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| Fred & Mary Nielsen Family |
THE LIFE STORY OF FREDERICK
NIELSEN
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As he wrote it himself or told it to his daughter, Olive Shill.
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In the summer of 1872 my Mother Elizabeth Peterson Nielsen, emigrated from Skuldelev, Denmark to America.
After floating some Nine Weeks on the ocean she landed in America with her three children – Peter, Annie, and Christian. My father came across a few months later. I had one brother Carl Frederick, who passed away and was buried in Skuldelev before my Mother left Denmark.
In the year of 1872 my brother Ole was born at Lexington, Texas. Then three years later on October 25, 1875 I was born also in Lexington.
I was still very young when my Mother, Chris, Ole, my sister Annie and her husband, Christian Sorenson boarded a train for Salt Lake City, Utah . My Father and Peter stayed behind in Lexington to bring the team and wagons. As they arrived in Carbon, Wyoming my Father became very ill and was unable to continue the journey to Salt Lake City. He was buried there after passing away on June 20, 1878. Much to my Mother's sorrow, he never did become a member of the Church.
We went to a place near Salt Lake City called Kingston, Utah. It was better known as Grass Valley, Utah. Here we lived in the United Order. We lived there about two years then one day they got a call to go to the Sun Set Order in Winslow, Arizona. My sister Annie and her husband went with us.
When we left the Kingston Order they gave us two covered wagons, three yoke of oxen and two cows, also one sack of beans. With the high speed Ox team we started out for Arizona crossing the buckskin Mountains, also the Colorado river at Lees Ferry. We arrived at the Black Falls on the Little Colorado River on Christmas eve 1880. The name of this town was later changed to Cameron, which incidentally is the town where my oldest son, Frederick Moroni, was working many years later when he got appendicitis and passed away after being operated on at Flagstaff, Arizona, but more about that later on in the story.
I don't remember just how long we stayed at Cameron, however, it evidently was for some time since Peter and Christian Sorenson got a job working on the Santa Fe Railroad plowing with their Ox team. They were building a railroad between Winslow and Holbrook. Things were very rough during those days. Food was very scarce. Sugar cost $ 1.00 per pound when you could get it, We never reached the Sunset Order which was our original destination when leaving Salt Lake City. We did, however, move camp to just below Winslow where Peter and Christina Sorenson continued working for the Railroad until April of 1881. Then the Railroad went on strike. They couldn't get any money, so we decided to move on to St. Johns.
When we arrived in St. Johns, we didn't have any food or money. They had guns but they didn't have any bullets. So Peter and Christian decided to kill one of the oxen with an ax. They cut the meat up, and dried it and made jerky out of it. I remember I was hungry and crying for something to eat and my Mother gave me a piece of the dried meat. It was so hard I could hardly eat it, but it helped to satisfy my hunger.
After settling in St. Johns we were very happy to see the springtime. We planted the sack of beans that had been given to us when we left the Kingston Order in Utah. My mother and I would gather wild parsley and different kinds of weeds to cook them for greens.
In the spring of 1884 my Mother met a man by the name of Hans A. Thompson and married him. They had their work done in the St. George Temple. They took all of us kids, Peter, Annie, Ole, and Myself along and had us sealed in the name of Thompson.
Thompson was a polygamist so President of the Church, Lorenzo Snow, told them to get out and go into Old Mexico. There was plenty of land there and the law wouldn't bother them. So my Step-father left his other two wives in St. Johns, took my mother and us children and in the spring of 1885 we moved to Old Mexico.
James N. Skousen was also a Polygamist so he was going along with us. I was nine years old at this time. I was the youngest of my two brothers. Ole and Chris, who went along also.
I remember I had a vivid dream two weeks before we were t leave for Old Mexico. In this dream, we were camped at the foot of the old Mulligan hill. A little ways away from the camp fire I found a huge butcher knife stuck up in the ground at the base of a large pine tree. The dream was so real that I couldn't help telling my mother about it and reminding her that when we arrived at the Mulligan Hill we were going to camp and I was going to find that butcher knife. Mother lost her patience with me and told me to keep quiet about that butcher knife as she was sick and tired of hearing about it.
Strange as it may seem and much to the surprise of my Mother this dream actually came to pass just as I had related it to my Mother many many times before. Here is the way it actually happened: After leaving St. Johns early in the morning. We made it to Springerville about 30 miles south where we camped the first night. Early the next morning we continued our journey. Our course of travel was to be down the Mulligan Hill, through Luna Valley, and down the Frisco River and on to Juarez, Mexico. My mother was cold so she got out of the wagon to walk and keep warm. I crawled out and walked with her as I was very cold too. I can still hear my teeth chattering. While we were walking along I couldn't help telling my mother again about that butcher knife I was going to find while we were camped at the foot of that Mulligan Hill. I explained to her about it being so big it was more like a dagger, and that it had bone handles and was silver in color. Again she told me to keep still about that butcher knife.
About this time the wagons came to a halt and as we looked around we discovered that we were at the top of the Mulligan Hill. I was real excited as I said, “ Mother, this is where I am going to find that butcher knife.” Mother said, Well son, you might find your butcher knife but we are certainly not going to camp here as it isn't even noon yet.” I didn't know quite what to think as my dream had seemed so real that I had felt ever since I dreamed it that we were surely going to camp at the foot of Mulligan Hill and that I was going to find that butcher knife.
Mr. Skousen was driving the lead wagon as he knew the way. He had two span of horses and two covered wagons. His brakes were not very good, so he cut down a large juniper tree and tied it behind his wagon and started down the hill. When he was on the steepest part of the hill, the chain broke and left the tree in the road. The wagon and horses went running and kicking down the hill.. One horse caught on the single-tree at the foot of the hill and the wagon struck a large rock and broke one of the front wheels to pieces. They had to clear up the road before the other wagons could come down.
We had no choice but to make camp. Soon a large fire was built between the two wagons. We thanked the Lord that none of us were hurt. They took the spring seats of the wagons, and put them around the fire and my mother sat warming her feet. As I sat there beside her I spied the beautiful tree I had seen in my dream. I went directly over to it. As I came up to the tree I looked down and there was the butcher knife sticking up there in the ground at the trunk of the pine tree. I jerked it up and ran back to the camp. There between the two wagons, as in my dream, sat my mother warming her feet. I walked up to her and said, “Mamma, here is that butcher knife I have kept telling you about.” She threw up her hands and said in Danish “Na E Yena Dow” which means in English – My goodness land. She just couldn't believe her own eyes. Everything was just as I had described it to her long before we left on our journey.
When we arrived in Old Mexico, we found some land and settled down to farming. We stayed there for five years. Then my mother passed away September 23, 1889. We laid her to rest in Juarez, Mexico. After that Chris and I came back to St. Johns.
