OCR Text |
Show Lars Christian Peterson, Pionee r of Hyde Pa rk One j of Few Remaining Pioneers Has an Interesting Journal Seventy-six years ngo on the Cth of ast March thoro was born a son to . poor working man named Soren Ihrlstinn Peterson nnd his wlfo Met-lo Met-lo Mar'o Larson In tho vlllago of Jchlbsye, HJorring, Denmark. Today his man Lars Christian Peterson, vlth his wlfo Johanna Mario Mourlt-en Mourlt-en to whom ho was married on the .Cth of November, 18C0, ho Uvea nt lydo Park, Cacho County, Utah. Tlicro ho has resided stneo tho year SC5, during practically tho entlro .mo officiating as ward clork, having icon oflicially appointed to that posl-Ion posl-Ion In 1STS, though he had acted ns isslstant clerk for many years bo-'ore. bo-'ore. By all this, together with tho fact that ho crossed tho plains to Utah by ox team In 1859, It will bo 3ccn thnt ho represents a typical pioneer of both Utah and Cache Val-loy Val-loy and, as such, has tho usual Interesting In-teresting story. This story Is best told by extracts from h's own Journal, Journ-al, which ho lias kindly allowed a representative of Tho Republican to scan. "I hnd read tho scriptures In my childhood, ho records under dato of 1S5I, but did not comprehend it. "When the principles of tho gospel woro declared to nio by the elders of tho church, thoy woro very familiar famili-ar to mo. I loved to go to meetings, but my uncle, aunt and cousins did despise the gospol nnd .those who brought It, savo ono cous'n, Mario Mlkkclscn, who nftcrward received tho gospel. My father and mother did not at this time comprehend the gospel, gos-pel, but slnco cmbrnced It. My aunt gavo mo all kinds of promises, such i as property nnd money, which she ' possessed, would I nbnndon my bo'lcf nnd remain In tho Lutherlnn church. Meantime the m. nlstcrs of tho Lutheran Luth-eran church would call on mo to convince con-vince mo of my errors ns tbey supposed sup-posed I was subject to, but without any effect." In his youth ho says ho was desirous desir-ous of becoming acquainted with many languages and ho begnn early to study German, but later this desire de-sire for tho study of languages centered cen-tered upon tho English langungo nlono nnd ho becamo nn cxcollcnt student In this lino. This knowledgo ho afterward turned to good account In n Christian llko manner, g'vlng Instruction to thoso who contemplated contemplat-ed going to America for the gopel'n sake. Of tho voyage he has recorded: "Monday, April 11, 1859, at G a.m. a, steamer hauled out Into tho sen nnd wo began our voyage across tho Atlantic and I was appointed head teacher of the English innguago for all tho teachers of tho saints. Every forenoon I would meet with tho saints i In different wards In turn for tho school, and In tho afternoons I taught school for the teachers and presiding ciders of tho company. Thus my tlmo was spent every day until wo landed In New York. But when tho doctor came, 1 wns called to go with him ns an Interpreter among tho Scandinavians." Scandina-vians." It Is generally thought thnt tho hardships of tho pioneers of tho early ear-ly days began with tho crossing of tho pla'ns, but from tho fo'lowlng ox-tract ox-tract taken from tho Joumnl of our friend Poterson, It would seem thnt thoy often began earlier oven than that: "Tho morning of tho 21st wo proceeded on our way up tho Mis-; Mis-; sourl river on n steamboat, St. Mary. Hero wo wero treated roughly hy tho crow, and others, nelthor was thoro nny convenience for sitting or sleeping, but wo wero nlmost constantly con-stantly compelled to stnnd on our feet both night nnd day until Thurs-' Thurs-' dny tho 2Gth of May, when wo landed land-ed on tho bank of tho rhcr bolow Florence, at which placo wo woro lodged for a whllo to fit up our teams and hnggago to cross tho rocky mountains." moun-tains." Of tho organ'zntlon of tho company for tho crossing of tho plains ho says: "On Monday tho Cth of Juno a portion por-tion of our company wns organized on tho camp ground a Uttlo south of tho city Into a handcart company for tho crossing of tho Plains which stnrted from hero on tho 9th to cross tho plains by pulling tholr children, bedding, cooking etc., on a two wheol-od wheol-od cart, which looked rather n heavy task for a man nnd his w fo to undertake un-dertake across a desort of 1100 miles but howover, that wns accomplished nnd thoy arrived nt Salt Lake City two weeks beforo us who loft Flor-enco Flor-enco on Juno 23 with nn ox team of sixty wagons, whlc.li company was organized or-ganized with Elder II. F. Neslen ns rnptaln. Tho company was divided In companies of ten wagons each with n captain " It Una often been a matter of won dcr nnd speculation on Uio part of historians and others to understand how tho great companies ot poorly equipped pioneer trains passed tho plains with such great success and comparatively Uttlo loss; whllo other trains, thoso going to Callfbrnta, for Instance, equipped with all that money mon-ey could avail suffered often -to entire en-tire destruction. Those who have not been thoroughly acquainted with tho organization of tho Mormon pioneer pio-neer trains find It dJIlcult to understand under-stand tho two situations. Tho following follow-ing extract taken from Jlr. Peterson's Peter-son's Journal Is similar to what every ev-ery pioneer