These photos come from the book:
"History of Andrew and Johanna (Widergreen Anderson) Madsen
written by David Reed Gunderson
Friday, May 5, 2023
Friday, November 13, 2020
Excerpts from the Boyhood Memories1 of Eli A. Day on Pioneer Life in Early Mt. Pleasant
Mt. Pleasant Birth and Early Life in the Fort:
I was born in Springville, Utah, on September 23, 1856. In the early spring of 1860, Father moved my mother's family to Mt. Pleasant, Utah. We moved into an adobe house built against the 12-foot fort wall which formed the back of the house. It had a dirt roof but lumber floor with a fireplace in the south end of the house, also a window and one door in the east side of the south and larger room, and a door passing into the north room which contained one small window. The roof had a ridge pole, or small log, with a log halfway down on each side to support the roof. Small poles were then placed crossing these and extending out in front to form eves. Willows then crisscrossed these poles and then a layer of straw atop the willows, all nailed quite solidly with more than a foot of dirt. This was a splendid roof. Only when an extended rainstorm prevailed or the spring snow was melting did it sweat with the labor of carrying the roof until great drops of sweat fell down from the underside of the Eli A. Day roof or even came down in trickles. Oh! how pleasant! Not! Pans, buckets, cups, anything that would hold water, were then placed upon the beds to keep them dry.
Then again, how very pleasant when mice would get working in the straw and dirt of the roof, peppering everything below them with dirt. This wonderful house, twelve feet to the square, stood on the north side of Pleasant Creek, on the brink of the bank. But it contained for a few years, a very merry and happy bunch of children, though we lived in destitution.
Fishing: In those days, Pleasant Creek, which passed through the center of the fort, was the best trout stream I ever knew; and I had to go only a little way north of the house through a small gate in the wall of the rock fort to get to a good fishing hole where I caught much fish using a bent pin and homemade line.
School, Games, Chores & Childhood Injuries: Those were happy days for me! Going to school, learning my lessons, going herding barefooted on stormy days, carrying fire in a torch made of cedar bark, for we had no matches in the sixties to speak of, playing on the hard ground, gathering the cows at night, and trudging along behind, barefooted and weary, sore feet, cracked and bleeding, washing those poor sore feet at night in warm bran water, greasing them with a healing salve made of equal parts of rosin, beeswax, and mutton tallow. And when the stone bruised our feet, curing them with fresh barnyard poultices. Not very pleasing to the nose, but the most efficacious remedy for taking out inflammation and blood poisoning that I have yet discovered, even in these days of learned doctors.
When herding in the fields in spring or fall we often caught the big green frog, took the hind legs only, and skinned, roasted, and ate them. It was said that frogs hind legs in those days were a great delicacy in France. I know they are tender, juicy, and tasty when rightly prepared.
I do not remember my first days in school but, I am told that when my brother Herbert started school at "Auntie Hyde’s School" (Charlotte Hyde), I wanted to go so much that I cried all the forenoon so Mother let me go in the afternoon. My first memory of school, Auntie Hyde gave me a book and set me to teaching Herbert his ABC's. The privilege of teaching another was so great that I remember it to this day.
In spring and fall, we herded mostly in the fields, which, in those days were considered joint enclosures. That is, when a tract of land was taken up for cultivation, it was divided by lot generally to the men who were to get the land, in five, ten, fifteen, and twenty-acre pieces, as the case might be; then the whole tract was fenced in one large public field; thus each man had to put up but two or possibly four or five rods of fence for each acre of land he got. The larger the field the fewer rods of fence per acre were needed.
In early spring these fields were open to the stock of the public; also, when the crops were gathered in the fall, they were again thrown open, and remained so all through the winter and until the cattle began to do damage to the spring crops.
You did not have to be an owner of the land to get your stock into the field. All were welcome. When we herded neighbors' cows we got 2 or 3 cents each per day.
Swimming was a very popular pastime, and when we couldn't go to the Sanpitch river, where there was plenty of water, we dammed up a large hole in Pleasant Creek, just inside of the field below the west street of the town. The bed of Pleasant Creek was deeper there than almost any other place of its whole length. The banks were sloping, especially on the north side of the creek, and there was a clear place close down to the water on the north side, backed and surrounded by heavy tall brush, so it was well isolated. The pool of water was large and deep, considering other parts of the stream, and by making a dam a couple of feet high we had the best swimming hole in Pleasant Creek. It was monopolized by the boys, who always stripped naked for swimming. Hundreds of boys, now old men, still have pleasant memories of the old town swimming hole.
Our Homes in Early Mt. Pleasant: Living in the little adobe house in the "Old Fort" was inexpensive. We generally had plenty of flour and potatoes, some fruits in the fall and late summer, sorghum in the fall and winter, and sorghum fruit preserves. Sugar preserves were out of the question, as also bottled or canned fruits. But one year I remember, about '63 or '64, the grasshoppers had taken so much of the grains in Utah that wheat was $5.00 per bushel. That summer we lived on potatoes for six weeks, with a little milk, butter, and pork. For me, it did not matter, but my brother Herbert was very delicate and it was hard on him, and although Mother did not complain, I think it was hard on her too, but I was happy as a lark. But those were certainly hard times. Tea was $3.00 a pound, calico 50 cents a yard, or more, other merchandise as costly.
There was very little money in the country. Most of the trade in the store was with butter, eggs, grain, and sometimes paper rags. In 1864, Father and Joseph took up squatter's claims on land laying on both sides of Sanpitch, where the State Road crosses Sanpitch west of Mt. Pleasant. They built three log cabins between the Sanpitch and the low hills where the three families lived until the next summer.
Indian Troubles & Fort Building: A large band of Indians camped that winter up Sanpitch a mile or more, and they sometimes came down in large numbers in the evening and got Father and Joseph to make music for them. Joseph beat the snare and Father the bass drum. They also came singly and in pairs begging for food, mostly bread. We sometimes played with the nanzits and ipis (Indian words for boys and girls). It was a jolly life for us boys.
The spring of 1865 (April 9th) saw a quarrel with some Indians in Manti and later a white man was killed. In addition, Chief Black Hawk, whose wives and children had died from evil diseases from mingling with wicked white men, was burning for revenge and incited the Indians to war upon the whites. Bishop William S. Seeley, of Mt. Pleasant, told Father he had better move to town, but Father said, no. The Bishop said he might get his family massacred if he did not. Father said the Indians would not attack until they had sent their wives and papooses away.
Sometime in May (26th), Conderset Rowe, a boy of some sixteen summers, had been hunting horses in the hills north of our homes, and coming by he told Father that the Indians had left their camp up the Sanpitch from us and gone off. He saw the trail up in the hills where they had gone north. Then Father said it was time to move to town, which he did that day.
That evening the Indians killed a sheepherder at the "herd house" in Herd House Hollow, now called the Milburn Meadows, five miles north of Northbend, now called Fairview. The next morning, very early, they massacred the Givens family at the head of Thistle Canyon, just below Thistle Valley. Thus the Black Hawk war was thoroughly launched and we were back in our little adobe house in the old fort.
In 1866, the Indians got so bad that the people of Northbend (Fairview) were ordered to move to Mt. Pleasant for the summer and the people of Sevier County abandoned their homes, many of them coming to Mt. Pleasant, where they made permanent homes. Other small towns were abandoned temporarily.
The same year, the people built the North Fort, the block on which the North Sanpete High School stands was enclosed with a twelve-foot wall like the wall south of it. But the north wall of the South Fort became the south wall of the North Fort, the rock wall ran across the streets thus joining the two forts. There was a twelve-foot gate in the street both east and west, also a twelve-foot gate on the north side, and small gates or doors on the east and west sides of the new fort.
The Day family took part in the building of the fort. Father, Andrew Madsen, and Father Rice had a portion assigned to them a little east of the northwest corner, possibly four or five rods long. I remember well that we small boys mixed most of the mud, and carried the smaller rocks and mud upon the scaffold. Andrew Madsen carried the larger rock up, while Father Rice and my father laid them into the wall.
