Berenice Peterson

A brief history of Berenice Peterson Lange Anderson (1896-1964), daughter of Gustav Hjalmer Malstedt Peterson and Karen or Carrie Hansen, wife of Hans Friedrich Karl Lange, mother of Helen Carrie Lange Amundsen, John Marvin Lange, and Ruth Irene Lange Smith. The history appears to have been written by Berenice's daughter Helen. Curiously, the history does not mention Berenice's divorce from Hans Lange and her second marriage on April 7, 1941, to Joseph Andrew Anderson. Claudia, daughter of J. Marvin Lange, always heard this grandmother referred to as "Grandma A."

"Yours may be a little dream, a little idea, a little good work in some obscure place, unknown, unseen, unheard as yet.

"Hold fast to the dream, develop the idea, keep up the good work. Keep your little light shining and remember that there is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle."

So is the life of Berenice Peterson—for from the time of her birth to Gustav Hjalmer Molstedt Peterson and Karen Hansen on 15 October 1896 until her death on 4 September 1964 the candle of her faith in the Lord and His work never was dimmed, and she endeavored all of her days to let this candle shine as a guide to those around her.

She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her father was a contractor and builder. At times he made good money, but he also enjoyed drinking liquor—consequently his wife had to do housework for others to help support the family. Berenice was the only daughter born to Gustav and Karen. They had four sons, and Berenice was the fourth child of the five children.

Gustav was born in Sweden. His parents came to Utah because of the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His mother and father were later divorced, and his mother remarried Jens Christian Peterson in the Endowment House. Though Gustav had been baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he later apostatized and was not affiliated with any religion—though he favored the teachings of Swedenborg in his later years.

Karen was of Danish ancestry, and unlike her husband, remained faithful to the testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In her early years Berenice must have been protected by a guardian angel, for on several occasions she was extremely close to disaster. One time she and her girl friend were playing house on the hillside. Berenice had received a real stove for Christmas, and the girls had built a fire in it. While playing, Berenice's dress caught fire, and instead of rolling in the dirt to smother the flames, Berenice ran down the hill to her brothers. It is a miracle she was not severely burned.

Another time the handle of an ax in use came off, and the ax flew in her direction, missing her only by the breadth of a hair.

Another time, when she was only a toddler, she fell into the irrigation ditch and was unnoticed for some time.

Her life must have been guarded so that she could teach the gospel and bear testimony of God's plan of salvation. Though Berenice was never called on a full-time mission, she taught Sunday School, Primary, and Mutual and served as a stake missionary in the Emigration Stake. She had been Mutual president in the Great Falls Branch in Montana, Relief Society president in the Twentieth Ward in Salt Lake City, and in the Primary presidency in the Emigration Ward. Near the end of her life, she was secretary to the genealogical committee of the Marlborough Ward in Salt Lake. Her faith and testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Lord has been acknowledged by many. She was a pillar of strength.

Her life had not been an easy one. From the time she was sixteen, until two years before her death, it was necessary for her to earn a living for herself and others.

She married Hans or Johannes Frederick Carl Lange 30 August 1922 in the Salt Lake Temple. They had three children—two girls and a boy. She had wanted to be at home with her children, but this was not to be her privilege, for not long after her marriage it became evident that her husband suffered shell-shock from the First World War, and he was unable to take care of his family. Berenice had to care for her family and provide guidance and the monetary support as well. Her mother helped her while the children were young, and this made it easier for Berenice to leave them each day.

After the family returned from Great Falls, Montana, Berenice found work at the LDS Hospital as a telephone operator on the night shift. This eventually worked into the auditor for all the bookkeeping at the hospital. She also kept books for the LDS Children's Hospital and for Capson-Bowman and Richards-Woodbury realty companies.

Berenice was very active in sports while she was still in school. She played on the championship teams for both the Salt Lake City basketball and baseball. She won first place in the 20-yard dash and the relay races, Drama was also one of her talents, and she took the lead in one of the University of Utah Preparation School's dramas—also several Church plays. She took first place in one of the U of U Prep School's oratory contests. She enjoyed reading both poetry and prose and felt life was too short to waste time on anything of a degrading nature. She continually tried to better herself and those around her by building character and gaining knowledge—the glory of God is intelligence.

She died of cancer 4 September 1964—still full of faith that if the Lord wanted her to live that she would be made well. Her faith in the Lord and His power were the greatest memories I have of her life.

