My Grandfather Isaac Christensen
By Irene Harding
My Grandfather was born on the 20th of January, 1883, in Spanish Fork, Utah. He was the son of Christian Christensen and Catherine Olsen, pioneers from Denmark. He was the fifth child. He had one sister Mary Catherine, lovingly called “Aunt Mell,” and brothers Oliver, William George, Joseph and Francis Albert. Joseph died when he was about 2 years old two other baby boys died at birth.
There was a terrible blizzard the night Grandfather was born, deep snow and freezing wind blowing drifts. There were no doctors then, and his father had to go about three miles on foot through the deep snow and cold to get the mid-wife, who had to come horse-back, and she was to usher grandfather into the world and take care of his mother. There was no chloroform or pain killer and just the barest necessities and the mother was very sick. He was a blue-eyed baby with a lot of red curls which his mother kept in ringlets until he was quite a good sized boy.
When he was a little boy he made wagons with wheels sawed from logs and played going for wood, or made hay racks and played a hauling hay. When he was old enough to go to school his favorite games were basketball, leap frog and skating. He loved to skate. He neither fished nor hunted. He only went hunting jack-rabbits once and just missed shooting his toes off so he never went again and he didn’t like guns.
They had a nice home for those times, his father and mother were good religious people. They worked very hard and were thrifty. The children had to work hard too, on the farm and there was very little time for either play or school. Isaac was never lazy, he always worked harder than he should. Because he was kept out of school so much to help with the farm work in the spring and fall of the year, he only went as far as the sixth grade. He was quite a big boy by then. In the evenings he would help his mother card wool and spin yarn which she knit into stockings and gloves. Sometimes his cousins Annie and Hyrum Hansen would be there and they would pop corn and roast apples.
He was baptized in the Spanish Fork River, near the flour mill, by A. R. M. Beck, 4 August 1892, and was confirmed the same day by F. J. Beck. He was ordained a deacon and was faithful in this duties. He attended Sunday School, Mutual and Sacrament meetings. He was ordained an Elder on the 2nd of January, 1904, by Charles Brewerton, and a Seventy by Elder Charles Hart, 29 November, 1920.
His amusements were dances, house and church parties, and such shows as occasionally came to town. He loved dancing and was a beautiful dancer. He did the things that most of the young fellows did and they were sometimes mischievious. He liked the girls and was very popular. He started to to go with grandmother by taking her home from Mutual. Their courtship lasted five years. They were married 4 October, 1905, and were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple 13 September, 1906. They had eight children, three boys and five girls, but only one boy and four girls lived to grow up. When the oldest Lorimer, was old enough to manage the farm in the summer after the crops were in, his father would leave the whole responsibility of irrigating, cultivating, milking, etc. and go up Diamond Fork canyon with William Grotegut, watching the river and keeping up the highway to prevent floods and washouts.
He was in the superintendency of the Spanish Fork 4th Ward Sunday School for over 17 years. He was set apart as second assistant to John Williams, 1st of July, 1917; first assistant to Herbert E. Williams, 23 January 1921; also first assistant to Bernell. J. Hansen and was made Superintendent, 28 September 1930. He was released on account of his health, 4 February 1934. Following is a letter he received from David O. McKay who was then General Superintendent of Sunday Schools.
Dear Brother Christensen:
Having been informed that you have been a devoted and able Sunday School officer of the Sunday School for 17 years or more, and that you are now too ill to attend our convention, I take this means of conveying to your our appreciation and best wishes. God bless you.
Sincerley,
David O. McKay
Payson, Feb. 11, 1934
It was his custom, after he had started Sunday School and the classes had separated for class work, to look over the school, and if he noticed the absence of some boy who he thought should be there or an officer of teacher not there, he quietly went out, got on a bicyle and went to see them at their home or in their barn yards, making them realize that they were missed and that they were important enough to be noticed. He would get back in time for closing exercises. He got many a young boy interested this way that otherwise might never have gone to Sunday School. HHe was dearly loved and respected by the Sunday School officers and members and keenly missed when his failing health made it impossible to carry on. No matter how ill, he insisted that every member of the family be at Sunday School.
He and grandmother went to the Temple often and they did their work together, sometimes for his families and sometimes for hers. He enjoyed temple work and called it his recreation.
If by “Doing unto one of the least of these” will make one eligible for the Celestial Kingdom, there is no doubt as to his salvation. He was always doing for the “under-dog”. If there was ever anyone who was considered “not as good” they were the ones he befriended “Send your valentines to children who won’t get very many,” he told his children . In his neighborhood were two families that did not fit the usual “go-to-church” pattern and were considered somewhat down-graded. Grandfather went out of his way to be friendly to these people. He never neglected to say “How are you? How are the children?” If these families needed anything he would have seen that they got it. Some of the boys he befriended followed him around like his shadow. When others considered them trampy or too lazy to work Grandpa could always get a hard days work out of them by praising them to the sky. When Grandpa died one of them said, “I’ve lost the best friend I’ve ever had.” One time he found that one of his friends and neighbors was having a worse time than he was, so after dark he took a sack of flour and left it on the front porch and forbid his family to ever say anything about it. Another time he was going up the canyon with this team and wagon when he passed an old negro with a sack on his back. Grandfather took him up on the seat with him and as usual learned his history. He had hiked from California because his wife had died. He had no one left so he was going back to Georgia to die at his childhood home. All of his earthly possessions were in the sack on his back. When lunch time came Grandfather divided his lunch with the old man and left him a sandwich for his supper. When they came to the place where they had to go their separate ways the old man opened his sack and took out a dish. He said it was his wife’s favorite dish and the last thing of hers that he had. It was just a glass butter dish with a gilt edge and could be bought for a dime in Woolworths but to Grandma it is a precious reminder of one of the characteristics of her husband, and has an honored place in her cupboard. A little child was never too dirty (and in those days children were not kept as clean as they are now) for him to pick up and love. All children loved him and would go to him unafraid.
Among the happy memories by mother has of Grandpa Christensen was his concern and love when any of the children were ill. Many husbands let the mother do all the night nursing. Not so with grandfather. At the sound of a cough he would bound out of bed. He greatly feared “croup”. He would help grandma rub with musterole (a very hot ointment) and heat hot flannels. Mother thought Grandpa had something magic about him. She often had severe ear aches. Grandpa would shake up the fire in the pot-bellied stove, heat a piece of flannel and then sit in the rocking chair and rock her to sleep. She can remember being rocked when she was so large it was difficult to find room for her dangling legs. Grandfather never owned a bathrobe. They were for “sissies”. He either dressed for bed or to work. When he got up at nights he slipped on his overalls. They were “bib” ones with brass buckles on the chest inot which the straps were fastened. He would unfasten the buckle of one strap and throw it over his shoulder in order to make a soft place for mother’s aching ear. Like magic mother would fall asleep.
He was never idle. In between farm work in the late summer he would go with his team and wagon to the mines for our winter coal and to the canyons for our wood or for green poles and cedar posts for fences. It would take several days to make a trip and two or three neighbors would go together. He always came out with the biggest load. He was a good farmer. Sometimes his irrigation turn would last 36 or sometimes 48 hours but he stayed with it, conserving every bit of water and coaxing it on all of his land. He raised cattle and milked cows and always had a good team of horses. He loved horses and always took the best of care of them.
Sickness weakened his heart but he would not give in and stop work. After three years of terrible suffering he was released from the cares of this life on 30th of may 1935.
He was a true and loving husband and father and was very proud of his children.
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