To all cousins and spouses:
The bi-annual reunion will be held on Saturday, August 2, 2014, at the Hyrum City Park (where we’ve met the last several times). We will meet at noon for eating and casual visiting, followed at 1:00 p.m. by updates on our families and other information. We hope you’ll plan to attend and renew our associations. We will send notification to each cousin and/or living spouse. Please feel free to invite any of your interested children to attend.
This early note is to make you aware and to pass the information to other family members whose email info I didn’t have. A written note will follow in early June. If you have email addresses for other cousins not listed, please email them to me.
Thanks, Lila Cooley
Marilyn Sorenson Hurd, age 80, passed away with her family at her on January 24, 2014, in Providence, Utah. Click the photo for the full obituary.
Cousins attending reunion in Hyrum, Utah
Left to right: Kathy Bentizen, Robert Wright, Annette Handy, Cordell Fonnesbeck, Marcia Chambers, can’t tell, Lila Cooley, Blaine Sorensen, Marilyn Hurd, Deanna Wilson, Mel Fonnesbeck, Mel Larsen, Terry Allen
Cousins attending reunion in Hyrum, Utah
Back row: Marilyn Hurd, Kaylene Jenson, Tammy Mathews, Penny Larsen, Melroy Larsen, Ruth Christensen, Christine Kelly
Middle row: Blaine Sorensen, Robert Wright, Kathy Bentzien, Mel Fonnesbeck, Annette Handy, Marcia Chambers, Lila Cooley, Glade Larsen, Terry Allen, Burke Larsen
Front row: Karen Reeder, Deanna Wilson, Uncle Lyle Cooley, Aunt Arlene Larsen, Patricia Huff, Janet Kelly, Kathrine Perry
ERNEST ANDREW LARSEN 1881 – 1960
Ernest Andrew Larsen was born July 8, 1881 in Hyrum, Utah, the eldest son of Andrew Larson and Christina Jensen. The house where he was born still stands and is located a block south and a block west of the old Hyrum First Ward Church. It is on the brow of the hill overlooking the Hyrum Dam. The space now occupied by Hyrum Dam used to be a hollow were Ernest remembers there were always Indians camped when he was a boy. He says the Indian children and he and his pals used to throw dirt clods at each other. “Ernst” is the nickname for Ernest by which he has been known all his life.
Ernst was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Andrew Allen, father to Bishop A. A. Allen who presided over Hyrum 2nd Ward for many years. He was confirmed by Peter Rose. He was baptized in “the little muddy river” up Paradise Hollow. He attended Sunday School down in “the old rock building,” as people called it. This building was situated on the southwest corner of the public square but has been torn down. Father can remember his taking part just once in public. He arose in Sunday School and repeated one of the Ten Commandments. At this time there was only one ward in Hyrum.
Dad came up through the Priesthood in Hyrum Ward and was ordained an Elder when he resided in the Hyrum 2nd Ward after he was married. He hauled brick from Wellsville for the First Ward building to help pay their building assessment. When he was married and moved to Hyrum 2nd Ward, he paid his assessment in this ward too. He never was one to go to Church regularly but always encouraged his family to go and to participate in the activities. He always came to hear any one of his family take part as we were asked to sing or do parts in any ward activities. He was troop committeeman for the Scouts in the Hyrum 2nd Ward for many years. He remembers taking a group of boys to Salt Lake City on an outing while he was serving in this capacity.
Dad only completed the fourth grade in school. His father was sickly so he was forced to quit school to take care of 17 head of cattle and other chores that were his to do. He used to chop enough wood on Saturday to last all day Sunday so that he could have one day that he didn’t have to chop wood.
His father died on March 6, 1893, when Dad was only eleven year of age. Dad, being the oldest son of five children, shouldered the responsibility of caring for the needs of the family, along with his widowed Mother. He kept care of the farm after his father died. He remembers going out to plow at this early age. His uncles and Grandpa Jensen used to make fun of his plowing, telling him that a snake couldn’t follow the plow. This seems to me to be unfair treatment for such a young lad and definitely had a strong impression on him. His Grandma Larson used to try to help and to encourage him in his endeavors.
Dad’s closest boyhood friend was Ed McBride. They were together most of the time, and they pulled many boyhood pranks. They once traded some wood for a 5 five-gallon kegs of beer. They caused a lot of commotion with it, giving it to kids in the neighborhood. His Uncle Jim Larson said he’d go to reform school yet. His Uncle John Jensen used to be kind to him, and Dad would go to him for advice he needed. He missed not having a father as any young person would. He ran the farm and worked at odd jobs wherever he could pick one up. One man told him, “Whenever you are out of money, come and I’ll give you a job.” He knew that Dad was a widow’s son and the family “breadwinner.” Dad says he never spent a dime without first asking his mother about it. She was a good seamstress, and she also made hair switches which were popular in that day. She was well known for her skill in this field.
