Anna Hypolita Eilersen Hansen History

By Eva (Hansen)

FORWARD

It has been said, “The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it”. On too infrequent occasions we have enjoyed mother’s reminiscences about her life and now, lest her story become lost to us – knowing she will not always be with us – I herein attempt to record some of the experiences which are foremost in her memory.

Perhaps with this written account and our own memories we and our children can reflect about her from time to time and take a lesson from her invariable love, profound wisdom and good judgment, unselfishness, and perhaps greatest of all her attributes, her constantly radiating faith in God and her fellow men.

With Appreciation to Mother…

For making this writing desired and possible!

Anna Hypolita Hansen

It was the 20th of December, 1894 that Anna Hippolytha Eilersen started life on Hygeberg Gaard (Cozy Hill Farm) Hatting, Danmark. She was the third child of Niele Móller Eilersen and Frederike Christensen Eilersen.¹

Cozy Hill Farm had formerly been owned by her grandfather Christensen and was a substantial dairy farm. Some land and labor were devoted to the raising of grains and vegetable produce with which to feed the stock.

Mother’s earliest recollection, which left the impression on her mind as being “a very important event”, is the time that her grandmother Eilersen came to visit from Vejleby Faad. She was only a few years of age but remembers these visits were considered special occasions and for that reason was ‘all dressed up’ in her white pinafore. It was delightful the way everyone sat around chatting and nibbling on cakes and sipping hot chocolate. Mother also recalls that during these early years, her father and mother had many friends from the city who frequently came to the farm to hunt and fish.

An incident of import occurred when she was about five years old. Early one cold winter morning the hired girl had built the fire in the stove with coal oil and had gone out from the thatched-roof house to milk the cows. After awhile, she went to the door of the stable to ascertain whether the fire was going (she could easily tell how well it was burning by noting the smoke from the chimney). To here alarm she saw that the fire was burning frantically, not only in the stove but also along the roof. The house was in flames!!

Hastily, she roused the family from their beds. Mother’s father went to the other wing of this house to awake his younger brother who lived with them (Valdenmar Eilersen) but he thought his brother was playing a joke and it took some convincing to get him out of bed. Mother says here Uncle was a fine young man and also something of a colorful character. Upon realizing their plight, he remarked, “I do believe the -censored– castle is burning”.

Her mother was expecting a baby and being a practical family they rescued the baby crib, most of the bedroom furniture and some clothing. They realized that all of the farm buildings were threatened, so all of the animals were set free. Consequently, the scurrying of the animals over the adjacent farms alerted the neighbors who came to their aid. Mother remembers being told to stand well away from the licks of the fire then, after a time, she was joined by her mother and then her father – he was ‘all dressed up’ (not in his high hat and tux but in his very next best). He showed his resourcefulness in that he had to get dressed anyway and thought it best to rescue his good clothes which he needed for his business trips to town.

The lovely family home burned to the ground but the other farm buildings were saved since the wind was blowing away from the buildings and kept the fire from spreading. Most of the family possession were destroyed including the linens, silverware, books, piano and family heirlooms; however, the family was safe and they were thankful! The neighboring farm took the family in for the night and they later stayed at the home of an aunt until they were able to rent a place in the city of Horsens. While the new house at Cozy Hill Farm was being built, a baby sister was born March 12, 1900 and they named her “Sigrod”.

After they moved back to the rebuilt farm house, mother recalls that from time to time they found in the garden partially burned pages of books, melted silver spoons and other evidences of lost possessions. Another impressions that is remembered about the new house is the special staircase her father had the men build. He had the stairs leading to the second floor built in such a manner that they could be “hoisted” upstairs and out of that way of the hall below.

Mother was something of a tomboy. Perhaps this was encouraged since her parents had lost a boy older and one younger than she² and and here father dearly wanted a son. She and her father were constant companions and she loved to help him around the farm. How she enjoyed riding the horses and helping in such ways as driving the horses in a circle while he fed the machine they pulled straw from the barn. This was a straw cutting machine which cut the straw into short pieces for the animals.

