Anna Dorthea Johnson Kempe

Anna Dorthea Johnson prior to 1864,
Ready for America.
"Her heart thrilled with the gospel message and she could only say "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go, Dear Lord".

Anna Dorthea Johnson Kempe 

born 5 February 1837 Fredrikstad, Norway; 

died 26 January 1901 Mesa, Arizona.

 Her story is one of courage, bravery and of an adventurous spirit, the stuff of legends, from Norway to America's wild wild west.

 Anna Dorthea Johnson (changed from Anne when she came to America) was born 5 February 1837 in Fredrikstad, Norway, the land of the Midnight Sun. Also the land of frozen rivers, high mountains, short summers and beautiful yet stern and hard land where an energetic people have produced a good life, not easy and it has made a strong and rugged people.
Her folks were fishermen and fished much at night when the fish would bite better. She learned to row a boat well when she was quite young. She learned to read, write, knit, sew and was raised a Lutheran, the religion most common then in the Scandinavian countries.
 At the age of 18, she apprenticed as a dressmaker and milliner at the Bertleson's home. It was there she first heard the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints missionaries speak. She received a little book containing twenty-eight hymns, some of the Doctrine & Covenants and the Articles of Faith. As she was very serious and religious at heart, she read and re-read the book and was deeply impressed with the spirit and messages it contained. Anxiously she contacted the Church missionaries to attend their meetings and soon knew that they spoke the truth and wanted to join The Church. At the age of 21, Anna was baptized 24 April 1858. Her parents did not approve of her decision and even went as far as not allowing her back into their home. She felt she must go on and accept this gospel nevertheless, which she did, though her home and her folks were never the same to her after that. She left home and worked in various homes as a seamstress. After about about 10 years, she was able to emigrate to Utah, a desire she had cherished, though it was hard to leave her beloved country and loved ones even though they had cast her off. She saved enough money as she could to journey to Utah, but it wasn't enough, the main reason being that she contributed much of her earnings to the missionaries for their support. The mission president at that time, Brother O. H. Berg of Provo, UT testified that she was one of the best missionaries they had.  Short of funds, she arranged to care for a well to do lady on the trip and the lady would pay for her ticket. The old lady ended up being so disagreeable that Anna had to give up waiting on her. Anna was used to being on the water and did not get seasick on the trip. 
On April 1, 1864 she left Norway on a sleigh, bound for Denmark. Eventually she boarded the ship MONARCH OF THE SEA in Copenhagen, Denmark on April 28, 1864 bound for New York. (about the ship "The second company, totaling 974 Saints, sailed from Liverpool on 28 April 1864. Elder John Smith, patriarch to the church, was in charge of the emigrants. His counselors were Elders John D. Chase, Johan P. R. Johansen, and Parley P. Pratt, Jr. Master of the packet was Captain Robert Kirkaldy. This company also represented many nations, particularly Scandinavia. Although the voyage of thirty-six days was quite pleasant, the death toll was unusually high-forty-five according to George Q. Cannon and forty-one according to the passenger list. Most of those who died were apparently children. The ship arrived at New York on 3 June.")

Monarch of the Sea

Anna met a girl of the same age and with a similar name, Dorthea Mork (later to become Johnson). They quickly became friends and stayed together the entire journey all the way to Utah. During the voyage, there was considerable sickness and some deaths but landed safely June 3, 1864. 
Anna traveled from there to Salt Lake City Utah in the Isaac A. Canfield's Church Train arriving October 5, 1864; it must have been a wonderful relief to end the 5 month trip. They were met on the way by teamsters from Salt Lake City,and at once they began to learn the English language. Anna learned to speak it unusually well. Anna walked most of the way and most of the time barefoot to preserve her shoes, learning English along the way. 

After her arrival, Christopher Kempe, a former missionary that Anna had known in Norway came and asked for her hand in marriage. Christopher had by this time been married 3 months to Olena (Oline) Olsen. Anna accepted and would be his second wife and thus entered into polygamy on March 10, 1866. Polygamy was difficult to practice, but luckily both wives grew to become good friends and the children would grow up calling the other mother "Auntie". 
Soon after they were married, the Kempe family was asked to settle in Provo. Anna lived on their new farm on the Provo bench in a sod dugout house and Olena lived in town. Soon the children came and here Anna's first child was born,  Johanna C. F. (Hannah) was born February 3, 1867, next Betsy Amelia (Melia) Oct 19, 1868 and July 15, 1871 Amanda Christina (Manda) joined them. 
One story about the early Utah days is the lost calves, Anna had all the care of the cows and one winter the calves were gone, three or four of them. Snow was knee-deep. Anna dressed up warm and wrapped her feet in old clothes and went out in the fields going long distances hunting for the calves, all to no avail. The calves were lost. The family was left with heart ache and sorrow.
It seemed just as they were settling in, the family received another call to move this time to Richfield to help the settlement of the Saints. So in 1872, the family relocated to Richfield, Utah where only 50 other families lived at the time. Here the three younger daughters were born: Olena Dorthea (Thea) July 31, 1874, Emma on November 18, 1876 and Ruth Leila July 229, 1880. Kempe, as his wives called him, built two houses on Main Street and Second South: a two story house for Oline and behind that a smaller one for Anna and her daughters. They planted orchards of apples and peaches and gardens all of which thrived. Kempe said of the Richfield soil, "Where the red sandstone soil is, it exceeds anything else in fruitfulness, both for vegetables and grain." After 14 years in Richfield, the family was prosperous. 

