 |
| Johanna Härling Christenson |
A personal history of Johanna written by her daughter, Hannah Christenson Lundberg:
Johanna Härling Christenson was born 30th of July
[1840] in Herrljunga, Älvsborg, Sweden.
Her father was Johannes Anderson Härling, her
mother, Anna Bengtsson. She had five brothers: Anders, Johannes, Anders Peter,
Anders, and Carl John, and two sisters, Inga Lena, and Christina - and her
adopted sister Majahstina,
When Johanna was about 6 years of age, her mother
died and her father married a widow by the name of Britta Andersdottor, Britta had a little girl by the name of Majah
Stina. Johanna loved this little girl
very dearly.
Johanna's outstanding features were courage and
perseverance. She was of a deeply
religious nature. In those days there
was much superstition in their religion. Johanna's father was an officer in the
Army and when Johanna was six, it was necessary for him to have his dress
uniform for a special occasion. There
was no one to take it but Johanna. The
place her father was stationed was one and a quarter Swedish miles from
Herrljunga (which is eight American miles).
She took her sister Majah with her, she would not own to being
afraid—but on the way was a haunted house.
A man had been killed there and he came back every night and sported
around with his companions. She could
see this house - a little old house set way back under some big trees, and it
looked terribly lonely and sinister.
Nothing around but what looked like a big old dog. It was daylight when they passed to go to her
father's place, but hurry as they would, it was dark when they came back. As they approached the place she could hear a
multitude of people talking and Oh such loud dirty language! And worst of all, right in the middle of the
road where she had to pass was a tall "pole thing" that she knew was
not there when she passed that way before.
But she would not run because "the thing" would be sure to
grab her. She clasped her sister's hand
tighter and walked past, but when she got a few steps away, "the
thing" came back of her in leaps and bounds, with a sound like a cat
spitting, only much louder, but she kept walking and soon left all sound
behind. She was happy at passing this
peril and sang the rest of the way home.
When Johanna was fourteen years of age she went to
live with her sister Christina who was married and moved away. Her sister kept
a small store and among other things, [Johanna] had to row in a row boat across
the lake, which was two miles across, to get supplies for the store. She was always a lover of beauty and so she
loved this part of her work very much because the lake was so beautiful. Flowers and shrubs all around it and on the
other side was a forest with beautiful trees, flowers, grass and all kinds of
fruit and berries she could pick. One
day she became acquainted with a lady who came to the same store for her
supplies. This lady kept a cafe at a
railroad junction and she begged Johanna to come and work there, and after a
while when she felt she could leave her sister, she did go. And now came the happiest time in her
life. She was carefree, full of life,
and best of all she fell in love. A very
handsome young man who was a conductor on one of the trains fell in love with
her also, and soon they were engaged to be married. But one day a telegram came telling Johanna
to come home to her sister Christina at once.
Not knowing just what was wrong, she hurried away and thinking she would
be back soon, she left no word for her sweetheart.
On reaching home she was told Christina and her
husband had joined the Mormon Church and were leaving for America at once. They wanted her to go with them to help with
the children. But in order to do so she
would have to be baptized into the Mormon Church or she would not be permitted
to go.
Johanna was broken hearted at leaving her
sweetheart, and there was no way to send him word, She felt it was her duty to go and help her
sister. She was baptized, not knowing anything
about Mormonism, and they sailed on the B. S. Kimball from Liverpool on May
8th. M. P. Lund was leader of the
company and there were 654 L.D.S. on board.
They arrived in New York 15th of June, 1863. There were no passenger trains available so
the company was placed on cattle trains leaving for Florence, Nebraska. Two of the children, a little boy and a girl
of her sister Christina's became very ill on board ship, since water and food
being very poor, and on the train, conditions were worse. They were not able to get even a drink of water. So the little boy died on the way to
Nebraska. The captain could not hold the
train long enough for burial of the
child so he was just wraped in a sheet and handed out to a by stander at one of
the stations where the train stopped, with a prayer that he would be buried
some place. The little girl died on the
plains and was also wrapped up in a sheet and buried on the way.
They were kept about two months in Florence
getting ready to cross the plains.
Johanna walked all the way across the plains, and sometimes she would
take the little girl and carry her to ease her from the jolting of the
wagon. In this same company was a young
lady who had to walk also. This young
lady was very tall, for which they both were to be very thankful later.
Johanna and her friend used to wander back of the
wagon train and where they could find them, pick bull berries, which they put
in bottles to make juice, which they would give to the sick because so often
they could not get water. One day they stopped to pick berries and gather
sticks and buffalo chips to make fires with, expecting the wagons to wait over
until the next morning. When the girls
reached camp, they found the wagons gone, and there was the big Green River for
them to wade across. They followed where
the wagons had gone, but the water was so deep it was over Johanna's head and
had it not been far her friend being so tall, she was able to hold herself and
Johanna up until they reached shallow water and they were then able to wade to
the other side in safety.
The company arrived in Salt Lake City sometime in
October. Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete County
being the destination of Johanna's sister,, they went on and stopped at
American Fork over night in the yard of a man by the name of Dan (?)
