Saturday, March 3, 2012
History of Jens Christensen Cornum (1828-1906)
Compiled and typed by Marilee Cornum Vannoy, 22 March 1995.
Jens Christensen Kornum, was born May 3, 1828, in Vester Bronderslev, Hjorring County, Denmark. The County of Hjorring is in the North end of Denmark, which lied between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. His parents, Kristen Jensen and Else Marie Poulsen, were both from Hjorring County. In Denmark the place of birth is usually given as the Parish's name, which is Vester Bronderslev. Jens was probably born at Vester Kornum, and then christened at Vester Bronderslev, which name he was given Jens Christensen.
Jens grew up on a farm, named Vester Kornum, there is even a house there that it named Kornum. Jens was the fifth generation of his father's line, to live at Vester Kornum. His great great grandfather, Markvor Jensen, born 1673, of Tolstrup Parish, Hjorring, Denmark, married Johanne Kristensdatter, in 1701. All there children were christened in the Tolstrup Parish, but it is record their fourth child, Kristen Markvorsen, was born at Vester Kornum.
Jens was the fifth of six children, he was the first born son, and had a baby brother, Poul, born two years after him. He had lost all of his sisters by the time he was 15 years old. He had twin sister just 4 1/2 years older, one was stillborn, and the other, Ane died when she was 15 years old, Jens was 11 at the time. Then his sister Mariane who was only 1/2 years older than him, died when he was 11 also, she had just turned 13. His oldest sister Matte Kirstine, was eight years older than him, she married and she died at the age of 24.
When Jens was 26 years old he lost his mother, Else Marie, she died in 1855, at 65 years old. Just before his 30th birthday he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was Baptized the 4th of March, 1858. At the age of 34, Jens left his home of Vester Kornum, to join the rest of the Saints in Utah. He left for America from Hamburg on the 15th of April 1862, on the ship "Franklin". He left behind his father, Kristen, who later died in 1865, at the age of 70, and his brother Poul, neither ever joined the Church.
Little did Jens know when leaving Hamburg, was also leaving with his future wife, Ane Thomine Magrethe Laursen, and her mother Ane Thomasen Laursen. Who were also new members of the Church. They left behind there home in Fourholt, Albaek, Hjorring County, and Ane Thomine's father, Peder Laursen, and two sisters Mette Marie and Maren, her other sisters LaursSine and Ane Kirstine had previously went to America. Mette Marie followed in 1867, with her husband and small daughter.
Earlier in Denmark a child's surname was his father's given name with "sen" added to the sons, or "datter" added to the daughter's name. Therefore, Ane Thomine Magrethe Pedersdatter, was her name when christened. But in 1850 Denmark passed a law of taking a fixed surname, which was the same as the father's surname. So by the time Ane Thomine sailed for America, in 1862, she went by the name of Ane Thomine Magrethe Laursen.
Jens Christensen, his Danish name, is the name listed on the 1862 "Franklin" ship manifest list. Sometime while on the on the ship he took the name of Kornum. We are not sure why he changed his name; but there were many Christensen's, and that being a common name. Jens was from Vester Kornum, and made Kornum his fixed surname, being Jens Christensen Kornum. When arriving in America, he Americanized the spelling to Cornum. The following log is of the "Franklin" Company that departed from Hamburg, on 15 April 1862. Source is FHL film #025696, Indexed Emigration Register of Scandinavian Mission #80:
"The number of Saints emigrating from Scandinavia in 1862 was greater than in any previous or subsequent year. No less than 1,556 souls, in four different companies sailed from Hamburg on four chartered vessels destined for Utah. On Tuesday, April 15th, the ship "Franklin" sailed from Hamburg with 413 emigrating Saints, nearly all from the Aalborg and Vendsyssel Conferences. They were in charge of Christian A. Madsen, an Elder returning home. He chose Jens C. A. Weibye and Lauritz Larsen as his Counselors. On board ship the company was organized into eight districts with Jens Christensen Kornum as one of the presidents. Elder Jens C.A. Weibye gives the following account of the voyage across the Atlantic: We went on board the "Franklin" in the evening of Tuesday (Apr 8th) and I was appointed to locate the emigrants in their bunks below deck. These bunks, 160 in number, were so wide that three persons easily could have room in one of them side by side. After getting our baggage in order, we received our rations of provisions. These consisted of beef, pork, peas, beans, potatoes, pearl barley, rice, prunes, syrup, vinegar, pepper, coffee, tea, sugar, butter, rye bread, sea biscuits, water, flour, salted herring, salt and oil (for the lamps). We lighted 11 lanterns every night, 6 of which belonged to the ship and 5 to the emigrants. We hired an extra cook in Hamburg for 90 rigsdaler, and besides him two of our brethren served as assistant cooks. We thus had our dinners nicely cooked in about the following routine, viz, Sunday we had sweet soup, Monday pea soup; Tuesday and Wednesday, rice; Thursday, pea soup; Friday, barley mush, and Saturday herring and potatoes.
Some of the emigrants carried the measles with them from home, and the disease soon spread to all parts of the ship, so that no less than 40 persons, mostly children, were attacked at once. Many of the emigrants were also suffering with diarrhea, which caused very much weakness of body. We lost the appetite for sea biscuits, but learned to soak them in water or tea from 8 to 12 hours, which softened them so that they could become more palatable. The sick were served twice a day with porridge made from barley, rice or sago, and almost every day pancakes could be had by the hundreds for the sick who could not eat the "hard tack" (sea biscuits). Wheat bread was also baked for some of the old people. We held a council meeting every night, and the sanitary conditions of the ship's apartments were attended with great care. Three times a week the ship was thoroughly fumigated by burning tar. A spirit of peace prevailed and very few difficulties occurred. The captain and crew were good-natured and obliging, and so were the cooks, who even served the sick when they were not on duty.
Thursday, 19 May 1862, in the forenoon, the "Franklin" arrived at New York. The emigrants were not allowed to go ashore, because of some cases of measles yet existing among them. Finally the sick were taken to the hospital, and after two more nights and a day, they were allowed to go ashore. They left New York 31 May at 9:00 p.m. by rail. The company arrived at Florence Neb., on Monday, June 9th, at 10:00 p.m. Among the 48 persons who died in the "Franklin" company during the voyage on the sea, was Brother Jens Anderson from Veddum, Denmark, who with his own means had assisted 60 or 70 poor Saints to emigrate. He died on the North Sea on the 25th of April. On the way from New York to Florence, two children died. Eleven person (4 adults and 7 children) died while staying at Florence and a young girl died on the Plains, making in all 62 in the "Franklin" company who died between Hamburg and Salt Lake City. On Tuesday, June 10th, the emigrants pitched their tents a short distance north of Florence, and the necessary purchases of oxen, wagons, cows, etc. were attended to.
While in Florence, Nebraska, Jens and Ane Thomine were married, on 17 Jun 1862. They then crossed the plains as husband and wife; along with them on this journey was mother, Ane Thomasen. The Saints left Florence, Nebraska, with the Christian A. Madsen Company on 14 July 1862. They were a Scandinavian Company with about 264 individuals and 40 wagons in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post at Florence, Nebraska. The company finally arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 23 September 1862; after a long journey of 161 days since sailing from Hamburg.
On the 1880 Census of Denmark, Peder Laursen was listed as living with his daughter, Maren, and her husband, Niels Christian Christensen in Brunvang, Voer, Hjorring, Denmark. He was listed as 85 years old, a Widower, and a Lutheran.
Jens and Ane Thomine and mother Ane, went to Pleasant Grove, Utah, where her sisters, Ane Kirstine Reynolds and LaursSine Heiselt's families were already living. Jens was a carpenter, he and Ane Thomine made their home in Pleasant Grove, from 1862 until after 1880. They had six children, why living there, Annie Tomine born in 1863, Jens Christensen "Chris" born in 1865, Paul Heber born in 1868, Elsie Marie born 1871, Peter Elijah born in 1873, and Mary born in 1877. They are all living in Sanford, Colorado, in 1885.
Jens and Ane Thomine and their children all moved to Sanford, Colorado. Sometime Ane's sisters LaursSine and family also moved to Sanford. But her mother Ane, and other sisters, Ane Kirstine, Mette Marie, and Maren all stayed in Utah. While living in Sanford, Annie T. died at the age of 27 years, she had never married. Each of the other five children all married in Sanford and raised their families there. Hilda Jefferson, the daughter of Peter Elijah, could remember her mother telling how Granddad Jens Cornum would love to come over to see Hilda. He would set and rock his little granddaughter by the hours.
