CHRISTOPHER OLSEN FOLKMAN DIES AT FARR WEST;  HE WAS A PROMINENT CHURCH WORKER AND EARLY DAY BLACKSMITH

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.

Mr. Folkmann was among the last of the heads of the thirteen or fourteen families who formed the band that settled upon the land now occupied by Plain City, where he resided practically all the time since 1859.  He was noted particularly for his activity in behalf of the Mormon Church, having fulfilled three missions to Scandinavian countries that covered a period of twelve years.

In the time that he was not actively engaged in performing some service for the church, Mr. Folkman worked at the blacksmith trade in which he was declared an expert.  His skill in forging metals into various tools of industry and especially those for agricultural purposes was said to be marvelous.

At the Weber County Fair in 1862 a plow that he had forged by hand took premium above all other entries which included factory made articles.

Mr. Folkman was born on the Island of Bornholm, Denmark, February 8, 1827, and came to Utah in October 1858.  On March 17, 1859, he accompanied the colonization party to the present site of Plain City, and helped to erect the first homes in that settlement.  With the other members of the colony he engaged in agriculture and gave up that pursuit after the first crop had proved a failure, coming to Ogden, where he resided for a little more than a year, after which he returned to Plain City for permanent residence.  During the time of his residence in Ogden, Mr. Folkman was in the employ of Bishop Chancey W. West, now deceased, in the blacksmith trade.

A biographical sketch from the Scandinavian Jubilee Album, which contains photographs and sketches of the lives of men prominent in the activities of the Mormon Church from 1850 to 1900, is as follows:

"Christopher Olsen Folkman was born on the Island of Bornholm, Denmark, February 8, 1827; baptized by Jens Jorgensen, November 28, 1851; ordained to the priesthood, July 11, 1852, labored about six years as a missionary alternately, on the islands of Bornholm, Lolland, Falster and Moen and also in Jylland, where he presided one year over the Fredericia Conference; at different times, and particularly on his native island, he suffered considerable persecution.  On one occasion he was nearly beaten to death by a mob.  He emigrated to Utah in 1858.  In the following year he located at Plain City in Weber County, being one of the pioneer settlers at that place.  He filled a mission to Scandinavia in 1865-68; labored first as a traveling elder in Norway and later as president at the Gothenburg Conference, Sweden; filled a second mission to Scandinavia from 1886 to 1888, laboring in Denmark and Norway."

Mr. Folkmann was the father of George D. Folkman, Weber County member of the state legislature, who with the following brothers and sisters survive:  C. O. Folkman, Jr., Ogden; Mrs. Elea Browning, of Blackfoot; Mrs. Caroline A. Wiggins, of Ogden; Mrs. Annie Hunt, of Baker City, Ore.; Mrs. Elizabeth Ipsen, Blackfoot; Joseph Folkman, of North Ogden; Mrs. Goria Brown, & Mrs. Godelia Painter of Farr West.  He leaves also 32 grand-children & three great grandchildren, as well as one brother, Jeppe G. Folkman, 92 years old of Thatcher, Ida.

Funeral services will be held in the Plain City meeting house at noon Wednesday.  Bishop Gilbert Thatcher will officiate.  Interment will be in the Plain City Cemetery.  (The body of Mr. Folkmann was later moved to Ogden City, Cemetery, per his previous request, and he was buried next to his wife Elea Macilla Funk Folkman).