I made my home with my sister Annie and her husband Christian Sorenson. She was very good to me and brought me many of the things I needed. I remember one of the first things she bought me was a pair of shoes. I guess she thought that was what I needed most as I was bare footed.
I was only a young boy of 12, but I went out and found a job taking care of cattle. I stayed with my sister until I grew up and got married then I had to support myself and my wife. The young lady that caught my eye was Mary Eliza Holgate who was born and raised in St. Johns. After our courtship we were married on December 19, 1899 by Bishop Charley P. Anderson.
After we were first married, we stayed with my wife's parents for a while then I bought a lot for $20.00, we moved a two-room house from Egypt onto this lot then I bought some lumber for $20.00 and added some more rooms.
We lived here for quite a while then sold to Brigham Peterson who later sold to John Eager. John has since passed away, but his family still owns the house and lot today.
Within a couple of years or so we were blessed with two lovely little daughters, first Nellie then Mae. It was at this time that I took a job at the Bright Angle Lodge at the Grand Canyon. I worked on the trail for Smith & Page Mining Co. I had a pack train of 13 mules and a horse to ride. I made a trip down to the Mine each day which was sever miles down and seven back. Each Mule packed 180 pounds. They paid me $90.00 a month. I worked here two years and 13 days. Then we moved back to St. Johns in order to put the girls in school. They offered me a five dollar raise in pay if I would stay on. Mr. Smith gave me a name of being the only man that never lost an animal off the trail. He wrote to me several years after trying to get me to return to the trail.
After returning to St. Johns we were looking for a farm to buy and we decided to go into the San Juan Country. We stopped at Fruitland, New Mexico. The winter was very cold. I cut Ice from the San Juan River which was 22 inches thick and stored it in coal. I also hauled apples from Fruitland to Gallup, New Mexico for George Byron. I hauled them during the winter and crossed the River which was frozen over solid with ice.
The next summer we went to Kline, Colorado. There we stayed with my wife's parents, William and Eliza Holgate. I worked in the hay fields most of the summer. In August 1906 we were blessed with another daughter. I helped my father-in-law haul and thrash his wheat.
The next spring we moved to Ramah, New Mexico. Here I bought a house and two lots for three hundred dollars. Then I bought ten acres for $90.00 and an old thrashing machine for $610.00. Two Gallager boys, Ed and Lewis were supposed to be my partners in this deal and were supposed to pay for part of it. However, it turned out that I had to put up all the money. The man brought the thrashing machine out but wouldn't unload it until they had the money. The other boys didn't have it so I paid it all. However they paid me back later in grain after we harvested the wheat.
We stayed in Ramah for about three years. On July 19th 1908 we had our first son, Frederick Moroni. When he was very young, we decided to move back to St. Johns. I sold my land and machinery and brought 65 head of cattle. I got a man by the name of Tom Gallager to help me drive them to St. Johns.
When we got to St. Johns I went in partners with my brother-in-law Fred Rothlisberger and bought four lots. He was supposed to pay for tow of them, but as it turned out, I had to pay for them all. They cost a total of $120.00.
I worked for the Patterson brothers at the saw mill for about two years. They let me pasture my cows on their land. William Ole, my second son was born during this period on April 15, 1910.
The spring of 1912 we moved up to Richville and I farmed for Tom Irwin. I was still looking for a farm to buy. One day a man by the name of Rule Jarvis who owned the farm just north of where I was working told me that he would like to buy my cows. I told him that I would like to have his farm so we traded. I gave him forty head of cows for the ranch at Richville.
On June 13, 1912, our son Edward was born. There was a little log house on the ranch and that is where we lived for several years before I built another house. I made a good living off the farm. We had lots of hard times and trouble, but we had lots of happy times too.
I began working my land and planting my crops. I put in lots of long hard hours, but I got my farm going as I wanted it.
In 1914 World War I started. They began taking our boys right and left. I didn't think I had anything to worry about since I had such a large family.
On November 6, 1914 we had another child. This time it was a girl. We had been talking about going to the Temple for some time to have our work done. We were getting quite a large family, so finally I, being converted to Temple work, hitched up four horses and a covered wagon in the summer of 1915 on June 15, and we set out for Salt Lake City, Utah.
We met a man near Provo, Utah who told us the Salt Lake Temple was closed for the summer. He said the Manti Temple was the only one that was still open. We had to go back south 60 miles to Manti. Here we were married again, this time for Time and all Eternity. Our eight children were sealed to us. It took us three months and three days to make the trip up there and back. After we had gone through the Temple, the President called me into his office and asked me many questions. He advised me to go through the Temple again for my Father and have him sealed to my Mother and then be sealed myself to my own Father and Mother.
In 1916 our family was growing out of the old log house. So I began building a new house up on the hill. I just about had it finished when our ninth child, Leonore, was born.
I had worked hard on my farm. Many a day I worked from sun up to sun set. I had a nice crop though. I had quite a bunch of cows which we milked and shipped cream. I used to have to take it over to the highway to get it taken to the market. It helped a lot though. It gave us a little extra money to buy the things we didn't raise on our farm.
In the spring of the year on April 6, 1917 the United States went into the war. We had the only telephone in the valley and everyone used it. Whenever any important messages came, we had to be the messenger boy and deliver them. Then a terrible flu epidemic broke out. Our telephone was out of order and everyone was sick. We couldn't get it fixed. Finally Mr. And Mrs. Booth came down from Springerville to fix it. They came in a terrible rain storm. They just opened the door and came in without knocking. He had a terrible cough, like he was getting the flu. Well he was and he gave it to us. We were all down at once except for our daughter Mae. She took care of us all as well as the chores outside. She kept a horse saddled all the time because I didn't have a fence around my crops.
The war was getting worse and finally the day came when I got my call. I was to report the following week, but before the week was up the Germans surrendered and the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. I would have been happy to serve my country, however it was a relief to me not to have to go to war, in as much as my wife was expecting our tenth child in a couple of weeks. Seventeen days later on November 28th, 1918 we were blessed with another baby girl, whom we named Eva.
The next few years from 1919 to 1927 were very hard years. Things were pretty rough after the war. Then too, our family had increased. Roland, Christeen, and Delbert was born during this period, also our little baby girl, Nina, who was not permitted to remain with us. Because of a little misunderstanding at the election time with some of my neighbors in Richville, my wife became quite upset and excited and as a result Nina was born dead.
We had some very happy times through these years as well as some sad ones. For instance on February 19, 1925 Freddie and Eazy were coming down from the ranch with a load of hay. When they got to Brig Peterson's place they saw a big chicken hawk sitting on a telephone pole. Freddie got the twenty-two out and shot at it, but missed. He reloaded real quick but before he could shoot again the hawk flew away. He should have unloaded the gun for safety, but he didn't and a little later as the gun was slipping off the load of hay, Eazy reached out and caught it by the barrel. As he was pulling it back it went off and shot him in the stomach.
