Walking From Omaha...

Edward Peterson

Walking From Omaha, NE to Ogden, UT (1880)

The historical account of my great grandfather, Edward Peterson's, walk across the plains of America was originally contributed to family archives by Kathlyno · Aug 10, 2013, 8:56 PM · and can be found at the FamilySearch.org website.

'A Miracle while walking 1000 miles from Omaha, Nebraska to Ogden, Utah'  [By Carolyn Deborah Murray Swiss, 2 July 2012, with excerpts from Charles C. Sjostrom’s Life History.] 

Edward Peterson was born in Sweden in 1862. His parents and five sisters were taught the gospel by missionaries and were baptized in Sweden. Edward was 14 when he was baptized in 1876. 

The entire family set a goal of coming to Zion and began working and saving together to make this a reality. In 1880, “when they put all their money together, they had enough for three tickets to Omaha and $14 between them.” Edward, Edward’s father, Johannes Pehrson (aka John Peterson), and Edward’s brother-in-law, August Sjostrom, came first. They would settle in Utah, work and send money back, so the rest of the family could immigrate. 

“They put a few clothes in a bundle and bid farewell to their families and friends,” sailing from Sweden the last day of March 1880 with a group of Saints. After a 6-week voyage, they landed in New York City in May 1880. Edward had just turned 18. His father was 51 and August Sjostrom was 31. 

“They wrote letters to their families and told of their good trip, also the new conditions they encountered in the land of the free. They could not understand a word spoken on the streets. Soon they boarded the train to Omaha, the end of their tickets.”

The trains in 1880 were not very fast and it was almost a week before they arrived in Omaha in the middle of May. They arrived “with empty purses but good health and strong faith to start the journey of over one thousand miles. With bundles on their backs, they walked to Utah. The roads were not safe to follow as there were creeks and rivers that had no bridges. If there were any side roads, there were no signs to show them which way to go. There were very few houses or settlements along the way, so they decided to follow the railroad tracks and count the ties. 

'...walked on each side of the track
looking for food.'

“Getting something to eat was their biggest trouble. They walked one in the middle and one on each side of the railroad track with their eyes glued on the ground before them, looking for a crust of bread or anything to eat that the travelers on the train had cast out the windows. For the first two days of walking they did not find anything, so each night they lay down on the ground, rolled up in a blanket, with empty stomachs. Their faith and prayers grew stronger with hopes of blessings on each coming day. Their prayers were not in vain as they started walking at daylight the next morning. They had not walked more than ten minutes when they found a package rolled in newspaper. To their surprise it contained several days’ rations of bread, meat, and cookies. They were thankful and they bowed their heads in prayer and thanksgiving to God for this food. After feasting by a little creek, with thankful and happy hearts, they walked on their way. 

"Several days later they had eaten all their food “and for two days could not find a thing to eat. They began to feel quite faint from hunger when they found part of a loaf of bread. It must have been there for about six weeks because they had to use rocks to break it. It still tasted good to them. In the next few days they found a little more and some partly decayed apples. Because they had not found any water that day, the moisture in the apples was very welcome. 

"A few weeks later their condition was dire. They’d been without food and water for several days, were very weak, and had no strength for even one more step. They knew that without divine intervention they would die. They knelt down in the sagebrush and each took a turn being voice for the prayer, praying like they’d never prayed before, pleading with the Lord to bless them with food and water so they’d live and be able to continue their journey. 

"When they finished praying, they all stood. They had a little more energy, so they continued on their way. Up ahead of them was a small knoll. They climbed it and when they got to the top, they saw a little dugout cabin down in the middle of a tiny valley. Smoke curled up from the chimney. They staggered down the hill to the cabin where they found a woman and her baby. Her husband was away and she didn’t have much to share with the starving travelers, but what she had she freely gave. Edward, his father Johannes, and August, ate and rested and stayed awhile with her. When they left, they also had some food which the woman kindly gave to them.

'...nothing except sagebrush, desert and more sagebrush.'

"They went up the other side of the small valley, marveling, and thanking the Lord for His goodness to them, knowing that without finding this small cabin, and without the woman’s generosity, they would have been dead. They reached the top of the knoll and turned back to say “good bye” to the place of their miracle. But when they looked, the cabin was gone!

Nothing was where they had just come from - nothing except sagebrush, desert and more sagebrush.  Again, they dropped to their knees as they thanked the Lord for His goodness and mercy in saving their lives.

"They NEVER forgot this miracle. Many, many times they shared this story with their children and admonished them to always remember to pray, as God does hear and He does answer our prayers!"

Edward Peterson

      

Prayer Answered With A Wedding Cake ...

1950 - Experience about faith and prayer that my grandmother, Grace Peterson Johnson had when her son, Carl was on his mission. (Excerpt from Arlene Younker’s History, given to Carolyn Deborah Murray Swiss, 29 October 2010.)