could toll regarding tho organ'zatlon of theso early trains, and In this wo bellovo is to be found tho explanation of tho success of tho Mormon trains, whllo tho other emigrant emi-grant trains often suffered so heavily. heavi-ly. Ho records: "Boforo starting on our Journoy It wns agreed by unanimous unani-mous voto of tho company what amount of load for each yoke of oxen and not to exceed that amount, and not to lenvo anyono on the road who had conformed to that rule, but to assist thoso who might bo unfortun-nto unfortun-nto nnd loso their cattle by death or othorwiso ns tho pla'ns wcro dangerous danger-ous both from poisonous weeds nnd Indian depredations. After traveling a short distance somo of tho cattlo began to get tired nnd worn down, nnd cows woro yoked up, but they wcro not ablo to draw tho heavy loads, but theso gavo out too, consequently conse-quently help was nsked Tor which they got for a while, but also these cattlo gavo out and sovoral began to dlo which caused ill feeling, ns It was argued that theso wagons had more than w-ns allowed, on account of which Captain Neslen called tho pcoplo together on Sunday, July 10, when wo wero camped nt Wood II v-er v-er and gavo instructions In this particular. par-ticular. It was found that S. P. Guhl and others of tho leading men wero overloaded and was nfterwnrd obliged to unload somo of their heavy articles such as stoves and carthon wnro which wero burled on tho unnk of tho Platto river for safo keeping till they returned for them, which thoy did after apostntlz'ng on their arrival In Utah nnd went back to make their homes with their own kind of people." So much of our friend's record is Interesting that It, Is dlfllcult for us to BOlect tho most tolling quotations. Th."s Is especially truo ot tho Journoy Jour-noy acro3s tho plains. One other Incident In-cident seems that wo must record here. Of this ho writes: "On July 15 ns we wero about hitching up our teams a misfortune occurred through tho carelessness of parties who had hitched their teams to their wagons and then laid down nbout tho wagons whllo others wcro busy yoking up unhandy cattlo, nnd when a w.ld cow belonging to my mother was yoked up Bho bellowed. Flvo teams wcro frightened and run, killing kill-ing J. C. Waden nnd wounding sovoral sov-oral others moro or less. This caused caus-ed considerable confusion In tho camp. S. P. Guhl whom several accused ac-cused of being tho cause ot tho contention con-tention by his heavy overloading which caused the displeasure of God on tho people, went, down to tho river Platto to drown himself but sa'd ho wns unnblo to find water enough nnd was sitting on tho bank when tho pcoplo enmo in Ills search. After burying tho dead, dressing tho wounded wound-ed wo proceeded on our Journoy." It Is generally understood that tho pioneers undorwent many hardships nftor arriving here, but nothing can mako this fact so clear to us as to hoar a description of tho life thoy led from ono of tho hardy p oncers who oudurcd them. Mr. Pctorson sny8: "In tho spring ot 1SC2, I commenced com-menced to Improvo my first nnd much appreciated homo In Plain City, Wo-bor Wo-bor county, Utah. My first Improvements Improve-ments were, howover, nothing moro than n collar commonly called n dugout nbout 10 by 12 feot. This wns our bedroom, parlor and kitchen. Having no team I was obliged to work for teamwork to plow my land which hnd to bo broke I thoroforo had to start very limited nnd made somo adobes ad-obes for a living and also ra'scd a small crop of grain and vegetables. In tho early fall I dug and hauled 25 busho'a of potatoes to Salt Lako nnd sold them for a fow yards of calico j that I wns obliged to obtain In order lo meet tho demands of my first born child, n son who wns born on tho 2Cth day of October, 18C2 and given tho name of Lorenzo Peterson." Later In tho spring of 1805 ho nnd his family moved to Cache valley. Of this ho says Tii March 18G5, nfter a long hard winter, Lara C Christen-, sen and myself started on foot and walked all tho way through snow nnd mud to Cacho Va'Ioy, at Logan, where my father resided. Wo found "hero that a d tch was being run from the Logan river north to Itlchmcnd. Tho water from this canal was to be distributed among those who would mnko tho canal In accord with tho amount ot canal each made. We each contributed three rods ot canal on tho hill which entitled us to lf ncres ot land each In the Hydo Park precinct." pre-cinct." Since ithat tlmo Mr. Peterson Uns been nlmost a constant resident of Hydo Park and as wo all know thnt p'aco like all others !s tho result of tho untiring lnbor of theso early Bottlers. Bot-tlers. At Hyde Park ho has held many ofTlces both In tho church and In tho civil affairs, most notnblo of which is tho fact beforo noted to tho effect that ho has been ward cl'jrk for the past CO years. Ills family Is a largo ono Including In Its number, a son, Frank, now In Norway on a mission, and Lorenzo, a member of the present bishopric of Hydo Park. His first wlfo who has passed thru nil tho trials and hardships recorded horo Is still living, halo and hearty. On their wedding anniversary In November No-vember 1910, when thoy hnd been married for CO years a largo host of ch'ldrcn nnd other posterity .met and paid them high honor nnd worthy tribute, |