Bodil Mortensen story

Bodil Mortensen story

BODIL MALENE MORTENSEN

Born: Aug 5, 1845 Denmark (Died October 24, 1856, buried in the common grave at Rock Creek)

Age: 10

Willie Handcart Company

Bodil's parents lovingly combined her first and middle names into the nickname "Balena." She was the fourth of their five children. Bodil's father, Niels, was a weaver by trade. He also dug wells. He had a particular way of bricking up the well as he dug. He said that he would use an iron ring the size that he wanted the well to be. He would lay the brick on the ring and then start to dig under the ring. As the ring and the brick settled into the hole, he would lay more brick and when he got the well dug down to the water, it would already be bricked up.

When the LDS missionaries first came to Denmark, Bodil's oldest sister, Anne Margrette, was the first in the family to become interested. At first her parents did not approve, but they later investigated the Church and were baptized along with Anne and their son, Hans Peter, in November of 1852. When Niels heard Elder Erastus Snow preach about the gathering of Israel, he told his children he always believed that he was one of the children of Israel being gathered to the mountains.

In 1856, Bodil emigrated in the care of her parents' friends, Jens and Else Nielsen. Bodil's older sister, Anne Margrette, had crossed the plains and mountains to Utah the previous year. Bodil's parents, Niels and Maren Mortensen, and other siblings, were still in Denmark, planning to make the journey the following season.

Peter Madsen, one of the Danish Saints in the Willie Company, kept a daily diary for most of the trip. He wrote, "The saints were joyous and bid the saints of Copenhagen a hearty farewell... The company was happy and thankful; a good spirit and order prevailed." They traveled by train and ship until they arrived in Liverpool, England. On May 1, 1856, they boarded the ship ‘Thornton', "... a large three decker from America, commanded by Captain Collins. [They] joined the company of 608 English brothers and sisters who had gone on board before [them]."

One of Bodil's responsibilities was to care for Niels Nielson, the 5-year-old son of Jens and Else. This must have been quite an adventure for Bodil and Niels. As recorded by Peter Madsen during the month of May, they passed huge icebergs and a damaged ship "not worth retrieving." That was a day selected for worship, prayer, and fasting. Many talks were given and Elder Ahmanson told his Danish flock that they "were highly favored of the Lord." That night "... a fire broke out and burned between the decks, but the Lord preserved us so that the fire did not over power us. An English boy who had stowed away on the ship was discovered. He had accompanied us without permission and ticket. For this action he would have been punished and caused to bear a wooden jacket or barrel; but since he was a member of the Church he was forgiven." Surely, Bodil and Niels were saddened as a young boy fell down from the top to the bottom deck and died four days later. He was buried in the same manner as the others who had died previously. This included being wrapped in canvas and the American flag, and being then deposited in the ocean.

Bodil and Niels had happy experiences, as well as the tragic. Imagine their delight as they watched "many seahorses" [dolphins] appear on the water during the month of June. After arriving in America, they traveled by train to Iowa City, where the Saints built more handcarts, sewed their tents and prepared for the trek to their promised Valley. Bodil turned 11 years old while crossing the State of Iowa, during the first 300 miles of their 1,300 mile handcart trek.

Winter storms began early that year and slowed the travel of the Company. By October 20th the company was stopped near the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater River and the base of Rocky Ridge. The cold was intense. The only remaining provisions were a few hard sea biscuits left over from the ocean voyage. The pioneers were in a very weakened condition. Captain Willie and Joseph Elder left to go and find the rescue wagons to get some help. The rescue party had also stopped to wait out the storm. Captain Willie returned with some help and the company resumed their march on the 22nd of Oct. What lay immediately ahead on the following day was the treacherous ascent of Rocky Ridge to the summit, and then on to the camp at Rock Creek Hollow. The distance was about 15 miles, including a two-mile stretch in which the trail rose more than 700 feet in elevation. A howling October snowstorm blinded nine-year-old Bodil Mortensen as she climbed.

Bodil made that fifteen-mile journey with the rest of the Willie Company on October 23, 1856. The forced march (they could not stop or they would freeze to death) took some of the pioneers twenty-seven hours. While adults wrestled handcarts up the steep trail, Bodil and others fought their way through the snow, wind, and freezing temperatures to get to Rock Creek. Sister Nielson was struggling to pull her husband, who had become unable to walk, in the handcart. Many families became separated that day as some lagged behind or went ahead. Exhausted and weak, Bodil and Niels struggled on their way, Bodil hoping to reach Salt Lake City to be with her sister.

In an account written by Christina Madsen, daughter of Ole Madsen who also died at the Rock Creek camp, we learn that Bodil "sat down by the side of the road... she was so hungry, she also died that same night. They who died that night were laid in a small ditch with their boots or shoes on and covered."

From the accounts written by various Peder and Helena Mortensen family members (unrelated family in the Willie Handcart Company), Helena Mortensen lovingly washed the bodies of those who died at Rock Creek that night, and then covered them with her hand-woven flax linens sheets that she had brought from Denmark. 10-year-old Mette Mortensen wrote that Bodil and Niels died by their family's fire. Little Niels Nielson was just five days short of his sixth birthday. What surely began as a grand adventure for these two children, came to a sad but finally blessed end. Before the thirteen bodies were covered, James Hurren held up his eight-year-old daughter, Mary, to let her see one of her playmates, possibly Bodil, lying among the dead.