Once while just 12 years of age and working on the farm land in Mt.Sterling, a whirlwind came up and scared the horses which caused a real runaway. Dad was frail, but strong, and stayed with the team to the end, although those who witnessed it thought sure he would be killed. He had many experiences of this sort in his struggle to make ends meet.
He hauled grain to Corinne when he was 14 years old. He made 14 trips to Corinne, which was the nearest railroad at that time, and it took one and a half days for each trip. Once while he was hauling grain to Corinne, he and Lorin McBride were camped together for the night. They fed their horses and tied them to Lorin’s wagon. Father’s wagon was used for a bed. The grub box was in the opposite end of the wagon. During the night, they heard footsteps and when they went to investigate, they discovered that a thief had taken their rub box and was riding down the road with it. Dad called to him, but he just waved his hand and rode on. It was a day and a half before they got something to eat. They had trouble with their wagon which made the trip longer.
When he was 16 years of age, he needed a pair of sleighs which he could buy from Harry Shaw for $45. Dad wanted to pay half with wood but Mr. Shaw wanted to take only two loads of wood and the rest in cash. Dad was determined to pay for half with the two loads of wood. They would give him $2.50 per ton for wood. The first load he took weighted four ton and 900 lbs. The second load was on a bob sleigh, and Uncle Enoch Larson helped him load it. It weighed four ton and 1700 pounds, for a total of 9 ton and 600 pounds. In the end Dad got his way. He paid $22.50 and two loads of wood. Mr. Shaw never stopped talking about how he had told Dad that he wouldn’t take half pay in wood but would take two loads, and Dad made the two loads equal the half payment.
When Dad was 17, he was in the canyon getting out wood all winter long. His two uncles, brothers of his mother, used to say he would get killed trying to do some of the things he did. He cut down a tree that measured seven feet through and hauled it down the canyon when he was just 16 years of age. The stump still stood, and Dad always said he could take us to it. It was located in Devil’s Gate in BlacksmithForkCanyon. He said he would saw a block off of it on Saturday, and it would make enough wood to burn for a whole week. He sold the limbs from this tree for $4.50.
Once the team ran away in Dry Gulch. It ran about four and a half miles until Dad finally caught them on horseback. One ran right up on a load of lumber parked in the canyon. Dad liked horses and was one of the last farmers to give them up for a tractor. He always had a team around. Many of his experiences were connected with driving a team. When HyrumCity brought their power line down BlacksmithForkCanyon, Dad with a team of one horse pulled all the poles to the spot needed. It is amazing to drive along that line, even today, and see how steep it is in places.
When Ernst was 18 years of age, he and his Mother took up a homestead of 160 acres in Ridgedale, Idaho, also known as PocatelloValley. Cows and horses ran wild in the meadow country at that time. One time, a wild cow chased Dad into the wagon and his Mother into the house. He had a cow and a calf in the wagon, and dad had to stay in the wagon until 1:30 a.m. before the wild cow left. He and his mother built their own house, and it had a dirt floor.
One of Dad’s sayings was, “Never let an Indian know you are afraid.” Once when Dad and his mother were en route to home in Hyrum, they had a frightening experience. Dad was driving four head of horses and his mother was following behind with two head of horses on another wagon. Suddenly, a band of drunk Indians surrounded them. They tried to scare the horses, but Dad cautioned Grandma to stay close behind him so they couldn’t separate the two wagons. As one of them came close, Dad tried to grab at one of their horses. This discouraged them, and they took off and left Dad and Grandma alone. As they continued on toward Mountain Springs, they found at three different times a bag of flour that the Indians had lost from their wagon. After the three bags of flour, they found the tailgate from the Indian’s wagon.
Mother tells us that Dad was a good-looking young man and a really good dancer. All the girls liked to dance with him. Even the older women would get him to dance with them, and Dad was friendly to all of them. He had a lot of admiring friends, both girls and boys, and was popular among the social groups.
On the day she met Dad, Mother and one of her friends were out walking. Mother says Grandma Albretsen would always let her go with Dad because she felt he could be trusted and was at ease when Mother was with him. Father always drove a nice looking buggy and well-trimmed horses. Most any girl was willing to ride with him, especially when he bought five-cents worth of hard-tack candy. Like most young men of his age, Father liked a drink when he was out with the crowd, but he never drank or had the desire for it after they were married.
When they were married, he paid $100 down on a lot that they bought from the Clawson family. He also bought nice furniture for the home, which was doing very well for a young man of his circumstances.
