Elsie Jenson (1971)

              Voices From the Past
Elsie Jensen
By Elsie Jenson
1971
Tape # 72
Oral Interview conducted by Harold Forbush
Transcribed by Wendy Crofts November 2006
Edited by Niccole Franc March 2008
Brigham Young University- Idaho
Harold Forbush: The facilities of the Upper Snake River Valley Historical Society, located on North Center, Rexburg, Idaho makes it possible to place on this C- 60 cassette the interview which follows and which was originally placed on reel- to- reel tape. This is being done by Harold Forbush and the interview made with Aunt Elsie Jensen.
HF: … 1971. I have the pleasure this afternoon of having seated across from me Sister Elsie Jensen.
Elsie Kay Jensen: Elsie K.
HF: Elsie K. Jensen.
EJ: That stands for my maiden name.
HF: Who I have known for a number of years and whom we all affectionately know as Aunt Elsie. And Aunt Elsie we try to have you narrate some items as we ask questions. However, first let me ask you your full name and the date and place where you were born.
EJ: Then you want my full maiden name? Well, it‟ s Elsie— in German it‟ s really Elsa but here it‟ s Elsie— Kamill Jensen. And I‟ m born on the 3rd of August 1891 in [ inaudible] Germany.
HF: Is this around the Berlin area?
EJ: Oh no, no.
HF: It isn‟ t?
EJ: No, this is south Germany.
HF: It‟ s in the south.
EJ: Berlin is in the north Germany part.
HF: And this was in south Germany?
EJ: Yes, north to France and north to Switzerland.
HF: I see. Later on you became the wife of Hans Peter Jensen and can you tell me the circumstances how you met this good man and then when you were married? Just relate how you met him and how you come to meet?
EJ: Well I went to the temple one day in Salt Lake City to do some work for my family. I went to the temple and you know sometimes we have to wait so we can get into the washing and anointing room. And so there was a bench and this was all full with ladies and one lady next to me was a real old lady. Before there was a young lady sitting there and she got up and this old lady came in. And she got up and she offered her her seat and so she came to sit right next to me. And she asked me how many children I had and I said, “ I have none.” “ Oh,” she said, “ how come?” I said, “ Well, I just have never been married.” At that time I wasn‟ t married, see. And she said, “ You haven‟ t? Why, wouldn‟ t you like to be married?” and I said, “ Yes, but that‟ s not so easy. If I could get a good husband, I wouldn‟ t mind it.” And so for awhile she was silent. And then she said, “ I know a good man, I know a good man, and if you would marry him I would be so thrilled.” Now that‟ s the first acquaintance I had with that lady. And she said, “ He lives in Idaho, out there by Rexburg and he‟ s a farmer.” And she said, “ Would you give me your address, because I‟ ll write to him and tell him about you.” And I laughed and I said, “ Oh well, I don‟ t care.”
So, after I had gone back to my place of work I got scared and I prayed to the Lord so earnestly, “ Please if this isn‟ t a good man, let me hear from you. Please Father in Heaven, hear my prayers.” I was alone in Salt Lake, I had no relatives of any kind there. I came alone to America. And so I was scared and very worried that maybe this wouldn‟ t be a good man. And so a few days after, I got a letter from him. And he told me about himself and said he would like to meet me. Of course, he lived up here in and I lived in Salt Lake. But after awhile he came down to see me. And we got acquainted and I felt he was a good man. And I guess he was satisfied with me and my looks, I don‟ t know.
HF: And after some little while then, you married?
EJ: We married, yes.
HF: And the date of that marriage?
EJ: The 4th of May 1926.
HF: And into this home you came as a…
EJ: Stepmother
HF: Stepmother to this good man and how many children were at home at that time?
EJ: Well, all in all we had nine children.
HF: Name those that were at home.