Freddie brought him home and we called Dr. Boulden. He said he couldn't do anything for him and so we had to take him to the hospital in Gallup, New Mexico to have the bullet removed. He was very ill for several weeks, but through our faith and prayers, he came through it alright. However, to this day he still has the lead of the bullet lodged in his spine.
Three of my children, Nellie, Mae and Freddie had married before the end of 1927. I remember the cold October day in 1927 when Freddie got married. Snow was all over the ground and we were supposed to go to St. Johns for the wedding. We had an old Model T. Ford which was very hard to get started. Finally we got it running and went on our way. We got just on the top of the hill that is about nine miles form St. Johns and the old car stopped running. I worked and worked but couldn't get it started. I decided I would have to walk in for help, when a car drove up. It was Freddie, he was supposed to get married a 11:00 A.M. and it was getting close to the hour but since we hadn't arrived, he come to see what was wrong. He took us on in and we arrived in time for the wedding.
1928 and 1929 were very bad and lean years also. Things seemed to go from bad to worse. In 1929, of course the big depression hit the country. The money I was getting from the cream we shipped began to get smaller and smaller. This was our source of money to buy our staple foods, and when they fell off the only thing we could rely on was our crops. It was then that I started looking for something to do that would bring in a little cash. We had heard a lot about Mesa, Arizona so after talking it over with my family and giving it a lot of thought, we finally decided to make the move.
We left St. Johns the latter part of 1928 for Mesa, Arizona. We drove as far as Flagstaff the first day and camped on the out-skirts in the cedars. We built a big bonfire and kept it burning most of the night to keep us warm.
After arriving in Mesa, we went to Aunt Clara Gibbons' home and stayed with her and her family for about three weeks. We helped them in the lettuce. We decided before we settled down to anything we would go on to Orland, California to see my brother Chris. We stayed there until about the middle of February then came back to Mesa. We finally found a job cutting lettuce. We rented a house at 219 North Pasadena and started the children into school. Finally the lettuce came to an end and we were job hunting again.
I found a job working for John Brown so we moved to Lehi. I bought some cows and shipped a little cream. We stayed there only a short time then I found a better paying job in Gilbert working for Mr. Neeley.
I rented the cows to a Mr. Millet and we moved again to Gilbert. I worked on his farm for quite a while, then one day he told me he had bought some farming land in Coolidge and he wanted me to go out there and plant cotton. This meant another move, but I had to have the job so we moved to Coolidge. We stayed there a couple of months or so until we got the cotton crop planted then we went back to Gilbert.
One day I came home for dinner and my wife said, Fred, I suppose I have caused you to lose your job.” I asked her why and she said she had been visiting Mrs. Neeley that morning and Mr. Neeley came in. In the conversation they got to talking about the Mormons. Mr. Neeley was really bitter towards them. She said, Mr. Neeley, we happen to be one of those Mormons, then he just raved. She said, I just know he'll fire you.” Well, I ate my lunch and went back to work. Sure enough that night when I finished my work Mr. Neeley came out and told me I was finished. He was kind enough to give us a few days to stay in the house until we could find another place to live.
I looked for work for quite a while without any luck. One day I saw John Brown. I told him my situation and he offered me my old job back, so we moved back to Lehi to live again.
I worked for John Brown for a little over three years, from 1930 to 1933. During this time my family had grown up, and four of them had married. Louie married in 1931, Ole, Eazy and Olive married in 1932.
Three years was quite a long time for me to stay in one place. My oldest son, Fred and his wife had gone back to St. Johns, so we decided we would go back to the old ranch, so in the spring of 1933 we moved again. Fred and Lavora came down and helped move us back. We went only to Phoenix the first night. My daughter, Olive, lived there and she wanted us to stay the last night with her.
We got up very early the next morning and started on our way. We camped at Flagstaff the next night. The next morning we were getting ready to leave and somehow the chickens got loose and went flying all over the place. We chased chickens for an hour. I still remember how Fred laughed over that.
In 1934, tragedy struck our family. The last of March we received a telephone call from Flagstaff. It was my son's wife saying Fred was very ill and they had to operate. We got ready and went.
When we got there his appendix had already been removed and he seemed to be doing quite well. Then all of a sudden he took a turn for the worse and on April 4, 1934 he was taken from us. This was a hard blow for us to take. We were just not prepared for anything like this. But I guess it was God's will and we just had to make the best of it.
The next six years were lonely years. It took me some time to get over Fred's death. We all missed him so. He used to come home almost every weekend. We especially missed him at Christmas time. I remember what a kick he got out of helping us fill stockings and get ready for Santa Clause to come.
We always looked forward to the summers each year, as the children who lived in Mesa would come up and stay for a while. We certainly enjoyed having them all very much.
In April of 1941 I received word that my brother, Chris, was sick and he wanted us to come out and stay with him. So my wife and I got ready and went to Orland, California. He was very sick for two months before he died on July 23, 1941. His last wish was to be cremated and have his ashes buried on his property. This was very hard for me to have done, but since that was his wish we proceeded to have him cremated.
We stayed on after his death trying to get his affairs settled. While we were there Lenore and Christeen came up and stayed a while with us. We didn't seem to be getting anywhere with his affairs so in October we decided to go home. There were two missionaries there in Orland and we let them stay in the house while we were gone. We stayed in St. Johns until January 1942. Then we received word from the lawyer to come back to California. We went but it was June before we got things all settled.
After we came back to Mesa, Arizona and decided to buy us a home and settle down. We liked the little place we rented when we first came to Mesa in 1928 and since it happened to be for sale we decided to buy it.
One day my son, Duffy, came home and said he wanted to join the Navy. He was very young and I would have to sign before he could get in. I hated to have him join, but my wife and I talked it over and it was what he wanted so we signed the papers.
He wasn't in very long and they shipped him across the water. World War II was going full blast. He drove an LST ship which carried the Marines to the shore. This worried us a great deal. Thank goodness he returned home to us safely.
I bought my home with the intentions of settling down and quit moving around but Louie had a store in Lehi and she wanted me to come down and help her run it. We decided rather than drive down and back every day, we would just move down and live there near the store. So we rented our home and moved down to Lehi. My son-in-law's mother had passed away and his brother had moved out of the state so they let us live in the house while he was gone. I helped her in the store for quite some time.
My children have all grown up and are all married now. Eva and Christeen married in 1944 and Roland and Duffy both married in 1946. It was quite an empty lonesome feeling when the last one was gone. However, when Christeen's husband Jerold, came back from the service they lived in our home for a while.
