My ancestors emigrated from the various countries of Europe. They spoke English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch, German and French. Their languages demonstrate their different backgrounds, but little more can be said which would show one family as being very diverse from another.

Following are two appropriate articles about our ancestors that I previously wrote. Marriage is a partnership of two equal halves whose sum is greater than one. The two partners working together can accomplish much more than the two could accomplish or become by working alone. Sometimes, however, our female ancestors found themselves alone, and had to rely upon their own strength and inner resources while their men were absent.

James E. Kerns and Marjorie Shannon Hunt

I thought that this collection of ancestors’ stories and this book would be complete when I’d inserted the pertinent pictures. Yesterday, however, as I was praying, I was told by the Spirit that the book would not be complete until I’d told my own story and explained why these people are important to us. This book was written about our progenitors, but is written for my siblings, my wife’s siblings, and all of our posterity. My purpose in telling my own story is to bear testimony to our posterity so that they may begin to understand who they are and where they fit in this grand plan of life.

Lucy Evelyn Waterbury Wight was born October 15, 1834 at Norfolk, St. Lawrence County, New York. She was the daughter of Solomon and Charlotte Post Waterbury. Her mother accepted the gospel and joined the church in New York about the time the saints started to gather for their move westward. Her father was not converted to the gospel, but because her mother was so anxious to come west with the saints, he agreed and was preparing to come when his wife took sick and died. At this time grandmother was 13 years old with two brothers younger. Although this was a great blow to the family, the father decided to carry out his wife’s wishes and come on with the children, but within two weeks, he became ill one night and died with no one there except his three children and the nearest neighbor one and a half miles away. One child was afraid to go alone for help while the other two stayed with the dead man, and one was afraid to stay there while the other two went for help, so grandmother closed (her father’s) eyes, straightened him out, and the three children sat there until daylight when they went for help.

It was the 7th of May 1820, in Henrietta (now a suburb of Rochester), New York, that a baby was born to Daniel and Mary Hewitt Wight and given the name of Stephen. Stephen was the 5th child in a family of seven.

Stephen Wight was born the 7 May 1820 in Henrietta, Monroe, New York. He was the son of Daniel Wight and Mary Randall Hewitt, one of a family of three boys and four girls.

Frederick William Simmons and Maretta Wight

Denmark, jutting out into the Baltic Sea north of Germany, is Europe’s oldest kingdom. Numerous finds and excavations indicate that Denmark has been inhabited for at least four thousand to five thousand years and possibly much longer. The country’s position at the entrance to the Baltic Sea, one of Europe’s oldest trading routes, going back to prehistoric times, favored early settlement here.

My mother was born on Jan. 31, 1875 in Plain City, Utah to Christopher Olsen Folkman and Maximiliana Maria Olivia Lingvall. She was the fourth daughter born into a family of 7 children; six girls and one boy: Elea Maria, Caroline Emelia, Christiana Catharine, Elizabeth Maximiliana, Joseph Maximilian, Lewis Olsen and Louisa Frederica. Joseph and Lewis were twins, but Lewis died the same day he was born and Louisa Frederica died when she was 9 years old.

Born 15 December 1842 Gotland, Sweden. Daughter of Lars Fredrick Christianson Lindvall and Anna Gertrud Kulin. She was converted and baptized a member of the L.D.S. Church 11 June 1864 in Gotland, Sweden. Her parents did not embrace the gospel. She came to America on the ship “John Bright” with other converts and went to live in the home of Christopher Olsen Folkman, eight miles northwest of Ogden, now Plain City, Weber Co., Utah 24 August 1868.

Born 1842 Gotland, Sweden
Died 1899 Plain City, Utah
My Mother
Maxemelian Maria Olivia Lindvall was the daughter of Lars Fredrick Christiansson Lindvall and Anna Gertrud Kulin. Mother came to America on the ship “John Bright” in 1868. She came across the plains in Captain Hortin D. Haitts’ Company, leaving Laramie, Wyoming 27 July and arriving in Salt Lake City 24 August 1868. She baked all the bread for the emigrants across the plains, and walked the entire distance. She worked hard and endured much hardship as other Pioneer women did. She was the first of her family to join the Church. Because of her Mormon belief, the Preacher and her relatives with whom she lived treated her very cruelly. Her parents died when she was very young.