Jens loved his family very much, and upon leaving Denmark, he brought with him a history of his family lineage. It was written on parchment paper, and rolled up as a scroll. Written on it is his family bible, in the form of a family tree. It starts with Jens, 4 greats grandfather, Markvor... and wife, Sidsel..., it continues to list their descendants of seven generations. Jens' father, Kristen and his brothers and sisters, are the last of Jens direct line, listed on the paper. Although Jens has written his own name and information on it, as Kristen's son. The original paper is in the possession of Sally Mortensen, a great granddaughter of Jens, of Sanford, Colorado. Marilee Vannoy has a xerox copy of it and of all of Jens' personal kept records.
Jens did genealogy, and a lot of Temple work for his family. After his wife Ane Thomine died in April of 1890. He spent a lot of time with his daughter Elsie Marie Cornum Mickelsen, traveling to Manti, Utah, to do Temple work. He kept a Temple Journal of his work and he and Elsie are listed as most of the proxies for them. He did most of this work in 1890-1892. Sally Mortensen also has the original book of his Temple Journal, which lists his mother's side of the family also.
Jens resided in Sanford, Colorado, until his death, November 25, 1906, at the age of 78 years. He was buried by his wife Ane Thomine, and daughter Annie T. in the Sanford Cemetery, Conejos County, Colorado. All six of the their children are buried there in the Sanford Cemetery. He has left a great descendancy which he can be very proud of. As we are so proud of him, to set the example of excepting the Gospel and joining the Church, and leaving his beloved homeland of Vester Kornum, which we are proud to carry the name of now.
"Heber and The Bobcat" about Paul Heber Cornum and Nephi Hostetter
A True Story: by Duwayne Cornum
about his Granddad, Paul Heber Cornum
Written in child’s story form, by: Marilee Cornum Vannoy
Long ago there lived a young man by the name of Heber Cornum. He loved to hunt and fish, along with his friend, Nephi Hostetter. Heber and Nephi were always together, whether it was playing pool in La Jara, (which they were known as great “pool shots”), or off hunting of fishing.
One particular day, when Heber was about 35 years old, he and Nephi took out to go duck hunting. It was in the fall, when the days were cool and the leaves had all fallen off the trees. They went to a place called MacIntire Springs, down east of the Conejos River, which was a few of miles east of Sanford, their home. Heber and Nephi being such good hunters had filled their buggy with lots of ducks, to take home to their families. Towards evening they had run out of shells, so they set off for home.
As they came to the river, Heber spotted a bobcat sitting in a window of a little old log house. The house had been abandoned and all the window were gone. Well, Heber was out of shells for his shotgun, but he wanted to get a closer look at that bobcat, so he took his ax with him.
As Heber started toward the house the bobcat jumped down inside. Heber went to the window, looked inside, there sat the bobcat by a hole in the floor. The floor was just old wooden boards and one of them had broken, which left a pretty good hole. The bobcat stared at Heber and he stared at the bobcat. He being about six feet tall and of a stocky built, was pretty strong. So he slowly raised the ax and gave it a fast hard throw. The bobcat was faster, it jumped down in the hole to hide. Well, Heber wasn’t about to leave his good ax inside, and since the bobcat was hiding down in the hole, he cautiously started in to retrieve his ax.
As Heber entered the house, the bobcat sprang up out of the floor and leaped onto Heber’s shoulders. As it was scratching and clawing Heber’s head and back, he quickly reached up and grabbed the bobcat with his hands around it’s neck. Heber held on for all he was worth. The bobcat was fighting as he swung the cat over his shoulders and on to the floor, never letting up on his grip. As the bobcat hit the floor, Heber, who was very quick and nimble, shoved his knee into the bobcat’s belly and held it there. His grip was so strong that his thumb went right threw the bobcat’s hide into it’s throat. The bobcat was dead. Heber had killed it with his bare hands without the help of his shotgun or ax.
Heber and Nephi returned home that night not only with a buggy full of ducks, but also a bobcat. When his wife, Mary met him, she hurried to clean and care for all of his scratches. As he had been cut up quite a bit. Even though Heber was a very brave and strong man, this had been quite an ordeal for him. He had to go right to bed and was there for several days.
But this certainly didn’t stop his hunting days. Everyone was very proud of this brave and strong man.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Story of Andreas “Andrew” Peter Miller and his wife Marie Kjerstine Chirstensen
Born in Denmark, emigrated to Fountain Green, Utah, married there; and moved in 1896 to Richfield, Colo, and finally Sanford, Colorado.
Taken from the compiled Bill Miller History by Mary June (Peterson) Miller - 1969
With additions from memories of Voris (Miller) Cornum - 1989
And additions from genealogy research by Marilee (Cornum) Vannoy (typed in 2002)
Andreas “Andrew” Peter Miller, was born on the Island of Bornholm, Denmark, September 6, 1859 (tombstone date) or June 17, 1858 (LDS Church membership records). He was born to Hans Peter Moller and Kristense Hansdatter / Christence Espersen. Hans Peter Moller was born December 12, 1816, in Bornholm, Denmark. Andrew Miller was the 4th generation, as far as we have genealogy of, that was born and lived in Bornholm, Denmark. Andrew loved to tell about Bornholm he said he could ride his bike across the island in a day. At the time Andrew was ten years of age, his father, Hans Peter, passed away on January 24, 1869.
Andrew’s mother, Kristense Hansdatter was also born in Bornholm, Denmark, as well as her parents. She was born June 17, 1816. At the time of her birth the law in Denmark was that a child take their fathers given name and add sen (for son) or datter (for daughter) for their surname. Therefore she would have been christened with the name “Kristense Hansdatter” as her father’s name was Hans Espersen. In 1850 the Danish law changed to give a fixed surname, which was the same as the fathers surname. Therefore even though Kristense was married by that time, she would have used the surname of Espersen as her maiden name. Also the Danish language does not use the letter “C”, but to Americanize their name it was common for a person to change the spelling of their name using the letter “C”. As the such Kristense when in America used the spelling Christence. The family put her name on the tombstone as Christensa C. Miller and the birth date as June 10, 1816. (I believe both name spelling and birth day are incorrect.)
Andrew was the youngest of six children. The oldest child and sister was Katrine Kirstine Moller/Miller born in 1847, (married to Jens Jensen of Sanford). She was know as “Aunt Steeney”. She had three children: James P. Jensen, Mary Jensen Olsen, and Carolina Jensen Valentine. Second was another sister, Ann Katrine Moller born in 1849, (who also married a Jens Jensen, but settled in Utah). Third was a brother, Hans Michael Moller/Miller born in 1851, (who is found on land records in 1908 in Conejos county, Colorado). Hans was quite a “rounder”, so the story goes. He married a woman by the name of Annie, they never had any children. Hans is buried in the Sanford Cemetery. Fourth was a brother Andreas Jorgensen Moller born in 1853, and died at almost 4 years old in 1857 (before Andrew was born). Fifth was a third sister Josephine Caroline born in 1856 and died in 1857 (also before Andrew was born). It is easy to see why Andrew had been so petted by his mother, as she had lost these last to babies before Andrew was born.
The family had been introduced to Mormonism and converted through the efforts of the Mormon Elders. Andrew’s oldest two sister joined the church first, Katrine Kirstine was baptized in 1856, and Ane Katrine was baptized in 1857. We are not sure of the baptism date for the mother Christence or for Hans; but we assume it was about this same time in Denmark. Andrew was baptized at age 10, just a few months after his father passed away. It is not known if the father, Hans Peter was baptized before he died, but we don’t think so.
Andrew’s family all came to America, to settle with the Saints in Utah. Katrine Kirstine emigrated to Utah, several years before the rest of the family. Andrew age 17, along with his sister Ane Katrine age 24, came together to America. They emigrated on August 30, 1872, on the ship “Minnesota”; they arrived September 17, 1872. We are not sure when his mother Christence or Hans emigrated. The family name of Moller in Denmark, was changed to Miller when they emigrated to Utah.
I might note that it is a coincidence that both sisters, Katrine Kirstine and Ane Katrine, were married to men with the same name of Jens Jensen; but they are two different men. Ane and her husband, Jens stayed in Utah, she died soon after her first child was born. Kirstine (as called) and her husband, Jens moved to Sanford, Colorado. (It was through a descendant of Ane Katrine that I was able to find this information on Andrew’s brothers and sisters.)
