History of John Gilbert Nielson 1915 to 1993(Picture on left is of Niels and Ella Gilbert Nielson. Picture on right is Julia Nielson, their oldest child and daughter at a young age.)
The next child was a boy, James Clifford Nielson, b. August 3, 1908. He died of Cerebral Meningitis on May 28, 1909 at a Salt lake Hospital.
Elva Christina Nielson was born on Jan 9, 1910 and died April 9, 1910. She too is buried in Scofield, Utah.
and then came John.
(Picture of John Gilbert Nielson.)
Winterquarters, Utah
The bad Tom Cat
Ella tried to take extra good care of John and his health However, there was one time when from his sister Thora's personal history we learn that one day his mother left him sleeping while they visited the neighbor next door. She would send over to the window of the home to listen for signs of John awakening. They thought he was fine since they could hear no noise. However, when they returned they discovered that the cat they called "Tom" had mauled him and he was covered with cuts and blood. After cleaning up the baby, Ella saw to it that the cat met it's demise in a gunny sack and a bucket of water.
Cedar View Farm
When John was two years of age, his parents moved their family from Winterquarters, to Cedar View, Utah, near Roosevelt. On the trip over John fought his warm coverings in the wagon and caused himself a hernia which he would have until it was surgically repaired at the age of twenty. The land they settled on was covered with lots of rocks that had to be hauled away. But Ella much preferred life on the farm then in the mining town, a place she did not want to raise her family. I will always be grateful for grandmother wanting a better life for her children. One where they could grow up away from the bad influences that often if not always seem to accompany mining town’s.
Some of my mother, Mazie's memories of the Nielson Family during my father’s growing up years were; The children were required to help their parents on the farm. Julia drove the horses and the other children picked up rocks every spring to clear the land for plowing and for planting their garden and crops. Grandfather Niels had a piece of equipment which he used to thrash wheat. He grew wheat and helped other farmers thrash their wheat, with this thrashing machine.)
Grandfather Niels would grow crops and his brothers, Ed, Jim, Joe, and Great Grandfather James would come up from the Price area and load up their pick-up trucks with much of the produce and take it back to Price.
Dad's grandfatherJames Nielsen we have been told, kept his coat on year around because it kept the heat out, just as it kept the cold out.
As a little boy Daddy would run after his father down by an irrigation ditch.
When LeRoy, Stanley and Glenn came along their father had a large herd of cattle and every morning they would milk the cows by hand. They sold their cream and milk to the creamery in town.
More brothers and one sister joined the family. LeRoy,b. March 24, 1918,
; Glenn, b. August 7, 1930;
Stanley Nielson, b. Nov 29, 1922
Irene, b. Nov 6, 1924;
Calvin, b.Nov 12, 1926;
and Joseph, b. Feb 23, 1931.
The home was quite small and the boys sometimes slept outside in an old car. They raised Cows and pigs. I heard they sold the cows and ate the pigs. Which might explain how several had heart problems in their later lives?
When Julia or Thora went horseback riding with a young man, John was sent to keep them company. That was fine with Julia, but, Thora didn't like him tagging along. Sometimes a boyfriend of hers would try to slip him a candy bar to send him away with. He would eat the candy bar then catch back up with them.
Spit on it John!
LeRoy got up one morning and went out side. It was a cold day and for one reason or another he decided to lick the side of the wagon. (there must have been some frost that looked tasty on the wagon's steel rim.) His tongue stuck fast and when John came out to check on him. LeRoy mouthed the best he could the words. "Spit on it, John" (My mother thinks that dad went and got help from grandmother who may have poured water over LeRoy's tongue to loosen it from the wagon.)
John used to take the wagon and the horses and go up into the mountain to cut down the wood and bring a wagon load home. His brothers would help him chop it up. He would also herd the cattle in the foothills above their home. When he was about 16 years old, he worked with his dad helping to create the road between Roosevelt and Neola. They used teams and horses. The farmers in the area all helped build the road.
John was a member of the Future Farmers of America and they helped in the building of an building that stands close to the Duchesne County Hospital and Roosevelt Middle School today. Dad and John King, a friend of dad's went into the mountains and brought down timber to build the FAA building. (We have a newspaper article telling about their work.)
