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Canute Peterson Les boken

Av: Edith P. Christiansen



OCT 1 1962
CANUT E PETERSO N
FROM NORWAY TO AMERICA
By Edit h P . Christianse n
1945 Nort h Oak Hills
P . O. Bo x 3 84
Provo, Utah
Y H 4 Z C
PREFAC E
M y purpose i n writin g this book, is that we
who are descendants of these wonderful people, may know and remembe r the sacrifice s and privations they endured that we might enjoy the fullness of the bless ing that the Gospel affords.
We are trul y fortunate i n having the type of
ancestors that we do, and i t should serve as an impetus i n al l our lives, to mor e full y appreciate our wonderful blessings, and our marvelous herit age. Our ancestors were some of God's most choice spirits, and we are justifie d i n our gratitude and pride , f o r their wonderful lives.
Canute Peterson and his three wonderful wives, fro m whom we al l are descended, gave their al l i n the perpetuation of the Gospel and the Plan of Lif e and Salvation. No sacrific e was too great fo r them to endure fo r the Gospel's sake, no privatio n was too much fo r them to suffe r that we might know the fullness thereof,
I have searched carefull y and prayerfull y i n the research of the materia l contained herein, and have trie d to the best of m y abilit y to present the live s of these our loved ones i n a manner trul y representive of them. Should you detect slight errors at variance with your opinions, please be tolerant i n your criticisms, and realize i f you can the task that I have trie d to under take, is not perfec t but has been done with a praye r i n my heart that you might get some small joy fro m it , and I might pay tribut e to our beloved ancestors.
Edith P. Christiansen
i i i
TABL E O F CONTENT S
Page
Chapter 1 - - Herborg and son Canute .... . . . . 1 Chapter 2 - - Canute Peterson i n Illinois , . . . 15 Chapter 3 « Tre k to Salt Lake Valley ... . . . 25 Chapter 4 Canute and Sare i n old Fort . . . 33 Chapter 5 — Canute and Sara i n Leh i .... . . , 41 C hapte r 6 — . .49 Chapter 7 — Lif e i n Lehi. . . 56 Chapter 8 — New familie s come to Leh i . . . .62
Chapter 9 Canute returns home fro m
missio n . . 71
Chapter 10 - * Canute's appointment at 81
Chapter 11 - - Peace Pact with Indians ... . .96 Chapter 12 - 102 *•Chapter 13 - - Brigham Young dedicates 112
Chapter 14 - - Building the Manti Temple. . . 115 INDEX 137
i v
CANUT E PETERSO N
FROM NORWAY TO AMERICA
B y Edith . P . Christianse n
CHAPTER ONE
The snow white curtains rippled i n the breez ë that was blowing i n the window of the upstairs bed room of the beautiful hewn-log house. The white painted shutters were well fastened against the wal l so that the breeze could not fla p them, as i t was doing to the snow white wash on the line , drying i n the early mornin g may sun.
Young Herbor g Johnson rushed up the stairs to close the window. She let i t down carefully , rearrang - ing the soft folds of the curtain wit h tenderness and care, then, remembering something, she raised the window a couple of inches, then stooped down, stil l holding the easily sli d window, and called to her eight-year-old son, "Just a minute , Canute, and I'l l be with you. 1 1
She looked around the room. Everything was i n immaculat e order, but stil l she went to the bed and smoothed the white bedspread. As she did so, her fingers seemed to caress the bed wit h long, slow strokes. Picking up the littl e carved, wooden deer fro m the dresser that her still-sweetheart husband, Peter, had made fo r littl e Canute, she clasped i t tightl y to her breast, the slow, unaccust omed tears rolle d unnoticed down her fai r cheek.
Stooping down, she straightened the home made rug that her foot had disturbed; her feet made no sound as she crossed the homespun car pet, so well padded wit h clean, new straw.
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She knelt by the rocking chair, burying her head in the plumped pillows, and thus she sat while the racking sobs shook her body. Afte r a few minutes she raised her head, dried her eyes on her clean starched apron, and bowing her head she prayed:
"Dear Lord, please give me strength to leave this lovely home that my beloved husband has built f or me, and that I have tried to keep with loving pride, with a cheerful heart that I wil l not sadden my dear husband's heart, for well he knows how I love this little home*
"Lord, make me brave that I appear to be lighthearted about going, for he thinks it wil l better our condition to sell and move, and bless us, Lord, that i t wil l be. "
Trying to muster a brave smile, she went down the steps, dreading the task of telling Canute about the contemplated move, as she well realized that he was as fond of this little home, which was the envy of all the neighbors, as she herself was.
Picking up the basket, well filled with all the good things a boy likes to eat, she closed the kitchen door and stepped out onto the freshly-scrubbed porch. Littl e Canute, hearing her, jumped up from the bottom step, a broad, boyish grin on his handsome face.
"Happy birthday, my sweet son," she said plac ing the basket on the steps and kneeling down, she took the boy in her arms, giving him a long, tender kiss on his red lips, "You hadn't forgotten that today is your birthday, the thirteenth of May, had you?"
"No, Mother darling, " he replied.
"Well, you skipped out of the house to help your father with the chores so quickly after break fast, while I was washing, that I wondered if you'd remembered it . Now the surprise I have for you is that I am going with you up into the mountains to help you herd the flock today since i t is your birthday. Then, when we get home this evening, and your father gets home, we will have your birthday dinner together. Everything is prepared and ready so it won't take long to get dinner when we get home. "
"Good, Mother, if you are going with me I'd


Hardanger Fjord , Norway
better unbridle my pony and let ber be eating some hay while we are gone. Ar e you sure i t won't be too f a r for you to walk? 1 1
"No, son, each mile wil l be a pleasure with such a lovely birthday boy fo r company. I've been planning and wanting to go with, you into the moun tains for weeks, and today is such a lovely day, i t wil l be a picnic for us both.* "
As the boy ran towards the large, painted, well-kept barn to free his pony, Herborg thought to herself that the poor lad did not realize that this would be one of the last times that he would be going to the barn that he loved so much and again the tears started, but she hastily dashed them from her eyes and had a lovely smile on her face when the lad joined hex.
With the basket between them, the two seem ingly-happy picknickers started up the long trai l to the fla t plateau, where Canute went every day to herd the flocks of sheep, goats and reindeer.
"Yes, my Canute, it's just eight years ago today, that would be May 13th, 1824-the very happ iest day of my lif e when you were born to us. You were such a beautiful, lovely baby, and we were so happy that the Lord had sent you to us. The other happiest day of my lif e was my wedding day, when I was so proud to marr y such a fine, handsome man. 1
MWe built our home right after we were marr ied, son, " she continued, "right on this ground that has always been in the family belonging to your grand parents. I've loved our little home so much. I love these beautiful black granite mountains towering over us, and the little patches of fertil e fields that nestle among the giant rugged peaks. Did you know, son, that these have always been farmed by the thrift y Norwegians ?"
As they climbed higher up the mountain trail the boy began to fear that his mother was getting tired, so, stopping, he spoke, "Here, Mother, sit down on this shady rock and let's rest a few minutes.
"I'm not tired, son, but i t might be a good idea to rest, I want to look around a little anyway at all
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these lovely mountain streams that meet at this point and unite to form a river. "Do you see," she asked, pointing, "that largest "waterfall of them all over there, son?"
The boy nodded.
" It is called the Voringsfors falls, and many famous artists have come here to paint it . It's no wonder that crops are so hardy and do so well i n this lovely fertil e soil with all this abundant water to irrigate the farms. Wasn't God good to us to let us be born in this beautiful country?"
"Yes, Mother, He is most kind to us. I am glad that we have flocks to tend, because I love coming up here each day in these beautiful moun tains to tend them. I love that more than anything else; of course, I like to fish in these streams a little bit, on the side, too."
"Yes, I think you do, son, " and together the two laughed, because they both remembered how Canute's father so often teased him about liking to herd and fish a little on the side, and often asked him which side of the herding the fishing was on, or vice versa. It was a standard pun in the happy household, and Peter, Canute's father, often won dered if Canute would be such a willing and eager herder if i t were done in surroundings to which he was less attached.
"Do you see our farm and home from here, son? It's just a half-mile from the Voringsfors falls. See that beautiful forty-acre tract of lux uriant meadowland at Eysing Dahl ? Oyfjord Har danger is known as the Maurset farm; i t has been owned by just two parties for the past six hundred years. The first owner was Perer Maurset. Now do you see that beautiful river on the south side of the land? It is called the Leir a River; then do you see that lovely little creek on the north side ? And then look on the other side of that creek and you wil l see the beautiful Varka Lee. See how the beautiful birch trees glisten and shine in the sun ? See those berry bushes, how many there are? Do you remember the times we have gone there to picnic with our friends and relatives ?"
Maursaeth or Maurse t Far m where Canute Peterson was born. The far m had been i n the famil y fo r hundreds of years.
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Her voice trailed ©if a little r as though she were talking more to herself.
"Howsoft and tail the grass is there in the lee, ** She turned to Canute.
"Do you remember, son, how you and the other children loved to play and rol l i n the tall soft, green grass ?"
"Yes, Mother dear, I remember even the time when I was four years old and we went there on a pic - nic and I cried because my cousin pulled my curls so hard. You saved the lock she pulled out and put i t i n the Bible when we got home, and the next time she came to visit us I wouldn't play with her, and when you asked me why I said 'no pull lock hair Bible. "
"Oh, you funny boy, how can you remember that?"
"Well, I guess it hurt so much it made me re - member it. "
"Do you remember, dear, another thing that happened when you were four ? You used to always take your heel of bread out to your little goat in the barn after you had finished eating. "
"How did you know that I took it out to my goat, Mother?"
"Because I followed you out one time to see where you were taking your crust after every meal, and when I came into the barn door I heard you say to your little goat, "Don't chew so loud, little goat, here comes mama.tu
The two laughed heartily, and Canute asked, " I guess children don't put much over on their Mothers, do they?"
" I guess not, son. Perhaps we'd better go on or the sheep wil l think their herder has lost his way. "
On up the mountainside the mother and son went, until finally they came to the broad plateau where the flock was feeding.
The mother, still feeling in a reminiscent mood, began to point out other things to the boy, wanting to
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impress on bis mind the beauty, tbe situation and the lay of the land.
"Look, son, the atmosphere is so clear and bright that we can see Bergen, fourteen miles away. This fjor d here with its several arms extending far out into the ocean, is called the Hardanger Fjord. See on that farthest east of all of the Hardanger fjords stands the little parish of Oy.fjord, named for the fjor d Oýfjord, meaning the end of the fjord . And now you can see more of the patches of fertile soil among the beautiful, black mountains where the farms are. "
She stretched her arm wide, pointing at the horizon. "I want you to look well and remember, son, because you won't be coming up here much longer to herd the flock every day."
"Why not, Mother? Doesn't Father think that I am doing it well enough ?"
"No, lad, that isn't it . Your father is well pleased with you. Just the other day he told me that he bet there wasn't a lad in all the world that was as dependable and good with the flocks as you are. "
"Oh, did he, Mother ? I am so glad that he thinks that. Then what is it, Mother? Why won't I be coming here to herd?"
"Well, " she faltered, then struggled on. "You see it's... . it's like this, son. Your father has a chance to trade our farm for a lovely place out i n Guam, called the Lill a Os. Father says it is a very nice place, and he is sure that we will like it. "
"OhI But, Mother, he can't sell our lovely home, our beautiful barn, and everything! I won't go! You can leave me here! "
"Canute," the surprised mother cried, "I've never heard you talk like that before. "
"You've never told me anything as awful as that before. I'm sorry, Mother, but I thought that you loved the farm and our home so much. "
Guam - the location of Lill a Os 6b
" I do» son, " the mother sobbed, ™and It almost breaks my heart to have to leave it , but your father is a smart man and he says i t wil l be better for us, so, of course, i t wil l be, M
The uprooting and the moving was a difficult task.
The Lill a Os soon became an attractive place under the skillful hand s of Peter and Herborg, with the help of the ambitious little Canute.
For four years they lived on the prosperous farm, then one day Peter came home bursting with news.
"Herborg, Canute! " he called, as he ran into the kitchen. "Listen, " he cried, "we are going to America! "
"To America?" they answered in unison.
"Yes, to America, There is a group getting ready to leave right away, I have borrowed four hun dred dollars from Torve Kettlesen to pay for our immi gration, and I have made arrangements to sell the farm, isn't that wonderful?"