The next ten years seemed to slip by. I had to start to slow down a bit. I found I was getting along in years and couldn't do as much as I used to. There wasn't much for me to do so I got out my knife and started carving things out of wood.
I made some lamps and whittled a few chains and entered them in the State Fair in Phoenix, Arizona. I won some blue ribbons on them.
The summers were very hot and it got so the heat bothered us so we started going to St. Johns and spending the summers and then back to Mesa in the winter.
On February 6, 1956, I received word my sister Annie Sorenson had passed away. I had seen her when my brother Chris died and I decided I wanted to remember her the way I last saw her.
In January 1958 my wife and I got on the train and went to Long Beach, California. My son's wife Mary Jo, was expecting a baby and Mama and I went over to stay with them and watch Sandra and Jackie while their mother was at the hospital. We arrived at this huge depot at Los Angeles, and I have never saw so many people in my life. I was certainly happy to have Duffy there to meet us.
In the fall of 1957 we came home from St. Johns and we had a new home. The children had decided we needed to move again since we hadn't moved very much. Roland bought a new home so we moved into his old one. I am getting pretty along in years now and I hope it will be my last move.
1959 has been quite a year. There hasn't been too much happen. But as usual we spent the summer at St. Johns. While we were there, my wife's sisters husband, Will Harris, passed away. We didn't stay for the funeral as Roland was up there and we decided we would come home while we had a way back.
December 19, 1959 we will be married 60 years. That's a long time to live with one woman, but they have been happy years.. I am looking forward to the party the children have planned to celebrate our sixtieth Wedding Anniversary. I understand all my children will be present. It has been a long time since we have all been together and I'm looking forward to it very much.
Our Wedding Anniversary celebration in December will be an outstanding memory as all eleven of our children who are still living was present along with most of their families. A very excellent program was presented by the talented youngsters and grown-ups of the family and the dinner was delicious.
My plans for the future are to look after my garden, plants, shrubs, and trees and see that they are watered and cared for properly; to be very kind and considerate to my good wife and our lovely children, and to continue my work and service in the Church each day of my life.
January, February, and March 1960 were rather uneventful except that I shall always remember February as that was the month that I had all my teeth pulled. This was quite painful.
Easter, 1960 came late in April on the 17th. My son, Duffy had bought a new home at 732 East 4th Street, with a nice big yard. He and Mary Jo invited us over and we ate a picnic dinner in their back yard.
Summer had arrived and it was time once again for us to go to St. Johns. We went up earlier this year than usual. We generally do not go until about the 4th of July, but this time we left about the middle of June.
The 22nd of July, 1960 we held our first Nielsen reunion. Most of us went up to the Ranch and camped out over-night. On the 23rd we held a business meeting. Nellie was elected president and Lenore Secretary. We discussed plans for the coming year and the date was set for the next reunion to be held the last Saturday of July 1961. At noon we had a Bar-B-Que steak dinner and all the trimmings.
Nine of our children with their wives and husbands, 36 grand children and 12 great-grand children enjoyed that Bar-B-Que dinner. Olive and Eva with their families came up the following day.
On the 24th we all attended the parade in St. Johns that morning. Then we all went to my daughter, Nellie's home and ate lunch. Some of the children went to the Rodeo in the afternoon and the rest of us stayed home and visited.
By the middle of September it had cooled off so Mamma and I returned to our home in Mesa. October, November, and December just seemed to fly by, I can always remember October because that’s my birthday. This is the month that I always get a year older. I was 85 years old October 25, 1960. November, of course is the month for Thanksgiving and lots of good things to eat. I also attended the Arizona State Fair in Phoenix.
The first part of December I got up one morning with a terrible pain in the back of my head. I kept thinking it would wear off, but it seemed to get worse each day. It finally got me down in bed. One night the pain was real bad and Olive and Duffy came over to see me. They insisted on calling a doctor. Finally I consented if they thought he could help me. They called a Dr. Smith. I guess he had the right kind of medicine as I soon got alright.
December 17, 1960 we held our Annual Christmas Party. The date was moved up a few days so my daughter Nellie and her family could attend. They were all down here for their daughter, Lavina's wedding which was held the night before. We all met at the home of my grandson, Laddie Richey, and had a very enjoyable evening. Present at this Christmas party were two of our sons, Roland and Duffy with their wives and families, and six of our daughters, Nellie, Louie, Olive, Lenore, Eva, and Christeen with their husbands and families. There were 28 grand children and 9 great grand children.
On December 24th we were privileged to have our daughter, Leonore and her son Billy, spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with us. Christmas was on Sunday this year so after going to Sunday School we came home and had a fine Christmas dinner which my wife and Leonore prepared. A few days after Christmas another daughter, Mae, with her husband and boys came down from Farmington, New Mexico. We were very happy to see them and enjoyed their visit.
On February 17th 1961 tragedy struck our family again. We received word in the afternoon from our son Ole, that his wife, Gwen, had been very ill and unconscious since Wednesday and so he was bringing her to a hospital in Phoenix. Later that day we received word that she had passed away just before they reached Globe. Early the next morning Mamma and I left for St. Johns with Sharrell and Eddie, where we spent the next three days with Ole and his grief stricken family. Gwen was lain to rest in the St. Johns cemetery on Monday, February 20th 1961.
March 1961 has been a very windy month. The last week was rainy and cold. I thought we would have bad weather for Easter but by the end of the week it had cleared up and the weather was nice and warm. Easter was on the 2nd of April this year. We had a picnic lunch with many of our children and their families down in Lehi at my daughter, Louie's home. Besides those who live here in the Valley, my grandson Arland Richey and his family were here from Riverside, California, my granddaughter, Velda Stowell and her family were here from New Mexico, and my son, Ole and his family were here from St. Johns.
The last eventful thing that has happened as of this writing took place on Sunday, April 9th when Mamma and I went over to Christeen's home and watched Conference from Salt Lake City on television. The speakers were Pres. Moyle, Marion D. Hanks, Nathan Tanner, and Ezra Taft Benson.
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As he wrote it himself or told it to his daughter, Olive Shill.
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In the summer of 1872 my Mother Elizabeth Peterson Nielsen, emigrated from Skuldelev, Denmark to America.
After floating some Nine Weeks on the ocean she landed in America with her three children – Peter, Annie, and Christian. My father came across a few months later. I had one brother Carl Frederick, who passed away and was buried in Skuldelev before my Mother left Denmark.
In the year of 1872 my brother Ole was born at Lexington, Texas. Then three years later on October 25, 1875 I was born also in Lexington.