Andrew’s wife - Marie “Maria” Kjerstine (Laursen) Christensen, was born on January 16, 1859, in Silkreborg, Skanderborg, Denmark. The Luthern Church Christened Record of Silkeborg, Denmark: Has name as Marie Kjerstine Laursen, who was christened on March 6, 1859. Her parents were factory worker, Lauritz Christensen and wife, Inger Christensdatter, age 26 years, who reside within Silkeborg city. Also listed as the witnesses were factory worker, Christen Therkildsen's wife who carried the child; factory worker, Christian Jensen, Christen Hansen, journey man and stone mason Schmidt. They live in Silkeborg. Marie was the oldest of five children, three brothers: Kresten Elling born 1860, Christen born 1861, and Lauritz Marcus born 1868; and one sister Cecelia Marie Magdeline born 1864.
Maria’s family had also been converted to Mormonism through the efforts of the Mormon Elders laboring in Denmark. Maria’s mother Inger was baptized in October 1870. The next year in December of 1871, Maria was also baptized at age 12. Both Christen (age 14) and Cecelia (age 11) were baptized in March of 1876.
Note: Maria took her endowments out under the maiden name Laursen. But on her marriage licence, she use the name Marie Kjerstine Christensen.
Lauritz and Inger were married in November 1854, he was 44 years old and she was almost 21 years old. Maria was not born for five years, this makes me wonder if their had been other children that did not live. We do not know if Maria’s father, Lauritz ever joined the Mormon church. He was 58 years old when his youngest son Marcus was born. We do not know when, but Lauritz died in Denmark.
Maria grew up in Silkreborg, Skanderborg, Denmark, but we do not know any details about her youth. Skanderborg is a county right in the center of Denmark.
We are not sure when Inger, and three of her children, Cecelia, Chris, and Marcus emigrated to America. But they joined the saints at Fountain Green, Utah. Inger C. Christensen was endowed in the St. George Temple in March of 1877. Maria did not come to America at this time as she had met and married a man by the name of Neils Edward Jepperson, and they remained in Denmark for a short time after Inger’s departure.
Mr. Jepperson had been married prior to his marriage to Maria, and three children two daughters and one son, had been born to this first marriage. His daughters, were older than his second wife, Maria. Jepperson must have been in his early sixties at the time of the marriage and it is said that he was a man of considerable financial worth. A “persistent cough” resulted in his death a short time after the marriage and Maria, a widow expecting her first child, was left in rather comfortable circumstances. What become of her holdings is not known; widows and divorcees were not well tolerated in the society of the day and she, no doubt, faced many problems.
Maria gave birth to Niels Jepperson Jr. who was born April 27, 1890, in Fountain Green. The child never saw his father. Maria was 30 years old at this time. Her mother Inger, and Chris, Cecelia and Marcus also lived in Fountain Green.
Niels had two older half- sisters and an older half-brother. The sisters came to America. One sister was an opera singer, who sang in Chicago, she was killed during the “Great Chicago Fire”. The other sister died in San Francisco in an earth quake. As contrary to the story of them sinking on the Titanic. The brother is believed to have stayed in Denmark. This has been told to Niels by his grandmother, Inger. (Information from Bertha Jepperson Mullins.)
Andrew Miller grew to manhood in Fountain Green. He was a large man, 6’2” in height and weighing about 185 pounds. He was employed on a farm owned by a man named “Ogard”.
Andrew remained single until he met Maria Kirstine (Christensen) Jepperson, the widow of Niels Edward Jepperson. They were married in the Manti Temple, Utah, on June 10, 1891. Andrew and Maria were each thirty-two years old, when they married. At this time, Andrew was baptized for his wife’s former husband, Jepperson, and it is thought that he also took out endowments for him. Maria was sealed to Andrew Miller. Maria’s son, Niels was adopted by and sealed to Andrew Miller, but he continued to carry the Jepperson name.
Andrew farmed a small acreage of land in Fountain Green. Times were hard and money was not easy come by; but there was little need for actual cash. Pioneer women knew how to “make-do” and nothing went to waste. A cow, a few chickens, and a garden provided a good share of the living. Andrew’s farm consisted of a few acres planted mostly in alfalfa.
The Millers were proud of their two-bedroom home in Fountain Green. It boasted a shingled roof and was kept neat and clean by Maria, who had a reputation for being a good housekeeper. Even her door yard had to be swept daily! Flowers thrived under Maria’s expert care her yard was filled with bright blossoms during the summer months.
Andrew’s mother, Christence, never forgot that Andrew was her youngest child and she always seemed to take his part. He had lived in her home for thirty-two years and it was not an easy thing to cut the “apron-strings”. Perhaps this was the reason why Andrew let Maria take the lead in all of their business and family dealings. When he was upset, he could go home to his mother for sympathy and advice. Sometimes he would even spend the night on the foot of her bed.
Andrew was slow and easy-going, but he was a good man, very honest and hardworking. He enjoyed the respect of his friends and neighbors.
Because Maria’s first husband had been a dressy, ambitious man, she reminded Andrew very often of his own lack of tidiness and ambition. Their son, Bill says that, in later years when he heard the joke about the preacher in church inquiring as to who was the only perfect man in the world, and the little man in the back of the church rising to his feet with the reply. “My wife’s first husband”, he was sure that, had the question been asked of Andrew, he would have given the same answer.
Family times were happy times for the Millers, another baby boy blessed their home on March 12, 1892, when Willard “Bill” Richard Miller was born. And yet another baby boy also blessed their home on July 1, 1895, when Lewis Marcus was born to the couple. The three boys completed the Miller family.
The Danish language was favored in the settlement of Fountain Green and may of the church meetings were held with sermons being given in the native tongue. Andrew and Maria always conversed with each other in Danish and the boys all spoke the language very well in their youth. Andrew of course soon learned to speak English, but always with a Danish brogue. Maria learned only a very little English and always spoke to her children in Danish.
In the fall of 1896, the family was called by church authorities to move to Colorado, as many of their friends had already done. Andrew traded his property in Fountain Green on an “unseen” basis for a home and about ten acres of land in Richfield, Colorado. Christian Jensen arranged the trade.
The Millers boarded a railroad train and journeyed to the San Luis Valley by way of Salida and Alamosa. Their one horse had been sent on ahead as half of the team that pulled the Rasmus Creamer wagon accompanying a train of saints enroute for Colorado.
Arriving in Richfield, they viewed their new home for the first time. It was quite a disappointment, as it was less spacious than the one they had left behind, and it had a dirt roof! What thoughts must have crossed the minds of this pioneer family as they remembered the lovely home they had left in Utah.
Ambition and courage were not lacking in these early settlers. However, they accepted the challenge of the situation with prayerful hearts and a great deal of determination.
The small home was located just north of the Joel Dowd home on the north end of Richfield. Other converts to the Mormon church lived in neighboring homes and the family was soon busy renewing old friendships as well as establishing new ones. Maria’s neighbors included Susan Johnson (Ralph Vance’s grandmother), Sister Gylling (Walt & Carl’s mother), El Mullins (mother of Jim), Maria Shawcroft (mother of Ella, Sarah, Dave, John, etc.), Ruth Coombs (mother of Roy, Burt and Clara), Polly Shawcroft (mother of Merle, Jim & Florence), Harriet Guymon (mother of Lydia Dowd), Kristensen Fredrickson (mother of Nora &, Hans), Maria Creamer (wife of Rasmus Creamer and second wife of Carl Fredrickson), Anna Lee Peterson (wife of Pete Peterson, sister of Alice Reed and step-mother of Stella, Bob, and Myron Peterson), and Sister Bernham (mother of Ed).
Meantime, Maria’s mother, Inger Christensen, whose occupation was the weaving of cloth, met and married a man from Fountain green with the name of “Weaver”. This was a rather unusual situation as people assumed that she was called “Weaver” because of her occupation. After Weaver’s death, Inger and her son, Marcus, joined a pioneer caravan and journeyed to the San Luis Valley, where she later made her home in Sanford, Colorado. She lived up stairs in the red brick home occupied by Orson Crowther. (1978 it was purchased by Pat & Marilee Vannoy at 395 Main Street). Marcus was referred to as “Marcus Weaver”, using his step-father’s surname. Marcus never married.
Marcus was said to have been a real sport and quite a ladies man. A real charmer, for sure! Maud Reed, first wife of John B. Reed, tells that he was a dream of a dancer, had a wonderful personality, and was so much fun to be with. Maud was apparently a very level headed young woman, for she dismissed thoughts of marriage to him because she was afraid that the would never settle down and become a good husband. How right she was - he never settled down, PERIOD! Marcus was a gambler, he lost his mother’s brand new buggy and a team of horses, due to his gambling. When the men came to get the buggy and horses, this broke his mother’s heart. As she was so proud of this new buggy. After his mother Inger passed away in Utah, he traveled throughout the country working here and there. He was worth a fortune one day and poor as a pauper the next. During later years he made his home with his sister, Cecelia Woodard, in Salt Lake City. (We are not sure where Inger was buried, but she did move back to Utah.)