Notes written by Mette Mortensen (Rasmussen) regarding the Rock Creek camp.

Click on image to enlarge.

Notes: Some of the Danish accounts note that 14 people were buried in the common grave, but the official Willie Company records indicate 13. Two others died the next day and were buried next to the common grave.

"Little child of Jense Neilson" (boy) is a reference to Neils Neilson and "Neils Mortensen girl" is a reference to Bodil.

Letter written by Mette Mortensen (Rasmussen):

Click on an image to enlarge.

Bodil's father, Niels (39), mother, Maren (45), brother, Hans Peter (12), and sister, Maren (7), emigrated to Utah the following year, leaving Denmark before they could be notified of Bodil's death. From the outfitting point in Iowa, Niels was a teamster for a prairie schooner and four oxen owned by a friend, John Lund. The Lund family occupied the back of the wagon and the Mortensen's the front. It was late in the fall when they arrived, expecting to find their daughters together. Bodil's mother never had vigorous health, and she became despondent upon learning the sad news. She never recovered from the loss of her child, and is said to have suffered a nervous breakdown before her death in 1862. The family had settled in Parowan, Utah, at this time.

Niels became a farmer, but continued also as a weaver. He helped to set up the first looms for weaving in the western part of the United States. He made beautiful tablecloths and suit material for clothing. His charity for others was well known in his community. The farm house opened to the main road. When Niels saw a vehicle approaching in the evening, he would go to the road, wave one of the two canes he had as he got older, and as the vehicle stopped, his standard greeting was, "Vell, vell. Vhere are you going? Vhen will you be back? Is your mother alive? Is your father dead? Vill you come in to have something to eat?" Passing hobos also felt welcome there. They marked the front fence to tell others coming later that they could get a good meal in this house. Niels also housed and fed several Indian boys for several years. Hopefully the years of service he gave helped to soften his heartache at the loss of his little ‘Balena.'

Biographical sketch written by Jolene Allphin using the following sources:

Diary of Peter Madsen, translated by Don H. Smith in 1972, LDS Church Archives

DUP Museum records, Parowan, Utah

History of Iron County Mission, Parowan, Utah by Mrs. Luella Adams Dalton

Ole and Ane Madsen family records in possession of author

Peder and Helena Mortenson family records records in possession of author

From the book History of Iron County Mission, Parowan, Utah by Mrs. Luella Adams Dalton, we learn a little more of Bodil's father:

About 1870, the sheepherders in Parowan decided to put their sheep together in a Cooperative Sheep Herd. Neils Otto Mortensen had acquired quite a large number of sheep and they had increased until he was the biggest sheep man in Parowan, owning about two or three hundred head, so he was put in as President of the organization.

Neils Mortensen used to freight his wool up to the Provo Woolen Mills and trade for cloth and all kinds of merchandise. On his freighting trips, he became acquainted with Charlie Crane of Kanosh, who was one of the leading sheep men of Millard County, and a man who was always ready to help his friends. He had read about the Basques in Spain, who were the owners of a very fine breed of sheep. On one of his trips they had talked it over and had decided to be on the lookout for a bunch of men who were interested in building up their herds by sending to Spain for a bunch of Spanish Merino Rams.

Among others who wanted some purebred rams were Francis Webster [of the Martin Handcart Co.] of Cedar City and Doc Brown of Kanarrah. So the Basque rams were sent for and in due time they arrived at York, the southern railroad terminal, just northwest of Nephi. This was the summer of 1880. Charlie Crane with others drove the rams to Kanosh and sent word to Neils Mortensen, Webster and Brown to come and get their sheep.

Neils Mortensen took his son, Samuel, a boy of about 13 years, along on horseback so he could drive the sheep, and Doc Brown drove the camp wagon. When they arrived at Kanosh, they drew lots and Neils Mortensen bought twelve rams, Webster ten and Brown eight. Then Neils and Francis Webster started home leaving the boy, Samuel, and Doc Brown to bring the thirty head of Basque Spanish Merino Rams to Iron County.

They had a lot of trouble with the sheep, as they didn't want to move, and were just about impossible to drive. But they finally hit on to the plan of stringing a little hay along the road back of the wagon every once in awhile. The sheep would follow along after the hay. It took several days to get to Parowan. Some of the rams had brass knobs screwed onto the ends of their horns.

Francis Webster and Randel Lunt met them in Parowan where they loaded the Webster sheep into wagons and hauled them to Cedar. Doc Brown loaded his into his wagon and started for Kanarrah.

Prior to this, all the sheep throughout this southern section were a coarse hairy wool breed, and the bringing in of these fine Merino Rams soon made a big difference. They used to shear about 2 lbs. per head, but after a few years it jumped up to seven and eight pounds per head.

The farsightedness of men like Neils Mortensen and Charlie Crane helped out the whole of Southern Utah in bringing in a fine bunch of Spanish Merino Rams and building up the herds in the country. It's men like these whose influence was one of the outstanding pillars in our march of progress. This was the first big stepping stone in what later became a million dollar industry to Southern Utah.

Photo of Neils Otto Mortensen, Bodil's father, courtesy of Parowan DUP Museum: