Hans
Jacob “Michael” Anderson
(GGGF, 1858 - 1929, as recorded in A Brief History of the Life of
Hans Jacob (Michael Anderson) -
Hans was born on March 9, 1858 in Horsense, Skandburg, Denmark. He was the second son and fourth child born
to Andres Christensen and Lisa Marie Hansen.
Not much is known of his childhood except that he came from a large
family (it is believed that Hans had 8 siblings. Records from Denmark indicate only 8 recorded
births in their family, however the last child was a girl and may not be
recorded since the family moved from Horsense.
Hans’s children recall him telling stories about his childhood chores
and the different jobs he did. They
recall him working many types of jobs and walking many miles on errands to earn
just a few pennies. He attended grade
school in Denmark for about 6 years. He
was confirmed into the Lutheran church when he was age 14. After coming to America at age 18, he decided
to change his name from Jacob to “Michael” and to use the American suffix “son”
instead of his “Andersen”. He
spoke no english when we arrived in America and so it is likely that at his
entry thru customs his name was recorded based on how it sounded to the person
doing the recording.
His home town of Horsense was the home to much of the areas trains. He had a fascination and deep love for
trains. Oddly enough he had a deep love
for horses too and had a tremendous gift for handling them. His love for both horses and trains lead to his employment on the railroad
and his lifelong pastime of having horses.
He enjoyed life and was high spirited.
He spoke with a Danish accent. He
settled in Aspen, Wyoming. While in
Aspen he began working on the railroad.
He eventually was made “boss” of
a section gang for the Railroad in which he oversaw rail work. He had Chinamen which worked for him. He made $35 a month. He eventually met Alice Eckersly while he was
in Wyoming working for the Railroad as a cook.
Alice and her older Aunt were working as cooks for the railroad
crews. A short time after they met he
began getting serious, but although she had taken a liking to him from their
first meeting, she did not encourage him because he did not belong to the LDS
Church. There was a large room where
they danced and Michael loved to dance.
They would start dancing early in the evening and dance until one o’clock
as hard as they could dance. The dances
he liked the most were the Waltz, Danish Tucker, French Four, Finger Polka,
Sextour and the Virginia Reel. He
promised her that he would join the church if she would marry him and 11 months
after they met, they were married. The
were married on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1887 in Aspen, Wyoming. He was 29 years of age and she was 25.
The family that Alice was now working for were LDS and threw a big dance
for them the night before they left for Salt Lake City, Utah on their
honeymoon. They stayed at a hotel called
“Cliff” for 3 days. Then they came to
Wellsville and spent the rest of the holidays with her family. They danced nearly every night. Alice, his new bride, recalls having to sit
out some of the dances because she couldn’t keep up with him.
After their honeymoon, they returned to Aspen, where they made their
home. Their nearest neighbors were 25
miles away. They travelled by foot and
train because Michael didn’t own a horse and buggy until after they moved to
Utah. Shortly after their marriage,
Alice became very ill with “arisipilis” and nearly died due to their remoteness
from medical care. She recovered, but
while in a very weak physical condition, she contracted typhoid fever and was
again very ill and near death for several weeks. Michael decided he wanted to do something other than being a
boss of a railroad crew, so they decided
to move to Wellsville, Utah where Alice could be closer to her family. They soon moved to Newton and bought a farm
and started a family.