Farming in Danmark, as mother remembers it, was different in many ways from that in America. Land wasn’t extensive and it was prudent that good use be made of every portion. Instead of sending that animals out to pasture wide areas as we do, all of them – even the sheep – were tied down to stakes with rope, and when they had eaten the grass in one area they were moved and staked down in another. Mother’s father gave here the chore of moving the bulls from place to place. However, when her mother learned of this it was the “last straw” and she “read him the book” for having a youngster under five tending the bulls and indulging in other such responsible activities.

After harvest each year, her parents bought two or three hundred geese and fattened them on the leavings from the harvest. These were sold at Christmas-time for a nice profit. The down and feathers were put to good use in feather beds for the family.

Cozy Hill Farm was fenced on one side by a river and the other boundary was formed by a branch of the river. Mother was still about five years old when she was sent on the errand of taking lunch to the men at the river bottom. They were cleaning the river bed as required by law and necessity. Then she reached here destination she saw that then men had left so she set out in search of them by following the river.

Back at the farmhouse, much later, everyone became concerned over the child when she failed to return home. The hungry men had long since returned from their labors, and hadn’t seen her. It started raining very hard accompanied by loud claps of thunder and bright streaks of lightening so they went out in search of the little girl., realizing too well that she might have fallen in the river. After a long and thorough search in the downpour, they returned to the house discouraged, wet and childless.

The storm finally subsided and everyone was relieved and happy to see her come walking down the lane, even though, great embarrassment to Lita) on many later occasions, “as she came down the lane she didn’t walk exactly straight”. However, the girls attitude toward the event was complete nonchalance – she didn’t understand why everyone was so upset. She hadn’t been lost. It started raining very hard so she had taken shelter in a grove of small trees, ate some of the lunch and drank the beer, or part of the beer. Consequently, a small tired child, plus food and beverage resulted in an exhausted little girl who had dozed off to sleep, until the lulling rain subsided.

Children entered the school in Danmark in those days about the age of seven and mother had here first educational experience in a little country school in Hatting, which she attended a couple of years.

The family then had to sell Cozy Hill Farm and move to the city of Horsens because here father’s ill health (tuberculosis of the stomach, chest and throat) wouldn’t permit his taking care of the farm. However, he couldn’t leave all the horses behind so he took some of his best horses and a few pigs with them. These were cared for by a hired man outside the city limits, and the family leased an apartment in Horsens for one year. Mother and her sister Sophie³ went to private school during that year.

Her father died when she was nearly nine (May 1904). This was a great sorrow to the family and a tremendous loss was undoubtedly felt by the young girl Lita who had always loved and favored her dad and known his constant love and companionship.

The family of five then continued on in Horsens about a year until the lease expired and they moved to Silkeborg. Perhaps Silkeborg was chosen because grandmother seemed to feel she could there best raise and support her family. Mother’s uncle Richard (her father’s brother) had told grandmother that he would be her financial backer if she wanted to open a delicatessen. This didn’t materialize – there were plenty such shops in the city, so grandmother went to work as an overseer in a knitting factory.⁴ She was an industrious, capable woman and made the best of the situation of being left alone with family of four small children to raise.

While in Silkeborg a sister, Maria Theresie, born 1899, died of tuberculosis. She was buried there in Silkeborg (for the record, the rest of the family was buried in Hatting),

Mother remembers having some really good times in this town where she again went to a co-educational school. During this period mother went to live with her aunt and uncle Valdenmar Eilersen to help with expenses, but soon returned because of homesickness.

When she was twelve she was again sent to live with her uncle and aunt where she tended their children and helped on the farm. This farm was called ‘Illerup Sogaard” (nearest mailing station was Alken). Mother often remembered during that time her dying father’s reassuring her that things would be all right and to remember that her uncle would always take care of her.

