Peter Christiansen

Born 28 July 1877 in Hyrum, Utah, to Anna Dorthea Sorensen and Lars Hans Christiansen
Married Elnora Christina Jensen 14 March 1900 in Logan
Peter-Afton
Died 2 February 1931 in Downey
Buried in Downey

1880 Census
1900 Census 
1910 Census
1920 Census
1930 Census

By Beatrice Veeninga (daughter)
May 29, 1980

My father, Peter Christiansen, was born in Hyrum, Cache County, Utah, 28 July 1877. His father's name was Lars Hans Christiansen who was born 6 March 1844 in Denmark. His mother's name was Anna Dorthea Sorensen. She was born 25 November 1850 in Denmark. They were married and sealed in Salt Lake City, Utah, 26 April 1874 at the Endowment House. Annie Sorensen was Lars' second wife, as polygamy was being practiced at that time. My father had two sisters, Sarah and Laura. They spent time on a farm in the Sterling area, which is near Hyrum. Peter went to school in Hyrum.

My mother, Elnora Christina Jensen was born in Hyrum, Cache County, Utah on 10 July 1881. Her mother's name was Dorthea Christine Fredricksen. She was born 26 October 1856 in Orby, Denmark. She died 21 December 1933. Her father was Ole Neils Jensen, born 6 February 1849 in Ejlstrup, Denmark. He died 4 December 1927. Mother's parents came from Denmark to Utah and were married in the Hyrum and later sealed in the Endowment house at Salt Lake City, Utah in October of 1873. They lived in Hyrum, Utah where their family was born and reared. He was a farmer. They had eleven children of which Mother was the fourth.

Peter and Elnora met in Hyrum, Utah. Their parents were friends and visited each other often. They were married and sealed in the Logan Temple on 14 March, 1900.

Peter died 2 February 1931 at Downey, Bannock County, Idaho and was buried 5 January 1931 at Downey Cemetery. Elnora died 22 July 1958 in Salt Lake City, Utah and was buried 28 July 1958 at Downey , Idaho.

Peter and Elnora were the parents of six children- three boys, and three girls- 22 grandchildren, 59 great grandchildren, and 37 great-great grandchildren, and their posterity is still growing.

Dad and Mother and their children lived in Downey, Idaho, a small town and farming community in southern central Idaho. Dad had homesteaded a dry farm in Cherry Creek a couple of years before he was married, so he and his new wife went there to live. They were very happy living in their log cabin. They worked together clearing the land of sagebrush, putting it into large piles, and then burning it at night. They kept clearing more land, and then they bought some to make a larger farm. They plowed this ground, and did all the required things to produce a good crop of wheat. Mother's health wasn't good so one of her sisters stayed with her most of the time. They built a large frame house on the farm where several of their children were born. After four years of marriage, they started a family. I was the firstborn.

While living on the farm they did things together with their family. They went to church every Sunday at the LDS Woodland Ward, which was about five miles away. They had a white top buggy which was called a Ludlow which they used in the summer and in wintertime they used a sleigh . They would put straw and hot rocks in the bottom of the sleigh to keep warm. While they had this white-top buggy, they made a trip to Hyrum with Mother's parents. Aunt Sylva, mother's sister, went back to Downey with them so she could help mother with her work. They had many friends and relatives while living on the farm, so they were very happy. They had parties and did all the things young people do.

When the children were old enough to go to school, they built a larger house in town in Downey, Idaho. I was five, going on six, when they had this house built. They soon moved into the new home. It had eight large rooms and three rooms in the basement for storage, and later a furnace. This was a beautiful home, and what a day of excitement for them when they moved into it. This was a great accomplishment. Their children all started to school here and graduated from high school also. Through their rest of their lives, they worked together always, and also played together as much as possible. For a few years after moving to town, Dad would go up to the farm in the summertime to do the work. Mother would take care of things at home. I remember when he used to come home on weekends, we were always so happy- Mother especially.

Dad taught all the boys about farming and Mother taught the girls to be good house keepers. She was an excellent one herself. Dad enjoyed sports, especially fishing. He would take the boys with him, sometimes, and often the whole family went. He was active in civic affairs. He served on the school board and was president of the Farmer's Society of Equity. During this time, Mother was teaching Primary, taking all of her children and some others along with her each week. She also was counselor in Relief Society Presidency at one time. Dad served in the Bishopric. Since they moved to town, they could walk to church, and all the family would go each Sunday. Dad and mother were very good parents and taught us well. They were always considerate of their children and all had a great amount of love for each other.