Harrington. The next morning a man by
the name of John Christenson and his wife called there, he being employed as
interpreter for the Emmigrants. Through
him Johanna was invited to remain and work in the Harrington family, which she
did. She liked this young man very much. He explained the gospel to her and converted
her not only to the truth of the gospel but to plural marriage. In March 12th, 1864 she was married in the
Endowment House in Salt Lake City. They
lived in American Fork until 1866 and during that time a beautiful boy was born
to Johanna. When her boy was a few
months old they were advised by Brigham Young to move out and colonize other
settlements. So her husband sold his farm
for a wagon and a yolk of oxen and they moved to Gunnison, Utah. At this time
the Indians were on the war path, so they had to travel in groups, the women
and children rode in the wagons, the men walking, carrying their guns. Their first home was built in the Fort, and
one wall was a wall of the Fort. They
lived here until the Indian war was over (about six years) then her husband
built a home on the Main Street of the town. This was a double house, which
would be called a duplex now and both families lived there. During the time they were living in the Fort
they suffered many hardships owing to the grasshopper plague. All of their grain had been destroyed but 5
acres of wheat which Johanna's husband had plowed a trench around and filled
with water, thinking it would head off the grasshoppers, but it did not. One morning Johanna, her husband and the
first wife, were standing out in the yard talking, when the sun was obscured by
what appeared to be a big black cloud, but unfortunately it was not a cloud, it
was grasshoppers and they settled on that wheat, and by night there was not a
spear of anything left. This left them
almost destitute. A very small amount of
flour and a few onions was all Johanna had.
Her husband loaded his wagon with some whetstones he had made, and
quarried some rock salt from hills close by and went to Pioche, Nevada to trade
for something to eat. While he was away,
the flour gave out, and came a Saturday night when there was just two small
pieces of bread which she gave her two children. She had nothing, (She had three children by
this time, her boy 4 years old, a girl 2, and a nursing baby girl.) The next morning there was three onions le-ft
which she roasted in the open fire place.
This did not appease hunger very long, and soon the children were crying
because they were so hungry. Johanna
wept bitterly and told the children to kneel with her and they would pray to
the Lord for bread. Very soon after the
prayer, a knock came to the door and an old lady, by the name of Elise Hanson
came in. She had three biscuits in her
hand and she said, "I feel there is want here." She gave them each a biscuit (nothing at any
time in her life tasted quite so good as that biscuit) and when the old lady
understood how conditions were, she took Johanna and the children home with
her, kept them all day, gave them dinner which consisted of soup, and when they
left to go home, she divided her meager store of flour with them. Johanna made a gruel of flour and water for
.them. This was all they had but it
lasted until her husband came home.
And now came a period of happiness mixed with hard
work. She loved her home and was able to satisfy her soul with flowers and
trees all around. Her windows were
always full of beautiful flowers in bloom.
She was a natural nurse and was sent for from both near and far to nurse
the sick. By this time she had six
children. Then in 1887 came the
"crusade" against plural marriage and Johanna was obliged to leave
the home she loved so much. It was
winter and bitter cold, but out she must go, and the only available house was a
little log cabin of one room. There was
no time to repair the house before she had to move, because of the fear that
her husband would be arrested for polygamy.
And so the snow drifted in from cracks in the logs, but eventually this
was repaired. Johanna with three of her
children lived here until the next Spring.
Her oldest son, Joseph, was on a Mission and the other two were working
in Salt Lake City. The next Spring her husband obtained a warm house close to
the home he was building for her, to which she was moved.
There was not much rest or happiness here because
the place was infested with snakes. The
lady who owned the place would not allow anyone to kill the snakes so they
multiplied alarmingly. The owners of
this home were living elsewhere for the summer, and in the Fall, brought wheat
and had to store some of it in one of the rooms, so Johanna had to crowd her
things in one room. This house had very
large windows and while she could put some short curtains on the windows, she
had no blinds that would fit them. There
were no locks on the doors either. One
dark night as they were preparing for bed, the dog began to bark furiously and
they heard foot steps around the house and of course, thought thieves were
after the wheat. The children were
terrified, there was no place to hide from those awful windows. They felt eyes looking at them from every
direction. Johanna, with the courage she
always displayed, took a lighted lamp and with the children trailing behind
her, went all around the house and searched everywhere but could find no
one. The next morning some of the wheat
was gone. The thieves simply opened the
windows and helped themselves.
In the late Fall, Johanna moved into her new home,
and OH! how happy she was, she thought, now I can work again and have
everything as I want it, and it is all mine. Soon she had flowers all around
and everything prospered. But now a new
sorrow came to her. Her youngest child,
a boy began to pine away. The log cabin
where they were compelled to move, had been infected with T.B. A man having died there with the disease, and
her boy not being very strong, had contracted it. In spite of all that could be done for him,
he died when he was 12 years old. Now
Johanna was indeed lonely, her children were all in Salt Lake City. After talking it over with her husband, it
was decided for her to go to Salt Lake City and be with her children for a
while. This was one of the happiest
periods of her life. She could be with
her children whom she loved so much and she could attend the Tabernacle and
listen to Councils of the Prophet of God which she deemed a great
privilege. She loved the drama, and she
attended the best plays, went to concerts in the Tabernacle and heard some of the
great singers of the world. She lived
here in contentment for many years.
Finally, her husband sent for her.
He wanted to divide the property and it was necessary for her to be
there to claim her share. She went back
to Gunnison, out on the farm, where she lived some very lonely years again. Then on June 3rd, 1904, her husband died
after a brief illness of pneumonia. She
kept herself active in Relief Society work and in work among the sick.
As soon as the estate was settled up, and Johanna
could dispose of her belongings and make arrangements for a permanent stay, she
left for Salt Lake City. She lived here
contented for some years. Then her
eldest daughter, Anna, got married to a man whose home was in Gunnison and as
her daughter wanted her to go to Gunnison with her, Johanna went back and
passed the remainder of her years in quiet contentment and peace surrounded by
her beautiful flowers. She made frequent trips to Salt Lake City for
Conferences and to visit with her other children.
Johanna died on the 8th of October, 1925 at the
age of 85. Johanna attended the dead of
the Salt Lake Temple.
Comments
Post a Comment