Arthur William and Louella Keller Schwieder History

Daughter of James Morgan and Anna Christina Larson Keller

By Sister, Josie Scoresby

Arthur William (A.W.), the son of Gottlieb S. And Henrietta Rubin Schwieder was born at Lewiston, Minnesota on August 21, 1887. Louella Keller, the daughter of James Morgan Keller and Anna Christina Larson, was born October 3, 1884 at Mink Creek, Idaho.

They were married in the Salt Lake LDS [Latter-day Saint] Temple on October 3, 1907. They moved to lona in 1923 when Arthur was asked by Amos Rockwood to teach school there. Along with his teaching, he framed east lona in an area called Dehlin. While at Dehlin, he served as Bishop until 1924 when the ward was dissolved in that area.

When they first moved to 10m, they lived in a little two-room house located on the corner of Steel Ave. And 1st street. They lived there with eight children and Louella's mother. IT was almost wall to wall beds. So more could sleep in a bed, the kids would sleep crosswise in it. The next year they rented the Dayton place that is located on Steele Avenue.

The next spring, Arthur bought the old Herbert farm and home on 1st street, which is still maintained by their daughter, Norma. Two children were born at this home, so Arthur began to remodel this home to accommodate his large family. A bathroom was added (a great day) and also three bedrooms upstairs.

He raised sheep and at one time he bought a herd of pigs. They developed cholera and died. They placed them in a huge pile and burned them. That ended the pig business.

lona was a small, friendly town when the Schwieders came and they loved it. There was one main street with the lona Merc, post office, a small store and Cloward's Blacksmith shop all located on it. A board sidewalk went in front of them. There was also a church and a school. The school had four classrooms upstairs and four classrooms downstairs. It had an outhouse of the girls and one for the boys. A Mr. Scoresby was the janitor and he would haul the coal to each room to heat them. There was a big bell on top that rang each school mourning and at noon.

Henry Bodily was the Bishop and on May 8, 1927 Arthur was sustained as 2nd counselor to him. After Bishop Bodily's death, Arthur was sustained as Bishop on January 22, 1928. George B. Ward and William G. Steel, Jr were his counselors. This position he held for over 12 years,

being released on April 14, 1940. ,

In Arthur's journal he states: "My residence in lona in the old home where by family grew up were happy years and I have fond memories and recollections of my associations with many friends both through the school and church. Other opportunities I enjoyed while there were State Senator in the Idaho State Legislature, counselor in the Idaho Falls Stake Presidency, a High Priest Quorum President and President of the Idaho Radio Corporation. I also helped organize the five-station Skyline Television Network and was its first president. I was a member of the Lion's Club and Community Chest.

Arthur held many positions and worked hard in the school system. He held the position of principal for 22 years. He loved to teach the young people and helped many of them. His method of discipline was a sharpened pencil placed behind the ear with a gentle squeeze of his thumb. Many of his pupils can remember this technique. He was a good teacher, not only to those in the school room, but to his children and all with whom he came in contact. "To be a true teacher, one must be a living example of his own teachings."

Louella supported her husband in all that he was involved in. She loved the gospel and never did her faith falter in her belief of the church. She worked in the Relief Society and Primary organizations in lona. She loved to quilt and helped make many quilts for friends in the ward. Although her husband was gone a lot (being Bishop, teaching school and farming) she never complained. She liked lona and her home and was a good homemaker. Her home was always open to relatives and friends. She, along with her husband supported ball games, dramas, dances and other entertainment in the ward and school. They taught their children that to find fault with someone else was wrong. Arthur would always quote to his children, "There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us, that it all behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us."

On September 5, 1938, Louella died and Arthur found himself alone with six children still living at home. He retired from his school position and semi-retired from farming. On 1946, he married Anna Erickson and they moved to Idaho Falls, remaining~ active in the church and KID Radio Corporation. He turned the farm over to his sons.

He always referred to lona as "home" and spent much of his spare time at the old place. He died September 14, 1977 at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Phil and Rosa Knowles of lona.

A.W. and Louella are the parents of ten children: Mrs. James (Linda) Davies: Carvel married Olive Barnes; Phillip married Bertha Patterson; Norma, Mrs. Kenneth (Ruth) Tracy; Mrs. Phil (Rosa) Knowles; Mrs. Phil (Anna) Lamb; Rubin married Margaret Humphrey; Mrs. Val (Betty) Krieger; and Harold married Mary Rapp.

Louella Keller Schwieder

In the year 1884, Chester Arthur was serving his last year as the President of the United States (Grover Cleveland would be elected in the fall of that year to his successor). Queen Victoria still ruled the vast British Empire, Franz Joseph ruled the Austrian Empire, and Utah and Idaho were still territories. The Mormons had been in the Salt Lake valley for thirty seven years and John Taylor was serving as the third President of the Mormon church. In a small Mormon settlement in Franklin County, Idaho called Mink Creek, a baby girl was born to James Morgan Keller.. and Anna Christina Larson. She was born on the third day of October, 1884, and was the fourteenth and the last child born to this couple. She had seven brothers and six sisters and was named Louella.

She was a beautiful and happy child with loving parents and large family of brothers and sisters to guide and teach her through her childhood. Her family was farmers and raised cattle and sheep so there was always plenty of work to do.

She attended schools in Mink Creek and Logan, Utah. She became very ill when she was about eighteen years old and was not expected to live. It was Easter time and she had always had so much fun at the annual Easter roll that her brothers, Leslie and Earnest carried her to the top of the hill so she could enjoy the festivities with the rest of her family. She received many blessing from the Elders and she later recovered from this illness. She credited the blessings she received as the reasons for her recovery also served as an example of her deep and devoted faith in God and in the Mormon doctrine which she carried throughout her life.