She went to school in the little village Bjestrupunit until she graduated at the age of fourteen. Her school days were filled with many good times; one outstanding event being the time the tourists made them late to school. The girls frequently ran down to the lake to go swimming in their “birthday suits” and then after the refreshing swim would hurriedly dress and run back to school. One day some tourists came to the lake to admire the beautiful countryside and remained quite a time, leaving the poor damsels in distress cowering in the water, with their unacessible clothing on the beach!

The school master was also chorister in church so whenever there was a funeral or wedding they got out of school. She relates that her uncle, much to her regret and in typically guardian fashion, always seemed to know when school was dismissed early and would come with the rig to pick her up. That seldom gave her time to play hookey.

Mother remembers going down to the swamps with the hired men to watch them dig peet. It was dug out of watery ground, then laid out in the sun to dry. During the drying process the peet was formed in bricks and these were stacked in such a way that air circulated around them and through them thus facilitating the drying. When thoroughly dry they were hauled into a shelter and stacked for fuel.

The only time mother remembers being sick was when she and her uncle took a walk one night to look over his land. They owned a great dane and a young colt which were playing together this particular night, and as they came near, the colt playfully jumped over mother knocking her to the ground. ‘Next thing she knew she was in bed and her aunt was sitting besides her with cookies for her. This was a great and rare treat for her to be waited on!

On another occasion mother wanted to go to a masquerade ball in a small nearby town and after some persuasion got the young man who worked for her uncle to take her. Needless to say, he didn’t like to dance. They went together and he stayed at one end of the ball with his friends and she sat at the other end of the hall and watched everyone dance and “admired their wonderful costumes”. “I had the time of my life that evening”, she recalls.

When the young man came to escort her home she told him she wanted to stay longer. He replied that he had to get up early to work on the farm and that they should leave. However, she wasn’t ready to leave such a grand party so after some discussion he left alone. As she crossed the farms, over the beautiful sparkling, deep, crusted snow, she felt this had been one of the most wonderful nights of her young life and to this writing she recalls how much she enjoyed that evening, though she realized at the time that the folks at home wouldn’t like her having stayed longer than her friend, protector and escort.

About the time they graduated from school (sponsored by the Lutheran church – also that state church) the children were expected, among other things, to learn the New Testament well enough to answer any questions given in a test by the priest. This test also included quoting scriptures orally. After passing this test they graduated from school, usually at the age of fourteen.

Graduation was a tremendously important affair and mother looked forward with much enthusiasm to her mother and sister Sophie’s coming for the exercises. At this time the children were confirmed and became “real women” because they changed from their short dresses to long ones. Mother remembers that first long dress: she says her aunt had it made for her and “it was a beautiful expensive long black dress”.

Now while she had been living with her aunt and uncle her mother had me the Mormon missionaries so when she came to the graduation services she had changed her attitudes considerably and no longer accepted this type of confirmation service.⁵ After graduation and while they were waiting for the hired man to come with the surrey to drive them home she and her mother stood among the tombstones a the church and her mother proceeded to tell her she no longer believed the Lutheran church right nor the beautiful services the daughter had just experienced. Mother remembers, “I couldn’t see it that way and felt terrible that my graduation had suddenly turned out like this but I didn’t say anything since mother was my guest”. However, she was glad when the hired man showed up. “The only part of the wonderful services I didn’t like was that sermon outside the church – mother was real disappointment”, she recalls smilingly. They drove home in the surrey and while everyone was playing cards the graduate reverted to her short dress and went out and tended the children and felt happy again being with them.

When she was sixteen her mother came to see her at uncle Valenmar’s farm and wanted her to come home. Mother says, “I didn’t go, but after she had gone and after thinking it over, she wrote her mother a letter, telling her that she had decided to stay on uncle Valenmar’s until she was eighteen (when she would be of age).

She had some very strong feelings about going home, particularly since her mother had joined the Mormon church. This was really a disgrace – they had been warned in school about the Mormon church and this was positively the worst church her mother could have joined! “Even the Salvation Army wouldn’t have been so bad”, she thought. Her uncle felt pretty strongly about it too and he remarked that her mother only wanted her home “because of those (Censored) Mormons”.

