James Peter Olsen

Born 12 March 1862 in Ephraim to Jens Peder Olsen and Annie Catherine Christensen
Married Severene Simonsen 12 March 1885
James Peter-Raymond-Earl
Died 5 February 1933 in Price
Buried in Emery

1870 Census
1910 Census
1920 Census
1930 Census

The following is his autobiography:

It was in the springtime, on the twelfth day of March, that I, James Peter Olsen, was born of goodly parents, who in later years taught me to love the Lord, and to never take his name in vain. They also taught me the Word of Wisdom, and told me of the great blessings there was in store for those who kept those sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments of the Lord.

My parents had very little of this world's goods, and as there were no free schools, I received very little education; nevertheless, I always remembered the teachings of my parents. I often thought of the blessings they told me of, and hoped that I might enjoy the health and strength that is promised. Oh, how I wished that some day I could find some of the wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures that are promised. It is of my experience in testing out those promises that I wish to write.

I had heard my Father and others say that if we would love the Lord and keep His commandments, He would bless us with the blessings we desired. In later years I learned from the revelations of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith, that all blessings are predicated upon law, and when we receive a blessing it is by keeping the law upon which it is predicated. I then began to study and become acquainted with the laws connected with the blessings I so much desired.

I started battling with the many temptations of life. I will say that my efforts have not been in vain. I am now 62 years of age, and ever since my boyhood days, when my brothers, David and Louis and I worked together for our Father, helping him support and care for the four families the Lord had blessed him with, my efforts to keep the law have borne fruit, which has been a great blessing and comfort to me and to many with whom I have associated.

My first recollection of receiving of the hidden treasures of knowledge, was while my brothers and I were hauling wood for father. He was a farmer and as soon as the crop was gathered my father would fix up the old wagon with a yoke of oxen and we would go after work. Many times one yoke would be of wild steers which would cause us a lot of trouble, as we drove them without lines and there were no brakes on the wagons. When we came to a hill we would have to stop and lock the wheel with the old-fashioned lock chains. Sometimes we were unable to stop the wagon and our load would go tipping down the hill. I am reminded of Father's and Mother's prayer and ask the Lord to protect us from harm and danger during the day. Sometimes it was far into the night when we returned, but always in safety.

We never had any serious trouble excepting once when we were after wood in the hills north of what is known as "Broad-Mouth holler." This trouble was shown to me in a dream the night before. These hills are located just Northeast of Manti. The oxen run the wagon down into a cedar stump. We worked for some time trying to loosen the wagon from it but it was impossible. Then I remembered my dream of the night before and remembered having seen the same trouble in my dream. I told the boys the only way to get loose was to chop our way out as we had done in the dream. This we did and got away in a little while without unloading. To this day, though they are gray-haired men, the boys recall the old stump which I saw in my dream.

About this time, Father was called on a mission to Denmark. He left home October 16th, 1882. Shortly after he had reached his field of labor, I had a dream in which I remember of attending a meeting in Ephraim meeting house. There I saw President Knut Petersen step to the pulpit and begin to speak. He said he was very sorry he was not at home to attend Jens Olsen's funeral. He told of how obedient he had been to every call that had been made of him. This was very plain to me that my father was not to live. He labored in the mission field only a short time when he was taken ill. He grew worse and worse until he was released to come home. He reached home August 16th, 1883 and died October 16th, 1884.

My brothers and I took charge of the farm and shortly after my Father's death, I went to Ephraim to spend Sunday. I went to meeting and there I saw President Knut Peterson step to the pulpit and speak the very words about Father that he had spoken in my dream.

My wife walked with her head bowed while I gazed upon the lovely scene, opposite the small stream of water lay a dry tree by the side of the road in the shade of some green trees. Here I spoke to my wife and said, "Let us sit down on this log and rest." Here we sat for some time, my wife with her head still bowed in sorrow and I still gazing upon the beautiful hillside that lay before us. Not a word had been said while sitting here, till to my surprise I saw two small children come over the ridge and as they came nearer to us I could hear them chattering and laughing as they came skipping through the grass, plucking flowers as they went along until they reached that small stream of water. Now I could see that they were girls. They hopped across the stream and stopped. The one was a little larger than the other, the larger holding the small one's hand. They came within a short distance of us and stood facing us. The largest child stood with head erect with a beautiful smile on her face while the smaller ducked her head and peeked out from under the pretty sunbonnet she wore, as we often see a bashful child do. The largest child I recognized as our darling Ethel, whose death has turned our once happy home into tears and mourning. The small one I did not know, but I shall never forget her sweet face.

I spoke to my wife, saying, "Look there is Ethel. She's alright; see how glad she is." She raised her head and looked and was made glad. Then the scene disappeared. Once more hidden knowledge was revealed, for later on in my story you shall know who the little stranger was.