Her father died on July 10, 1903. Another man came into her life shortly thereafter. He was the school teacher in Mink Creek and was boarding with her mother.

He was an Eastern boy from Minnesota and was not a Mormon, but she loved him dearly and converted him to her church. On the third of October, 1903, in Salt Lake Temple, she became Mrs. Arthur William Schwieder. It was her twenty-third birthday.

She and her new husband lived in Mink Creek until 1913. While there they worked and became parents of four children, two boys and two girls. They enjoyed the dances in the neighboring towns, traveling there in horse and buggy and spending the night at friend’s homes. They also enjoyed the ball games very much. Her brothers were well known around the area for their skill at basketball and it was from them that she learned to enjoy and love the game that was her favorite throughout her life.

In 1913, she and her husband moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho, and homesteaded on a dry farm in Dehlin. They spent the summers on the dry farm and moved the winters in town so their growing family could attend school. About 1919 they moved to Dehlin permanitly and her husband farmed, taught school and was bishop for that small community. These were hard years for farmers and after several bad years on the farm, the families in Delhin started moving elsewhere. Her husband was offered a teaching position in the small town of Iona, so in 1924, they moved there. It was in this small community that she was to spend the rest of her life and raised her family.

Louella was a devoted wife and mother. She loved her church and served it in many capacities throughout her life. She made many friends and always offered her help to any of them in need. She was a hard worker and had to do without all the modem convinces we all take for granted now days.

Aunt Anna remembers helping her milk the cows and that she rendered the lard from the hogs and made her own soap. Aunt Norma remembers the wash days when the water had to be boiled on top of the coal stove, and the clothes hung outside to dry. she carded wool to make cloth and many times a bum lamb was brought to her house and put near the stove and fed with a bottle. Aunt Anna remembers losing her bedroom when her mother but an incubator full of baby chicks in it. Aunt Norma remembers the chicks around the kitchen stove on cold spring days. she always raised a garden and spent many hours weeding and hoeing both the vegetables and the flowers. My mother remembers that in the last years when she was sick and not able to work in her gardens, she would have several of her children hoe and weed while she sat it) a chair and supervised their work. Many hours were spent canning the produce from her gardens. All of the children remember that she was a good cook. She baked six to eight loaves at a time in a big dropper pan using potato water for her yeast start. Sometimes she would boil slices of the dough and serve it with cream and sugar for dessert, other times she would fry flap jacks and set them to cool. It was not unusual for some of her children to sneak a flap jack while it was hot, dip it in the sugar bin, and rush out the back door.

Sundays were special days for her children, for after church they were allowed to bring a friend home for dinner. There was always plenty to ear. Uncle Harold remembers she always had a good hot meal waiting for him when he came home from school at noon.

Louella was a devoted mother to her children. Aunt Rosa remembers the many times her mother applied cold cloths for her sick headaches. My mother remembers the time her mother spent with her in quarantine when she had scarlet fever. Aunt Norma recalls the strength and love she received when she lost her hearing.

Why Legacy was chosen as the theme

Two years ago while I was having a nice visit with Jack and Myrna at a reunion, I was asked by Jack, "What was Grandma Schwieder really like?" I told him we had the history of her and to read it. He said, "I know that but what she was really like, the little things, etc..."

I only knew my mother for 19 short years (life is fragile) she was never in good health as her heart was terribly enlarged and one valve didn't work right. There was no heart surgery then, and I felt blessed to have had a mother so long.

Mother was about 5'6 or 6" tall, and she weighed around 150 or 160 lbs. She had light brown hair, which I imagined turned gray early. Her hair was fine and thin. She had a lady in the ward with a shop, who always kept it curled for her with a curling iron, and it always looked nice. She wore glasses and had a pretty smile. Mother wore print dresses at home, but never pants. She said, "They are for men." I do not remember her ever wearing makeup, a little powder perhaps, earrings, or high heel shoes. She always looked nice. One time Betty painted her finger nails red. Mother's comment was "If God wanted you to have red fingers, he would have given them to you."

Mother was a "homemaker" a compliment for any women to have said about her. She never worked outside the home, most women didn't have to then, but she always kept busy. Mother was a very good cook. Many of her meals were soups, beans, homemade bread, and puddings. Cooked cereal for breakfast, I didn't like that.

I think it must have been hard for mother when she married dad. She loved him so much but because she was a Mormon and dad had joined the church, her mother and father in law was never very close to her. After having four children, she left her hometown of Mink Creek and all her brothers and sisters, and she moved with her husband and mother to the lona area. Her family stayed close to her, however, and visited many times. She always looked forward to the Keller family reunion, and dad, showing love for the family, always made it possible for her and her children to attend it.

One thing I remember the most was her love for her husband. She honored his Priesthood, she respected him, and he always came first in her life. She was very careful with the money. Her name was on the checking account but never ;would she write checks. If we wanted anything we went to dad. She was very careful not to waste anything. Dad would go to the auction sales and by used furniture for our home and it was always appreciated by her. She never complained about what she didn't have and was happy with the things she did get.

She loved her flowers and gathered new starts of plants from her friends to plant in her flower garden. She raised a big garden, milked the cow, and sold milk. I remember once how she saved her little milk check to buy dad a new watch. She was so excited to surprise him. Mother raised chickens, which supplied us with eggs. Once in a while she would give us kids an egg or two to take to the store to trade for penny candy. A real treat for us.

Mother's love for the gospel was so strong. Right was right and wrong was wrong, and she lived that way. We did not read the scriptures every morning and have family prayer, but she taught us seven days a week by her example. She loved her Relief Society, and being a member of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. Many stories she would tell us as she came from these meeting.