Christopher and Maximiliana Folkman

Christopher Olsen Folkmann was born Feb. 8, 1827 in Aaker Parish, Bornholm, Denmark, a son of Jorgen Christoffersen and Gjertrud Kristine Ipsen Folkmann. His father was by trade a blacksmith and supported his family by the labor of his hands. Christopher was the fifth of seven children, and the parents, who were members of the Lutheran Church, were Godfearing people and consequently gave their children a good religious training and showed them a good Christian example. In his childhood Christopher was by nature religiously inclined and read the Bible with great interest. He also received a good common education although the public schools of Bornholm, at that time, occupied a rather primitive place educationally.

Christopher Olsen Folkmann was faithful about writing at least a line in his journal nearly every day. I have chosen to only extract the more interesting entries for inclusion in this book.—JEK

This, the second book of my biography, I’ll start as we arrived in Salt Lake City, October 6, 1858. I was heartily welcomed by my friend and countryman Anders Beck, who welcomed me to his house, where I offered a prayer and thanksgiving to God who had protected me through the travel and I was happy in Zion, the meeting place of the saints and I asked the Lord that he would bless me in my new home that I could serve him in Zion and be steadfast in the faith until the end. We stayed in Salt Lake City for four days in which time we, namely Elea and I visited some friends and countrymen in the city, who welcomed us to Zion. We got our horses and wagons, which we had together with a company divided, where I got one pair of oxen, which I valued at sixty dollars and a cow, which constituted all I had. In spite of the fact that I had a debt of $200.00 for my trip.

The passing of one of the oldest pioneers in Weber County occurred at 5 o’clock yesterday morning in the death of Christopher Olsen Folkmann at the home of his daughter, Mr. John S. Painter in Farr West. Demise was due to general senility. He had been in declining health for sometime, and his death was not unexpected. He was about 89 years old.

Christopher Olsen Folkmann was born Feb. 8, 1827 in Aaker Parish, Bornholm, Denmark, a son of Jorgen Christoffersen and Gjertrud Kristine Ipsen Folkmann. His father was by trade a blacksmith and supported his family by the labor of his hands. Christopher was the fifth of seven children, and the parents, who were members of the Lutheran Church, were Godfearing people and consequently gave their children a good religious training and showed them a good Christian example. In his childhood Christopher was by nature religiously inclined and read the Bible with great interest. He also received a good common education although the public schools of Bornholm, at that time, occupied a rather primitive place educationally.

England, a monarchy, is a beautiful country of rolling green hills, rivers and lakes. Except for a few large cities, it is a country of small villages, each crowned by the village church steeple. This is the land where the Hunt family and its progenitors lived for generations. James Hunt was born 20 May 1850 in Derby, Derbyshire, England, to John Hunt and Elizabeth Milnes (Mills) and was christened in St. Peter’s Parish. His parents were members of the Church of England, and raised their children according to that faith. Nothing is known of his childhood. Clara was born 30 May 1849 to Isaac Harrison and Hannah Dore’ in Belper, Derbyshire. She was a small person with dainty features, light hair, and blue or grey eyes. Her early life is recorded in her parent’s story. James, who was living at Liverage Street in Derby as a young man, was a good elastic weaver having served a full apprenticeship when he was younger. Clara worked in a silk mill and also helped her parents in their newspaper shop. Both James and Clara had been taught to be thrifty and industrious.

James Hunt, Jr. was born 13 September 1872 in Derby, Derbyshire, England, to James Hunt, Sr. and Clara Harrison. His early years are recorded in his parent’s story. He was 10 years old when his parents decided to leave England in 1883 and emigrate to the United States. He grew to manhood in Plain City, Utah, where the family settled. Jim, as he was called, had attended school in Derby, but had to quit school when he was in the fourth grade and go to work as his father wasn’t very well. In later years he read many things and studied a lot. He wrote with a beautiful hand—self taught. He played a fiddle, but as he had never had a lesson, it was just for his own enjoyment.

Christiana Catharine Folkman, called Annie Folkman Hunt, was born the 8th of November 1873 in Plain City, Weber County, Utah. I do not remember the house. Father’s name was Christopher Olsen Folkman, date of birth February 8, 1827, in Aaker, Bornholm, Denmark. His father’s name was Jorgan Christopher Folkman. Father’s mother’s name, Gytrid Kristen Ipsen.

Annie Hunt and Children

James and Annie Hunt

The first time I saw Zelma Hunt would have been on 14 November 1964. I don’t actually remember meeting her that day, but that was the day that I first dated her daughter, Margie, my future wife.

When I first met Zelma I knew this was no ordinary woman. I was constantly amazed by her and as the years went by the amazement increased.