The granary on the farm served as Dad’s bedroom and part of it stored grain. Stanley made a old car into his bedroom. The home they had was quite small and they only had one room which they petitioned off with canvas. So the boys as they grew up looked for more room to spread out in.
Dances
Dad accompanied his older sisters to the dances. Julia was good to dad and would help take care of him. However, Thora, didn’t like having him around. At least when she had a boyfriend, they would bribe him to leave by giving him a candy bar to eat. Dad would eat the goodies and show right back up again. He felt it was his responsibility to take care of his sisters.
Grandfather Niels was called upon by the Bishop to be a floor manager at the local ward dances. His job was to keep the boys in line. Dad says Grandfather was the best at keeping them under control.
Dad got an infection in his hand from barb wire while out plowing. It was so bad that two doctors wanted to amputate his arm to save his life. Grandfather Niels took him to a man who was a horse doctor. He treated the animals and people. This doctor lanced his hand and told Grandfather to take Dad home and have Grandmother Ella keep his arm in a hot water soak with Epson Salts in it. After about 24 hours of this, the poisons oozed out of his hand he said the poison came out in a foot long string. The name of this doctor was Dr. Miles Whitmer. Dad went to the same grade of school as LeRoy, because he had missed too many days of school from sickness and working. He had pneumonia when he was about in the third grade and missed three months of school. He was too weak to walk and had to learn to do it all over again.
When Dad was almost 12 years old his sister Julia Nielson Perry died from Toxemia, after giving birth to her son Jules. Ella Gilbert Nielson took over his care until Loyal Perry, Julia's husband married dad's sister Thora on Jan. 1, 1931.
As a young man, Dad worked on the road that they built between Roosevelt and Neola. They were using wagons and teams of horses. Dad was kept out of school by his father to help with the construction of the road. He helped drive a team with equipment on the wagon.
Dad had a great big swelling abscess under his chin when he was seventeen. His parents took him to Salt Lake City to have it removed. It was so bad that poisons oozed from it. The poisons made him delirious; and he was placed in a strait jacket by the nurses; which he got out of, he took off and went up the hall and wrestled with the janitor trying to get away. As I understand it, the janitor also calmed him down and helped him out. He may also have been under the effects of Anesthesia and was frightened.
Dad hauled most of the family winter wood by himself, Evidently some of the trips he made were with his brother LeRoy. His mother would make them a big lunch to take with him. They used the wood to burn in the wood burning stove to cook and heat the home. They kept a tea kettle on the stove and with all its many other uses also used the water to heat the bath.
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My mother, Mazie Alexander was thirteen years old when she first saw my dad. He was swinging on the door at the Church house. She fell in love with him on the spot. He was five years older and they married when she was almost sixteen, and dad was nineteen, on February 13th, 1936, in the Salt Lake City Temple. Mother says they went down to the temple with her parents in their car and her parents were able to go into the temple with them. Ella was unhappy about not being able to attend and had some words with Niels. Niels dealt with her anger the best he knew by singing danish songs on the trip. He had some word of wisdom habits he had not been able to give up and she very much wanted to be sealed in the temple to him and her family. That was in February of 1936. Niels contracted Rocky Mountain Tick Fever from a wood tick on his back and pneumonia from falling into a creek and died on May 5, 1936. This was a time of great sorrow and distress for the family. Niels had worked many jobs in his life time trying to care for the many needs of his large family. Ella was left with the challenges now. Niels missed out on being here for the majority of his grandchildren. His two grandchildren that were living at his death was Jules Perry , son of Loyal and his late daughter Julia Nielson Perry, Reva Perry, daughter of Loyal and Thora Nielson Perry was his other grandchild living at this time . Many of us missed out on knowing Grandfather Niels..
Mother says that when dad was about seventeen he would go to Idaho and stay with an Uncle Thomas and Aunt Jennie Nielson Holms, during harvest time in the fall he would pick potatoes to make money. Mother thinks he did this for two years. After they were married mother went with dad up their while dad worked in the fields picking potatoes. This aunt died from bad varicose veins in the operating room.
Their children came, starting with Johna May; Theo Gilbert; Clarence Niels b.; Natalie; Robert Alexander, Leland Ray, Julia Anne, Daniel Allen; Lorna Dee,; Mark Eric. They had their children over a twenty-seven year period. Mazie was 42 and dad was 46 1/2 when they had their last one.