EJ: Well, there was Peter. Peter wasn‟ t home right straight when I got there, he was on a mission, but after a few days he came home. Then there was Will. He wasn‟ t married. And then there was Noel, she wasn‟ t married. And Gut and Sean weren‟ t married.
HF: I see. Well that‟ s very interesting. Now Aunt Elsie I‟ d like to have you recall for me and relate the account of your conversion to the church, if you will, please?
EJ: Okay, I‟ d be glad to do that. Well, when I was a little child. I belonged to the Protestant church.
HF: Was it called the Protestant or was it perhaps the Lutheran?
EJ: No, not the Lutheran, the Evangelic Protestant church it was called. And the minister of that church used to come to our grade school— to the older classes, you know like 10 and 12— and he would teach us the Bible and we had to memorize Bible references and Bible scripture. And there I found that Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan. And it was interesting and I said to my mother, “ Why, don‟ t they baptize anymore like that?” And my mother said, “ I don‟ t know, maybe it isn‟ t necessary anymore. Don‟ t be so curious. Just be satisfied with the way it is.” But I couldn‟ t be satisfied. I always wondered why they don‟ t baptize by immersion for the remission of sins.
And then one day, after I graduated grade school, I went to work in a silver factory. And there I met people that belonged to the Mormon Church. And they asked me, “ Are you interested in religion?” And I said, “ Yes.” And they said, “ Would you like to read something about religion?” and I said, “ Yes.” And so they gave me some pamphlets from the Mormon church and there I found that they baptize again by immersion for the remission of sins. And it just thrilled me so much that I told my mother, “ Mother, Mother, come here. There‟ s a church that baptizes by immersion for the remission of sins.” And she said, “ Oh now, don‟ t get crazy over that. That doesn‟ t mean anything.” But I couldn‟ t be satisfied anymore, I just couldn‟ t. And so as I read those pamphlets I found that all those things about the church that we didn‟ t have in the Protestant church but which corresponded with the Bible and so I got a testimony started in my heart that this must be the right church.
And so as time went on I studied it and studied it more and more. And then my mother saw that I got serious about this church and she said, “ Elsie, if you join this church, this new found church that will be the greatest grief that any of my children can bring upon me.” And I got such a shock because I had not been used to hurting my mother‟ s feelings. And so in my heart I prayed, right straight, “ Lord, what should I do? I don‟ t want to hurt my mother, but in the Bible it says that Jesus was baptized that way.” And right straight the spirit of the Lord said to me, “ He loves who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” And that shocked me too. And so I fasted and prayed and asked the Lord to let me know with a surety that I had to be baptized by immersion for the remission of sins. And I said to the Lord, “ Father in Heaven, if I go next Sunday to their meeting, and somebody speaks on baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, I will take it as a witness from thee that I have to be baptized that way.”
Next Sunday I went to that church and they had two speakers and I listened very closely but nobody said a word about baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. And so I was ready and I heaved a sigh of relief and I thought, “ I don‟ t have to hurt my mother‟ s feelings.” And so I was just about ready to leave the little meeting room and a lady came up to me and she said, “ We are going to have another meeting right now. We live so far apart and we cannot come up during the week. But if the brethren are having priesthood meeting right now and the sisters are having Relief Society meeting and we have a good teacher and a good lesson, would you like to attend?” And I accepted the invitation and the lesson was on baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. And it was a really wonderful teacher and I didn‟ t have to ask one question, everything was explained and next Sunday night I was baptized.
HF: And this explanation was all done, I suppose, in German?
EJ: Yes, everything. I didn‟ t know the English language then.
HF: You didn‟ t at all, I see. Now you have been relating how your mother felt. Was your father deceased at the time?
EJ: He was dead. He had died in 1902.
HF: And how old were you at the time of coming in to the church?
EJ: Well, during the first World War is when I met this people that were LDS at work. And so that in 1917, and I was born in 1891.
HF: Oh, you could have been about 18, 19 years old, around that neighborhood.
