Mica Martine Catherine Margarethe Pedersen

Biography

MICA MARTINE CATRINE MAGRETHE PEDERSEN

MICA MARTINE CATRINE MAGRETHE PEDERSEN Life story written by her daughter Vivian Smith Barnson Mica Martine Catrine
Magrethe Pedersen was born in Horsens, Skanderborg, Denmark. April 15, 1834. She was the daughter of Jacob Christian Pedersen and Ulriche Fredericke Lam. Her father was from Germany, and had a trace of Jewish blood. She married Carl Frederick Wilhelm Christian Gipp [or Gibbs] . Soon after her marriage the Mormon Missionaries came into this vicinity preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She and her husband became interested and attended their meetings regularly. Martine was more interested than her husband. She studied their literature and prayed earnestly to the Lord to know if their teachings were true. In answer to her prayers she received a testimony that never failed her in more than fifty years of trials and hardships. They both applied to the Elders for baptism. Mormonism was new and extremely unpopular. Mobbing of the Elders was very frequent occurrence. They did not dare to perform baptisms openly in the daylight, so they went with the Elders at night to a river in the woods. It was early spring and the river was frozen. They broke the ice and were baptized and confirmed members of the Church. When it became known that they had joined the hated Mormons they were scorned by all acquaintances, disowned by relatives and deserted by friends. They were pointed out on the streets as "Mormons". Frequently they served as targets for eggs, potatoes, other missiles. During this trying time a little girl was born to them at Vejle, Vejle, Denmark. And they gave to her the name of Johanne Jorgine Gipp. [She later came to Utah with her mother, she became known as "Hannah Eugenia Gibbs] All converts were advised to leave their homes and join the main body of the Church in Salt Lake City. Martina had been preparing to immigrate and was convinced that it was the right thing to do. When their friends and family began ridiculing them for joining the Church her husband couldn't take it. Martine tried to convince him that he should immigrate with her but he refused and withdrew from the Church. So strong was her testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, so thoroughly convinced was she that she was doing the right that she separated from her husband. He told her that he would not stand in her way and that she could take the baby. To her the new religion meant everything and she prepared to sail with the next company of Saints. Her younger sister, Julia had also joined the Church, and decided to go to Utah with Martine. She took passage in the ship "Westmoreland" April 23, 1857. On April 25, the anchor was raised and the voyage commenced, with good weather and favorable wind. On the 29th the sea was rough and the household articles were tossed about. Mother could tell many stores about those who were seasick. She stood the motion of the ship fine and could see the amusing side of the experiences, such as meals that were prepared to eat being thrown from mess tables, and dishes and food being rolled from one side of the vessel to the other when the sea was rough. They sighted the American Continent May 29th. On the 31 st. they sighted the City of Philadelphia and on June 1 st. they had the privilege of walking on American soil returning to the ship that night. June 2nd. the company left Philadelphia by rail. They traveled eight days and nights. A distance of 1500 miles to Iowa City. They arrived there June 9, 1857. From there they must walk and pull their provisions in a hand cart. They had to throw away their feather beds and all extra clothing. Hand carts were built to hold the cooking utensils bed and supply of necessary provisions. While waiting for the handcart company to start, Julia met a man who persuaded her to marry him and stay there. The project ahead perhaps made courtship easier for him and caused Julia's faith to fail. Some of Julia's children are living in Milwaukee, Michigan. Mother received letters from them. Thus mother had to face the trip alone with her little daughter Hannah, then two years old Mother was given a place on a handcart with an elderly couple because she was young and strong. With a place arranged on top of the handcart for Hannah to ride they started on their thirteen hundred mile walk. The journey was commenced Friday June 12, 1857. Two miles from Iowa City they made their first camp. It was a memorable night for mother seeing the many tents stretched and people engaged in cooking and attending the camp duties. Hymns of thanksgiving rose from the tents before the occupants retired to rest. On the faith and nerve it took to accomplish such a feat. However the saints were happy and courageous. The elderly woman had to ride in the supply wagon most of the way. This left the man and Martin to pull the cart. Martine had to scout for wood and buffalo chips after a hard day of toil and also had to manage camp duties. There could be no special diet for little Hannah, who during the long days jolted along in the hot sun. There always the fear of buffalo stampedes and attacks by Indians at night. The supply wagons were always formed into a corral in which their oxen and cows could feed. Many stories mother told us of the trails and hardships of that summer. They had to wade rivers and when they came to a river too deep for the women to wade the men would have to pull the handcarts across and then transport the women and girls across on their backs. At first some of the women objected to this mode of travel and this caused some delay for those watching. One of the hardships was traveling when the water supply gave out. Often they see a mirage ahead of fresh water which of course they could not reach. When they finally reached a water supply the Captains would have to force the people away, only allowing them to moisten their mouths at first. They could lie down and drink out of a cow track of slimy water and enjoy it. Sickness made travel slow. Four wagons drawn by mules were loaded to capacity most of the time with the sick. The weather was hot and they remained in camp two to three hours in the heat of the day. July 2nd they reached Council Bluffs and July 3rd they crossed the Missouri River where they first saw the American Indian known as the "Wildman". The journey was one strenuous work, pulling the crude two wheeled cart over rolling hills of Iowa, through the sands of Nebraska, over the hills of Wyoming and through the plateaus and mountains to their goals in Salt Lake Valley. They had to leave many treasured articles along the trail to lighten loads. After many weary steps and trying experiences they arrived in Salt Lake City, September 