He laughed, proud of his accomplishment,
"So now we'll begin packing the things we can take with us, and we'll soon be on our way to glorious America, Isn't that just too wonderful fo r words ?"
"Yes, I suppose i t is, " Herborg answered, but isn't America an awfully long ways away?"
"You suppose? You suppose? Aren't you happy about it ? Where is Canute?"
In the excitement, they had not noticed that the boy had left the room.
"Where is he, Herborg? Let's find him. I
wonder why he left? "
"Let's just let him be, Peter. I think I know where he is. "
A little later Herborg went out into the barn and climbed into the hayloft where she knew she would find her son. She heard his muffled sobs as she climbed the ladder.
She went over and sat on the hay beside him. The boy threw his arms around her and sobbed on her
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shoulder.
"Oh, Mother, why must we always be leaving the places we love most? Who wants to go to Amer ica anyway? I don't, oh, I don't; no place on earth could be as lovely as Norway. "
" I agree with you, son, and I hate to leave it as much as you do, but your father thinks we should go."
Tears rolled down Herborg's cheeks as she steeled herself to convince her distraught son.
"Many of our friends have gone and you know what glowing letters they write to us about America. "
Canute handed his still-folded handkerchief to his mother, "Here, Mother, I used my sleeve; you use my handkerchief. "
He paused, then continued, " I guess being born on the thirteenth was a little unlucky. I hope that every four years on my birthday, we won't have to make a move to a new home*"
The hardest part of the journey, however, for the whole family was the farewells to friends and neighbors. Some were envious, some sad; but all partings tore the hearts from Canute and Herborg.
The first part of the trip to America was made on the common Hardanger yacht to Gothen berg, Sweden, From there they sailed in a brig to New York City. The two week's tri p on the ocean was rather uneventful to Canute, being torn between sorrow at leaving his homeland and the natural boyish excitement of going to a new world. America! Of which he had heard so much.
From New York City the family went to
Chicago, and from there they moved to the Nor wegian settlement i n La Salle County, Illinois. They were very glad to get to this settle ment where there were so many of their country men living. Among the settlers there were some of the
Oslo, Norway. The City Hall
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first Norwegian emigrants in America, people who had come to the new world for the sake of religious liberty, as they were Quakers. They, and their off spring, were called "Sloopers, because they had
come to America in a little sloop which they them selves had bought and managed. Having first settled in New York state on the shores of Lake Ontario* thirty miles west of Rochester in a little town they had called Murray, they soon moved to La Salle County.
It was among these groups of people that Peter, Herborg and Canute made their first home in America.
Peter had borrowed four hundred dollars of Torve Kettle s en to pay for their passage, and he was very anxious to get a job and earn the money to pay him back.
He tried a rail splitting job, and several others, but he was not well and tried to conceal this fact from Herborg, as she was steadily becoming worse, from rheumatism, being almost unable to even wait on herself.
Peter struggled against one discouragement after another, battling against ill-health, until he suddenly became desperately il l and died within a few days. He had only been in America eight months,
when he passed away.
The depressing grief was almost more than Herborg could bear, herself an invalid with only her small son alone in a strange land.
She was very fortunate, however, in having the son she had, as he immediately shouldered the family burdens upon his youthful shoulders and assured his mother that she would never want fo r love, attention, or the necessities of life .
Herborg and Ganute also felt very fortunate in being among the wonderful friends they had made. Most of these friends were Norwegians, but some of them were Americans. Among some of their best friends from Norway were the Nelsons, the Hougases, the Rosedals, the Dahls and the Jacobses.
Afte r the group of sorrowing friends and
neighbors that comprised the funeral procession,
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had left, Canute stood alone by his father's grave too proud to let his friends and mother witness £he deep grief that was bursting his heart. When, at his re - quest they had gone and left him alone with his sorrow, the tears came in unstopped torrents, coursing down his face and running off his chin.
And it was here, at the age of twelve, that he promised his dead father that he would provide fo r his mother and tenderly care fo r her and pay back the debt that they had contracted for their passage.
When the flood of grief had spent itself, Canute stood in mute silence until he felt a little hand creep into his. Turning, he saw Sara Ann Nelson, nine year-old daughter of the late Cornelius and Kari Nelson. She had stood away until his grief was subsided, and then crept up to comfort him, linger ing unobserved when the group had left. She fully sensed his desolation, having lost her own father in the new land to which they had come just a couple of years before, so, looking into Canute's eyes, she said:
" I know it's hard, Canute, but we must be brave for our Mother's sake."
Feeling comforted, in an inexplicable way, Canute took her hand and together they walked slowly home.
Canute secured the services of Johanna Dahl, a good-hearted Norwegian woman, to take care of his mother in their home so that he could go to work and earn their livelihood.
He worked very hard and earnestly for such a young lad because he sensed his responsibilities very keenly. He broke prairie sod in the summer season, and ran a threashing machine through the fall and winter harvests. This work paid the best wages, and he did quite well in the business.
Often on Saturdays, after a week of hard work, Canute would travel home on foot, having no other means of travel to get home. Sometimes it would take him most of the night to get to their place, but he always felt that it was worth the effort to be able to spend a few hours with his
CANUTE PETERSON Bor n 13 May 1824 Died 14 Oct. 1903
10b
Trondheim, Norway
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mother.
As he grew older his main concern was for his mother and her comfort. He was always trying to buy her little luxuries that he thought would make her happy.
When he came home on the week ends he
always tried to bring her some little gift or sur prise, no matter how small Herborg always received it with the greatest delight.
Canute was careful and frugal with his earnings and always had i n mind the worry and the determina tion to pay their immigration debt off, and bis earnest efforts were finally rewarded. Even with his first meager earnings of six dollars a month working fo r farmers, and later when he made more with his threshing business, he managed to support his mother and pay off the immigration debt to Torve Kettle son before he was twenty years old.
The Saturday evening after the debt was paid, after supper, Canute sat on a little stool at his mother's side, they were in a very happy mood now that the load of the debt was off their minds. Herborg stroked his brown hair, and they conversed in their confidential manner.
"Canute," Herborg said, " I have a confession to make to you. " "What is it . Mother? Perhaps I have one to make to you, too - so go ahead, what is it? "
"Well, Canute... " her voice faltered, then continued, "the Mormon Elders have been coming to see me, and I am very much i n sympathy with the doctrine they expound. I must confess that I have been reading and investigating their religion, and I find nothing but truth in their teachings, and I want to join them. "
The face that Canute turned to his mother was glorious to behold, and yet the joy and mingled sur prise registered there puzzled his mother.
When he had control of his emotions he cried, "Mother, that is the most glorious news that you could have told mei It is a direct answer to my prayers because I , too, have become interested and
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have been investigating, and am about ready to join up with the Mormons, but I wanted to talk to you about it first. n
Taking his mother in his young, strong and tender embrace, their tears of joy and happiness and complete understanding mingled i n unsurpassed ecstasy.
In March, 1842, Elder George P. Dykes came to the home of Canute and Herborg with the gospel message. He was an intelligent man, and.ihe pre sented the gospel plan in a very humble and sincere manner. Many of the most intelligent men and ministers of that region came to meetings and opposed bim,and the doctrine he was advocating, but none were successful i n their arguments against him.
The message he brought struck a corres ponding chord i n the hearts of many of these sincere, God fearing Norwegians, and many of them were baptized into the faith, the first being the families of Hoigases and the Heirers.
Canute and his mother were converted,
knowing with surety that this was truly God's way of lif e and plan of salvation. They were baptized by Elder Lentel in August of 1842, Canute helping with the baptism of his mother.
Also baptized with them were two of Canute's closest friends, Swen and John Jacobs.
Kari Nelson, widow of Cornelius Nelson and mother of Sara Ann, lived just a few miles from the home of Canute and Herborg. She had sailed, with her family, on the little sloop Res turationen in 1825 to come to America. That was two years before Sara Ann had been born. They had come with a group of Norwegian Quakers and had settled first in New York state. When Sara Ann was still a small girl , her father died and the family moved to Illinois.
The family prospered in Illinois as the soil was productive and they were good ambitious farmers.
The Nelson homestead became famous for
Oslo, Norway. View fro m Ekeberg.
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its hospitality to friends and neighbors as well as to the stranger. Oftime s when a weary travel stained person would spend the night wit h the Nelsons, Kari would wash and mend his garments unti l he could scarcely recognize them i n the morning . Friendliness and food were given i n generous amounts to al l who came there.
It was no wonder that Canute, John and S wen went often to the Nelsons,
Sara Ann was a lovely girl , fourteen years of age, and she had become interested i n the doctrine that the Mormo n missionarie s were teaching, and she began going to the meetings. She went fo r some time and the mor e she attended, the mor e convinced she became.
He r mother, a stric t Quakeress, had no intent ion of joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latte r Day Saints, but she was fair enough to allow Sara Ann to make her own decisions, and when Sara Ann became converted and was ready fo r baptism, as much as her mothe r opposed her i n her feelings, she stil l gave her consent fo r the gir l to joi n the church.
He r words to her daughter were: "God bless you, my child, and now that you've embraced this new religion , be a worthy member: be the greatest Mormo n possible. "
It took a great deal of courage fo r Kar i to consent to Sara Ann's joining the then - unpopular - sect - for, at that time , persecution was raging against the Saints.
When Sara Ann was seventeen years old she taught school i n L a Salle County, Illinois, and was at that time the first known Norwegian school teacher i n America ,
She was dearly beloved by her students, some of them were almost as large as she was, but she was kind and intelligent and had a keen sense of humor that endeared her to al l who knew her, young and old.
Sara Ann was a ver y loving and dutifu l daughter, she respected her mother and famil y ver y much, i t worrie d her a great deal to ever say or do anything
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that was not wholly in accord with their thinking, but her joining the church and knowing that her mother wanted and expected her to be a good membe r posed a serious problem i n her mind , fo r she knew that eventually the church would be leaving, and how she would ever be able to leave her family , was of great concern to her.
CHAPTER TWO
Nine mile s northeast of the city of Ottowa i n this Norwegian settlement, there was what was considered then a flourishin g branc h of the church, numbering about one hundred saints. They enjoyed the spiritua l gifts, such as prophecy, healing, speak ing i n tongues and the interpretation thereof.
A meeting was held at Brothe r Dahl*s home f o r the benefit of Canute's mother, Herborg , who was il l at the time .
This was before the people knew that Nauvoo would be destroyed or deserted and the people drive n to the Rocky Mountains, the spiri t of the Lor d was so much i n abundance among the Saints i n their meet ings that one young lady arose i n one of these meetings and spoke i n an unknown tongue.
The interpretation was given to Canute, Or din - ar ill y his language was not the most perfec t Nor wegian, but on this occasion he arose and i n perfec t Norwegian gave the interpretation, and i t was to the effect that the Saints would leave Nauvoo, the cit y that they had built, and there would be a general exodus of the Saints, that they would trave l among Indians, and finall y cross high and rugged mountains and settle i n lovely valleys where the Lor d would bless and prosper them.
The young lady that had spoken i n tongues was Elle n Sanders, who late r became one of the first three women to come to Utah, when she became the wif e of Heber C. Kimball .
I n October of the year 1844, Canute went t o Nauvoo to attend a General Conference. While he was there, he was ordained a Seventy by President Rockwood and his brethern, the Presidency of the Tenth Quorum of Seventies,
During Canute's stay i n Nauvoo he worked on the construction of the temple .
The followin g month, November, 1844, Canute and Gudman Hougas were chosen and set apart and sent to Wisconsin on a missio n to preach the gospel.
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They began their labors among the Norwegians in Muskego, Wisconsin. Here they me t the Danielsons, who, together wit h his wife and brother, Enoch joined the church as did Lars Heier, fiv e of his sons and two of his daughters. Here a branch of the church was organized over which Brothe r Daniels on was called to preside .
Fro m Muskego, Canute and Gudman went to Koshkonong where they met several old friends, Bjorn e Anderson (Kvelve), and several others. The people were ver y indifferen t here, but several meet ings were held nevertheless.
I n the spring of 1845, the two returned home to La Salle County.
On the way they had to cross the Fox River, which was fille d wit h floating ice and was dangerous to cross, so there was nothing else fo r them to de except wade and swim the ic y stream. Tying their clothes i n bundles on their heads, they plunged into the current, swimming and wading to the other bank.
During the remainder of this year, Canute worked at odd jobs, and during the fall , he ran a threshing machine.
