 |
| Skibsby Denmark |
Lars Peter Fjeldsted:
Born 7-6-1822 in Fjeldsted, Sindal Parish, Hjorring, Denmark
Died 11-16-1895 in Gunnison, Sanpete county, Utah
Parents: Peter Hansen (1796) & Ane Katrine Pedersen (1793-1861)
Not married
Spouse: Mariane Pedersen
Born: 3-3-1826 in Tornby, Hjorring, Denmark
Died: 9-11-1859 in Mosiberg, Hjorring, Denmark
Parents: Peder Anderse and Marie Jorgensen of Tornby Denmark
Children of Lars and Mariane: James Peter (1850-1925), Anna Petrine (1853-1911), Andrew Christian (1855-1925), Peter Jul (1857-1929), Karen Marie (1859-1859).
Mariane died shortly after her last child was born. Her child died soon after that. Lar's married Lina Marie.
January of 1860. Lina Marie was born 7-21-1822 and had two sons by Lars. Both sons died very young.
Niels Peter Marius born 4-26-1861 and died 6-1-1862
Niels Peter Marius Jensen Fjeldsted blessed on 8-21-1864 and died the same day
(Excerpts taken from A TAPESTRY OF DREAMS The History of LARS PETER FJELDSTED and his family. Compiled by a great-granddaughter Jenny Lind M. Brown)
In the spring of 1862, Lars Peter was prepared to move his new wife, their baby son, and the four older children to America on a ship called the "Franklin". With Captain Robert Murray at the helm it sailed from Hamberg, German on Tuesday, April 8th and carried 413 emigrants, nearly all from the cities of Aalborg and Vendsyssel Conferences.
By May 29th the long voyage was over. They then boarded a transport for a short ride to Castle Gardens which was used as a temporary refuge for newly arrived emigrants. However, because of of the measles, they were not allowed to land. Eighteen were hospitalized and the rest returned to the ship. It was another 48 hours before they could be welcomed by church officials who were waiting for their arrival. It is believed that this is where their young son Niels Peter Marius died at.
On the evening of May 31st all requirements were met and the saints were allowed to board a train bound for Albany, New York, the terminal where the over-land journey would begin.
The trains carrying emigrants and other travelers, across America here scheduled to run through Syracuse, Rochester, Niagra, Detroit, Chicago and on to Quincy, Illinois, where passenger were transferred for a steam-boat ride across the Mississippi River. After embarking on the western bank they journeyed again by train to St. Joseph, Missouri.
One more boat ride waited them at St. Joseph. A small vessel called the "West Wind" where they spent two unpleasant days moving slowly up the Missouri River. Finally Florence (Winter Quarters), Nebraska, was reached -- their goal before setting out on the rugged wagon trip to Salt Lake City. After a yourney of eight weeks on water, and nine days over land, most of the travelers were exhausted and many filled with sorrow. Of this pioneer company sixty-two persons never reached Salt Lake. Forty-eight died while on board the "Franklin". Two children--the daughter of Brother Weiby and the year old son of Lars Peter and Lina Marie Fjeldsted., passed away soon after leaving the ship; eleven persons (four adults and seven children) died at Florence, and one young girl died while crossing the plains.
They left Florence on July 14th and arrived in Salt Lake on September 23rd. Lars Peter didn't stay long in the city as he and Lina Marie were eager to reach Sanpete, where so many good Danish people were settling. Though his outfit was beginning to show a treat deal of ear, he drove south as fa as Mt. Pleasant, where they spent the winter. It was there where James was allowed to attend a pioneer school taught by David Candland, an enthusiastic young Englishman. If Petrine attended, too, is was only for a short time since she often told her children she had received just a few months of schooling in America. Andrew and Peter Juel were probably too young to worry much about reading or even speaking English.
When the snow began to melt and the warmth of spring sunshine caused the willw buds to swell, Lars Peter packed his wagon once more. He and Lina Marie had definitely made up their minds to join friends in Gunnison, a small settlement farther south. Perhaps they were influenced by Captain Madsen, since he, too, was making a home there. The children accepted the move cheerfully. During the log winter wvenings they had listened to stories about Captain John W. Gunnison, a topographical engineer, who had been ambused by Ute Indians and cruelly massacred. The settlement named in his honor seemed an exciting spot.
