TITLE PAGE PIONEER (full n a me) BIR TH (date and p lace) DEA TH (date and p lace) PARENTS . MARRIED (wh o and dat e) ARRIVAL IN UTAH (date) (Company arrived with) HISTORY (who wr ote) (date writ ten) (who sub mitted) (addre s s) CA M P & COUNTY SU B MITTING Soren M adsen 1 Jul y 1825 - True, Svendstrup, Denmark 3 November 1888-(b u ried) Lo gan, Utah Mads Sorenson Maren Jensen Berta Katrine I-Ia'nsen - 9 October 18 55 A Dani sh la d y about 1884 (pol ygamy) October 1858 Lucille Olson W i lliams Morgan, Utah 840 5 0 __s_ o_u_t_h_M_o_rg_a_n_ _______ Camp __M_ o_r_g_a_n_ __________ County ( Camp Historian & addre s s ) ____E_ lm_ a_ w_._ D_ic_k_s_on _________ Rt 2 , Morgan, Utah 84050 Count y Historian & address )_ ____V_ e_l_o_y_ T_o_n_k_s_ D_i_c_k_s_o_n_ ________ PO Box 203, Morgan, Utah 8405 0 SOURCE OF INFORMATION & PAGE N UMBERS: • • • SOREN MADSEN In awe and recognition of my great grand father Soren Madsen and his wife Berta, I wonder what I m i ght have done if given the same circumstances. Great grandfather Soren Madsen, son of Mads Sorenson and Maren Jensen, was born 1 July 1825, in True, Svendstrup, Denmark, He was a carpenter and a mill-wright by trade and was widely accepted in his work. Berta Katrine Hansen was born 6 October 1827, i n Zeland, Copenhagen, Denmark. She lived in the K i ng's court with her parents and two brothers, enjoying a good atmosphere as a chil d . She had a normal education and then her mother enrolled her in a finishing school. After this she went to outlaying places, estates, farms, etc. where she taught horticulture; which had also been her fathers and grandfathers profession before her. This knowledge was much sought by the government, and a way to improve their way of life. For a time she worked on an estate in Copenhagen for a man named Timer Mr . Kiaser. She l earned the art of taking care of wool from the shearing to the weaving of the cloth. She also learned how to care for meat--curing, rendering and drying it. Berta's father was also a sea captain, so her brothers were both naval officers to comply with his wishes. They also wished her to marry a boy, a seaman who chummed with her brothers. There was one member (Berta} who begged to go back to shore every time they mana g ed to get her out to sea. She never liked the Skaggerrack rough waters. Her brothers said she was a dis gr ace to a II sea loving family. 11 She said she coul d never be a good sailor! Great grandma Berta loved Denmarks cal m waters, the meadows, fruits, trees, herbs and grasses. She had much knowledge of plant and flower culture, • • • - 2 - and herbs medicinal value and cures. She loved the ballroom dances, the parties about the court, the lovely dresses, silks and ruffles that she wore, and enjoyed all her many friends that she met while teaching or otherwise. Great Grandfather Soren had just recuperated from being wounded in a skirmish on the Schlewig border. He had also returned from working on an assignment for the Mormons, the new religion that was taking hold in Denmark. When Berta and Soren met, he was doing carpenter work on the court grounds where she lived. On 9 October 1855, Soren and Berta married against her mothers wishes and lived there in Denmark for a time where Soren had employ-ment. They were both converts to the L. D.S . Church. Their first child, Mary, was born in 1855 while they were living in Copenhagen (Jutland, True). They then moved to Christiania, Sweden. When Mary was three years old they came to America in a sail boat. The crossing was very rough. One man died during the crossing and was buried at sea. Berta was sick all the way except the last two days. It took six weeks to make the crossing. After landing they traveled overland to Florence or Council Bluffs where they purchased an ox team and wagon and a few other necessities. Many of their treasured possessions which they had brought from Denmark had to be left behind here. They crossed the plains in 1858. It took eleven weeks to make the trek westward, arriving in Se11t Lake City in October. Their hardships were many. Berta walked every day except one half a day when she was ill. Soren walk ed every step of the way. Little Mary was able to ride. The women wore hand-kerchiefs on their heads while making the trip; the Indians would ride up behind them and try to pull off the handkerchiefs as the women trudged along. Before • • • - 3 - camping at night the women would gather buffalo chips in their aprons to use as fire wood. The bread was mixed in the morning and put in the wagon and at night when camp was made they woul d bake it. When making camp they formed a circle with their wagons as a protection against the Indians. When they arrived in Salt Lake City they were given twenty