Peter and Elnora continued living in Downey, Idaho doing the things required to care for and educate their children. This lasted for about thirty years. When Peter died 2 February 1931, this was a great loss to Elnora. She tried to carry on as usual with the help of her sons. They soon got married, which made it more difficult as they had to support their wives. Orion finally bought the farm. Mother's health began to fail, so she went into a nursing home in Salt Lake City, Utah. She died 22 July 1958. They are buried side by side in the cemetery in Downey.

This was the end of two great lives, who accomplished much in their time. They both did many good things for others, and were loved by all. Their posterity is great. Many have come from this union.



Peter Christiansen

Peter Christiansen was born in Hyrum, Cache County, Utah, 28 July 1877 to Lars Hans and Anna Dorthea Sorensen Christiansen. He attended school in Hyrum and worked with his father and brothers on the farm in the Sterling area. In 1898, he went to Downey, Idaho and homesteaded a dry farm in the Cherry Creek section seven miles southwest of Downey. He married Elnora Christina Jensen on 14 March 1900 in the Logan, Utah Latter-day Saint Temple.

Their first home was a log cabin on the dry farm in Cherry Creek. They both worked clearing the sagebrush from the land so that crops could be planted. Each year a little more land was cleared and the land was planted to wheat. After a few years he purchased more land from Elnora's brother, Oluf Jensen, who had also homesteaded in the area. A two story, seven room, frame home was built on the farm in which to raise their family and provide a good home for the
children.

The first plowing was done with a hand plow and later with a one bottom and then a two bottom riding plow. At harvest time, the wheat was cut with a header and threshed with a horse-powered threshing machine. Later, Peter and Jacob Hartvigsen purchased a header with which to cut their grain and several farmers in the area purchased a steam powered threshing machine with which to thresh their grain. This steam engine and threshing machine was stored during the winter in Peter's machine shed. By 1920, most of the farmers were using combine harvesters to harvest their grain and the threshing machine was sold to Adolph (Odd) Hartvigsen and was used by him for many years in doing custom threshing.

In 1910, Peter's and Elnora's oldest child was six years old and a new home was built in the town of Downey so that the children would be able to attend school there. The old home on the dry farm was used for many years as a school house for the families in the Cherry Creek area who still lived on their farms.

Peter was a hard worker and spent many hours in the canyon getting logs and having them sawed into lumber with which to build buildings necessary on the farm to store the crops and feed necessary for the farm animals. He also would get the fire wood with which to heat the home. Fire wood was also obtained in this way for several years after the family had moved into town.

Peter was a good father and spent many hours with his family. When his boys were in their early teens, he taught them how to help with the farm work and to accept the responsibility of doing the work even though he was not there with them. He enjoyed outdoor sports, especially fishing, and whenever he would go on a fishing trip he would take some of the children with him. He had a good sense of humor and was well liked by all who knew him.

He was very active in civic affairs and served on the village board and on the school board. He was active in forming farmers organizations and was president of "The Farmers Society of Equity." In the course of his responsibilities here, he made many trips to the farmers in the area and as far away as Salt Lake City. When this was done he always tried to take some of his family with him. This permitted he and his family to become well acquainted with all of the people in a large area. During the late teens and early nineteen twenties after a heavy snowfall in the winter, he would be out with a home made plow at five o'clock in the morning cleaning the snow from the sidewalks all over town so the children would have good paths on which to walk to school.

In 1919, Peter was active in the formation of the Downey grain growers association and was president of that organization until his death on February 2, 1931. His wife, Elnora, lived until July 22, 1958. She died in Salt Lake City, Utah. Both Peter and Elnora are buried in the Downey, Idaho Cemetery .



By Ellis Christiansen
May 1980

My father loved the gospel. He followed the admonition of the Savior that "Not everyone who sayeth to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." He was loyal to the Church of Jesus Christ and emulated its true teachings in his life. He always encouraged his family to be active in the church and gave them every opportunity to do so. When I was on my mission, he always bore his, testimony to the truthfulness of the gospel in the letters which he wrote to me.