Now with fresh courage and brighter hopes of the future, we struggled on together over the rugged path of life. We now lived down on the farm north of the Manti Temple. About this time I had a dream in which I saw my cousin Andrew Anderson, who had been dead for some time, and as I met him I saw his father and sisters stacking grain. I asked him (if he) why he was not helping his father, and he said he was preparing to be married. This surprised me very much, and he said, "Yes I am about to be married." I asked him who the girl was, he bowed his head and said nothing. I then mentioned the names of several girls in Ephraim and asked if it was any of those. He answered no, saying I did not know her nor had never seen her. There were tears in his eyes when he told me this and I tried to encourage him for I thought if he did the best he could it would be all right, but he seemed doubtful, I then awoke and as I lay on my pillow thinking of what I had dreamed, the morning light began to appear in the sky and in a short time all hands were up and preparing for their day's work.

Upon arising, I took my dream to Mother but as she was busy she did not pay much attention to my dream. Instead she left in a hurry for Ephraim. While there she visited cousin Andrew's mother, Aunt Kisty having part of her Father's record, Mother thought she was going to work on that record. She asked her where she was going to start. She answered that she was going to the temple and have a girl sealed to Andrew; one who had lived and died in Denmark. One that I did not know and had never seen. His father had known her and wanted her sealed to Andrew. When Mother heard what they intended to do, she recalled hearing my dream, so, she told them about it. Upon hearing how the work was going to have an effect on Andrew they changed their minds and did not do the work.

Shortly after this time, I had another dream in which I was taken into a new country. Here I had taken up a farm which was quite high bench land. I saw the stubbles of my first crop of wheat and they were thin and pale, the crop had been very light and I was not satisfied. I saw a farm down below the bench that I would like to have had. In the early spring of 1891 we moved to Castle valley. We settled in the town of Emery, on the Muddy Creek. Here we were disappointed when we found the land was all taken up, but some high bench land on a ridge that run down through the valley. Here I took a claim of 160 acres under the homestead act. I built a little log house on the claim and we made our home in the new country.

When we harvested our first crop of wheat, I saw them. They were the same thin pale stubbles that I saw in the dream before we left Manti. We only raised 8 bushels to the acre. Now I began feeling blue and wished many times I had never seen Castle valley. I wanted to move away because it looked as though we could not make a living here. There were times when I sat on the ditch bank and wept over our condition.

While we had a little pork to eat, my wife would cut off the rhines and put them in a sack intending to make soap of them in the summer. When summer came she had to boil them for us to eat. We were very glad for them because at times we had nothing else to eat with our bread. More and more I wanted to move by my wife, who up to this time never complained, begged me to stay a little longer. She had been a real helpmate to me so I listened to her and we struggled on together, but, many times I felt sorry we had left our old home and friends.

I had another dream in which I thought nearly everyone lived in a little log house with dirt roof. There were not fences around their lots nor no trees to make it shady. I thought I moved away and was gone for some time. When I returned, on horseback, I met a man with a shovel on his shoulder. I knew him and he knew me. We stopped and shook hands and began talking about the place. On a small farm to my left was a small farm owned by Nils Jensen. He had been trying to raise wheat on it, and had cleared from 10 to 12 bushels per acre. As I sat looking on my horse, I was permitted to[6] look into the future, and I saw the city lots fenced and the little town filled with fruit and shade trees. The small farm on my left had an old fashioned pole fence around it, and a beautiful crop of wheat on it. I saw the wheat waving in the breeze and the heads of it whipping over the top pole of the fence. It was ready to harvest and I judged it would net 30 or 35 bushels to the acre. Over in the center of town I saw several large buildings, and the man asked me if I did not regret that I had left, which I did. I awoke and told my wife of my dream. We discussed the matter and decided we would stay here for we believed what I had seen would come true. Once more we started on our journey with fresh courage and a hope burning within us for a brighter future. Today we thank the Lord we did not move away; for money could not buy the experience we have had here, for we have lived to see everything that I saw come true. Best of all, we have learned that God lives, and that we are his children and did live before we came to this earth as you shall see in my story as we go on.

In early spring of 1896, a strange feeling came over me as I was plowing in the field and it grew worse and worse till I would lay awake at night and wonder what it meant. I lost my appetite over it, and I grew thin and pale; so much so that people would ask me if I were not ill. One day I passed the remark to my wife that I believed I would be called on a mission in the fall, and that worried me terribly. In the latter part of March our Bishop, George Petty, resigned and in April our Stake President, C. G. Larsen brought a young man over from Huntington to be bishop of the Emery Ward. His name was Alonzo Brinkerhoff. It was now that new experience and fears began coming into my life.