The afternoon we finished, Andrew Madsen invited us to his home one block north and treated us to homemade beer1. Somehow he gave the beer to the boys first, and Father Rice jumped up in a huff and walked off home. I asked Father what was wrong and he said the old gentleman was offended because he was not served first.
This fort was built to put cattle in during nights to protect them from the Indians. During the worst of the Indian times, the cattle and horses gathered in the fall and spring drives were corralled in the fort, and the big cow herd were gathered every morning from all over the town and brought to and from the range for feed every day by members of the minute companies.
Sometimes, during the very worst of the Indian troubles, twenty or thirty men were sent to herd and guard these cattle during the day and bring them home at night, but even then, in the early spring or late fall, the boys were sent out herding because the Indians wintered over the mountain east in Castle Valley and did not come over in the spring until the snow was gone over the mountain passes, and traveling back and forth was safe. In the fall they went over the mountains before there was danger of the trails being blocked with snow.
As the war proceeded, the minute and home guard companies were organized. My brother Joseph was made captain of a home guard company and Father was urged to become an officer of a fighting unit, but because of his age and his service in the Mormon Battalion and a large and destitute family, Brigham Young had him excused.
In 1866, a large bunch of Northbend and Mt. Pleasant boys went out south of the graveyard to swim in adobe holes we had filled with water. We were naked, our clothes lying on the banks around. Suddenly, the old bass drum boomed from the public square, and the flag ran up to the top of the library pole! An Indian raid somewhere! Did we stop to dress? No! No! We grabbed our clothes and scampered for the town as fast as our legs would carry us! Yes, we dressed at the edge of town and went on, thankful that the hair and hide were still safe on our heads.
In 1867, a wall was started to enclose the town. I worked on it also. I was then working for Andrew Peterson, a near neighbor. But Father with a crew had a portion assigned to him. On this fort, I quarried rock, hauled rock, and mixed mud, though but eleven years old. This wall had bastions in it as well as gates and portholes like the other walls, but it was built only about one fourth the way around the town, that was across the east end.
After Peace was Restored: nearly everyone moved out of the fort, and Father bought the row of houses left standing, backed by one of the rock walls of the old fort. We used these houses for stables and granaries, and stacked grain and hay near them, using the land in the southwest corner of the fort for corrals. These houses were inside of the corrals and stockyards. We, children, had much sport climbing through, over, and around these houses. About 1868 or 69, Lucerne (Alfalfa) was introduced into the territory and soon took the place of the native meadow hay. Thus pioneer life went forward. I helped on Father's farm and worked on neighbors' farms. I also continued to attend school and tutoring other students. This led to my becoming a school teacher and continuing to serve in this capacity for the rest of my life.
Saturday, October 3, 2020
Life Sketch of Maria Elizabeth Hendrickson Johnson
With the 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 Andrew Madsen and James Monsen's histories.
Maria Elizabeth was born on 21 September 1802, in Rasvåg, on the island of Hidra in Norway, to Hendrick Pettersen of Pomerania, Germany and Rachel Cecelia Rasmussen of Rasvåg. Her parents were both born in about 1774 in Rasvåg and were married on 13 Nov 1801 By 1807, the family had moved (probably by ship) to Risør, Norway where she grew up. Her siblings; Rasmuss, Hendriette, and Catharina were born on 26 Feb 1807, 4 Oct 1809, and 19 Dec 1811 respectively. Nothing further is known about her siblings. On 18 Dec 1827, Maria Elizabeth married Lars Johnson who was born in about 1802 in Risør. They had 3 children: Johan, Ole, Caroline Cecilia (our ancestor), and born: 14 Mar 1828, 9 Dec 1830, and 3 June 1834 respectively. Nothing further is known about Johan or Ole.
Maria Elizabeth must have been a normal Norwegian housewife and mother living in a small fishing village. She is reported to have been a very good seamstress making excellent clothing for her family and others. She taught this skill to her daughter who also became a skilled seamstress. At some point, she became a widow and also lost her eyesight, although she may not have been totally blind.