I was still very young when my Mother, Chris, Ole, my sister Annie and her husband, Christian Sorenson boarded a train for Salt Lake City, Utah . My Father and Peter stayed behind in Lexington to bring the team and wagons. As they arrived in Carbon, Wyoming my Father became very ill and was unable to continue the journey to Salt Lake City. He was buried there after passing away on June 20, 1878. Much to my Mother's sorrow, he never did become a member of the Church.
We went to a place near Salt Lake City called Kingston, Utah. It was better known as Grass Valley, Utah. Here we lived in the United Order. We lived there about two years then one day they got a call to go to the Sun Set Order in Winslow, Arizona. My sister Annie and her husband went with us.
When we left the Kingston Order they gave us two covered wagons, three yoke of oxen and two cows, also one sack of beans. With the high speed Ox team we started out for Arizona crossing the buckskin Mountains, also the Colorado river at Lees Ferry. We arrived at the Black Falls on the Little Colorado River on Christmas eve 1880. The name of this town was later changed to Cameron, which incidentally is the town where my oldest son, Frederick Moroni, was working many years later when he got appendicitis and passed away after being operated on at Flagstaff, Arizona, but more about that later on in the story.
I don't remember just how long we stayed at Cameron, however, it evidently was for some time since Peter and Christian Sorenson got a job working on the Santa Fe Railroad plowing with their Ox team. They were building a railroad between Winslow and Holbrook. Things were very rough during those days. Food was very scarce. Sugar cost $ 1.00 per pound when you could get it, We never reached the Sunset Order which was our original destination when leaving Salt Lake City. We did, however, move camp to just below Winslow where Peter and Christina Sorenson continued working for the Railroad until April of 1881. Then the Railroad went on strike. They couldn't get any money, so we decided to move on to St. Johns.
When we arrived in St. Johns, we didn't have any food or money. They had guns but they didn't have any bullets. So Peter and Christian decided to kill one of the oxen with an ax. They cut the meat up, and dried it and made jerky out of it. I remember I was hungry and crying for something to eat and my Mother gave me a piece of the dried meat. It was so hard I could hardly eat it, but it helped to satisfy my hunger.
After settling in St. Johns we were very happy to see the springtime. We planted the sack of beans that had been given to us when we left the Kingston Order in Utah. My mother and I would gather wild parsley and different kinds of weeds to cook them for greens.
In the spring of 1884 my Mother met a man by the name of Hans A. Thompson and married him. They had their work done in the St. George Temple. They took all of us kids, Peter, Annie, Ole, and Myself along and had us sealed in the name of Thompson.
Thompson was a polygamist so President of the Church, Lorenzo Snow, told them to get out and go into Old Mexico. There was plenty of land there and the law wouldn't bother them. So my Step-father left his other two wives in St. Johns, took my mother and us children and in the spring of 1885 we moved to Old Mexico.
James N. Skousen was also a Polygamist so he was going along with us. I was nine years old at this time. I was the youngest of my two brothers. Ole and Chris, who went along also.
I remember I had a vivid dream two weeks before we were t leave for Old Mexico. In this dream, we were camped at the foot of the old Mulligan hill. A little ways away from the camp fire I found a huge butcher knife stuck up in the ground at the base of a large pine tree. The dream was so real that I couldn't help telling my mother about it and reminding her that when we arrived at the Mulligan Hill we were going to camp and I was going to find that butcher knife. Mother lost her patience with me and told me to keep quiet about that butcher knife as she was sick and tired of hearing about it.
Strange as it may seem and much to the surprise of my Mother this dream actually came to pass just as I had related it to my Mother many many times before. Here is the way it actually happened: After leaving St. Johns early in the morning. We made it to Springerville about 30 miles south where we camped the first night. Early the next morning we continued our journey. Our course of travel was to be down the Mulligan Hill, through Luna Valley, and down the Frisco River and on to Juarez, Mexico. My mother was cold so she got out of the wagon to walk and keep warm. I crawled out and walked with her as I was very cold too. I can still hear my teeth chattering. While we were walking along I couldn't help telling my mother again about that butcher knife I was going to find while we were camped at the foot of that Mulligan Hill. I explained to her about it being so big it was more like a dagger, and that it had bone handles and was silver in color. Again she told me to keep still about that butcher knife.
About this time the wagons came to a halt and as we looked around we discovered that we were at the top of the Mulligan Hill. I was real excited as I said, “ Mother, this is where I am going to find that butcher knife.” Mother said, Well son, you might find your butcher knife but we are certainly not going to camp here as it isn't even noon yet.” I didn't know quite what to think as my dream had seemed so real that I had felt ever since I dreamed it that we were surely going to camp at the foot of Mulligan Hill and that I was going to find that butcher knife.
Mr. Skousen was driving the lead wagon as he knew the way. He had two span of horses and two covered wagons. His brakes were not very good, so he cut down a large juniper tree and tied it behind his wagon and started down the hill. When he was on the steepest part of the hill, the chain broke and left the tree in the road. The wagon and horses went running and kicking down the hill.. One horse caught on the single-tree at the foot of the hill and the wagon struck a large rock and broke one of the front wheels to pieces. They had to clear up the road before the other wagons could come down.
We had no choice but to make camp. Soon a large fire was built between the two wagons. We thanked the Lord that none of us were hurt. They took the spring seats of the wagons, and put them around the fire and my mother sat warming her feet. As I sat there beside her I spied the beautiful tree I had seen in my dream. I went directly over to it. As I came up to the tree I looked down and there was the butcher knife sticking up there in the ground at the trunk of the pine tree. I jerked it up and ran back to the camp. There between the two wagons, as in my dream, sat my mother warming her feet. I walked up to her and said, “Mamma, here is that butcher knife I have kept telling you about.” She threw up her hands and said in Danish “Na E Yena Dow” which means in English – My goodness land. She just couldn't believe her own eyes. Everything was just as I had described it to her long before we left on our journey.
When we arrived in Old Mexico, we found some land and settled down to farming. We stayed there for five years. Then my mother passed away September 23, 1889. We laid her to rest in Juarez, Mexico. After that Chris and I came back to St. Johns.
I made my home with my sister Annie and her husband Christian Sorenson. She was very good to me and brought me many of the things I needed. I remember one of the first things she bought me was a pair of shoes. I guess she thought that was what I needed most as I was bare footed.
I was only a young boy of 12, but I went out and found a job taking care of cattle. I stayed with my sister until I grew up and got married then I had to support myself and my wife. The young lady that caught my eye was Mary Eliza Holgate who was born and raised in St. Johns. After our courtship we were married on December 19, 1899 by Bishop Charley P. Anderson.
After we were first married, we stayed with my wife's parents for a while then I bought a lot for $20.00, we moved a two-room house from Egypt onto this lot then I bought some lumber for $20.00 and added some more rooms.
