• • • MATILDA NEILSON PETERSON I was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, October 25, 1855 the daughter of Andrew and Dorothea Poulson Neilson. When I was five years old I used to ''trot" over the old bridge to meet Father when he worked at the old flour mill. Then father and mother joined the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly called the Mormons. In 1861 they started for Utah. It was a hard trip. I was sick all the way both across the sea and the plains. Many times when they looked in the wagon they thought I was dead, but Fathers said, ''No, she will get well, because they promised me I should take my whole family to Zion." May 16, we sailed on the "Monarch of the Sea" from Liverpool. The old ship was loaded and we had to throw a lot of our clothing and bedding over board. We arrived in New York, June 19th. We went in cattle cars to Council Bluffs. Their father bought an old wagon, three cows and a yoke of oxen. We were now ready to start the long trip across the desert. The hardships of this journey are impossible to describe. Mother was sick but she walked all the way. The company arrived in Salt Lake City September 22, 1861. We stayed there a few days, then moved to a little valley call Morgan County. We lived in a covered wagon most of the first winter, while father was getting our log cabin built. On the 10th of December a baby boy was born in the wagon. Kind friends carried mother to their cabin and cared for her and her baby. I remember a terrible rain storm came and they had to place pans around mother on the bed to catch the water that leaked through the dirt roof Our cabin had a dirt roof and dirt floor, but oh how happy we were to move into it. Our first cabin had a wooden latch and the hinges were made ofleather. A gunny sack covered the opening made for the window. When we got up in the morning the first thing we would look out to see where there was smoke coming. Then we would take our fire shovel and go over to get coals to start our fire to save matches. Our first winter here we lost one cow and one oxen for the want of food for them. Father cut what little hay he could in the hills, but did not have enough to last. In the spring both father and mother sheared sheep and took a share of the wool for their pay. Mother carded and spun the wool to make clothing for the family. They raised flax and hemp and mother spun it, and when I was eleven years old I wove it into sacks and wagon covers. Mother went into the fields every day with father and I took care of the children. Father would cut the hay with a scythe and mother would rake it with a hand rake. He cradled the wheat and she would bind it. The years were hard. I have a vivid picture in my mind of my mother' s face and tears running down her cheeks when her little children would ask her for bread and she had none to give them • • • Our lot was fenced with poles. They were crocked and wiggly but us children could run on the top pole around the lot, but remember we were barefooted. I remember a deep pit they had a fire in to warm the flax so they could work it up. We would run and jump across this pit. One day a girl caught my dress and I fell in the bottom of this pit. There was a little excitement until mother got me out, because I was knocked cold. We had a heavy wooden box we brought food in across the Plains. Father made two wooden stools oflogs to set this box on, we used this for a table. We also had the same kind of stools to sit on. The beds were made by driving posts in the ground and placing other poles across these, then straw on top. The children's beds were made the same way only not stationery, and it was lower so it could be put under the larger bed in the day time. Our fireplaces were made of rock and sandstone with an iron bar across the hooks hanging down from this to hang our kettles on. For baking we had a heavy iron bake kettle. We would rake the hot coals out and put the bake ovens in the fire, and then the hot coals on top of the lid. Our only light was the light from the fireplace. Mother would spin yarn by this light. Later on when we had a little grease we would put a little in a plate and put a rag in it and light the rag. Still later on when we had more grease or beef tallow we made candles. I don't know whether I can make you understand how mother made the candles. Before they got the molds they took a sort of cord string enough for about twelve candles . Then they melted grease, and to save on that they poured it on top of a pan of water. Then they dipped the strings in the grease and hung them up until the grease was set. Of course the first time they would be real small, but as they hardened they would dip them again and again and each time the candle would grow a little. They could not afford enough grease to make them very large. But Mother would always make a special one for Christmas so it had three lights. Later they used the candle molds. They raised flax, and mother spun the thread for the candles from this. For soap they made a sort of grate and put straw in it and then filled it with ashes and poured water over the ashes. When the water drained through it was strong lye water. By boiling this it made a soft jelly substance or soft soap. It seems as though we didn't have any food. We boiled wheat mostly. Some ofit we ground with an old coffee mill. After they started to raise vegetables it helped so much. We gathered wild fruit and dried for winter. We also dried wild rose leaves and steeped them for tea. The schools in those days were being held about three months of the year. The teacher would board around with different families, spending two weeks in each home. Church and parties were held in the same old building. I fancy I can see that old school house now with a bunch of willows in one comer, and a young boy standing in one comer with a girl's bonnet on, another with both arms in the air, his hands