EJ: Yes.
HF: I suppose Aunt Elsie, as with so many thousands before you and after, after being baptized and becoming a member of the church the call to come to Zion, got to Zion must have come into your mind and your feeling, is this correct?
EJ: Well, I had never, before I joined this church, had never had a desire to come to America. I was scared if the ocean. But after this First World War was over and we had a great inflation over there, hardly enough to eat, you know. And so many of the members wrote to their relatives in this country and asked for help, if they could help them to come to America. And they would be glad to pay it back for the fare and all that when they get a job in this country. And that woke me up. Then we got missionaries again, we didn‟ t have any during the war. But one missionary said to me after Mutual one evening, some of them said, “ I‟ m going to leave on this and this day for America. My aunt sent me the money or uncle or somebody. And one missionary said to me, “ Sister, when do you go to America?” I said, “ I don‟ t go.” He said, “ Why not?” I said, “ For one thing I haven‟ t got the money. For another thing, I have no relatives to help me in that country.” He said, “ If you have faith and prayer the Lord will open a way for you to go to Zion.” And that thrilled me but I still couldn‟ t see how it could all come to pass. So one day it came to me, “ Wait a minute, hasn‟ t your father got two sisters in America? Didn‟ t they immigrate before you were born, wonder where they are?” Well then I had another aunt in the same town where I lived, also a sister of my father. And I went to her and I asked her where these two aunts are that immigrated to America but she was so very stingy with her information. And she said, “ Oh they‟ re in Washington D. C.” and that‟ s all she said. And so I didn‟ t know just how to go about but I kept on praying to the Lord to help me. And— you have to forgive me, you know, since I had my eye trouble, sometimes I lose the thread— anyhow…
HF: Eventually…
EJ: Wait a minute… it‟ s interesting how I found their address. Oh, I worked still in that silver factory. And while I worked very hard one day it came to me how to go about to get in touch with my aunts. And so it said, “ When you come home tonight from your work, sit down and write a letter to your one aunt.”— my aunt in the same town where I lived, she said Aunt Louise had died but Aunt Mary was still alive and she lived in Washington D. C. And so this inspiration said to me, “ Sit down when you get home, write to your Aunt Mary, address it to her maiden name, and tell her all the circumstances and that you would like to come to America and if she could help you, you would be glad to pay her back.” And I couldn‟ t hardly wait until I got home and I sat down and I wrote her this letter and I sent her a picture of me, told her the circumstances. And then it said, “ And then take this letter to this to this and this family in your home town, they have an uncle and an aunt in the same Washington, D. C. and they are well acquainted with your aunt. Ask this family in your home town to send it to their uncle and they will deliver your letter.” And so it came to pass that I did just the way as I was told. And that was on the 28th of August 1923. And on the 6th of October I got an answer from my aunt and she said, “ I will be glad to help you and you can stay with me until you can get going.” So then it came to pass that I came to America and she sent me the steam ticket and she was at the station when I arrived in Washington D. C. and took me in.
HF: Did you find employment rather quickly there in Washington D. C.?