Shortly after her death, while I was walking on the Tabernacle grounds, a woman approached me and asked me if I was Berenice Peterson's daughter. I answered yes, and she indicated that my mother had taught her during her years in Mutual. Because of my mother's teachings, her testimony grew and also her understanding of the gospel. She appreciated my mother, and I appreciated her comments about my mother.

A Missionary Letter from Marvin

A letter from Elder J. Marvin Lange, serving in the Western Canadian Mission, written on Sunday, July 25, 1948, to his mother in Salt Lake City, Utah. A copy of this letter was included in notes attached to a family group record in a large binder of genealogical records from Marvin's sister Helen [Helen Carrie Lange Amundsen] that we received on May 9, 2008, nearly fifty years after the letter was written.

Dearest Mother:

The day is slipping by and I should like to write you a worthwhile letter before the opportunity is gone altogether. I have spent one hour before I have to begin preparing for sacrament meeting. That should give me a start anyway, and maybe this evening will afford the necessary time for me to complete the letter.

In checking over some of your letters to me I see that you have asked me to retell the story of Yellowface that we heard from Pres. Card the night of conference at Cardston. My memory isn't very good, and I always have difficulty in repeating a story, but I took a few notes and perhaps from them you can reconstruct the salient points.

"YELLOWFACE"

The story is about a tribe of Cree Indians. Yellowface being their Chief. They were an independent tribe and had refused to take a reservation from the government (because they said you took the land from us, it is ours). There were perhaps less than 100 persons in the tribe, but they wandered through Saskatchewan not having any permanent home.

About 25 or 30 years ago a messenger came to Yellowface from the "unseen world" and told him to take the tribe and travel west until he came to a people who had a record of their forefathers. Yellowface was informed of five signs by which he could distinguish this people who were in possession of the book of his ancestors.

The messenger departed (can't recall if Pres. Card inferred that he might have been one of the Three Nephites or not), and Yellowface and his tribe set out west. Finally they landed on the Church ranch. Brother Caldwell was the foreman at the time, and he went down to greet them. Brother Caldwell said, "You are on our land, but you are welcome; stay as long as you want; fish in our streams; graze your cattle on our land; our cowboys will be passing through here often but in your camps they will act as gentlemen."

Pres. Card pointed out that to have 100 people suddenly park on your land would be very exasperating for most ranchers and the possibility is that others would have driven them off since such procedures would be most conducive to the rancher's economic welfare, or so they would suppose.

Well Yellowface was pleased at the reception given his tribe for more reasons than one. The signs that the messenger had given him were in the process of fulfillment, for these are the five ways he was to know the people who had the history of his forefathers: 1 = they will let you camp on their lands and they won't drive you off; 2 = their men will go through your camp and not molest your women; 3 = they will trade with you and not cheat you; 4 = they will invite you to their church; 5 = they will invite you into their homes and feed you.

It wasn't long until there was a ward reunion in Cardston. Bishop Parker went over to Yellowface and said, "We're having a banquet at the church and would like you to come over." Afterwards Yellowface was invited into their home and given food. The signs were complete. For once the Indians had been dealt with honestly, the Mormons had not sought advantage over the Redman, being honest and virtuous in all their relations together.

It wasn't long afterward that Yellowface invited Bishop Parker over to his lodge and asked him to talk. Yellowface listened to hear something of "his" book, for surely these were the people the messenger had told him to find, but Bishop Parker didn't mention the Book of Mormon at all. Sometime later Yellowface asked him back to talk some more. This time as Bishop Parker was leaving his home he picked up the Book of Mormon. He told Yellowface of the contents of the book, the thing which the Chief had been awaiting. He took the book from the bishop and put it inside his robe, saying "My book."

The Chief had some of the young braves read the Book of Mormon to him. (I don't know what affect the Book of Mormon had on the Chief, but he certainly had learned to respect the Mormon people.)

Some 20 to 25 years later Yellowface and his tribe were being put over on a little tract of land west of Calgary. The government officials gave them the right to choose their own school system, or in other other words, the church which they wanted to administer their secular affairs. The established churches, Roman Catholic and Anglican, were suggested but Yellowface would have none but the Mormons.

(The rest of the story is rather uncertain on my notes, but I think V. Wood, brother to Pres. Wood, was a member of parliament at the time, and he was put in charge of their schools.) Anyway, the news soon reached other members of the Church, and there were many volunteers to teach at the Indians' school. One who went was an Elder Kimball. It seems that Elder Kimball was the lad who had given a copy of the Book of Mormon to the Pope while in the service overseas. George Spencer of Leavitt also taught on this Indian reserve.

