Lars Larson Olson
1832-1913
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. Will Rogers
It is said that Lars Larson Olson and his wife Randine arrived in UT by wagon train 3 days before the railroad entered UT. It may have really been 3 years but in any case, Lars was not one to just sit there and wait for the train. He made things happen.
Lars Larson Olson was born June 18, 1832 in Yttermalung, Sweden. He did not stay in Sweden long. Lars the 3rdof 4 Children left home at age 19 soon after his father died. His older sister had passed away and leaving the farm to his oldest brother he went to find his own way. He traveled to Norway as a young salesman. Little is known about what he sold, but his job took him to the central-eastern part of Norway, to a beautiful peninsula jutting out in the middle of Lake Mjøsa, the largest lake in Norway. The area is called Nes, Hedmark.
A few years later his mother died in Sweden. (Dec. of 1858). This is when Lars purchased a farm in Norway. The bill of sale says he purchased the farm from a Mr. Monsen in 1859. Lars became a Norwegian citizen. Maybe he had to be a citizen to buy property in Norway. In any case he was on the right track when the Mormon Elders came preaching in Norway. He was baptized a member of the restored church in Aug. of 1862. For the next four years Lars was a great influence and missionary in the area.
The branches of the Mormon church swelled although they were not without persecutions by their enemies. The Elders were mobbed, put in jail on false charges, and the homes of the newly converted Saints were broken into and property destroyed. Still, the work of the Lord went forward. As the missionaries went about converting the people. In spite of the opposition Lars was strong in the church. There are several references to Lars Larsen being the Branch President from 1863 through 1866.
Randine Gunderson a young girl of 14 also accepted the gospel in Nes, Hedmark, Norway, in 1862. Her mother accepted the gospel in 1864. Her family became good friends with Lars.
On May 9, 1866 Lars 33 and Randine 17,were married in Christiana, now Oslo, on their way to set sail for America aboard the ship “Humboldt” from Hamburg, Germany. The newlyweds, along with Randina’s mother, Tonette and Tonette’s sister Johanne traveled together.
There were three ships sailing within a week from Hamburg – (Humboldt,Kennelworth, and Cavour) - all with LDS emigrants aboard.
After arriving in America, they took the train and boats for twelve days to arrive at the Missouri River. There they joined an ox-team company under the direction of Captain Andrew H. Scott.
From Pioneer Trek journals we learn that rations consisted of 1 1/2 pounds of flour and one pound of bacon each day besides sugar, molasses, and dried fruit.
One young man wrote. “We generally broke camp at 8:00 o'clock in the morning and traveled from 12 to 20 miles a day. As a rule, we stopped about two hours at noon to rest and feed ourselves and animals…. At night, first, we pitched our tents and gathered fuel and fetched water, then we made fires, baked bread, cooked food, and finally ate our meals around the camp fires, sitting on the grass or rocks…. Often, we had to cook our meals when the rain poured down in torrents and drenched us to the skin and put out our fires. At other times the wind blew so hard that our tents fell, and our food in course of preparation became spiced with sand.”
They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on October 8, 1866. Lars and Randine walked all the way across the plains to Utah.
In the spring of 1868 they made Santaquin their permanent home. Lars’s son, relates that Lars went to Meadow where he heard there was plenty of farm land. Randine stopped half way there in Santaquin where there were old friends from Norway. She wanted to go back to Provo, he wanted to move to Meadow, so they stayed in Santaquin.
One of Lars’s hobbies was raising chickens and experimenting with different kinds of chicken feed. He would grind bones and make various kinds of mash, something you could not buy. He said his chickens netted him a dollar per year per hen. They also had a large fruit orchard where they raised apples, peaches and plums which were taken to Sanpete Valley where they were traded for grain to feed the family and farm animals. When the boys were old enough to help, Lars started a molasses mill. They raised their own cane and processed it for themselves and for others.
Each fall a three-day trip was made to the canyon to bring down the winter’s supply of wood which was used for cooking and heating. The men of the community went in caravans to the canyon and helped each other until all had their winter’s supply. On one of these occasions two men were killed, which saddened all.
In 1880 they received the sad news that Lars’ older brother had passed away in Sweden.
In later years when all of the children were married, and Randine was gone their oldest son, Joseph, and his wife, Mina, moved down from Mammoth to care for Lars Olson.
A granddaughter of Lars, Lucille Olson King, says, “I can vividly recall Grandfather’s appearance, especially his beard, and seeing him walk with his cane. He sat in his rocking chair and did a great deal of reading in his room which was just off the kitchen at Aunt Mina’s. His rheumatism prevented him from much activity in his later years. On one occasion while visiting I did not want to eat what had been placed on my plate. He just looked at me and then kindly, but firmly said, ‘Little girl, you must eat everything and not waste food.’ It was years later before I realized the significance of this statement. He had known how hard it was to work and raise food in this desert country.”
Lars Larson Olson was always strong in the gospel and proactive in making things happen along the tracks of life. He died on the 23rdof December in 1913 at eighty-one years of age.
Note: (In Sweden Lars was christened Lars Larsson because his dad’s name was Lars. When
Lars arrived in America, he Americanized his name by taking his father’s last name. His father was the son of Olaf so the family name became Olson.
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