EJ: Yes. The first Sunday I was there I asked my aunt would she go with me and find the LDS meeting place. And she said, “ Well I don‟ t know where that is.” But somehow she found it. And she went with me the first Sunday and it wasn‟ t a beautiful chapel like they have there now. It was just a rented hall and there was Senator Schnook and Senator King and Representative Colvin and people like that. And my Aunt with me and they shook hands with her and introduced themselves. And she was so surprised she said, “ My land! I didn‟ t know they would treat poor people like me like they do.” And so she was very thrilled. But next Sunday she wouldn‟ t go with me anymore so I had to find it alone and I kept on going to that church and about the second or third Sunday the branch president could speak a little German, see I couldn‟ t speak English. And he said, “ Would you like to work for Senator and Mrs. William H. King?” I said, “ Yes.” I didn‟ t know who they were or anything but I said yes. He said, “ Well, my wife will call up your aunt and she will make an arrangement that she will take you to Mrs. William H. King‟ s home to get acquainted, see.” And so she did and Mrs. King, she hired me and she said to my aunt, “ Will sixty pounds a month be enough?” And my aunt, when we came home, she said, “ My land! What‟ s the matter? When I came to this country I got twenty dollars a month! Now Mrs. King offered her sixty dollars a month. She cannot speak, she doesn‟ t know the customs of this country, but she offered her sixty dollars a month.” And so, this way I could pay off my bill to my aunt, I paid her my fare in August. But they had a pair of little twins, six months old, and two bigger, that baby King, you know, was eight years old at that time. And then they had a Kathleen and then he had children from the first wife but they were married, they didn‟ t live at home. And so I accepted that job. Fact is, little children needed lots of care in the night and in the day and I came from a country where they didn‟ t have hardly anything to eat. I used to take those twins to the DuPont Circle in Washington D. C. Come all the nurses together with the little children and we sit and get acquainted. And one of the girls, she said— now she had been in this country for 30 years— and she said, “ Now listen, I think this job is a little too hard on you. You should take a different job, where you could sleep, anyhow, in the night.” And she said, “ I think as a chambermaid that would be nice.” And so she found me a place in a doctor‟ s house as a chambermaid and I stayed there until I got married. And with these people they had a summer home up in Bar Harbor, Maine. I lived two summers up to Maine. Oh, it was beautiful!
HF: Isn‟ t that wonderful. Then eventually you got out to Salt Lake City to the temple. That‟ s another little story I suppose.
EJ: Yes.
HF: But to be brief, you left to Salt Lake and…
EJ: My aunt felt very bad when I left Washington D. C.
HF: Did she?
EJ: Yes, she felt very bad at me but somehow I had that desire and I came.
HF: Aunt Elsie, over the years have you kept in touch with your people in Germany?
EJ: Yes.
HF: And will you tell us how you‟ ve done this and what the result has been? Has any of them come into the church?
EJ: No.
HF: Just relate how you kept in contact with these people.
EJ: Well, with writing letters in German they couldn‟ t write English. And so I wrote in German and they wrote back to me. And my mother, she felt so bad when I left home, but she was consoled in time and I sent her money when I could. I sent her every month ten dollars because she was poor. And then what was it I was supposed to do?
HF: Have any of them ever come into the church?
EJ: No, no, not to this day. My brothers and sisters are all dead and gone. My mother is gone and there are just a few nephews and nieces. And I have sent missionaries to them, I have sent them German Books of Mormon and I have written my life‟ s history in German and sent each one a copy. And I told them that in history how the Lord will serve me, how he‟ s helped me if ever I was in need of anything, he helped me. And I thought maybe that would touch their hearts but it didn‟ t.
HF: How did they fare during the Second World War?
EJ: Oh, when the war was over they were very, very, very poor.
HF: Were they?
EJ: Yes, they couldn‟ t buy enough food, couldn‟ t buy enough clothes. And the war ended in ‟ 45 and something said, while I read in the paper, that the Germans they‟ re poor, you know. And I wondered if some of my folks died, if they got killed, or if they‟ re still alive, and so I wrote to my one brother and his son wrote back to me— he was 17 years old— because my brother had been killed by a bomb in the place of war. He worked in a railroad factory and I guess they bombed these things quite heavily and he got killed. And his wife was in a wheelchair with arthritis and so they were in bad condition. So I started to send packages food and clothing and I think I sent some three hundred packages until they were out of the slums.
HF: To that family, to that one family?
EJ: No, not to one. I had more brothers. I had two brothers and two sisters and brother and sister in laws. No, I send them all something.
HF: I see.
EJ: And I send them almost every month to each one a package.
HF: But in response to those packages sent, did you receive thank you letters, I suppose?
