Biography of Lars and Anna Margrete Johansen

Biography of Lars and Anna Margrete Johansen

In the early part of the Nineteenth Century, in the little town of Hammebund Hammer Sogn, Viele Amt, Denmark, lived a humble family by the name of Johansen, Lars and Anna Margrete.  They had five sons and two daughters: Soren, Johannes, Sesel(Cecelia) Kjersten, Christian Grix, Christian J., Lauritz, and Mary.  There were two others, twins, Cecel Marie and Soren, who died in

infancy.

These children were all known by the patronymic name of Larsen, from the first

name of the father, Lars, which was customary in Denmark.

   

Lars was a farmer and stock raiser. All learned to toil early and late for a living.  They were God-fearing people, honest, straight-forward in their dealings and friendly with their neighbors.

    

Lauritz was born January 25, 1834.  His early years were spent on the farm. At an early age he and his brother Johannes, learned the tailoring trade, and made most of the clothes for the family. His schooling was obtained at night.

    

In the fall of 1849 many Mormon Elders were sent to various parts of the world-mostly to Europe. Among these were Erastus Snow and P. 0. Hansen who was sent to Denmark, and John E. Forsgren to Sweden.  Other missionaries soon followed and converts were made in the Scandinavian countries.  Lars Johansen opened his home to the missionaries, after becoming a convert in 1850.  They made their home there, lovingly bestowing the name of "Father Lars" upon him,

which name he was known by until the day of his death, December 9, 1883, at the near age of ninety-two.

December 22, 1853, Lars Johansen and his family, with the exception of three sons, left Denmark to go to the new world to make their home in Zion.  Johannes, Christian Grix and Lauritz remained behind to assist as missionaries in the work of the Lord and to dispose of the family property.

Lauritz was baptized in 1850, in Copenhagen, by C. Christiansen, and confirmed the following day by J. E. Forsgren.  The 25th of December, 1851 he was ordained a priest and commenced his missionary labors in the Fredericia Conference under the direction of his brother Christian Grix, who was President of the Conference.

He was ordained an Elder August 23, 1852, at the age of eighteen, and appointed to labor in Rengbjobing and vicinity.  In the spring or summer of 1853, he was called to preside over the Vensysel Conference.  It consisted of eight branches with a total of 257 members.  He filled this position with honor.  He was released in the

spring of 1857 to emigrate to Zion.

On April 21, 1857, the ship Westmoreland sailed from Liverpool with 544 Saints, mostly Scandinavians, under the direction of Mathias Cowley. They arrived at Philadelphia on May 31, 1857, and reached Iowa City by rail June 9, 1857.  They started across the plains in the Mathias Cowley Wagon Train. Lauritz, his brothers

Christian Grix and Johannes were members of the group.

   

 The trip across the plains was similar to those that preceded them, full of hardships.  One can see the lurching wagons as they crossed the river beds full of great boulders.  See strong men tugging and straining, turning the wheels by the spokes, then holding them back with all the strength they had, lest the wagon be swept upon a low lying rock and smash itself to pieces.  See them going back to

help others across, being careful lest they lost their footing on the slippery rocks under the water, and themselves be swept down the rapid, foaming torrent.  But to traverse the precipitous mountains bordering the rivers was even less attractive.

    

They trudged alongside the compact wagons with a loaded gun in hand, the vehicles two abreast, and in case of hostile dernonstrations of savages, four or five abreast.  At five o'clock in the morning the bugle would sound the call to rise, assemble for prayers, feed the teams and get breakfast, and at seven o'clock the signal was given for starting.  At eight-thirty p.m. at the sound of the bugle, each

was to retire for prayers in his own wagon, and at nine o'clock all but the sentries to bed. The night was divided into two watches.  The stock was kept inside the enclosure formed by corralling the wagons according to the custom of the plains.

The tongues of the wagons were placed outside with a forewheel of each vehicle locked in a hind wheel of the one ahead.  They sacredly observed the Sabbath, no unnecessary thing being done on that day.  Divine services were held regularly.

  

We see them slowly traveling along the north bank of the Platte River. The regular route was on the south side, but the Pioneers preferred the north, for one reason, to avoid contacting any migrating Missourians, who sought every occasion to quarrel with them whenever they met them.  So for several hundred miles they

had broken a new road over the plains.  It was known for many years as the "Old Mormon Trail".

They passed through the country of the Pawnees, Sioux, Arapahos, and Cheyennes, without violence, except for troublesome things such as stampeding and stolen stock, burning of grass before and around them.  When the feed was destroyed, they felled trees and their animals browsed on the foliage.

