I have always been intrigued with my roots, especially my Norwegian roots. This probably has something to do with not knowing much about my father and his family. He was a quiet man, with little education. He was the eleventh of thirteen children born in Downey Idaho in 1903. His father, Hogan, came to this country from Norway in 1864 on the Monarch of the Sea, a sailing vessel from Liverpool, England. Hogan's father and mother had joined the Mormon church in Norway, and desired to "go to Zion" to be with the Saints. As a result, Hogan's father, Peder, with his little family, consisting of his wife, Beretanna, and their three sons, Hogan, Petter and Halvor Julius, set sail for New York, on April 28th, 1864, part of a company of Scandinavian and English saints.I have read a number of accounts of this journey in various journals, and many of them document the difficulty encountered by the passengers on this particular voyage, especially the Norwegian emigrants, because of their indigent circumstances and inability to communicate with the ship's crew. Peder writes that an epidemic of measles broke out among the children in the company, and nearly all of the children that took sick died. "Our son, Petter, between four and five years old, also became seriously sick. He was blessed by a returning missionary, Elder Parley P. Pratt, Jr. I prayed that the Lord would grant that our beloved boy should get over his serious sickness. But the Lord in His wisdom did not grant that our beloved boy should be with us, and he died a couple of days afterward. I witnessed his burial at sea. After Brother Soderborg had called some of our friends to go up with us on deck to listen to some comforting Gospel words, our boy, wrapped in linen and with heavy irons strapped to his feet, was lowered into the water until Resurrection Day! My wife did not feel that she could bear to witness our boy's burial in the depth of the ocean, and it was grievously hard for me to witness it. When our baby, Halvor Julius, died 10 days later, I could not bear to see his burial in the sea. In one family, all of their three children died. At one time the ocean was in a fearful uproar, and we rolled from one side of the ship to the other. The ship was cracking at its seams, and one stairway broke down. Brother Andreas Hammer, who had had much experience as a sailor, stated that he could not see that there was any hope for us to be saved; and the captain's face and the look in his eyes bore witness that we were facing a great danger of shipwreck. After the storm had abated, and I no longer did witness the serious cracking of the ship's seams (although the cracking and groaning sounds continued) I expected that we would safely reach America's shores. But I also was sure that the Monarch of the Sea would not be a safe passenger ship for another sailing. Several years later, I was told that the ship at its next sailing after ours, had broken down, with everybody aboard drowned."
I write this short history to explain my Blog’s name. "Reppesoren" is the name of the farm where my great-grandfather lived with his family before emigrating to the United States. "1861" is the year that he began his journey as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). I intend to use this blog as a place to visit and reflect upon my life over the past sixty-three years, and to post events, and experiences that I recall or that have had, or will have special significance to me. This is my special place, one that might be visited by others in the future, but right now, it belongs only to me.