Manti Temple, dedicated in 1888
At the time the Christensens left their home on the Salt
Lake Valley east bench, Sanpete County was a major area of Mormon settlement
south of the Wasatch Front. The first
white settlers arrived in the area in 1849 at the invitation of the Ute Chiefs
Wakara and Sowiette. They first settled
Manti but soon settled towns throughout the Sanpete Valley. Moroni was one of many communities settled in
the between 1851 and 1854 and was a thriving Mormon community when the Christensen’s
arrived in 1860. (1)
While we do not know the economic circumstances under which
the Christensen family arrived in Sanpete, the following comments of an English
pioneer provides interesting insight into the Scandinavian immigration into the
Sanpete Valley.
I have seen many
Scandinavian families come into Manti in pioneer days with no means of
support. Most of them had small trunks
that contained all their earthly wealth, a few cloths and some bedding. Some walked from Salt Lake City to Sanpete
County. Former countrymen would take
them into their homes for a few weeks.
Then the new immigrant would acquire a lot, build himself a small adaobe
home, surround it with a willow woven fence.
Soon a few acres of ground were added to his accumulations, every foot
of which was utilized. Mother and father
and every child in the Scandinavian home worked. None of he wheat they raised was wasted and
after it was thrashed with the flail, the Sacndinavians cleaned their wheat
with hand-turned mills. They chopped
their animal feed with a hand chopper so that it would go farther, and provide
better animal food. There was no waste. I am an Englishman, but I have always said
that the Scandinavian was thrifty, honest and God fearing, and set us a worthy
example. (2)
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| Cabin built by Nathaniel Beach in about 1853(http://ilovehistory.utah.gov) |
Once established in Moroni, Peter helped build roads,
ditches, canals, public and private buildings.
(3)He was also likely involved with his father, Jeppe, who was very busy
with community projects. Christensen
family history states, “Jeppe worked mainly as a mason and helped to build many
of the buildings in Moroni, including the Tabernacle. Jeppe bought a farm and some horses.”(4) With his fluency in English, surely young
George Armstrong was a great resource for his father and Grandfather in helping
them interact with their English neighbors.
Later in life, George Armstrong Chappell was known as a notoriously hard
worker – a character trait likely developed early working alongside his
Scandinavian relatives.
While the white settlers originally came to Sanpete at the
invitation of their Native American neighbors, by 1865 relations between the
two groups had become strained. The
expansion of livestock grazing on traditional Native American lands had made it
increasingly more difficult for the local Indians to feed themselves by their
traditional hunter-gatherer means. Many
were hungry and starving. Disease and death
was rampant. In an effort to feed
themselves, some turned to steeling and eating Mormon cattle. (5)
On April 9, 1865, , in Manti, just a few miles down the road
from Moroni, an altercation between the whites and Native Americans set off the
longest and bloodiest conflict between the two in Utah history. The events of that day are described as follows:
On that date a number
of prominent Utes came to Manti. They
met at Jerome Kempton’s place, and it appeared that un understanding would be
arrived at, but a young chief (Yene-wood) also known as Jake Arropeen, could
not be pacified; he kept talking and making demonstrations, trying to persuade
the other Indians against making peace.
John Lowry and Archibald W. Buchanan were interpreters and leading spokesmen
on the people’s side.
John Lowry, who was
said to be under the influence of liquor, demanded of Chief Yene-woods (Jake
Arropeen) that he should keep quiet and let him (Lowry) finish talking, when
someone spoke, saying, “Look out, he is getting his arrows.” Whereupon Lowry stepped up, caught hold of
the Indian and pulled him off his horse, and he was about to abuse him in some
way, when some of the by-standers interfered.
Indian Joe mounted his horse and rode out to an Indian Camp at Shumway
Springs, where he reported what had happened. This caused a big excitement
among the Indians who sent out their runners to distant Indian camps with the
information. In consequence the Indians
generally broke camp and moved into the mountains. (6)
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| http://www.ilovehistory.utah.gov |
One of the young Ute leaders present that day was, Black
Hawk. He and others promised
retaliation for this insult and over the next several days, five Mormons were
killed and hundreds of head of cattle were driven off into the hills where they
became welcome food for the hungry natives.
Soon large groups of Indians were joining Blackhawk and thus began the
longest and most destructive conflict between the whites and Native Americans
in the history of Utah. This conflict,
known as the Black Hawk War, would go on for the next 7 years. (7)
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| http://historytogo.utah.gov |
The effect on the Mormon settlements in Sanpete County and
throughout the Utah Territory was rapid and profound. Settlers in smaller and outlying communities
were quickly gathered into larger towns.
Local militias were mobilized and forts constructed. Under the direction of General D. H. Wells,
Moroni Fort and Bastion was erected.
