/ • Alfred Bohman December 10, 1833 - February 12, 1918 taken from the Spackman Family History compiled by Elmer Louis Spackman Alfred Bohman was born December 10, 1833, in Gotofors, Smoland, Jonkoping, Sweden. His father was John Bohman and his mother was Marie Christine Jonsson. He was a second child. His twin sister, Ingrid, died when she was eleven days old. While working in a cutlery shop in Stockholm, Sweden, a spark flew out and hit him in the eye. As a result he lost the sight of his left eye. Later in life a cataract grew over his other eye, and before he died he was almost totally blind. He loved to read and did much of it before he lost his sight. James Carrigan recalled that is was a terrible thing to take away this enjoyment. As long as he could see, he read the Book of Mormon and New Testament every winter. He loved to read the church works and was real versed in them. R... i4-3 He and his brother William came to America together. He joined the John W .:Young p,u~, 1 Company and came to Utah in ~ - He drove a team of oxen across the plains to pay for his way. The weather had been bad for several days, and the morale of the company was low. The storms had been electrical and very severe. One morning when the oxen were being hitched up, • • some were hitched to the wagons, some had their yokes on, when like a crack of a gun they stampeded. Fifteen members of the company were killed. One was a pretty 19-year-old Swedish girl. Grandfather said they had had a courtship while crossing the plains and probably would have been married when they reached the valley. When Grandfather arrived in Salt Lake City, his company was sent to Morgan County to settle it. William, his brother, came with another company which was sent to Sevier County. For many years they didn't know where their brothers were sent. Grandfather sent money for his father and mother to come to America. His brothers Jacob and Victor followed. Before the railroad was completed through Weber Canyon, he would drive his team of oxen to Devil's Gate. There he would take his wagon apart, strap it to his oxen, and take it over the cliffs. Then he would reassemble it and go on to Salt Lake City to get flour, groceries, and material for clothes. Often it would take a week to make the trip. Many times he would walk over the mountains to Salt Lake City and would carry flour and supplies on his back. One time he carried a spinning wheel home for his wife. He used to go in the mountains and cut wild grass with a scythe and use it for hay. He took up a homestead in the hills west of Peterson. There he built a log cabin in which he lived while proving up on the land. He fenced this land and planted some crops. Many times Grandfather would go in the mountains to gather wood for fuel. One time he had his wood loaded and started down the road. His team stopped, snorted, and wouldn' t go on. He got off the load, went around the team, and there was a bear. He took his ax and chased it, hitting it in the head. • ,.~ 4 Grandfather married Christine Elizabeth Mattson in 1866 in Peterson. She was sealed to him in 1895 in the Salt Lake Temple. He was 33 years old when he married. They had three sons and two daughters. One son, John Victor, died when he was a year old. My grandfather always called his wife Stina Lisa, and she always called him Booman. They spoke both English and Swedish well. My grandfather, Alfred, was a big, broad shouldered Swede. He stood six feet in his stocking feet. My first recollection of him when I was small, was that he was a big man with a long, grey beard hanging half-way down his chest. His beard was streaked down the center with a dark, vile smelling substance. He used to sit by the oven door with his feet on it, chewing tobacco and spitting into the coal bucket, and it drizzled down his beard and clothes. I was almost afraid of him, and I didn' t like the bad smell. Later in life he discontinued to use tobacco, and when I was able to understand, he told me the following story: One winter he went up to his homestead on the mountain to chop down trees. While there, it snowed very heavily, and he ran out of chewing tobacco. He went without as long as he could, he thought, so then he waded down through the snow which was three feet deep, a distance of about four or five miles. When he reached the store, he was soaking wet way up under his arms. It had been hard work wallowing through the snow, and he was wet, cold, and tired, but he had learned a very valuable lesson. • He bought a 10 cent plug of tobacco and held it up before him and said to it, "You see • what you have made me do. You have been my boss long enough. I am going to be boss from now on." He put the tobacco in his pocket and carried it around with him for two years to prove he was the master. Then he put it away in a bureau drawer and kept it for a reminder. He said to us boys, "Don't you ever touch tobacco because it will make a slave out of you, and the longer you use it, the greater it will enslave you." I have never forgotten the lesson. It has helped me when I was tempted to use tobacco. Alfred Bohman lived in the old home until he died from a stroke on February 12, 1918. He was 84 