loaded down with • • • book; and still another bent over standing on one leg with his finger on a crack in the floor. I sounds funny, but it wasn't funny then. One of our teachers was an old lady named Mrs. Parkinson. She was a sweet old lady and a good singer. She owned the only hymn book in our town and she used to teach us to sing from it. Sometimes when we would ask mother for bread she would feel so down hearted and she would ask us to sing some of the songs that the old lady had taught us. Then the sun would shine a little brighter again. There is another thing I can never forget, how kind the people were to help in sickness or trouble and would never think of Asking for pay. Father used to tell about things that happened in the old country. Then we young people would make a play out of his story. Zet Thurston and I were the only girls that would take part. We sure had a good time and there were never any charges. The people used to enjoy it and we had fun. When I was eleven I wove cloth to make myself a dress. Mother was so happy to know I could do so many things, but she was not here long to enjoy it. When I was twelve years old my mother died, leaving a baby sixteen days old. Father had another wife and she took the baby and nursed him as her own son, but he died when two years old. After Mother's death we children all had to get out and rustle for ourselves. I worked for sixty cents a week and had ten cows to milk night and morning. I had to go bare footed and when a cow stepped on your bare foot it sure did hurt . We had shoes for winter. Father made something to wear on our feet. He often made wooden soles and put a strip of leather on the top, but we felt ashamed to wear them. More than once I left them under the bench and sat in my stocking feet. Eli Whittier organized the first choir in Milton. One night when we were all ready to go to singing practice, the crowd had all gathered at our place, and we were going to see how tall we were. I reached across with a ruler in my hand where my brother was chopping wood. The hatchet went into my arm. I fainted dead away. I got all right but I will always have the scar. When I was fifteen years old I went to Farmington to work. I worked six months and got ten dollars, some good pay. The next year I worked in Huntsville. All winter I had plenty of work and little pay. Then I had a chance to go to Ogden to work but it took a long time before father would let me go. I worked at one place five years and received three dollars a week That was wonderful in those days. The people's name I worked for were Mr. And Mrs. John Stinger. They were sure fine people. They were as good to me as ifl belonged to them. We had twenty boarders all the time. We also served ice-cream and oysters in between. We served meals at all hours. Then these people moved to Montana. I got another job and worked there three years. I had a wonderful time in Ogden. I was engaged to me married at one time but something went wrong and it was all off, and I decided never to marry. My brother came down and brought me home. While I • • • was home I met Nels Peterson, a violin player. Then I went to Evanston to work, but I wrote to this friend all the time. I worked there six months and then came back home. The next winter on the third of December 1878 Nels and I were married. We lived in Richville that winter. I spun yam, wove cloth, and made my husband the first overcoat he ever had. The next year we moved to Preston, Idaho and took up land. There we were pioneers of Preston. I used to be at home alone the whole week, never seeing a soul. The men were in the hills working on a canal. The fist winter my husband played and called for dances for seventy-five cents a night. My husband came to Richville for ten weeks that summer and I stayed there all alone (in Preston) with my little baby Lee. I used to go three miles to hunt cows, and when I came home I would spread my skirt out and lay my baby on it while I milked. Three years later I had another baby, May. I still was hunting cows. We lived there six years and proved up our land. We sold our place, and that helped to buy a place in Richville. I don't know how we would have lived ifit hadn' t been for the violin sometimes. For sometimes my husband would play every night of the week all over the county. We now had three children old enough to go to school. We traded our place in Richville for one in Milton. We had twin girls a year old when we moved here. We lived near both school and church house so all of us could take part in everything that was going on. We lived very happy for six years, then my husband passed away and I was left alone. My youngest son and his wife came to live with me. I have found life is made up oflittle things. Of sorrow and joy, trials, pain, and pleasure. I have tried to treat others as I would like to be treated, and to give service whenever it has been needed. It has not been a hardship but a pleasure. Today I feel that I haven't an enemy in the world, if I have I don't know it. "It is my joy in life to find At every turning of the road The strong arms of a comrade, kind To help me onward with my load. And since I have no gold to give, And Love alone must make amends, My only prayer is; "While I live, God make me worthy of my friends." I have always been very industrious, weaving carpets, making all kinds of fancy quilts, silk and patch, which I have sold to help out. I am now 84 years old and enjoying good health. By Mrs. Matilda Neilson Peterson Foot note by Bessie P. Brough Morgan County DUP Historian Mrs. Matilda Peterson is still living. She was 97 years old on the 23rd of October 1952. She is the only remaining original Pioneer of Morgan County. She has a wonderful memory, is clear in mind and very interesting to talk with. She still sits by the window and reads and crochets, with the aid of her store glasses, and tells wonderful stories of days gone by .