Many exciting, alarming and unpleasant rumors concerning the conditions i n Nauvoo were being spread. It was said that the Saints would leave Nauvoo and go westward towards the Rocky Mountains.
Canute was ver y desirous of receiving his endowments i n the Nauvoo temple, and he was anxious to do so before such an exodus should take place, so he and several others made the tri p to Nauvoo i n wagons i n January of 1846, and received their endow ments i n the temple there.
While there, Canute became aware that prep arations fo r the great exodus were going on day and night. The saints were'in feveris h haste to go on this westward journey, but Brothe r Charles O. Rich, who was acquainted with his mother's dependent cond ition , advised Canute to remain wit h his mother.
The martyrdom of the prophet, Joseph and his brothe r Hyrum , intensified the desire of the Saints to be on their way.
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While in Nauvoo and attending a meeting i n the Temple, the upper floor began sinking and all the people, including Canute, became very frightened. Brother Young, who had been appointed to lead the Saints after Joseph Smith's cruel martyrdom, arose and told the people to be calm, that the floor would not sink any more, and i t did not.
Bidding farewell to the Saints in Nauvoo, Canute and Gudman started home. Between Nauvoo and LeHarp, a small Illinois town, mobs came after them and grossly insulted them, but the Lord was with them, and they got home safe and sound.
During this year, Canute broke prairie sod i n the spring and summer and ran the threshing machine in the fall .
In the year of 1847 Canute hauled freight, with his team and wagon, between Ottowa and Chicago. In the fal l of the year he traded his team to Mr, Vermett for forty acres of land, later selling the land to get him an outfit to go to Utah. In the year of 1848, he worked in Ottowa for Dr. Howland, hauling lumber from a sawmill.
One day in the month of June, 1848, John Gabe, Canute's friend, came riding into Ottowa to tell him that his precious mother had just passed away. Canute got right on the horse and rode home to LaSalle as fast as the horse could go.
Canute was grief striken at his mother's death, but sister Jacobs, when he reached home, told him that his mother was cheerful and bright right to the end, and that she died peacefully without a struggle. She also told him that when she got up in the morning of his mother's death, that she noticed a halo around Sister Herborg's head, and she began crying and told Herborg that her time for departure had come, at which Canute's mother had replied, "No, I am neither sick enough nor lucky enough fo r that to happen. n
Sister Jacobs then attended to her morning chores, and when she came back into the house the halo was even brighter than before, but Herborg ate her breakfast and acted very naturally, and then about eleven O'clock she passed away quietly and peacefully.
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A l l of the neighbors and friends turned out f o r the funeral , and Herborg was lai d to rest beside the body of her beloved husband. The casket was made of beautiful walnut by Ovid.Rosedahl, one of the origina l "sloopers " who had also made Peter's C3.S lc€51»
Once again Canute fel t the desolation of los ing a beloved parent, and his grie f served to inten sif y his desire to go to Utah and gather with the Saints there, so he gradually began to make the necessary arrangements and finall y on the 18th day of April , 1849, a company of twenty-two Saints, Canute among them, leftLaSall e fo r a tri p to Utah.
Jji this company were Brothe r Gabe and his family , Mothe r Dahl and her famil y (her husband having gone to Utah the previous year, and her son, Chris, going wit h the first pioneers i n 1847), Brothe r Shure Olson and his famil y besides several young people, among them Canute, Sara Ann Nelson and Chris Hayer, There were six wagons i n the company.
When Sara Ann told her mother and famil y that she wanted to go to Utah wit h this company, i t was an occasion fo r great sorrow i n the Nelson house hold. Sara An n was the only one of the famil y that had joined the Church, and when i t came to giving up her precious daughter to make this long, danger ous journey to a new country and wit h this extremely unpopular new religious sect, was almost mor e than her mothe r could bear. She crie d and pled with Sara Ann ; she trie d to persuade her not to go; yet, as difficul t as i t was fo r the lovely young gir l to refuse and to tear herself away fro m her mothe r and family , the strength of her fait h and testimony and her belief i n i t was mor e powerful than even her love fo r her mothe r or herself.
She hated to hurt her mother, i t grieved her deeply, but she felt that this was God's will , and she was willin g to make any and al l sacrifice s fo r the cause of the Church,
She sensed the hardships she would be called upon to endure as word had come back fro m the Saints that had gone before , but even this could not deter her i n her purpose and determination to go. So,
SARA AN N NELSON Bor n 16 Feb. 1827 Died 20 May 1896 at Ephraim, Utah
18b
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amid tears and fond farewells, she bid goodbye to her adored mother and family, ber comftorable home and beautiful surroundings, she bade farewell to all of this to start her perilous journey into the vast unknown.
Among the few possessions that Sara Ann took along with her was the little package of willow branches from their old willow tree, that she had cut and wrapped in moss and papper and cloth to keep them damp, so that she could plant them when Utah was reached and the long journey finished.
Hoping against bitter hope that Sara Ann would weaken and return to them, her mother sent two brothers, Peter and Nels, to accompany her along the journey, for a couple of days in order that she might be accompanied home if she should change her mind about going on this journey.
Afte r traveling with the company for miles and still finding Sara Ann fir m in her determination to go to Utah, the brothers tearfully bade their sister farewell and began their trip back.
As Sara Ann looked back to wave to them, her brother Peter was lying on the ground, sobbing and crying, utterly distraught, at his sister's unwilling ness to return with them.
Canute had assured the brothers all along that he would personally attend to her safety, and see that no harm befell her.
Coming up to the wagon i n which Sara Ann was riding, after saying goodbye to her brothers, Canute found Sara Ann, silently crying, he rode alongside the wagon, and tried to cheer her up, and in a short time his good humor had reached her, and she was cheerful again.. This characteristic good humor was her unfailing asset, and again it stood her in good stead.
The company traveled along for about two hundred miles and came to Burlington, Iowa, which they found deserted with the exception of the old ferryman and a few guards that had been left behind to guard the city. Al l the streets and porches of the homes had been strewn with fresh lime, they learned this was because of the Cholera epidemic that the city had
zo
been experiencing.
The littl e company passed by as quickly as possible, and did not stop to make camp until they were eight miles from the city, and then pitched camp on. the banks of á.beautiful little stream. The camp was soon organized, as everyone knew his own job well and executed i t with speed and percision under the able direction of Canute who was already showing his unusual ability as an organizer and leader.
The sun had just set, leaving the last ling ering warmth with which it had bathed the earth all day. The birds i n the trees were chattering and singing, trying to add their last Mt of beauty to the departing day. Sara Ann, with a pail i n her hand, sat down on the bank of the creek a littl e way from the group, took off her shoes and stockings, thrust her tired feet into the cool water* and then took down her braids to brush her long, glistening chestnut colored hair.
She was thus engaged and relaxing when she heard a footstep close beside her, and, looking up, she saw Canute with a broad smile on his handsome face, looking at her. Startled, she took her feet fro m the water and, drying them slightly, began to hurridly put on hé r stockings. She was embarrassed to be so caught, especially by Canute* whom, she greatly admired,
"Don't move, " he remonstrated, " I didn't
mean to intrude upon your privacy, but when you stayed so long Í began getting worried about you and : came to see where you were, "
He swallowed then continued: "You make a very beautiful picture sitting there with your feet in the water and your lovely hair rippling i n waves."
Sara Ann blushed, smiled up at Canute and replied that she had been unable to brush her hair f o r several days, and she felt that i t was pretty dusty from the traveling.
For a little while they laughed and talked togeth er, then strolled back to the wagons, Sara Ann was feeling .in good spirits so she suggested that they have
21
some singing, and have Chris Hayer play his violi n and John Olson play his accordian. This they did, while the group danced and sang around the camp fire . Afte r a couple of hours, however, everyone turned to their wagons fo r the night so they would get an early start i n the morning .
As they traveled along the weary journey, several i n the company began being seized wit h the much dreaded choler a cramps, the most feared enemy of all . They had to stop and administe r aid to those afflicted .
When the company reached Chardon Point, Iowa, and camped, several members of the company became ver y ill , Sara An n went wit h the other sisters fro m wagon to wagon helping and assisting i n every way possible. Suddenly, on the way to one wagon, she was seized with violent cramping that crumpled her to the ground. A couple of the sisters immediately took her to her wagon, put her to bed and did al l they could fo r her, but the cramping per sisted until the sisters feared fo r her life .
The bad news quickly spread i n the smal l com pany, and when Canute first heard i t his impuls e was to go to her, but instead he went by himself under a tree away fro m the group and supplicated himself i n humble praye r before the Lord , and thus he prayed:
"Oh, God i n the name of Jesus Christ, I humbly beseech You to look down tenderly and i n merc y upon a l l those i n our company who are sufferin g fro m Cholera, but i n a special manner look down upon our dear Sara Ann who is afflicte d and sufferin g violentl y at this moment. Give me Thy Holy Spirit i n great abundance that I may bless her wit h Thy blessings that she may be raised fro m her bed of afflictio n and have speedy relie f fro m her suffering . Thou, O Lord , know the purit y of her heart. Thou also knowest the great sacrific e she is making i n leaving her home and famil y because she has espoused Th y great and glorious cause. I beg of Thee, O Lord , i f i t be Thy wil l that I may have the power to bless and heal her through Thy gracious love and mercy , i n the name of Jesus, Amen . "
Arisin g fro m his knees, Canute fel t a great
22
surging of the spirit and going directl y to Sara Ann's wagon, he parted the canvas cover and placed his hands upon her head. He then fervently be seeched the Lor d i n her behalf.
The sisters i n the wagon ceased their labors over Sara An n and bowed their heads i n humble sup plication while Canute prayed and rebuked the destroyer.
When the "Amen" had been said, Sara Ann opened her eyes and smiled; the violent cramping had ceased. She raised herself on one bent elbow and said, " I am well through the grace of God. That was Canute's hand that helped to heal me . "
A n hour or so later she was up and about, helping and doing fo r those who were ill .
The few others who were il l were adminis tered to and healed, tbe last one attacked being an old lady, Sister Lathrop. She was administered to, the destroyer was rebuked and commanded to leave and retur n no more ; this was verified .
The company now traveled on i n peace and health, happy that no lives had been lost, and rejoicin g i n the fac t that they were al l able to continue on their journey. As they rolle d west ward, Sara Ann began singing "We Thank Thee O God fo r a Prophet, " and soon al l were singing wit h her, the glad song of thanksgiving.
The second night the company pitched camp i n a littl e grove at the base of some rollin g hills. Afte r supper was over and the group was breaking up into component parts, Canute walked over to Sara Ann. He was holding a pail.
"Would you like to come to the stream with me fo r water? " he asked.
She gladly consented and, hand i n hand, they started down the path to the stream. Upon reaching i t , they sat down on the bank and Sara Ann, turning to Canute, said;
"Canute, I have never had the chance to tel l you how wonderful i t was fo r you to come and bless me that day, and what a beautiful prayer you
23
offered. I felt the spirit of the Lord then as I've never felt it before. Your fervor was that of a be loved son praying for something that was very im portant to him; you'll never know how much it meant to me. The exultation that filled my heart was heavenly. m
"Your saying that I prayed as though I were asking fo r something that is of great importanc e to me is true . My dear Sara» I never full y realized until then how much you mean to me , and how dearly I love you. I felt that i f you were not permitte d to live , m y lif e would be robbed of most of its beauty and meaning. "
Placing his ar m gently around her shoulder and looking deep into her beautiful dark blue eyes, where the light of purit y and love shone* he continued: "Tel l me , darling, is my love reciprocated? Do you fee l fo r me the same deep and abiding love and devotion that I have fo r you? "
She returned the look of love and fervency and replied, "Yes, Canute, I do love you. I think I always have, even when I was a small gir l and two years seemed such a vast and unsurmountable dif ference. I've always admired your nobleness of character, your kindness and devotion to your invalid mother, your abilit y as a leader and your ambition and honesty. I n fact, to me you are the embodiment of al l that is noble and good and I am so happy to know that you love me . "
He tenderly pressed his lips to hers i n a short but fervèn t kiss.