After receiving her daughter’s letter of ultimatum, grandmother knew a decision had to made on her part too. She went and talked to the branch president. After a discussion they decided that if she was to have her daughter come home that was the time to do it. She called Valdenmar and told him she wanted her daughter home. He replied that Lita didn’t want to come home, didn’t have to and and he wanted what was best for the girl too! She told him that all she had was her children and she wanted them home – she terminated the conversation my making it clear that Lita was to return home.

They had always been a close and loving family and mother didn’t want to cause any trouble so she went home to Aarhus (her mother and the children moved to this town since there was a larger branch of the church there),

The young lady had another good reason for not wanting to leave her uncle’s home – the young man who worked for them! She and this young man had been good friends and he had played and important part in her young life. She thought they had kept this friendship a secret from all of their folks. He had given her a picture of himself which she kept “put away”. She expected little privacy at home so when she left her uncle’s home she gave the picture to a girl friend to keep for her. She never saw the lad again but he was a special part of her youth and and exceptionally fine friend. Sometime after she had moved back home, the girl friend came to see her and brought her some tragic news. Her home had burned down and with it “their” beloved picture of the young man!

Upon her return home she learned that her mother had obtained a job for her which was a disappointment and disgrace – shining shoes in a she shop for a Mormon man. Better jobs were available but her mother thought this Mormon influence would be good for her. She remembers how badly she felt about this job, mostly because she feared her uncle and aunt might come and see her shining shoes on this dirty street – for a Mormon – after the lovely home she had with them.

Mother remembers that her going home was terribly disheartening and again she noted that her mother had changed considerably. She was a pretty lonesome young lady in the new city. Her mother could see the needs of her daughter so she told her about “some nice girls who are going to come and take your somewhere nice”. (It might be interesting to interject here that mother had told her uncle before leaving the farm that she was going home but that her mother wasn’t going to get her to join that “terrible church”.)

Oddly enough, the girls proved to be very nice and they took her to church – since she was was so hungry for friends she even joined the choir. As time went by she continued singing with this choir, which necessitated her hearing the speakers, and although the older missionaries seemed like hypocrites she felt the younger men who came fresh from America, in all their humility, were sincere and had a wonderful spirit about them when they got up to preach with shaking knees. During this time, she had found a new job in an exclusive candy store selling and making candies. She became less and less censorious and more and more accepting but her mind was made up, she wouldn’t be baptized.

Some time elapsed and one holiday there was to be a baptism of a young man – though there was a font in the church he wanted to be baptized in the beautiful ocean. A group of the young people went early in the morning for a picnic in the forest adjoining the ocean, and the missionaries and other joined them later in the afternoon.

As they day wore on the wind blew threateningly and the ocean became very rough. The waves rolled in abnormally high, spurred on by the rain, and it was obvious the baptism couldn’t take place. But the missionaries offered a dedicatory prayer and the ocean immediately was calmed and they were able to continue the baptism.

Mother remembers how impressed she was that summer day at the sight of the young missionary in the water baptizing the convert – she thought, “It must have looked like that when John the Baptist baptized Christ”. She knew this was right and she wished it were she. This was the first time she really admitted to herself she wanted to be baptized. As soon as it was over the ocean again became tempestuous and waves moved in angrily against the beach.

After he was dressed, Elder William Norman, who did the baptizing, called for Lita to wait a minute he wanted to talk to her. She hurried on but he caught her arm and said, “all the while that baptism was going on you wished it were you being baptized”. She denied it, laughingly, “What ever gave you such a silly idea?” Just then the scripture came to her mind forcefully, “For My Spirit shall not always strive with man”… but she said nothing.

It wasn’t long until she told her mother she was ready to join the church. September 20, 1910 she was baptized in the font under the chapel by an older man named Lewis Breinholdt. She didn’t want to be baptized by a younger missionary – she didn’t want anyone to think she had joined the church because of one of the young elders. She wanted everyone to know that she knew it was true and she recalls, “that was the happiest day of my life”.