In September 1851 the first Mormon Missionaries came to Risør, Norway, Maria Elizabeth and her daughter Caroline Cecilia became the 7th and 8th members respectively. They were both baptized and confirmed on 25 June 1852. J. A. Ahmanson baptized both of them and also confirmed Maria Elizabeth. Caroline was confirmed by H.P. Jensen.
As the Gundersons and other families, one-by-one, left Risør to go to Zion, Caroline also longed to go to Zion, but she just couldn’t leave her blind and widowed mother alone in Norway, Recognizing the strong desire of her daughter to join the Saints in Zion, Maria Elizabeth encouraged her to go also. However, Caroline always replied that she could never leave her mother alone in Norway. Finally, Maria said, “If you won’t go without me, I will have to go with you” When Caroline asked how they could do this, her mother said that “they would just face the problems, one-at-a-time.” In the spring of 1857 they did just that. Maria Elizabeth (age 54) and Caroline (age 22) departed from Norway on Saturday, 11 Apr 1857, with a group of Saints from Christiania (Oslo), Norway and sailed to Copenhagen aboard the Norwegian steamship Viken.
In a calm sea, the vessel arrived at the Danish port the following day. After a five-day delay this company, about 540 emigrants under the direction of Hector C. Haight, president of the Scandinavian Mission, boarded the Danish screw steamer L. N. Hvidt and traveled to Grimsby (just south of Hull). From that English, port they traveled by train to Liverpool. Soon after they arrived in Liverpool, they boarded the Ship Westmoreland. The Westmoreland sailed from Liverpool on Saturday, 25 April 1857 and arrived at Philadelphia Pa. on Pentecost, Sunday 31 May 1857 after a 36-day passage.
The emigrants then boarded the train to go to the trailhead in Iowa City passing through Baltimore and Wheeling along the way. About 330 of the 544 emigrants on the Westmoreland were also planning to cross the plains by handcart, so Caroline and her Mother had much in common with their fellow passengers. At Iowa City, they joined the 7th or Christian Christiansen Handcart Co. which departed on 12 June. The leader of the saints onboard the Westmoreland was Matthias Cowley and Orson Pratt was the travel agent for the Saints leaving Liverpool at that time. The fare on the ship for each passenger was £5.5.0. Rail fare was $12.50 each, with another $15 per person for the handcart. Another source of this information reports that the total for sail, rail, and trail in dollars was $ 86 dollars per person.
Caroline and her mother were of modest means and they were able to deposit only 1 £ each. They must have received private help because help from the PEF (Perpetual Emigration Fund) was not available in 1857.
Since the handcarts were small and had to be shared by several people, the weight and bulk of the luggage were severely limited. Many had to leave books and other cherished positions at the trailhead. C. C. A. Christensen, who also came in the 7th Handcart Co., recalled that “One of the people we had was a blind sister from Norway, who was about sixty years old (actually 54 years old), and she walked the whole way. But she was always cheerful, and as she pushed the handcart her young daughter was helping to pull we could often hear her merry laughter when she unexpectedly found herself wading through one or another of the many streams of water which were found along our way. "Now, Mother, we are bout to cross some water,"we could hear her daughter warning her, “Is it deep?" or "How deep is it?" we heard the reply from the blind woman; and when the explanation was satisfactory, she walked cheerfully out into the water.” Family tradition recalls that Maria followed along holding the back of the handcart to feel or sense the road conditions ahead, and to brace herself if she stumbled, and to lend a hand by helping to push the cart. “For some must push and some must pull”.
As everyone else did, Maria Elizabeth walked every step of the way across the plains to Zion, solving the problems one-at-a-time as she had predicted. They passed large herds of wild buffalo, Indian villages, and forded many streams. But they had some fun times as well.
Dances and Hard Times Parties were held. One night, an old Danish pioneer, who had lost his sense of smell, proudly brought a small black and white animal into camp that he had managed to kill with his cane. He had planned to use it for food. It took a few days before he was welcomed back into polite company.
