Joseph Josephson Wall Jr Biography

Note by Robert Wall grandson of Joseph Josephson Jr.:

Joseph Josephson Wall, his wife Johanna, their son Joseph (my grandfather) and their daughter Eva Charlotta were all baptized in Sweden in 1862.

Joseph Josephson Wall came to America on the sailing vessls BS Kimble in 1865 with a number of saints. His oldest daughter may have come with him, but I have found no record of her on the ship.

Johanna Kant Wall and the three youngest children came over on the sailing vessel Cavour.

Joseph Wall, the subject of this article, came over by himself, but I have not been able to verify what ship he came over on, or just when.

Sanders is the county in Nebraska that Wahoo is a part of.

History of Joseph [Josephson] Wall [Jr.]

“The fair land of Sweden has given the development and settlement of the great West some of its most valuable citizens who by their probity, their industry, and intelligence, have been a credit and honor to the land from which they came, and are also among the representative citizens of the land of their adoption.

“Notably is this the case with Joseph Wall, whose well-improved and valuable estate is located two and one-half miles north of the brisk and prosperous town of Lyman, Wyoming, where he is engaged in stock raising of a scale and scope of importance.”

This above extract, taken from a book entitled Progressive Men in the State of Wyoming, is indicative of the eminence and esteem held by Joseph Wall during his lifetime.

His parents, Joseph Josephson Wall Sr. and Johanna Kant, were the parents of seven children—Augusta, Joseph, Charlotta, Albertina, Gustave, Matilda, and Hulda. The father was a carpenter and cabinet maker by trade. The mother spun yarn for the material to make their clothes, then had it woven into cloth. The dresses and suits were made by Joseph’s father, who could sew as well as a professional tailor. He was also a cobbler, and made their shoes.

The family were of the less well-to-do class. Their diet often consisted of small potatoes cooked with the jackets on, and a little salt herring, with black coffee.

The father and two girls, Albertina and Charlotta, came to America in 1865. Upon arriving in New York they could go no further, as they had no money. But, providently, the father met a man he had known in the old country. This man advised him to go to Nebraska, telling him that work was scarce in many places. Also, this man loaned the father enough money to get there.

After arriving at Sanders, Nebraska, he worked at his trade as carpenter, and with care and frugality, saved enough to send for his wife and the two youngest girls. Concerning their ocean voyage, the following events were related by Matilda , who was then just a child:

While upon the water, the only competent navigator who knew the route or could steer the ship inits right course accidentally fell overboard and was drowned. None of the others being able to keep the ship properly steered, they soon drifted off course and were lost. The sailors hoisted the distress signal, and after a time another ship came to their assistance. A pilot came aboard who set the ship back on its course, but they had drifted so far out of their way that the journey across the water took nine long weeks.

To add to their misery and sorrow, cholera broke out among the passengers, and many of them died and were buried at sea.

Grandmother and her two little girls, being among the third-class passengers, were on short rations, which consisted of hard sea-biscuits in rancid butter, and black coffee. Being more cautious than many others, Grandmother was very careful that neither she nor the children drank water that wasn’t boiled. Thus they escaped the cholera while others who had better fare died. In due time they reached Nebraska and were reunited with the rest of the family except Joseph, who was still over in the old country, and Gustave, who had died in infancy.

Joseph, my father, then about seventeen years of age, determined to emigrate, even though he didn’t have enough money. He made his way to Liverpool, England, and upon arriving there, found that he lacked seventeen shillings to pay his fare to America.

Joseph, undauted, was walking down a street in Liverpool, when a man stopped him and asked if he were going to America, and if so, whether he had yet bought his ticket. Joseph answered that he was going to America, but he had not bought his ticket, and further, that he did not have enough money to pay his fare. Whereupon, the man asked, “How much money have you?” Joseph answered him. Then the stranger said, “Give me what money you have, and you stand right there until I come back.” Impressed to feel that he could trust the man, Joseph, asking no further questions, nor security for his money, gave him the funds that he had, and waited for him to return.

Soon the stranger came back with a ticket and a basket which contained enough food to last on the journey across the water, as well as four shillings in change. Thus Joseph boarded the sailing vessel, “Montana”, and in due time landed in New York with his four shillings.

He went to a boarding house and immediately wrote to his father. He was nineteen days waiting before he received an answer, during which time it cost him a dollar a day to live. After paying his board bill, he had only enough money to take him to St. Joseph Missouri. There a man offered him a job at ten dollars a month wage, but Joseph replied that he was now an American, and that he wouldn’t work for so little as that. However he did get a job chopping and cording wood until he had earned enough to pay his fare the rest of the way.