After they had their original homestead going well, Dad took up another homestead of his own. This also was 160 acres. It was in 1908 that he built a house and broke up the ground. He had five head of horses and two twelve-inch plows. He hauled the wheat and barley which he raised on his farm to Malad, Idaho, by horse and wagon. Dad would go out to the homestead when school was out and do summer plowing and then he would come in to put up first crop hay in Hyrum. In early fall he would go back out to harvest and return again to sow fall grain. Mother went with him the first few years and would drive one of the wagons. She was so homesick the first time she went out. Every day she would go out and count the rows of the plow to figure out how many more days before they could go back home. In later years, Dad went out to the homestead and cooked for himself while Mother and the children tended the livestock and took care of other chores at home. Many times they had a struggle, for Mother worked hard and when the children were sick, it was a wearisome worry for her to be alone.
Dad was out to the valley when the 1918 flu epidemic was the worst. In the spring of 1919 when he and a friend discovered the death of a whole family in their home, he decided he had better go home himself. He had Lavon with him then, and they drove into Hyrum at midnight, not meeting a soul as they came in. However, the next morning when Dad arose at daylight and went outside, they had a quarantine sign on the house. People were frightened into panic, and they wouldn’t take any chances. The whole family except Dad was stricken, and they were really ill. Melvina and Lloyd of the children also escaped it. Before Dad returned my brother and sister had to make out for themselves because no one would come to help because they were afraid of the flu. I have heard them tell how they ate pies and cakes and cookies and other good things that neighbors and friends sent to the sick because none of the others were able to eat. Kathrine was the baby of the family at that time and nearly wore Mother out with wanting to nurse constantly.
The homestead was sold in the spring of 1921. With sale of this land, my parents were able to purchase the only car they ever had and build a new home.
Dad says that he remembers when his Grandpa Larson was alive but growing old, he came to ask Dad to take him to Logan. Dad was plowing but he told him he would take him then if he wanted to go. Grandpa Larson thought he could wait until the next day, but that day he sent word that he couldn’t go to Logan. The following day he was dead. Dad thinks that he wanted to have his estate set in order before he died. Dad and the other children were almost left out of his dad’s share of his grandfather’s estate. Dad was an honest and just man and expected others to be the same. He got a lawyer and went into court the day the property was being settled. He got their share which was 20 acres of land between his brothers and sisters and him. He felt it was a gain, however, as the lawyer fee was only $20.
Before his own mother died, she called for him and they went to Logan and set up her estate. The land was to be divided between him and Uncle Amos. For some petty reason, Grandma didn’t want Uncle Archie to have any land. When she died, her estate included enough that each child received $1000, and the property was left to the two boys. In Dad’s generous and honest way, he divided his portion of the land with his brother Archie, and we ten children each received $100 from his $1000.
Dad always loved children and children have always shown friendliness to him. All the grandchildren seemed to make friends and like to have him take them on his knee and sing “Hansa Dansa”, an old Danish song that he would sing as he bounced them on his knee.
He was always a hard worker. He owned only one automobile, a 1920 Dodge, which he drove carefully until it wore out. He never cared much for driving and so he never purchased another automobile. He did more walking than any man I remember. He walked to and from the fields and pastures and to irrigate and back as long as I can remember. He was always a good provider, and none of his ten children have ever wanted for the necessities of life. He taught us to work and not to be ashamed of work. He always said that he would never have a lot of money, but he had a fine family of ten children of whom he was mighty proud.
Dad drove the school wagon for seven years before they had school buses to bring the children from the outskirts of Hyrum and Blacksmith Fork Hollow to the edge of Nibley. In all those years, he was never late one. Many times the snow was very deep, and it was zero weather. In winter, the sleigh was put under the school wagon. I used to like to go with him in the afternoon when he picked up the kids and took them home. He also ran the snow plow for HyrumCity, cleaning the sidewalks in the part of town with a wooden snow plow behind a team of horses. Sometimes he had to make his rounds twice in one day if the snowstorm lasted long enough.
Dad served on the city council for four years under two different mayors – E. J. Wilson and Hans B. Nielsen. He was deputy city marshal to Henry Jensen for a short time. He worked on the farm until after he was 70 years old and said he drove a team for at least 60 years. When World War II broke out, Dad went to work at the Army Supply Depot in Ogden. Mother and the married boys helped to take care of the chores he had at home. Dad was over 60 years at that time.
His children have been active in the Church most all of their lives, serving as teachers and officers in the auxiliaries and priesthood quorum presidencies. His eldest son, Garnel, served as Bishop of the Hyrum 2nd Ward for five years, and Iver was Stake Clerk of Hyrum Stake for seven years. Lloyd served as one of the seven presidents of Seventy in Hyrum Stake. Iver fulfilled an honorable mission to England from 1927 to 1929. In their retirement years, Lloyd and Arlene, Kathrine and Joe, and Donna and Lyle have served missions in various parts of the world. Many grandchildren and great-grandchildren have served missions as well. Many have served in bishoprics, quorum presidencies, Relief Society, Primary and MIA. He helped five of his children to attend higher institutions of learning, and two of them graduated from universities.
