Niels Pedersen & Mette Katherine Pedersen

Niels Pedersen & Mette Kathrine Pedersen

 (The following is an abridged combined history taken from histories compiled by the Herbert Niels Pedersen family).

Niels Pedersen, the first of his family to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and to emigrate to America, was born September 23, 1848, in Skovstrup, Gunderup, Aalborg, Denmark.  The son of Peder Christian Andersen and Maren Nielsen, he was the third child in a family of eight, which consisted of four boys and four girls.

Niels was a rather small man, standing about five feet eight inches tall and weighing about 145 lbs.  He had a sandy complexion and a red beard which turned snow white along with his hair as he grew older.  He wore his long flowing beard in two tails and his hair was also long and piled high on his head. 

At the age of eight, Niels was "farmed out"; that is, he was sent to work for a farmer family who agreed to educate him in exchange for his services, but who failed miserably to fulfill their part of the bargain.  His entire formal education consisted of only 8 days in school.  However, his desire for learning was not to be deterred so easily.  He taught himself how to read and write and also to add and subtract, but he never did master the processes involved in multiplication and division.

After many futile attempts to get his employer to sign his papers recommending him for another job, Niels, who was then about 15, ran away without a recommend and somehow found work on a farm outside of Aalborg.  It was while he was employed on this farm that the German invasion of 1864 took place.  Most of Denmark was captured. 

Aalborg was surrendered to the enemy after German soldiers surrounded the city and fired three warning cannon shots in to the hill north of town.  The soldier stationed on the farm where Niels was employed happened to be a good fellow, and the Danes prospered under his occupation.  They were all sorry when he returned to Germany, for they had accepted him as one of the family; and Niels, who had been especially friendly with him, decided to try his luck in Germany.

The next few years of his life were spent in Kiel, Germany, where he received good wages working for several different farmers, and where he learned to speak considerable German.  He enjoyed this period of his life very much.

When he was about 19 years old, Niels was called back to Denmark to serve an 18 month term in the Danish Army.  The most memorable event of his army career occurred during an annual inspection of the training center where he was stationed.  Niels was among the select group chosen to perform for the inspecting general, but when the general asked for the rifle firing sequence, no one knew what he was talking about.  He noticed the captain rhythmically slapping his leg three times and replied, "One, two, three."  The general replied, "Correct," and Niels was given a special furlough as a reward.

After his discharge from the army, Niels went to a town in the southern part of Aalborg Co. called Solbjerb. There was a great need for hired hands to work the large farms.  One day, as they were cutting peat moss, Niels noticed a girl who seemed to be having difficulty keeping up with the work.  He offered her his help to this "maiden in distress," which was readily accepted.  Her name was Mette Kathrine Pedersen.  

Mette Kathrine Pedersen was the first child of Martin Pedersen and Mette Marie Madsen. She was born on October 22, 1860, in Faer, Aalborg Co., Denmark.  One of the earliest memories of Mette is that of the German soldiers picking her up and swinging her as they rode through her town of Faer, during the war of 1864.  She was four years old at the time.

She was a large, though nicely proportioned woman.  She stood 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed about 160 lbs.  She had dark hair and blue eyes, a lovely soprano voice, and a very expressive reading voice.  She read often to her children. 

When Mette was six or seven, her father and mother both worked in the fields to support the children.  It was Mette's job to look after her younger brothers and sisters at home. She attended a little country school for a number of years.  Of the seven or eight pupils, she was one of the top students. 

When she was barely in her teens, she hired out as a house servant on a local farm.  During the harvest season, it was common for everyone, even the house servants to help in the fields, so she tried her best to keep up with the field hands. It was here that she met Niels.  

Although he was twelve years older than she, their friendship blossomed into a lasting love.  They were wed on December 27, 1880, in Aalborg, when Mette had just turned 20.  They began their marriage in Gunderup where their first 3 children were born.  Two of these children died in a diptheria epidemic.  They moved to Visgaard-hjaer, a suburb of Aalborb, where Niels was a handyman for various people.

One night Niels told Mette that he had to attend a business meeting.  He had heard there were two Mormon missionaries holding cottage meetings in the neighborhood and had decided to take his Bible to drive them out of town that night.  He didn't want anyone, not even his wife, to know where he was going, because it was a disgrace to be seen with the Mormons. At the meeting, Niels, who was well acquainted with the scriptures, was startled when each of the two elders talked for half an hour and said nothing that did not conform with the teachings of the Bible.  On several occasions, he went back to these meetings, hoping to trip the elders up on some point of doctrine, but each time, he himself became more convinced that the Mormons were speaking the truth.

In the meantime, Mette also had heard of the Mormon missionaries and was curious enough to want to attend their meetings.  But she, like her husbnad, was not anxious for anyone to know of her interest, so after she had decided to go to the meeting, she waited until Niels left for his "business meeting" before she ventured out of the house.  When she arrived at the Mormon gathering, there was Niels sitting toward the front of the building with his back to her.  She hid herself behind the stove (Danish stoves were very high) so that he would not see her and slipped out as soon as the meeting was over.  She was in bed by the time Niels returned.  This secrecy continued for a few months until they "ran" into each other at the meeting.  They began studying together.  Finally, Mette suggested that they get baptized.  Niels replied, "I've been waiting two years for you to say that." They were baptized on March 24, 1889, in Aalborg, by Elder Erastus Willardsen.  They served faithfully in the branch.

While living in Aalborg, 5 more children were born to them.  Niels was a fireman at the Rorhdahl Cement Factory. 