EJ: Yes and it was at that time that I got more genealogy then I do now because they were so grateful for what I did for them. And then I wrote and I said, “ Listen dear aunt- so- and- so could you find out about her family and when they were born and who‟ s alive?” and they send willingly everything. So I got that mystery sold. I got quite a bit of genealogy at that time.
HF: Now in the field of genealogy this has been a great motivating factor in your life, hasn‟ t it?
EJ: It is, yes. I never doubted genealogy. When I heard that we should get genealogy I start immediately and there‟ s a special something. See I was Evangelic Protestant, a member of that church, and I had to leave that church and join the Mormon church. And then I heard that we should get genealogy I thought, “ Oh, dear I got to go to that minister. What will he do to me, what will he say to me? Maybe he will scold me for leaving his church and joining this church.” So I fasted and prayed, and prayed and prayed. I couldn‟ t do anything without prayer, Brother Forbush. And so one day I had enough courage to go to him and when he opened the door for me he said, “ What can I do for you?” I said, “ Well I came to get some genealogy, my father‟ s genealogy which is in your church books.” And he said, “ You are the first person that ever asked in this community for a record. And just this week I thought to myself”— see I had prayed and fasted, and he says, “ Just this week I thought, next Sunday I‟ ll announce in my church that I am willingly to write out genealogies for the people.” Isn‟ t that wonderful?
HF: It surely is.
EJ: So I have started in 1919 and I still haven‟ t got it all here.
HF: Now, you not only worked on your own lines there in Germany but perhaps your husband‟ s line?
EJ: Well he was genealogical minded too and he had started on his and his folks came from Denmark. My husband‟ s folks came from Denmark.
HF: He had immigrated many, many years before hadn‟ t he?
EJ: No, not he, he was born in this country. He was born in Hyrum, Utah. No, his father and mother immigrated from Denmark and so did his grandparents, came from Denmark.
HF: Quite early, then, in the church. Would you just comment briefly about your husband, when he came to the Upper Snake River Valley, and settled in Salem, I suppose? Could you relate some of those?
EJ: Now let me see, Jens Peter Jensen has written: I, Jens Peter Jensen, may permit herewith a record of my own family and my ancestors as far as I have any information concerning them, also of the most important events that transpired in my own life. My parents were Jens Peter Jensen and Ingrid Nielsen Jensen. Father was the son of Jens Anderson and Johanna Marie Jensen, born at Denmark.
[ Side 2 of tape]
HF: Side 2, continuing the interview and concluding the same on this track.
EJ: He was born November the 4th 1831 in [ inaudible] Denmark. We came to Hyrum, Utah, Cache County in 1857 where he married my mother Ingrid Nielsen on October the 22nd 1861 they being the first couple married in Hyrum. HF:. Can you go down to where it talks about him coming to Idaho?
EJ: Well that was just my husband and his brother and his sister but their parents didn‟ t come to Idaho.
HF: Aunt Elsie, hence Peter Jensen, your husband and his brother and sister must‟ ve come into this area rather early.
EJ: Mrs. Mariah Mortensen was his sister and they all came about 1885.
HF: Did he ever relate to you some of the pioneer conditions that he experienced when he first come into the valley?
EJ: Well yes, especially when the Mormons were persecuted. He said that one time they went after him but he was over in Brother Larsen‟ s house and so they couldn‟ t find him. They wanted to put him in jail for being a Mormon.
HF: Now let‟ s see the family lived quite near where Lars Larsen lived?
EJ: Yah, they were neighbors.
HF: They were neighbors to Lars Larsen.
EJ: No, Alma B. Larsen.
HF: Oh, his father.
EJ: I don‟ t know his father.
HF: You didn‟ t know his father, I see, but it was to Alma B. Larsen.
EJ: Yes.
HF: And the family attended, of course, the Salem church.
EJ: Oh yes, he had built the school house, he had built the church house.
HF: Your husband did?