Shortly thereafter she visited her uncle and aunt and told them she had become a member of the Mormon church not because of her mother but because she know for herself that it was the right church which taught and practiced the Gospel of Christ, pure and undefiled!

PART II

Mother’s proverbial, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop” proves to be more than a maxim with her. Many months passed after the turning point in her life and her next job was working for a doctor’s family – caring for a small boy and helping with the cooking. She took her meal with them and went home every evening.

The first Sunday of the month rolled around and they wondered why mother wasn’t eating. She replied that it was Fast Sunday. The second month when she didn’t east the first Sunday they were again concerned. She then told them about her membership in the church and the principle of fasting. Evidently they weren’t converted to the church, however, for when mother later told them goodbye – she was leaving for America – the doctor took her aside and explained that she shouldn’t go, that she was getting mixed up in white slavery and that before the year had passed she would regret it.

From the time they had joined the church, the Eilersen family dreamed and prayed of going to America and Utah. Grandmother corresponded with a missionary (Joseph H. Hansen) and his wife who had labored in Silkeborg and had returned to his home in Brigham City, Utah.

He had been drilling water wells in addition to his regular livelihood and had made more money than anticipated. He talked to his wife and they decided to send the money to Sophie for passage to America.

She left for America with the understanding that her mother and sisters would join her when they could. Joseph F. Hansens took her into their humble home until she secured a job and was able to support herself.

About a year later, mother’s father’s uncle died and left enough money to pay the passage of the three girls – Lita, Sigred and Rigmor, but not enough for grandmother. Sophie borrowed money from the Danish Relief Society in Brigham City to pay her mother’s fare.

The four Eilersens were seeing their dream come true. They didn’t dare tell any of their relatives on the Eilersen side of the family that they were leaving, because they were influential people and might have tried to stop them “for their own good”, or at least make their departure more difficult.

The night before sailing, they visited mother’s father’s father to bid him goodbye. He was an old man and had a stroke and though not confined to bed, was unable to speak. He had an apartment and a capable woman looked after him.

He cried like a baby at the realization they were leaving. They received comfort in knowing he would be well cared for.

Grandmother also went to visit her father and family for the last time – they were in the middle of a birthday party. They warned her she was making a dreadful mistake – etc, etc, etc. Her father told the others to leave her alone, that through the years she had taken good care of her family and none of them had helped her much and now they should allow her to follow the dictates of her conscience. He added that the least they could do was to make this last visit together a pleasant one.

They left Denmark on the 11 of February, 1912 and crossed the cold North Sea to England. From there they took passage on a ship and were on their way to their new home… America!

They sailed the ocean ten days and mother says this voyage was a real vacation – she was rocked to sleep each night by the rolling waves – had meals served to them – had crackers and soup between meals and enjoyed the trip, together with the missionaries also on board ship.

While crossing the North Sea, one of the missionaries told grandmother that he would be honored if she would wear his beautiful mink fur piece during the voyage to America. Grandmother graciously accepted – being well aware of his motives in avoiding the payment of duty on furs – and realizing what a fur piece would do for her wardrobe, warmth and vanity.

They landed in Montreal, Quebec. As they journeyed through Canada by train, they though it strange to see the Canadians cutting blocks from the ice. Mother also recalls that the train was stalled many times because of heavy snow.

The point of embarcation was Chicago, Illinois where they went through customs, which took a few hours, and then they were on their final leg of the journey to Utah.

The train chairs folded back a bit to permit sleeping but it was often interrupted by the “carryings on” of the missionaries who kept the long trip interesting with such antics as letting the air out of the cushions and when the train approached Utah on of the jolly lads ran through the car each night bellowing, “Brigham City, Brigham City”. The trip was far from dull.

They finally reach Brigham City. The Joseph H. Hansens welcomed them with open arms and home and celebrated the occasion with a big surprise party for them – they were treated royally. The reunion with Sophie was itself cause for great jubilation.