At his death on August 23, 1960, he had three sons and seven daughters, 49 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Mother was in ill health and followed him to the grave in November of that same year. Their deaths were a great loss to us for we counted on their wisdom and moral support.
There were ten children born to Ernst and Annie. Garnel Ernest, born May 6, 1904, and died in 1992 of pneumonia and Alzheimer’s disease. His wife Virginia died in 1982 from a heart attack.
Iver Lavon was born October 5, 1905, and died in January 1987, with his wives Melva, Genita and Eunice preceding him in death.
Oda Juanita was born November 27, 1906 and died in 1993, a widow after her husband Wendell Allen died in March 1985.
Mabel Lucille was born April 17, 1908, and was the first of the children to die in 1963 from complications following open heart surgery. Her husband George Sorenson died in 1956 of a heart attack.
Melvina Elizabeth was born July 31, 1910 and died in 1994, the same year as her husband Herman Fonnesbeck.
Lloyd was born March 13, 1912 and died in December 1988 after several years of diabetes and heart problems. His wife Arlene died in 2005.
Effie Cecilia was born April 15, 1915 and died in 2000 before her husband Duane Wright died in 2004.
Marie Kathrine (called Kathrine) was born June 9, 1917 and died in 2001. Her husband Joe died in 1992.
Donna was born April 15, 1920, on the same day as Effie five years later. Donna died of complications following surgery of peritonitis. Her husband Lyle Cooley was the last of the aunts and uncles dying in 2011.
Ila Mae was born May 16, 1923, and died in 2008 after suffering from Alzheimer’ disease. She was a widow for some time as her husband Grant Maughtn died in 1985 from cancer.
His ancestors cherish his memory and are thankful for the lessons of honesty, thrift, and hard work that he taught.
Written by daughter Donna Larsen Cooley in 1960, revised in 1992 and 2011 by granddaughter Annette Handy.
ANNA ALBRETSEN LARSEN 1885 – 1960
My mother, Anna Albretsen Larsen, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on December 12, 1885. She was christened Anna Hansine Petrea, in honor of her Grandmother Albretsen. Mother was the sixth child to bless the union of Biritte Andersen Krogh (called Bergetta in America) and Carl Albretsen, to whom were born seven children: Albert, Julius, Melvina, Carl (who was called Francis), Iver, Anna and Arthur.
(Krogh was the name of the farm where Grandpa Iver Andersen worked in Denmark. This surname name was sometimes used in America as well. My grandfather, Carl Albretsen, was christened Carl Christian Rasmussen in Denmark, but his surname was changed to that of his father in America.)
The following is taken from an earlier sketch recorded in her own voice:
“All of the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ were welcome in the home of my parents, Carl and Birgitte Albretsen, in a suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, Namely Naerum. Harl Liljenquist and Michael Johnson from Hyrum, Utah, were frequent visitors. When they came in for conference, Mother would shine their shoes and line them up in the corridors, and her feather ticking was always waiting and ready to be pawned for extra money to feed the missionaries. Nothing was too good for them and Mother’s great desire was to take her family to settle in America. Mother made many sacrifices to accomplish this. The family was of humble circumstances. It was necessary for Mother to work outside the home as well as i8n her home to care for the needs of her family. She did washing for other people as well as housecleaning for different homes and apartments. By doing this, she was able to earn a living for her family. As she could save from this meager income, she would send one or two of her children to Utah to be placed in the home of other Latter-Day Saints, who could take care of them until she and Father could come and make a home for us. My sister and three brothers had already immigrated when it came my turn to go.
“I was five years old, and my brother Albert, who was twelve years old, came with me. I don’t remember anything about my native land except the big boat. It was May of 1891 when Mother took Albert and I down to the dock and aboard this big boat. She bought me a new doll. It was evening, and Mother was crying as we boarded the ship. I sensed that things were not right and kept asking Mother why she was crying. She had told me we were going to America together, but I knew she had cried when the others had left. Could it be that she was sending Albert and I alone too? She had to reassure me that she would not leave me. Tenderly she lulled me to sleep, assuring me that we would be together. After she was sure I was asleep, she sadly tiptoed from the room having big goodbye to two more of her children. I’m sure she had a prayer in her heart for our safety and protection as she returned home. Her faith assured her that we would meet again, and she would be able to gather her family around her again. I have often wondered if I would have the same faith as my Mother had if I were called upon to do a similar thing. I admire her strength of character and strong testimony of the gospel.
“When I awoke the next morning, my Mother was gone and Albert and I were (as it seemed to me) alone a long way out in the ocean. I was heartbroken at finding my Mother gone and although Albert tried to comfort me, I was very upset and cried for hours or until I could cry no more. I can still feel the emptiness that came over me at that time.