EJ: Yes, he helped. He was quite handy as a carpenter. He built his own home in Salem.
HF: In North Salem. And in this home, when you came to the home in 1926, will you describe the home as you recall it?
EJ: Well, it was one of the nicest homes in Salem. It had three bedrooms upstairs and they had one room and the dining room and another bedroom downstairs, the first floor you know. And a nice kitchen and he has told me that they were the first people that had water in the house. They pumped it with some kind of pump.
HF: I see. And at that time would it have had a new indoor toilet?
EJ: They had one but that pump didn‟ t pump quite enough water so they also had an outdoor toilet.
HF: I see. And in the ensuing years you people down that way had a lot of raspberries and strawberries to sell, didn‟ t you?
EJ: Yes. We had lots of beautiful, good raspberries and strawberries too.
HF: And how about apples?
EJ: My husband, he had a big orchard with apple and plums and peaches and he raised the best watermelons in the country.
HF: Successfully? Were they put into the stores and sold or so people came there and got them.
EJ: People came and got them. They were good. They were delicious. I wish we had one right now. And boys stole them as fast as they could.
HF: Unfortunately. Well that‟ s interesting. How did he earn his livelihood, as a farmer?
EJ: As a farmer and he had cattle. We had a 160 acres right there in Salem and he and his boys had 320 acres out in Kilgore.
HF: Now in the North Salem area who his farm wasn‟ t too far from the river was it?
EJ: No
HF: This would be the Snake River. Then out at Kilgore he had an area for his cattle?
EJ: Yeah and he built two houses out there because his married sons, two of them, moved out there to one place out there because it wasn‟ t all for the cattle to graze on. It was also to raise wheat and hay.
HF: I see. For a few moments, Aunt Elsie, would you call to mind some of the church positions that you were called to and served in?
EJ: Well, in Germany after I joined the church the first job that I got was Sunday School teacher. Oh, and I always wanted to be a teacher, always even when I didn‟ t belong to the church I wanted to be a teacher but my mother didn‟ t have the money to send me to higher schools. And so I had to graduate from the grade school and I felt bad. But when I joined this church in 1919 in Germany they asked me to be a Sunday school teacher. Oh, I went home and weeks singing and just rejoicing, a Sundays School teacher, a teacher! I can be a teacher now! And even since then I have been a teacher. Oh, I have also been Primary President.
HF: In Salem? About what years were these?
EJ: Well from 1927 to 1929 I was Primary President. From 1929- 1937 I was Relief Society President.
HF: Now Aunt Elsie it was during that period that I can recall as a little boy, after we had moved into the Salem Ward, that you came to our home and brought a basket of goodies, of cookies and candy, maybe an apple or two, an orange or so. But it was prepared and you gave it to me and it was either around Easter time or Thanksgiving time or Christmas time.
EJ: It was Thanksgiving. We used to take Thanksgiving baskets. They didn‟ t have a church welfare system as they do now. Now they can go to the house and get what they need for the poor but at that time it wasn‟ t. So we asked the sisters to bring what they can to fill the baskets.
HF: And it was Thanksgiving, in conjunction with Thanksgiving?
EJ: Yes, and maybe it was Christmas too.
HF: Well I can remember that so well as a little boy. I was just a little boy and I surely can remember that. Now, over the years in addition to the offices that you‟ ve held, you‟ ve been a Relief Society Theology Teacher for many, many years.
EJ: I loved it with all my heart.
HF: Comment on this experience, teaching the sisters theology.
EJ: That just came just out of my heart. I couldn‟ t have asked for any position that I like more than theology teaching. It filled my heart to the brim and I learned so much. You know, I just found out now, the other day a lady she asked me something about the Bible and I said, “ Have you seen this New Testaments, they are big print and oh, they are so nice?” She said, “ Oh yes, that‟ s in the Book of Mormon.” And I said, “ No ma‟ am it isn‟ t in the Book of Mormon, it‟ s in the Bible.” Now she didn‟ t even know the difference between the Bible and the Book of Mormon and was born in this church. And it hurt me as I thought, “ Do Latter- days really not know the difference, some of them?” I don‟ t say all of them, but this woman was ignorant about the scripture. And for me it has been easy to understand it and accept it.