Cecelia never came to Colorado. The church called in a group of young ladies of marriageable age. They had selected an older husband for each of them. Due to this Cecelia was soon to become a polygamist victim, even though her heart was in love with a young man by the name of Don Woodard. Cecelia was able to refuse this marriage and married Don on the 1st of July, 1891, in Manti, Utah. He became a professor at the University of Utah, and they had a beautiful home in Salt Lake City. Two children were born to this couple, Carlos and Alva. Chris Christensen, Inger’s other son, also remained in Utah, where he married and raised a family. His son, Lawrence Christensen and wife Vera, who resided in Bountiful, Utah.
Andrew’s mother, Christence Miller, also moved to Colorado and lived the remainder of her life in Richfield, in a large two-story red brick house located in the east part of town. The house is one block north of the old Shawcroft home now occupied by the Morris Miller family.
The Andrew Miller home in Richfield about ten acres of land, the horse driven by Brother Rasmus Creamer, and a few other earthly possessions were the family’s total assets at the time of their arrival in Colorado. They had each other and there was love and harmony in their home.
Andrew farmed his few acres of land and started work as a farm laborer on the ranch of John Shawcroft. Maria kept the home fires burning, the meals prepared, the washing and ironing done, and guided her three sons in the way of truth and right.
Their son, Bill remembers an incident in Richfield when his mother became furious because Andrew came to the supper table after milking the cows with his hands greasy. She told him just what she thought and he left the room, going out into the cold night. The boys soon followed their father and were told in the Danish Brogue that Andrew still used, “Your mo--thher doesn’t want me. I an to dir-rrty.”
It was no secret the Maria made a big point of cleanliness. Sister Lettie Jensen said many years later that Maria was a truly wonderful woman. She said that the three boys were always dressed looking as if they had just “stepped off the band wagon.” She had taught each of them to press their cloths just perfect with a seam down the front of their trousers.
Moving day came again for the Millers when Andrew purchased a nice brick home in Sanford. (This property later belonged to Claude Wilkinsen.) The family set up housekeeping once more, although Maria never felt very comfortable in this house. It was quite large and she maintained that it just didn’t feel very “homey’. Sometime later, Andrew traded the home for a smaller house with several lots, a few acres of land and some cash.
Again Maria made a cabin into a home! She was willing to lend a hand in earning the living and she raising chickens for Roy Shahan. Mr. Shahan operated the La Jara Flour Mill at the time and furnished the chicken feed for the chickens as well as paying her $20.00 a month plus all the eggs the family could use.
Although Maria loved her three sons very much there was an empty spot in her heart. A spot that yearned for a daughter to call her very own.
Fate seemed to play into her hands when she met little Nora Mayfield, a motherless child about eight or ten years of age. The girl had been living with her grandmother who found caring for the youngster a considerable task.
Maria arranged an adoption without fuss or fanfare, and certainly without any legal authority of any kind. She and Lew simply asked the grandmother if they could adopt Nora and the grandmother agreed. How lovingly Maria treated the little girl. Nora was given a wardrobe of new clothes fitting for an only sister with three brothers to love her and look after her. How Maria must have enjoyed ironing the ruffles and trims that were part of a girl’s apparel. Curling and braiding a little girl’s hair brought her a great deal of satisfaction.
Maria’s happiness was short lived for the girl had barely more than moved into her home and her heart, when the grandmother reversed her decision and decided that she could not part with little Nora. Maria was very attached to the child and it was with many regrets that she relinquished her to the custody of her grandmother. Maria never ceased to grieve for the little girl who, for such a brief time, was her “Daughter”.
Andrew was still a young man when he broke his ankle, a serious accident in that day. Bill, who was a young boy at the time remembers the accident very well. Several men (including Brad and Amos Wilson, Bert and By Reynolds, and several others) had taken a wooden rack pulled by a team of horses to Alamosa to purchase provisions for the hay camp. This was a journey of two or three days duration, at that time. Since the wagon was loaded with provisions the men and boys had to walk on the return trip. It was pitch dark as they traveled across the Head Ranch (the land northwest of Leonard Hartung’s). Andrew stepped into a prairie dog hole when his ankle broke. From that day on he walked with a noticeable limp and was considerably handicapped from the injury.
Sunday was a day of rest. Maria had spent many an hour ironing white shirts to be worn to church. The old and “sad irons” were heated a top the wood and coal stove and it took great care to see that no soot found it’s way to the fresh white laundry. The soot did serve it’s purpose for it was used to blacken the boys shoes. Maria merely turned the stove “lid” over, and applied the soot to the shoes. “Bell Hats” with brim turned up for Sunday completed their wearing apparel. The same hats, brim turned down, were worn to school.
Niels, Bill, and Lew continued their education in the old red brick school house located just north of the ball park (this is were the community center building is now). This building was later destroyed by fire as were several of Sanford’s early day schools.
Pioneer children were greatly needed to assist in farming activities and so it was that the school term was considerably shorter than it is at the present time. It usually began after completion of the harvest and terminated before the spring farming operations commenced.
It was a common practice, at the time, for boys to drop out of school at an early age. Few people attended high school and college was practically unthinkable. By the time Bill was in the seventh grade, about 1906, he was working a great deal of the time and had to end his schooling.
Bill found work with President James Jensen the Excelsior Ranch, and was soon earning his own support. One Saturday night he road into Sanford to see his mother and gave her some money. He loved her so very much and was proud to be able to do something for her.
A few days later on April 10, 1909, Bill was working at Excelsior when Bert Stevens rode out with the news that Maria Miller was very ill. Bill hurried to her side and found that she was afflicted with appendicitis. Dr. Hamilton from La Jara was there to take care of her, but her condition was very grave. She was in great pain moaning and screaming at intervals. Frantically, Bill and Lew went outside of the house and offered a prayer. It had been Danish custom that when death was near, a white lamb would come to take the dying. Bill says he will never forget, he and Lew seeing a white lamb pass outside his mother’s window and they knew she was going to die. It was hard for them to accept the Lord’s decision when her pain subsided and she soon breathed her last breath of life. Apparently her appendix had ruptured and the poison soon spread throughout her body. No surgery was ever attempted, when Maria’s spirit returned to her Heavenly Father at the age of forty-nine, leaving Andrew and three sons.
What a cruel blow this was to her family. Lew was fourteen years old at the time, Bill age seventeen and Niels age nineteen. Home life was never the same for the family again the warmth of the mother’s smile was gone! The money Bill had given his mother the previous Saturday was later found where she had carefully put it away.
Andrew was working for James P. Jensen at the time of his wife’s death, and so he moved into the Jensen home. Lew stayed for a time with the Ben Irving family. He and Bill went, as the old saying goes, “from pillar to post” making their home with anyone who would accept their labor in return for room and board.
The following November 3, 1909, Niels married Dorotha Rasmussen and took over the family home. They were blessed with two children, Thelma and Bertha. Niels was a carpenter by trade, but he had many other talents. He was an artist, when it came to drawing he was a whiz with a pencil. He could draw anything. He was also talented in music, like all the Miller boys he loved to dance. He played the harmonica, some of his favorite tunes were: “Turkey in the Straw”, “Buffalo Girls”, “Red Wing”, and many more.
Bill found employment on the Head Ranch with Mann Robbs and Charley Bailey as foremen. They were sheltered from the cold only by a crude camp. Later the Mann Robbs family made room for Bill and he moved in with them for a time. He made his way by assisting Robbs in planting a crop. Later on he got a job breaking up some land for Billy Spencer. Robbs took advantage of the situation by attempting to claim his wages but Spencer would not permit it.
Lew had found homes with first one and then another. After leaving the Irvins, he moved in with the Gilbert Reeds for a time and later “Hung his hat” at the Pete Cornum home.
A few years after Maria’s death, Andrew built a small two-room house just one block west of the old home, where Niels was living. Andrew and Lew lived together in this house for several years.
For a time Bill made his home with President James Jensen, his first cousin. By this time Bill was courting the girls. He married Maggie Jane Hutchins from Sanford, on November 1, 1916. They had five children. He also was musical and loved to play the harmonica and especially loved to dance. He was a very hard worker and farmer. (Other details of Bill are in his own history.)
