Warren S. Snow (1818-1896)

"Twenty-year-old Fred Cox made a momentous decision in the spring of 1857; he would ask Mary Ellen Tuttle to be his wife.  He had no wealth to offer his prospective bride–on the 1860 census he listed no real or personal property-but at the height of the reformation in Manti, that was a small consideration.  Women were being importuned to marry, especially to become plural wives.  Fred was an eligible young man, and several young women had encouraged his attention.  He chose young Mary Ellen.

"His difficulty was how he should tell Lucy Allen, who had so openly shown her affection for him, that he planned to marry someone else.  He concluded he would break the news to her at a church dance on April 20.  That night he asked Lucy to walk outside with him.  While he hesitated to apprise her of his choice, she told him she was going to Provo to work that summer, unless, she hinted, something happened to keep her in Manti.  Before he could use this opening to introduce the subject, Bishop Warren S. Snow approached the couple and stopped to exchange pleasantries.  From their association and their seeking to be alone, the couple appeared to the bishop to be lovers, and he offered to marry them on the spot.  Lucy eagerly agreed.  Not taking the bishop seriously, Fred submitted.  The bishop played his part well and went through the entire ceremony.  When he asked Fred if he took Lucy to be his wife, the young man hesitated, but when the question was repeated, he gave the usual answer.

"The bishop had made Fred’s message to Lucy more difficult, but somehow he communicated enough so that she left for Provo as planned.  By late summer, Marry Ellen had agreed to become Fred’s wife.  As dedicated Latter-Day Saints, they wanted to be married for “time and eternity”, a rite generally performed only at the Endowment House in Salt Lake City.  For them to be eligible to participate in this ceremony, the bishop had to certify their worthiness.  So to the bishop they went.

"Bishop Snow seemed perplexed at their request to be married.  He had wanted Mary Ellen as his own plural wife but had been thwarted because her father did not want her to enter plural marriage.  Fred was unaware of this when he and his prospective bride made their request.  The bishop asked the girl if she had carefully weighed her decision to enter plural marriage and queried the young man whether he was financially able to support another wife.  Now it was the young couple’s turn to be perplexed.  Mary Ellen assured the bishop that such questions need not be asked, but he countered by affirming that Fred was already married to Lucy Allen and that he himself had performed the wedding.  Fred protested, arguing that the ceremony had not been a real wedding and was neither legal nor binding.  His protests were for naught.  Fred and Mary Ellen enlisted the aid of their parents and even the aid of Lucy’s parents, but the bishop was adamant that Fred and Lucy were married.  The couple and their parents appealed to a higher authority.  While attending the church’s semi-annual conference in October, Fred, his father, and Lucy’s father sought an interview with Brigham Young.  The president of the church listened attentively to their story.  After carefully considering the case, he announced to Fred that he was a married man and advised him to go home and make the best of it.  On the way home, Fred stopped in Provo to get Lucy and took her home with him to Manti" (Kathryn M. Daynes, More Wives Than One: Transformation of the Mormon Marriage System, 1840-1910 [Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2001], 55-56).

Christen Peter Torgersen (1883-1951) and Valborg Christina Flongfelt (1885-1948)

Christen Peder Torgersen was born on May 1, 1883 in the country of Norway. As an adult he had light brown hair and blue eyes; he was  5’7½” tall; and on his right hand he had a tattoo mark with his initials—"C.P." (HR).

All of Christen's family immigrated to the United States after they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On 29 June 1897 Christen (age 14) was baptized by Jacob Fikstad and confirmed by Henry Peterson in Fredrikstad (RT). Harassment from neighbors for being Mormon impelled Christen to leave his native country (HR). A Massachusetts Passenger and Crew List notes his arrival in Boston Massachusetts in 1902 with the trade of carpentry and his destination as Ogden, Utah (MP). However, another source contends that he left Norway with one of his sisters and first settled in Idaho, due to the support of a missionary family--that is, a U.S. missionary who had served in Norway saw to their basic needs (HR).