Anna and four of her six children, taken about 1875-1876.
One can not tell from the black and white image, but Anna's hair is light red.

Christopher J. Kempe and family were called by President John Taylor to a "colonization mission" and were called to colonize northeastern Arizona. They left from Richfield, Utah on September 12, 1880, leaving behind their plush orchards and two comfortable homes. Their orchard had just produced fruit, but because the property was sold, they could not take any of the delicious fruit. The group may not have known that they were traveling to settle a place that was still barren and primitive. Even if they had, they wouldn't have been hesitant to answer a call from the prophet; such was their faith. This new life was the beginning of very real hardships, poverty and heartaches for a number of years.  
By September 21st, they were on the upper Kanab and Link valley, it was a large open country, beautiful with blue mountains. On the way to Arizona, the Kempe family crossed the Colorado River at Lees Ferry crossing on September 29th and camped on the east side of the river. Our Kempe family made it safely across and Anna even took her children out on the river for a boat ride. Because Anna had been raised so near the sea, she was delighted to see the water and on their boat ride, Anna did the rowing. Along the way, they did find two or three little cabins. To get to water and grass for the cattle were always the main problems in choosing a camp site. On the trip, Anna had her very young baby, Leila just a few weeks old. How difficult that must have been! October 16, 1880, they arrived at their destination, Saint Johns - not named then- was just a very small crossing on the Little Colorado River, crudely made to allow trappers, scouts and sheep men to cross, sometimes with a small band of sheep on the road to Fort Apache. A few brush and adobe mud sheds had been put up for shelter. When Christopher Jensen Kempe and his family arrived, some Church colonists had arrived previously and were getting located, but there was not any house for the Kempe family. Winter was fast approaching and they were sick and tired of camping. They fixed a camp with brush, sticks and sod and with their wagon boxes, set down on the ground, they lived with that for a time. Olena, the other wife, had two small rooms and these housed the first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Sunday school and day school in St Johns, Arizona. 

First home in Saint Johns, AZ, 1880

Needless to say, the first winter was a pretty hard one. Very little food could be obtained and had only a little wheat to ration out; the wheat was ground each day with a little handmill. Here her husband made one trip into Albuquerque, New Mexico for supplies and returned with some white flour and other things. Anna made some biscuits with it, the children came in from playing by the river looked at them and thought that they were some kind of cake. This was a thrilling sight for the children, as they were used to ground wheat flour.
Sunday school was being held one morning while Anna was bathing her young baby, Leila, when the cry of "Fire, Fire," was heard. All the Sunday School rushed out, grabbed  buckets or anything that would hold water, then ran to the nearby river and soon had the fire extinguished, but not before it had burned a stack of brush and weeds that was to feed the milk cows during the winter. Some squash or pumpkins were stored in the stack and these were ruined. Anna's daughter, Amelia, who told this story, remembered it because her mother cried at the loss and it was very seldom that she cried.

Anna scraped under the edges of the wheatstack for loose wheat that had been pressed out when the loads that were heavy threshed the kernels out. (The waste wheat in other words). Anna would wash it, dry it and sift it with the wind and then grind it on a little coffee mill that had been nailed to the wall. Anna's children did much of the grinding for both of Christopher's families to get meal for the bread. The girls report that the grinding took nearly all day. Auntie (Oline, the first wife) lived in town so her family did not have to do any of the grinding.

Years of privations made for vigorous schooling and even with hardships innumerable, their faith never faltered and their struggles mellowed them and made them stronger. It was a hard life in St. Johns, but they worked hard and prospered.

In December 1881 (other accounts say it was about 1890),  Anna made a decision about the outlawing of polygamy and living that way. She decided, "I am going to obey the law. I will not live with Kempe any longer and break the law." She kept her word. Christopher was welcome in her home and would occasionally eat meals, but could not sleep there anymore. The polygamy situation was difficult for the entire Kempe family. Christopher often had a hard time providing for the family's needs. Also, even though Christopher treated Anna with respect, she was the "second" wife. Oline usually had the bigger house wherever they lived and probably had Christopher's company in Oline's home more. Maybe for these reasons, the family didn't speak highly of polygamy in general.

Of course Anna always had a garden and an orchard whenever possible. During the growing season it was a daily task for her to work in the garden. There were weeds to be kept down, ditches for irrigating had to be made and other tasks. She did not have any sons to share these labors. The fresh vegetables were such and addition to their food supply and so welcome that she did not mind the labor involved.