HF: I suppose in your Protestant church while you were still a teenager you had been exposed to the Biblical scriptures hadn‟ t you?
EJ: Yes.
HF: And you received a big foundation in this regard?
EJ: Yes, I did.
HF: And then you were introduced after entering the church to the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price and you‟ re familiar, of course, with all of these scriptures. Well isn‟ t that grand?
EJ: Well you know I wanted to so bad be a teacher and I couldn‟ t have asked for a better position than be a church teacher, a teacher in the church.
HF: Isn‟ t that wonderful? Now during years that you lived in Salem, you were usually teaching in some phase, in Sunday School or Relief Society of something of this nature.
EJ: Yes.
HF: And after you moved here into Rexburg, you‟ ve been called to do a lot of this same type of teaching.
EJ: Yes, I was released as Relief Society President in 1937 and I felt bad. Well, you know, they have to make changes sometimes otherwise some people would never get the chance to teach. So they released me as the President in 1937 and I felt bad and I prayed to the Lord. But in 1939 I was called to the Relief Society Stake Board to work in the Stake Board, on the Stake Board as— at that time it was just about time that the Relief Society was organized a hundred years and they wanted a 100,000 members by that time. And they organized in each ward a committee. They had a coordinator and then they had the Stake Coordinator. Together the women converted to join the Relief Society and I was the coordinator of the Rexburg Stake. We just had the Rexburg Stake at that time we didn‟ t have North Rexburg Stake at that time when we had it, but it was all one. And so I was called to that and then when we had this amount of members and then I was asked to teach theology in the stake and I enjoyed that to the fullest.
HF: Aunt Elsie, during the years of your service in positions you‟ ve held in the church as a teacher of theology in the Relief Society can you call to mind some of the good sisters, some of the people that have been especially helpful and cooperative and a loving experience to have known?
EJ: Yes. There‟ s Sister Laura Hogg, when I was asked to be President to the Salem Relief Society I chose her as my my first counselor and Sister Emily Hogg as the Second Counselor and Sister Eulalia Walton as my secretary and we worked in unity. Sister Hogg was the most charitable woman that I ever found and many times I wondered why they made me the president. Why didn‟ t they make Sister Hogg the president because she was so full of charity? One time— I will give you a little experience— one time we had a Mexican family moving down there by the river somewhere and they had a sick child and we were told about it. Sp Sister Hogg and I we decided to go there. My husband was so good hearted he always took us in the sleigh and it was in winter. And I thought “ Well, I‟ d better take something for this poor family.” So I made a cake and I believe I took a dozen eggs and a cake. And I thought I had the bull by the ears but when Sister Hogg came into the sleigh she brought a bushel basket full. And I told my husband, I said, “ My goodness, I feel like a cheat or something.” I though I had something so wonderful when I brought a cake and a dozen eggs but Sister Hogg brought a bushel basket full of things.
HF: That was Judge Hogg‟ s wife wasn‟ t it? I had the privilege of interviewing Brother and Sister George S. Tanner a few months ago. And of course when you were first called in the Primary, he was the bishop at that time wasn‟ t he?
EJ: Yes, he called me for that and he called me also as Relief Society President. He was here not too long ago this summer.
HF: Yes, this late fall.
EJ: Yes, and he couldn‟ t talk enough about the times we worked together.
HF: Aunt Elsie I understand that you didn‟ t have the privilege of bearing children after you were married. But you became a mother to Hans P.‟ s sons and daughters, I‟ m sure. And you‟ ve become a cherished, godmother I guess as it were, to so many, many people.