We lived here for quite a while then sold to Brigham Peterson who later sold to John Eager. John has since passed away, but his family still owns the house and lot today.
Within a couple of years or so we were blessed with two lovely little daughters, first Nellie then Mae. It was at this time that I took a job at the Bright Angle Lodge at the Grand Canyon. I worked on the trail for Smith & Page Mining Co. I had a pack train of 13 mules and a horse to ride. I made a trip down to the Mine each day which was sever miles down and seven back. Each Mule packed 180 pounds. They paid me $90.00 a month. I worked here two years and 13 days. Then we moved back to St. Johns in order to put the girls in school. They offered me a five dollar raise in pay if I would stay on. Mr. Smith gave me a name of being the only man that never lost an animal off the trail. He wrote to me several years after trying to get me to return to the trail.
After returning to St. Johns we were looking for a farm to buy and we decided to go into the San Juan Country. We stopped at Fruitland, New Mexico. The winter was very cold. I cut Ice from the San Juan River which was 22 inches thick and stored it in coal. I also hauled apples from Fruitland to Gallup, New Mexico for George Byron. I hauled them during the winter and crossed the River which was frozen over solid with ice.
The next summer we went to Kline, Colorado. There we stayed with my wife's parents, William and Eliza Holgate. I worked in the hay fields most of the summer. In August 1906 we were blessed with another daughter. I helped my father-in-law haul and thrash his wheat.
The next spring we moved to Ramah, New Mexico. Here I bought a house and two lots for three hundred dollars. Then I bought ten acres for $90.00 and an old thrashing machine for $610.00. Two Gallager boys, Ed and Lewis were supposed to be my partners in this deal and were supposed to pay for part of it. However, it turned out that I had to put up all the money. The man brought the thrashing machine out but wouldn't unload it until they had the money. The other boys didn't have it so I paid it all. However they paid me back later in grain after we harvested the wheat.
We stayed in Ramah for about three years. On July 19th 1908 we had our first son, Frederick Moroni. When he was very young, we decided to move back to St. Johns. I sold my land and machinery and brought 65 head of cattle. I got a man by the name of Tom Gallager to help me drive them to St. Johns.
When we got to St. Johns I went in partners with my brother-in-law Fred Rothlisberger and bought four lots. He was supposed to pay for tow of them, but as it turned out, I had to pay for them all. They cost a total of $120.00.
I worked for the Patterson brothers at the saw mill for about two years. They let me pasture my cows on their land. William Ole, my second son was born during this period on April 15, 1910.
The spring of 1912 we moved up to Richville and I farmed for Tom Irwin. I was still looking for a farm to buy. One day a man by the name of Rule Jarvis who owned the farm just north of where I was working told me that he would like to buy my cows. I told him that I would like to have his farm so we traded. I gave him forty head of cows for the ranch at Richville.
On June 13, 1912, our son Edward was born. There was a little log house on the ranch and that is where we lived for several years before I built another house. I made a good living off the farm. We had lots of hard times and trouble, but we had lots of happy times too.
I began working my land and planting my crops. I put in lots of long hard hours, but I got my farm going as I wanted it.
In 1914 World War I started. They began taking our boys right and left. I didn't think I had anything to worry about since I had such a large family.
On November 6, 1914 we had another child. This time it was a girl. We had been talking about going to the Temple for some time to have our work done. We were getting quite a large family, so finally I, being converted to Temple work, hitched up four horses and a covered wagon in the summer of 1915 on June 15, and we set out for Salt Lake City, Utah.
We met a man near Provo, Utah who told us the Salt Lake Temple was closed for the summer. He said the Manti Temple was the only one that was still open. We had to go back south 60 miles to Manti. Here we were married again, this time for Time and all Eternity. Our eight children were sealed to us. It took us three months and three days to make the trip up there and back. After we had gone through the Temple, the President called me into his office and asked me many questions. He advised me to go through the Temple again for my Father and have him sealed to my Mother and then be sealed myself to my own Father and Mother.
In 1916 our family was growing out of the old log house. So I began building a new house up on the hill. I just about had it finished when our ninth child, Leonore, was born.
I had worked hard on my farm. Many a day I worked from sun up to sun set. I had a nice crop though. I had quite a bunch of cows which we milked and shipped cream. I used to have to take it over to the highway to get it taken to the market. It helped a lot though. It gave us a little extra money to buy the things we didn't raise on our farm.
In the spring of the year on April 6, 1917 the United States went into the war. We had the only telephone in the valley and everyone used it. Whenever any important messages came, we had to be the messenger boy and deliver them. Then a terrible flu epidemic broke out. Our telephone was out of order and everyone was sick. We couldn't get it fixed. Finally Mr. And Mrs. Booth came down from Springerville to fix it. They came in a terrible rain storm. They just opened the door and came in without knocking. He had a terrible cough, like he was getting the flu. Well he was and he gave it to us. We were all down at once except for our daughter Mae. She took care of us all as well as the chores outside. She kept a horse saddled all the time because I didn't have a fence around my crops.
The war was getting worse and finally the day came when I got my call. I was to report the following week, but before the week was up the Germans surrendered and the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. I would have been happy to serve my country, however it was a relief to me not to have to go to war, in as much as my wife was expecting our tenth child in a couple of weeks. Seventeen days later on November 28th, 1918 we were blessed with another baby girl, whom we named Eva.
The next few years from 1919 to 1927 were very hard years. Things were pretty rough after the war. Then too, our family had increased. Roland, Christeen, and Delbert was born during this period, also our little baby girl, Nina, who was not permitted to remain with us. Because of a little misunderstanding at the election time with some of my neighbors in Richville, my wife became quite upset and excited and as a result Nina was born dead.
We had some very happy times through these years as well as some sad ones. For instance on February 19, 1925 Freddie and Eazy were coming down from the ranch with a load of hay. When they got to Brig Peterson's place they saw a big chicken hawk sitting on a telephone pole. Freddie got the twenty-two out and shot at it, but missed. He reloaded real quick but before he could shoot again the hawk flew away. He should have unloaded the gun for safety, but he didn't and a little later as the gun was slipping off the load of hay, Eazy reached out and caught it by the barrel. As he was pulling it back it went off and shot him in the stomach.
Freddie brought him home and we called Dr. Boulden. He said he couldn't do anything for him and so we had to take him to the hospital in Gallup, New Mexico to have the bullet removed. He was very ill for several weeks, but through our faith and prayers, he came through it alright. However, to this day he still has the lead of the bullet lodged in his spine.