The 7th Handcart Co. arrived in Salt Lake on 13 September 1857 (after a 65-day crossing). It was probably no coincidence that Maria Elizabeth and Caroline had traveled in the Christiansen Handcart Company since it had crossed the plains together with the Cowley Ox Cart Company. Erick Gunderson’s younger brother, Jens Gunderson, and his family were members of the Cowley Ox Cart Company. They had also been members of the Risør Branch of the Church in Norway and had probably been friends of Maria Elizabeth and Caroline since their childhood, Since they were friends from “home” and had crossed the plains together, it would only be natural for Jens and his family to invited Maria Elizabeth and Caroline to join them in Spanish Fork where the Gunderson family had settled. Erick Gunderson, who had lost his first wife in 1855 at Mormon Grove, Iowa had arrived in Utah in Sep 1856, was living with his parents. Erick and Caroline quickly became interested in each other and on Monday, 12 October 1857, about four weeks after Caroline’s arrival; they were married by none other than Brigham Young himself in the President’s Office in Salt Lake City at 12:30 PM.
Maria Elizabeth made her home with Caroline and Erick for the rest of her life, first in Spanish Fork and later in Mt. Pleasant. She assisted Caroline in the delivery of all 11 of her children and also helped Caroline through the loss of all three of her daughters and one of her sons. Maria Elizabeth remained as positive and cheerful as she had been while immigrating to Zion and helped Caroline and the family to the best of her ability throughout her life. She was loved by all. She was truly one of the great pioneer women of Utah immigration.
Maria Elizabeth Johnson died: 30 April 1890, in Mt. Pleasant, Utah in the 88th year of her life. She made great sacrifices so that we could live in the United States and enjoy religious liberty She is truly an inspiration to us all. It is an honor and a responsibility to be one of her Descendents. A New Tomb Stone For Maria Elizabeth Johnson In 2007, it was discovered that the grave marker of Maria Elizabeth Hendrickson Johnson, which was installed in the 1890s, had deteriorated to the point that the inscription could no longer be read. It was decided that a new marker was needed. When asked, family members were enthusiastic and readily gave funds for the project. They also helped to finalize the new inscription. All agreed that pictures a sailing ship and a handcart would remind us all of the courage Grandma Johnson exhibited in immigrating to Utah. A Picture of the old Stone taken in 1995, more than a century after Maria’s death and one of the New Stone: installed in May of 2008. On 26 May 2008, The family met to dedicate the new stone.
Contrary to the predictions, the day of the dedication started with rain then went to intermittent rain, hail, snow, and wind, with an occasional sunshine break. Some suggested that we were having a reenactment of Martin’s cove experience. Others said that it was just to let us know what the pioneers had to go through. We were too late to get a reservation for one of the two pavilions in the Mt. Pleasant Park. On the morning of the 26th, I called a friend in Mt. Pleasant to check on the weather since we had been too late to reserve a pavilion. He immediately said, “Take our reservation; we had to cancel our activity. I’ll go right down and post our reservation receipt so no one will take the pavilion before you get there.” What a blessing that turned out to be! Front View of the New Stone & Inscription When we arrived, at least 50 family members had assembled at the gravesite and the sun was shining. However, there was a huge black storm cloud rapidly approaching from the south. So I quickly asked Roger P. Monson, a descendent of Erick Gunderson Jr. to give the dedicatory prayer. (He offered a beautiful and spiritual prayer) He finished just as the bad weather arrived and we all quickly went to the pavilion for the program and the Potluck luncheon. There were representatives from the families of all the sons of Erick & Caroline except for Lars, Carl, and Jens. We all had a grand time visiting and meeting with our new friends and cousins. Just as the Luncheon and the program ended, the wind started to blow, making it hard to properly clean up the Pavilion, but we did the best we could. It was a great day. We even had Potato Starch Cake, an old Gunderson family favorite Roger Monson presented a beautifully bound keepsake booklet to the members of the family detailing the program and activities of the day, as listed below, plus eleven pages of color pictures and maps of the Gunderson family home towns of Southern Norway.
Betty G. & Walt Woodbury also handed out sheets giving the names of the parents, children, and grandchildren of Erick & Caroline Gunderson.
The layout of the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery Showing the Gravesites of Many Family Members
Friday, August 21, 2020
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Friday, June 19, 2020
A JOURNEY OF FAITH ~ ERICK AND CAROLINE GUNDERSON
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