Niels J Larsen by Delores Larsen Allen

Niels J. Larsen

Excerpts from the Personal History of Delores Larsen Allen

(This was all hand written by Delores L. Allen in a red notebook in the late 1970's or 1980)

 

I, Delores Larsen Allen, like Nephi of old, was born of goodly parents Oct. 13, 1903 in Hyrum, Utah, the sixth child in a family of nine children.

My father Niels J. Larsen was born May 6, 1868 in Skuerup Holbark, Denmark, son of Hans Larsen and Maren Johansen. He came to America when eight years old, with his widowed mother and six brothers and sisters.

 

Father was a tall thin man with the bluest, sparkling, bright eyes I ever saw. He was a hard working man. On an eighty acre dry farm he walked behind a plow in the spring and a harrow in the fall, which amounted to several miles a day, with sore feet and corns on his toes.

He lived by the Golden Rule and Ten Commandments. He believed in giving an honest day's work for an honest day's pay, and that our word should be as good as our bond. I never knew him to be unkind or do an unjust act.

He was kind to his animals. Always before retiring he visited the barn and threw down a few forks full of hay to the horses and cows and made sure they were alright for the night.

He taught us the value of work, said it was better to wear out than rust out.

He said we should always be yourself and never try to be someone else.

He had a dry sense of wit and liked to tease grandma (his wife).

Sometimes he would call, "Ma,ma," so excited like something really important had happened. When mother came running to see what was wrong he'd grin and slowly and quietly say, "I love you." She would shake her head and say, "You old fool" Then he'd laugh and get a big kick out of it.

We didn't have much of this world's goods, but we had a roof over our head, never went hungry and had enough clothes to keep us warm in the winter. Best of all we had parents who cared and gave us the help and security we needed. They were truly an anchor in our home.

Matilda "Tilde" Larsen by Delores Larsen Allen

 

 

Matilda Frederiksen Larsen

Excerpts from the Personal History of Delores Larsen Allen (her Daughter)

(This was all hand written by Delores L. Allen in a red notebook in the late 1970's or 1980)

My mother Pauline Emilia Matilda Fredericksen was born April 23, 1872, Sindal Denmark, daughter of Christain Fredricksen and Flora Spaanheden. Mother at the age of thirteen, and her sister May, age eleven, left their mother and home in Denmark June 13, 1885 and came to America with the Mormon missionaries after being baptized May 18, 1885. They arrived in Ogden, Utah July 8, 1885. She and my father Niels were married in the Logan temple, Oct. 1, 1890.

I shall write briefly of my parents -- grandma and grandpa Larsen as they were called, or Tildie and Nelse to the neighbors. 

Mother was a shy little lady, short and stocky in build. She didn't have much to say while in church but if you we talking to her alone she could really preach you a sermon. And she had many favorite scriptures/sayings she liked to quote -- such as:

"Stay close to the Lord so he will be there when you need Him."

"Never let your right hand know what your left hand is doing."

"The Lord loves a cheerful giver."

"I the Lord am bound when you do what I say, but when you do not what I say you have no promise."

"Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven."

"Endure to the end."

"A chapter of scriptures a day keeps Satan away."

After father died and she was alone she made her home here with us for seven years when she quietly passed away after being ill for only two days. She left me the most prized possession, her testimony of the gospel.  She said she knew the gospel was true the first time she heard the missionaries preach in the building near their home in Denmark. And that our Heavenly Father was her dearest friend, especially when she and he younger sister came to this country at the age of eleven and thirteen. They couldn't speak English, had no friends nor relatives and were strangers to everyone.

That was why she was kind and friendly, all the rest of her life, to new people when they moved to our neighborhood. She took food, quilts and clothing to the needy and never let anyone know about it. She was indeed an angel of mercy, always helping someone when they needed help most.

We didn't have much of this world's goods, but we had a roof over our head, never went hungry and had enough clothes to keep us warm in the winter. Best of all we had parents who cared and gave us the help and security we needed. They were truly an anchor in our home.

Sticking Plaster Plastic Surgery-By Dallas Max Schneider

Sticking Plaster Plastic Surgery

Excerpt from Remembrances of Rosabelle Larsen Schneider, My Mother

By Her Son Dallas Max Schneider 

All of the Larsen family helped milk the cows. Rose and her sisters washed the milk buckets and cans clean every day. One day she slipped and fell on the protruding socket that held the pails handle. It cut like a knife through her lower lip and slashed it open from the upper lip to the chin. It hung in two separate pieces, bleeding profusely.