Three of my children, Nellie, Mae and Freddie had married before the end of 1927. I remember the cold October day in 1927 when Freddie got married. Snow was all over the ground and we were supposed to go to St. Johns for the wedding. We had an old Model T. Ford which was very hard to get started. Finally we got it running and went on our way. We got just on the top of the hill that is about nine miles form St. Johns and the old car stopped running. I worked and worked but couldn't get it started. I decided I would have to walk in for help, when a car drove up. It was Freddie, he was supposed to get married a 11:00 A.M. and it was getting close to the hour but since we hadn't arrived, he come to see what was wrong. He took us on in and we arrived in time for the wedding.
1928 and 1929 were very bad and lean years also. Things seemed to go from bad to worse. In 1929, of course the big depression hit the country. The money I was getting from the cream we shipped began to get smaller and smaller. This was our source of money to buy our staple foods, and when they fell off the only thing we could rely on was our crops. It was then that I started looking for something to do that would bring in a little cash. We had heard a lot about Mesa, Arizona so after talking it over with my family and giving it a lot of thought, we finally decided to make the move.
We left St. Johns the latter part of 1928 for Mesa, Arizona. We drove as far as Flagstaff the first day and camped on the out-skirts in the cedars. We built a big bonfire and kept it burning most of the night to keep us warm.
After arriving in Mesa, we went to Aunt Clara Gibbons' home and stayed with her and her family for about three weeks. We helped them in the lettuce. We decided before we settled down to anything we would go on to Orland, California to see my brother Chris. We stayed there until about the middle of February then came back to Mesa. We finally found a job cutting lettuce. We rented a house at 219 North Pasadena and started the children into school. Finally the lettuce came to an end and we were job hunting again.
I found a job working for John Brown so we moved to Lehi. I bought some cows and shipped a little cream. We stayed there only a short time then I found a better paying job in Gilbert working for Mr. Neeley.
I rented the cows to a Mr. Millet and we moved again to Gilbert. I worked on his farm for quite a while, then one day he told me he had bought some farming land in Coolidge and he wanted me to go out there and plant cotton. This meant another move, but I had to have the job so we moved to Coolidge. We stayed there a couple of months or so until we got the cotton crop planted then we went back to Gilbert.
One day I came home for dinner and my wife said, Fred, I suppose I have caused you to lose your job.” I asked her why and she said she had been visiting Mrs. Neeley that morning and Mr. Neeley came in. In the conversation they got to talking about the Mormons. Mr. Neeley was really bitter towards them. She said, Mr. Neeley, we happen to be one of those Mormons, then he just raved. She said, I just know he'll fire you.” Well, I ate my lunch and went back to work. Sure enough that night when I finished my work Mr. Neeley came out and told me I was finished. He was kind enough to give us a few days to stay in the house until we could find another place to live.
I looked for work for quite a while without any luck. One day I saw John Brown. I told him my situation and he offered me my old job back, so we moved back to Lehi to live again.
I worked for John Brown for a little over three years, from 1930 to 1933. During this time my family had grown up, and four of them had married. Louie married in 1931, Ole, Eazy and Olive married in 1932.
Three years was quite a long time for me to stay in one place. My oldest son, Fred and his wife had gone back to St. Johns, so we decided we would go back to the old ranch, so in the spring of 1933 we moved again. Fred and Lavora came down and helped move us back. We went only to Phoenix the first night. My daughter, Olive, lived there and she wanted us to stay the last night with her.
We got up very early the next morning and started on our way. We camped at Flagstaff the next night. The next morning we were getting ready to leave and somehow the chickens got loose and went flying all over the place. We chased chickens for an hour. I still remember how Fred laughed over that.
In 1934, tragedy struck our family. The last of March we received a telephone call from Flagstaff. It was my son's wife saying Fred was very ill and they had to operate. We got ready and went.
When we got there his appendix had already been removed and he seemed to be doing quite well. Then all of a sudden he took a turn for the worse and on April 4, 1934 he was taken from us. This was a hard blow for us to take. We were just not prepared for anything like this. But I guess it was God's will and we just had to make the best of it.
The next six years were lonely years. It took me some time to get over Fred's death. We all missed him so. He used to come home almost every weekend. We especially missed him at Christmas time. I remember what a kick he got out of helping us fill stockings and get ready for Santa Clause to come.
We always looked forward to the summers each year, as the children who lived in Mesa would come up and stay for a while. We certainly enjoyed having them all very much.
In April of 1941 I received word that my brother, Chris, was sick and he wanted us to come out and stay with him. So my wife and I got ready and went to Orland, California. He was very sick for two months before he died on July 23, 1941. His last wish was to be cremated and have his ashes buried on his property. This was very hard for me to have done, but since that was his wish we proceeded to have him cremated.
We stayed on after his death trying to get his affairs settled. While we were there Lenore and Christeen came up and stayed a while with us. We didn't seem to be getting anywhere with his affairs so in October we decided to go home. There were two missionaries there in Orland and we let them stay in the house while we were gone. We stayed in St. Johns until January 1942. Then we received word from the lawyer to come back to California. We went but it was June before we got things all settled.
After we came back to Mesa, Arizona and decided to buy us a home and settle down. We liked the little place we rented when we first came to Mesa in 1928 and since it happened to be for sale we decided to buy it.
One day my son, Duffy, came home and said he wanted to join the Navy. He was very young and I would have to sign before he could get in. I hated to have him join, but my wife and I talked it over and it was what he wanted so we signed the papers.
He wasn't in very long and they shipped him across the water. World War II was going full blast. He drove an LST ship which carried the Marines to the shore. This worried us a great deal. Thank goodness he returned home to us safely.
I bought my home with the intentions of settling down and quit moving around but Louie had a store in Lehi and she wanted me to come down and help her run it. We decided rather than drive down and back every day, we would just move down and live there near the store. So we rented our home and moved down to Lehi. My son-in-law's mother had passed away and his brother had moved out of the state so they let us live in the house while he was gone. I helped her in the store for quite some time.
My children have all grown up and are all married now. Eva and Christeen married in 1944 and Roland and Duffy both married in 1946. It was quite an empty lonesome feeling when the last one was gone. However, when Christeen's husband Jerold, came back from the service they lived in our home for a while.
The next ten years seemed to slip by. I had to start to slow down a bit. I found I was getting along in years and couldn't do as much as I used to. There wasn't much for me to do so I got out my knife and started carving things out of wood.
I made some lamps and whittled a few chains and entered them in the State Fair in Phoenix, Arizona. I won some blue ribbons on them.
The summers were very hot and it got so the heat bothered us so we started going to St. Johns and spending the summers and then back to Mesa in the winter.
On February 6, 1956, I received word my sister Annie Sorenson had passed away. I had seen her when my brother Chris died and I decided I wanted to remember her the way I last saw her.