“I have never had a desire to cross the ocean again and felt I would never set foot on a ship again. I must have remembered the rough trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Once when Albert and I were out on the deck watching the waves as children will do, not sensing any danger, large waves came up over the side rail and washed on to the deck nearly pulling us into the angry ocean. Luckily, Albert caught me and held to a nearby post till the water subsided. Our clothing was drenched, and we had to change into dry things. We know that we could have been drowned at sea at that time had not the Lord answered the prayer of our faithful mother.
“When we landed in America, we went right to the railroad and traveled with some missionaries who were supposed to take care of us. We traveled with them until we arrived in Logan, Utah, where they left us at the railroad station. At that time, the railroad didn’t go into Hyrum, and Logan was the nearest station. Arrangements had been made for someone to meet us—but no one was there!
“We waited all afternoon and as night came on, still no one had come for us. We were frightened and discouraged. We didn’t know one direction from the other and as we spoke a foreign tongue, could not inquire as to even what direction Hyrum was. A kind station agent, observing us there for that long time, took pity on us and took us to his home for the night. He gave us a good meal and a bed for the night. In the morning after a nourishing breakfast, he took us to the outskirts of Logan and showed us the road that led to Hyrum.
“Albert and I started out on foot. I was still but a baby and soon got tired of walking, so Albert would take me on his back and we would go “piggy back” until I was rested. We walked as far as the cemetery road that used to be the main road into Hyrum. As we approached the cemetery, we met C. F. Olsen driving a buggy. He was looking for us, having been told we were coming. Brother Olsen took us to Grandpa Iver Andersen’s home. This humble little home was located two blocks south on 6th East on the west corner of the intersection. (As we grew up, the home was still standing but I think it has given way to more modern building now.) After we were welcomed with great affection, Gitty’s children were fed a welcome meal and the clean up began. We had missed the care of a mother and being on our own for so long, had become lousy. The remedy to get rid of lice was coal oil and water, and I was literally bathed in it. After I was scrubbed clean and my long brown hair which had become matted was brushed and combed, Grandpa took me to the home of Joseph Allen, a Hyrum merchant, and a very kind man.
“H. F. Liljenquist, a missionary to Denmark from Hyrum, had made arrangements for me to live in the Allen home temporarily. Mr. Allen had sent part of the money to bring me to live with them. The Allens didn’t have any children of their own then. But when I had been there three years, a daughter Florence was born to them and then another daughter Rachel was born a few years later. They were overjoyed to know that this pretty little Danish girl was to be theirs for a while. Mrs. Allen gave me another bath and clean up. Mr. Allen was part owner of a dry goods store so I was taken to the store to choose what I would like. I chose red dotted percale for a dress, red shoes, and a red leghorn hat. I was very homesick and though the Allens were very good to me and I was thrilled with my new clothes, I cried for my Grandpa Andersen. The next day, Mr. Allen went to Logan and bought me a red rocking chair and a big doll to sit in it.
“While I was staying at the Allen home, I was “Queen of May” on May Day in Hyrum. This was a celebration Hyrum held every May. Will Wright was the king. He was the brother of Warren Wright. I attended school in Hyrum but quit after the fourth grade.
“It was while I was living with Allens that an event of much importance to me occurred. Joseph Allen had been ill for several days, and Doctor Snow from Logan had been taking care of him. His illness was very serious so it was necessary for some member of the family to stay up at night with him. The first night that he was able to be alon3e, he and Mrs. Allen slept in the dining room where he had been during his illness. They made a bed for me just under the window. During the night, I awakened and saw on the steps of the stairway just in the corner from my bed, a personage dressed in spotless white. I could tell it was a man, and he just seemed to glide towards me, his feet not touching the floor. He didn’t stop until he was at the edge of my bed. I was only six years old and was frightened as I lay and watched this tall being coming towards me. I can see now, as I did then, the pleats and sash and his white robe; his cap was exactly as the ones that are worn even now in the temple. I gazed at him for a few moments. Then he glided towards the stairs again. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he stopped and looked back. Fear overwhelmed me, and I threw the quilts up over my head and laid that way until morning, probably falling asleep again in that position.
“The next morning I told my foster parents what I had seen. They told me it was a man wearing temple clothes. I had never seen temple clothes but described them so exactly that they knew it was someone from the other side that had a message for them. They thought, perhaps it was some relative of Mr. Allen who had come to see him. They were happy to think I could tell the incident so well. This experience strengthened the testimony of Brother and Sister Allen as well as my own (and later, those of my family). Whenever I see a man in temple clothes, this picture comes back to me very vividly and I feel the Lord was very good to me in allowing me to have this personal testimony.