acres of land in Weber Valley. They moved to what is now known as Milton, Morgan County. Their home was built about one mile north of the present town of Milton. (No house marks the spot wher e it stood for it was destroyed many years a g o by fire.) The house was of adobe construction with a dirt roof. It had one fireplace, which was the only heat they had. During the winter the snow would often reach up past the windows . In the spring when it started to thaw, the roof would leak and Grandmother Berta said that the only way she could keep her baby dry was to sit and hold her baby over the fireplace while the water dripped down her own back. A son, Abram, was born about a year after they arrived in Milton, Utah. They were so hard up that Great Grandmother Berta sold her wedding ring to buy shirts for the baby. Seven years later, 6 August 1865, another daughter, Annie, was born. In 1871 they took a little baby girl, Caroline (Carlie) Anderso n, whose mother had died leaving a large family and raised her as one of their family. The first wheat Great Grandfather Soren Madsen grew in the valley, he took over the mountain to Salt Lake City. One oxen tumbled off the trail and was killed. He always took a load of wood to Farmington every fall and traded it for molasses for they had no sugar. Many trips had to be taken over the mountains by foot to get a few necessities of life. There was a toll-gate in • • • - 4 - Devils Gate in Weber Canyon, making it necessary to go over the mountain for they did not have the money to pay the toll, Great Grandfather Madsen's trade took him away from home a lot of the time. He worked at Nels Hansen's Sawmill. He felled the trees, sawed them into lumber, planed it down and made it into furniture . He worked in both Salt Lake and Ogden. He worked on the old Wright Store on 24th and Washington Blvd in Ogden (now occupied by the J.C. Penney Co.}. Also, the old Broom Hotel (now occupied by the Commercial Security Bank}. He worked for many more in Ogden. When he worked for John Taylor in Salt Lake, he received two old oxen and food for pay. He had to make trips over the mountains to get bran for his oxen. One died the first spring. The children had to go barefooted in summer to save their shoes for winter . They would wear shoes to church on Sunday with their one calico dress. Both shoes and dress had to be taken off when they returned home. Annie tells of having to go in the hills and hunt for cows in her barefeet. The cows were often far away for there were no fences. She also gathered chokecherries and other wild berries for food. Great Grandfather never learned to milk, so the milking was left to Great Grand:mother and little Annie. The milk was set in pans and skimmed by hand. They had a few sheep. Great Grandmother used to shear the sheep, wash the wool, card it and spin it into yarn and weave it into cloth. Annie learned to crochet before she was eight. They had pigs to kill in the winter. The meat was always cured, never eaten fresh. They had venison, ducks and fish. A lot of the venison was cured for chipped beef. She made her own tallow candles also. • • • • - 5 - The school was a mile away and often, when the snows got too deep, they would have to close for awhile. When they would happen to speak Danish, their native tongue which they spoke mostly at home, the children would make fun of them--calling them foreigners. Annie said she got so she felt ashamed of the Danish langua ge. Later she was sorry she had let the children shame her, for she wanted to know and understand it better so she could in turn have ta ught it to her children, for she was very proud of the Danish people. Great Grandfather Madsen went back to Denmark on a mission in about 1882 . He moved to Logan, Utah, in 1884. When he returned home, he married into polygamy, a Danish lady. They moved to Logan, Utah, in 1884 to live. Great Grandmother Berta was deepl y hurt. Soren Madsen died of pneumonia on 3 N o vember 1888 and was buried in Logan, Utah. Their daughter Mary married Niels Hansen (who had the sawmill up in Dalton Creek). They went to California to l ive on a ranch. Annie married about a year after Great Grandfather Madsen moved to Logan. Eli Whittier married Annie and her husband on 4 June 188 5 in Milton. They lived in the old log house. The girl, Carlie Anderson, whom they adopted took Great Grandmother back to San Jacinto, California, when Mary ' s oldest daughter Alice was married in 18 9 1. Neils Hansen helped remodel the old home. They built onto the east end and it was no more than finished when it was destroyed by a brush fire that came over the hill in 1909. My Grandfather was Abram Mads en, the boy who was born after they c ame to Utah • Lucille Olson Williams