O Pioneer (Happy 24th of July)

Anna Maria (Ericksdotter) Peterson was born at Courling Heer, Lena Perish, in Neugeborg, Sweden, October 14, 1833. She was the third child of a family of seven; four boys and three girls. They were very very poor and each member of the family had to work. By the time she was sixteen she had had many jobs but very little schooling. When she was 26 she met the Mormon missionaries and was baptized November 16, 1859. Her parents disowned her. She never saw them again.

She began to work for a Mormon family for the promise of passage to America. She traveled as a hired girl with the family from Gotebeberg, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark, and then to Hamburg, Germany. Then they traveled by cattle boat to England and from there they sailed on the "Kimball" to New York. From New York they traveled by hog train to St. Joseph, Missouri and then by steam boat to Florence, Nebraska where they joined the "Independent Train" led by Captain Joseph Young.

Because she was the hired girl, Anna Maria had to walk the whole way while leading the family's cow and carrying the youngest child.

Along the way, she fell in love with the family's hired man, Peter Eliason. The company entered Tithing Yard in Salt Lake City on Saturday, September, 11, 1863. Anna Maria and Peter were married by Captain Young the next evening.

Her first home was a dug out in a dirt bank. The rent was $4. The only bedding they had was what she made from some extra underwear. Their bed was made from cattails she gathered from the swamp. That first winter and summer she did the washing for the soldiers at Fort Douglas Camp. She washed 16 uniforms by hand everyday and was paid $1. She wove many yards of cloth and was paid sometimes in potatoes or flour. She once wove cloth for one of Brigham Young's wives and was paid 1 potato and then was later charged for the potato.
Eventually Peter and Anna Maria bought a small farm in Logan and had their first child, John Emil on January 7, 1865.

Jacob Furhiman was born to Jakob Furhiman and Anna Maria Kaempfer in Ursenbach, Switzerland on January 6, 1831. When he was 19 his father died and Jacob went out to learn a trade. He chose to become a builder and carpenter.

When he was 21 he became apprenticed to Andreas Loosli. He lived with the family and fell in love with Andreas' daughter, Barbara. They were married December 5, 1856.



Jacob, along with several members of the Loosli family became interested in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and were among the first 400 baptized in Switzerland.

In 1860 Jacob and Barbara and others of the Loosli family began their journey to America. They traveled to Liverpool and booked passage to New York on the sailing vessal, "Underwriter". They traveled from there by railway and flatboat to Florence, Nebraska. They became members of the J.D. Ross Co. Jacob earned his way across the plains by driving a team of oxen for his brother-in-law. The Looslis and Furhimans did not find the journey dificult as they were well prepared for the journey. Jacob and Barbara often walked side by side, Barbara carrying their baby, Godfrey.

Both families settled in Providence, Utah. Barbara had 9 children. Her 4th was Anna Barbara (Bett) born May 3, 1864.

Bett (Anna Barbara) Furhiman met John Emil Eliason at a dance in Logan. John had gone there with friends and at first Bett laughed about him to her friends but as time went on, John won her admiration and love. John's father was bringing home a bride for him from Sweden,but before he arrived, John and Bett were married in the Logan Temple on March 9, 1887. John's father didn't like Bett at first because she cut and curled her bangs.



Emil and Bett lived in Logan for 13 years and had their first 7 children there. They moved to Bancroft, Idaho in the spring of 1900. There they had 2 more children.

My grandmother, Marie Amanda, was their sixth child, born November 17, 1896 in Logan, Utah. She married Teller Herbert Kelly on March 22, 1918 in Pocatello, Idaho. They had 5 children.



My mother, Carma, was their 4th child, born July 9, 1928. Carma Kelly married David Gordon Boston on March 6, 1952 in Pocatello, Idaho.



My twin, Jeanette, and I (Janette) were born December 9, 1952 in Ogden, Utah.




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