Grandfather hurriedly hitched up his horses and drove as fast as he could to Logan, the only place there was a doctor. Grandmother held Rose in her arms with a towel place on her torn lip. The doctor was not in his office and unavailable, so they went to Grandfather's sister's home, known to us as, "Aunt Steeny." Aunt Steeny, (her real name was Hansine Larsen Anderson) was skilled in many medical things and when she had stopped the bleeding of Rosabelle's terrible wound she had Grandfather go to the store and buy some sticking plaster.

She mixed the plaster together to the thickness she desired and then carefully pulled the severed lip together and placed the sticking plaster over the wound and held it there until it became solid and unyielding. They left this mold on Rose's lip for some time and when it was removed it had healed beautifully, leaving only a thin red line that eventually went away leaving no scar. Had the doctor been available and had attended Rose, he would have put several stitches in her lip and the disfigurement of this beautiful child would have been everlasting ugliness.

When she would tell us about her cut lip, she would have to show us children the almost invisible white line that was hard to see. It went from the top of her lip to her chin. It was a vicious severing. I have no idea what sticking plaster was but it was Aunt Steeny's primitive form of plastic surgery and it worked a miracle upon our Mother.

The Grandest Grandparents-By Dallas Max Schneider

 

 

The Grandest Granparents

Excerpt from Remembrances of Rosabelle Larsen Schneider, My Mother

By Her Son Dallas Max Schneider

Grandpa and Grandma Larsen's (Niels and Matilda Larsen) home was a cozy place surrounded with happiness and plenty of the necessities of life. No money, mind you, just the things that were necessary. Never a want for food. Grandfather Larsen's mother lived in Logan. Her first husband had died and she had remarried and went by the name of Maren Jensen.

Sometimes on a summery Saturday afternoon Grandpa Larsen would hitch up his horses to the buggy and load his family into that wonderful conveyance and drive to see his mother. It took about 90 minutes to make that trip one way. The children thought it was just about the greatest adventure of their lives to make this trip and Grandpa saw to it that there was excitement. Whenever he came to a stream or river he never used the bridge but would fearlessly plunge the horses, buggy and all into the swirling flood to the delightful screams of joy of the children and emerge to the opposite bank, dripping wet. They were dry but the buggy drenched.

Grandma Larsen was a frightened fearful little person and it would always terrify her when Grandpa would say, "It's time to dust the buggy off and cool the horses down."  One time she could not stand the strain he was inflicting upon her and with a baby under each arm she jumped out of the buggy at the rivers edge. Grandfather's fun came to an end after that display of fear and to the disappointment of the children he used the bridges from that moment on. 

My Mother remembers the very last time they went to see their grandmother. They had been there for the afternoon and the day was growing short. All were seated in the buggy and about to depart for home. Grandmother Jensen followed them out to the buggy and said to her son Niels, "Come again soon but don't bring the children."  My grand parents were wounded by that rather callused, insensitive remark and never went again to visit his mother.

Grandparents in that day had a different feeling for their grand children than now. We were blessed to have had loving grandparents who were unlike the normal ones that would ignore their grandchildren. Every birthday I received a book and a silver dollar and I never appreciated it until the book and the silver dollar stopped coming when I was 18. Then I began to treasure the sacrifice they had made to show their love for me. They emerged in my child like mind as great heroes and heroines that were truly worthy of our respect and awe. In my mind there were no one like my grandparents in every virtue of human kind.

Life Sketch of Matilda F. Larsen by Marilyn Schneider

Life Sketch of Matilda F. Larsen

originally hand written by Marilyn Schneider (granddaughter in law)

Pauline Emile Matilda Frederiksen was born April 23, 1872 in Sindal, Denmark, a daughter of Christian Frederiksen and Flora Spaanheden.  Her father served in the Danish Army and passed away while she was a baby.  Her mother married again and to this union was born a sister May (a half sister.  Their mother  was left a widow again and had to work hard to support her two little girls and had to hire someone to take care of them.   Matilda stayed with her grandmother until she was eight years old and her grandmother died.  She was then sent to live with the Peter Eriksen family where her sister May had been living since she was 6 months old. 