Going up the river on a flatboat loaded with hogsheads of brown sugar, on his way the Nebraska, Joseph discovered that one barrel had a knothole in it. “Brown sugar!” he though to himself, “A whole barrel of brown sugar.” A little on a spoon was all he had ever had at a time, and here was a whole barrelful!

The next problem which confronted him was how to get the sugar out of the barrel. Being of an inventive mind, he whittled a spoon to fit the hole, and with this he ate all the brown sugar he wanted. He would eat as much as he wished then put his spoon away till he craved more. I suppose that he never once thought that this wasn’t strictly honest, and that one barrel was perhaps going to be a little short in weight.

And so it was that he made his way to Nebraska.

From Sanders the family moved to Wahoo, Nebraska. There grandfather broke virgin soil, and here Joseph, my father homesteaded 80 acres. On January 14, 1873, he married Christina Larson, daughter of Lars Larson and to them were born four children—Albion (who died in infancy, in Nebraska), Annie M., Hattie V., and Joseph. Concerning this marriage, it is of interest to note that Father had courted sisters. The older one, and really the one he had wanted to marry at first was sometimes of a very jealous disposition. However, he married the younger, and later said that he was very glad he had done so.

In Nebraska, Grandfather, Grandmother, and the children strived to lead good Christian lives, and visited the different churches that had been established in the community, seeking to find that which they felt conformed to their liking. Matilda, especially, had always been very religious. She liked to read the Bible and to attend church, and although she attended religious services of the various denominations their teaching did not ring true to her.

One day when she went to the spring house to take care of the milk, she knelt and prayed fervently that she would receive an answer to her prayer. So, she was not overtly surprised when one night thereafter she had a dream. In it she saw two strange men dressed as ministers, and a neighbor, whom she knew was a Presbyterian. In the dream she was told to listen to the message which they brought, for it was of the true gospel. Upon awakening she wondered if the Presbyterian church was the right one, as the neighbor of her dream had belonged to that church. She hardly liked the idea.

The next afternoon, as the men were hauling hay, two Mormon missionaries, accompanied by the Presbyterian neighbor who introduced them, came to the barn, where Joseph my father was working. Grandfather, working in the barn, did not see them. There they gave their gospel message. Father invited the missionaries to his home for supper. They informed him, however that they were going to hold a meeting that night in the next town, and invited him there. Matilda saw the missionaries, and instantly recognized the men in her dream. So that evening she slipped out and went to the meeting walking the whole distance.

When she returned home, it was very late. Quietly she entered the house. Nevertheless, her father heard her, called to her, and asked her where she had been. Then she related to him her dream, told him of the Mormon missionaries, and how she had attended the meeting they had held in the next village.

Grandfather was impressed, and would have invited the missionaries to his home, but was informed that they had gone. He asked Matilda if she would be able to recognize the men if she saw them again. She replied that she could, for her dream, and the subsequent meeting had imprinted their image firmly upon her memory.

The next day, Grandfather and Matilda, in his wagon, drove to the town where the missionaries had said they were going, and found them there. He was desirous that they come back with him, but they told him they had other appointments that they were required to meet. Grandfather then gave them some money and asked them to return when they could. They did come after a time, and after hearing their message, Grandfather, and Grandmother and three of the children—Matilda, Huldah and Joseph—together with Joseph’s wife, Christina, were baptized.

In May 1877, Matilda came to Utah, and on August 22nd of the same year she married F.F. Hintze, one of the missionaries of her dream. Two years later, in 1879, Grandfather and Grandmother Wall came to Utah as part of a Mormon colony emigrating to that state. Here they spent their remaining years. Grandmother died in 1885, and Grandfather remarried. By his second union they had four children, two girls and two boys.

Here are a few interesting incidents related by my father which happened while he lived in Nebraska:

When Chicago burned the reflection could be seen in Nebraska.

Father sold corn at $.08 a bushel to get money with which to come to Utah.

The winters were very cold in Nebraska, and they had great blizzards. They would have a clothes line fasted from house to barn, and by holding to thi they could make their way from one to the other. Often the only water the cattle had for days was the snow which sifted in through the cracks and crevices while the blizzard raged.

The summers were often very hot. Sometimes, when a thunderstorm came, the milk would sour almost as soon as it was milked.

