History of Jens Christian Sorensen Frost

J.C. Frost was born 3 November 1839, in Skove Hjorring, Denmark.  He joined the Church in Denmark, 20 November 1858.  He married Johanna Marie Anderson.  When J.C. Frost was twenty-one years old he was performing a mission for the church in his native country.

Johanna, a beautiful young girl, was not allowed to visit the meetings held by the Mormon missionaries.  She waited until nightfall when all was quiet.  She then left her little room and climbed out of the window to hear the fine young light-complexioned missionary speak.  She had already been investigating the church.  He must have smiled at her or she at him, and they fell in love.  The same year they decided to go to America.  Her father was very much put out with the affair and one day he saw them leaving in a buggy.  He ran on foot after them pleading for her to come back. She was his only daughter.  But they were so happy she did not see or hear him, so off they went to the port of embarkation.

They went aboard a sailing ship and sailed away from the beautiful country of Denmark to the wastelands of America to endure the privations and hardships of pioneers in a new land.  They were on this ship for nine long weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean.  Measles broke out on the ship and fifty percent of the people were stricken.  The drinking water became thick and syrupy and many died.  Johanna went among the people on board, helping any way she could, sewing clothes and preparing the dead for burial at sea.

There is always a silver lining and one day they counseled with the elders and it was decided they would be married by the Elders in the presence of the captain, in the middle of the ocean.  They finally landed in Florence, Nebraska and stopped with J.C.’s sister there for a much needed rest.  Their destination was Utah, so they crossed the plains from Council Bluffs with a handcart company and walked all the way to Utah.

While in Nebraska one evening there was a dance.   Johanna wanted so much to join in the fun; she was so tired from the hard trip across the ocean, so she danced with some of the other young men.  J.C. didn’t like it and said, “It was the first time she had disobeyed him.”

They settled with others from Denmark in Ephraim, Utah.  They built a dug-out and it was there their first child was born, 20 September 1863.  She was Elizabeth (Edith’s mother) who would become the oldest one of 23 children.  One day Johanna was rocking little babe Elizabeth when a huge Indian in headdress came to the door, grinning and scaring her with his greeting.  A neighbor lady came to her rescue, telling him to go.

J.C. was a beautiful carpenter.  He did much detailed work.  He made doors for the Tabernacle in Ephraim; they were still hanging perfectly when the Tabernacle was torn down.  He also made caskets of white birch and lined them with white bleach material.

It was customary for families who could support another woman, to take them into their homes, so he took Metta Marie Mortensen into his home.  After a year, J.C. and Metta went to the Endowment House in Salt Lake to be married.  When they returned Johanna met them and said, “Well, are you married?”  This was a hard day in her life in many ways, but she remained cheerful and was encouraged by the other sisters in the Relief Society who were living the same way.

J.C. was a Minuteman in the Black Hawk War.  He was called in the middle of the night to take messages to Spring City and other places; got lost once and lived on sofisberries for many days.  The Indians were always bad through the Cedars in Pigeon Hollow between Ephraim and Spring City.  On one occasion at night, he was traveling through the C edars and he heard a horse and thought he was in for it.  He hid and it turned out to be a few loose horses.

J.C. married his third wife, Sina Peterson.  They now had a three-room adobe house.  Eighteen children were born there.  They cooked in a fireplace.  He built a rock house, still standing, where all three wives lived together until the Manifesto.  When he was called to go on a mission to Denmark for two years, all helped to get him off.  All three families lived in the rock house while he was on his mission.  After, he had to move each one to a separate home after the Manifesto.  J.C. was very meticulous and stern.  The doorsteps were always scrubbed clean. He never stepped on them, always up and over.

When the third wife died, J.C. draped a wagon he had and was going to use it for the funeral hearse.  A son, Nels, came home from sheep herding and found that Ole Olsen had a new hearse so he paid for its use with his earnings from herding sheep.  He didn’t like the idea of the wagon for his mother.

J.C.’s yard was always beautiful with cropped bushes, apple and plum trees, and a big strawberry patch.  After the strawberries were over, the children were allowed to clean the remainder.  The plums made good sweet soup and pie in the winter.

J.C. was always courteous and kindly, treating all three wives with the same concern.  They were all well dressed and the children were dressed the same.  The children loved one another the same as if they were full brothers and sisters.  He was proud of his ten lovely daughters and when he walked into church or conference with them it would cause quite a stir.