Neither Mt. Pleasant, nor Gunnison were the first towns built in Sanpete, the county named after Sanpitch, a noted Indian chief of the Utah nation. In the autumn of 1849 a company comprising fifty families left Salt Lake, traveling toward the south; on November 22 they decided to pitch camp at the present site of Manti, a name taken from the Book of Mormon. After a bitterly cold winter, illness and hardship, they began tilling the soil, planting seeds for crops, and building rough homes of sod, or logs cut from the nearby mountain. Bye 1851 the city of Manti was charted and a city government formed.
It was still several years before the valley of Gunnison was opened, but by 1859 two groups had found their way there. One settlement, near the white cliffs of the eastern foothills, was named Chalk hill; the other, built on the grassy bottoms of the river, had been named Kearn's camp after Hamilton H. Kearns, its leader. In the spring of 1861 Orson Hyde visited the two settlements and advised the group to become one for convenience and safety. Since Kearn's camp had the most people by the, it was decided to build a permanent settlement there and the name, Sevier City Rocky Point, was chosen for its official title. A tithing granary, constructed of chinked logs with a willow roof was soon ready to receive the tithing-wheat at harvest time and a combined meeting and school house was started. By fall it was well under construction, allowing time for its dedication of Christmas morning with religious services, and a program with dancing later that evening. The entire camp participated, musicians co-operated, home-made cake and root beer was served buy the women, and a spirit of rejoicing was there in abundance.
Spring brought trouble, however, for Sevier City. A great deal of snow fell during the winter, especially in the eastern mountains. When it began melting, streams soon over-flowed with rushing water and the camp became a mire of mud and water, dugout homes were inundated, causing chimneys to fall. A hurriedly built dam soon disintegrated, more water rushed forth and the entire camp became a place of chaos. The discouraged settlers termed the spot a "hog-wallow", a most fitting name that stuck for many years.
In September of that year, President Brigham Young stopped there on his way to southern Utah. After looking at the unpleasant situation he advised the people to resettle farther nother where the ground was highter. He also suggested the spot be named "Gunnison" in honor of the massacred captain. Thus Gunnison, the first home of the Fjeldsted family in America, came into being.
Anna Petrine Fjeldsted:
Born: 9-12-1853 in Skibsby, Skt Olai parish, Hjorring, Denmark
Died: 12-11-1911 Molen, Emery county, Utah
Married: 7-24-1874 to Joseph Bridge Caldwell born 5-7-1846 Carlisle, Cumberland, England
and died 2-12-1916 in Molen, Emery county, Utah
 |
| Anna Petrine Fjeldsted |
Children of Anna and Joseph Bridge Caldwell: Joseph Edwin (1875-1944), John Leroy (1877-1882), Peter William (1880-1887), Edith Marion (1882-1955), Jessie Fjeldsted (1885-1887), Junius (1888-1915), Evelyn (1892-1984), Eudora Elizabeth (1895-1973), Son (1898-1898)
 |
Family of Anna Petrina and Joseph Bridge Caldwell:
Standing: Junius, Edwin and Edith
Sitting: Evelyn, ,next her to father and Eudora on her mother's lap |
 |
| Evelyn Caldwell |
 |
| My Grandmother |
Meeting my 4th cousin from Denmark
William Savage Pitts was born in 1830 in Orleans County, New York. In 1857 he is living in Rock County, Wisconsin employed as a schoolteacher. 
It was in that year he was in traveling to Fredericksburg, Chickasaw County, Iowa to see his fiancee, Ann Elize Warren, when he had a chance to visit Bradford, Chickasaw County, Iowa. While there he located a setting in a wooded area in which to him was of rare beauty and later when he was back home in Wisconsin the setting inspired him to write words which would later be words to "The Little Brown Church in the Vale" song. In 1858 William and Ann married and lived in Wisconsin. In 1862 they relocated to Fredericksburg.