Eggs sold from 3 to 5 cents a dozen, butter for 8 cents per pound, but it was hard to get 3 or 5 or 8 cents with which to buy. Many years later, during Cleveland’s administration, a man said to father, “I could buy a good overcoat for three dollars.” “Yes,” replied my father, “but could you get the three dollars with which to buy it?” “No, I could not,” answered the man.

Father came to Utah in 1879, and settled in Big Cottonwood (which later became Hollady). There he bought a 12-acre farm.

April 26,1881 in the Salt Lake Endowment House, he married Jensine Hendricksen, daughter of Henry Peterson and his wife, Anna Jensen, natives of Denmark. Jensine and her brother Nochole had emigrated to Utah with their widowed mother in the year 1871. Their father had died in the old country. Four children were born to this marriage—Joseph William, Edwin, Leonard and Charlotte, who died when 19 years of age.

Later, he met Ellen Anderson, who was from Moroni, Sanpete County, Utah, and whose parents also were natives of Denmark. They immigrated to Utah when Ellen was about four years of age. He married her, also, in the Salt Lake Endowment House. Nine children were born to them: Cora A., who died in infancy, Raymond A., Nanna V., George A., Marrietta N., Eunice M., Ruby E., Heber J., and Edith A.

Having married in polygamy, Father was on the “underground” for years, and went through may interesting experiences because of this. Some of these follow:

My mother, the third wife, but the second living, moved thirty-three times in three years time, on average or eleven times a year. The children were taught not to call him Father, for fear that they might unwittingly betray him to Federal officers. One day, when Mother and Lizzie were on the street in Salt Lake, Elizabeth spied her father, who was wearing a grey suit at the time, walking among a crowd. She pulled at her mother’s skirt and whispered, “Mama, there’s the man in gray.”

Once when the U.S. Marshall came out to Holladay, a man by the name of Jonas Anderson was, at the time, staying at Father’s home. The Marshall stepped up to Father and asked if he were Mr. Wall. Father said nothing, but pointed to Jonas Anderson, and by the time the officer had contacted Jonas Anderson, and found out hismistake, father had slipped away through the willows and had made his escape.

It was during this period of persecution that Father went to Manti and worked for two and one-half years on the Manti Temple which was being built there at the time. Being a skilled carpenter, he did finishing work in the sealing rooms, and intricate work over the East windows.

Later, he was transferred to the Salt Lake Temple, where he worked for three years. There he did woodwork in the Celestial Room, The Holy of Holies, and the large Arch, thirty feet long, where one goes through the veil.

An interesting experience happened while he was working at the Salt Lake Temple. A workman had cut the place to hang the hinges on the door on the wrong side. He felt bad about it, for he felt he would surely lose his job. Father, feeling very sorry for him, stayed after hours that night, and fitted the fieces in so perfectly that the workman’s mistake did not show. Thus he won the gratitude and friendship on that man, and thus the man kept his job.

Many other men besides Father, that were working on the Temple, were polygamists, and were on the “underground”. Between the ceiling and the second floor in the temple is a five-foot truss work. In there a place was fixed, so it was quite comfortable. When the U.S. Marshall came, a signal was given, and the polygamists would disappear into this place. Then someone on the outside would place boards and shavings to camouflage the opening. Here the authorities of the Church would preach and teach the gospel. It was thus that Father became very learned in this “School of the Prophets”.

But finally Father was caught by the Federal Officers and taken to the Penitentiary. One day a friend of Father’s came and borrowed his buggy to go to town. When this man brought the buggy back to Father, he also brought the U.S. Marshall back with him to arrest Father. The notable thing about this is that Father never did mention that man’s name in connection with the incident, nor did he treat that man any differently from the way he had always treated him. This seemed to prey on the man’s conscience, for at one time he told my brother, Lawrence, about it. Lawrence, in turn, when telling me of the incident, never did reveal the man’s name either.

When Father was taken to the penitentiary they wouldn’t allow him to take the poor man’s oath. He was therefore forced to mortgage his home and farm to Joe Newman in order to pay his fine and provide for his family during the three months he was in prison. His fare in the prison consisted mostly of just bread and water.

After serving his prison term, he was left considerably in debt, with three growing families to provide for. It was then he decided to move to Wyoming, out near the historical Fort Bridger. He left Utah in 1895, and homesteaded 80 acres, since he had homesteaded 80 acres in Nebraska.

