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FROM PRINCESSE STREET TO UTAH
   Axel Nielson & Ana Sophie Larsen Nielson     

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By Patricia G. Bracken & Edna N. Gubler
Hard Cover 8.5 x 11  96 pages.

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AXEL NIELSON AND ANE SOPHIE LARSEN

By Eva Nielson

Axel Nielson was born on the 20th of March in Helsingor, Frederick, Denmark. He was put in an orphanage when a child. He was confined there until he was 15 or 16 years old. He was adopted by Johanna Nielson who took him out of the orphanage and gave him the name of Nielson. The orphanage told her he had been put in by a person by the name of Christian Hendrickson who said he was the child’s father. The Nielsons were flour millers and that is where Axel learned the trade.
    Axel was married to Ane Sophie Larsen about 1880, in Halendrup, Holbaek, Denmark. Ane Sophie Larsen was born March 29th, 1857, in Jyderop, Tornved, Holbaek, Denmark. [The Danish spelling is "Sophie" but it is pronounced "Sophia."] Their first child was Peter Nielson who was born 7 June l88l, in Halendrup, Holbaek, Denmark.
    Axel was a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and left with other converts to go to the United States when Peter was a small child. Ane Sophie was also a convert but did not come to the States at that time.
    Axel traveled across the States and landed in Richfield, Utah, were he pitched hay for Chris Poulsen for a living. He was barefooted until he could earn enough to buy shoes and clothing that he needed.
    Later, he got a job in the flour mill in Elsinore, Utah, for Bertleson, and worked there until he got enough money to send for his wife and son. Peter was then three years old; they came across the ocean in 1884, and then across the states to Elsinore.
    Grandma Sophie Larsen Nielson could speak no English and it was a terrible trip for her. She carried their clothes in sacks and a home-made trunk. The trunk they kept for years. Victor, second son of Axel and Ane Sophie, could remember seeing the trunk. Victor said he thought it took six weeks on the boat, and to cross the States to Salt Lake about fifteen days. Then one day to Juab, then on a buckboard to Elsinore. Victor thinks Grandpa [Axel] met her at Juab and took her on to Elsinore in a buckboard.
    They had a little daughter born about June 12, 1886, in Elsinore. This baby died from whooping cough when about three months old, in 1886. She had been exposed to the whooping cough by some child that came with parents to visit Grandma and Grandpa. The baby Ana was buried in Elsinore cemetery. Victor has seen the grave. After that Grandpa took his wife and son Peter and went to Salt Lake and was sealed to them in the Endowment House.
    Then Grandpa and Grandma went with Peter and leased the Mill from Riddle in Loa for about two years but went broke. They then moved back to Elsinore and worked for old John Smith, who had leased the mill from Bertleson.

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Axel, Peter, Ana Sophie with older Peter as insert. Click photo for full image.
    

     There in Elsinore, Victor was born 12 July 1894, in a nice home that Axel had built. Axel built an opera house in Elsinore. He also did some play acting. They held dancing and church conferences in the opera house. Grandpa held other important offices other than church duties in the civic center. Grandpa bought the flour mill from McClellan in 1899.
    About 1904, Peter went on a mission in the Northern States Mission and served two years. In 1906, Axel bought the mill in Richfield from Andrew Poulsen.
    In 1897, Grandpa Axel went on a mission for two years in the southern states. His companion was O. V. [U?] Bean. They did wrestling exhibitions to make money to support themselves. They often drew large crowds, and had several wrestling encounters with anyone who would take the dare. This got large crowds. Then they would start to preach the gospel. They made many friends and converts. They took all wrestling comers and never lost a bout. This made them very popular.
    In the meantime, Grandma lived alone with Peter and Victor. Victor thinks she had some income from the opera house. They also owned a few cows and Grandma sold milk and butter.
    In the year 1887, Grandma Nielson’s brother, Jens Jorgen Larsen, immigrated to the United States from Denmark. He landed in New York. He then went to Wisconsin and worked for some time in Racine and Oshkosh. He went to Salt Lake on the 7th of April 1888, where he met Helga Hagstrom at Peterson’s boarding house and married her 3 December 1892. While in Salt Lake he worked for Silver Brothers as a carpenter, a stone mason and bricklayer. He helped to place the angel Moroni on the Temple and also helped to put in the marble work in the city and county building. He was sealed to his wife the 3rd of December in Salt Lake City. He received his naturalization paper September 25, 1894. In April 1896, he moved to Elsinore and took up farming. He had a nice home there. He lived there until his death. He was the father of one son and four daughters.
   
Ana Sophie Larsen Nielson. 
    She always wore a blouse which had long sleeves and a narrow neck band. She wore long skirts which were gathered on a waist belt and she always wore more than one petticoat or underskirt. She wore what she called her waistcoat under her blouses. We would probably call it a bra. Her dresses were always a dark color and she had one black silk dress which she wore to church.
    The family had one or two cows and some hogs. They had three or four horses. Grandmother always milked the cows. She made butter and cottage cheese. They also had a few chickens. Whenever the men folks killed a hog, Grandma always made sausage and she cleaned and prepared the hog’s head for head cheese. That was something I had never seen before.
    Grandmother also made a bran beer. She boiled bran and hops together. When it had cooled enough, she added yeast cakes and put it in a large enamel crock and put it in the cellar to cure. This was a refreshing drink for the men folks who would come across the street to get a drink of the beer when they were tired and thirsty–especially when the weather was hot.

1 (Patricia G. Bracken) checked these dates. The membership records for Alex and Ane’s district in Denmark show that Axel immigrated June 1884, and Ane immigrated August 1884. In other words, at least according to the church records, they came in the same year. I checked the record of the Copenhagen Conference for the ship carrying Scandinavian Saints in June 1884, which ship was called the Arizona and sailed June 6th, 1884. Axel is listed on p. 97. It shows he paid 95.00 in tithing and 200.00 in cash. His destination was "Juab." Next, I found Ane Sophie Nielsen, 27 years old, with a child, Peter, 3 years old, in the Copenhagen Conference list for the ship Wyoming, on p. 97. The date the ship was to sail was August 25th, 1884. Ane Sophie and Peter’s destination was also Juab. It shows a draft was received for 348.75, with a refund of 12.75, for a total of 286.00 for Ane Sophie and 50.00 for Peter. According to the foregoing, they left in the same year.

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