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 17th 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.
