Christian Hans Monson: Norwegian Mormon Convert, Handcart Pioneer, Temple Builder
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A Narrative of the Life of Christian
Hans Monson
Source: History by Hazel Kofoed, a
granddaughter of Christian Hans Monson.
Christian Hansen (son of Hans) was born June
16, 1837, in Fredrikstad, Norway. He was the son of Hans Monsen and Berthe
Nilsdatter (or Bertha Nielson), whose family consisted of two sons, Niels and
Christian, and three daughters, Ann, Elizabeth, and Maren.
Hans Monsen was at one time warden
of the old state prison at Frederikstad. During his term of office in the year
of 1851, there were three Mormon missionaries imprisoned for preaching the gospel
in Norway. These missionaries remained so long that the warden became
indifferent regarding them and in due time became a little careless in his duty
and allowed his son Christian to carry food into the cells for the missionaries.
It seems that young Christian was by nature rather inquisitive, and due to his frequent visits, he soon became rather
intimate with the missionaries and was finally converted by them to the divine
mission of Joseph Smith, the Prophet. So strongly was he impressed with the
testimonies borne by the servants of God to him, and the testimony he had
received through diligent prayer to the Lord, that he finally requested the elders
to baptize him.
Obviously, this could not be done
while they were in prison. They requested their young convert to be patient
until their prison term had expired, but this did not satisfy him. Finally he
suggested that he get the keys some night and let them out long enough to
perform the ordinance of baptism and the laying on of hands for the reception
of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and thus confirm him a member of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When this was done, they returned to their
cells and he locked them in again.
Some time later, the missionaries,
having served out their sentence, were released from prison. But the conversion
of the boy, who was only fourteen years of age, still remained a secret, at
least as far as his parents were concerned. However, he soon told them the
news, he was so happy in the fact that he firmly believed, that God in answer
to his prayers, had opened the way for him to hear God’s servants proclaim the
everlasting gospel as revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He confided to his
father the story of the knowledge he had received, and the consequent ordinance
which had been performed for and in his behalf by the elders.
Christian was sorely disappointed
regarding the reaction of his father. Instead of kind expressions of interest
and approval of the research made by his youngest child, his father seemed to
have lost sight of everything that savored parental love, and allowed the
spirit of the adversary to take possession of him. While under that influence,
he administered a severe punishment on his son and ordered him to leave home
and never return again.
Upon leaving his home, where he left
his parents, his brother and sisters, he went to the city of Drammen, Norway.
He there entered the employ of a contractor as an apprentice in carpenter and
joiner. He took an elementary course in architecture. In these branches he
served six years as an apprentice, for which he received his food and clothing.
His employer, however, permitted him to make small trinkets, such as work
boxes; these he sold as best he could and from this source he made a little
money, which he saved, in hope that at some future time he would be able to
emigrate to Zion.
Early in the spring of 1857 he
arranged to emigrate, working his passage across the North Sea and the Atlantic
Ocean. The company of emigrants with which he sailed left Liverpool, England,
April 25, 1857, on the sailing ship Westmoreland.
There were 544 Saints, mostly Scandinavian, under the direction of Mathias F.
Cowley.
Many Scandinavians took their fathers' last name when immigrating. Christian eventually settled on the name Christian Hans Monson. The immigrants arrived in Philadelphia on May
31, 1857, and went from there to Iowa City by train, reaching there June 9,
1857. Here the emigrants were divided into two companies under the direction of
Brother Cowley, the Scandinavian Saints going with a handcart company under the
direction of Christian Christiansen. During their journey across the plains,
they had food shortage, sickness, and hardships. Both companies arrived in Salt
Lake City on September 15, 1857.
The US Army under Albert Sidney Johnston was on its way to
Utah on September 15, 1857, on the Oregon route across the plains, which was on
the opposite side of the Platte River from the trail used by the Mormon
emigrant train. In September, Governor Brigham Young declared Utah under
martial law, and forbade the army troops entering Utah. Men were enlisted to go
to the mountain passes to keep them from entering the valley. Christian was
sent into Echo Canyon as a guard.
After his guard duty was over, he
located in Lehi, Utah.
Brigham Young met with the army
officials and a satisfactory understanding was had. The army entered the valley
peacefully, and Christian received some employment occasioned by the army
troops coming into the Salt Lake Valley.
In 1860, when Cache Valley was being
settled, Christian was called by the Church authorities to move to Logan, where
he could assist with his trade in building homes and other buildings for the
pioneers in the valley. Several buildings still remain that he built. Among
them is the building occupied by the First National Bank of Logan, which was
built for ZCMI. He purchased from the Taylor Romney Lumber Company, in Salt
Lake City, a planing machine that was brought across the plains by ox team, and
set it up in Logan, Utah.
In 1878, he was called to fill a
mission in Sweden, and while there he went back to see his old home in Norway
and visit his people, but was not received very kindly. He finished his mission
in Sweden, returning home in 1880.
He was called to help build up
Richmond, Utah, and Franklin, Idaho. In 1889, he built and operated a sawmill
in Franklin. He lived there until his death on September 23, 1896, leaving a
very large family.
He was the second man to own and
operate a sawmill in Utah. He helped to build the St. George Temple, Manti,
Logan, and Salt Lake Temples.
