Show J 6 aiulu CK aiila anft oksun holmstead and are two small villages in the far off coun try of sweden the country people of these two places were very so ceable they would often have pic ni bics c s and dancing parties at one of these parties a young man by the name of pehr anderson met a young and pretty girl named maria katrina larson A strong friendship grew up between these two young people and after a short courtship pehr anderson and mar la ia katrina larson were married they went to live on a small farm at the town of this is the story of their youngest child and the only girl in a family of five children her mother and father cho e the name of hil da for her when she was born november 11 1859 when hilda was 4 years old her family moved to gutend at this place pehr anderson learned about the mormons and the wonderful country of america As he he heard more about the gospel and the new country he became anxious to take his family there to live so about may I 1 of 1866 he sent his wife and the three youngest children to america he and the two old er boys rema ned to work and earn mony so they could go to america later hilda her brothers and her mo ther first went to a one day days s drive by team from their home there they boarded a train and went to Go tenberg then they went on the north sea on a small ship to denmark from there they went to hull where they took pas sage on a sailing vessel to new york they were nine weeks corn com ing across the ocean ordinarily at this time it took only six weeks but they for some reason became lost and traveled in the wrong dir action hence the extra three weeks beeks they landed in new york in the middle of july then they went by tram train to st joseph mo at st joseph they got on a small river boat and went to omaha ka while they were on the boat the dreaded cholera broke out and many of the people died of one family of eight only two survived but this family although one of them got it were fortunate and escaped alive from omaha they went by ox team across the plains they had a very hard time as it was fall the 1 cold time of the year and very I 1 stormy they were met in echo canyon with mule teams as their friends were afraid they t make it over the mountains with the ox teams I 1 however they arrived in salt lake city utah on october 22 making it in ten weeks from om orn aha to salt lake the emigrants all camped in the tithing yard and were fed in one big house where the hotel utah now stands until they found their different places to live the andersons had no rel atnes aties nor special acquaintances so they were at a loss to know where to go or what to do while crossing the plains they had a teamster by the name of fredrick peterson whose home was in mt pleasant and on learning they had no place to go he offered to take them thern to his father fathers s and mother mothers s home in mt pleasant san pete county they were very grateful for the offer so after a few more days of journey they found themselves comfortably located in two rooms in the peterson home the total journey had taken them six months from the time they had left their home in sweden now having become settled hil da das s mother having been trained in the art of weaving and spinning began doing this kind of work as a means of hilda and her two brothers attended school here at mt pleasant for two years 1866 1868 it was in 1868 that the petersons decided to leave mt pleasant and move to grantsville Grants ville after a short time they decided to have mrs anderson and her children claus charley and hilda come to grants ville vilie and live with them it might be interesting to note that hilda hildas s brothers were known by the name of peterson having lived during those early years with the peter son family soon after they settled in grants ville october 1868 pehr ander son hildas father arrived nov ember 1868 having migrated from sweden with the arrival of hilda s father and the help of the boys and hilda they made a permanent home in grantsville Grants ville where hilda continued her school work until she was 14 years of age the school was then held in the small adobe building located just opposite the first ward chapel this building was later used as the city hall and still stands it is presumed to be owned by president J reuben dark clark who also attended school I 1 there with his father the late joshua R clark as teacher hilda s school work at grants ville was interrupted for a time as she went to salt lake city to take a course in dressmaking tailoring and sewing in general on return mg ing to grantsville Grants ville she took in sew ing in those days dressmaking and tailoring required one to make their own patterns and do their own fitting nevertheless she was proficient in this art and the de mands for this kind of work made it necessary for her to make a dress almost every day which she did by staying up very late at night in tailoring she i made many complete suits consist consisting ij of coats vests and pants this was quite different from when hilda had helped her mother in mt pleas ant card the sheep s wool spin the barn arn and weave the cloth with which to make their clothes and the suits she made for oth ers they were now able to buy most of the dress materials and some for the men s suits although they still did weave some for jeans etc at this time the grantsville Grants ville brass band was