Mette was a very good manager of the household, feeding and clothing her family well on the little income they received.  She never wasted anything and she milked the family cows herself.  She had a special way of seasoning pork, which they raised every year, and she made delicious soups once a week, usually containing soup balls made of ground meat, parsley, carrots, and potatoes and Danish dumplings.  She also made a special rhubarb pudding.

At the April, 1897, conference, the mission president told the Pedersens that he appreciated their missionary work and wanted them to continue for a little longer.  They had no idea what he met at the time, but two years later, the same president called Niels into his office and asked him how long it would take him to get ready to emigrate to America.  Niels said that he could be ready in a couple of weeks, but that he didn't have any money.  The president shared a story with him.  

Two years before, in 1897, a Scandinavian Conference had been held in Manti, Utah.  One missionary had stood and asked that all missionaries who had eaten at the home of Niels Pedersen in Denmark raise their hands.  A large number stood.  He continued, "I appoint the president of this conference as treasurer for an emigration fund for Niels Pedersen."  He gave the first contribution of $5.  By the end of the conference, enough money had been collected for him to come.  The mission president had put the money in the bank.  Within three weeks, Niels was on his way to Ephraim, Utah.  As the ship departed, he waved a handkerchief to his family until the ship was out of sight.

When he arrived in Ephraim, Utah, he went to work for a farmer by the name of Peter Olsen. One day, Peter asked Niels how much it would take to bring his family to Utah.  He offered him $75 to begin his fund.  When they learned from church authorities that it would be $350, Peter game him the entire amount and told Niels that if he could repay it that it would be great, if not it was a gift. 

Peter  helped 32 families come over.  When he had left Denmark, he sold his estate for three bags of gold. Niels and Mette made payments throughout the years to Peter's family.  One day in 1936/1937, their son, Oliver, found Peter's widow and paid off the last $75.  She was so grateful.  It had come at a much needed time.  They had lost everything due to the depression.  He learned that out of the 32 families her husband had funded, only 4 including their family had been able to repay them.

During the time Niels was working in Ephraim, Mette went to work cleaning for others.  One of her employers was her landlady, Miss Antonette Mariane Carolina Willadsen.  She cleaned her apartment twice a week.  Mette frequently found money lying about the place and carefully left it in the apartment.  When she was getting ready to leave for Utah, she went to Miss Villadsen to pay up her rent and was told to wait for a moment.  She returned with a handful of bills, more money than Mette had ever seen before.  She gave it to Mette and said, "You're to have this money because you are honest.  I tried to trick you into taking my money by leaving it lying around the house, but you never took a cent.  Now use it to feed your children on the way to America."  She did.  She purchased bananas, apples and grapes- the first they had ever tasted with it.

Niels was able to send for them within six months from the time he arrived.  On the way to America, Mette was sick during the entire voyage.  Fortunately, none of the children were sea sick.  When they arrived at Ellis Island, they were put into a large building.  While sitting inside, Mette commented that she was glad she wouldn't have to sail anymore.  Then she looked out the window and found that she was sailing on a large ferryboat which took them to New York City, where they boarded a train for Utah! They arrived in Salt Lake City just as the Temple was being finished.  Oliver remembers scaffolding all around the top of the East Tower.

Their first home in America was a little house on Main Street in Ephraim, which they rented for $2 a month. Over the next several years, they moved to various parts of Sanpete County.  Niels worked many different jobs.  He worked in farming; for the Gunnison Irrigation Company; as a rip-rapper on the Sterling Reservoir Dam.  Their last two children were born in Utah. 

Niels was blessed with a gift.  He had many visions and revelations about the future.  One day he was sitting with his three oldest sons on a ditch bank on their farm in Gunnison.  It was during WWI, and they had all registered for the draft and were waiting for their numbers to come up.  Niels turned to Hy (Hyrum) and said, "Hy, you'll go across the ocean and see plenty of action."  A prophecy which was fulfilled.  Hyrum trained at Fort Houston, Texas, and was went to France with the Signal Engineering Corps of the Thirty-third Army Division.  He fought in the battle of St. Mielhil and in other major battles.  He was on the front lines when the armistice was signed.

He told Oliver that he would remain in the States and would have it good in the Army.  He was sent to Camp Lewis.  After seven months training in Camp Lewis, they were ready to board ship when the armistice was signed.

He said that Alvin would go into the service as well, but that he couldn't interpret what he had seen.  Alvin was sent to Fort Logan, Colorado, where he died in the flu epidemic a few months later.  When Niels went to the Gunnison Railroad Depot to get Alvin's body, he told the family that what he had been shown was a light over the depot and that he now realized what it had meant.

 

On another occasion, Niels' brother, Svend, had appeared to him one night.  He was in tears and had pleaded, "Please do something for me."  Niels had told the family to mark the date on the calendar.  Two weeks later Niels received a letter saying his brother had been killed when the house he was tearing down had fallen in on him.  It had happened on the very day they had circled on the calendar.

They were sealed in the Manti Temple on October 8, 1924. Niels was healthy and blessed to be able to work all his life until the day he died.  He passed away on June 28, 1927, being 76 years old. He was buried in the Gunnison Cemetery.

After his death, Mette moved around a lot as her children took care of her.  Finally, her daughter, Emma, and her husband were given charge of caring for her.  They moved into Mette's home and cared for her the remaining of her days.  She passed away on September 10, 1948.  She is buried in the Gunnison Cemetery next to her husband.

-Note: After the family came to Utah, all members changed the spelling of their surname to Peterson.  Oliver, years later, changed his back to Pedersen.