Mother showed love and compassion for everyone. She would leave the home when she was ill to help someone in need. 1 would watch her as she so lovingly saw to Norma's needs after she lost her hearing. She would put many cold washcloths on my forehead when 1 had a headache.

Mother could be quick to get angry when she felt someone had been wronged or mistreated, but she still had a lot of patience.

One thing 1 might tell you to let you know of her love for her grandchildren) and she only enjoyed such a few as she died so soon) was when she became bedridden, her son Carvel would come to visit her each evening and bring little Sharon with him. She looked forward to that visit. One night Sharon came pulling along a little tiny goat with a rope tied to its neck. She had to pull it because it didn't want to trail very badly. Carvel told mother about it, and Mother had him bring the goat into the bedroom and up on the bed so she could see Sharon's pet. Then as usual with love she kissed him. Me as a teen. Ager thought that was awful and had a fit but that was mother. 1 remember Eva also sitting and visiting with her.

Mother loved the high school basketball games and went with dad often. If the score got to close her heart would pound and she would go out in the hall and walk until it was over. She wanted our team to win so badly.

Dad said it best in his own life history: "I met a beautiful girl named Louella. She had much to do with my conversion to Mormonism. 1 fell deeply in love with her and we were married in the Salt Lake temple, 3 Oct, 1907."

Again: "My wife was a lovely women and a devoted mother. She loved the gospel and supported me in all my church callings in and in every way. She was a loyal and devoted companion and for 31 years we shared all our joys and sorrows together. Her church and its principles was the guiding star of her life."

Mother died one month before turning 54. I hope this helps Jack and the rest of the grandchildren realize the heritage she left each and every one of them, and that they can feel a little closer to her.

1 believe it's the little things we do in this life that turns out to be so important and has such an impact on those that will follow after us. Being famous doesn't necessarily count. My mother and grandmother taught by example. What a legacy she has left us, and 1 am thankful.

My Mother

Louella Keller

Mother was born the daughter of James Morgan Keller and Anna Christina Larsen. She was born the 3rd day of Oct. 1884, at Mink Creek, Idaho. She was the youngest of a family of fourteen. Her Mother was the third of five wives. Her parents were converts to the L.D.S. church, coming from Denmark.

Mother spent all of her childhood in the little town of Mink Creek; she attended school there and always loved to go to church, and attended all of the church functions.

When she was twenty-two she met Arthur W. Schwieder, a school teacher from Lewiston, Minn. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple Oct. 3rd, 1907.

They settled in Mink Creek where four children were born to her. Later she moved to Idaho Falls, this was about the year of 1915. They then settled on a little dry farm about 25 miles from the city. Six more children were born to her, so she was the Mother of four sons and six daughters.

Mother was a great lover of the gospel, never did her faith ever falter in her belief of the church. She worked many years in the Relief Society, and in the Primary Organization. She loved to quilt and helped make many of them for the people.

Her Mother came to live with her in1916, and lived with her until she died which was 17 years after she made her home with them.

Mother loved flowers and gardening and worked a lot out of doors with them.

The last years of her life Mother was in poor health, but she worked constantly as a Bishops wife and her church work along with her responsibility as the mother of her ten children.

Mother did very little complaining though many times I know her health was such it was hard for her to carry on. She was a councilor in the Relief Society at the time of her death.

On the 5th of Sept. 1938 she went to join her Maker and her Parents in heaven. Left to morn her going were her ten children, Linda, Carvel, Philip, Norma, Ruth, Rosa, Anna, Rubin, Betty and Harold. Her husband and 8 grandchildren. She was 54 at the time of her death.

She was truly a wonderful MOTHER.

So long her memory has been,

A vital part of me.

LOUELLA KELLER SCHWIEDER

Louella was born on October 3, 1884, at Mink Creek, Idaho. She was the 14th child of James Morgan Keller and Anna Christina Larson.

She married Arthur W. Schwieder on October 3, 1907, in the Salt Lake Temple. They moved to Iona, Idaho, in 1923.

Louella was born a member of the L. D. S. Church and loved the Gospel very much. She was a devoted member. Her husband was a bishop for many years and she supported him fully. Louella’s health was never very good but that did not stop her from serving the Lord. She served in the Iona Relief society presidency as first counselor to Mary L. Hansen, with Violet Steele as the second counselor. Her favorite calling in the church was in the relief Society. Her children remembered her hurrying home from meetings to relate the stories and lessons to them each week. She was always excited about what she had learned. The presidency worked many hours serving the members of their organizations. They carded wool for quilts which they made for those who were in need for them during the long winter months. Louella was a very compassionate lady, many times leaving her own sick bed to help others.

Iona winters were cold and long, many times the roads were blocked with snow making it impossible to get to Idaho Falls. Sisters traded starts of yeast to make their bread and borrowed loaves of bread from each other until they baked. Recipes were exchanged at meetings as they enjoyed each other while they quilted and taught each other ideas on soap making, sewing, gardening, and canning. It was a necessity to help the families survive, as times were hard and many were in need.

One time when she was ill in bed her children remember the relief society sisters coming to the home to help sew clothes for the children so they could get ready for school, which was a lovely thing to do.

The relief society had the responsibility of sewing Temple clothes and dressing bodies for burial. Sister Ann Clark was in charge of this task and sewed beautiful clothing for them. A daughter remembers going with the president taking the box of lovely white clothing to the funeral home and watching while the sisters dressed the bodies.