I had had but very little schooling and activities in church were very little. One day as I was in town, the new bishop came to me and asked if I would go with him to assist in administering to Seth Allen's child, who was very ill. He annointed it with oil and asked me to seal the anointing. Being determined to do the best I could I started to pray. I got to the point where I wanted to bless the child to live and get well. My words were shut off and I could not speak, I groped for words but none came. I raised my head and there I saw the words as though they were written on the wall, "O Lord thy will be done." I opened my mouth and read the words aloud, then ended my prayer and arose. I walked out of the house as it made me feel very bad. The bishop came out after me and asked what was the matter. I told him there was something about it I could not understand. He said that he knew that I had wanted the child to live but it was not to live. We talked for a few minutes and returned to the house and bid them goodbye.

I started back to the farm, but when I got a quarter of a mile out of town, I was shown a vision at midday that the child was not to live. As I sat on my wagon driving my team a picture like a panorama came before me. Just over the heads of my horses. It was a funeral service in our little log meeting house. There I saw a casket, mourning. I could see the decorations and ribbons decorating the old platform I had never seen. I saw the house packed with people. I saw the Bishop and a few others on the platform and I was asked to speak. I referred to a passage in Job. This I saw with my eyes open, and did hear as I was on my way home. At this time I knew but little about Job and when I got home I began to study it and prepare for the future. This was literally fulfilled for in a few days the child died. We went to the funeral and when we arrived they were all ready to start the meeting. I saw the very same picture I had seen on my way home, and I along with others were asked to speak. I quoted Job in my short talk.

I still had that awful fear of being called on a mission. This was in the summer of 1896 in the month of August. I had a dream in which I met the bishop on the street. Here I was shown what the mission was that was coming. The bishop told me he was going to Huntington the next Sunday and that I was to take charge of the meeting. This was something I had never done in my life and it impressed me that I would be chosen to be his first counselor. When he was gone it fell to me to take charge of the Sunday meetings. Now I knew what was coming, yet I feared and trembled. I told my wife of it, but she only laughed and said that it was all nonsense, that I would never be called to fill that place. This was the first time she had ever doubted what I had told her.

In about a month this dream was fulfilled, for on the 6th day of September 1896 on my wife's 32nd birthday, President Larson and counselors came and held ward conference with us. President Larson arose and announced they had come to organize the bishopric in the Emery ward. He said Bishop Brinkerhoff had handed him the names of the brethren he had chosen to be his counselors, and for the first counselor he had chosen the name of James Peter Olsen. He then asked me to come to the stand. I had taken a seat down by the door in the back of the house and as I walked to the stand I thought everyone I passed could hear my heart beat. I was surely frightened for I had always been very backward and bashful; and this was all new to me. Peter V. Bunderson was chosen as second counselor.

Shortly after this a baby boy was born to Bishop and Sister Brinkerhoff. I was present when it was born. Here I saw something that was strange to me. The child was born a very tiny skinny little fellow. There were no signs of life in him whatsoever. The nurse worked with the baby trying to get life into him. After working for some time she said she was afraid it was useless to try longer, yet, she stood him on his head, spanked him, and put him in a tub of water. The Bishop and I stood looking on, when I saw a man seep up between the Bishop and I. As I turned and looked, he disappeared. The babe came to, and began to cry.

The man I saw was not quite as tall as I. His hair was red, and he had open round eyes which were quite starring. I called quite often to see how the mother and babe were progressing. As I stepped into the house one day I found the mother bending over her baby crying. I walked up to her and asked her what the matter was. She told me she was afraid her child was going to die. I put my arms around her and said, "Mother, don't cry, your child will live and grow to be a man." She looked at me and said, "Do you believe he will?" I told her I knew he would. Many times after this it looked as though his time had come to die. I told my little story to her and she was made glad. Today her boy is a grown man with a wife and three lovely children. He is the same man with red hair as I saw when he was a babe. He is now one of the big cattle men of our little town. Once more a hidden treasure of knowledge was made known unto me.

We, the new bishopric, Alonzo Brinkerhoff, Peter Bunderson and myself were struggling on the best we could. The work was all new to us and the Bishop did not like the job and was trying every way to get out of it. In the meantime there was a change in the stake presidency. Ryben G. Miller had been put in with John Pace and Henry Mathis as counselors. They came over and held ward conference with us. I have never seen nor heard such wonderful things in all my life as I did at this conference. While President Miller was on the stand speaking to the people, the Bishop handed him a piece of paper. He unfolded it, looked at it and held it up before the people. I told him I would, and he sat down giving me the stand. I had only spoken a few words when a vale was opened before me and I looked into a large hall filled with people. They were all seated but two. The two were standing up in the middle of the congregation. The one was a stranger to me, but the other was our bishop as plain as I had ever seen him. The stranger raised his right hand and pointed to our bishop and spoke to that congregation and said, "Before the world was, this man was chosen and called to be a leader in the house of Israel and that is his calling forever." I heard those words as plain as anything I had ever heard and then the scene disappeared. It seemed to me that the spirit that was over me was raising me off from the floor, for I could not tell whether I was standing on the floor or in the air.

