The Life Story of Christian H. Christensen and Bena Marie Frogner Christensen, Part 3

Here's the third part of the life story of Christian H. and Bena Marie Frogner Christensen:

Something went wrong with the well and pump so Henry, Irven, and Chris dug a new well. Irven worked in the bottom, Henry on top, and Chris led the horse. A ten-gallon milk can with the top cut off and a bail added was filled with gravel, pulled up with the horse, and Henry would dump it over the side. Once something happened to the chain or clevis and the can full of gravel started back down and Henry grabbed the rope and was strong enough to hold it so it got back down without a problem. He lost the skin off his hands, but he did it. The well was three feet square down into the water. Lyma says it was 135 feet deep. Henry took a 28-gallon wooden barrel, put a bail on top, cut a square hole in the bottom with a hinged door. The horse would pull up a barrel full of water, they would slide a trough under it and pull open the door and water would run in the trough to fill a couple of barrels for household use and to water the horses and cattle. Henry’s horse, “Old Pete,” was used to pull up the barrel. Norman used to lead the horse to draw the barrels of water out of the well. The frame would squeak and the horse would pretend to pull real hard. He had to stop him as soon as the barrel got to the top. He used to think the animals would never get enough to drink and didn’t think anyone else had such a setup. Later, they got back to the old hand pump, so they could pump the water when it was needed.

When the kids were small, they would load up the little pinto pony with three or four of them. Once, Irven was in the saddle, with Guy in front and Mat behind, and rode out into the field and down the ditch. It was okay until they came to a place where the bank was soft, the horse mired down and floundered, and then tipped over. As he tipped, Mat fell off, and the horse fell on top of him into the mud and water. The horse made a flounder and bounce, and Irven pulled Guy out. He made another flounder and Irven got out; another flouder, and Irven pulled Mat out. His mouth and nose were full of mud and water, but he got them both out. Another time, they were plowing along an eight- to ten-foot deep ditch to cover it up and level it off. They had three or four horses on the plow, plowing the side of the ditch. One horse got down on its back in the bottom of the v-shaped ditch, with the others on top. One mare was due to have a colt right away. They finally got the harnesses off and got the other horses off and the mare out. She had her colt a few days later, and got along alright. Chris’s little brother fell off a load of hay and was run over and killed.

When they went out to the mountain to get logs for the cellar, Chris, Henry, and Irven had their outing. They didn’t hunt or fish, but when rabbits would eat the bottom out of the haystack until it fell over, Chris would string out hay in a furrow, get his muzzle-loader rifle, and, aiming down the furrow, would get a half-dozen or a dozen rabbits with each shot. Irven didn’t know why his father had the rifle, because he never remembers his going hunting for big game.

Irven said their Christmases didn’t amount to much. Lyma said all the years she was growing up, she couldn’t remember ever having a Christmas tree or being able to afford decorations. She would usually go to town and buy candy and oranges, and Irven would be the first to meet her on the way home to have some. Irven said his father would bring home a sack of peanuts, hardtack candy, and some oranges, and dump them on the bed. They would kill 25 chickens at a time, and either freeze them or bottle them. During the winter, they would hang them in the trees and use them as needed. They also raised 12 to 15 geese every year, and had these to kill during Christmas time. They had all the fresh apples and all the canned and dried fruits, vegetables, and all the meat that was necessary. Bena baked pies and cakes and beautiful puddings, and they had lots of friends over. They had good times together as a family, and were a pretty good, friendly, sociable, cooperative gang. There was a lot of work to do, and they all worked together and learned to love and respect each other and tried to help each other.

In the winter time, they all loved to ice skate, and since they had five frozen canals within a mile of home, they could skate any direction they wanted to. Irven had hockey skates and could out-skate anyone around. Sometimes he would skate so far that Henry would have to go after him and bring him back on the horse. The river was also frozen over, and Chris would take the sleigh and he and the boys would cross the river in Firth and go to the lava beds and cut down cedar trees for our stove wood. They would make several trips and get all the wood needed for the winter, and it was very inexpensive fuel.

Chris was easy going, but when there was work to be done, he expected everyone to work. He always gave the kids Saturday afternoons off to play ball, and if any were in a ball game at school or wherever, he was always glad to take them, summer or winter. He never missed a game. Bena never cared about ball games, and didn’t ever go to them, but she liked to swim and would see that after work each night, they all got a chance to go swimming. Guy said she could out-swim him any day.