"Sara, my dearest, this is the happiest moment of m y life , knowing that I am blessed wit h your pure sweet love. I haven't much else but m y heart to offe r you but I am asking you, knowing ful l wel l your realization of the privations and hardships to be endured., wil l you marr y me , Sara sweetheart ? "
"You know the answer, Canute. I wil l be proud and happy to be your wife , and I'l l tr y to be the kin d of a wif e your integrit y deserves. "
" M y heart is almost bursting with jo y and love f o r you; there is not sufficient space i n al l the uni-
24
verse to hold the love I bear you, Sara. If all the molecules and atoms were placed side by side and put in a sack, i t would take the largest sack in all the world to hold it. Sara, let i t be a sign between
us always. I wil l call you Sack instead of Sara, That wil l be your pet name, when I call you Sack, either alone or in the presence of others, it wil l mean that I am telling you, in one word, how much I love you. "
CHAPTER THREE
The littl e company traveled on i n peace and safety, They al l sensed and seemed to be possessed of the jo y and exultation that welled up i n the hearts of the two lovers. The journey by day seemed lighte r and the jo y and good fu n around the campfir e at night were enhanced by the knowledge that two i n the company were exceedingly happy i n their newly - discovered love and devotion.
Of time s i n the day Canute would ride alongside Sara Ann's wagon and their laughter and good-natured banter, back and forth , seemed to smoothe out the rough spots i n the road, and the joltings and jostlings were almost unobserved.
They traveled on until they reached Kanesville . Here they found three other companies making pre - parations to go to Utah. The feed i n the immediat e vicinit y of the t own was pretty well gone, so the littl e company decided to go a farthe r distance to where the feed would be better. They pitched camp about six mile s farther, close to Mount Pisgah.
Afte r supper was over that night and Sara Ann was sitting beside her wagon sewing, Canute came over and sat down beside her.
"Do you know what day i t is today, Sack?"
"Yes, Canute, it's July the first and tomorro w wil l be July the Second. Why do you ask? "
"Because, " Canute began, "Tomorro w Brothe r Orson Hyde wil l be here, and i f you'd like July the second to be your wedding day, perhaps we could prevail upon him to marr y us. "
"Oh! I think that would be wonderful, Canute, but what wil l I wear ?"
"Well , what's this pretty stuff you'r e sewing on now? " Canute laughingly held up the sewing.
Blushingly Sara Ann admitted that i t was a new dress she had been stitching on whenever she had a chance, but that she had not intended to make
25
26
i t fo r a wedding dress.
"Well , where i n the worl d could anyone fin d a prettie r dress, Sack dear, and i t is almost done. Couldn't you finis h i t tonight and then tomorrow about four o'clock we could be married? "
"Yes, I guess i t could be done, but why al l the haste ? Why don't we wait until we get to Salt Lake and be marrie d there, Canute ?"
"Well , i f we get marrie d tomorrow, we could call the rest of the tri p our honeymoon. "
"Oh, Canute, you think of everything, but I am willin g i f that is your wish. What chance have I against your powers of persuasion, anyway?"
Afte r gently planting a kiss on her cheek, Canute ran to spread the good news, al l the sisters and girls i n the camp gathered around Sara Ann, hugging her and congratulating her, and offerin g to help i n every way possible. Could they help sew? Was she going to wear this new dress ? Could they lend her anything? These and many mor e questions were thrown at her on rapid succession.
Soon the camp was astir wit h wedding pre - parations: a secret dessert was planned fro m the store of provisions of the company.
The men were working, busy with secret preparations, as long as the light lasted, and every one was up at the first signs of dawn to make fo r their beloved couple the finest wedding possible.
At the appointed hour Canute came fort h
shining and glistening i n his best Sunday apparel while Sara Ann was al l arrayed i n her lovely new dress and i n her hair she had a small bouquet of wood violets and i n her arms she carrie d a bouquet of laure l blossoms.
Proudly stepping ahead of the group, Canute offered his ar m to his bride-to-be , the women and girls, men and boys al l following to the strains of the wedding marc h played by Chris Hayer.
The look of love and joy on their faces was beautiful to behold. They went a littl e ways furthe r and there stood a littl e bower that had been the
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secret of Canute and the boys. It was fashioned of willows and covered with flowers and blossoms that they had furiously gathered. Its unexpected beauty was a surprise to Sara Ann and the sisters.
Here Brother Orson Hyde stood waiting fo r them. He shook hands with them, and here in the wilderness with his little company of witnesses, they stood beneath the bower of blossoms bathed in the warm afternoon sunshine, and here their souls and lives were joined in holy matrimony, July second, eighteen hundred forty-nine, at Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Immediately after the last words of the cere mony were pronounced, they all gathered around and congratulated and greeted the newly married couple.
Sister Dahl then told them all to gather around and spread out wagon seats, benches and quilts on the ground and they then had some refreshments that had been prepared.
The unexpected goodies that came forth were a source of mystification to the crowd, even though everyone had done their utmost in love and service to make this wilderness wedding a thing of beauty and success.
They sang and danced. They reveled i n
laughter and good humor, and the wholesomeness and beauty of it was a thing to be long remembered.
The next day the little company resumed their journey, the wedding having created a welcome diversion to the sameness of the days and weeks that had passed since they started out on their journey in April . Taking a new lease on life , the little company continued on their way with lightened hearts and high spirits.
They finally came to the upper crossing of the Missouri River, they crossed it , and after traveling on for about thirty more miles, they came to the Elkhorn River and here they found two large com panies of Saints gathered. Brother George A. Smith was the captain of the one company, while Brother Richards was the captain of the other.
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These two companies had not been able to cross the rive r because the ferr y had been left on the other side, and the river, was swollen by heavy storms and was twelve feet above normal . Someone would have to swim the torren t and get the ferry . Volunteers were asked fo r and Canute and Ir a offered to try ; they jumped i n and began swimming . Ir a became exhausted and went under; Canute the better swimme r got hold of him and again he got away.
Canute with a few superhuman strokes
exerted himself, fo r he recognized the gravit y of the situation and he reached the ferr y and secured the rope to the boat he began to pull Ir a to safety.
When the two were safely on the ferry , a great cheer arose fro m the assembled Saints. Handkerchiefs, hats and bonnets were thrown into the air wit h a mighty shout of joy .
The ferr y boat was soon i n operation and by evening the Saints had loaded quite a number of the wagons and crossed the rive r with them one at a time . By nightfall of the followin g day al l the wagons and people were across the rive r and ready to proceed on their journey the next mornin g bright and early.
Afte r the episode, whenever there was any swimming to be done, Canute was always called upon to do it . He thus became ver y popular with the whole group, old and young alike .
The company now traveled along the Platte River, and had an enjoyable journey fo r many weeks. There was an abundance of game — buffalo, elk and antelope i n particular. When the men went hunting to provide meat fo r the company, luck always seemed to be with Canute, and he became known as a ver y successful hunter as well as a swimmer.
When the company reached Independence Rock, they were me t by brethren fro m Salt Lake Valle y who had come to help them on their journey. They brought cattle and wagons with them to re - place those that had given out on the trip .
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Brother Thomas E. Ricks was assigned to assist the Norwegians in the group, and Canute and the others welcomed his assistance, as he was kind and sympathetic, and became a great help to them. Brother Ricks stayed with them until they reached Salt Lake. The Norwegians all learned to love and respect him a great deal.
As they traveled farther up the Sweetwater, the weather changed and became stormy and windy; and sometimes the going got rather rough and very uncomfortable, but despite these draw-backs they made good progress until they arrived at a point between the last two crossings of the Sweetwater where they encountered some high ridges which were part of the Wind River Mountains.
The camp was then within seven or eight miles from the last crossing of the Sweetwater, a place called Willow Creek. Here they were blockaded by a heavy snowstorm that lasted about forty hours. During all this time everyone huddled in their wagons, waiting for the fur y of the storm to spend itself.
When the snow finally ceased to fall , Chris and Canute crawled out of their wagons and shoveled snow until they finally got enough dry wood together out of the wagons to build a fir e to thaw out the thoroughly chilled people.
Then the two young men started up along the creek to see how many cattle they could find still alive. They found, much to their regret, that the greater number of cattle had perished in the driving storm.
They came back to camp and most of the people were up and stirring about. Reporting their findings, they went to their wagons i n a very discouraged frame of mind.
Apostle Benson, the Captain of their company, called for volunteers to go to George A. Smith's camp which was about three miles back on Straw berry Creek to find out what condition the people were i n back there.
Here again Canute showed his willingness to serve, and he and Christian Hayer volunteered to
30
go. The journey had to be made on foot i n snow that was waist deep and over a ridge that separated two creeks. It was hard and tiresome as the two men, as boys of their age were then called, trudged on through the biting cold and snow, each step through the trackless, unbroken snow was a great effort .
Finall y they reached Brothe r Smith's camp and found i t was i n ver y simila r circumstances to their own. Brothe r Smith was i n the act of sending some of the strongest men to go down on Sweetwater to hunt up cattle.
The two returned laboriously to their camp and reported what they had learned. While they had been gone, a number of men had left the camp and gone down the creek to look fo r cattle, and they had found that the cattle had found an abundance of large willows and here they had gone fo r pro - tection during the storm; and many of them had been saved, fo r the willows had served them as both food and shelter. These cattle that had gone down the creek had fare d much better than those that had gone up the creek.
When these brethren returned with this
favorable report, the anxiety was greatly relieved.
Three days longer they camped there,
gathering up al l the cattle they could find ; and they found about seventy o r eighty head that had perished i n the storm, so this made i t necessary to yoke up every available anima l that could be put into service .
Finall y the camp was ready to move. Getting loose fro m the obstructing snow and on the move was a tremendous task, but i t was finall y accom plished with everyone working to ful l capacity.
When they had traveled about ten mile s i n this heavy snow, they came to bare ground where the traveling was much easier. The followin g day they reached Pacifi c Springs, where the cattle had good food again.
Fro m there they traveled on and had good luck until they reached their destination, and great was their rejoicin g when on October 25, 1849, they
31
reached Salt Lake City,
Their camp i n Salt Lake Valley was on the banks of the Jordan River, nearly straight west from where the Rio Grande Depot is now located; and it was approximately two o'clock in the after noon when camp was pitched.
They were anxious to see how closely the new Mormon city coincided with their dreams, so Shure Olson, Christian Hayer, the Jacobs, and Canute went up into the town. They walked around the temple block and many other places. They found the city to be more than they had expected i t to be in this short time, and they were very agree ably surprised to see how much the Saints had accomplished in the little while they had been in the valley.
"While sauntering about the city, they encoun tered some golddiggers on their way to California. These people told them of the gleaming wealth they expected to find there and wanted these new arrivals to go along with them to California. Some of the men from the city did go, only to return in a year or so with less than they had in the beginning.
Canute and most of the other young men were not even tempted by the tales of gold in California and the expected wealth to be gotten there. They knew that they had something iof greater value than gold.
The little camp remained on the Jordan River for a few days. Then Shure Olson, Chris Hayer and Canute bought a house in the northwest corner of the Old Fort. They moved into their new little , thatched roof, log homes with much joy and pride. Here at last they had reached their haven of safety. They were snug and warm i n their little homes that seemed like palaces after the long, tedious journey across the mountains and plains.
The farms were stretched outside the Fort, and all the homes were within the walls of the Fort for protection from the Indians. The tall watch tower served as a lookout, where someone was always posted to warn the Saints of approaching hostile savages. When Indians were sighted by the
32
guard in the tower, the alarm would be sounded and all the men working in the fields would come running into the Fort, the gates would be barri caded, and they would defend themselves from the hostile Indians.
CHAPTER FOUR
As the beautiful fal l with its rio t of glorious colors spred itself over the nearby mountains, burn - ing and turning each clump of sumac into flaming o red and the groves of aspen into glorious splotches of brillian t yellow together wit h the dark greens of the stately pines and the browns and russets of the oak and underbrush, the Saints, looking at the moun - tains wit h their strength and beauty formin g a bulwar k around them, they breathed a praye r of grattitude that God i n His merc y and kindness had directed and lead them to this land of beauty and security.
Again when the summe r rains and the mountain streams had turned this barre n ground into patches of fertilit y fro m which they garnered the sustenance of life , their hearts swelled wit h grattitude and praise to their God fo r His goodness and mercy .
Even though their homes were mer e shelters, wholly devoid of the comforts of modern living , to them and al l others of this band of God-fearing men and women, i t was a heaven on earth where they were fre e men and women. It was a heaven on earth where they were fre e fro m mob violence that had robbed them of their immorta l leader. They had been led by the hand of providence to this, their own land where they could buil d and prosper Zion as God intended they should.