In early spring of 1896 he took Aunt Ellen, the third and youngest wife and her two children, and started for Wyoming. At Wasatch, on the divide, the snow became so deep that he put his equipment on the train and shipped it to Evanston, Wyoming. When he got there, he still had between forty and fifty miles yet to go to reach the Bridger Valley. At Evanston, he made a “jumper” by taking the wheels off his wagon and putting planks under it to act as skis, or runners. When there was no snow, he put the wheels back on again. Thus he made his way, changing from wagon to jumper the forty or fifty miles distance.

He moved an old house down from Fort Bridger. This is where the family first lived. My mother, and Aunt Ellen each homesteaded 180 acres of land. Thus pioneer life began in Wyoming.

In June, 1986, Father moved the rest of the family out, except Aunt Sine. He also brought his farm animals, cows and horses. He had a good dairy herd, having run a dairy while at Holladay. He also had fine horses, some even blooded. Immediately in Wyoming, he broke virgin soil by grubbing the sage brush, raking and burning I, and then plowing and further preparing the land.

He cleared the major part of the land in Bridger Valley with his grubbing machine, which was similar to the road graders they have today. A large blade was mounted on four wheels, with a seat in front, and a platform behind on which father stood to gauge the large blade by means of a wheel, something like a steering wheel on a car. Six or eight horses were hitched abreast, and two boys were put on the seat to drive. After grubbing the brush, they would use a regular hay rake to rake it into wind rows, and then would pile it up to burn it. He often took his girls as well as boys, to burn the brush, and more often the burning was done at night when it was cooler, and when the fire was more beautiful to watch, and much better enjoyed.

Father not only used this machine for grubbing brush, but for making and cleaning ditches and canals. He wasn’t a surveyor, but told us that when he made the “Swede Canal”, he took his machine up to the head, where the water was to be taken out of the Black’s Fork River. They he stood on the back platform with the boys up in the seat and told them where to drive. In this way the canal was surveyed adequately for a distance or twenty or twenty-five miles. This canal later saved the people of the Valley many thousands of dollars. Up to that time there was only one canal to provide irrigation water, and the owners of that canal were charging as high as six dollars a share, then a very excessive rate.

He was an outstanding pioneer. It was he who built the bridges over the streams, and who supervised the building of chapels, home flour mills, school houses, and other edifices. He had good judgment in all phases of activity. His advice was sought after by many, for it was wise counsel.

One spring, the water in the Smith Fork River was very high. Father had build a bridge over this stream years before. Mr. Herbert Taylor, who lived on this stream was worried, and much afraid that the bridge would be washed out. He phoned Father, and when Father learned how high up the water was, he told Mr. Taylor not to worry—that the bridge would not go out. Mr. Taylor’s fears were allayed, and when the waters began to recede, the bridge was still there, and in good, safe condition.

At stake conference time people used to drive by team from far and near, and he would entertain as many as came, often as many as forty at a time. If there wasn’t sufficient room in the house they would make room in the barn, or out of doors. Conference time was a great event. Cooking of all kinds was done for days before hand, and usually some extra butchering had been done.

Threshing time was another important event. Father usually had large grain stacks. It was a standing joke with the men who ran the threshing machines—“Let’s wait to break down until we get to Brother Wall’s place. They feel good, and we can take our time about repairing the machinery.” It may be said that they usually did break down at Father’s place.

He was a missionary among the people of the valley. A considerable number of people were converted to Mormonism through his diligence in teaching the Gospel. He was never too busy to go when called to administer to the sick, and to leave comforting words with them.

He was a man of great faith. He strongly believed in fasting and praying. Here are a few striking examples.

One year shortly after coming to Wyoming, the frost killed his seed grain. He fasted and prayed that the Lord would provide a way that he might get grain to plant. In answer to his prayers, a man came down to see him, wanting to trade grain to Father for a “white-top” buggy (then without a top) which Father had. He hated to part with the buggy as it was solid and substantial, but he could see that it was an answer to his prayers. Later, he got the buggy back for almost nothing.

One time Father was working on a building. The scaffold broke, and when he fell a 2x4 plank drove into his body, bruising him badly, and breaking three ribs. Fast day came, and the Spirit prompted him to go to Sacrament Meeting and be administered to by the Elders. When he thought of the intense pain of the trip to the chapel, which was 3 ½ miles away, he felt that he could not stand it, and so he didn’t go. Because he didn’t, the pain became more severe. Again he fasted and prayed for three days. On the third day a personage visited him, and though he couldn’t see him, Father felt hand pressing against his body. Then there was a click, and the first rib was set, and so on, until all three ribs were set. He came out of the room a well man, and related this occurrence to his family.