organized with 15 mem mern bers and hilda was engaged to help make the uniforms she made ten pairs of pants alone and help ed with the coats their caps were imported dancing and home plays were the chief amusements for old and young in those days and hilda was one of the main participants in these affairs while attending the social and resuming her school work she met a young grantsville Grants ville man by the name of john A erickson and after a rather extended courtship they were married in the endow ment house in salt lake city on february 23 1882 the following bear ear 1883 the young couple in connection with owen barrus of grantsville Grants ville and benjamin of tooele thoele were called on a mission to the goshute koshute indians in the deep creek valley which is located near the nevada state line in tooele thoele county brother barrus left in the early spring with his wife and three children and the following ath of june brother bowen and his farm ly and john erickson and hilda left grantsville Grants ville john on horse back drove their cows colas and hilda drove their team and wagon they arrived at ibapah which is the indian name tor for deep creek on june 14 having been 6 days driving the miles in those days salt lake was the nearest railroad point from ibapah this trip was more strenuous than crossing the plains the cros sing of the great mud flats re quiren much hard work to dig out the mired wagons the long ches of desert made it necessary to haul water I 1 the alluring mirage of the desert lands always lends a false hope and many a traveler has been lost i 1 approaching the beautiful forest or lake which vanished in mid air usually when one has gone to far to return the church had a large ranch in the deep creek valley and these missionary families were located on this ranch as they had to be self supporting the log cabins in which they lived were crude prim etive would be a mild word to use in trying to describe all that went with these rough made build As soon as the mission was or a sunday school was es this was on dec 2 1884 they had previously baptized a bout forty ind ans during the sum mer and fall with no great stretch of imagination one can see the d ff curties in trying to teach the i ind ans first the engi sh language and then the gospel of jesus christ and from whence they originated however H ida took her part in this difficult task and was made secretary of the sunday school without the knowledge of the indians it was a hard and tedious task to teach the gospel to the indians meetings and sunday I 1 school were held in a long adobe bulling that had previously been used as the pony express station A tall monument now stands on the corner of the church ranch where this building once stood while the men taught the gospel as best they could hilda would teach the indian women to sew mend and make gloves and many other useful things she also taught them to read and write the indians soon learned that the missionaries and their families were their real friends and bene factors especially was this true with hilda as they would bring their troubles to her when sick they always went to hididd as they called her he an usually they were relieved of their ailment deep creek was sparsely set tied the ranches being from 5 to 8 miles apart yet the white peo pie met often in social gatherings hilda erickson was their chief doc tor she was called on continually to assist them in caring for their sick this was especially so in con cases and so urgent was this need that hilda decided to go to salt lake city and take a course in obstetrics from a lady doctor by the name of pratt who was conducting a school and hos pital for this special training this was a rather difficult under taking as now she had a young baby girl about a year and a half old whom they had named amy however she made arrangements with her mother who then lived in grantsville Grants ville to care for her baby this was in the fall of 1885 by the following year she had completed the course and received her and license to practice ob the following year she returned ot ibapah and from this time on her real work of service began not only with the indians but with the white folk of the valley and others who lived in faraway places over the mountains once she re word from a distant place that she was urgently needed so without any hesi tancey she moun ted a horse and rode 25 miles over a mountain trail to relive the suf fering woman another time she left home at midnight and drove a team and buggy over a moun tain road for many miles to assist another child birth these instance es are typical of many uncounted times she subjected herself to hard ships and dangers to give ed to others notwithstanding the strenuous hours and days spent in that re mote valley there were many fond and pleasant enjoyable occasions as the people would come from far and near to mingle in sociable and dancing in those days corsets were in style hididd gave a pair to one indian squaw you can imagine the funny sight when this fat indian squaw appeared with these corsets laced tightly on the out side of her dress upside down indians can give and take a joke gracefully but when this indian woman was laughed at in her new mode of dress she indig bantly remarked that she t wear Anga dress and more no good Anga pomy in indian means red headed for red headed hilda continued next week |