Life Story of Chris Wold
Ole Pederson, who was Captain of Police in Guastal territory in Norway, and his wife, Kjerste Olsen, were parents of ten children .The fourth child of this family was Mathias Olsen. He married Nickoline Amundsen. To them were born five children. The eldest child in this family was Christian O. Wold, born in Christiana (now Oslo) Norway on August 22, 1858.
At a very early age Chris showed an exceptional ability for athletics. He learned to swim at such an early age that he could not remember when he first started swimming. He became an expert at that sport, plus ice skating, skiing and sail boating. He and his brother, Nels, learned to handle themselves in the art of boxing and wrestling. He attended the city schools and attained an education comparable to two years of college (attended in Christiana).
When Chris was 19, he and his mother contacted some Mormon missionaries who where going to America. They agreed to see that he would get to America safely. He registered at a hotel the night before the boat was to sail. During the night, however, all his money and most of his clothing was stolen. He didn’t sail with the missionaries, but a few days later he shipped out as a sailor and finally landed in New York in 1877. From there he traveled west until he came to Milton, Utah, where he saw 11-year-old Annie Nielsen for the first time.
She was riding a small brown mare, sitting sideways, bareback, and the horse was running down the mountain side with a band of wild horses. Chris was sitting on a horse at the foot of this mountain, talking to a local resident. As Annie and the band of horses raced by, Chris noticed this girl was seemed to be enjoying her wild ride. At the moment she represented to Chris the spirit of grace, beauty and bravery. He asked the local man what her name was, and to the man’s reply, Chris matterof factly stated, “That’s the girl I’m going to marry!”
He didn’t see Annie again for about six years. In the meantime, he worked and earned enough money to send for his brother, Nels, who was two years younger than he. Chris and Nels then worked in the mines in Colorado and saved enough money to send for their Mother, Father, and youngest brother Reinhardt. The family arrived in Milton, Utah October 3, 1878. The mother, Nikolina, had been converted to the Mormon Church in the old country, and she in turn converted her husband, Mathias, the year before they came to America. Their home had been a meeting place for the Mormon Missionaries during the time when Mormonism was not welcomed in Norway.
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In those early days of the west, the mining towns were filled with wild boisterous men from many walks of life and many foreign countries. Chris and Nels soon learned to ‘hold their own’ with any and all of these men in Colorado. By standing together and showing they wouldn’t back down to any man and by repeated demonstrations that they were superior in most fights, they soon had the healthy respect of the men in those mining camps. At one time, Chris and Nels wanted to go from one camp to another; they jumped into a box car of a slowly moving freight train that was climbing a steep grade. There were. between fifteen and twenty Swedes in this same car. They started making fun of Chris and Nels’ accent. The result was that in a few minutes, Chris and Nels had thrown one-by-one all of the Swedes out the open door, and they had the car all to themselves. |
| From Colorado they went to Evanston, Wyoming, where Chris obtained work on a large cattle ranch know as the B.Q. (Beckwith Quinn ranch). One fall, Chris returned to Milton to visit his parents. His younger brother Reinhardt, was watching the dance from the open doorway, he saw Rinhardt dancing with Annie Nielsen, the girl he had seen riding a horse six years before. She had grown to be a beautiful slender-built girl with dark brown hair and lovely sober gray eyes. Chris walked onto the dance floor, tapped Reinhardt on the shoulder and said, “This is my dance”. Without another word, he swept Annie away in his arms. He told her then he was going to marry her. She laughed at him, thinking he was a very bold, charming young man. But in less than a year, on April 15, 1886, they were married by Stake President Smith at the home of Annie’s parents. Her sister, Emma, and Peter Nielsen were married the same day at a double wedding. |
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Click on picture for larger view. |
After the ceremony, Chris and Annie walked hand-in-hand down by the Weber River, and on to the home that the two of them had made ready before their marriage. Chris owned a forty-acre farm, and had built a two-room log house. Annie had torn and sewn enough carpet rags and had woven them into enough carpet, to cover one room completely and to cover the living room area in the kitchen. Chris had made and bought furniture for the two rooms, and Annie, who was an industrious and clever woman, had made five quilts, the wool of which she had cleaned, carded and made into bats. Most of her linens were made from flax she had spun and made into cloth. They had planted a garden and Chris also had a cow, chickens and horses.
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Two weeks after their marriage, Chris left Annie in Milton and went back to the B.Q. ranch in Wyoming to work. There he performed the usual tasks of the cowboy, i.e. riding, roping, branding, breaking the wild horses, trailing the herds, etc. |
| That winter he returned to Milton and to Annie. On January 10, 1887, a lovely baby boy was born to them. They named this son, Rolf Christian. In March of that same year, 1887, Nikolina, the mother of Chris, died of cancer. Mathias grieved so much for his wife that he never recovered from the shock of losing her. He lived only a year and a half after his wife. He died at the age of 55. |
Chris returned again to Wyoming in the summer of 1887. Annie remained with her baby in Milton and spent much time with her mother during his absence.
Annie’s mother was a second wife of Andreas Nielsen. He, with his first wife, Dorothea, and four children had immigrated to America in
1860 and arrived in Salt Lake City, September 22, 1861. They moved to Milton, Utah, a few days later. Two children of this family had died in infancy before the family left Denmark. On December 10, 1861, Dorthea gave birth to her seventh child, a son named Hyrum. He was born in a covered wagon, as their home was not yet finished. The mother and babe were moved to a neighbor’s dugout home. The roof leaked so badly, that pans were placed on the mother’s bed to protect her from the rain.
In 1866, Dorothea went to Maren Sophia Christensen, a convert, who had also emigrated from Denmark and had crossed the plains with the handcart company. (She had walked every step of the way.) Dorthea asked Sophia to become the second wife of Andreas Nielsen, and the latter accepted. She (Sophia) had never married because the man she had loved and to whom she had been promised, had died before their marriage. So, on June 30, 1866, at the age of 46, she and Dorthea were sealed to Andreas Nielsen for time and all eternity, in the old endowment house in Salt Lake City, Utah. A year later, on June 2, 1867, Annie was born to Sophia and Andreas. About a year after Annie’s birth, Dorothea gave birth to her tenth child, a son Willard. Sixteen days later, Dorothea died. Annie’s mother, Sophia, took over the duties of caring for this large family. The little boy, Willard, lived three years and died of a high fever, which was later thought to be typhoid fever.
Annie described her mother as being a very small woman with beautiful brown curly hair, large gray eyes, and fine features. No pictures were taken of her but all who knew and remembered her say she was very lovely and beautiful.
Many incidents exemplify the deeply religious natures of Annie’s father and mother. Her mother spent much of her life caring for and feeding the sick and poor in the village of Milton. Especially was she kind and generous to the many widows. When she made these visits, she often wore a full petticoat that had numerous pockets sewn in the skirt. In these pockets she would have small bottles of cream pats of butter, and homemade cheese. Also, she gave away homemade soap and other hard-to-obtain articles. These she gave to the poor in the village. She was a brave pioneer woman, protecting her children when bands of Indians came to her home. She would place the children in a back bedroom, then go out and face the Indians, giving them food, as Brigham Young had instructed the people to do. He had said, “It is better to feed the Indians than to fight them.” When her little children would ask her, “Aren’t you afraid, Mamma?” she would calmly reply, “There is no need for fear when you put your trust in the Lord.”
Annie’s father, Andreas, was a wise kind father and neighbor. He was known as a peacemaker. With his wisdom and understanding of mankind, he was able to help many people settle their differences. He lived and obeyed the teachings of the church. He was a high councilman and fulfilled his church obligations to the letter. He lived to be 93 years old. His wife, Sophia, lived until she was 83.