As a sign of his Norwegian heritage Christen changed the spelling of his last name once he arrived in the United States: "Torgersen" was the Swedish spelling, while the new "Torgerson" was the Norwegian spelling. Christen practiced the trade of carpentry, found he was skillful, and made a career (HR).

Valborg was born on September 15, 1885. She arrived on her own as an indentured servant in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1905 (MI) and originally lived for a few months with a Norwegian mother and son by the last name of Johannesen. Christian Johannesen recalled that his mother loved Valborg like a daughter (FS). Later, Valborg lived with her entire immigrant family in Wandamere, a place now occupied by Nibley Park Golf Course Salt Lake City (HR). After marriage, Valborg and Christen occupied a home in south Salt Lake City.

Valborg and Christen married on September 15, 1910. How they met is a matter of discrepancy. One daughter remembers, years later, that they met through fellow Norwegians in Utah (MI); another source tells us that their initial meeting occurred years previously--they knew each other from the Church branch in Norway (HR).

Valborg was musically talented. In her late teens she sang "Norwegian songs written by a great poet" in the Oslo Norway Branch of the Church (FS). In Utah she would often sing Norwegian songs at home, as well as on the grounds of Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, just for the enjoyment of song. Her voice and melodies at times brought other to tears (HR).

Christen practiced the trade of carpentry, found he was skillful, and made a career. Christen's talent of carpentry led to building many floats for the 24th of July Pioneer Parade held yearly in Salt Lake City, crafting toys for young family members (the couple had 9 children), and even constructing a boat in the basement in one of their homes—as far as is known the boat remained in the basement when the house was bulldozed for the creation of a new road (HR and MI).

The couple belonged to a Norwegian Society in Salt Lake (FS).

"She was simply as happy as a person could be" (FS).

Sources 
Richard C. Torgerson, "Kristen (Christen) Torgerson (Thogersen) and his Mother Johanne Kristensdatter," as found on www.FamilySearch.org >Christen Peder Toregersen [KWC6-YJ7]>Memories>Documents [abbreviated above as RT]

Joshua Paul Myers, "U.S. History Report: Christen Peder Torgersen," as found on www.FamilySearch.org>Christen Peder Toregersen [KWC6-YJ7]>Memories>Documents [abbreviated above as HR]

"Keith Crawford describes his parents: Melvin & Nellie. Mary Torgerson describes her parents: Christen & Valborg (7 March 2015) Interview," as found at www.FamilySearch.org>Mary Joy Torgerson [LXNP-6YZ]> Memories>Audio [abbreviated above as MI]

Massachusetts, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1963, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, 1917-1943; Microfilm Serial: T938; Microfilm Roll: 57, as found on Ancestry.com [abbreviated above as MP];

Christian Johannesen, "Funeral Sermon: Valborg Christina Flongfelt Torgerson," as found on Ancestry.com, posted by jtdavis ([abbreviated above as FS] )

"Little Mother": Ellen Curtis Spencer Clawson (1832-1896)

[Aurelia Spencer Rogers, sister to Ellen Curtis Spencer Clawson wrote:] “Before leaving Nauvoo, father [Orson Spencer] had been called to go on a mission to England to edit the Millennial Star; but on account of the persecutions his departure had been postponed. [Catherine Curtis, wife to Orson Spencer and mother of 6 living children, died shortly after the family left Nauvoo.]

“While at the Bluffs he was notified to be in readiness to start late in the fall [1846]. He therefore made arrangements to fill the appointment and went with us across the Missouri River to Winter Quarters, where he put up a log cabin, into which we moved before it was finished there being no floor nor door. Soon after a door was put in, but the floor, which was made of hewed logs, was not laid until the next spring.

“Catharine and I were just recovering from a spell of sickness when our father bade us farewell and started on a three years' mission, leaving us in charge of a good man and his wife by the names of James and Mary Bullock, who looked after our interest the same as their own. They also had a family of children.