years of age . J( \. • • • J ',j' J THE COMBINED IDSTORJES Of ALFRED BOHMAN Christina Elizabeth Matson affectionately known as Stina Lisa by her grandchildren, was born September 11, 1830 in Serby V, Lofsta West Sweden. She first met Alfred Bohman, the man who would later become her husband, in Sweden as he worked as a traveling Elder preaching the gospel for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. Christina heard the gospel and joined the church. When her brother died she inherited the family property. To enable her to come to America she sold her lovely home and the other valuables. After her way was assured, she loaned most of the rest of the money helping her friends to also emigrate. None of this money was ever repaid. A few years after Christina came to America, Alfred came also. Here they met again and were soon married. They moved to Peterson, Morgan County, Utah, where they reared a family of three sons and three daughters, two of whom died as small children. Through all the hardships of pioneer life, Christina never had any desire to return to Sweden . Alfred was born in Gotofors Smoland, Jonkoping Lan Sweden, December 10, 1833. During his early life he worked in a foundry. One day, while working, a spark flew in his eye. He was taken to the hospital, but owing to the doctor' s insufficient knowledge, not much could be done for him. The pain in his eye was intense and grew worse until pus began to accumulate in it. Soon water ran out of his eye and his eye came out. Later he worked in Stockholm and while there he met the Elders and soon afterwards joined the church. He then went to his old hometown and converted his father and mother and one brother, William and later arranged for all of them to come to America. After joining the church, he traveled three years as a missionary in Sweden before coming to America. He used to work in the summer and then when fall came and work became slack, he went resumed his labors as a missionary. Christina and Alfred later emigrated to Utah where they fought crickets and suffered through droughts; they lived in log cabins with mud roofs that soaked through when it rained, dripping mud down on the inhabitants making it very disagreeable. But through it all, they remained faithful and true to the gospel. They settled in Peterson, Morgan County, up the Weber River from Ogden. He took up a homestead several miles back up in the mountains from Peterson. In the winter he would go back up to this homestead and live in a little cabin there in order to prove up on this homestead. Peterson is straight east over the Wasatch Mountains from Salt Lake City. In 2005 this property is still owned by four of the Bohman brothers or their decendents: Roland, Hugo, Dale and Verle. It is a lovely place where the families can go to get away from the rush of the world for a while. • • • ' . Alfred was a big strong man and he used to go up over these mountains on foot to Salt Lake City. There he would buy his years supply of flour and carry it back over the mountains to Peterson. He must have made a number of trips to Jay in his supplies. Alfred lived with his son Rudolph and his wife Nancy in his later years after Christina died. Because of his poor eyesight, a rope was tied from the house door to the door of the outhouse so he could find his way there and back. Sometimes as a joke the kids would tie one end on someplace other than the outhouse door. This must have been a pain for him but he accepted it in good humor. Christina died April 12, 1896 and Alfred died 12 February 1918. Both are buried in the Peterson Cemetery . 2 ., • • • Christina Elizabeth Mattson 15<> h m~ n.. September 11, 1830 - April 12, 1896 taken from the Spackman Family History compiled by Elmer Louis Spackman My grandmother, Christina Elizabeth Mattson, called by her husband, Alfred Bohman, " Stina Lisa," was born September 11, 1830, in Serby V. Lofsta, Westmalan, Sweden. She died in Peterson, Morgan County, Utah, on April 12, 1896 (when+was-five-yecrrs-old). My grandmother had three husbands. Through some law or regulation in her native Sweden, she was forced to marry a man, Olof Olson, whom she did not love. He proved to be barren, so she obtained a divorce. After coming to Salt Lake City, she joined the church and met and married a man named Grenberg. He was no good, in fact he was a devil, so I was told. So she divorced him. He aposticized from the church and went to California. There was one child from this marriage, a girl called Ellen. She was sealed to her mother and Alfred Bohman, the third husband. He was a good, upright, honorable man. They had five children, 3 boys and 2 girls. My mother was one of them. Shortly after the birth of their other son, Alfred Fingal Bohman, the two children, Ellen and Alfred, got smallpox. It was very severe in those days, and both children nearly died. My grandmother was a very religious woman of much faith. Only her continued prayer kept them alive. They were very sick for a long time. Grandmother used to retire to the woodshed behind the house to pray. One day while praying, it was made known to her that if the girl lived, her mind would have been affected because her fever