“Life at Allens was very enjoyable. I was well cared for and loved and will always feel love and respect and gratitude for these kind people. I was given everything I wanted at Allens and fear that I became somewhat “spoiled”. The children coming from school would line up along the side walk to watch this little Danish girl chatter in her native tongue and entertain them as they came from school. I recall only one time in the four years I stayed at Allens that I received a spanking. I deserved it, because Mrs. Allen had told me to make my bed a certain way. I didn’t hold the sheet correctly when putting it on the bed, and Mrs. Allen made me do it over again. I pulled a face and stuck my tongue out at her. Mrs. Allen saw me do it through the mirror. She didn’t say anything to me at the time, but left the spanking for Mr. Allen to do. I really got a good whipping as well as learned a lesson in respect.
“My father immigrated a year before my mother did. She naturally expected that we would have made preparations for her coming, but he hadn’t. A neighbor, Marie Wilson, invited them in for three meals the first day after arrival from Denmark, and they were invited in the following day for breakfast. Mother was very indignant because there was no food in their own house, not even a sack of flour, so she informed my Dad that if he thought she had come to this country to beg a living, he was mistaken. Then, to make things worse, my brother, Iver, came to visit from the home where he was living. He was completely in rags. She had sent Iver last, before she came because she knew of his playful and irresponsible nature. She had bought him a fine suit and everything to go with it when she let him come over, but he said he had traded his fine clothes away now that he was living at a place where he was working to earn his board and room. Mother was disappointed in him, but not too surprised. She told him he could come home and starve with the rest of them. Mother had expected things to be so different in this wonderful country, but she found that it was just as hard to make ends meet here as in her native land. She was downhearted and discouraged. Ernest, my husband, remembers that as a boy, he saw her arrive in Hyrum, seated by Martin Nielsen who brought her to Hyrum in his wagon with spring seats.
“My father was a mason by trade and a good one, but he was taken to drinking and coming to America had not changed him. He could find work and could have supported his family well if he had not had this bad habit. Mother finally had to go to work to secure the things necessary to care for her family whom she had gathered together under one roof, a very humble one at that.
“I was nine years old when I went back to the family home. I could have stayed at Allens and would have had a much easier life, but I knew my brothers and sister were home with my parents, and I wanted to join them too. We lived in a log house on 1st South and 8th East just a block east of what is our family home now. The first winter was very hard, but we managed to exist. We got a gallon of milk each day from Harl Liljenquist and the next year Michael Johnson brought us a cow and enough hay to fee her for the winter. Brother Johnson was so good to us. He also used to take our whole family to his home for a good meal once in a while. We owe so much to people like him who were and are so charitable with their possessions. I’m sure the Lord was and is mindful of his goodness and that of others who too will be rewarded for their kindnesses. That first Christmas after I went home to live, my parents had no money or means to secure any kind of Christmas for us. I was asked back to Allens for Christmas, and they gave me a coat, rose-colored cashmere for a dress, a wrap for my head, two pair of underwear, and yarn for me to knit two pair of stockings. For several years, I went to Allens to help with housework.
“Many other disillusions, as well as adversities followed in those first years in this country. The Bushrup’s, another dissatisfied couple, were returning to Denmark, and they offered to take Mother back with them, but she didn’t feel she could leave her children again, as she had separated from them in order for them to get to America.
“Mother used to work summers cooking for the men who worked at lumber camps up at White Pines in BlacksmithForkCanyon. She would cook for eight to ten men. She worked for A. B. Anderson, Con Andher, and Alec Hill who operated lumber camps, for several years. I was with her then. I often wonder now, how I dared to walk from the A. B. Anderson camp to Con Andher’s lumber camp to get milk. It was a distance of three miles which would be six miles to and from, through wooded wild mountain country where it was not uncommon to see bear and mountain lion. I was only nine or ten years old.
“At one time, my brother Iver was walking to Hardware Ranch to work. About half-way up by Devil’s Gate, he laid down on his stomach by the river to get a drink. Hearing a lapping noise, he looked up and saw a mountain lion was drinking on the opposite side of the river. He started running and never looked back till he was sure he wasn’t being followed.
“Another time, my brother Julius, was rounding up some sheep. He was riding a horse which was deaf. A bear pawed the back of his horse trying to reach him. He had evidently angered her for she had two cubs. The horse carried the claw marks for a long time. The canyons were rough and untamed, at that time, and they had many such experiences as I have related. We were by no means just at the mouth of the canyon, but you must bear in mind that we were way back nearer BearLake and Monte Cristo, nearer the Randolph and Woodruff country.
“In the afternoon, Mother would fix coffee for the men and send it down with me to the saw mill. Sometimes one of the men would give me a nickel for my efforts, and Olof Olsen, particularly, would always bring me a sack of hardtack candy when he came from town. At one time while Mother was working for Con Andher, he left us up at White Pines with nothing in the house but some flour and a few condiments. We lived on what Mother could make out of this for four days before we received more supplies.