They lived with the Hansens until they found a house to rent. To begin with, they made their livelihood by picking fruit and doing housework. Then, after she learned to communicate effectively in English, mother went out doing practical nursing.

Grandmother paid back her loan from the Relief Society at the earliest possible time – in less than a year after their arrival in America.

They attended the English speaking church rather that the Danish organization because they wanted to identify themselves as Americans and learn the customs and language. This was the ward the Joseph H. Hansens attended, where some of the missionaries belonged and the ward they lived in.

A little later Sophie moved to Salt Lake because the wages were better ($7.00 per week compared to $4.00 in Brigham). She sang with the tabernacle choir for about six months, or a year, but in March returned home to Brigham City – she was sick.

They learned that she had tuberculosis of the lungs and she was bed-fast until May when she died. Joseph H. Hansen gave them a burial lot saying, “I gave you your first resting place in America and I’d like to give you your final one”.

After another four years in Brigham, grandmother and Rigmore moved to Salt Lake and in September Lita and Sigred joined them. Grandmother worked at the Hotel Utah and mother also obtained a job there.

Sophie had met Holger Hansen in Salt Lake through his mother. She was in the hospital and a mutual friend from Brigham, Sophie Valentine, invited them both to dinner.

The Eilersen family then became acquainted with him when he came to Sophie’s funeral in Brigham City.

Lita Eilersen and Holger Hansen were married on July 12, 1916 by Bishop Horsefall. Lita was twenty-one and Holger was twenty-six.

Grandmother married John Hillier the following July.

1. Sophie the first child, born April 2, 1892.

2. A son, Valdenmar Eilersen born in 1893 died soon after. Richard Eilersen born in 1895 died in 1897 – he probably died from an accident – kicked by a horse.

A daughter (not named) was born in 1897 died 1897. Marie Therisia was born in 1899 and died in 1905. Sigred Louise Eilersen Hillier 3-12-1900 – 8-4-21. Margrethe Eilersen born 1901 died 7-11-1901. Ellen Rigmor Margrethe Eilersen Christensen born 1-2-1904 died 9-15-1931.

3. When Sophie was a small girl she had a spot on her cheek similar to a large pimple. Doctors gave various diagnose: and several cures were tried. Finally, one said it was a skin tubercle. She was treated for this about one year, staying with her grandparents in Aarhus. The doctor accidentally burned the muscle during treatments, and the left check became flat. After her father died, it broke out again and this time her mother sent to Copenhagen for treatment. She died later of tuberculosis.

4. There was a bakery on the corner near the factory run by a man and his wife named Jorgensen. These people tended Rigmor while grandmother worked. After Mr. Jorgensen died suddenly, grandmother suggested that Mrs. Jorgensen develop the business by putting up a sign stating dinner was served at the bakery or to take out. This added greatly to her volume of business.

She also suggested that Mrs. Jorgensen rent one room. Two young missionaries (Mormon) answered the ad in the paper. Since they were Mormons and she’s always heard about the elders from America with the crazy religion, she put them off until she had time to confer with grandmother. She cross-examined Mrs. Jorgensen – how were they dressed, did they seem like drunkards, did they look like they could pay their rent??? When she answered that they seemed like respectable men, grandmother told her to go ahead and rent to them but to have them pay their rent in advance.

From that time on, Mrs. Jorgensen’s home was always open to Mormon missionaries.

5. Grandmother knew her Bible well and had a good deal of spunk so she’d often go to Mrs. Jorgensen’s to study with these Mormons, with the express purpose in mind of proving to them just how wrong they were.

Later, she became ill and the missionaries were good to her and also brought tracts and the Book of Mormon. She studied them and discussed Mormonism with them and came to believe in what they taught.

Sophie thought it unpardonable that her mother studied with them. Interestingly enough, she was the first of the family baptized into the Mormon church.

6. Doctrine and Covenants 1:31-33

“For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;

“Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven;

“And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, smith the Lord of Hosts.”