Anna kept in touch and was friendly with her parents in Norway by correspondence. They never joined The Church. Upon the local settlement of her parents property, $100 was sent to her as her share. It came when she needed it so much. With $80.00 of it she purchased a sewing machine and the first night that they had it she and her daughters sat up most of the night trying it out, making a dress. For $10.00 she bought a baby bed and of course $10 went for tithing.
A tragedy struck Anna's family when in 1889, thirteen year old Emma was thrown from a horse and killed. She is buried in St Johns.

Anna with her five girls, St Johns, AZ about 1886.
Back fow: Amanda, Amelia Olena
Front row: Anna, Leila an Hannah
(Emma died before this picture was taken)

Initially, Anna lived on what they called the "Farm" which was a rock-house outside of St Johns across the Little Colorado River and then quite a walk south. Anna and her girls lived there about 3-4 years then the church-built rooms (these rooms were built by church members during the time Christopher Jensen Kempe was incarcerated in the Detroit prison for polygamy) until they moved into town. Anna felt she must support herself so she bought and kept her own home in St. Johns near the town square and The Church house.  This little home of Anna's had three rooms and a porch which they made into a bedroom and later Anna built a kitchen and another room onto it. Anna received $150 from the sale of the "Farm" as it was called and she borrowed some money from Charles P Anderson and some from her married daughter Johanna Greer to help her make the payments. When Anna asked Charles P Anderson if he needed security for the loan, he replied, "No, Sister Kempe, your word is as good as your bond." 
As soon as Anna could, she planted an orchard and different berry bushes, using every inch of space that she had. The first fruit for winter was put in cans with a tin lid soldered on with some kind of rosin. They dried fruit for winter and found that quite satisfactory, and when they had glass bottles that seemed just perfect. Fruit was a luxury there in those days. Only on rare and very special occasions were bananas and oranges brought in from the railroad, about sixty miles away. 
Anna planted quite a few trees on her lot. She filled up her lot with choice trees, 4 or 5 currant bushed, goose-berried and flower in every spot available. The flowers were lilac bushes on either side of entrance path, roses and hollyhock, pinks and other. She also had delicious peach trees. Her daughter, Amelia reflects, "I remember how the Mexicans came to buy those early peaches and would not wait for them to get ripe and they came for cantaloupes and watermelons, even if they were a little green, they wanted them. Mother sold milk and fruit and garden stuff to help make our living."

Anna D. Johnson Kempe

Anna always had a cow or two to provide them with milk and butter and she usually always had a calf to fatten for beef. She would have felt lost without a cow to milk each morning and evening. On her little plot of land, she kept a good barn (was still standing in 1952) where she kept they hay for her cows. She kept some chickens and usually a pig to help provide a living. Skunks were prevalent and they killed and bothered her chickens. To keep the skunks out, Anna made homemade box traps. Her daughters knew that she killed them, but they never knew how she did it.
Anna was a good cook and always had yeast on hand. The story goes, "Anna did not make her yeast for monetary value, rather, she enjoyed the service because it helped others. There were many people coming with their two cups of flour in a little bucket or pitcher to trade her for her good foamy yeast. She always had a pot of yeast brewing.
Anna was an accomplished seamstress and earned extra money sewing the beautifully colored silks and satin for the wealthy Mexican women in the area. Eventually, she had four or five sewing machines. She even sewed a new robe for the Father of the Catholic church in town. The story goes the Padre needed a new robe and knew that Anna did sewing. Anna was used to making nice silk dresses for the ladies and suits for the men, so she was not afraid to undertake this for "the Father". But she had not counted on it being so heavy and cumbersome. The Father was a tall man and the robe was to be made of heavy cloth, full length down to the floor, long sleeves, high neck and lined throughout and of course, black. It was warm weather; perspiration poured down her face and her hands were moist as she worked on it. It was very heavy to lift and she labored as she finished it. The Father was pleased with it and Anna's masterful sewing saved him a trip to Albuquerque to get a new one made.
Speaking of the Mexicans, they would come to Anna and say, "Come, come,  "Colorow" (from Anna's light red hair) my child is sick you fix him." How they came to her in their troubles and pleasures as well as to make their dresses.

Anna holding a grandchild, seated with her daughters, sewing on the porch.

While visiting her daughter, Thea,  for the winter in Mesa at 69 years old Anna became sick with influenza and after a short illness died, January 26, 1907.

Anna D. Johnson Kempe (1837-1907)

Anna is buried in the Mesa City Cemetery on Center Street in Mesa Arizona. What a beautiful legacy she left behind. Thank you my dear great great grandmother Anna for a life well lived.

Anna's gravestone located in Mesa City Cemetery

Anna's obituary, Deseret Evening News, 19 Feb 1907, Tue, Page 3

Anna's children say of her, "When I think back on Mother's life, her teachings, maxims and choice quotations she used, I feel that she was one of God's most noblest children. She had not great advantages for education, yet she possessed knowledge that far surpassed many of the learned. If we resented the treatments she or we had received, she would say, "It is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong" and " Never do a wrong, thinking no one sees you, for you always see yourself, and how can you respect yourself if you know you are not honest with yourself" also " If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well." 
Her daughters said of Anna, " It seemed she possessed all the desired virtues."