Lew was a real hard worker. Doing farm labor and he made crates for the lettuce sheds. He could pound a nail faster than anyone in the country. He was known as a drop nailer. He would hold the nails in his left hand, and drop them one at a time, while he hit them with the hammer in the right hand, he could drive a nail with a single blow. If it had been world known Lew would have been in the book of world records.
Lew was a bachelor for many years. He was a real ladies man, taking after his uncle Marcus. He was a good dancer and had a winning personality. His nieces remember many of his girl friends as he was always bringing one over to Niels and Bill’s. He was very good to his nieces and nephews, they sure loved Uncle Lew. Lew was almost 30 years old when he married Minnie Creason on February 7, 1925. They had five children.
Andrew was the town fortune teller. The young people of the town looked forward to going down to “Brother Millers” and having their fortune read with cards as one of the highlights of entertainment.
Andrew later had a girl friend. We called her “Sister Creamer” and it looked like she might be his second wife. However, he suffered an accident resulting in a broken hip and this not only caused him to be a cripple for the rest of his life but also canceled any plans he may have had for marrying Sister Creamer. Carl Fredrickson started beating his time and they were married.
Andrew’s accident happened in 1918. He and Jack Luster were hauling a load of hay. As they drove the team (a white horse and white mule) whit a wagon load of hay upon the tithing yard scales to weigh it, the back end of the hay rack broke and caused him to fall from the load and break his hip. He was unable to care for himself so Bill and Maggie brought him to their home and cared for him for over a year. He laid in bed for several months with his leg hanging off the end of the bed and a ten pound bucket of rocks hanging from his leg. Maggie said he was a very patient man and never complained. When he was asked how he felt, he would answer, “Oh, I am git-in bet-ter, but it all takes time.” Later, when he was able to get around on crutches he moved back to his little home. His granddaughter Voris recalls, “I can remember when I was just a little girl about four years old, going to see grandpa, and he would always say, “Let’s see if I can find a lit-tle bit of can-day for lit-tle Wo-rus.” Of course, he always found the candy in a little sack in a cupboard drawer, which I can remember very well.”
Voris also remembered a little fish pond in Grandpa Andrew’s back yard which he had planted trees all around. She and Bertha and Thelma Jepperson had a play house in the trees, where they spent many hours playing together.
Later, Andrew became ill and could no longer live alone so his boys paid Sister Fredrickson (his old girl-friend, Maria Creamer) to take care of him. He passed away in the Fredrickson home, which later became the Nora and Theodore Hansen home (195 Fir Street), on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1922. Voris said, “Although I was only five years old at the time I can remember Bertha and I peeking under the sheet which covered him, and seeing the ice packed around his body and thinking how cold he must be. I remember Thelma ratting on us and Dad (Bill) got after us good.”
Testimony by granddaughter, Voris Jane (Miller) Cornum - “I fell fortunate to have these memories of my Grandpa. These people were true pioneers, they had no idea what might be ahead of them as they left Denmark. We should always remember how much the gospel meant to them, that they would leave their homeland and other family members to gather in Utah with the Saints. I know they too, would be proud of the descendants they have left and of the strength of the gospel in their family.”
Taken from the compiled Bill Miller History by Mary June (Peterson) Miller - 1969
With additions from memories of Voris (Miller) Cornum - 1989
And additions from genealogy research by Marilee (Cornum) Vannoy (typed in 2002)
Andreas “Andrew” Peter Miller, was born on the Island of Bornholm, Denmark, September 6, 1859 (tombstone date) or June 17, 1858 (LDS Church membership records). He was born to Hans Peter Moller and Kristense Hansdatter / Christence Espersen. Hans Peter Moller was born December 12, 1816, in Bornholm, Denmark. Andrew Miller was the 4th generation, as far as we have genealogy of, that was born and lived in Bornholm, Denmark. Andrew loved to tell about Bornholm he said he could ride his bike across the island in a day. At the time Andrew was ten years of age, his father, Hans Peter, passed away on January 24, 1869.
Andrew’s mother, Kristense Hansdatter was also born in Bornholm, Denmark, as well as her parents. She was born June 17, 1816. At the time of her birth the law in Denmark was that a child take their fathers given name and add sen (for son) or datter (for daughter) for their surname. Therefore she would have been christened with the name “Kristense Hansdatter” as her father’s name was Hans Espersen. In 1850 the Danish law changed to give a fixed surname, which was the same as the fathers surname. Therefore even though Kristense was married by that time, she would have used the surname of Espersen as her maiden name. Also the Danish language does not use the letter “C”, but to Americanize their name it was common for a person to change the spelling of their name using the letter “C”. As the such Kristense when in America used the spelling Christence. The family put her name on the tombstone as Christensa C. Miller and the birth date as June 10, 1816. (I believe both name spelling and birth day are incorrect.)
Andrew was the youngest of six children. The oldest child and sister was Katrine Kirstine Moller/Miller born in 1847, (married to Jens Jensen of Sanford). She was know as “Aunt Steeney”. She had three children: James P. Jensen, Mary Jensen Olsen, and Carolina Jensen Valentine. Second was another sister, Ann Katrine Moller born in 1849, (who also married a Jens Jensen, but settled in Utah). Third was a brother, Hans Michael Moller/Miller born in 1851, (who is found on land records in 1908 in Conejos county, Colorado). Hans was quite a “rounder”, so the story goes. He married a woman by the name of Annie, they never had any children. Hans is buried in the Sanford Cemetery. Fourth was a brother Andreas Jorgensen Moller born in 1853, and died at almost 4 years old in 1857 (before Andrew was born). Fifth was a third sister Josephine Caroline born in 1856 and died in 1857 (also before Andrew was born). It is easy to see why Andrew had been so petted by his mother, as she had lost these last to babies before Andrew was born.
The family had been introduced to Mormonism and converted through the efforts of the Mormon Elders. Andrew’s oldest two sister joined the church first, Katrine Kirstine was baptized in 1856, and Ane Katrine was baptized in 1857. We are not sure of the baptism date for the mother Christence or for Hans; but we assume it was about this same time in Denmark. Andrew was baptized at age 10, just a few months after his father passed away. It is not known if the father, Hans Peter was baptized before he died, but we don’t think so.
Andrew’s family all came to America, to settle with the Saints in Utah. Katrine Kirstine emigrated to Utah, several years before the rest of the family. Andrew age 17, along with his sister Ane Katrine age 24, came together to America. They emigrated on August 30, 1872, on the ship “Minnesota”; they arrived September 17, 1872. We are not sure when his mother Christence or Hans emigrated. The family name of Moller in Denmark, was changed to Miller when they emigrated to Utah.
I might note that it is a coincidence that both sisters, Katrine Kirstine and Ane Katrine, were married to men with the same name of Jens Jensen; but they are two different men. Ane and her husband, Jens stayed in Utah, she died soon after her first child was born. Kirstine (as called) and her husband, Jens moved to Sanford, Colorado. (It was through a descendant of Ane Katrine that I was able to find this information on Andrew’s brothers and sisters.)
Andrew’s wife - Marie “Maria” Kjerstine (Laursen) Christensen, was born on January 16, 1859, in Silkreborg, Skanderborg, Denmark. The Luthern Church Christened Record of Silkeborg, Denmark: Has name as Marie Kjerstine Laursen, who was christened on March 6, 1859. Her parents were factory worker, Lauritz Christensen and wife, Inger Christensdatter, age 26 years, who reside within Silkeborg city. Also listed as the witnesses were factory worker, Christen Therkildsen's wife who carried the child; factory worker, Christian Jensen, Christen Hansen, journey man and stone mason Schmidt. They live in Silkeborg. Marie was the oldest of five children, three brothers: Kresten Elling born 1860, Christen born 1861, and Lauritz Marcus born 1868; and one sister Cecelia Marie Magdeline born 1864.
Maria’s family had also been converted to Mormonism through the efforts of the Mormon Elders laboring in Denmark. Maria’s mother Inger was baptized in October 1870. The next year in December of 1871, Maria was also baptized at age 12. Both Christen (age 14) and Cecelia (age 11) were baptized in March of 1876.
Note: Maria took her endowments out under the maiden name Laursen. But on her marriage licence, she use the name Marie Kjerstine Christensen.
Lauritz and Inger were married in November 1854, he was 44 years old and she was almost 21 years old. Maria was not born for five years, this makes me wonder if their had been other children that did not live. We do not know if Maria’s father, Lauritz ever joined the Mormon church. He was 58 years old when his youngest son Marcus was born. We do not know when, but Lauritz died in Denmark.
Maria grew up in Silkreborg, Skanderborg, Denmark, but we do not know any details about her youth. Skanderborg is a county right in the center of Denmark.