Relief society sisters support of the organization in those days by desires that were held along with other moneymaking functions. Also annual dues were collected, $.25 a year. Louella was a homemaker and a mother of 10 children. Her hobby was flowers and quilting. She loves sports especially basketball games. She died at the age of 53, on September 5, 1938, Idaho Falls, Idaho. She is buried in the Idaho Falls Cemetery.

This tribute was written by Sister Josie Scoresby, September 11, 1938.

This source for this history is:  http://know5242-familyhistory.blogspot.com/2009/12/aw-and-louella-schwieder.html

Ray Baird Lundgreen 1926-2010 Graveside Service Remarks by Bishop Steven West

Ray Baird Lundgreen is the great grandson of Alexander and Sarah Mary Theresa deLacy Baird.

At the Graveside Service 28 Jun 2010

Ray came into the world in the midst of a great storm one evening and left this world on a very peaceful and quiet day. This is like our life here with great controversy and then as we leave this life we are filled with peace and happiness.

During Ray’s life many changes in our world have occurred. The Bishop’s daughter recently observed a large old 78 record and remarked that it was a very big CD.

Ray loved scouts and wore the scout uniform proudly. Now as we viewed his body he wears the uniform of the Temple. A symbol of where he is waiting for his family. The associations continue on for eternity.

“The Shaping of Stones”

The most beautiful stones

Have been tossed by wind

And smoothed by water

… Just like stone

We have been polished by the

….Gifts of our fathers

The wisdom of their years

The strength of their values

And the patience of their understanding

Joseph F Smith

“Death is not an unmixed horror. With it are associated some of the profoundest and most important truths of human life. Although painful in the extreme to those who must suffer the departure of dear ones, death is one of the grandest blessings in divine economy.

“We are born that we may put on mortality, that is, that we may clothe our spirits with a body. Such a blessing is the first step toward an immortal body, and the second step is death. Death lies along the road of eternal progress; and though hard to bear, no one who believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and especially in the resurrection, would have it otherwise…Death is really a necessity as well as a blessing, and…we would not and could not be satisfied and supremely happy without it.

“For death was the penalty of the law transgressed, which man was powerless to avert, that fiat of God being. ‘In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, ‘[Moses 3:17] and this penalty was to follow upon all flesh, all being as helpless and dependent as he was in this matter.

“We are called mortal beings because in us are seeds of death, but in reality we are immortal beings, because there is also within us the germ of eternal life. Man is a dual being, composed of the spirit which gives life, force, intelligence and capacity to man and the body which is the tenement of the spirit and is suited to its form, adapted to its necessities, and acts in harmony with it, and to its utmost capacity yields obedience to the will of the spirit. The two combined constitute the soul. The body is dependent upon the spirit, and the spirit during its natural occupancy of the body is subject to the laws which apply to and govern it in the mortal state. In this natural body are the seeds of weakness and decay, which, when fully ripened or untimely plucked up, in the language of scripture, is called “the temporal death.

“Every man born into the world will die. It matters not who he is, nor where he is, whether his birth be among the rich and the noble, or among the lowly and poor in the world, his days are numbered with the Lord, and in due time he will reach the end. We should think of this. Not that we should go about with heavy hearts or with downcast countenances; not at all. I rejoice that I am born to live, to die, and to live again. I thank God for this intelligence. It gives me joy and peace that the world cannot give, neither can the world take it away. God has revealed this to me, in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it to be true. Therefore, I have nothing to be sad over, nothing to make me sorrowful.

Ray returned to be with the rock of his father and brother and the rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ.

(Note by Shelley Haltiner Grover: These words were not recorded and were written down as notes therefore they may or may not be verbatim, but the ideas were presented. The Shaping of Stones is exactly as read as well as the Quote of President Joseph F. Smith. The Quote was taken from the “Teachings of Presidents of the Church” Series, pages 87-89, but may or may not be the full quote used as it does extend two additional paragraphs.)

(Note 2 by Shelley Haltiner Grover: If there are comments, additional thoughts not included, corrections, etc please email me and I will correct this. shelleygrover.genealogy@gmail.com)

Ray Baird Lundgreen (1926-2010) Graveside Service Tribute by Granddaughter Mandy Lundgreen Celis

This was read at the graveside service by: Granddaughter Mandy Lundgreen Celis

Life History

I wanted to say something about my grandfather.

Ray Baird Lundgreen was born October 17th 1926 in his parents’ home in Ogden while a fierce wind storm raged outside. Assisting the Doctor at his birth was his paternal Grandmother Mary Anderson Lundgreen, a midwife.

He was the second of three children born to Orlando V. Lundgreen and Vontella (Von) H. Baird Lundgreen. He had an older brother Vern B. Lundgreen and a younger sister Joyce (Lundgreen) Fox both of whom have preceded him in death.

Soon after his birth Orlando and Vontella built their home on Fourth Street in Ogden where he lived until his marriage to Sarah Jean Law on May 3rd 1950 in the Idaho Falls Temple. This was a very special day as Ray & Jean participated in a double ceremony with one of Jean’s cousins.

For the first 16 years of their marriage Ray & Jean lived in many parts of Weber County. Finally in 1966 they were able to buy a home in Clearfield where Jean continues to reside today.

He was the proud Father and Father-in-law of 5 sons, 2 daughters, 4 daughters –in-law and 2 sons-in-law. They are Val Lundgreen, Kevan and Patty (Armstrong) Lundgreen, and Pete and JoD’An (Lundgreen) Smalley all of Clearfield, Leland Lundgreen and his recently departed wife Laurel (Bass) of Roy, Dana Lundgreen of Draper, Jonathan and Heidi (Langton) Lundgreen of Ivins, Utah and Daniel and Cindy Jo (Lundgreen) Rogers of North Attleborough, Massachusetts. He was also the Grandfather to 9 boys & 3 girls as well as Great-Grandfather to 9 (6 girls and 3 boys).

