LOVEABLE QUIRKY PEEPS

3/30/10

GREAT GRANDPA PETER PETERSON...

If you've followed the story of Canute and Sarah, you'll remember their first born, a son named Peter. How he was the first Norwegian male child born in Utah, how he was Sarah's "little dam boy", how he called his baby sister Sarah..'Sanie', how he played 'Peek-a-Boo' with the Indian brave, and how he was the first child of Canute and Sarah's to marry.

But I'll back up here a little to share how he was a militia man in Ephraim not long after they arrived in town......



The Indians were still on the warpath in this part of the state. All able bodied men were needed to defend the communities. One of the first things Canute did after getting his family settled in Ephraim was to get all the settlers from the neighboring county of Sevier to move into Sanpete so they might be a greater strength in combating the hostile Indians. They were safer within the fort and stayed all winter.

Peter, just 17, joined the Militiamen regimen under Lewis Larsen's company as soon as he arrived in Ephraim. On one occasion, some horses had been stolen and they were called up to go retrieve them not far from town. An ambush occurred and Peter's horse was shot right out from under him, so he laid down behind the horses body and kept on firing as long as his ammunition held out. The stolen horses were not recovered but the men felt lucky that none of them had been killed.

Settlers form the neighboring county of Sevier  had been staying at the Ephraim Fort for protection but come spring, they wanted to get back to their farms and homes again. To determine if it was safe to do this, Canute delegated one hundred and fifty young men, Peter being one of them, to go scouting ahead and see what the Indian situation was. They scouted all over, and not finding any of the Indians, the Captain sent Peter and nine other men back to tell Canute things looked safe enough.

Back in Ephraim, the Sevier County settlers had become extremely anxious to be on their way and had organized a group to start out toward home. They were traveling along and had gotten about twenty five miles south of the town of Gunnison when they were attacked. The Indians were about a hundred strong and were led by Chief Black Hawk.

Chief Black Hawk...
courtesy blackhawkproductions.com

They were trapped and terrified. Captain Justensen had two men ride for their lives to try to break through the encircling Indians and bring help. The two men maneuvered around slowly then suddenly made a break and got through. But Chief Black Hawk saw this and had two braves go after them.

They rode until they almost caught up to the men and began shooting at them. One of the men fell from his horse mortally wounded, but the other one managed to goad his horse into even greater speed and outran the perusing Indians. He made it to Ephraim, quickly riding up to Canute's house and told him of the trapped settlers. Canute sounded the alarm in the Fort and quickly summoned two hundred mounted men to ride with all speed and help Captain Justensens's company.

The ten scouts who had been sent back to report there were no Indians were unaware of all this as they had taken a different route back to Ephraim. They had pitched a camp, cooked their supper and were sleeping around the dying campfire just a scarce three miles from where the Indians were camped.

The Indians had seen their campfire and were sent out to kill them. Sneaking up to them, the Indian Chief in charge sent two braves to go and look the men over as they slept. One of these braves was called War Pannie. He had spent time in Ephraim off and on and had befriended some of the younger men. He noticed two of them sleeping and when the other brave raised his hand with a knife in it, War Pannie stopped him, pulled him aside and told him they could not kill these men because two of them were his friends. They crept back to the Chief and War Pannie told him of his friends and that he could not kill them. The Chief respected his braves request and the ten men were not harmed.

In the morning as they headed on their journey homeward, they found the remains of the Indians camp and wondered how they had been spared. About a year later when peace had been made and Peter was herding cattle, he became well acquainted with some of the Indians. One of them was a brave called War Pannie. He told Peter then why they had been spared that night.

As for the settlers, the rescue company rode in just as the Indians were circling the wagons. Chief Black Hawk was a shrewd and wily warrior but knew to retreat when outnumbered.  So the settlers went back to Ephraim to wait until it was safer. 

The Black Hawk war went on for sometime and if you're interested there's a great story about the Black Hawk war AT THIS SITE. 
I've copied the following information from there, but the story is know in the Utah History books, and in Aunt Edith's book. Sarah also talks about this in the e-book on the last post. In fact some books say Canute smoked the Peace Pipe with them, but it was actually Sarah Ann's Chicken Dumpling Soup that ended the Black Hawk War...

July-August, 1866 Bishop Canute Peterson of Ephraim, Utah paid a visit to the ailing Ute leader Black Hawk, taking gifts of sugar, hams, bread, beads, molasses, tea, coffee, tobacco, flour, medicines and clothing. The Chief was grateful for the presents and a friendship developed, which put a partial end to the hostilities. Five important Ute leaders, among them Black Hawk, called upon Canute Peterson's home and established peace pacts. As they talked, Sarah Peterson prepared a meal of the good things that could be brought from the cellar and pantry. After the meal, Black Hawk and Canute went across the road and smoked the pipe of peace under the old juniper tree, now referred to as the "peace treaty tree." The old juniper tree still stands on the west bank of the creek. They agreed that they would not fight as long as water continued to run in the creek. A Black Hawk Peace Treaty marker was erected there in 1987 


Now back to Peter....

He married Johanna Thompson May 2nd, 1869. She went by Hannah. They had their first baby February 28th, 1871, a daughter they named after her two grandmothers, Sarah Dorthea , but called her Saze. Then two years later on August 10th, another daughter, Hanna Lillian, was born and called Lillie.

By the year 1875, Peter and Sanie's husband Anthon had built homes near each other. Both homes were made from the local white Oolite stone. Peter, Anthon and another friend started a business called "The Sanpete White Stone Company". I have more information on that I'll share later. Both homes are still in Ephraim and lived in. I took some pictures the other day that I'll share...


This is Peter's home. It's been renovated a bit...metal roof, newer windows, added garage and kitchen. But I've been inside and it's quite spacious with real thick walls and a great corner fireplace. The upstairs has 4 bedrooms.





This is Sanie's home, just across the street...Peter's being to the right of this one.

Another child was born to Johanna and Peter on the 23rd day of February, 1876. They gave him the name of Peter Canute, after his father and grandfather, but called him Petie.

When Petie was twenty two months old, death stalked in and robbed the little family of their mother, on December eighteenth, just seven days before Christmas.


And the story will continue.....


See ya Yesterday..

6 comments:

Pearl said...

Absolutly fascinating! I love that these homes still stand, they don't make em like they use too. You must be so proud of your history I would be, I must get a book from you at the little store. I'll e-mail ya about that. I am just loving this story, I have always liked the old west stories. (geesh I'm so tired I can't spell) Talk to ya tomorrow, Pearl

Lucy aka Roeann said...

Cool post! For some reason the Black Hawk name is ringing a bell in my head. I'll have to go back into my histories and see where he's mentioned. Someday I want a personal tour of all these buildings. :))

mxtodis123 said...

I love stories about our ancestors. When you look at it, they are the reason we are who we are.
Mary

PⒿ @ $ € € ₦$ ₣®0₥... said...

Wow, this really sucks the reader in, Jake! It's a great tale. I love that the Indians let the small group of men live.

You always find the biggest cliff hangers.......

Sue said...

I love the comment about Sarah's Chicken and Dumplings sealing peace between the settlers and Utes.

Wonderful that the Peace treaty tree and Peter's and Sanie's house are still there and looking so great!

Once again Vicki, a great installment of the story of your ancestors! Thank you!


Sue

My Grama's Soul said...

Once again....Vicki.....great read!!

Blessings,

Jo