Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Together The Johnson family boarded vessels of the time and watched Norway's oceanfront and lush beautiful mountains fade from their view and made their way across the mighty Atlantic to the coast of America, across the breadth of the United States to the frontiers of the dry, hot, and seemingly desert of the west, "une Houser, a great- granddaughter of Agnes, said, "her grandmother walked all the way across the plains when eight years of age." They found refuge in the town of Littleton/ Milton in Morgan County, Utah. The following account of the Johnson family was told to a family member in 1970 by Lyman Mecham and Joseph Spendlove, both former bishops of the Milton Ward. They both knew the Johnson family well. Bishop Spendlove recounted the following: "Andrew and Maria purchased the property where Woodrow and Twila Giles lived in the 1970's. The house they lived in was a wooden house that had an underground room or basement. I remember vividly as a child going to Brother and Sister Johnson's home to buy eggs. They had lots of chickens, and they always went under the house, where it was cool, to get the eggs for me, and then I would take them home to my mother. Later Mr. Johnson sold this property to William Giles and moved to a house up Line Creek Road, to the same property that Victor and Helen Nelson lives on today. Their two daughters had married by this time; Agnes to Ole Olsen Gaarder (Gorder). They enjoyed many grandchildren of this marriage." Bishop Lyman Mecham tells more about the family: "On April 22, 1884, this family was saddened by the passing of their father Ole, leaving Agnes a Maria Agusta Christiansen Johnson Johnson Gaarder Jensen widow with seven fatherless children. Agnes eventually married Peter Jensen and moved quite a ways up Line Creek, above her parents' home. It was very difficult to get the children to school. Sometime during the 1890's, Maria Agusta Johnson passed away, so Agnes and her second husband, Peter Jensen, moved into the family home on Line Creek Road where they were closer to the Milton school. One day the house burned down while Mr. Jensen had gone for a load of coal. When Mr. Jensen passed away, Agnes moved her family to the home where Preston and Elma Jones live today (1970), across from the Milton Church. The Milton school was located just across the street. Agnes and Peter had two children together, both daughters." Ole and Agnes' children were: Clara Agnes, born November 6, 1868; Oscar, born May 12,1871; Lorain Agusta, bom September 14,1873; Walter Andrew, bom October 20, 1876; Lillian Normanda, born February 18, 1879; Anne Gertrude, born August 31, 1881; Carl Ole, born June 15, 1884. The two daughters born to Agnes and Peter Jensen were: Agnes Marie, born November 18,1890; and Alta Betrice, born June 21,1894. Andrew and Maria's second daughter, Julia, married Martin Gaarder (Garder or Gorder), a brother to Agnes's husband, Ole Olsen, on January 30, 1873, who was also from a family of Norwegian immigrants. The two Johnson sisters married two brothers. Julia and Martin's marriage was performed by Samuel Francis in Littleton, when Julia was twenty- two years old and Martin was twenty-three years of age. This couple moved to a house in Peterson, across the street from the George Fearn residence (1970). The Johnson grandparents, Andrew and Maria, were again delighted with more grandchildren from this marriage. Laura Gillettie, born July 29, 1875; Edgar Martin, born October 16,1876; Willard, born in 1878, died; Horace Thomas, born May 6,1879; twins. Rose and Edward, born in 1880, died shortly after birth; Carrie May, bom May 1,1884; Henry, born April 27, 1886. When the last child, Henry, was nine months old, the children's mother, Julia, passed away on a cold January 22, 1887, leaving this young family 106