Ray worked for the United States Air Force at Hill Air Force Base for over 30 years until his retirement in 1988.

His favorite hobbies were rock collecting and fishing. He enjoyed taking his family to different locations to hunt for rocks. When he got the rocks home he would spend many hours cutting and polishing them before making them into key chains and other types of jewelry. Although he enjoyed fishing, it seemed like the thing he caught the most was one of his boys when they fell in the water.

Ray was an active Scouter for over 30 years. In 1990 Ray & Jean were called to serve for one year as missionaries in the Pittsburg Pennsylvania Mission. Upon their return home they then served as stake missionaries.

Due to various problems he encountered later in his life Ray spent the last several years in a care center where he passed away peacefully in his sleep on June 23rd 2010.

Although he will be missed we take comfort in the knowledge that he is at peace and freed from the difficulties of mortality. We look forward to the day when we and he will be reunited as a family forever.

Michael Baird (1951-) Son of Roland Baird who is the son of Charlotte Alvina Keller who is the daughter of Anna Christena Larsen and James M. Keller

THE LEGENDS OF MICHAEL D.(Douglas) BAIRD
1951-

How Mike Got His Name

Since I was 10, and the present baby of the family, Mom and Dad discussed it and decided they should have more children to raise since we would all soon be up and gone and Mom said, "There just isn't any reason to stay married if we're not raising children." Soooo. When Mother was expecting Mike, Art was 15, Bruce was 13 and I was 10. We were old enough to be consulted in such matters as the naming of this baby. We all made suggestions. Everyone but me loved "Douglas" (there was a nice boy in my class named Douglas, but his ears stuck out). "Keith" was pretty popular. Mother thought maybe she should name him for Richard R. Lyman, her apostle uncle, but Aunt Myrl had already stolen that thunder and Dad kinda drug his feet on that one. Then someone suggested "Michael."

Douglas sounded great with it. Mom said while he was little, we could call him Mickey and we all thought that was adorable. Yet, when he came home, we all called him "Mikey" for years. He just wasn't a Mickey. That was okay. Rick gave us the "icky" syllables we were looking for. And that is how Mike got his name.

Why Mike's Birthday is sometimes on Father's Day

Grandma Baird wanted to have Mike on Father's Day. (Do you remember) That was on Sunday, the 17th. The doctor gave her some medication to start things going on Saturday since Mike was about due. Then Dad and the boys (Art and Bruce) went off doing the Saturday things with Dad as they so often did, leaving me home alone with Mom. The medicine worked great. She went into hard labor in no time! It was a hours until the guys came home. Michael wasn't born right then and there only because he was turned the wrong way. Dad took her to Dee Hospital in Ogden where she went through an awful night, but unable to deliver. Finally, on Sunday morning, the doctor decided to try to turn him manually inside the birth canal (I'm sure that was fun for Mom) before going to a C-section (rare in those days). That did the trick, and Mikey came into the world after a rough birth. He was happy and cute though, just like he is today. So that is why Mike's birthday is sometimes on Father's Day.

Why Mike Is So Sweet

The Dee Hospital played another part in Mike's life as he, with a lot of other babies in that hospital, got a form of dysentery during his birth stay. Mom couldn't get it to clear up. When he was four months old he was rushed back to the Dee and he nearly died with dehydration and fever. They had to make an incision in his ankle to even administer the IV he was so tiny. Mom was so sure we would lose him he was that low, that when they came back from the hospital Art was washing diapers in the Twin-tub Dexter, and she told him to take them out back and burn them. He didn't. Dad said he reached under the oxygen tent and squeezed his foot a little to see if he was alive. Mike barely twitched the third and fourth fingers on his left hand (his favorite sucking fingers after that) his only sign of life. When he finally recovered and came home, Mike had to have such a special diet with no real sugar, only malto-dextrin for about a year. It tastes very sweet and that is why Mike is so very sweet to this day.

I testify these things are true, and I should know because I was there. Mike's true and loving BIG sister, Charlotte June Baird June 17, 2010 Hollywood, California, USA

[Note from Shelley: Thanks for allowing me to post this.]

A Tribute to Anna Christena Larsen by her family

Wife of James Morgan Keller; daughter of Jens Larsen &  Bertha Sophia Anderson Jorgensen

Anna Christena Larsen Keller was the daughter of James Larsen and Bertha Sophia Jensen. She was born in Helsingor Denmark on Aug 19, 1843. She received very little schooling. Her parents were quit wealthy and owned a lovely home. Her mother was first married to Erickson. Three children were born to them. After Erickson’s death Bertha Sophia married James Johnson who was the mother of Anna Christena Larsen.

When she was only 9 years of age the gospel of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints was brought into her home by missionaries of the Church. And all of her family were converted into the church.

In the year of 1850, her parents left all their property and their wealth and set sail for America. On the ship coming over, her parents were very sick. They lived at Omaha for a year. Then encountered many hardships during their stay there, but their faith never faltered. Later they stayed in Nauvoo.

She used to relate how she and other children visited with Emma Smith, the Prophet Joseph Smith’s wife and how Sister Smith would sit in her great rocking chair and tell them stories about the Prophet. Many times Anna Christena crossed the Missouri river to Montrose where she tended children for a family. The lady of the house once told her that eggs made cookies tough so when she made cookies she herself never used eggs.

The camp had to lie over in winter quarters for some time and while there some mobsters took her brother put him in a barrel and rolled him down a hill. This crippled him for some time but eventually he recovered.