He sent four sons on missions. Joseph went to Sweden, Lawrence went to Norway, Leonard went to California, and Henry to Canada.

He had very little if any schooling. It was rather a joke with him that he had gone to school only one day in his life. Yet he was well-educated. It is true that he didn’t speak the best English in pure diction. Yet he always took a newspaper and kept abreast of current events. Also, he was well-versed in the scriptures. He had an old Danish Bible which he enjoyed reading, for it contained several more books in the Old Testament than do our English Bibles.

He could estimate the amount and cost of lumber to the board foot that it would take to make a building. His eye was keen and true that he often would saw a board to fit another place without measuring.

He was faithful in paying his tithes and offerings, and kept the word of wisdom strictly. He used to go to bed early in both summer and winter, and in the summer he often arose so early that he could hardly see to find his clothes.

His health was good up to about a year before his death. He had plowed his fields the latter part of February, because there had been an early spring that year. He died the 23rd of April, 1921. An excerpt from the “Bridger Valley Enterprise” gives the following: “Joseph Josephson Wall, age 73, a pioneer and builder, died in his home, Saturday at 9:00 o’clock after a lingering illness of several months duration. Mr. Wall had been suffering from stomach trouble for about a year, and for more than a month has been bedfast. He has always been a vigorous man, and his vitality was responsible for his being with us during the last month of his illness, for he has taken scarcely any nourishment. In the passing of Mr. Wall, Lyman, and Bridger Valley have lost one of their most useful, energetic, and respectable citizens. It is doubtful if there is another man in the Valley who has taken a more active part in its development. Whenever a public enterprise of any nature has been undertaken, Mr. Wall was among the first to offer his services, and whenever he was on the job he could always be depended upon to do his full share. He was a carpenter by trade, and was exceptionally well-trained in the profession. He is one of the pioneer residents of this valley, having come here in the year 1895, and having resided here ever since. He was a man with a large family, having had 24 children in all. The greater number reside here……”

Funeral services were held Wednesday, April 27, 1921 in the Lyman L.D.S. chapel at 2:00 o’clock. They were conducted by Bishop H. Melvin Rollins, with music being furnished by the choir under the direction of James H. Syme. Two other musical numbers were a vocal solo, “Face to Face,” sung by Reed Brough, and a duet “Cast Thy Bread Upon the Water,” sung by Verna Bradshaw and Evaline Rollins.

Elder Reed Brough and Bishop Rollis spoke highly of the deceased. President James Brown of the Woodruff Stake of Evanston, was the principal speaker. He eulogized the life and labors of the deceased, and spoke gentle words of comfort to the bereaved. He quoted the verses of “Have I Done any Good in the World Today,” and then said that Father Wall had made the world better by having lived in it, and that he had been of real service to humanity.

The following members of the High Council were pall bearers: Henry Voss, J. Fred Thompson, James E. Eyre, Loraine Rollins, Peter J. Peterson, and Henry Blurnell.

The large attendance and the many floral offerings were evidence of the esteem in which he was held in the community.

Joseph Wall was born in Sweden, August 15, 1848, and came to America in about 1865. He was the father of 24 children and left 50 grandchildren and two great-grand children. He died April 23, 1921, and was buried in the Lyman City Cemetery. Thus his life’s race was run ever faithfully to the end.

Compiled by his children. Written by his daughter, Hannah Harris.

Father joined the church 1865 in the old country. His father 1880 in Salt Lake.

Andrew J. Wall printer.

The family had been baptized in the old country and they came over with the saints and stopped in NE for whatever reason and homesteaded there. They weren’t active and fell away from the church and then Mathilda had that conversion story from this record. By then the trains were already running when the family got converted again. The two older girls stayed in NE with their husbands, they had married outside of the church. Joseph SR and JR and their wives at the time and Mathilda and Hulda all went to SLC on the train which was running by then. The descendents of the first two daughters were still living on the land of the original homestead in the 60’s, don’t know about now.

When they got to Utah, all the members that had been baptized were rebaptized and all the ones who hadn’t been baptized Mathilda, Hulda and Joseph Jr.’s first wife were baptized. Catherine (that wife) died shortly after they came to UT and before he married Jensine (who ended up being the new “first” wife) 1880 census Christina and my grandfather living in Big Cottonwood or Little Cottonwood canyon. Same page is a Hendricksen from Denmark and I think that’s my grandmother. She may have been taking care of Christina when she died and he married her afterwards.