In January 1958 my wife and I got on the train and went to Long Beach, California. My son's wife Mary Jo, was expecting a baby and Mama and I went over to stay with them and watch Sandra and Jackie while their mother was at the hospital. We arrived at this huge depot at Los Angeles, and I have never saw so many people in my life. I was certainly happy to have Duffy there to meet us.
In the fall of 1957 we came home from St. Johns and we had a new home. The children had decided we needed to move again since we hadn't moved very much. Roland bought a new home so we moved into his old one. I am getting pretty along in years now and I hope it will be my last move.
1959 has been quite a year. There hasn't been too much happen. But as usual we spent the summer at St. Johns. While we were there, my wife's sisters husband, Will Harris, passed away. We didn't stay for the funeral as Roland was up there and we decided we would come home while we had a way back.
December 19, 1959 we will be married 60 years. That's a long time to live with one woman, but they have been happy years.. I am looking forward to the party the children have planned to celebrate our sixtieth Wedding Anniversary. I understand all my children will be present. It has been a long time since we have all been together and I'm looking forward to it very much.
Our Wedding Anniversary celebration in December will be an outstanding memory as all eleven of our children who are still living was present along with most of their families. A very excellent program was presented by the talented youngsters and grown-ups of the family and the dinner was delicious.
My plans for the future are to look after my garden, plants, shrubs, and trees and see that they are watered and cared for properly; to be very kind and considerate to my good wife and our lovely children, and to continue my work and service in the Church each day of my life.
January, February, and March 1960 were rather uneventful except that I shall always remember February as that was the month that I had all my teeth pulled. This was quite painful.
Easter, 1960 came late in April on the 17th. My son, Duffy had bought a new home at 732 East 4th Street, with a nice big yard. He and Mary Jo invited us over and we ate a picnic dinner in their back yard.
Summer had arrived and it was time once again for us to go to St. Johns. We went up earlier this year than usual. We generally do not go until about the 4th of July, but this time we left about the middle of June.
The 22nd of July, 1960 we held our first Nielsen reunion. Most of us went up to the Ranch and camped out over-night. On the 23rd we held a business meeting. Nellie was elected president and Lenore Secretary. We discussed plans for the coming year and the date was set for the next reunion to be held the last Saturday of July 1961. At noon we had a Bar-B-Que steak dinner and all the trimmings.
Nine of our children with their wives and husbands, 36 grand children and 12 great-grand children enjoyed that Bar-B-Que dinner. Olive and Eva with their families came up the following day.
On the 24th we all attended the parade in St. Johns that morning. Then we all went to my daughter, Nellie's home and ate lunch. Some of the children went to the Rodeo in the afternoon and the rest of us stayed home and visited.
By the middle of September it had cooled off so Mamma and I returned to our home in Mesa. October, November, and December just seemed to fly by, I can always remember October because that’s my birthday. This is the month that I always get a year older. I was 85 years old October 25, 1960. November, of course is the month for Thanksgiving and lots of good things to eat. I also attended the Arizona State Fair in Phoenix.
The first part of December I got up one morning with a terrible pain in the back of my head. I kept thinking it would wear off, but it seemed to get worse each day. It finally got me down in bed. One night the pain was real bad and Olive and Duffy came over to see me. They insisted on calling a doctor. Finally I consented if they thought he could help me. They called a Dr. Smith. I guess he had the right kind of medicine as I soon got alright.
December 17, 1960 we held our Annual Christmas Party. The date was moved up a few days so my daughter Nellie and her family could attend. They were all down here for their daughter, Lavina's wedding which was held the night before. We all met at the home of my grandson, Laddie Richey, and had a very enjoyable evening. Present at this Christmas party were two of our sons, Roland and Duffy with their wives and families, and six of our daughters, Nellie, Louie, Olive, Lenore, Eva, and Christeen with their husbands and families. There were 28 grand children and 9 great grand children.
On December 24th we were privileged to have our daughter, Leonore and her son Billy, spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with us. Christmas was on Sunday this year so after going to Sunday School we came home and had a fine Christmas dinner which my wife and Leonore prepared. A few days after Christmas another daughter, Mae, with her husband and boys came down from Farmington, New Mexico. We were very happy to see them and enjoyed their visit.
On February 17th 1961 tragedy struck our family again. We received word in the afternoon from our son Ole, that his wife, Gwen, had been very ill and unconscious since Wednesday and so he was bringing her to a hospital in Phoenix. Later that day we received word that she had passed away just before they reached Globe. Early the next morning Mamma and I left for St. Johns with Sharrell and Eddie, where we spent the next three days with Ole and his grief stricken family. Gwen was lain to rest in the St. Johns cemetery on Monday, February 20th 1961.
March 1961 has been a very windy month. The last week was rainy and cold. I thought we would have bad weather for Easter but by the end of the week it had cleared up and the weather was nice and warm. Easter was on the 2nd of April this year. We had a picnic lunch with many of our children and their families down in Lehi at my daughter, Louie's home. Besides those who live here in the Valley, my grandson Arland Richey and his family were here from Riverside, California, my granddaughter, Velda Stowell and her family were here from New Mexico, and my son, Ole and his family were here from St. Johns.
The last eventful thing that has happened as of this writing took place on Sunday, April 9th when Mamma and I went over to Christeen's home and watched Conference from Salt Lake City on television. The speakers were Pres. Moyle, Marion D. Hanks, Nathan Tanner, and Ezra Taft Benson.
I
shared this history at the Ole Nielsen Family Reunion on May 28, 2010 at Frank
Nielsen's Home in Mapleton. I was amazed of how many places that
Frederick Nielsen lived. According to his history he moved over 30 times.
Places that Frederick Nielsen Lived:
Places that Frederick Nielsen Lived:
1) Lexington, TX (Born 10/25/1875)
2) Kingston, UT (1878)
3) Black Falls/Cameron (1880)
4) Winslow
5) St. Johns, AZ (1881)
6) Old Mexico (1885)
7) St. Johns, AZ (1889) after mother died
8) Grand Canyon- Mining Pack Mules
9) St. Johns, AZ
10) Fruitland, NM
11) Kline, CO (1906)
12) Ramah, NM (1907)
13) St. Johns, AZ (4/18/1910- William Ole born)
14) Richville, AZ (1912) Ranch bought for 40 head of cows
15) Built Homestead House (1916)
16) Mesa, AZ (1928)
17) Orland, CA
18) Mesa, AZ (1929)
19) Lehi
20) Gilbert
21) Coolidge
22) Gilbert
23) Lehi (1930) Ole married in 1932
24) Richville, AZ (1933)
25) Orland, CA (1941)
26) St. Johns, AZ (1941)
27) Orland, CA (1942)
28) Mesa, AZ (1942)
29) Lehi
30) Summers in St Johns
31) Mesa (New Home 1957)
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