“The door of Brother Bullock's cabin faced our's and was only a few feet from it, so if anything went wrong they could hear us. We kept house by ourselves, Ellen acting the part of a little mother. She had just turned fourteen, and was small of her age, but had the judgment of one older. [The names and ages of the other children: Aurelia (12), Catharine (10), Howard (8), George (6), and Lucy (4).] It was well for us that we had been taught to knit and sew, for we had our own clothes to mend and look after. A lady by the name of Jane Dudson, who lived across the street from us, used to cut out our dresses and then we helped to make them. From her I took my first lessons in dress cutting, which were gained by observation, and were of great use to me afterwards.

“We got through the first part of the winter pretty well, as father had provided for our wants, having left us with eight cows and one horse; the horse was to be sold for provisions.

We went to school to Sister Addison Pratt, (mother of Ellen Pratt) who felt obliged to do something to earn a livelihood for herself and four daughters. She was an excellent lady and we spent most of our spare time at her house.…

“The winter having been uncommon in its severity, our horse and all our cows but one had died, therefore we had no milk nor butter; our provisions had also nearly given out, so that in the spring and summer following, we really suffered for something to eat; part of the time having nothing but corn-meal, which was stirred up with water and baked on a griddle. Many a night I have gone to bed without supper having to wait until I was hungry enough to eat our poor fare. Many others as well as ourselves had very little to eat, and those who did fare better, knew nothing: of our destitute condition. Some months after, Apostle Wilford Woodruff, hearing about our circumstances visited us, and relieved our wants for the time being. The Saints had to send to a place called St. Joseph, which was some miles below Winter Quarters, for provisions that consisted mainly of corn-meal and pork. There was no need of our family suffering for food, if the money father sent us had been received; but although the money failed to reach us, the letters received from our dear parent were a great comfort to us.…

“We left Winter Quarters about the first of May, 1848, traveling in President Young's company. He had made the trip across the plains the year before, as the leader of the Pioneers, and had returned for the rest of his family, and to see after the poor Saints who could not help themselves….

“In the course of nearly a five months' journey we arrived in Salt Lake Valley, having traveled over a thousand miles. It was a happy time as we merged from Emigration Canyon and took a view of the valley that was to be the future home of the Saints” (Aurelia Spencer Rogers, Life Sketches of Orson Spencer and Others, and History of Primary Work [N.P.: George Q. Cannon and Sons Company, 1898], 47–49, 51, 79).

Catherine Curtis Spencer (1811-1846)

Catherine Curtis and Orson Spencer home in Nauvoo, Illinois

Catherine Curtis was not only highly educated, but she was “brought up in affluence, and nurtured with fondness and peculiar care as the favorite of her father’s house” (MS, 60). In 1830 she married a well educated man by the name of Orson Spencer. Orson and Catherine Spencer had eight children in total: Catharine Curtis (1831–1833), Ellen Curtis (1832–1896), Aurelia Read (1834–1922), Catherine Read (1836–1922), Howard Orson (1838–1918), George Boardman (1840–1924), Lucy Curtis (1842–1867), and Chloe (1844–1845) (LSOS, 202).

While Orson supported the family as a Baptist minister in Massachusetts in the early 1840s his brother, Daniel visited the family with a copy of a Book of Mormon. Daniel already converted to Mormonism and after long discussions and pondering Catherine urged, “Orson, you know this is true!” (LSOS, 16). The Spencer's quit the Baptists and joined the Mormons in Nauvoo.

After giving birth to Chloe in Nauvoo, Catherine suffered a terrible illness, and was not “prepared to stand the cold weather and rough roads” required upon the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo (LSOS, 35).

“After leaving Nauvoo, [Catherine], ever delicate and frail, sank rapidly under the ever accumulating hardships. The sorrowing husband [Orson] wrote imploringly to the wife's parents, asking them to receive her into their home until the Saints should find an abiding place. The answer came, ‘Let her renounce her degrading faith and she can come back, but never until she does’” (MJRY, 17).