“Mother used to roll the bread into a long roll and then cut it off into cubes to fry. With these cubes, Dave Anderson and I used to play “Keeps”. It was one of our favorite games. Dave and I were playmates during the summer months we spent in the canyon. He would tell me that when we grew up, he wanted to marry me and was always talking about the fine clothes that he would buy for me. In later years, he moved to StarValley to make his home.
“My brother Albert used to carry the mail from Logan to Hyrum—this included Providence, Millville, Hyrum, and Paradise. When he arrived in Hyrum, I would have the horse harnessed to the rig ready to go, for it was my job to deliver the mail to Paradise. He would throw the mail bag in and say, “Give it hell,” and off I would go. One time when I was entering Paradise, there were a bunch of boys laying for me. They threw rotten eggs at me and when I entered the post office, they were dripping from my bonnet. The post mistress asked me what had happened and on hearing my story, told me it would never happen again. She must have known who the boys were because it never happened again. Albert would quite often forget to feed his horse, and mother was afraid to let him know that she was feeding it. She would have me wait up with her until Albert had gone to bed. This was often quite late because he was a fine musician and used to sit up for hours practicing his violin. When he had gone to bed, we would sneak out, and Mother would feed the horse.
“I was baptized by Peter Rose in the big ditch down by Winifred Allen’s about three blocks west of our family home in Hyrum. His brother Ole Rose confirmed me.”
The rest of her story I shall tell in my words as Mother related it to me, and I shall also tell some things that others have told me about her.
Many people tell us what a sweet and beautiful young lady our Mother was. She had a lovely voice and sang at nearly every public gathering. She was a good organist and was organist for the Scandinavian choir that her brother, Albert, organized and conducted. It was the first Scandinavian choir in Hyrum. The choir was quite successful. They would sing in church in Hyrum and surrounding communities. When Hyrum Ward was divided, Mother was Sunday School organist for the Hyrum 2nd Ward, and C. A. Nielsen was music director. She served in this position for many years. C. A. Nielsen was our long-time neighbor. Mother never served as a teacher in any of the auxiliaries, but was an excellent teacher in her home with her children. She showed us by precept and example the right way to live and that what we did was for us to choose.
She was 1st counselor to Nellie Rose in the ward Relief Society, with Flossie Fallows as the other counselor and Flossie Petersen as secretary. Mother enjoyed a longtime friendship with these two “Flossies”. For five years, Mother enjoyed the Relief Society leadership work but was always timid about presiding or conducting a meeting She served many years as a visiting teacher and was always one who could be counted on to help do quilting or anything that the Relief Society put on during their work and business day. In about 1954 she surprised all of us when she took part in a program in the Hyrum 2nd Ward representing the converts from different countries. She told her story so well and with much poise that she even surprised herself.
Mother did a lot of temple work when she was able. She and Grandma Albretsen used to go several times a week before her health began to fail. She always enjoyed working in the temple and has done endowments for many deceased women. She and Grandma Albretsen attended several General Conferences in Salt Lake City. They would take their lunch and spend the whole day in the Tabernacle. They used to allow people to eat their lunches in there if they wished to and insure them a seat for the next meeting. Mother was a faithful member of the Hyrum 2nd Ward choir until about 1940, whe she felt restricted because of hoarseness in her vocal chords and ill health.
Her childhood pals were Kate Liljenquist who later married H. R. Adams, our high school principal, and Edith Johnson was also a dear girl friend. Later on, Javan Jensen Petersen and Rosie Nielsen Jensen were her girl friends. She remembers that she and Javan once sang in the Logan Tabernacle at a church gathering.
As she was growing up, Mother did housework for Mrs. Jensen commonly known as Mrs. J., who owned and managed the Pioneer Hotel in Hyrum. When theater groups came to stay, Mrs. J. would have Mother stay later so she could sing and play to entertain her guests. Sometimes it would be awfully late at night when she was to go home. Mother had over a mile to walk to her home and sometimes was very nervous. At times, Grandma would walk part way to meet her. Other types of employment she recalls is trying to sell the old time photo albums for Alvin Allen. She sold a few but gae up this enterprise.
Mother was popular at all public gatherings. When she was 16 years old, she was chosen “Queen of Utah” and rode on a float in the parade on the 4th of July in 1901 in Hyrum. She wore a yellow dress and silver crown. Mother wasn’t proud. She tells us she spoke to everyone she chanced to meet, whether rich or poor, young or old. At a dance, she always had more dances spoken for than the orchestra played. Mother had hosts of friends. She says they used to have a lot of private dancing parties in their homes. They would clear the room of rugs and dance until the dust was raised. Most of the time, Albert played on his fiddle. At holiday time, there would be a dance someplace every night of the week. Mother and Dad liked to dance so well, and they were always there. Family responsibilities must have curtailed their dancing in later life because I have never seen them dance. I have heard Mother tell how they used to bundle the children up and go to a movie quite often.
Albert and Mother used to play at the theater at the beginning of the silent movie. She says she still remember how he would beat with his foot when he made a mistake to try to make it look like it was she who had made the mistake.