They were very careful to make friends with the Indians and could get them to shoot buffalo for their meat. The buffalo were in such great herds they would come down the trails in such great herds a mile or more in length and sometimes would stampede. Nothing would turn them. If a caravan happened to be in their path they would just thunder right through wagons and carts as if nothing were there.

In the year of 1856, the family located near Brigham City [Box Elder County, Utah] in what is now known as Perry. James Morgan Keller with his wife Margrette and children lived at Brigham. Anna Christena started working [for] him at the time she became his third wife. Lorenzo Snow being President of the Stake commissioned him to take more wives. This he did marrying Margaret Larson and Anna Christena with in the same year.

Anna Christena was a pretty girl and had many suitors, but she chose to marry James Morgan Keller. She told how the others all told her if she would marry them she would be the favorite wife and they would love her more that the others. But James Morgan told her that all would be treated alike and share the same place in his affections that he would be as good to one as another and do all in his power to make them happy. That is probably what won her over and she became his third wife. They traveled all the way to Salt Lake in a wagon with an ox team where they were married in the endowment house on Jan 2, 1858.

Her family left Nauvoo and started across the plains with one of the handcart companies of which there were ten. They were numbered with Captain Brown’s Company. The family had an oxen team but Anna Christena walked the full 1300 miles except for the few times that Captain Brown let her ride his mule. At times her feet would get so sore they would bleed. At night all the camps would gather together around the campfire and sing the songs they dearly loved and thank God for all their blessings.

In Brigham they lived the United Order for some time. In one of the improvements [Improvement Era, a church magazine] Eras Roy B. Snow said of the order it accomplished its purpose and while in effect was perfect in its government.

After living in Brigham for a while they moved to Mantua [Box Elder County, Utah]. Here her home was a dug out but they were very happy. Here they helped till the soil fight grasshoppers and build up the town. It was at Mantua she started to give her services to the church work as a relief society teacher and counselor in the in the mutual.

She became the mother of 14 children: 6 boys and 8 girls. Six of them were born in this dug out. Listed with the eldest first: Sophis, Charlotte, Adelia, Marie, Torval, Tora, Romanta, Sylvanius, Adam Archible, New Gena, Urias, Sylestres, Alvrus, Earnest, and Louela. One girl and one boy died in infancy. The rest grew to maturity and were all married in the temple of our Lord.

Besides raising her own family she raised Anna Petra, James Morgan’s fifth wife who died in child birth. These children were: Sylvester, Adonald, Royal, Allie, K, Annike Octavia, Eli Thomas, Elzada Camilla. She also raised a grandson Richard Priest whose mother Marie Keller Priest died when the child was only three weeks old. This raised the count of her children to 21. She knitted, spun and wove to make clothes for them.

The children of the other wives were as much at home in her home as in their own. Her home seemed to be a gathering place for the young folks.

From Mantua they moved to Mink Creek [Bannock County, Idaho] (1877) and were among the first settlers here. Up to this time the settlers had lived in dugouts and her home was the fist home to be built in Mink Creek. It was a two-room log house. About 5 years later he built a three-story rock house and then a frame building which (Hyrum Bell got). They went through many hardships had very little to eat and not much clothing. All the clothing was made by her own hands as she spun and wove all the cloth that their clothes were made of.

She was active and prompt in her church duties. She was very strict about attending church meetings and saw to it that her children did too.

At one time when her husband was very sick she felt as though the family could not spare him so she went out of the house around the house by a big choke cherry tree and prayed that if he might be spared she would be willing to spare one of her children. She went back into the house and he spoke to her for the first time in three days. He was soon well again but a week later here baby, a strong fine healthy boy took sick and died. She knew that her prayer had been answered. She told this incident as one of her testimonies of the gospel.

She was made President of the Relief Society and held this position for 14 years resigning only when she took the six children of Anna Petria to raise. She and her counselor, Louise Wild and Christina Wallgren would visit the ward riding in a big wagon. When these trips became necessary. It would usually take three or four days to cover the territory, which included from over on Bear River, Mink Creek and Glenco. She was very diligent in all that she did.

She prepared many bodies for burial. At one time here was an epidemic of diphtheria and in one family five died. While in another 7 in one week. She went to their homes and gave comfort to the families. She always looked on the bright side of life and although she went through many hard trials.

She was charitable and kind and good to those in distress took care of the poor and divided what little she had. She would gather wild fruit and dry it. At times Indians would come and require the last marshal of food she had in the house.

Life was made difficult at times by visits by the marshal. A law had been passed that a man could have only one wife. James Morgan was devoted and close to all of his wives and families and remained faithful to all of them to the end. Whenever possible someone would warn them of the marshal’s coming. This usually gave them time to hide. Once they came to Anna’s home (looking for James Morgan). They asked if she would give them dinner and feed the horses. She sent the boys to tend the horses and she gave them something to eat. After the meal they asked what they owed her and she replied nothing. But one man gave her a silver dollar. That was the first dollar one of the children had ever seen and seemed to them such a big dollar. After the bill was paid they produced a search warrant and she gave them permission. They wanted to know if there was some way to get under the house. She opened a trap door in the floor and one of the men went down after much hesitation because of the darkness. While he was down there he heard the others calling that they had found the husband of the house. Those around tried to tell them it wasn’t but they wouldn’t listen. In reality they had one of the first wife’s sons. But because of his appearance and walk and the fact that he had called at two or three homes they were sure they had the right man. They had William who never married. The marshal took him to Blackfoot (Idaho) and held him a week or so before discovering their mistake. They could have been fined for such an offence so they let him go with many apologies and with the means to return home.

