married Wilford Hafen.
She and Wilford had three
boys, Boyd, Neil and Bert. Carrie was a
very nurturing and caring mother. When the boys were very young, they were
playing in the kitchen while Carrie was preparing to do her laundry.
While the boys were playing, they bumped into the stove which had a
large kettle of boiling water on it.
This caused the kettle to fall and send boiling water onto Neil. This resulted in causing extensive burns all
over his back and neck. He was in a coma
for over 30 days. The local doctor
would come to check on things every day. Neil was nursed back to good health by
his mother after many months of care.
This all had to be done at home as there were no hospitals in the area
at that time.
This was the beginning of
Carrie becoming a nurse. She became an
efficient midwife and also helped the local doctors who visited those in need
at their homes.
In her early family life she
became a widow. Her husband was killed
by being thrown from his horse while separating cattle. The horse fell on a snow and ice covered
area, killing Wilford. This left Carrie
alone to raise her three boys, ages 7, 11, and 13.
She went to work for the
local doctor while she studied nursing and gained her license. She was one of the first practical nurses in
the State of Utah
She worked for four or more
doctors at different times; Dr. Winters, Dr. Sundwall, Dr. Holman and Dr.
Madsen. She also took care of her aging
mother in her later years of life. Many children were brought into the world by
her as a midwife and many were nursed to health and wellness by her.
In her later years, Carrie
loved having her children and their families in her home often for the evening
meal. Her favorite meal would be
homemade soup…all you could eat. She would
make either cabbage or dumpling soup, served with homemade bread.
She loved Christmas Eve. She would invite her extended family and all
the grandkids on Christmas Eve to enjoy supper and open their presents from
her. A player piano would be listened to
on this and other occasions.
She had many hobbies
including being very proficient with firearms.
She enjoyed hunting rabbits and small game. She liked going on rides in her car. She purchased a new Ford Coup in 1925. Many of the extended family of today would love
to have that car.
Carrie was also good at
farming, as she and her boys had to take care of the farm and livestock after
the loss of her husband. She could ride
a horse and work a team of horses in order to do the farm work. She also did beautiful crochet work. She was no stranger to Hard Work!
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