Mother met my Dad as she and her girl friend were out walking one day. Dad drove a nice outfit—some pretty horses and a nice buggy. They went together occasionally for a while and then they became serious about each other. Mother was 18 years old when she married my Dad. He was 22. They were married on December 1, 1902, as she would have had her 18th birthday that month. They obtained their license to wed at Logan and were married at the home of her brother Iver. C. F. Olsen, the man who met them in his buggy some years before as Albert and she were walking to Hyrum, performed the ceremony. Her brothers, Iver and Julius, were the witnesses. As December 1 was also Grandma Albertsen’s birthday, they had a birthday and wedding supper combined. It wasn’t until they had their 10 children that they were married in the temple and had their children sealed to them.
At the time they were married, Dad was working for Soren Hansen and they stayed home with Grandma Albretsen for about a month. Grandma had a great respect for Dad. Mother said she never questioned her if she was going with Ernst as she seemed confident that she was in good hands. Mother says she doesn’t know how she would have ever managed without the help of her mother with her many children and as hard as she worked at the time she was rearing her family. Her mother lived just a block east of us at that time, and used to run in and help with the household chores.
My folks bought the lot where we were born and raised from Clawson’s. Here they have lived the remainder of their lives. Improvements have been made, including a new modern home, fence, lawn and flowers. When they moved into their first home, they had two rooms. They bought a new bed, dresser, and washstand, a tall cupboard, a rocking chair, stand-table, kitchen stove, table and six chairs. They also had a kitchen cupboard and new curtains and a lovely home-made carpet. In their kitchen, they had carpet on one half of the floor and carpet and linoleum on the other half. I was the last child born in that home. Mother tells me that many people remarked whenthey came to call, what a lovely home they had.
When they operated their homestead in PocatelloValley, Mother got in on some real pioneering. When they would go out to the farm, Dad would drive one team and wagon, and Mother would drive the other team following Dad. The children would ride with Mother. Often they would meet a steam thresher and the horses would rear, but Mother would keep her “cool” and handle them well. Mother would bake a five-gallon milk can full of doughnuts to eat on the way out and to have something on hand when they got to the farm. They had scarlet fever while they were out there and spent some anxious hours taking care of the sick ones.
When Lavon was only five years old, he stayed out on the farm with Dad. One day Dad hd to leave him alone while he pulled a cook shack down from Blue Creek. He thought he would be gone only a little while, but it took him from 1 p.m. until about 10 p.m. that night. Dad was worried about Lavon and when he came home, the little boy was asleep with the big dog watching over him. Grandpa Albretsen spent a lot of his time with them at the homestead and more time with Uncle Jule in the later years of his life. In fact, that is where he spent his final hours before his death. He was always bringing some kind of treat to the family in the line of good things to eat, whenever he came to visit.
When Lavon’s wife Melva died in December 1936, leaving him to take care of two little boys under four, Mother took them into our home and tried to do the best she could with them until Lavon remarried and took them to his home in 1944.
Mother was always known for her excellent cooking. Danish people have a special aptitude for making delicious food and for presiding in their homes with hospitality. Mother was no exception and always had something good to offer to those who visited our home. On Sundays and holidays she used to be up early in the morning baking pies, for which she was famous. My friends who used to come to play would marvel at the number of pies and the many good cookies which she had to offer them.
She made many quilts for her children and grandchildren as well much crocheting. For many years before Grandma Albretsen became aged, they used to do custom quilting in our dining room. They would mark and quilt a quilt for three dollars. When Grandma got to where she was unable to care for herself, Mother took her into our home and cared for her until her death on April 27, 1939.
Though in her last years poor health restricted her activities, she kept an interest in her family and their activities. Mother died on November 17, 1960, just three months after Dad’s death. I have always thought my Mother to be the best in the world. We have admired her for her patience with us when she had such a large family and so much to do. She has always been beautiful and though her hair grayed and her health became poor, she still had the same sparkling eyes and friendly smile that we have always loved. She was a wonderful mother and maintained her testimony to her dying day. Her memory lives on in our hearts and minds.
Written in by daughter Donna Larsen Cooley in 1960 and revised in 1992.
For those that attended the reunion in August, my dad (Terry Allen) mentioned a website that I created that has some histories and pictures of my ancestors (some of which are your ancestors too). The address is scottallen.wikispaces.com. Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think! I welcome anything you have to contribute as well.
Also, my dad shared a story from one of our ancestors (Margaret Pettigreen Hope Williams) about the indians wanting to trade ponies for the “little white squaw” during the trek to Salt Lake City. That story is available on the wiki at this address:
Here’s a picture from the Larsen Cousins reunion held in Hyrum on
August 4th, 2012. Feel free to upload and share any other pictures you
have.
Ernest and Anna Larsen Family 