Their first three children were born in Montwell or Cedar View at Mazie's parents home, Robert & Annie Mariah Dobson Alexander’s. Grandmother Dobson was a midwife and assisted the doctor in their births and subsequent care to mother and child. It was only natural that she would be there for the births of her own grandchildren and help where she could. She was a lovely hard working woman whose compassion and service to others was greatly appreciated by the many people she served in the Uintah basin area.
Mother was seven months along with her pregnancy with Theo when Dad went to Salt Lake City to have his hernia operated on. The night before he was going to Salt Lake he had an appendicitis attack. They had to walk three blocks to the doctor. The doctor told dad to put ice packs on it and go on two Salt Lake and have it out. He did and two weeks later the hernia was operated on. They kept him there for another fourteen days. Then just before they let him come home they took out his tonsils.( His mother went with him to Salt Lake but was not able to stay the whole time.). While growing up on the farm the family ate a lot of pork while they sold the cows. Dad had a lot of boils on his skin those first years of marriage.
After these repair jobs on his body were made dad enjoyed really good health for many years following. He always kept Epsom salts ready for health purposes.
When Clarence Niels was born the electricity was turned on and the radio came on for the first time. The first thing they remember hearing was the question. "Is there a baby boy in your home?" They were living in a two room apartment, both grandmothers were present. The Doctor's name was Sanders. Both grandmothers helped the doctor out with the birth.
Natalie was born in a hospital in the state of Washington. 
(Picture of men working in Lumber yard in the Seattle, Washington Area.)
Because of a lack of jobs earlier in the Uintah Basin, he went to Washington state with their little family consisting of Johnamay, Theo, and Niel and worked in the Lumber field. Natalie was born their around the time of the Pearl Harbor attack in December of 1940. The windows at the hospital were covered in black paper. They lived their until the doctor recommended that they return to Utah because of mother's severe asthma attacks. due to the damp weather.
Upon his return to Cedar View. Dad was drafted. He would not have been drafted had they been able to stay in Washington, because the job he had there was felt to help out with the war effort. His brother's were also drafted Stanley, LeRoy, and Glen.
In Washington he had made $200.00 a month. Dad was 29.
Mom was left with four children to care for, She lived in a red brick house out near what they called the Holler, (The road that lead into Cedar View or Montwell, dipped down into a ravine or hollar and came back up again. They used to get their water from a horse trough that was sitting out in a field. (It is still there. My sister Johnamay believes that they became ill with hepatitis because of that water. She and my mother became very ill with it after my dad returned home from the war.).
(John Gilbert Nielson in his Army attire around 1944.)He did get benefits from his service. When he had heart problems they helped to pay for his associated bill.
Dad served as an Elder representative in Idaho and in Sheldon Washington. He would see that the Elders got to Temple. He helped with the Scouts in Idaho. He worked as a Genealogy leader in Idaho. Dad presided over meetings on genealogy. Home teacher and he was a High Priest before he passed away. Dad was a janitor for the LDS church in Chandler Arizona, Dad went to school and trained to be a Body and Fender man in Pocatello Idaho.
Dad paid taxes on the land in Montwell for many years before they actually moved upon it. It was 60 acres. Mother said there were people who lived on that land before we did in a home. Mother said that they found old knives and forks and things. Someone had built a ditch which one of the kids or dad backed a car into. It had been filled in but was not solid ground.
Dad paid Milton ALexander's Taxes for him on the land that Milton claimed.
copy of death certificate, FGS records, John was ordained a high priest by Dennis K. Jensen, also a high Priest,on Dec 11,1983,as a member of 7th ward, Roosevelt, Utah West Stake. Dad was a hard worker all of his life, I can remember him arising around 6:00a.m. and heading out the door to work around the place. He had to have something to do. Some of the different kinds of jobs he held were; Construction he helped build a building in Roosevelt, I believe was used for a old hospital. He worked in Washington State as a lumberman, He was a cook in a bakery in Idaho. He worked at a railroad station in Idaho, janitor for church in Chandler Arizona, sugar beet factory in Idaho, farmer in Idaho, body and fender man in Arizona. Owned his own company for years known as Rocky Slopes Fire Prevention business, this job took him all over the United States and sometimes he would be gone for three months at a time. We were always happy to see him when he came home. That could not have been easy for him ormy mother. Sometimes mom went with him and sometimes one of my brothers or other family member went with him on these trips. some of my brothers eventually did this work for awhile and a brother-inlaw and some nephews also became involved in it.