We are not sure when Inger, and three of her children, Cecelia, Chris, and Marcus emigrated to America. But they joined the saints at Fountain Green, Utah. Inger C. Christensen was endowed in the St. George Temple in March of 1877. Maria did not come to America at this time as she had met and married a man by the name of Neils Edward Jepperson, and they remained in Denmark for a short time after Inger’s departure.
Mr. Jepperson had been married prior to his marriage to Maria, and three children two daughters and one son, had been born to this first marriage. His daughters, were older than his second wife, Maria. Jepperson must have been in his early sixties at the time of the marriage and it is said that he was a man of considerable financial worth. A “persistent cough” resulted in his death a short time after the marriage and Maria, a widow expecting her first child, was left in rather comfortable circumstances. What become of her holdings is not known; widows and divorcees were not well tolerated in the society of the day and she, no doubt, faced many problems.
Maria gave birth to Niels Jepperson Jr. who was born April 27, 1890, in Fountain Green. The child never saw his father. Maria was 30 years old at this time. Her mother Inger, and Chris, Cecelia and Marcus also lived in Fountain Green.
Niels had two older half- sisters and an older half-brother. The sisters came to America. One sister was an opera singer, who sang in Chicago, she was killed during the “Great Chicago Fire”. The other sister died in San Francisco in an earth quake. As contrary to the story of them sinking on the Titanic. The brother is believed to have stayed in Denmark. This has been told to Niels by his grandmother, Inger. (Information from Bertha Jepperson Mullins.)
Andrew Miller grew to manhood in Fountain Green. He was a large man, 6’2” in height and weighing about 185 pounds. He was employed on a farm owned by a man named “Ogard”.
Andrew remained single until he met Maria Kirstine (Christensen) Jepperson, the widow of Niels Edward Jepperson. They were married in the Manti Temple, Utah, on June 10, 1891. Andrew and Maria were each thirty-two years old, when they married. At this time, Andrew was baptized for his wife’s former husband, Jepperson, and it is thought that he also took out endowments for him. Maria was sealed to Andrew Miller. Maria’s son, Niels was adopted by and sealed to Andrew Miller, but he continued to carry the Jepperson name.
Andrew farmed a small acreage of land in Fountain Green. Times were hard and money was not easy come by; but there was little need for actual cash. Pioneer women knew how to “make-do” and nothing went to waste. A cow, a few chickens, and a garden provided a good share of the living. Andrew’s farm consisted of a few acres planted mostly in alfalfa.
The Millers were proud of their two-bedroom home in Fountain Green. It boasted a shingled roof and was kept neat and clean by Maria, who had a reputation for being a good housekeeper. Even her door yard had to be swept daily! Flowers thrived under Maria’s expert care her yard was filled with bright blossoms during the summer months.
Andrew’s mother, Christence, never forgot that Andrew was her youngest child and she always seemed to take his part. He had lived in her home for thirty-two years and it was not an easy thing to cut the “apron-strings”. Perhaps this was the reason why Andrew let Maria take the lead in all of their business and family dealings. When he was upset, he could go home to his mother for sympathy and advice. Sometimes he would even spend the night on the foot of her bed.
Andrew was slow and easy-going, but he was a good man, very honest and hardworking. He enjoyed the respect of his friends and neighbors.
Because Maria’s first husband had been a dressy, ambitious man, she reminded Andrew very often of his own lack of tidiness and ambition. Their son, Bill says that, in later years when he heard the joke about the preacher in church inquiring as to who was the only perfect man in the world, and the little man in the back of the church rising to his feet with the reply. “My wife’s first husband”, he was sure that, had the question been asked of Andrew, he would have given the same answer.
Family times were happy times for the Millers, another baby boy blessed their home on March 12, 1892, when Willard “Bill” Richard Miller was born. And yet another baby boy also blessed their home on July 1, 1895, when Lewis Marcus was born to the couple. The three boys completed the Miller family.
The Danish language was favored in the settlement of Fountain Green and may of the church meetings were held with sermons being given in the native tongue. Andrew and Maria always conversed with each other in Danish and the boys all spoke the language very well in their youth. Andrew of course soon learned to speak English, but always with a Danish brogue. Maria learned only a very little English and always spoke to her children in Danish.
In the fall of 1896, the family was called by church authorities to move to Colorado, as many of their friends had already done. Andrew traded his property in Fountain Green on an “unseen” basis for a home and about ten acres of land in Richfield, Colorado. Christian Jensen arranged the trade.
The Millers boarded a railroad train and journeyed to the San Luis Valley by way of Salida and Alamosa. Their one horse had been sent on ahead as half of the team that pulled the Rasmus Creamer wagon accompanying a train of saints enroute for Colorado.
Arriving in Richfield, they viewed their new home for the first time. It was quite a disappointment, as it was less spacious than the one they had left behind, and it had a dirt roof! What thoughts must have crossed the minds of this pioneer family as they remembered the lovely home they had left in Utah.
Ambition and courage were not lacking in these early settlers. However, they accepted the challenge of the situation with prayerful hearts and a great deal of determination.
The small home was located just north of the Joel Dowd home on the north end of Richfield. Other converts to the Mormon church lived in neighboring homes and the family was soon busy renewing old friendships as well as establishing new ones. Maria’s neighbors included Susan Johnson (Ralph Vance’s grandmother), Sister Gylling (Walt & Carl’s mother), El Mullins (mother of Jim), Maria Shawcroft (mother of Ella, Sarah, Dave, John, etc.), Ruth Coombs (mother of Roy, Burt and Clara), Polly Shawcroft (mother of Merle, Jim & Florence), Harriet Guymon (mother of Lydia Dowd), Kristensen Fredrickson (mother of Nora &, Hans), Maria Creamer (wife of Rasmus Creamer and second wife of Carl Fredrickson), Anna Lee Peterson (wife of Pete Peterson, sister of Alice Reed and step-mother of Stella, Bob, and Myron Peterson), and Sister Bernham (mother of Ed).
Meantime, Maria’s mother, Inger Christensen, whose occupation was the weaving of cloth, met and married a man from Fountain green with the name of “Weaver”. This was a rather unusual situation as people assumed that she was called “Weaver” because of her occupation. After Weaver’s death, Inger and her son, Marcus, joined a pioneer caravan and journeyed to the San Luis Valley, where she later made her home in Sanford, Colorado. She lived up stairs in the red brick home occupied by Orson Crowther. (1978 it was purchased by Pat & Marilee Vannoy at 395 Main Street). Marcus was referred to as “Marcus Weaver”, using his step-father’s surname. Marcus never married.
Marcus was said to have been a real sport and quite a ladies man. A real charmer, for sure! Maud Reed, first wife of John B. Reed, tells that he was a dream of a dancer, had a wonderful personality, and was so much fun to be with. Maud was apparently a very level headed young woman, for she dismissed thoughts of marriage to him because she was afraid that the would never settle down and become a good husband. How right she was - he never settled down, PERIOD! Marcus was a gambler, he lost his mother’s brand new buggy and a team of horses, due to his gambling. When the men came to get the buggy and horses, this broke his mother’s heart. As she was so proud of this new buggy. After his mother Inger passed away in Utah, he traveled throughout the country working here and there. He was worth a fortune one day and poor as a pauper the next. During later years he made his home with his sister, Cecelia Woodard, in Salt Lake City. (We are not sure where Inger was buried, but she did move back to Utah.)
Cecelia never came to Colorado. The church called in a group of young ladies of marriageable age. They had selected an older husband for each of them. Due to this Cecelia was soon to become a polygamist victim, even though her heart was in love with a young man by the name of Don Woodard. Cecelia was able to refuse this marriage and married Don on the 1st of July, 1891, in Manti, Utah. He became a professor at the University of Utah, and they had a beautiful home in Salt Lake City. Two children were born to this couple, Carlos and Alva. Chris Christensen, Inger’s other son, also remained in Utah, where he married and raised a family. His son, Lawrence Christensen and wife Vera, who resided in Bountiful, Utah.
Andrew’s mother, Christence Miller, also moved to Colorado and lived the remainder of her life in Richfield, in a large two-story red brick house located in the east part of town. The house is one block north of the old Shawcroft home now occupied by the Morris Miller family.
The Andrew Miller home in Richfield about ten acres of land, the horse driven by Brother Rasmus Creamer, and a few other earthly possessions were the family’s total assets at the time of their arrival in Colorado. They had each other and there was love and harmony in their home.
Andrew farmed his few acres of land and started work as a farm laborer on the ranch of John Shawcroft. Maria kept the home fires burning, the meals prepared, the washing and ironing done, and guided her three sons in the way of truth and right.