Well, Mother, that is about all that I can give you on "Yellowface." Perhaps you can fill in where the story isn't complete. It is now Monday morning and time for us to start tracting. Sorry that I didn't finish this yesterday when I could have written something other than the Indian story. I'll send this anyway hoping that even such as it is will be better than nothing.

The missionary work is coming along alright. We have another good contact, a lady who just seemed to be awaiting the message of the gospel. Perhaps I have mentioned her before. We received her name through the Eastern Canadian missionaries from one of their contacts. Her name is Mrs. Miles. We haven't spent many visits with her but last Wednesday when we called she practically bore her testimony to us. She wondered how it was that the other churches couldn't see that there was more to the Plan of Salvation than they were teaching. She is a lovely lady and has two of the nicest children I have seen anywhere; they are well-mannered, polite, and clean. Mrs. Miles is an avid reader and is hungry for a knowledge of the gospel. It is a pleasure to work with her.

I just received a letter from Joseph F. Smith, the former Patriarch. He is at Banff teaching for a few weeks this summer. He wrote to me from Hawaii before he left, thinking I was in Alberta and that we could probably arrange a meeting before he left the Province.

Well, I guess this will have to be 30 for now I have to get going. Thanks for all the encouragement. I don't know what I would have done without you and my sisters.

All my love and may the Lord bless you, always = Marvin

Hans Friedrich Karl Lange

A history of Hans Friedrich Karl Lange (1895-1967), son of August Ferdinand Lange (1865-1950) and Emma Bertha Wilhelmine Mattick (1865-1952), and the father of Helen Carrie Lange Amundsen, John Marvin Lange, and Ruth Irene Lange Smith. Variants of his name include Hans or Johannes, Friedrich or Frederick, and Karl or Carl.

Hans or Johannes Frederick Carl Lange was born in Bredow, a small city about five to eight miles from Stettin, Germany [now Szczecin, Poland]. Stettin is a Baltic Sea port at the mouth of the Oder River and is a shipbuilding and ship-repairing center. Factories there manufacture iron, paper, and textiles.

It was the 24th of June 1895 when Hans first voiced his opinion of the world. Since the language of most infants is more readily understood by their parents, August Ferdinand Lange and Emma Bertha Wilhelmine Mattick probably were the only ones who comprehended this opinion in its more specific meaning. Hans was the second child of six children born to Emma and August. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Stettin. Here two more children were born to August and Emma.

August was a blacksmith in Stettin and well established. He and his wife were of the Lutheran faith and when they heard the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints they believed it and were baptized. Their testimonies never faltered, and they were active members from the 30th of May 1898 through the remainder of their mortal existence, and without a doubt into the eternities. They were both strong of character and hard workers.

Hans was a happy boy and brought pleasure to his mother. He was a very generous person—sometimes to a fault—for he would give the shirt off of his own back. At one time when he did not have anything himself and someone came to him in need, Hans sent him to his brother Bruno's office for assistance. He was of an artistic nature—he both played the violin beautifully and with feeling, had an artistic penmanship (which he used to help earn his living at different intervals in his life), and drew and painted pictures which were entered in the State Fair. He was not known to say anything of a detrimental nature about anyone.

Hans, his sister, two brothers, and parents came to America when Hans was about five years old. After arriving in America, August and Emma had two more children—both girls.

Several times during Hans's life he was seriously ill. The first time was before they emigrated to America. At this time he had spinal meningitis. His temperature was dangerously high, but he recovered, which was somewhat of a miracle. Another time was after arriving in America during his boyhood days. He was a messenger boy (by this means he earned part of his own support) and had an accident while riding his bicycle. Along with the accident came an acute case of erysipelas. His mother spent many hours caring for Hans, and once more he recovered.

Before the First World War was over Hans was part of the American Army even though he had been born in Germany. At one time he rescued one of his buddies who was drowning. As he dove into the water he hit his head, injuring himself, but still he pulled his companion out of the water and saved his life. This act received notice in the papers. Whether it was because of the blow on his head or perhaps due to shell shock, his years shortly after his marriage were ones of periods of confinement.

He married Berenice Peterson in the Salt Lake Temple on the 30th of August 1922. They had three children—two girls and one boy. It seemed difficult for him to earn a living. He felt uncomfortable in crowds. It was necessary that his wife work. It seems there were periods when he was normal and other times when he could not be controlled. After their last daughter was born in 1926, his wife went to Great Falls, Montana. From this time on the government cared for him in the Veteran's Hospital.

The last few years of his life he was placed in a rest home in the southeast part of Salt Lake City, Utah, and he died at the age of 71 on the 26th of January 1967.