“When asked if she would go to her distant friends that were not in the church, who had proffered comfort and abundance to her and her children, she replied, ‘No, if they will withhold from me the supplies they readily grant to my other sisters and brothers, because I adhere to the Saints, let them. I would rather abide with the church, in poverty, even in the wilderness, without their aid, than go to my unbelieving father's house, and have all that he possesses’” (MS, 60).

Catherine “asked her husband to get his Bible and to turn to the book of Ruth and read the first chapter, sixteenth and seventeenth verses: ‘Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God my God’” (MJRY, 18).

“Under the influence of a severe cold, she gradually wasted away, telling her children, for time to time, how she wanted them to live and conduct themselves, when they should become motherless, and pilgrims in a strange land. To her companion she would sometimes say, ‘I think you will have to give me up and let me go.’ As her little ones would often enquire at the door of the wagon, ‘How is ma? Is she any better?’ She would turn to her husband, who sat by her side endeavoring to keep the severities of rain and cold from her: ‘Oh, you dear little children, how I do hope you may fall into kind hands when I am gone.’ A night or two before she died, she said to her husband, with unwonted animation, ‘A heavenly messenger has appeared to me tonight, and told me that I had done and suffered enough, and that he had now come to convey me to a mansion of gold.’ Soon after, she said she wished me to call the children and other friends to her bedside, that she might give them a parting kiss, which being done, she said to her companion, ‘I love you more than ever, but you must let me go. I only want to live for your sake, and that of our children.’ When asked if she had anything to say to her father's family, she replied emphatically, ‘Charge them to obey the gospel.’ The rain continued so incessantly for many days and nights, that it was impossible to keep her bedding dry or comfortable; and, for the first time, she uttered the desire to be in a house. The request might have moved a heart of adamant. Immediately, a man by the name of Barnes, living not far from the camp, consented to have her brought to his house, where she died in peace, with a smile upon her countenance, and a cordial pressure of her husband's hand about an hour previous” (MS, 60–61).

“Her remains were conveyed to the city of Nauvoo, and … buried, in the solitude of the night, by the side of her youngest child that had died six months before” (MS, 61).

Sources: Orson Spencer, “Obituary,” Millennial Star (MS) volume 8, no. 4 (February 15, 1847): 60–61; John R. Young, Memoirs of John R. Young (MJRY) (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1920), 17–18; Aurelia Spencer Rogers, Life Sketches of Orson Spencer and Others, and History of Primary Work (LSOS) (N.P.: George Q. Cannon and Sons Company, 1898), 34–35, 202.

John Thomas Williams II (1916-1991)

"By John Williams, Member Tabernacle Choir"

This is a report of my illness in England subsequent to the Choir's Concert Tour which ended in Paris.

At the time of the last concert I was suffering from mild influenza which I thought I could easily throw off. I left Paris and went to Malvern, England, on or about the 20th and 21st of September. During the night of September 20th I stopped over at London. It was late at night when I got to the hotel and all the chemists were closed. None of the hotel employees had any sulfa or other drugs and, as a result ,my condition worsened. Nevertheless, I proceeded on to Malvern the following day and after resting a day at a Malvern hotel the doctor there diagnosed my case as pneumonia. I went to the Malvern Hospital for X-rays and treatment where I remained for ten days and had to postpone my sailing on the "Ivernia" from Liverpool September 29, 1955, to the later sailing of the "Saxonia" on October 5.

 The matron of the hospital at Malvern greeted me with the query of how many wives I had. I replied I had just one. She afterwards felt some embarrassment for asking the question and became quite friendly. I had in my suitcase the Triple Combination (Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price) which I had the opportunity of reading to other members of the ward in which I was a patient. One fellow patient, Graham Crews, became most interested in everything I had to say about the Restored Gospel. Among other things, I read to him the 8th Chapter of Moroni, 13th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, and also Sections 76, 110. and 89.