Their son, Bill remembers an incident in Richfield when his mother became furious because Andrew came to the supper table after milking the cows with his hands greasy. She told him just what she thought and he left the room, going out into the cold night. The boys soon followed their father and were told in the Danish Brogue that Andrew still used, “Your mo--thher doesn’t want me. I an to dir-rrty.”
It was no secret the Maria made a big point of cleanliness. Sister Lettie Jensen said many years later that Maria was a truly wonderful woman. She said that the three boys were always dressed looking as if they had just “stepped off the band wagon.” She had taught each of them to press their cloths just perfect with a seam down the front of their trousers.
Moving day came again for the Millers when Andrew purchased a nice brick home in Sanford. (This property later belonged to Claude Wilkinsen.) The family set up housekeeping once more, although Maria never felt very comfortable in this house. It was quite large and she maintained that it just didn’t feel very “homey’. Sometime later, Andrew traded the home for a smaller house with several lots, a few acres of land and some cash.
Again Maria made a cabin into a home! She was willing to lend a hand in earning the living and she raising chickens for Roy Shahan. Mr. Shahan operated the La Jara Flour Mill at the time and furnished the chicken feed for the chickens as well as paying her $20.00 a month plus all the eggs the family could use.
Although Maria loved her three sons very much there was an empty spot in her heart. A spot that yearned for a daughter to call her very own.
Fate seemed to play into her hands when she met little Nora Mayfield, a motherless child about eight or ten years of age. The girl had been living with her grandmother who found caring for the youngster a considerable task.
Maria arranged an adoption without fuss or fanfare, and certainly without any legal authority of any kind. She and Lew simply asked the grandmother if they could adopt Nora and the grandmother agreed. How lovingly Maria treated the little girl. Nora was given a wardrobe of new clothes fitting for an only sister with three brothers to love her and look after her. How Maria must have enjoyed ironing the ruffles and trims that were part of a girl’s apparel. Curling and braiding a little girl’s hair brought her a great deal of satisfaction.
Maria’s happiness was short lived for the girl had barely more than moved into her home and her heart, when the grandmother reversed her decision and decided that she could not part with little Nora. Maria was very attached to the child and it was with many regrets that she relinquished her to the custody of her grandmother. Maria never ceased to grieve for the little girl who, for such a brief time, was her “Daughter”.
Andrew was still a young man when he broke his ankle, a serious accident in that day. Bill, who was a young boy at the time remembers the accident very well. Several men (including Brad and Amos Wilson, Bert and By Reynolds, and several others) had taken a wooden rack pulled by a team of horses to Alamosa to purchase provisions for the hay camp. This was a journey of two or three days duration, at that time. Since the wagon was loaded with provisions the men and boys had to walk on the return trip. It was pitch dark as they traveled across the Head Ranch (the land northwest of Leonard Hartung’s). Andrew stepped into a prairie dog hole when his ankle broke. From that day on he walked with a noticeable limp and was considerably handicapped from the injury.
Sunday was a day of rest. Maria had spent many an hour ironing white shirts to be worn to church. The old and “sad irons” were heated a top the wood and coal stove and it took great care to see that no soot found it’s way to the fresh white laundry. The soot did serve it’s purpose for it was used to blacken the boys shoes. Maria merely turned the stove “lid” over, and applied the soot to the shoes. “Bell Hats” with brim turned up for Sunday completed their wearing apparel. The same hats, brim turned down, were worn to school.
Niels, Bill, and Lew continued their education in the old red brick school house located just north of the ball park (this is were the community center building is now). This building was later destroyed by fire as were several of Sanford’s early day schools.
Pioneer children were greatly needed to assist in farming activities and so it was that the school term was considerably shorter than it is at the present time. It usually began after completion of the harvest and terminated before the spring farming operations commenced.
It was a common practice, at the time, for boys to drop out of school at an early age. Few people attended high school and college was practically unthinkable. By the time Bill was in the seventh grade, about 1906, he was working a great deal of the time and had to end his schooling.
Bill found work with President James Jensen the Excelsior Ranch, and was soon earning his own support. One Saturday night he road into Sanford to see his mother and gave her some money. He loved her so very much and was proud to be able to do something for her.
A few days later on April 10, 1909, Bill was working at Excelsior when Bert Stevens rode out with the news that Maria Miller was very ill. Bill hurried to her side and found that she was afflicted with appendicitis. Dr. Hamilton from La Jara was there to take care of her, but her condition was very grave. She was in great pain moaning and screaming at intervals. Frantically, Bill and Lew went outside of the house and offered a prayer. It had been Danish custom that when death was near, a white lamb would come to take the dying. Bill says he will never forget, he and Lew seeing a white lamb pass outside his mother’s window and they knew she was going to die. It was hard for them to accept the Lord’s decision when her pain subsided and she soon breathed her last breath of life. Apparently her appendix had ruptured and the poison soon spread throughout her body. No surgery was ever attempted, when Maria’s spirit returned to her Heavenly Father at the age of forty-nine, leaving Andrew and three sons.
What a cruel blow this was to her family. Lew was fourteen years old at the time, Bill age seventeen and Niels age nineteen. Home life was never the same for the family again the warmth of the mother’s smile was gone! The money Bill had given his mother the previous Saturday was later found where she had carefully put it away.
Andrew was working for James P. Jensen at the time of his wife’s death, and so he moved into the Jensen home. Lew stayed for a time with the Ben Irving family. He and Bill went, as the old saying goes, “from pillar to post” making their home with anyone who would accept their labor in return for room and board.
The following November 3, 1909, Niels married Dorotha Rasmussen and took over the family home. They were blessed with two children, Thelma and Bertha. Niels was a carpenter by trade, but he had many other talents. He was an artist, when it came to drawing he was a whiz with a pencil. He could draw anything. He was also talented in music, like all the Miller boys he loved to dance. He played the harmonica, some of his favorite tunes were: “Turkey in the Straw”, “Buffalo Girls”, “Red Wing”, and many more.
Bill found employment on the Head Ranch with Mann Robbs and Charley Bailey as foremen. They were sheltered from the cold only by a crude camp. Later the Mann Robbs family made room for Bill and he moved in with them for a time. He made his way by assisting Robbs in planting a crop. Later on he got a job breaking up some land for Billy Spencer. Robbs took advantage of the situation by attempting to claim his wages but Spencer would not permit it.
Lew had found homes with first one and then another. After leaving the Irvins, he moved in with the Gilbert Reeds for a time and later “Hung his hat” at the Pete Cornum home.
A few years after Maria’s death, Andrew built a small two-room house just one block west of the old home, where Niels was living. Andrew and Lew lived together in this house for several years.
For a time Bill made his home with President James Jensen, his first cousin. By this time Bill was courting the girls. He married Maggie Jane Hutchins from Sanford, on November 1, 1916. They had five children. He also was musical and loved to play the harmonica and especially loved to dance. He was a very hard worker and farmer. (Other details of Bill are in his own history.)
Lew was a real hard worker. Doing farm labor and he made crates for the lettuce sheds. He could pound a nail faster than anyone in the country. He was known as a drop nailer. He would hold the nails in his left hand, and drop them one at a time, while he hit them with the hammer in the right hand, he could drive a nail with a single blow. If it had been world known Lew would have been in the book of world records.
Lew was a bachelor for many years. He was a real ladies man, taking after his uncle Marcus. He was a good dancer and had a winning personality. His nieces remember many of his girl friends as he was always bringing one over to Niels and Bill’s. He was very good to his nieces and nephews, they sure loved Uncle Lew. Lew was almost 30 years old when he married Minnie Creason on February 7, 1925. They had five children.
Andrew was the town fortune teller. The young people of the town looked forward to going down to “Brother Millers” and having their fortune read with cards as one of the highlights of entertainment.
Andrew later had a girl friend. We called her “Sister Creamer” and it looked like she might be his second wife. However, he suffered an accident resulting in a broken hip and this not only caused him to be a cripple for the rest of his life but also canceled any plans he may have had for marrying Sister Creamer. Carl Fredrickson started beating his time and they were married.