The five canals, with their deep holes, became the swimming holes in summer, and the kids could even dive. Lyma had learned to swim when she was about seven by putting a small board under her arms, helping her float, and learn to swim. They had some good times as a family. Chris would get into the water slowly and splash a little water on him as he went, and Bena would just dive right in. Norman said he only remembered his Pa going swimming once, but his Ma could swim well. Pa could beat them at horseshoes and could out-jump them.

The First World War started in 1914, and the U.S. fought Germany and Turkey. There were some shortages of food in the cities, but they didn’t notice them as much living on the farm. There were shortages of white flour, so in order to buy white flour, you had to first buy so much rye flour and rice flour. These were yellowish and not as nice to bake with as white flour. Lyma knitted some gray arm bands that were sent to the soldiers to help keep their arms warm. Henry was the oldest in the family, and the first to be drafted. He went into the United States Army, infantry. The family was so worried about how Bena would feel when she found out that they hid the paper. She found out about it in a few days anyway. Henry had played the cornet very well, so he was asked to play in a band. He was getting ready to be shipped out of the United States when the Armistice was signed, November 11, 1918. They were all thankful that no harm had come to him.

On July 18, 1915, Britta Mattson died in Camas, Idaho, where she had been staying with her daughter, Annie Edwards. The morning she died, Bena felt like something had happened, so she was on her way to see her sister, Gundy Anderson. Bena met Gundy on the way, and Gundy told her that their mother had passed away. Her mother had heart trouble and dropsy. Bena had another experience like this when Mat was driving the old Ford car home from Goshen. As he crossed Sand Creek, he ran off the bridge and turned upside-down in the water. Mat lit clear of the car and started home, and met his mother halfway between the canal and home. She knew where she was going, and knew what the trouble was, but met him halfway home.

Irven was the first in the family to be called on a mission in December 1917, and they were really proud and happy. He was called to serve in the Chicago area, and served an honorable mission. Bena and Lyma met him in Salt Lake when he returned.

On October 7, 1919, Chris’s mother, Karen Marie, died in Paradise, Utah, a few miles from Hyrum, and she was buried in Hyrum.

For a number of years, Chris was on the Board of Directors of the Snake River Canal Company. Their secretary absconded with the funds to Canada, and the farmers sued the Board for $10,000. They finally had to pay $20,000. Chris had $5,000 to pay off his mortgage, and paid it on the bill. He didn’t think good Mormons should sue other good Mormons, and Irven said he didn’t know if this had anything to do with Chris’s church attendance, but a number of years went by, and he didn’t wear out much carpet in the church. Bena didn’t attend church much because of her hearing, but as Chris got older, he was quite active in the Church and was a Ward Teacher. There was always so much work to do, but they both saw to it that the children had an opportunity to go.

When Irven was baptized, it was by Israel Porter. Chris would send the little kids to the store for tobacco, but with all the little kids around, he felt he should not smoke, so he quit. But it was hard, and he carried gum, dried fruit, and even sen sen around. His drinking problem carried over after he married. Bena used to be very much opposed to people offering beer to him, and he used the stuff once in a while. Once he came home late at night from somewhere, and evidently had been drinking, so he slept in the manger in the barn. He and Bena didn’t see eye to eye on that for a while. But he quit that, too, and when Irven was ten, he doesn’t ever remember his father using either tobacco or liquor.

As far as honesty and Christian living, Irven said Chris was tops. One time, they got word that a threshing machine steam engine had broken through a bridge and had fallen into the water, and the engineer was under the engine in the water. Chris ran his team a mile and a half to get there to see if they could help. Someone had already gotten him out dead. So far as being neighborly, Chris was neighborly, generous, and as helpful as anyone in the country. All the farmers would go to one place and help thresh grain, then would move from farm to farm until everyone was finished. Meals were provided at the home where the threshing was being done. Bena would cook for the threshers before four a.m. In those days, there was a little competition among the women to see who could put out the best meal.

Irven doesn’t remember his father and mother going to a dance or parties of any kind, but they did visit McBrides, Mame Johnson, and others across the street. When Norman was a baby, Johnson’s oldest daughter was a baby. If Bena had to go somewhere, she left Norman with Mame, who would nurse both babies, and if Mame went, she would leave her daughter with Bena, who would nurse both babies.

(Click here to continue to Part 4.)