When I was growing up in North Logan, cake decorating was a rare skill, and even more rare was anyone who could afford to pay to have it done.

Elder Carl G. Johnson, front,

Stockholm, Sweden Mission

But when a girl in town got married, Sister Glenna Crookston would always decorate the wedding cake. It was her gift to everyone who was a member of the girls chorus, which she directed, and the chorus included practically every girl in town.

When Don and I were engaged, my mother was not sure that she could bake the cake, so we asked around about who we might hire to do it. An older Peterson couple [actually Gus Johnson & his wife Grace Lillian Peterson] had just moved into North Logan. They had previously owned a bakery and said they would be glad to do it.

Grace hesitated to give us a price up front because she wouldn't know the actual cost of the cake until she had measured and weighed the nuts, fruits, etc. We had very little money, so cost was a major concern for us.

When Don and I went to get the cake, I took all the money that I had available with me. I thought she would probably ask at least $10, which was more than I had, so I decided to ask if I could pay her what I had with me and then go to the bank for the rest of it out of my savings account.

When she said, “Would $5 be too much?,” I knew the huge cake was worth far more than that and was so relieved that I emptied all the money I had in my purse out on the counter. It was $6.85. Sister Peterson was happy with that amount.

Sister Crookston decorated it and it was a beautiful cake. We were married Christmas Day, 1950. Shortly after our wedding, we moved away and were gone for nine years.

Some time later, we moved back to North Logan and had lived there for several years when we become acquainted with Carl and Alva Johnson.

One evening I went to the Temple to pick up our son, Norman, and some others who had gone to do baptisms for the dead. As I waited in the temple entrance, Carl and Alva Johnson and an elderly lady came out. When they introduced her as Carl’s mother, Grace, she told me that she was the one who had baked my wedding cake and asked if I knew the whole story about that cake.

At the time of our wedding in 1950, Carl had recently gone on a mission to the Northern States, waiting for his passport to Sweden.  He had written that it was bitter cold and that he really needed some warm underwear. Grace had no money and said that she knelt by her bed that night and asked the Lord to provide a way for her to earn some money for her son's needs.

The very next day, Mom and I came to ask about the cake. After I had paid her she bought three pair of long winter underwear and went to the post office to send them to her missionary son. The total cost of the underwear and the postage was exactly $6.85.

Research For Displaced Persons...

Early in 2012, I had an extremely rewarding experience while trying to help a friend, Anne, search for ancestry documentation on her ancestors who were Polish/Jewish immigrants in Europe during WW II.  I really had no previous experience searching for specific information on her family's Jewish surnames, but last winter I had been 'scooting' around on the FamilySearch.org website to familiarize myself with new 'links and features' buttons and taught myself a few interesting things about Polish displaced persons research.  I pulled out my notes, wondering if they would help her. I remembered watching several training videos at the 'LEARN/Research Courses' tab on FamilySearch and realized the course materials included discussions on the type of genealogy research skills Anne needed to know.

Although there was some hesitation on my part to offer assistance with her Polish/Jewish research, I realized that my own paternal Polish/Prussian ancestry lead my genealogy research down similar paths as hers. I also realized that my learning curve included tools that would be of great benefit to her, such as, 1) researching and translating Polish surnames, 2) accessing Displaced Persons websites and 3) becoming familiar with Jewish/Polish genealogical information found on the FamilySearch website.  So I decided to speak up.

I let Anne know about one specific training course in particular, entitled Polish Displaced Persons, taught by Cecile Wendt Jensen, MA, CG, that I knew would spark her interest. Toward the end of the course, Ms Jensen even provides the viewer with her own personal contact information on her website: Michigan Polonia, in case viewers need additional research assistance directly from her.

In addition, I shared information on the Polish Genealogical Society of America website which provides access to over 30 additional web links along with email addresses of several outstanding Polish genealogy research organizations and professional researchers. As we spoke together,  I came to place greater value on the Polish ancestry research tools and techniques I had learned last year and, although I did not consider myself a polished or professional research by any stretch of the imagination, I couldn't stop myself from sharing this wealth of information with my friend.

Thinking back over this experience, and pondering the importance of genealogical research from a global perspective, I have come to understand three very important things.  First, I more clearly understood Anne's need to openly address the very solemn issue of WW II displacement and loss of her loved ones. Secondly, I learned that I was providing her with expanded choices of free, research courses she could use that would improve her own intermediate/advanced Polish research skills. Third, I learned that the more time I spent with Anne at the computer, showing her how to move freely from one site to another, the more confidence she was developing in the FamilySearch.org website as a reliable source of research information.

I am deeply grateful to the worldwide family of volunteers and webmasters who have worked tirelessly to provide user-friendly, worldwide access to a myriad of genealogical research links at FamilySearch.org that just might lead my friend, myself and hosts of others directly to the roots of our European story.