Wives’
Names
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Marriage Date
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No. of Children
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Nielsene Krutzbach
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June 29, 1858
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2
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Annie Catherine Peterson
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April 26, 1861
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4
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Ellen Manson
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March 16, 1867
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11
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Karren Marie Olsen
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May 2, 1870
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Ella Jensen
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January 5, 1874
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10
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Vendla Jacobsen
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March 15, 1883
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3
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Christian
Hans Monson
(born Christen Hansen), 1837–96
Source: Susan
Easton Black, Shauna C. Anderson and Ruth Ellen Maness, Legacy of Sacrifice: Missionaries to Scandinavia, 1872–94 (Provo,
UT: Religious Studies Center, 2007).
Residence: Richmond, Cache
Co., Utah
Arrival
date in Copenhagen:
20 November 1878
Missionary labors: Göteborg Conference
Departure
date from Copenhagen:
5 July 1880
Name
of departure ship:
Cato
Birth
date:
16 June 1837
Birthplace: Stora Boeplads,
Tune, Østfold, Norway
Father: Monsen, Hans
Mother: Nielsdatter,
Berte
Spouse: Kruetzback (Kredsbank),
Nielsene Olsen, Marriage date: 29 June 1858, Marriage
place: Lehi, Utah Co., Utah
Spouse: Peterson, Anna
Catherine, Marriage date: 26 April 1861, Marriage place:
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Spouse: Mansson, Ellen
Persson, Marriage date: 16 March 1867, Marriage place:
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Spouse: Olsen, Karen
Maria, Marriage date: 2 May 1870
Spouse: Jenson, Elna
(Ella), Marriage date: 5 January 1874, Marriage place:
Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Spouse: Jacobsson, Wendla
(Vendla), Marriage date: 15 March 1883, Marriage place:
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Death
date:
23 September 1896
Death
place:
Richmond, Cache Co., Utah
Burial
place:
Richmond, Cache Co., Utah
Christian’s
father was a woodcutter by trade. He was industrious and hardworking, and he
expected everyone around him to be the same. He had a violent temper, and
Christian recalled being “mortally afraid” of his walking cane. However, when
he was in good humor, Christian enjoyed sitting and talking to him as he smoked
his long-stemmed pipe (see Skidmore, “Biographical Sketch of the Life of My
Father Christian Hans Monson as I Knew Him,” 1).
Christian
was baptized on 4 April 1853 by Svend Larsen. At the time, he was an employee
of the Fredrikstad prison. He recalled carrying meals to the elders who were
imprisoned for preaching. In this process, an elder asked him why he abused and
tormented him, for “so persecuted they the Christ and his followers.” The
prisoners set Christian to thinking. One night during the winter of 1852, he
released his prisoners. Together they walked to the fjord, where Christian was
secretly baptized, after which the elders returned to their prison cell (see
Skidmore, “Biographical Sketch of the Life of My Father Christian Hans Monson
as I Knew Him,” 2; Skidmore and Horne, “Immigrant Pioneers: Christian Hans
Monson,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Lesson for October 1984, 41–53; Roberts,
“Love Is Its Own Reward,” New Era, February 1978, 6–7).
Christian
was whipped by his father for being baptized and told never to return. He left
home and labored as a local missionary in Drammen, Buskerud County, Norway. At
that time, he was five feet nine inches and weighed 190 pounds. He had blue
eyes, a fair complexion, brown hair, and a beard (see Skidmore and Horne,
“Immigrant Pioneers: Christian Hans Monson,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Lesson
for October 1984, 41–44).
He
was ordained an elder on 8 September 1856. He began his emigration to America
on 9 August 1857. He voyaged from Liverpool to the United States aboard the Westmoreland.
He crossed the plains in the Christian Christiansen handcart company to reach
the Salt Lake Valley (see Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission,
236). Christian settled in Lehi, Utah County, before moving to Logan, Cache
County, and finally Richmond, Cache County. He was called from Richmond to
serve as a guard in Echo Canyon during the Utah War (see Esshom, Pioneers
and Prominent Men of Utah, 1042). After the threat of war passed, he was
endowed on 26 October 1861 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City.
He
married Nielsine Kruetzback, a widow fourteen years his senior. This marriage
ended in divorce. After the divorce, Christian accepted a mission call to
Scandinavia in 1878. He arrived in Copenhagen on 20 November 1878 and was
assigned to labor in the Göteborg Conference. After completing an honorable
mission, he departed from Copenhagen on 5 July 1880 aboard the steamer Cato with
346 emigrating Latter-day Saints and other returning missionaries (see Jenson, History
of the Scandinavian Mission, 243).
On
23 June 1888, the First District Court of Ogden sentenced Christian to six
months’ imprisonment and a one-hundred-dollar fine for unlawful cohabitation.
He was discharged from the penitentiary on 23 December 1888 (see Jenson, LDS
Church Chronology, June 23, 1888; December 23, 1888).
After
his discharge, he served as president of the Thirty-ninth Quorum of the Seventy
and as a temple worker in St. George. He is remembered as being a pioneer
builder and lumberman. He is credited with assisting in the construction of the
Salt Lake, St. George, Manti, and Logan Temples (see Skidmore and Horne,
“Immigrant Pioneers: Christian Hans Monson,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Lesson
for October, 1984, 49–50).
In
his later years, he moved to Franklin County, Idaho, where he set up a lumber
mill. He operated the mill until his health failed. Christian died in 1896 from
jaundice and gallstones in Richmond at age fifty-nine (see Skidmore and Horne,
“Immigrant Pioneers: Christian Hans Monson,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Lesson
for October 1984, 51).
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