And only by the hand of God could they have withstood the chillin g blasts and deep snow of winter, the burning and blisterin g heat of the plains i n summer, the devastating plagues of cholera, the destructive forces of hostile savages, as al l of these force s sought to destroy these fervent bands of Saints i n their journey to the promised land. But, under and through the leadership of the beloved, immorta l Brigham Young, working through the divine inspir ation of God, these noble sons and daughters of the Lor d came through to reach their destination and to go fort h and forwar d to brin g to fulfillmen t their seed i n the land which God had promised them.
True i t is that many of their origina l number 33
34
had been stricken and left behind i n shallow graves to mar k these hazardous trails, but to those sor rowing people pressing on, there was the knowledge that they had not died i n vain, that they bad given their lives i n this glorious cause. This knowledge, and this alone, was the sustaining forc e and their fait h i n the cause they had espoused, that gave them the strength and the courage to carr y on i n the face of the greatest opposition that was ever mustered against them by both man and nature i n a vain attempt to thwart their purpose.
Their fait h i n God, their fir m conviction i n the righteousness of their cause, gave them the indomitable courage and strength to enter the un known land wit h fait h i n their leadership and a fir m belie f that al l would be well wit h them.
Never before i n al l the annals of the history had God and His Son appeared simultaneously before morta l man to instruc t and direc t as They did to the boy Joseph Smith. And when the mob i n their hate and viciousness and violence sought to rob the Saints of their divinely endowed leader, the cloak of leadership and authority was passed on to Brigham Young.
Brigham Young was a natura l leader, a
colonizer of great intelligence, abilit y and inspira - tion . The love, courage, strength and determina - tion that emanated fro m his being caused the weak to take heart and the strong to redouble their efforts.
lif e i n the old Fort was not al l drudgery. The leaders sensed the necessity fo r relaxation and en joyment. The Saints were encouraged to get what enjoyment they could out of wholesome, clean sport and fu n of any kind. Therefore , i n the evenings when al l the daily tasks were done, they would gather together fo r an hour or so and enjoy dancing, singing, foot races, horse shoe pitching and simila r games.
As the fal l and winte r wore on, the women and the girls would gather together and make rugs and quilts and many other things to add to the com for t and homliness of the littl e cabins. Nothing was ever wasted. Every littl e scrap or piece of
35
anything was utilized and made into something useful.
The wool from the few sheep they had was washed, corded and spun and then woven into material fo r the making of clothes. The fat they could render from the animals killed for food was used in making soap. Indeed the lif e of the Saints was filled with activity. Early in lif e the children were taught to use their time i n useful endeavor, and were instructed in the arts and crafts that would make them more useful.
Classes in school were held; their education was not neglected even in these primitive surround ings, as there were many i n the group with fine educations who helped with the instructions of the young people.
Sara Ann was one of these instructors, having heen a school teacher back i n La Salle County, Illinois. She was always glad and eager to assist the children in their lessons and learning. She was kind and gentle, and her ready wit and keen sense of humor soon endeared her to the hearts of all, young and old alike.
When Sara became aware that they were going to have a baby in June, she was very thrilled and happy about it . She sewed and planned for the event with great pleasure.
When the day finally arrived, June 22» 1850, i t was a warm day and all the men were outside the Fort working i n the fields. Night came on and the Fort settled to rest.
It was still night outside of the little mud thatched cabin that stood in the northwest corner of the Fort. Sara Ann stirred in her sleep and awakened. The great overpowering, awesome silence made her wonder why she was slumbering so peacefully, the undisturbed rest of the young, taking from the arms of Morpheus, strength and courage renewed, to carry on the mighty struggle of wresting a livelihood from the stubborn soil to maintain health and vigor.
As Sara Ann became aware of the thing that
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aad awakened her, she realized that her time was near at hand. As another gripping sensation shot through her body and then subsided, she thought of a l l that had happened to her i n the past months. The long hard journey i n the daylight hours, and then at night when the dusty creaking trai n would grind to a halt, the bustle and hustle of pitching camp, sleeping out beneath the friendl y stars on warm nights afte r they were married , i t was here that her baby had been conceived and she, like Mar y of old, had carrie d her baby close to her heart, on the long journey to the land of his nativity .
As the pains became closer and mor e per sistent Sara spoke gently to Canute and tol d him the great moment was near at hand.
The excited Canute, first sought to encourage his lovely young wife , then wondered what to do next. Even i n Sara's first experience she knew that sufficient time would elapse before her child •would make its entrance into the world .
Hours wore on without the help of an anas thetic to ease the pain. The sisters gathered round to help; Canute had to tr y to busy himself i n the field , because of course there were no hospital corridors or waiting rooms fo r the young expectant fathers to pace back and fort h i n i n those days.
I n the afternoon the rai n began falling ; i t had to come to show its authority that it , unlike Canute, could not be excluded fro m the birt h chamber. Pots and pans were brought into use to tr y to keep the curious, invading rai n fro m the bed.
Finall y when the baby put i n his appearance, a beautiful healthy baby, the attending sisters gasped and chuckled at his robust stature. Finall y one thoughtful sister remembered poor distraught Canute, and going outside of the Fort, she waved her bonnet and announced to al l of Salt Lake City, without the aid of a loud speaker, "Canute, it's a boy. " This startling announcement brought the elated Canute on the run.
Going into the littl e cabin, hat i n hand, the gratefu l happy youth sank to his knees and thanked
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his Maker and his lovely exhausted wif e fo r the marvelous gift of his first son. "Sack, my sweet, brave girl , I can't tell you how much I love you and how proud I am of you. Let's name him Peter Cornelius afte r your father and mine . "
Littl e Peter was the first Norwegian male child to be born i n Utah, and he was therefor e quite a favorit e with the Norwegian Saints, and they al l loved and adored him. The baby grew and developed into a husky, healthy child .
F o r the first ten months of Peter's lif e and the eight months before , Canute and Sara live d i n Salt Lake , where Canute was tryin g al l the time to get a far m and home. He was always strivin g and planning to better their conditions. It happened that al l the land i n both Salt Lake and Davis counties had been taken up. The water was ver y scarce, and i t was impossible to even secure as much as fiv e acres of water right.
Apostle Benson was ver y fond of Canute, and he knew of his desire to obtain a farm , so, coming to Canute one day, he told Canute that he knew of his desire to own a far m and that he had learned that there was land on the other side of the Jordan Rive r below the old bridge that had not been taken up yet, and offered Canute a chance to stake a claim on some of this land.
Canute gladly accepted this offe r and immed - iately file d a claim on some land of his own. He worked on the claim fo r two weeks, making a large ditch which would answer fo r a fence. It di d not seem to be as large as Canute was wanting, and he offere d i t to Brothe r Joseph Young, the President of the Seventies, as a donation towards building a Seventies Hall . Brothe r Young gladly accepted it , so Canute was once mor e on the look-out fo r a far m of his own.
In July of 1850, President Brigham Young called Canute and fiv e other brethren to go to Dr y Creek, the place now called Lehi, i n Utah County about thirt y mile s south of Salt Lake City.
With Brothe r Sherwood, the territoria l sur veyor, the men went to Dr y Creek where they helped
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survey nearly three thousand acres of land, which is now the main part of Lehi. This was a joint claim. Then these men went up the mouth of America n For k canyon and made a claim fo r part of the water there fo r irrigation , afte r they had found out by surveying that i t would not be a diffi - cult task to take the water out of the canyon onto the bench.
The men were ver y happy about the whole project, and their claims. They returned to Salt Lake to report to President Brigham Young on the success of their trip . President Young was well pleased and satisfied with what they had done.
About this time David Evans arrive d i n Salt Lake with a company of Saints fro m their journey across the Plains to Utah. He called on President Young to fin d out where he wanted them to settle. President Young told him that he wanted him to go to Dr y Creek to be the bishop there. Brothe r Evans was a ver y conscientious, upright man well chosen fo r the position. To him was given the authority of alloting the land to the settlers. They a l l learned to love and respect Bishop Evans, for his sense of fairness and justice . He served i n this capacity until his death.
Canute received as his allotment, twenty acres of plow land and fiv e acres of grass or pasture land.
Now that he has at least his own plot of ground, he set out at once to work plowing the ground and sowing it , making irrigatio n ditches and fencing i n the land. During the winte r months, Canute built a littl e log house so that he could move his famil y down fro m Salt Lake Cit y i n the spring. The walls were made of logs and the roof of overlapping slabs to make i t waterproof. There was a large fireplac e i n one end of the big room, a double bed built in one corner, and i t was al l neat and clean. The littl e home was built with only the crudest of implements, but to make up f o r this deficiency of proper tools much work and loving care was taken to make'it as comfortable as possible; the logs were al l carefull y chinked to keep out the wind and cold.
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Finall y the day fo r moving to the littl e home arrived . Much bustling and preparation soon pre - pared the meager belongings fo r transportation i n the wagon.
When everything was loaded, Canute helped Sara and littl e Peter up onto the high spring seat of the wagon. Everyone was gathered around to help them and see them safely off. So, amid goodbyes and hand waving, once again the loving couple started on their way, this time wit h lighte r hearts because Canute had prepared the way and their new home held a hope of security fo r them. Sara was anticipating the surpris e that Canute had fo r her.
Littl e Peter, then ten months old, laughed and clapped his baby hands at first , but, as the tri p wore on, he frette d and crie d the rest of the way. When they finall y reached their littl e home at even tide, they were al l ver y happy to be at their journey's end.
When they drove up to the gate of their new home, Canute handed the reins to Sara, and jumping down off the wagon he opened the gate and quickly ran into the cabin where he hurriedl y li t the lamp and placed i t i n the window afte r which he li t the fir e i n the fireplac e that he had lai d before going afte r his family . He wanted to surpris e Sara by having the littl e home that he had built fo r her looking as cheerful and welcoming as possible.
Then going back to the wagon, he helped littl e Peter and Sara down and led them into their new home.
When Sara beheld the shining newness of the house, and saw the glow of the fir e and the lamp - light and smelled the ric h pine aroma of the logs, fro m which the house was made, a glow of radiant happiness suffused her face, which was beautiful to behold.
In rapturous joy she exclaimed, "Oh, Canute! It's just beautiful! I've never beheld anything so lovely. A queen's palace couldn't be mor e accept able or appreciated than this. " She examined every thing i n detail and wit h care and was happy and appreciative over each new discovery.
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Canute beamed and smiled with pride and ecstasy that his lovely wife so heartily approved of his efforts. This was one of the happiest moments of their lives. This was their first , own, new home i n a new land with the promise of a wonderful, yet hard lif e ahead.
But the beautiful essence of this sacred mo - ment was to linge r i n the memor y of these two spirituall y endowed lovers like the fragranc e of remembered perfume . It held so much of beauty, that its coming and passing helped to fortif y them f o r the trials ahead and helped to erase the past hardships and futur e heartaches.
CHAPTER FIV E
Sara and Canute were ver y happy i n their new home. The few belongings were unloaded fro m the wagon and placed i n the littl e home. Each articl e had its place and added to the coziness of the home. Fres h curtains were put up to the windows and snowy doilies and covers were placed on the table, chair backs and mantel.
The followin g day, Sara took the littl e can i n which she had planted a few twigs fro m the willo w tree way back i n Illinois and had carrie d with her a l l the way across the plains taking care to keep them moist al l the way. These she took now and transplanted them i n the corne r of the littl e plot intended some day to be the lawn that was close by the gate. Around these twigs she built a fence of sticks fo r protection. Here was the beginning of her first littl e shade tree! As she accomplished her task and sat back dreaming, Canute came up, sat down, and began talking.
"Well , Sack, m y pet, what are you doing? " "I've just planted our first tree, Canute. "
"Tree , " he teasingly chided, " I thought you'd planted sticks. Where is the tree ? The sticks are bigger than the tree . "
Sara looked up with a hurt expression fo r his lack of appreciation fo r her efforts but when she saw the twinkle i n his eyes and the smil e on his lips, she burst out laughing and said gayly. "It does look rather funny, doesn't it ? But you just wait, that tree wil l outstrip the sticks; i t has roots and the power to grow, but the sticks do not. "
Canute and Sara were ver y busy that spring. The surge of youth was i n their veins, the joy of livin g wit h work to do impelled and compelled their waking hours. Plowing, planting, irrigating , weeding and then preparing fo r the harvest took care of al l their time .
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The settlers were al l friendl y and congenial and often in the evenings they would gather together and enjoy one another's company i n conversation, singing and games.
Sister Goates and Sister Evans would often run i n to see Sara and chat fo r a few moments, or come to borrow some littl e thing. The absence of stores made borrowing and lending and repaying back a common practice , and love and friendship was the result. Sara and these two sisters became ver y close friends and enjoyed and helped each other a great deal.
As the busy spring and summer wore on and August came with its long days of heat and burning sun that turned the green, tender grain to fields of ripening gold. Sara and Canute would look upon
their fields and fee l that God was good i n His blessings to them. As they sat thus musing afte r their mid-day meal, a man on horseback came to their door. They invited him in , where the man gave to Canute a lette r having on i t the officia l stamp of President Brigham Young. Afte r the messenger had left the house, they opened the lette r and i t was fro m President Young, and the contents were telling Canute to prepare himself f o r immediat e departure to go to open up a missio n i n Norway, and fo r Canute to be gone fo r seven years.
A look of stupefacation came over their faces, and a thousand thoughts raced through their minds.
"Oh, Canute, how can I let you go? " and she clung to him i n a tender embrace.
Thus they stood i n silence, Canute's one ar m was around her waist and the other hand was strok - ing the brown glossy hair of the head nestled on his shoulder.
Canute finall y gained his composure, and sought to comfort his lovely wife . "Sack, sweet heart, I know this wil l be an awful blow fo r both of us, worse fo r you dear, than i t wil l be fo r me, but if i t is God's will , we can manage it . I know that seven years seems an eternity and Norway seems to the ends of the earth away, but if we're
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prayerfu l and humble, God wil l bless us and make i t possible fo r us. "
" I know that, Canute, but how can I ever endure lif e without you fo r that long ? I was afrai d our lif e this summer was too good to last, but I know how hard everything wil l be fo r you, how many hardships you'l l have to endure, but i f it's God's wil l we can manage somehow. Just think, littl e Peter is fourteen months now, and he wil l be past eight years old when you return, and our child that wil l be born next Janu a ry you won't see unti l i t is past six years old. Oh, Canute, m y dear, we must both rel y on the Lor d to give us strength to endure and wisdom to guide us aright. "
A knock sounded on the door and Brothe r and Sister Goates burst into the room. Sister Goates had been crying and Brothe r Goates looked pale and distraught.
"Oh, Sara, " she crie d out, flingin g her arms around Sara, "Dan has been called on a mission ; what wil l I do ? Oh, what wil l I do ?"
Sara patted Sister Goates' shoulder and re - plied, "You'l l do just lik e I will . Canute has been called on a seven-year missio n to Norway. "
"Oh, Sara, " she sobbed, "I f you can endure i t , I guess I can too. "
The men shook hands and they talked a while longer; then the Goates had to leave, but al l of them were feeling better and a stronger bond of love and friendship i n the knowledge of their common grief, having been welded.
Preparations fo r the missionarie s departure went forwar d wit h expediency. There were mission - aries fro m Salt Lake City and the other settlements that numbered one hundred i n all . Thirt y wagons were fitte d out to take them to their fields of labor. Those that were to labor i n the states, and the others that were going to labor i n foreig n field s had to be taken to the nearest railroads i n Chicago, fro m where they would go to New Yor k and then ship out fo r their various missions.
The company of missionarie s and wagons was
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ready fo r departure and started out fro m Utah on September 12, 1852. Brothe r Orson Pratt was i n this company, and his counsel and advice was of great value to the missionaries.
The tri p took them over mountains and plains, and everything went along fine until they reached Laramie . Here they discovered that the savage bands of Indians had been on the war-path and had set fir e to al l the grass between there and the Missouri River, a distance of almost fou r hundred miles.
This made i t necessary, because of the lack of grass fo r the animals, fo r the men to share their flou r with the animals. They mixed this flou r wit h water into a thin paste, which they then gave to the animals to drink .
They traveled as fast as they could under these circumstances, but, i n spite of their speed, the food ran out and the last fou r days before reaching the Missouri River, the men and animals were without food. There was no game that could be kille d fo r food, as al l the game had been driven off or kille d by the raging fire .
The men became so hungry that they ate quantities of salt, the only food they had left, and they drank great quantities of water, thus tryin g to appease the torture s of hunger. They even con sidered killin g some of their animals fo r food, but the animals were so starved that they would have been unedible fo r food, and besides they could not spare any of them, so they did not kil l any of their livestock.
The mules and horses became so weak that they were unable to get up without help afte r they lai d down, and the men were so weak that they could scarcely help the animals up again.
When finall y they limpe d and crawled to the shores of the Missouri River, to add to their troubles and discomfort a stiff breeze was blowing down the rive r that i t was impossible to get the ferr y across. Afte r a littl e while , however, a skiff was brought across by three men, and Apostle Pratt went across.
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He soon returned wit h provisions fo r the men such as bread, butter, cheese, meat pies and many good things. The men were so ravenous that the food had to be rationed out i n small quantities so the poor starved men would not overeat and get sick.
They devoured the food wit h relis h and prompt ness, and late r on some mor e was given to them. To these starved men, i t tasted like manna fro m heaven.
There was an abundance of grass here fo r the animals, and they ate to their fil l and contentment on the luxurious riversid e growth.
As soon as the wind abated, they ferrie d across the rive r to Platteville , which was quite a distance below Council Bluffs. Here they supplied themselves with food, and al l the other necessities.
The camp was pitched about a mil e fro m town, i n some beautiful woods where there was an abun dance of grass fo r the livestock. Here they had a regular Mormo n camp, where they cooked, ate, sang, and preached and prayed. At this place the men separated fo r their respective fields of labor. Many of them would never be permitte d to meet with each other again.
Brothe r Eric k M . Hoggan and Canute started with their wagon and span of horses fo r Illinois. They camped out-of-doors i n the snow al l the way to Ottawa, LaSalle County, Illinois. Here both men had friends and relatives, some of them were moved to tears when they saw them and thought of the long, hard journey and the hardships stil l ahead of these good men.
A t this place they sold their harnesses and horses i n order to get money wit h which to trave l to their mission fields.
The wagon belonged to Ir a Gabe, who only came this far.
Afte r resting fo r ten days here, they resumed their journey. They got a chance to go as fa r as Chicago, a distance of eighty miles, with a frien d of theirs. This was the nearest railroa d station to
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Utah. The trai n they cquld affor d to ride on offered hard seats without even backs on them. They rode this trai n to New Yor k City, arrivin g Christma s Eve.
It was surely a dreary, cheerless, Christmas Eve fo r these two young men i n a strange city. Their cheap hotel room offere d very littl e i n the way of comfort i n their loneliness.
The following day they embarked on the ship that was to take them to Norway, their designated fiel d of labor.
The tri p was long and tiresome . When they had been on the ocean about three weeks, Canute woke Eric k up in the middl e of the night and said to him, "Well, Sack had her baby, and it's a girl . It was shown to me i n a dream. "
This was very true as Sara had given birt h to a littl e gir l (January 4, 1853) back i n the littl e log cabin i n Dr y Creek. When Sara had felt that her time was near, the sisters had come to help her and had done all they could fo r her, and i n ten days Sara was up again taking care of herself and the children.
Befor e Canute had left , they had decided that when the baby came it , i f i t proved to be a girl , was to be given the name of Sara afte r its mother. This was done, and Sara was the name of the new baby. But littl e Peter began saying words and sentences; he called his baby sister Sanie, and that was what she was called al l of her life .
Sara was very busy wit h her two littl e ones to care for . Constant washings were i n process to keep the two babies immaculate , as Sara insisted that they should be.
As Sara became stronger, she began doing the chores herself, the neighbors having done them fo r her during her confinement.
As the weather became mor e severe, and the food mor e scarce, the Indians began visitin g the settlers to beg fo r food. The settlers did not have any mor e food than what they needed fo r
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themselves, but as always, they obeyed President Young's advice and admonition that i t was easier to feed the Indians than to fight them, so, at the ex pense of their own privation , they fe d the begging Indians as these people regarded Brigham Young as God's mouthpiece.
Both Sara and Emma Goates were frightened to death of the Indians, They took turns sleeping wit h each other at the other's house, not wanting to admit their fears to anyone else, yet huddling together at night fo r protection.
One late afternoon while Sara was alone wit h her two littl e ones, busy wit h the many tasks that occupies a mother's time , she happened to glance out of the window and saw two big Indian braves approaching her house. She was stricken wit h fear, even though the Indians were not fighting the whites anymore . But to a woman alone, who could ever be sure of the attitude and reactions of male savages ? The baby was asleep and littl e Peter was playing on the floor. Sara's first reaction was preservation fo r her young ones and herself. She slipped to the door and bolted it , then clutching littl e Peter to her breast, she climbed under the bed. Soon there was a loud rapping on the door. Sara put her finge r to her lips and cautioned littl e Peter to be still , but his baby min d was unable to comprehend the gravity of the situation or the cause f o r the fea r that was on his mother's face. Again the loud knock was repeated accompanied by dis - gruntled grunts fro m the redmen. Sara's heart was pounding so loud that she was fearfu l they would hear it . Again the loud rapping, suddenly an arro w was pushed through the littl e hole i n the door at the side of the lock. Sara had fille d this hole wit h some cloth, and now i t was this cloth that the Indian had pushed out wit h his arrow.
Watching intently, Sara and Peter saw the cloth fal l to the floo r as the arro w came through. Then a big , black eye was thrust peeringly i n the hole. Peter then piped up, Peek-a-boo.
Sara hastily put her hand over his mouth, but i t was too late, so Sara climbed out fro m under the bed, opened the door and asked the Indians what
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they wanted.
"Browe r (flour), bread, food, " they grunted. Hastily, Sara went to her scanty supply of food and offere d them some of it . The Indians eyed her up and down, then taking the proffere d food, they stalked off. Sara hastily closed and bolted the door, and with sheer relie f she dropped onto the floor, gathered the curl y headed Pete r into her arms, and laughed and laughed until Pete r joined i n wit h his baby laughter thinking this was another of the many games he and his mothe r played to - gether.
CHAPTER SIX
I n the missio n fiel d i n Norway al l was not so rosy wit h Canute. He began his labors as soon as he arrived . He began traeting and preaching, traveling without purse or scrip t relying on the kindness and generosity of the people fo r his susten - ence. Sometimes this was not readily obtained.
On one occasion a cold and wintr y evening, Canute was trudging along on his way to a new mission to which he had been assigned. The sun was going down and i t was bitterl y cold. Canute had no idea of where he would spend the night, and as he walked along he was contemplating this pros pect. He came to a far m i n the outlying district , and seeing a man i n his yar d busy wit h his evening chores, he decided to go and approach him .
Going up to the fence he called to the man who looked up and then came over to speak to Canute.
Canute explained to him vber e he was going and his inabilit y to reach there before nightfall because of the slippery condition of the storm-tor n roads and the distance yet to travel . He di d not explain that he was cold and wet and weak fro m hunger. He then asked the man i f he thought i t would be possible fo r him to le t him remain at his home during the night.
The farmer, sensing his predicament, said, " My wif e and I have no children; we liv e alone and she is a ver y particula r woman and doesn't take too kindly to having strangers stay wit h us, but I can see that you'r e badly i n need of food and shelter, so you wait here and I'l l go ask her i f you can stay with us, "
The man went into the house and stayed fo r ages, or so i t seemed to the shivering, hungry man waiting fo r the verdic t of sentence to the wintr y blasts or the comfort of the tidy , clean house.
As he stood there, his feet wet and half
froze n i n his worn boots with his threadbare clothes offerin g but littl e resistance to the ic y wind, he
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wondered just what he would do if the woman said no. A silent praye r was i n his heart that she would let him stay.
Just then the man came back and said wit h a smile , "My wif e says yes. " and led the humble, grateful Canute into the warmt h and shelter of his house. He gave the gratefu l Canute a chair by the warm, glowing heater and left the room.
Canute was fille d with joy and thankfulness f o r this comfort and began pondering i n his min d just what he could do or say to get this woman to fee l kindly towards him. He wondered i f there
was anything i n the room of which she was espec iall y fond that he could talk to her about and thus gain her interest, he was so appreciative and so
eager to please. Looking about him wit h renewed interest, he saw a large fine cat lying asleep back of the stove and concluded that i t was the woman's pet cat. Therefore , he started to think of some
thing nice to talk to her about the cat.
The wif e soon came into the room. She seemed displeased that she had been persuaded to take a stranger into her home. She would not even speak to Canute, and he, consequently, felt ver y much an intruder. As the minutes went by and she stil l did not speak to him, Canute decided to break the ominous silence.
She stil l ignored him and paid no attention to him even afte r he had spoken to her.
Unabashed, Canute continued, "Strange as i t may seem, your fine cat has a secret like the old woman i n America . "
Stil l her indifferenc e and hostility persisted.
"Would you like me to tel l you that secret? " Canute asked.
"Yes. " the lady answered, her coolness stil l ver y much i n evidence, but her curiosit y was aroused and ver y ill y concealed by her show of industry,
"Please, then, wil l you be kind enough to hold the cat fo r me, and I wil l show you the secret. 1 1 Canute said smilin g i n his most appealing way.
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"How can that be? " the lady asked simply ,
picking up the cat.
Then Canute explained to her that the fou r
claws of the cat corresponds to the old woman's fingers, and showed how she would, and could, know the number of days i n each month of the year by the knuckles joining the fingers to the hand and the clefts between the knuckles, The knuckles and the claws on the cat beginning wit h the first one, representing January, which has thirt y one days; and the clefts between the knuckles on the woman's hand and the claws on the cat representing the next month, or less than thirty-on e days. Go across and come back and start on the first knuckle again and that gives you the right number of days fo r the differen t months of the year.
The lady was surprise d and pleased to lear n the old woman's almanac, and smilingl y counted the months and their number of days on her beloved cat's claws and then on her own knuckles.
She was so pleased wit h herself, and so
pleased to learn this new secret fro m her visito r that she forgot her irritatio n and set to work and prepared a ver y nice supper and was kind and hos pitable to Canute. Afte r a splendid supper, the evening was enjoyably spent. Canute entertained them by talking about America , and also of the Gospel that he had come to Norway to preach.
When.it came time to retire , Canute was
given a good bed i n which to sleep. He was so grateful that a praye r of thankfulness fo r the way i n which he was so kindly treated and fo r the way the path was opened up fo r him this night was offere d i n sweet humilit y and gladness.
Feeling ver y kindly towards their visitor, and wanting to make amends fo r her first rudeness, the woman washed and mended Canute's stockings and cleaned and oiled his boots, while he was sleeping. And i t was thus that Canute found them afte r awaken ing fro m a good night's sleep, standing just inside his door.
Canute was most gratefu l and ver y profuse i n his gratitude and thanks to these good people fo r the 0269778 5560 GENEALO^I^AL . bOCIcTY
OF THE CHURCH OP JE5U3 CHRIST
OF LATTER-DAY SA.NTS
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kindness and hospitality shown him.
Afte r a hearty breakfast, he left them prom - ising to call on them again i f he was ever i n that vicinity .
During Canute's early labors i n Christiani a he had many experiences with privation and hunger. He would go fo r days, and ofttimes weeks, sub sisting on practicall y nothing. He walked the streets during the daytime tracting and preaching, and at nighttime , wit h no place to go, he would sleep on the park benches.
He took his last bit of money and bought a littl e bread and some cloves i n one of the markets. He found that by chewing on the cloves, his hunger would be appeased and satisfied fo r a littl e while , so he would chew on these cloves and tr y to con vince himself that he was not hungry. But when he was unable to bluff his stomach any longer, he would eat a littl e of the precious bread and drin k plenty of water fro m the fountain Rebecca that splashed and sparkled invitingl y i n the marke t place.
By these means, Canute was able to make the littl e piece of bread that he had bought last h im fo r three weeks. When the day finall y came that he took the last littl e piece of bread fro m his sack and sat down to eat it , the doves fle w around his head i n hopes of sharing it . Canute wanted to give them his bread but he needed i t so badly that he remained i n a state of indifferenc e fo r a few seconds before he threw a few crumbs to them and ate the rest himself, deciding that perhaps the doves could fin d food mor e readily than he could.
He had not noticed the young gir l resting on the bench wit h her load of parcels fro m her shop ping. Yet, looking up he caught her eye, and the girl , smiling , said, "why didn't you give al l the
bread to the doves ? Ar e you that hungry? "
Canute, doffing his hat, said simply, "That isn't half of it , I' m so hungry I could eat the doves themselves raw. "
"Oh m y heavens! Why are you that hungry?
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Haven't you any home or money ? "
"No, " Canute replied, "No home or money i n this land. M y home is i n America , "
"America ! ! " was the surprise d reply. "What are you doing here without any money? You look half starved. "
Then Canute explained to her, whose name he learned was Mari e Rolfs on, al l about the Mormons i n Utah and their missionar y system and about traveling without purse or script.
Mari e was ver y interested i n this new country, the Mormons and their religion , and the missionary system. She invited him to go home with her and have dinner, which he readily accepted. But i n his weakened condition i t was hard fo r him to go as fast as he would lik e to have gone. The prospect of a good mea l once mor e loomed upon his min d lik e the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Mari e became ver y interested, and was an en thusiastic investigator, as Canute learned when he visited them later. He r folks were ver y kind and sympathetic to this young missionary . They invite d him to stay at their home, which he appreciated greatly. He stayed a couple of days and then not wanting to impose further, thanked them ver y sincerely and left .
The good food that he had eaten i n the Rolfson home fortifie d him greatly, but even that soon spent itself i n his starved body, and the followin g days he was again beset with the pangs of hunger. He was at a tota l loss to know which way to turn , so he turned to his Father i n Heaven i n humble supplica tion. He dragged himself to the edge of the town where there was a dense forest known as the Uranienborg Forest, and there, by a clif f he knelt i n humble praye r before the Lor d and asked Hi m f o r strength and sustenance to carr y on his labors.
Carl Fjeld , a convert to the church, had been converted i n Denmark, but was now livin g i n Chris tiania. He received a message fro m Brothe r Snow, who was then i n Copenhagen, to go and fin d Canute
Peterson and help him i n his labors, as he was
54
sorely i n need of assistance. Now Carl Fjel d had never met Canute, or even seen a photograph of him. He did not know Canute's address, and, al l i n all , felt that this was a pretty hopeless task finding one man i n a city of this size, but he stil l set fort h to accomplish the task.
On this same morning that Canute had gone out into the woods to pray, Carl Fjel d told his wif e about his desire to remain away fro m his work and start on his search fo r Canute as he had been in - structed to do.
He put on his hat and coat, and told his wif e he was going fo r a walk.
As he was going down Church Street, he met a man carryin g a satchel. As he came abrest of this man, the stranger looked at him and said, " It seems to me that I have seen you somewhere before. "
Carl Fjeld , puzzled, answered, "It seems to me that I also have seen you before . M y name is Carl Fjeld , what is yours, sir? "
" M y name is Canute Peterson, my good man. "
"God bless you! You are the man I am
seeking. "
Then Carl told Canute about his instructions to fin d and help him. They shook hands ver y warmly , and Canute told Carl how he had just come fro m praying i n the forest and how desperate he had become, but how gratefu l he was that the Lor d had come to his assistance i n the for m of this welcome acquaintance.
Carl promptly took Canute home and pro - vided him with the necessities of which Canute was so badly i n need.
He and his good wif e were ver y kind to him and helped Canute a great deal, and they became ver y close friends and enjoyed their association ver y much. Canute was always profoundly grate f u l to Carl Fjel d fo r coming to his aid and assis tance i n his darkest hour of need, A while later, Canute visite d the Rolfs on
55
home and found that Marie was still investigating, and was about ready fo r baptism. She attended all of the meetings that were beíd and was soon baptized.
She looked forward to the day when there would be a group of converts ready to emigrate to America, so that she might go with them to gather with the Saints in Utah and to work in the church of the Gospel that she had embraced.
A l l of the Norwegian converts were working and planning for this great day. And each month, through the constant and consistent efforts of the missionaries, the ranks were swelling, slowly but surely.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The littl e settlement of Dr y Creek (Lehi) had a new famil y added to its members now and then, particularl y when a new company of Saints would come into the Salt Lake Valley. These new arrivals would be settled as the leaders thought best, and i n the group where their particula r abilitie s and char acteristic s would best fit . Of course i f they showed a strong desire fo r a certain locality, and, because of their nationality, leaned towards a certain settle ment, their preferences were honored whenever possible.
Therefore , i t happened that i n the settlement of the state there would be concentrations of nation alities i n differen t settlements. Naturally , when ever a new group of Saints came into the valley, they would be given the choice of settlements, i f possible, afte r taking into consideration the problem of available land and water i n the settlement of their choice. Thus, this finall y necessitated new settle ments being established as the Saints continued to arriv e i n Utah.
Brigham Young's abilities as a leader and colonizer were outstanding, but had i t not been fo r the loyalty and support he got fro m the hundreds of unsung worthy men and women, his inspirations, guidance and intelligent leadership would have come to naught .
As i n al l great movements, the leadership is ineffectua l without the support, loyalty and coopera tion of the group that is being led and directed.
Great, burning testimonies burned i n the hearts of al l of them, with but few exceptions. They believed i n the rightness of the cause, and its leadership. They did not dourly submit to the advice and instructions because they were force d to; they obeyed them because they knew within themselves that i t was right. And as righteous men and women, they had the inherent desire to
56
GERTRUDE M . ROLFSON Bor n 29 May 1829
Died 29 Nov. 1913
2nd wif e of Canute
56b
57
do right.
The strength and integrit y of these people, their willingness to suffe r deprivations, to undergo the hardships and tribulations that attended pioneer ing i n a new land, al l revealed the stamina and in - testina l fortitude they possessed i n orde r to accom plish the great and fa r reaching task.
The magnitude of the whole undertaking, of leading a band of people into a new and seemingly unproductive desert, and then through their efforts under divine inspiratio n to cause that desert to blossom fort h into unexcelled productivity, is no thing short of a modern miracl e and a thing utterl y impossible without the help and guidance and inspira - tion of the Lord .
The littl e tre e i n Sara's fron t yard , planted i n loving tenderness, was growing and sprouting, as were her two children being raised without their father's guidance.
Three years had passed since Canute had left f o r his missio n and i t was the spring of 1855. The crops were i n on most of the littl e homesteads, and Sara knew that i f her own fields were to be planted wit h wheat that she would have to do i t herself as a l l of the men were too busy to help her, and she was too independent to ask anyone to do anything fo r her that she could do fo r herself. So even though i t was a littl e late r than the others, she set about to get her land ready fo r the planting.
Finall y the preparations fo r planting were com plete. Taking her hoe and the bucket of precious wheat seed, Sara began planting the grain. By making the furrows with a hoe, the only implement f o r planting that she possessed, the wheat was planted deeper than i f i t had been done wit h a disc.
When the planting was completed, she began irrigatin g the land. She carefull y put the dam i n at the head ditch and then worked the water down the furrows that she had also made with the hoe afte r covering up the grain . Suddenly the water stopped coming down the furrows, as Sara was almost to the end of the fiel d to where she had put littl e Sanie on a blanket to play, with Peter, who was then fiv e
58
years old, to watch her. Noticing at once that the water had quit coming, and being so tire d fro m the planting, she said to littl e Peter, "Run up to the top of the fiel d and see why the water has quit coming, i f the dam is broken. "
"Al l right, Mommy , I'l l go up and see, "
Peter readily consented, glad of the opportunity and the importance of being of some help i n this task.
H is sturdy littl e legs kicked up clouds of dust as he ran to be of some assistance to his Mother.
Shortly thereafte r the water began coming down the furrow s once more , but Peter di d not come back. Afte r a littl e while had passed, and stil l Peter had not come back. Sara became alarmed, and taking littl e Sanie i n her arms, she started up the fiel d to fin d the boy. Nearing the top of the fiel d she stil l could not see him, she hastened on, nearly fallin g many times i n her haste and calling his name, with each step her fears mounting higher.
When she got to the top of the fiel d where she could see the head ditch and the dam that she had put in , there to her consternation, and relief, she beheld littl e Peter sitting i n the ditch where the dam had been. His sturdy littl e shoulders and com pact body were serving ver y nicely yet precariously, as the dam.
Putting littl e Sanie down, she ran to Peter, and, pulling him out, hugged him to her breast, ' with tears running down her cheeks said, "Oh, Peter, what a good littl e dam boy you are. "
Not being able to comprehend the humor of her remark , Peter thought perhaps he had offended her since she had said 'dam, ' so with a pleading look i n his eyes, he said, "Well , Mommy , I was only tryin g to help and I couldn't make a dam fo r you so the water would run, so I put myself i n the hole to stop the water. "
"Oh, I know, you sweet littl e helper, but the water was getting so deep, you might have drowned yourself, and then what would I have done ? You'r e the only littl e man I've got to help me wit h Papa
59
gone away on his mission. Promise me you'll never wedge yourself in the ditch like that again, " she fearfully admonished the hoy.