EJ: Well and what‟ s more my husband‟ s daughter married a man by the name of Gulch and he had sad childhood that man. And so he went a little away from the straight and narrow path, you know. And he married my husband‟ s daughter and they had four children, but one died. And we took them four children and had them for two and a half years, Gulch‟ s children while he was put in jail and his wife, she went to Salt Lake to work to earn enough for the children to be clothed and all that. It was a sad experience, but these children, they write me letters and just today I got a letter and it said, “ Aunt Elsie, we love you.” So I still earn the reward for it.
HF: I‟ m sure this is so. Would you share with me some of your poems or some of the little things that you‟ ve written? I think it would be wonderful if you would do this.
EJ: “ Honor our Calling” is the heading:
Restoration of things came to pass through
A prophet of God in these days,
And with it to women a call
To organize now, one and all.
Relief Society was given then
To comfort the children of men. ( Then comes the chorus.)
Oh sisters, let‟ s honor our calling today
As angels cannot be restrained to stay
Away from our presence, blessings divine,
If we honor our calling wee have associates sublime.
Oh the privilege beautiful rare
Is given to women to share
Of the substance of service of love
Like angels of mercy above.
As faith and love is in their hearts instilled
Their bosom with joy did fill”
( Then comes the chorus again.)
Not beauty but a privilege real
To bring sunshine to those in defeat.
Great was the honor, oh sisters we‟ ll sing
Bring praises to God and our King.
Relief Society a gift of God
New blessings to bring and restore.
Oh sisters, lets honor our calling today
As angels cannot be restrained to stay Away from our presence, oh blessings divine,
If we honor our calling we have associates sublime.
That‟ s the Relief Society and then this here, maybe you don‟ t want to hear this other?
HF: On the Primary?
EJ: Yes.
HF: Go ahead.
EJ:
„ Twas long, long ago
In this valley below
Their grandma spent her youth And learned— I can‟ t hardly see it brother— And learned the precious truth.
Her thoughts wonder back along the hard worn trail
To the dear old place and the three little places
If it seemed that she was young again and had just come across the plain.
From wind and sun the earth did harden The pioneers soon had a garden.
Of flowers and vegetables were everywhere
And with each other they would share.
( Now that‟ s about grandma in spring.)
Yes she remembered everything,
How beautiful it was in spring
When all the earth emerged in green
And wore a cloak of velvet sheen.
How all the children danced and sang
And how the air with music rang.
Oh, how did she long once more
To hear the happy voices of yore
And then all the children came in and danced. This was more of a little play, see?
HF: With the primary there in Salem?
EJ: Yes.
HF: As we close this interview, Sister Jensen, I‟ d like to have you just briefly comment about the years that you spent in Salem, the neighbors that you became and got to know of course, all of the members of the Salem Ward. You must have been out there, oh maybe, 20,30 or so.
EJ: No, I lived 17 years out there.
HF: 17 years. And if you would like to just briefly comment there and of your experiences there, the good people of Salem, and then here in Rexburg if you‟ d like just to close it off.
EJ: Well I have often said that I really learned to love the Salem people like my own brothers and sisters. And when I see them on the street now, even in Rexburg, when I see some Salem people, they are my people. And they all call me Aunt Elsie and they tell their children, “ Now this is Aunt Elsie.” And they look kind of surprised at me that I should be their aunt. But I really have enjoyed the work with the Salem people. I couldn‟ t have asked for a finer community to work in.
HF: Your prayer of finding a good husband and a good place in which to live certainly came true, didn‟ t it?
EJ: It sure is. Yes, it did. The Lord took care of me wherever I went and I am thankful for it. And first there are maybe some hardships to go through too, a stepmother isn‟ t always welcome but today we are all one in the family.
HF: Isn‟ t that wonderful? Well Aunt Elsie, thank you so much for this opportunity of visiting with you this afternoon.
EJ: You‟ re welcome.