Matilda worked hard as a young girl, often walking 10 miles to hoe weeds and pick berries.  She attended school in Bagterp and Hjorring and was warned often by the people she was living with to avoid "those awful Mormons" and "never to go to Utah".  Nevertheless, she was very much impressed with the singing of the Mormon missionaries who were holding meetings near their home.  She wondered how such beautiful hymns and singing  could come from bad people. 

She asked her mother's permission to be baptized and to go to Utah with the missionaries.  Her mother wanted her to have a good place to live, and to be brought up in a Christian home, so she consented.  A baptismal service was held at night, so that no one would see it--to avoid persecution--in the Park which had a beautiful lake with swans swimming in it.  This was May 18, 1885 at Hjorring, Denmark.  She was baptized by MM Jenson and confirmed by C. Knudsen.

One morning shortly after her baptism as she was walking along a lonely country road, she found a $20 gold coin.  There was no purse or any way to identify the owner and no one claimed it.  This made a very deep impression on her, because it looked as though the money was put there to help her prepare to immigrate to Utah.

On June 13, 1885 Matilda, age 13 and her sister May age 11,left their mother, relatives and friends, and their native Denmark, and along with some missionaries who had been released to go home and some other converts, sailed from Hjorring, Denmark for the United States.  May arrived at Ogden Utah on July 8, 1885 and went directly to Bishop Jensen's home in Mantua, Utah.

Matilda lived with the Jensen family where she worked hard to pay for her immigration to Utah for 5 years.  She was under very strict supervision in this home, where she milked cows, fed the pigs and calves, chopped wood, carried water from the spring to the house, cooked the meals, washed the dishes and helped make clothing from wool.

She attended school in Denmark for 5 years and now went through the grades in Mantua as far as it was possible to go

For recreation she was allowed to attend a dance and to go sleigh-riding occasionally and always enjoy the 4th of July and 24th of July celebrations.  But the most enjoyment came from attending and taking part in Sunday School, Primary, Mutual, Sacrament Meeting and other church functions.

In her own words "it wasn't easy for two little girls to come to a strange country, learn a new language, learn a lot of new things we weren't used to doing, and not a relative in this country, but we were blessed, and our Heavenly Father has been our best friend."

She first saw Neils J. Larsen, who also came from Denmark, on July 18, 1886 at Christina (Aunt Steenie) Larsen's home in Mantua.  She wondered who the tall handsome man was.  He owned the best horse and cart in town.  Later she enjoyed many pleasant rides in this horse-drawn cart and also a fine buggy.  On one trip down Brigham Canyon this high-spirited horse went so fast that all the tugs came unhooked, nearly causing a bad accident.

Her courtship with Neils lasted for a year and a half.  They were married Oct. 1, 1890 in the Logan LDS Temple.  They lived in Mantua for one year, then moved to Hyrum, Utah in 1891 where they established their home, reared their family, worked hard and were successful at farming and in the coal business.  Nine children were born and eight of them lived to have families of their own.  They were Leonard, Flossie (died at age 6), Lytel, Lola, Rosabelle, Delores, June, Lamont and Lorin.

Through all the hardships and trials of rearing a large family and making a living, she never lost sight of the values of honesty, thrift, hard work and above all the testimony of the Gospel that came to her as a child.  She believed in doing good unto others as she would like to have them do unto her, and of "loving her neighbors as herself".  No one was ever turned away from her door.  The wants and needs of her neighbors were sometimes considered at the sacrifice of her own family. 

Her service and assistance to the Relief Society in Hyrum 3 Ward extended over a period of 39 years, 7 of which she served in the Presidency.  In this capacity she had a determination to do her duty and to serve to the best of her ability and the Lord blessed her with much success and happiness.  She was always ready to help in sickness and death, some nights sitting up sewing clothing for the dead until early morning.  She would visit the sick and older people of the Ward, caring for their needs, cheering them up and bringing happiness to their homes with the belief that "we should never let our left hand know what our right hand is doing" and that the Lord loved a cheerful giver.  She always remembered the words of our Savior "in as much as ye have done it unto the least to these, ye have done it unto me".

She was a generous contributor to the various church organizations and to many projects undertaken by the church.  Her faith and testimony of the Gospel increased each day she lived, and it can truly be said of her that she was one of God's chosen people.

Death came quietly at age 81, May 16 1953.