Andrew’s accident happened in 1918. He and Jack Luster were hauling a load of hay. As they drove the team (a white horse and white mule) whit a wagon load of hay upon the tithing yard scales to weigh it, the back end of the hay rack broke and caused him to fall from the load and break his hip. He was unable to care for himself so Bill and Maggie brought him to their home and cared for him for over a year. He laid in bed for several months with his leg hanging off the end of the bed and a ten pound bucket of rocks hanging from his leg. Maggie said he was a very patient man and never complained. When he was asked how he felt, he would answer, “Oh, I am git-in bet-ter, but it all takes time.” Later, when he was able to get around on crutches he moved back to his little home. His granddaughter Voris recalls, “I can remember when I was just a little girl about four years old, going to see grandpa, and he would always say, “Let’s see if I can find a lit-tle bit of can-day for lit-tle Wo-rus.” Of course, he always found the candy in a little sack in a cupboard drawer, which I can remember very well.”
Voris also remembered a little fish pond in Grandpa Andrew’s back yard which he had planted trees all around. She and Bertha and Thelma Jepperson had a play house in the trees, where they spent many hours playing together.
Later, Andrew became ill and could no longer live alone so his boys paid Sister Fredrickson (his old girl-friend, Maria Creamer) to take care of him. He passed away in the Fredrickson home, which later became the Nora and Theodore Hansen home (195 Fir Street), on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1922. Voris said, “Although I was only five years old at the time I can remember Bertha and I peeking under the sheet which covered him, and seeing the ice packed around his body and thinking how cold he must be. I remember Thelma ratting on us and Dad (Bill) got after us good.”
Testimony by granddaughter, Voris Jane (Miller) Cornum - “I fell fortunate to have these memories of my Grandpa. These people were true pioneers, they had no idea what might be ahead of them as they left Denmark. We should always remember how much the gospel meant to them, that they would leave their homeland and other family members to gather in Utah with the Saints. I know they too, would be proud of the descendants they have left and of the strength of the gospel in their family.”
Voris Jane Miller Cornum's Childhood Memories
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| Voris Jane Miller, age 11 |
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| Voris Jane Miller, age 10 |
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| Voris Jane Miller, about 16 |
Written by Voris Cornum:
A few fond memories I have of Mom & Dad, were when us kids were growing up. I especially recall some of our Christmases; we had lots of good ones. I don’t remember any that were very bad. Seems that Santa always found us.
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| Maggie & Bill Miller, & baby Voris |
The day before Christmas, the doctor had given Herman very little chance to live. I was not aware of this, but I knew something was very wrong. We had hung our stockings on nails behind the little pot-belled heater. Aunt Lula’s daughter and son-in-law, from California, Ollie and John Wesmath, were staying all night too, sleeping in chairs. I saw Dad take Herman’s little stocking and go outside. When he came back in he had tears in his eyes. Later momma told me he had gone outside to pray for Herman, as they did not think he would live through the night. Even though I was just a small child, this has helped me be a strong believer in prayer.
The next morning I was so happy because Santa had come, and there were lots of toys. I especially remember the building blocks, because John Wesmath was on the floor helping me build castles. Gee! But I thought he was sure a fun man. They said Herman had passed the crises. I did not know just what that meant; but I did know he was much better. I got the toys and piled them on his bed and crawled up there to play with him.
When I was quite young we must have spent most of our Christmases at Grandma Hutchins’, as she always decorated a big tree lit up with candles as this was before electricity. We kids all knew better than to get very close to the tree or we could catch on fire.
Luella and I were more like sisters than, niece and auntie, and I did live a lot at Grandma’s. I usually called her "Wellsma" meaning Luella’s Ma. I really thought her name was “Wellsma” for years. We would find Wellsma’s long cotton stockings and hang them behind the old heaters. And always Christmas morning we would find them stuffed from toe to top, with goodies, besides dolls dressed just alike. We generally got the same thing for Christmas.
Another Christmas that stands out in my mind was when I got a big doll house and Luella got one just like it. Herman and Jerome got barns just alike. Aunt Nina took care of Jerome Johnson after his mother died, until Uncle Ren married Clara. And Aunt Maud Reed keep Cally. So since Nina and momma were together so much Jerome was like part of our family. Dad made creates for the pea sheds in La Jara, so he had lots of slats and that is what he built the little barns and houses from. He painted them all green with gray tops. We spent many hours playing with them making farms, we used potatoes and matches for our animals, and sticks and twin string for fences.
Luella and I were more like sisters than, niece and auntie, and I did live a lot at Grandma’s. I usually called her "Wellsma" meaning Luella’s Ma. I really thought her name was “Wellsma” for years. We would find Wellsma’s long cotton stockings and hang them behind the old heaters. And always Christmas morning we would find them stuffed from toe to top, with goodies, besides dolls dressed just alike. We generally got the same thing for Christmas.
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| Aunt Nina Johnson, Bill Miller and Voris Jane Miller, age 3 |
Another Christmas that stands out in my mind was when I got a big doll house and Luella got one just like it. Herman and Jerome got barns just alike. Aunt Nina took care of Jerome Johnson after his mother died, until Uncle Ren married Clara. And Aunt Maud Reed keep Cally. So since Nina and momma were together so much Jerome was like part of our family. Dad made creates for the pea sheds in La Jara, so he had lots of slats and that is what he built the little barns and houses from. He painted them all green with gray tops. We spent many hours playing with them making farms, we used potatoes and matches for our animals, and sticks and twin string for fences.
I’m sure that our Christmas’ could not have been too elaborate, but to me it was always happy times and Santa never missed us.
When I was a teenager and we were living on the Hyde Ranch. The grain had been hailed out, with Christmas coming I’m sure the folks were worrying about money. Uncle John Reed was taking a truck load (Model-T truck) of pigs to Alamosa to the sale. So dad had a few pigs and he put one of them in the truck; so we could have a little Christmas money. Well about half way to Alamosa the other pigs got to fighting our pig and he jumped over the side boards and broke his neck and died. I can remember how bad moma felt. Uncle John felt so bad about it that he gave her a $20.00 bill for the pig. And that bought our Christmas that year.
I well remember the dolls, buggy, red wagon, and many other toys we got. Usually the Christmas presents were hid in a corner behind the old organ. I caught on to this at a rather young age, so I would peek and I generally had a good idea what Santa was going to bring. One year I got fooled; Momma had got me a cute little cooking set all with blue handles. They were hid on the top shelf in the cloths closet. Christmas morning the little cooking set was not there with my other presents. I peeked in the closet and there they were still on the shelf. Oh! What to do. I moped around playing with my new doll and a little blue trunk. Finally momma asked me what was wrong. I said I liked everything I got; but I asked Santa for a little cooking set and he did not bring it. I saw the surprised look come over momma’s face and she sent me out to the well to get some water; when I came back in she said, “Now Voris, go get all your Christmas thing and put them up, so we can clean up the mess.” There laying on top of the little blue trunk was my cooking set. Of course I was so happy and momma said, “You must not have seen everything.” Ha! Ha! I thought; who’s fooling who!
I guess my most memorable Christmas was Dec. 24, 1936 when Duwayne and I were married. We went down to Uncle John B. Reed’s home, he was the Stake President then. We had to wait for him to finish milking the cows, before he could come in and marry us. Then we went on to Alamosa and spent the night in the old “Victoria Hotel”.
Other memories I have are: I was having a birthday party when I was 14 years old. All the Nortonville gang came to our house. Two boys got to shuffling and Lee Hamilton tipped over his chair and busted all the fancy front of Dad’s new RCA radio; one of his most prized possessions. Did we feel bad; yes Dad, Lee, and me.
Another memory I have was one evening at the “cat house” (I rather call it the Hyde place). Momma and Dad had had a good quarrel. As I recall; two horses had gotten into some grain and had eaten it. Dad had given Momma orders to watch, so this would not happen; but she had forgot. Anyway, they both threw a lot of non-mentionable words to each other. So Momma grabbed us kids and said, “We are going up to Uncle John’s and tell him just what you have said and how crazy you are.” I was very reluctant about going. I didn’t really want to leave my dad all alone; and I certainly didn’t want to tell Uncle John; especially when he was the Stake President. But we took out through the field; it was about a quarter of a mile to Uncle John’s. We soon found out that Momma had no intentions of going to Uncle John’s. She had us all lay down in a ditch and wait for Dad to come and find us. Well after about 30 minutes us kids were begging to go home. I remember Enid, quite small, was bawling and needed to go to bed. So finally we snuck back to the house and peeked in the window. There sit Dad in his big easy chair listening to his new RCA radio; enjoying his piece and quiet. I’m sure Momma’s pride must have suffered that night as she tried to make him think Uncle John would soon be there to give him a good talking to. I’m sure Dad was not a bit worried about it.
Yes, my folks had a good life together. Lots of ups and downs; but no serious problems. I’m thankful to be their daughter.
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| Herman, Voris, Morris, Bill Miller, Enid, Maggie Miller, and Janice 1937 - Sanford, Colorado |
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