Johanna Christina Pålsdotter

Biography

Johanna Christine Pålsdotter was born on August 8, 1845 in Malmö, Sweden. She was the first daughter of Påhl Jönsson and Johanna Ulrika Lundgren. Johanna fell in love and became engaged to a young man named Carl. Unfortunately, Carl died in a railroad accident before they could be married. Before Carl’s death, he asked his cousin Jim Jensen to take care of Johanna. Johanna and Jim eventually had three daughters together. In 1871, Johanna and Jim were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After their baptism, Jim determined that he wanted to move to Utah, where he could work and save money to send for Johanna and his family later. Unfortunately, she never heard from Jim again.

Johanna began to work at the mission home to support her family and save money to move to Utah. Through a miracle, Johanna received money to pay for her immigration to Utah from rancher Phineas W. Cook, with the expectation that she would pay him back when she could. She immigrated to Utah with her two young daughters in June 1878. Upon arrival in Utah, Johanna went straight to Bear Lake, Idaho to meet the man who had paid for her immigration. She married him as his fourth plural wife on September 13, 1878. They had seven children together. They also raised Johanna’s grandson, Delbert, after the death of her daughter Hilma.

Shortly after their marriage, Johanna and Phineas moved to Logan, Utah where Phineas helped build the Logan temple. By 1890, the Cooks had moved to Star Valley, Wyoming where they set up a farm and mill. Johanna’s husband, Phineas, died on July 24, 1900 in Afton, Wyoming. With her husband’s death, it was up to Johanna to care for the family, a difficult task for a woman in those days. Though they were very poor, Johanna was always positive. In her old age, Johanna moved to Salt Lake City to live with her son and his family. It was here that she died on February 13, 1929. She was buried with her husband in the Afton Cemetery in Afton, Wyoming.