When my dad had his first heart attack at the age of 65, it pretty wellcurtailed his going out and doing this work himself, some others did it, but it finally went by the way. This is what my dad did from the time I was about nine until I was married with children. Before my mission, my dad fell from on top of his dome shaped workshop, down to the ground, landing on his back in the sand. He got up and walked away. I wondered how that may of affected his health. He worked hard.
He often collected rocks on his trips and brought them home. like quartz and obsidian. He loved the land and he liked people, he told me once that he enjoyed sitting in a mall and watching the people go by. Dad had a great sense of humor, a trait he shared with other members of his family. He was a quiet man and didn't get involved in public speaking, however he did talk at my mission farewell. He was a home teacher and was known for helping people in distress he met on the highways, including scooting down a hill to help a accident victim. He also picked up several hitchhikers and gave them rides. I remember a Indian man who he gave a ride to, in turn the man gave my dad a lovely turquoise ring.
Dad even hitchhiked a few times from Roosevelt to Salt Lake and I guess back again. Scary huh!
My dad had such a happy disposition and friendly one that people responded in kind. I love my dad and miss him so much, but, I know he is happy and doing quite well on the other side.
Dad had an old Air stream trailer on the property in Cedarview where he would hide out with his magazines; usually they were about lost treasures, and he had his special equipment for detecting valuable minerals, like gold and copper pennies. Once he had me go out and hide a can of pennies. Then he took his metal detector and scanned the area, and within a short time he found the treasure. I was impressed! Dad liked herbs like goldenseal, ginseng, peppermint, comfrey. He was very much in to home remedies and before his heart attack had not personally stepped into very many doctors office for himself.
My parents lived in a apartment house with another apartment attached in Washington where dad was working in a plant that made fiber board. It emitted a terrible odor. They did not live to far away. Uncle Stanley stayed with mom and dad and worked their too. Earlier that evening the couple went for a walk and left their baby in the crib. My parents had gone out and come back and saw a fire. My dad went in on his hands and knees and searched the baby crib, luckily the babie's parents had come back earlier and taken the baby out.
They had left a cigarette on ashtray and it started a fire. Their was more smoke than fire. Dad and mom called the fire department.
One day my dad was traveling around the outskirts of Price Utah. He had a little side job selling a farm magazine to people. Just as He drove into this yard he and mother heard a big boom. Some kids had gotten some matches and were playing near a big gas tank. It blew up in this little girls face. Dad picked up the little girl and carried her to the high porch and sat the little girl on the porch no steps the door opened and a woman came to the door partly dressed. The little oriental lady came running over yelling; “vinegar and soda, vinegar and soda.” They put vinegar and soda on the little girl. Later they learned the girl lost the muscle to one of her eyelids so she could not pull it up as a result of the fire. Mom stayed in the car during this time with Bud (Theo) and Johna May while dad helped out.
Descendants on listed current on this Neal
file !Father of submitter, copy of death certificate, FGS records, Submitter Julia Anne Nielson; !Blessed and given a name on 3 Oct 1915;
John Gilbert Nielson Obituary from the Roosevelt Standard Newspaper December 1991 (Some changes made for accuracy reasons.)
John Gilbert Nielson, 76. Montwell, died Friday, December 20, in the VA (Veterans)Medical Center in Salt Lake. He was born August 28, 1915 in Winter Quarters, Carbon County, Utah to Niels and Ella Gilbert Nielson. He married Mazie Alexander in the Salt Lake Temple. He was a skilled auto body and fender repairman and painter, and in his spare time he enjoyed hunting and taking care of his fruit trees. He was an avid rockhound and liked horses but especially loved his family. He was a U.S. Army Veteran and served during World War ll.
He is survived by his wife, Mazie, Montwell; Children, Johna May West, Orem; Theo G. Nielson, Flagstaff, Arizona, C. Niels Nielson, Montwell; Natalie MacNeille, Mesa, Arizona; Robert A. Nielson, Las Vegas, Nevada; Leland Ray Nielson, Independence,(Randlett) Utah; Julia Anne Corry, Cedar City; Daniel A. Nielson, Ridgecrest, California; Lorna Dee Anderton, Montwell; Mark E. Nielson, Farmington, New Mexico; 62 grandchildren, 53 great grandchildren; brothers, LeRoy Nielson, Glen E. Nielson, Calvin Nielson, Joseph F. Nielson; and sister Irene Jessop.