13, 1857, at about two o'clock in the afternoon. The dates of the trip and some of the information, I gleaned from the journal of James Jensen who was in the same company as mother was. It was put into book from by Tanner. According to "Heart Throbs of the West" by Kate B. Carter. Martina's handcart company was the Christian Christiansen. The seventh Company 1857. Martine was now alone in strange new place. She was soon separated from all who spoke the Danish Language. She first went to live with a family by the name of McCallister at Grantsville. There she undertook to master the english language. Not satisfied to speak it brokenly as so many did she asked the McCallister family to correct her every time she mispronounced a word. Of course most of her words had to be corrected for a long time. During the early part of this period her only comfort was her little girl. Hannah understood her and helped her baby talk in the Danish language. This did not last long, however. She was now two and half years old and playing with other children she learned rapidly to understand them and talk to them. Soon she would stand and look at her 'mother' when her mother spoke to her, because she could not understand her. All that she had learned about her mother's tongue was forgotten. This was a heartache to Martine and she studied still harder. The same courage and faith that brought her over the rough trail caused her to conquer this. She never gave up until she could speak the English language correctly and well. Martine married Claybourne Elder in the Endowment House and was sealed to him in 1858. They were living in Salt Lake City, when word was received that Johnson's army was coming into the City to destroy the Mormons. The Saints left their homes and went south and camped around Spring Lake. Claybourne was left at Salt Lake with a few other men. Brigham Young instructed them to scatter hay and straw in the crops and set fire to everything if the army came in. This plan was not carried out because ... Johnson's Army was snowed in between Evanston and Parley's canyon and were there all winter. They moved to Grantsville, where her oldest son, Don Carlos Elder was born October 10,1860. He was later drowned in an irrigation ditch that ran in front of the house. Martine went on an errand to a neighbor's house about a mile away. The neighbor insisted that she stay for dinner. "While they were eating word came that 'Donnie' had drowned". It was hard for her to realize that curly haired darling who played "Boo" with her when she left home; would never cheer her with his sunny smile again. Four months later her second son Eli Alonzo was born August 31, 1862. While they were in Grantsville, they received a call from Brigham Young to go to Dixie. Claybourne was asked to take his sawmill and help in colonizing of Southern Utah. They first lived in North Fork and later in almost every town in Dixie including Duncan's Retreat, Rockville, Toquerville, Washington, Harrisburg and up on Kolob Mountain in Little Zion, which is now Zion National Park. They also lived in Bell View which is now known as Pintura. Five children were born to them while they lived in Dixie. Times were hard, they had to raise cotton, pick it, spin it, and weave it into cloth wherein she made clothing by hand. The only coloring they had to color the cloth with was from a weed known as 'dock root'. They built leaches where they put 'cottonwood ashes' with water and let it stand. They drew the water off and used it for 'lye'. They gathered 'saleratus for soda'. She cooked all her bread in a 'dutch oven' over coals. Sometime in 1873 Claybourne moved Martine and her family of seven children to Parowan, Iron County, Utah. He took his two other Wives into Northwestern Utah, saying that he would come back for her when he got settled. She was left in a rented house with less than a hundred pounds of flour. The children gleaned wheat in the fields of Parowan and pounded it out with clubs. In this way they obtained their flour for the winter. She lost her baby daughter, Florence May, with scarlet fever December 29, 1875. Three of this hard struggle for existence and her husband did not return or send her anything for support. She was granted a divorce, and was advised to marry again. Paul Smith a fairly well-to-do man who lived in Parowan and had one wife Jemima but no children. He + sought her hand and they were married January 25, 1877 in St. George Temple. Martine married thinking she would gain a home and support for her children. But it was hard for older men to get along with a family of growing boys. It was also hard on the boys to be told what to do by someone who was almost a stranger to them. It was also hard for Jemina, who had never been used to having to share with a large family. In a few months Paul advised Martine that he would support her but could do nothing more for her children. She left him again to work and provide for her children, knowing that one more child was going to be added. On November 2, 1877 a little girl was born, and Martine, named her Vivian. After her baby's birth, she got a divorce from Paul. She was allowed the home she was living in and the lot the house was on. In 1879 she sold the house and lot for cattle, and moved her family east onto the East Fork of the Sevier River, where she took up a 'homestead' of 160 acres and bought a 'squatters right' to another 40 acres. Here she went through hardships in an unsettled country. The land was covered with tall sage and rabbit brush, which the boys had to clear off. Their teams were a young yoke of oxen which they had to break to work along with a old team of horses. One horse was twenty-five years old and the other was crippled. However, Martine and the boys made good. The second season they raised 1300 bushels of grain. They cut it all with a cradle, raked it into piles with some homemade rakes, 'the teeth as well as the handle being of wood', and they bound the grain into bundles with bands of grain. She spent the balance of her life in the Valley. The town of Kingston is located on her homestead. She got her first cook stove in my time. I can remember her cooking bread in a 'Dutch oven' over coals in the fireplace. She lived in Kingston for twenty-six years, the latter part of this time serving as 'Postmistress', and running a grocery store. She was secretary of the first Relief Society organized, August 7, 1884. About 1906 she bought a lot in the southwest part of Junction, Utah and had her a nice home built on it. Here she spent the last few years of her checkered life, passing away February 8, 1911. She is buried in the Junction Cemetery. A nice stone marker stands at her grave and an iron fence encloses the lot. Her daughter Hannah E. Sudweeks is also buried there.