Father was a good family man. He loved his family and always helped them to have those things in life which are of importance. A good education, opportunities to work and earn a living, and to be able to use their own free agency in the things which they did. He showed this love in many ways. Whenever he went anywhere on business, some of his family were with him. I remember when I was a young boy that father went to Salt Lake City on business for the Farmers Society of Equity and I went with him. He took me with him on his business assignment and taught me how important it is to be close to your parents. We went to the office of a man by the name of Myers and while he attended to his business, I stayed in the big office and visited with the secretaries. This was a real experience for a young boy. Many years later while I was driving trucks, I was in Salt Lake and passed by this same office. I remembered the experience I had there and went in and asked for Mr. Myers. He was not there anymore, but an older woman in the office asked me what I wanted and I explained to her that I had been there with my father. She related that she had worked there then and told of how they always enjoyed the visits of father there.

He would always take some of the family with him when he went to visit farmers in Marsh Valley which gave us the opportunity of meeting many people. Father loved to go fishing and usually some of his children went with him. He liked to fish with his brother, Moses (one of his half brothers), and some of Moses' family and of our family would usually be there with them.

Father believed in the gospel of work and always taught his children the importance of it. I believe that he actually believed that success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. He worked hard himself, but still found room for other things such as recreation, social responsibility and service to his church and his fellow man. Father believed that his children should learn to be responsible and do things on their own. When I was very young he used to take me to the dry farm to help him with the work there. We also had responsibilities in helping with the chores in town. When I was 15 yrs. old, Orrion and I used to go to the farm and "batch it" for a week at a time and do the work there. In later years, mother's brother, Hiram Jensen, who lived close to the fields on the east side of father's farm told us how he listened to us singing and whistling as we did the work. Father had truly taught us how to be happy while we worked.

Father loved his fellow men and expressed this by being of service to them. He served on the Village Board, the School Board, and in farmers organizations. In the winter time when the snow was deep, he would hook a team of horses to a home made snow plow and clean the snow from the sidewalks in town so the children could more easily get to school.

My father was a hard worker. When he first moved to his homestead in Marsh Valley he went to the canyon and got out logs and built a log cabin in which he and Mother lived. Shortly thereafter he built a large home on his dry farm in which his family could live comfortably. In 1910 when my oldest sister, Beatrice, was 6 yrs. old, he built a home in the town of Downey so that his children would be able to attend school there. He always took care of the needs of his family first and his personal needs came after.

I have always been grateful for the example and teachings of my father. His life was radiant with good will and cheerfulness. His capacity for service was great and his willingness to give the best he had to others has always been an inspiration in my life.



By John Veeniga

I was born in Amsterdam, Holland. My mother and father belonged to the Salvation Army. My father was a Captain and my mother his assistant. The missionaries of the Mormon Church came to their home and gave the lessons. My mother was converted and baptized, but my father could not accept it. They got a divorce and my mother, with her three sons came to the United States, in Ogden, Utah. I was the youngest son. We lived in Ogden and Salt Lake City, Utah, until 1927 , when we came to San Francisco. My older brother had moved here before .

About two years later I met Bea, who had been in San Francisco a short time. We met at church after sacrament meeting. We became good friends, and later fell in love. We were married in 1930, when I became part of the Christiansen family. We were married by Bishop Merrill in October and went to Downey for a visit at Christmas time. This was where I first met Peter and Nora Christiansen. They gave me a warm welcome into the family. I was a little concerned about meeting them but it was all unnecessary. They were so kind to me, and made me feel very much one of them. They went with us to the Logan Temple the day before Christmas, where we were sealed. Orion and Ruth went with us. I will never forget this day. Peter and Nora were so good to us, and helped us so much along the way.

After this I had such a little time to get acquainted. One time I went with him to the mill to get some wheat which had been chopped, and we had a good chance to talk together and get better acquainted. I found him to be very understanding of faults. He was a lot of fun also. One time we went to Pocatello to a show. It was Eddie Cantor in "Making Whoopee." We all had a great time. Dad was singing "Making Whoopee" all the way home. This showed me his humorous side. I found other times when I was with him alone and enjoyed it so much. He treated me as a son, and I really appreciated it. The last time I saw him was on that cold wintry day when he took us to the station to get the train for home. He was standing there waving good bye as long as we could see him. I really appreciated him. I had such a short time with him, but have many fond memories. Even though he is gone, I still think of him and of the things we talked about. You see, I came a long way to get to know the family.

I'm glad I'm part of the Peter Christiansen family.