Now I spoke as the spirit dictated and said, "Brothers and Sisters, if we will stand by Bishop Alonzo Brinkerhoff as the saints should stand by their bishop, he will yet be our bishop of Emery ward for many long years. Brothers and sisters, stand up to the rack, hay or no hay and you shall be blessed." The brethren on the stand behind me said "Amen" to my talk and I had no more to say. These sayings were literally fulfilled, for when I sat down the bishop withdrew his resignation and remained our bishop of Emery Ward until his death, which came twenty three years after this meeting. In all he acted as Bishop of the Emery Ward twenty-six years. About three months during those years we passed through many shifting scenes. Some of sorrow and some of joy.

You will remember in the early part of my story, a telling of the death of our first child, and whether I saw her and a smaller child who was a stranger to me. About fourteen years after having that dream, that little stranger was born to us. We gave her the name of Ida Jean. She lived one year and five months and died. We now have her picture, which is the very image of the child I saw in my dream. When I used to come home at night and play with her, I had a sad lonely feeling. I always felt as though she would not be with us long. I have always believed that she was the child I saw in my dream.

I told you that what I have seen and heard had brought comfort and joy to myself and to many with whom I have associated with. I will now tell you what it has done for a school teacher in the fall of 1920. Two ladies came here to teach school. They canvassed the town but could not get a place to stay, so we decided to take them in. They were known by the names of Smith and Kindred. Miss Kindred had taught here the year before, but Miss Smith was not known by anyone around here. Everything moved on very nicely and we found Miss Smith to be a very enjoyable person. Very shortly after this I had a dream about her. I was on my wagon driving my team into a strange town. I drove up to a small house and after tying my team went in. I found Miss Smith all alone sitting on a chair. I walked up to her and put my right hand on her shoulder and told her not to act in haste. As I stepped out of the door, a young man came through the little front gate. I met him half way between the house nad the fence. I passed the time of day with him and went on. When he got to the house he stopped and turned around as though he had changed his mind. I got into my wagon and drove off.

In the morning I told my wife abaout it and told her I thought I should tell Miss Smith. She thought I had better not say anything to her, but, all day at the farm something kept telling me to tell Miss Smith. When I came home I met her on the corner of the house. There I told her I had seen her in a dream. I told her I had told her a message of what to do about something but I didn't know what. I told her perhaps she would know something about it. When I told her about the dream and the young man, she said I had described her fellow better than she could have done herself. She began to cry like a baby and said what shall I do now? She then told me a lot about her past life and what her troubles at the present time were.

I found that the dream was a warning to her, and that she was engaged to a young to be married. She had changed her mind and they had set a date to meet each other at Price on Thanksgiving day. This was worrying her terribly. She told me the whole story and why she had changed her mind. Then she asked me what she should do; she said she had cried and prayed asking the Lord to come to her rescue by doing something or send her some kind friend to help her out of her trouble. I told her to keep her date with the young man, and then while talking it over, think of the dream. If then she feld that it was best to do as it said, do it, but if not, let it go and forget it.

The day came for their meeting at Price. She did as the dream had said and did not act in haste. Because she wanted to postpone the marriage a little longer, the young man declined and they shook hands never to meet in dates again. When she came back she came running to the house. She threw her arms up and said, "I'm as happy as a bird let out of a cage." She believes the Lord sent his warning to her and sent her out here to meet us. She had never been here before nor since, but we have had several letters from her since she left. She always says she still is alone but happy. She was a wonderful girl with great faith in the Lord.

Long before the world war, I saw P.J. Peacock's store when it was called the big store of the town. They were doing a very big business at the time that I saw them in a dream. I walked inside the door and saw the shelves all empty. There was not goods in the house and I saw M. Peacock, Jr., on his knees on the floor, patching up some old thing for the children. When I awoke I could not remember what it was. Some time after this I saw him and told him what I had seen. He laughed at it and said, "I hope it never comes to that."

Years rolled by and he was doing a very fine business. After the world war, times began to change, and the big store began to fail. Finally some man came and boxed up what little goods there was left in the store. In the fall after the goods were all taken, I walked into the store and found Mr. Peacock on his knees on the floor patching up some old things for his children to go to Castle Dale to school. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was patching up an old steel cot for his children to take to Castle Dale to school. Once more knowledge that was hidden from the world.