Sometimes the country through which they passed was monotonous in aspect, but the vast level prairie, its waving grass swept by gentle winds was pleasing to the eye.  On the left, the muddy waters of the Platte rolled  ceaselessly over beds of quicksand, hidden at times by many cottonwood groves fringing its sandy shores. Little did they think that in a few short years the "Iron Horse" would thunder across the river's majestic course and golden corn fields would wave and flourish over Nebraska's plains.

They reached Grand Island where the prairies swarmed with buffalo. What a treat to have a replenishment of meat.  They killed only what was needed, remembering the instruction of Brigham Young:  "If we slay when we have no need, we will need when we cannot slay. " The hunters supplied deer and geese, and when the mountain streams were reached, fine trout began to be taken from them.

The most difficult part of their journey lay ahead.  High hills, deep ravines, rugged canyons, rock obstructed and choked with brush, and in places fallen timber over which they must pass,, crossing and re-crossing crooked, willow-fringed torrents.  Many times the deadly rattlesnake sounded his warning.

After a succession of mountains on mountains, hills piled on hills, the tired vision of the struggling group saw before their eyes a broader and grander view. Glimpses of open country appeared, and small sections of the Salt Lake Valley were visible, and beyond them loomed the blue and snowy tipped Oquirrhs, and above them the summit of the far-off Onaqui Range outlined against the Western sky.

For the descent the wheels were double locked, lest teams and wagons should rush on to destruction.  The hopeful group pushed on cheerily, their spirits and strength renewed by what they had seen.  Thus dusty, worn and weary, men, women, and children, dusty wagons, tired oxen, and animals with sore shoulders and feet, worn shoes and hoofs, called it "Enough", as they stopped at a small

stream in the Great Salt Lake Valley, September 1857 -- four months and thirteen hundred weary miles. covered with wagon boxes, some one-room log cabins, but no matter how humble, they were homes.  "Home Sweet Home", and to the inmates, the dearest place on earth.

What a welcome in the home of Lars and Margreta Johansen as they welcomed their boys to their meager surroundings.  The early homes were cellars, some covered with wagon boxes, some one-room log cabins, but no matter how humble, they were homes.  "Home Sweet Home", and to the inmates, the dearest place on earth.

But there were more pressing things now.  President Buchanan had ordered an army to Utah.  This had been provoked by vicious letters sent to him by disgruntled conspirators such as W. M. F. Magraw, and W. W. Drummond, Justice of Utah Territory.  The Saints were determined no one but God himself would ever harm them again, so the Larsens, among others, were trained in the jobs allotted them in what is known as the Echo Canyon War, or better known as "Buchanan's blunder. " They did not flinch nor falter but rose to the occasion, met it face to face, and as usual in such cases, came off the conquerors.  The immortal words of Brigham Young shall ring through the panels of history, "from the lies of political hacks

not fit for civilized society has come this newest persecution, but I won't bear such treatment, for we are free as the mountain air.  These people are free; they are not in bondage to any government on God's footstool.  We have transgressed no law, neither do we intend to do so, but as for any nation coming to destroy this people,

God Almighty being my helper, it shall not be. "

He was resolved to utterly lay waste the land, to have his people set fire to their homes and towns.  They were ready to do just that, converting their ten years of industry and their oasis into a desert.  They were ready to start upon another exodus in quest of peace and freedom.

Again he said, "We have borne enough, we shall bear no more.  Come on with your thousands of illegally ordered troops, and I promise you in the name of Israel's God that they shall melt away as a snow before a July sun, and they shall find this land as barren as when we came here. "  Four thousand hands went up in sanction

to this.

    

Fortunately there was another issue in store.  Kansas troubles were revived and the rumblings of a secession from the South were beginning to gain momentum. Captain Stewart Van Fliet interviewed Brigham Young and the Mormon plans were laid before him in plain view.

    

The troops came on but met disaster from Cheyennes stealing their cattle, and from frost and fire.  There was no blood shed by Mormons, but they harassed the troops in every conceivable way.

    

The Larsen brothers were in the Weber Military District under the direction of Colonel Chauncey W. West, District Commander.  Then the call came to move south in 1858.  They filled their wagons with provisions and household furnishings and started another trek, where ?  They neither knew nor cared.  They knew the Lord would preserve them in their struggle and give them courage to carry on their honest religious convictions.

    

Lars Johansen and wife and some of his children were sent to Ephraim, by President Young, where they settled in the Ephraim Fort.  In 1860, some of the brothers, among them Lauritz, moved from Ogden to Spring City.  Being farmers and good ones, as well as rugged individuals used to cold and hardships, they helped build the town which had been laid waste by the Indians in 1856.  Starting from scratch again, they began to till the soil, never forgetting their God and His blessings. Through their efforts and those of other stalwart men, Sanpete Valley became known as the "Wheat Granary of the West. "