Anna Christina usually enjoyed good health, however she told of becoming very ill one night when alone at home. Her children had all gone to a dance when they returned home they found her lying as if dead. Her testimony is that she visited the spirit world. There she saw her daughter, Maria tending children. It was beautiful, very beautiful place. She saw a path that stretched on and on into space. On one side of the lovely path stood people old and young dressed in beautiful robes. They seemed to be extremely happy and contended. On the other side were people old and young dressed in shabby colored clothes and they were extremely dejected and unhappy. When she came back she told her story and said it was to urge her to do temple work, but she found time to do very little. What an inspiration this should be to her ancestors!

She took care of Jens Larson, her father in his last years. She was the last of the five wives to live so also took care of James Morgan in his last years. She lived 21 years after his death.

In June 1914, she moved to Snake River Valley at Idaho Falls with her daughter, Louella and in Sept 1923, they moved to Iona, on March 11, 1924. After living with her daughter for 17 years she passed away just as true a latter-day saint as ever. She said she was ready to die and would be glad to meet those who had gone before.

She lived to be 81 years of age. She was brought to Mink Creek, Idaho to the home of her son Torval. Funeral services were held in the Mink Creek Church house on Mar 14, 1924 with Bishop William E. Crane presiding with the following speakers: Andrew Larson of Preston, Arthur Schwieder, Dehlin Ward, Amos Keller and Bishop Crane. The invocation was offered by Louis Keller and benediction by H. Hyrum Bell. Buried in Mink Creek Cemetery.

A TRIBUTE

Dear Sister,

With unfaltering step

Thy feet have trod the path

Which for the gospel’s sake

Was marked for thee.

The time when first

Thou didst part from home

And all thine heart held dear

To cross the wide

And troubled ocean Zion ward.

The lovely scenes of childhood

Dear parents, brothers and sisters

Fond caressed

All that renders life so sweet.

With the chosen of thine heart

Thy didst turn thy thoughts away

And through the varied chancing scenes

That crossed thy path

Has held thyself most true and steadfast.

Even when sickness dire and death

With stern and ruthless hand

Has loved one taken from thee

And lovely winning ways beguiled

Thy weary thine onward footsteps

And when thou had to encounter

New and strange life grim want and poverty

All these with patting heart

Still helpful has thou borne.

And even striven through all thy duty to perform

With unwearing cares and cheering tone

To comfort those in affliction

To raise to health once more

With the aid of the almighty Father

Many who perhaps

Would have passed away.

Seeking a saint to be

In the very deed

With warm and kindly sympathy

With the wants of others.

The teaching of our beloved savior

Remembered well.

Patience too thou hast to teach

The young and tender mind

To train to useful habits

Those beneath thy care

Living to enjoy the pleasant company of

The dear children God hast left thee

Still onward the praise is won

The goal is reached in heaven

Immortal Life Glory Unspeakable

A mother of Israel Departed

Our loss is her inpanite gain

Like her may we ever be faithful

While here on this earth we remain.

(Poem from Aunt Clara or Aunt Louella)

Things Virgia Hansen remembered she has said:

Here is more of her wisdom.

“Wives” help you husband”, Never take your babies with you to the table. You deserve the right to eat your meal in peace. “Don’t allow your children to stay overnight with anybody when night comes they belong in their own houses. Live your lives so well that you can live polygamy…I am so thankful that it was my privilege.

She used to made bread dough dumplings by dropping little balls of dough in a shallow boiling water and cover until done and then serve them with cream flavored with vanilla and sugar. How I loved them.

To me a granddaughter she was the sweetest most lovable and dearest lady I have ever known. I count it one of my choicest blessings to have been privileged to know her. Virgia

Information from Clara Keller , Adam Keller, Virgia Hansen, Cloteal Carver, Schiweider and others. Complied by Helen Mitchell.

(Note: This history in my possession and looks like it was the original handwritten history. But knowing that copies were handwritten it could be a copied of the original. If anyone has a copy or the original, I would love to hear from you.

Shelley

[Note from Shelley: Clara Keller is the wife of Selestres (Leslie) Keller who is a son off Anna Christena Larsen Keller. Adam Keller is the son of Anna Christena Larsen. Cloteal Carver (Baird) is the daughter of Charlotte Alvina Keller who is the grand-daughter of Anna Christena Larsen. Louella Schweider is the daughter of Anna Christena Larsen. Helen Mitchell is the daughter of Adam Keller is the son of Anna Christena Larsen. If anyone can tell about Virgia Hansen and where she fits in. please email me or post a comment. Thanks. Shelley

[2nd Note from Shelley: This is a email note from Sherrie Rubink about Virgia Hansen: " I did not know Vergia Hansen, but I looked her up in the Mink Creek Ward History that I purchased several years ago. There is a copy at the family history library. Anyway it has a biography and pictures of her and says that she is Tora Vergia Wilde Hansen, the daughter of Albert Alonson Wilde and Tora Keller. " Tora Keller is the daughter of Anne Christena Larsen Keller. Thanks to Sherrie!!]


[3rd Note from Shelley: Glenco is on the same road to Mink Creek but before you come to Mink Creek.]

