| OCR Text |
Show Mt. Pleasant's Oldest Resident Honored On Her 93rd Anniversary The eldest resident of Mt. Pleasant, Pleas-ant, Mrs. Hannah Madsen Aldrich, was honored on her ninety-third birthday Saturday by her children, grandchildren and friends. Mrs. Aldrich Al-drich was a member of the Martin handcart company of 1856, and is an original settler of this community. commun-ity. She is in remarkably good physical physi-cal condition for one- of her age. being mentally alert and able to do all of her own domestic work such as washing, ironing, cooking ar.d baking. Her eyes are as clear as those of a schoolgirl, she is full of the congeniality that comes from an abundance of health, and she rarely if ever has a sick Her unusually fine physical condition con-dition is at least partially attributable attributa-ble to her observing laws of health She retires at 9 and arises at 6, iiL-variably. iiL-variably. She eats at regular hours, and chooses a diet of plain foods Born in Sjelland, Denmark, October Oc-tober 14, 1840, she was a daughter cf Ole and Annie Nielsen Madsen. Her parents and their four children mierated to America in 1856. after joining the L. D. S. Church in Oenmark. Joining the ill-fated Martin Mar-tin handcart company, which began the trek across the plains at the wrong time of the year and without ifficial authorization, the family experienced tremendous hardships en route toward Utah. The father perished and was buried bur-ied beside the trail. The company 'f necessity pressed forward, and Mrs. Aldrich recalls hearing the wolves howling beside the graves of her father and others. It was feared fear-ed that the animals were after the newly interred bodies, but nothing, under the circumstances, could be done about it. December 3, 1856, the widowed mother and her children reached Salt Lake. From there they removed remov-ed to Tphraim among the first settlers set-tlers of that town, and then came to Fort Hamilton Mt. Pleasant in the spring of '59. Hannah Madsen became the wile of Martin Aldrich December 16, 1860 with Mt. Pleasant's first bihop, W S. Seely, performing the ceremony. Mr. Aldrich was a native of Massachusetts Massa-chusetts and of English ancestry. He too was among the original settlers here, and he had helped build the fort. An Indian War veteran, he i eacnea tne age oi i rjeiore passing away in 1919. In 18C4, Pres. Brigham Youn;j I called the Aldrich's to help settle a Piute County settlement, whers they remained for about two years, until starvation and hostile Indians Indi-ans compelled them to return to Mt. Pleasant. Subsequently they lived liv-ed at various times in Chester, Tn-dianola Tn-dianola and Milburn, but Mount Pleasant has been Mrs. Aldrich's home since 1888. Of eight sons and daughters, the eldest died at birth, and these seven are living: Orange M., Lyman and Alanson. Aldrich and Mrs. E. L. Brandon of Mt. Pleasant; J. Myron and Amasa Aldrich, Salt Lake; Mrs. Albert Hosenlof, Bountiful. There are sixteen grandchildren, and the same number cf great-grandchildren. Andrew Madsen, 82, of Spring City, is a brother. |