»I promise, Mommy. I'l l never get in the water again without asking you first . "
This incident made a strong impression on Peter's little mind. He remembered it all his life , as well as the promise he made to his beloved mother.
The grain in all the other fields, being planted earlier, and not so deep, came up fresh and green. Sara, looking at her patch saw not a spear of green as yet. She could not help but wonder if the seed had been poor, if i t was planted too deep, or what. Her anxiety for the success of her crop was very great. There would be a severe shortage in the family if it failed to come up, their very sustenance depended on this crop.
The following day a great calamity struck the little community. The grasshoppers i n countless millions were upon them!. They came in great hoards, large black devouring scavengers. The Saints came in fear and alarm and sought to drive them off with flaming sacks and shovels. They remembered the earlier plague in Salt Lake City of the crickets and their miraculous deliverance by the seagulls. But there was no time fo r anything as the grasshoppers were upon them before they were even aware of them, and their devouring and devastating went on i n the relentlessness of scaven ger's greed, over the tender green shoots of the wheat fields in spite of the few that the settlers were able to kil l by beating, burning and pounding. The horde passed on, hopping and jumping in their elusive glee, greedily consuming every green spear in sight.
When it was over and the 'hoppers had passed on, the Saints stood and looked in notification , their dejected silence was mute evidence of the emotion they felt; their crop was gone, all their work was for naught. There was no more seed, and the vision of their empty flour bins for the coming winter loomed in their minds and fille d
60
them with dread and fear.
A week passed by, and the late-planted wheat in Sara's field began sprouting and green spears appeared above the surface of the ground.
The gloom and the despair of the community was alleviated somewhat. Here was one little crop that had been spared by the hand of Providence, They knew that if Sara raised a good crop, they would all benefit by it , because she always seemed to get a joy and pleasure out of giving to and helping others.
The little crop was tended with loving solici tude all that summer, and when harvest time came around, all the men helped Sara harvest her wheat as i t was the only field to be harvested that fall . When i t was finally threshed, Sara had raised sixty bushels of wheat.
This she divided with the settlers. It was their salvation, for by careful, frugal managing it fed the little settlement all winter.
Sara was very proud to be of such assistance to the settlers, and she gave unstintingly of her supply, which seemed to hold out in spite of the constant drain on it .
They called this wheat 'Salvation wheat, " and when i t was almost gone, Sara put some in a bottle to keep to show her husband when he re - turned, and this little bottle of wheat she kept all her life .
Of all the perils and hardships incident to pioneer life , to Sara was her fear of the Indians, and the dread of being left alone at nights. She could, and did, tackle any and all problems with courage and fearlessness in the day time, but when night came, she was afraid and lonely, and the dread of the savage redmen stalked her dreams.
Even the time when the Indians were peaceful, Sara still feared and mistrusted them.
Her fears were realized when the cries of savage redmen rent the air of a peaceful afternoon and all the settlers knew that, once more the
61
Indians were on the wa r path.
The alarm was sounded, and al l the men, women and children scurrie d to the Fort fo r pro - tection.
It turned out to be that the hostilitie s were perpetrated by a hostile band, and the Indians livin g i n the immediat e vicinity , who had received food and help fro m the settlers, helped the white men run this renegade band out of the vicinity . A skirmis h ensued, that could have easily turned into a serious was, was narrowl y averted at this time , due to the help of the befriended Indians. But how long peace would last no one knew.
The Saints thought i t best, fo r the present, at least, fo r the people to remain withi n the Fort f o r protection. This decision pleased Sara ver y much, as she felt much safer withi n the Fort , with al l the rest of the people close at hand than she did alone i n her cabin at nights.
The settlers would go to their farms and cabins during the day, but retur n to the Fort at eventide to spend the night within its sheltering walls,
When wheat planting time came around again, Brothe r Gates offere d to help Sara wit h the sowing. When the ground was ready to receive the seed, Brothe r Gates took the precious wheat seed and began to sow i t broadcast.
Littl e Peter and his friend , Joe Goates,
watching this were ver y interested, and when Brothe r Gates had to leave fo r a few minutes on a littl e errand, the two boys decided to help him sow the wheat. Accordingly, they both took hat fuls of the seed fro m the sack and sowed i t i n thick, unhelpful patches.
When Brothe r Gates came back and beheld the havoc wrought by the lads, he sat down and wept.
The boys were chagrined and ver y sorrowfu l that their efforts at helping had turned out so badly. It took days of back-breaking labor to undo the dam age, and gather up the precious grain and replant it .
CHAPTER EIGHT
Word reached the littl e community that mor e settlers were coming to Lehi .
On the way there, these new settlers had en countered this same band of renegade Indians that had been drive n fro m the vicinit y of Lehi. In their angry frustration , this band had vented their wrath
upon these hapless travelers, burning, killin g and plundering i n wil d savagery.
Of the few survivors that remained, there was a famil y of five children, orphaned by the savage onslaught, as both the father and the mothe r had been kille d i n their attempt to defend themselves and their children.
Upon hearing this news, the men fro m Leh i prepared themselves to go and help the survivors i n . They took teams and wagons and brought the sorrowing survivors of the littl e company to Lehi .
When they drove up, the settlers al l gathered around to be of assistance and to administe r to their needs.
When they were told of the fate of the party and of the fiv e orphaned children who were standing off to the side i n mute stunned silence and fear, Sara went over to them, put her arms around them and said, "How are you fine boys and girls ? M y name is Sara Peterson and this is m y littl e boy Peter. How would you al l like to come over to my house and have something to eat?"
The oldest boy, who was then twelve years of age, replied that they would like to come ver y much.
The littl e group then went into Sara's home where they al l washed their hands and faces. Sara's abilit y to make people fee l at home was never mor e manifest than on this occasion, fo r she soon had these tearful , terrifie d strangers of children talking and enjoying the meal that she had prepared fo r them,
62
63
While they were eating, she slipped out and left them alone while she went back to the group of m en that wer e stil l gathered around the rescue party. Going up to Bishop Evans she said, "Bishop Evans, i f i t is al l right wit h you, I'l l keep those fiv e orphans wit h me . "
"Why, Sister Sara, that would be too much fo r you. Not al l of them; we could let some of the other sisters take part of them. You've got your hands ful l enough wit h Canute gone to provide fo r your own.
"No, Brothe r Evans, I could manage them. They'r e so strange and have gone through such a harrowing experience i n losing their parents. They need each other i n order to give them a littl e feeling of security.
Smiling and placing his hand on hers, Bishop Evans replied, "Your logic is ver y sound, Sara, and your heart is big enough fo r them all . If that's what you want and desire, keep them al l a while and if i t becomes too much for.yo u we wil l make other arrangements. God bless you, m y good woman. "
Sara was now busier than ever. Five extr a mouths to feed was a mammot h task. But al l the children were good to help and soon learned to love and respect the kind, loving Sara. The littl e house closely resembled the old woman who live d i n a shoe, but they managed and everyone was kept busy and happy.
Finally , much later, wor d was received that Canute was on his way home and was bringin g wit h h im a company of fou r hundred Norwegian converts.
Afte r this company had finished their long, tedious ocean trip , i n which sickness and death had stalked the decks necessitating buria l at sea of thirt y of their number, they finall y arrive d at New Yor k Gity, and then by rai l they traveled to Illinois where preparations fo r the long tre k across the plains began.
It took several weeks to get wagons, teams, equipment and foodstuffs ready fo r the overland journey. But at long last they started to move westward. Covered wagons, hand carts and any
64
available conveyance was pressed into service and took its place i n the procession.
Many were on foot. I n the beginning, the women walked along carrying babies and small children i n their arms, their long skirts catching on the sage brush and road-side weeds.
The animals and the turning wheels kicked up great clouds of dust which hung thic k and sticky i n the sultr y atmosphere. But the great white cumulus clouds, hanging low on the horizon, seeme to beckon them on with their snowy brillianc e i n the setting of azure blue, like a glowing promis e as rewar d fo r their undaunted courage,
As the afternoon wore on into the gathering dusk of the twilight, the great crags of the over hanging hillsides cast their dark shadows fro m crest to cliff springing fro m unexpected places as if they were seeking to warn these people of the hardships that lay ahead of them. However, these dark manifestations were wholly unsuccessful i n their attempts to deter them.
On they pressed, the urgency fo r haste and as much speed as possible ever present. Even when sickness and death sought to slacken their progress and slow them, they sorrowingly buried their dead stopping only long enough to gather a f ew wil d flowers to adorn the mounds of newly turned sod, and then pushed on, locking their sorrows i n their hearts. They di d not even take time fo r lengthy or prolonged mourning .
When a young mother was bereaved of her beloved child and force d to leave i t beside the road i n its littl e grave, the hastily gathered wil d flowers flutterin g i n the breeze seemed to be small baby hands waving a last farewell , reluctant at being left alone and unattended on the vast prairie . The brave littl e mother, choking back her sobs and carryin g the burden of grie f i n her heart, pressed on i n the urgency of making i t to the Salt Lake Valle y before winter.
Afte r many months of grie f and travel, the company reached the valley, having been helped i n the last lap of the journey by fres h teams and
65
provisions from the valley that had been sent out to meet them and help them the remainder of the way.
They arrived in Salt Lake City on September 13, five months after leaving Norway.
The bulk of the company remained i n Salt Lake City for the time being until they were rested from their journey and their disposition decided upon. The balance of the group went on immediately to Lehi.
Canute had written to Sack from Laramie, Wyoming, that he was broken down i n health and body and had to resort to the use of a cane, but his spirit was not broken. It was more revived than ever before.
When Canute drove up in front of his home, Sara and all seven children ran out to meet him.
Taking Sara in his arms, he fondly embraced her. Then, looking about him, he spied Peter close to him. He immediately put his arms around his son, amazed at how he had grown. Sara then picked up little Sanie and told Canute that this was his daughter that he had never seen.
Taking Sanie in his arms and kissing her fondly, he said, "Well, my sweet little girl , I am very happy to meet you. Do I look the way you expected your father to look?"
"Oh, yes, papa, " she replied, "Only prettier, you're much prettier. "
He laughed and clasped her tighter to his bosom, and after setting her down again asked who the other children were.
"They're mine, Canute, " Sara answered
calmly and proceeded to introduce them, each one to the astonished Canute.
"Yours did you say ?1 ! My dear Sack, did you say they were yours?"
"Yes, Canute, they lost their parents and so I've adopted them, Aren't they fine children?"
"Well, they certainly appear to be a bunch of fine children, and what a rustler you are to be able
66
to scare up such a famil y al l by yourself. "
They laughed, and again Canute clasped her to him, and patted the brown soft hair of which he was so fond.
"Oh, by the way, " Canute said, " I have some people with me ; we must al l take i n a few Saints until they get settled. " Then going to his wagon and to the few other wagons that were following his, he invited them al l to get down and come meet his wife and family .
Bringin g a young gir l to Sara, Canute said, "Sack, this is Mari e Rolfson. She was ver y kind to me i n Christiania ; on one occasion she saved my life . I'l l tel l you al l about i t some day. " Then he introduced them al l and told them to unhitch and make themselves at home, explaining that with the house already ful l to the rafters they would have to sleep i n their wagons or tents until mor e suitable quarters could be provided fo r them.
When a month had passed, and the preceding days had indeed been busy ones fo r Sara and al l of them, and Sara and Canute were getting adjusted again afte r their long separation, they were sitting i n the littl e kitchen, the largest room i n the house, talking. The kitchen also did duty as a bedroom and a parlor.
Sara was spinning and Canute was reading the Bible and al l the children were i n bed, when Canute suddenly put down his book and addressed his wife .
"Sack, m y dear. "
"Yes, Canute, what is it? "
" I am expected to take another wife . Do I have your permissio n to do so?"
The spinning wheel stopped, as almost did her heart. The crucial, dreaded moment had arrived . This short month together had been such littl e compensation fo r the months and years of loneliness she had known i n his absence. But as she silently offered a prayer fo r strength, she knew that i t was inevitable. The leaders had al l
First Half of Canute's Lette r
This is a photostatic copy of the lette r which Canute wrote to Sara i n 1856.
66b
Second Half of Canute's Lette r

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