I had written home of my condition to my wife, Marjorie, whom I supposed had contacted the Church authorities in Salt Lake. Brother Murdock at the Church Offices cabled President Hamer Reiser with the advice to contact me immediately and arrange transportation home via the Scandinavian Airlines. President Reiser immediately phoned long distance form London to Malvern and I was progressed sufficiently in my convalescence that I could go to the office and converse with him on the phone. I related to him the advice that he had already received from the matron of the hospital and from Dr. A. L. Brown, my attending physician, that I was better off to come home by sea, using that period of time for further convalescence. President Reiser was very solicitous of my condition and in a few days dispatched two missionaries with the Mission President's car (that is, his car) to Malvern. These Brethren were Elder Hoopes and the Mission Secretary. I told my friend, Graham Crews, in the hospital that when the Elders came to pick me up I would buy a missionary copy of the Book of  Mormon and present it to him. I also gave another copy of the Book of Mormon to a William Pickard, another fellow patient. At the time of my parting from the Malvern Hospital I considered this rather an insignificant act, but the day I sailed from Liverpool a telegram was there for me from Graham thanking me for the Book of Mormon and wishing me bon voyage.

The purpose of my originally going to Malvern in Worcester County was to pursue my own genealogy of the Williams family line. My grandfather, John T. Williams I, for whom was named, was born in Cradley, Herefordshire, near Malvern. For two days the Elders who had picked me up at the Malvern Hospital motored me around from village to village in my genealogical pursuits. We accomplished very little, nevertheless, it was as much as I could have done on my own in a week or ten days with no car. The missionaries drove me to Hengoed, Glamorganshire, Wales, where my father's first cousin lived—a Mrs. Lucy Jones.

She had never met any of the family that had gone to America for the Gospel, and was not a member of the Church. Although I was a complete stranger to her, Mother had carried on a little correspondence with her regarding genealogy and she graciously took me into her home. I met her husband, Ernie Jones, and her granddaughter (my sixth cousin), Doreen Lloyd. I stayed with them overnight and the missionaries picked me up the following day about noon. This gave me ample opportunity to tell them a little about the Gospel. Apparently they had never heard anything remotely close to the Restored Gospel before. As I told them the stories of the restoration, Aunt Lucy repeatedly said to me, "Oh, if we could only believe that!" "If we could only believe that!" Since returning home I have sent them a copy of Dr. Talmage's "The Articles of  Faith" and have enjoyed some very satisfactory correspondence with Aunt Lucy.

In returning now to this dear friend, Graham Crews, I have enjoyed a host of wonderful correspondence with him in these months following my return home. He has written to the Mission Headquarters in London and purchased, on his own, a copy of The Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price. He has written me his personal testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon repeatedly and has indicated his desire to become a member of the Church. We have exchanged Christmas gifts and among other things, I have mailed him a copy of "Jesus, the Christ," "The Great Apostasy," and "The Articles of Faith," all by Dr. Talmage.

Also since returning home my employers, The Jewel Tea Company of Barington, Illinois, have seen fit to reimburse me for the period of time which I was ill which made me return home late for work. My Jewel hospital insurance and medical benefits under the Lloyds of London Group Insurance were not needed in England. I came under the classification of a tourist and therefore was automatically covered by the British National Health Insurance. I had two X-rays, two consulting physicians on my case, plus a third physician who had treated me in the Malvern Hotel before I was hospitalized. I had the finest care and meals in the hospital, all of which didn't cost me or the insurance company a penny. I have had some very gratifying correspondence from the nurses, two Sisters, and the Matron herself, whom I have reason to believe were pleased to have made my acquaintance as I was of theirs.

I feel it incumbent upon me now to contact the president of the British Mission and ask him if it is possible to arrange for missionaries to go to Malvern and meet with my dear friend, Graham Crews.

All the time I was in the hospital, though I was many miles from any of my acquaintances, I was led to feel that I was in a house of friends and that the Lord's hand was over all.

(This account is found in in Warren John "Jack" Thomas, Salt Lake Mormon Tabernacle Choir Goes to Europe  - 1955 [Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1957], 251-253).