Moroni Fort had twelve foot rock walls with cabins built inside. The
bastion was constructed of walls sixteen feet high and three feet thick with
port holes providing a view of the entire valley. (8)
While Jeppe Christensen’s masonry skills would have been put
to work on the fortifications, Peter was called out as part of the Nauvoo
Legion, a local militia organized under the direction of the Mormon
Priesthood. Due to ongoing animosity
between the United States Federal Government and Utah Territory over the issues
of the Utah War and Polygamy, federal troops, which were so effective at
putting down Indian uprisings in surrounding states and territories, were held
back. (9). As such, Peter was gone for long periods of time serving in the
Nauvoo Legion while Anna Maria and her
children comprising at that time 11 year old George Armstrong, Peter, age 6, Euella
age 5, Mary Malvina, 3, and Parley Pratt, 1, were left to get along as best
they could. Shouldering the responsibility as the oldest child, George Armstrong
would have been his mother’s helper in caring for the family. Chores such as chopping and gather wood,
bringing in water, caring for the family animals and keeping track of younger
siblings would have been a daily part of his life.
The first two years of the war were particularly violent as
dozens of white settlers and hundreds of Native Americans were killed. Thousands of cattle were driven off as
Indian tribes as far south as the Navajo joined with Black Hawk in warring up
and down the Territory. In 1866 the
surrounding communities of Fountain Green, Wales and West Side were abandoned
and moved into the fort with the Christensens and the other inhabitants of
Moroni. (10).
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| http://sanpete.com |
In order to protect their livestock from being run off by
marauding warriors, animals had to be brought into the forts at night with the
settlers. Already tight living quarters
now became near intolerable. A resident
of Fort Gunnison wrote, “After a few weeks living within the walls, a letter
was sent to President Wells asking permission to have the Kraals, Pig Stys and
Sheep pens outside the fort to keep it from becoming disagreeably unsanitary.”
(11)
The family of Peter Christensen got along as best they
could. While not desperate, describing their circumstances as difficult would
be an understatement. Chappell family
history provides the following: They
hardly knew what it was like to eat bread.
When they did have bread, they gathered saleratus or alkali off the
ground. This was used to sweeten sour
mild or buttermilk to be used in making bread.
In the spring of the year, the mother would take her children out to hut
for and dig Sego roots to eat. They also
ate the bark of the Greasewood. (12)
| Sego Lily |
Adding to the hardship was the loss of two daughters. Sara Salvina Christensen was born in the
height of the conflict on November 20, 1866.
Times were difficult for all and would have been especially hard for a
newborn. Limited food and crowded
living conditions was the perfect recipe for disease. She died in the spring of
1867 at only 5 months of age. Ann
Elizabeth was born less than a year later in February of 1868, but lived just
two weeks. (13)
With the help of family and friends the little family made
it through. George A’s grandfather,
Jeppe Christensen, his advancing age making soldiering difficult, remained with
his family in Moroni and helped the war effort serving as a community guard. This steady patriarch provided much needed
leadership not only to his family but also to the community. Known for his kindness towards the Indians and
his ability to speak their language, he provided valuable service as an
interpreter and consultant. (14)
In 1867, Black Hawk made peace with the Mormons and a formal
peace treaty was signed in 1868. Even though intermittent violence continued
until federal troops finally got involved and ended the conflict in 1872, (15)
Peter and other members of the militia would have had more time at home. With the danger less severe, soon the
routines of life replaced the anxieties of uncertainty. Life took on a more normal feel.
1.
Antrei, Albert C.T., Roberts, Allen D., “A
History of Sanpete County”, 1999, Utah State Historical Society, Sanpete County
Commission, pp. 24-29.
2.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Scandinavia’s
Contribution to Utah, Salt Lake City, 1939, pp. 25-26 as quoted in A History of
Sanpete County by Antrei and Allen, p. 48.
3.
Marily C., Christensen Family History
4.
Marily C., Christensen Family History
5.
John A. Peterson, Utah History Encyclopedia, as
found at http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/american_indians/blackhawkwar.html
6.
Peter Gottfredson, Indian Depredations in Utah
(1919), pp. 129, 130. As found on : http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofindiand00gottrich/historyofindiand00gottrich_djvu.txt
7.
John A. Peterson, Utah History Encyclopedia, as
found at http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/american_indians/blackhawkwar.html
9.
John A. Peterson, Utah History Encyclopedia
11.
Gunnison Valley Centennial Memory Book, 45. As
quoted in: “A History of Sanpete County”, 1999, Utah State Historical Society,
Sanpete County Commission, pp 77-78.
12.
Blue Book, History of George Armstrong and
Aurilla Sperry Chappell, p. 12
13.
New.familysearch.org
14.
Marily C., Christensen Family History
15.
John A. Peterson, Utah History Encyclopedia
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