Soren Peter Guhl

Every family's got one: The crazy dude nobody talks much about.

In our family, my vote goes to Soren Peter Guhl. On the Henderson Reunion Web site, we haul him out of the basement and into the spotlight.

Born in 1821, in Ossens, Jutland, Denmark, Soren was an only child of a Danish mother and German father. The history I have of his life was written by an unknown author, and there are holes in it. But the broad picture is solid, I think, and includes some really interesting bits of history.

Not much is known of Soren's life prior to the time he joined the Mormon Church in 1852. The account I have says he was the father to four children, named Naphiena, Audrea, Joseph and Maren, but no wife is mentioned. I did a little poking around while writing this, attempting verify the information, and discovered that, indeed, he did have a family prior to marrying our great-great-grandmother Mariane Madsen. He and his first wife, Kerstine Harde, had four children named Julia, Naphena, Andrai, Joseph and Marie.

It appears by the time the family was ready to come to Utah, they had to delay their travel due to the so-called "Utah War" -- the standoff between the Mormons in the Utah Territory and the federal government, which had sent troops.

Soren and his group finally traveled West, though, in 1859. The journey is well documented, and we can find various references to it, and accounts of it, on the Web. In fact, I tracked down pictures of the ships the family took from Denmark to England, and from England to America.

Soren was a leader among the group of Mormon travelers, but there's a telling anecdote from the wagon train journey that indicates he may have been a little, um, dramatic:

As told in "E. Kay Kirkham, George (Wm.) Kirkham: His Ancestors and Descendants to the Third Generation," (Provo: J. Grant Stevenson), pp. 66-67. LDS microfilm 924481, item 2:

"Upon another occasion misfortune overcame us. I well remember as we were yoking up the cattle, some being already hitched and carelessly some of the company were lying in the shade of the wagons, when a wild cow was put into the yoke began to bellow. This frightened five teams and they ran away, killing J.C. Madsen and more or less wounding several others. One of the company, who several accused of being the cause of the contention, went down to the Platte River to drown himself but said he was not able find sufficient water. He was found sitting on the bank contemplating when people came to his rescue."

Guess who the would-be suicide was: That's right, Soren Guhl.

On the LDS Church Web site, I found this:

"Pedersen, Lars Christian, Autobiographical sketch [ca. 1919], 3-4." In the journal excerpt, Pedersen wrote: "It was found that S[oren]. P[eter]. Guhl and others mostly of the leading men were overloaded and was afterward obliged to unload some of their heavy articles such as stoves and earthen or China ware which they buried on the bank of Platt[e] River for safe keeping till they returned for them, which they realy did after apostatizing on their arrivel in Utah, and went back to make there homes with their own kind of people. On July 15th as we were about hitching up our teams a misfortune occured through the carelessness of parties who had tiched [hitched] their teams to their wagons and then laid down under and about the wagons, while others were busy yoking up unhadny [unhandy] cattle. And when a wild cow belonging to my mother was yoked up, she bellowed, and five teams were frightened and run. Killed J[ens]. C[hristian]. Waden [Vaden] and wounded several others more or less. This caused considerable confusion in camp[.] S. P. Guhl who several accused of being the cause of contention by his overloading which caused the displeasure of God on the people went down to the river “Platt[e]” to drown himself but said he was unable to fine sufficient water was sitting on the river bank contemplating when people came in his search."

Like I said, he was an interesting guy. But really, that's only scratching the surface. If you'll go to the Web site, you'll discover he also got caught up with a group that decided the Savior's coming was so imminent, they didn't need to plant that year's crops. When the Lord failed to appear, leader of the sect refused to give back land, etc., to people who had signed it over to him and the authorities were summoned. In the end, there was canon fire and, apparently, a split between Soren and Mariane.

It's a heck of a story, really, so if you haven't read it, please check it out. I've touched up a few things in preparing for this blog posting, so there might be a thing or two you don't recall from the last time you looked at it.