History of Anna Kristine Larsen Keller (1843-1924) written by her granddaughter Virginia Preece

Anna Kristine (Christine) Larsen Keller is the wife of James Morgan Keller and daughter of Jens Larsen  & Bertha Sophia Andersen Jorgensen

It was a cool fall morning as the salty breeze blew up from the Sound of Denmark. On this August 19, 1843 I made my entrance into the world. I am Anne Kristine Larsen. Our family lived by the sea in the tiny village of St Oil, near the busy port of Helsingor1. My father was a successful trader there and we lived in a large stone house that had been in our family for three generations. As a small child I would often look out at the great waters with wonder but later the sea became only a memory, as did my homeland of Denmark.
When I was five years old the missionaries came to our village and preached the gospel. I was too young to care but my parents listened and believed. They were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1848 and decided to join the Saints in America. It was hard to leave our comfortable life in Denmark but as I was to learn there are far more important things then the comforts of life1.
The gathering of the Saints had already begun by what some called "the Lake". It was far away in the west of America. Father had heard of many deaths on the trek to the Lake and it was his plan to keep all his family alive. Therefore he wanted to make all the necessary preparations for our preservation. So he worked in Florance, Nebraska and then later went to Nauvoo to earn money and make preparations.
Nauvoo was a strange place because so many homes were deserted and although I lived there two years I wasn't allowed to play with many children. Father and Mother feared . It was only a short while before we came that there had been fighting in Nauvoo. The prophet Joseph had been murdered just down the road in Carthage. Sister Emma was still in town and I went to play at her house sometimes.
Sister Emma would sit in her rocking chair and tell us all about the prophet. She would tell us how when Joseph was only seven years old he got very sick and suffered from a terrible sore in his left leg. The doctors wanted to take his leg but after much pleading form Joseph and his mother a new procedure was suggested. Joseph had surgery taking out the bad portion of the leg. He was brave and would not take alcohol for the pain2.
We left Nauvoo in 1852 with a small group of saints for Winter Quarters and remained there a year. In July of 1853 we joined a large group of saints, many were also from Denmark. They had just got off ship in New Orleans. Our captain was John Brown. He had been on the trail many times and was in charge of leading to the Lake. He rode a mule and let me ride with him sometimes. I walked most of the time, which I didn't mind because there was so much to see and I walked with my friends. We sang songs and played games most of the time. Father had gotten me good shoes for walking.
Along the trail we met up with a company of Elders. They had come from Salt Lake with a block of marble that was for the Washington Monument. This was right after we passed up another company of saints that were slowed down because some had gotten sick. Father had such a fear that we might be exposed that he made us walk off way off the trail until the other company was past.
One time a group of Pawnee Indians came into camp and demanded food. They were not nice about it, either. They were dressed strangely and I had never seen Indians before so I went as close as I dare. I was also fascinated by the huge buffalo herd that we saw and liked the buffalo meat.
One man by the name of Richard L. Jones was taking a bath in the Platte river and drowned. Mother had us bath with a heated bucket of warmed water which was safer. Everything was strange but fun and I was glad that everyone in the family was well. There were a few other people that died, though. An older women be the name of Roberts died of what they called "hear dropsy". At Green River, her husband died of dysentery. A blind man by the name of Ogden died later in the journey3.
When we got to Fort Bridger it was being ran by Saints. Captain Cumming and 20 other men were there. They had come out to arrest Jim Bridger for treason. He had been selling guns and ammunition to the Indians. He had ran away to the east. These men also went home when we left because it was the last emigration of the season4.
We came into the Salt Lake Valley on October 17^th 1853. We suffered through any snow or rain in the mountains, which made the trip faster. We camped at Union Square as was the custom at the time. We gave Captain Brown three cheers for bringing us safely to our new home.
In 1858 we moved to Brigham City which was called Perry at the time. This is where I met my husband to be. He was a righteous man and I worked for his family for a time. He and his wife Karen Valentine were from Bornholm, Denmark. They had joined the church in 1952 and had crossed the plains the same year as my own family with another company.
I had many suitors but when President Lorenzo Snow asked James Morgan Keller to take on more wives he asked my sister Margarethe and then me the very same year. We knew he was a righteous man and that was most important to both of us. We lived in harmony and later two other wives were added our plural family.
James took me to Mantua, Utah were I lived in a dugout for a time. I had six children while living in this humble home. Later we moved to Mink Creek, Idaho and James built me a house. It was the first built there and in this home I bore eight more children. James and I had six boys and eight girls. One boy and one girl died in infancy but the rest all grew to maturity. One of my greatest joys is that all twelve were married in the Temple.
I was called to be Relief Society President of Mink Creek and served for fourteen years. In 1867 Sophia Maria, James's fourth wife died. For this reason I resigned my duties in the Relief Society to raise their six children. Only two years later my own daughter Maria died shortly the birth of her first child. My granddaughter, Virginia, became one of my own. I had the privilege of teaching the gospel to these 21 children.
It was about this time that the US marshals came to arrest James for polygamy. We heard they were in town and so James had been staying at my house the entire week. When a knock came to the door James hid in the cellar. Three rough looking men with badges asked if I could share our dinner with them. I was frightened but tried to appear cheerful as I invited them in.
After they ate one officer gave me a silver dollar! The children were excited because they had never seen one and gather around. They commented on how large and shiny it was. I tried to give it back but the man insisted that I accept it for the meal.
Then he said, "I must also insist on searching your home". Again I tried to look calm although it terrified me to think of them taking James away. So many lives relied on him for their support.
One Marshall grabbed the floor door to enter the cellar. He hesitated when a man came through the front door. It was William, Karen's oldest son. William was a few years older then I. One of the marshals assumed he was the husband and grabbed his arm. The marshal at the cellar door deserted his search to help as William struggled to free himself..
"What are you doing" William yelled. I explained that William was a relative and not my husband. They had observed him visiting a number of homes throughout the week. They were also suspicious because he had just walked into the house.
William wasn't even married. The fact was because he wasn't he was a bit of a pest and when one wife would kick him out, he would go visit the other 'aunt' (that's what the kids called the other wives of our plural family). It took a week before the marshals realized they had made a mistake and let him go. Somehow James always managed to escape the marshals and take care of all of us. We had a good life and I was happy to have the gospel. I never longed for the stone home by the sea but rather looked forward to God's mansion for me.