had been so high. So she immediately released her and prayed she might go. After rising from her knees, she went to the house. She just reached the child's bedside to see her taking her last breath, so she passed peacefully away. Several times in the night time, grandmother aroused her husband telling him to go to a neighbors and help them because they had sickness and death in the family and needed help. The homes in those days, in Peterson, Utah, were more than a block apart, and there were no phones. In each case she said she had had a vision and it was made known to her. She was correct on every occasion. Incidents told to me by my mother about my grandmother's life in Sweden My grandmother's people were rich farmers in Sweden. Grandmother' s youngest brother was a good violinist. He played before the king and queen of Sweden. The king conferred upon him the name of"Cedestrom." One time when he came home on vacation he went swimming and was drowned in a millpond on their own farm. In Sweden the women used to do a great deal of the farm work. In fact, my grandmother did all the milking after they came to America. She used to milk 12 to 15 cows and took care of all the milk and cream and made it into butter for sale. .,/ • • • In those days they had no cream separators, and all the milk was set away in pans in a cool place so the cream would rise. It was then skimmed off and churned. I remember seeing row upon row of pans of milk in my grandmother's cellar. I have also watched her make their own candles by dipping strings attached to a stick into warm tallow. This was repeated until the candles became the desired size. These candles, together with the firelight, furnished all their light at night. While in Sweden, having a large farm, she had a great deal of farm work to do. They had to haul the hay on a two wheeled wagon with shafts in it for the horse. They hauled it a long distance up a steep hill. This was grandmother's job. At one time they had a lazy old horse that always baulked at the bottom of the hill, and the men would have to come and push the load up. Once the men were busy, and grandmother was left alone with the baulky old horse. When they arrived at the bottom of the hill, he stopped and she couldn't persuade him to even try. Finally, becoming exasperated, she grabbed a handful to stinging nettle which grew beside the road. Raising the horses tail, she crammed the nettles under it and away they went up the hill on the double. The old horse never baulked again when he came to the hill. At another time they had an old, lazy, fat mare the men always had to lift on to her feet before they went to work. One day they forgot to do so. My grandmother was left to do it by herself which was beyond her ability. She could not get the lazy old beast to even try, no matter what she did. Finally seeing the fire hose hanging in the barn, she took it down and turned it full force upon the old beast. Up she jumped at once . When the men came home, they wondered how she had done it. She told them to wait until morning and she would show them. In the morning the old mare was lying down again and wouldn't budge to ordinary urging. Grandmother reached for the fire hose, and the old horse was on her feet at once. After that, all they had to do was reach for the hose and the job was finished. She suffered a great deal in later life from what we now know was cancer of the stomach. She died from this dreaded malady before she was very old . • • • J The Four Bohman Brothers Four Bohman brothers came from Sweden to Utah in the 1860's: John William Bohman Alfred Bohman Jacob Edward Bohman Adam Victor Bohman John William Bohman was born 2 December 1831 in Sweden. He married Maria Chr istina Soderstrom 23 November 1857 in Sweden. When they came to Utah, they settled in Monroe, Sevier County, Utah. They had seven children. John died on 9 October 1905 and was buried in Monroe. Maria died 22 February 1923 and was buried in Monroe. Alfred Bohman came to Pet erson in 1863. He was a farmer by occupation. When he was a boy he worked in a blacksmith shop in Sweden. While working there, a red hot spark hit him in his eye. He lost his eye. He m~rried Christina Elizabeth Mattson 20 Aug 1864. They had five children. Christina died 12 April 1896. Alfred died 12 February 1918. They are both buried in the Peterson Cemetery. Jacob Edward Bohman lived in Peterson, Morgan County, Utah. He married Heda Lingren. They had one daughter. Adam Victor Bohman worked on the railr.oad. He lived in Echo, Summit County, Utah. He married an Indian girl. Her name was Anna Lucy {Stevenson) Adopted Name Smith. They had three children. When his wife died he moved to Peterson. She was buried in Echo, Utah. Later Jacob and Victor lived together in a small log house in the east part of Peterson. It was one of the first homes in Peterson. This home was acquired by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and moved to Morgan. It is now on the Southeast corner of the old Stake Center in South Morgan on the west side of State Street. When Jacob and Victor died, they were buried in the Peterson Cemetery Some of the above information provided by Qiarles Alfred Bohman