He is preceded in death by brothers, James Clifford,(who died at about 10 months of age.) and Stanley; sisters, Julia Perry, Elva Christine,( who died at about 3 months of age.) Thora Perry and two grandsons, Gregory Nielson and Richard Nielson.
Funeral services were held Monday, December 23, at the Roosevelt LDS 7th Ward Church.
!Father of submitter, copy of death certificate, FGS records, Submitter Julia Anne Nielson; !Blessed and given a name on 3 Oct 1915;
John Gilbert Nielson was born in Winterquarters, Utah on August 28, 1915 to Niels Nielson and Ella Gilbert Nielson. His parents also had two living daughters, Julia born July 18, 1905, Thora born November 3, 1911. He had a brother, James Clifford born August 3, 1908 and died May 28, 1909, and sister Elva Chirstina died in infancy at about four years of age. January 9, 1910, died April 9, 1910. Both are buried in Scofield, Carbon. County, Utah. Ella tried to take extra good care of John and care for his health having lost two children already. However, there was one time when
From his sister Thora's personal history we learn that one day his mother left him sleeping while they visited next door. She would send Thora to listen for him. They thought he was fine since they could here no noise from the window next to the house. However when they returned they discovered that the cat they called "Tom" had mauled him and he was covered with cuts and blood. After cleaning up the baby Ella saw to it that he cat met it's demise in a gunny sack and a bucket of water. That was the end of Tom the cat.
When he was two years of age they moved from Winterquarters, which was a mining town to Cedar Viiew , Utah near Roosevelt. The land was covered with lots of rocks that had to be hauled away. But Ella much preferred life on the farm then in the mining town which is a place she did not want to raise her family. On the trip over John fought his warm covering in the wagon and caused himself a hernia which he would have until it was surgically repaired at the age of twenty.
When my mother, Mazie Alexander was just thirteen years old when she saw my dad swinging on the door at the Church house. She fell in love with him on the spot. He was five years older and they married when she was almost sixteen and dad was nineteen, February the 13th, 1936 in the Salt Lake City Temple. Their chidlren came starting with Johna May b. Nov. 11,, 1936; Theo Gibert, b. 29 June 1938; Clarence Niels b. February 5, 1940; Natalie, b. Dec. 26, 1941; Robert Alexander, b. August 12, 1947; Leland Ray, b. October 8, 1953; Julia Anne, b. March 29, 1955; Daniel Allen. b. Nov 18, 1956; Lorna Dee, b. March 24, 1961; Mark Eric, b. April 19, 1963. They had their children over a twenty-seven year period. Mazie was 42 and dad was 46 1/2 when they had their last one.
Their first three children were born in Montwell or Cedar View at their grandparents Alexanders home. Grandmother Dobson was a midwife and assisted the doctor in their births and subsequent care to mother and child. When Clarence Niels was born the radio came on for the first time. The first thing they remember hearing was the question. "Is there a baby boy in your home!"
Natalie was born in a hospital in the state of Washington.
More brothers and one sister joined the family. LeRoy, Glenn, Stanley, Calvin, Irene and Joseph. the home was quite small and they sometimes used old cars to sleep in. They raised Cows and pigs. I heard they sold the cows and ate the pigs. Which might explain how several had heart problems in their later lives.
Mom was left with four children. He did get benefits from his service. WHen he had heart problems they helped to pay for his associated bill.
Elder representative in Idaho and in Sheldon Washington. He would see the Elders got to Temple. Helped with the Scouts in Idaho. He worked as an Genealogy leader in Idaho. Dad presided over meetings on genealogy. Home teacher and he was an High Priest before he passed away. Dad was a janitor for the LDS church in Chandler Arizona, Dad went to school and trained to be a Body and Fender man in Pocatello Idaho.
Compiled and written
I hope that all who view the histories that are presented here will enjoy and learn from the lives of these great people.
ReplyDeleteWe love you Julia.
ReplyDeleteThank you Julia my dear beloved sister.
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