A 'Bill of Divorcement'

I'm certain I've apologized too many times for the months-long gaps in postings on this blog. Suffice to say it's been a challenging year, the genealogy and family history hasn't been at the top of my priority list, and I'm looking forward to 2012 being a space of time to get back into it.

That said, I just received from Sue Adams a transcription of Soren P. Guhl's "bill of divorcement" -- I love the formal sound of that -- from "Kerstine B.M. Guhl" in 1864. Kerstine was Soren's first wife; our line back to him goes through Mariane Madsen, a plural wife. Anyway, I've had the image of the document posted on the website for some time, but Sue has actually figured out what all the scribblings are. Click here to read it.


Thanks to Sue for this information. Every little bit helps to color in the blank spots about our ancestors' lives.

A few more items on the Caroline page

What better way to spend (Utah) Pioneer Day than to add information to our family website? I'm finishing up with the information so graciously passed along by cousin Rob McIntosh.

As mentioned in the previous blog post, in 1977 Rob solicited some recollections from Clover, Utah, resident Irene Russell about our ancestors, and she wrote three brief pieces:

• About the Grand T Ranch, which was the home of William Abram McIntosh.
• And brief sketches of Gertrude Christensen Johnson, half sister of our great-grandmother Nancy Lena Guhl McIntosh, and Carl Marinus Christensen Guhl, half brother of Nancy Lena.

Each sheds a little more light on the previously dim corners of our family's history. With everyone chipping in, a clearer narrative emerges. Also, thanks to Sue McIntosh Adams for sending along the photo of John Willard McIntosh to use with his history of Caroline.

Soren and Mariane, continued

Since my last post, I haven't been able to shake the image of Soren dying in squalor in Council Bluffs. So I dug a little deeper into the cache of Caldwell-McIntosh information provided by our cousins, and have reconfigured/edited/organized/added to the Soren Web page. It's still far from complete, but it scratches a little more of the history regarding Mariane Madsen Pedersen Christensen Guhl (pictured at right) and even the marriage to his first wife: Kerstine or Kristine Harde.

There are many conflicts in the record, as far as I can tell. On the LDS Church's familysearch.org website, for example -- I haven't yet investigated how the records might be different on the much more detailed newfamilysearch site -- there appear to be extra children in the family/families.

There also is no record that I have yet found about a divorce between Mariane -- our direct ancestor -- and Soren. There's even some conflicting information about his "first" family's whereabouts after his involvement with the Morrisites.

Perhaps I've prompted more questions than I've answered, but it's all quite interesting -- at least to me -- and I'm determined to keep looking through the Caldwell-McIntosh trove for answers, as well as other avenues of investigation. Soren made the papers here in Utah, and he may well have been mentioned in papers in Soda Springs, Idaho (if they had one), Deer Lodge, Mont. (if they had one) and perhaps even additional mentions in the Council Bluffs, Iowa, paper besides his obituary.

Anyway, if you have time to look through the updated page, let me know what I've missed, messed up or where I might find more information.

A sad end to a colorful life

As I was browsing around for something to add to the Henderson Reunion website yesterday, I came across the newspaper obituary of my Great-Great-Grandfather Soren Peter Guhl. I've written about him before (click here), noting his ... um, eccentricities. But for some reason I was not quite prepared for the story of his death, told by a newspaper writer in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where Soren had returned after his divorce from our Great-Great-Grandmother Mariane Madsen Christensen Guhl and his association with the Morrisite sect in Utah (and, perhaps, Soda Springs, Idaho).

Soren, of course, was the father of Nancy Lena Guhl, who was the mother of Mary Anne McIntosh, who married David Monroe Henderson.

I've added the text of the obituary to the Soren page on the family website, but will reprint it here. In order to place it into context, though, it would do you well to read the story from start to finish on the Soren page.

Death of Dr. Guhl

Dr. S.P. Guhl, an eclectic physician who had been living in Council Bluffs for some years past, died at his room, in the house at the corner of Broadway and Sixth Street, about 12 o’clock on Thursday night. The deceased, who had been a hard drinker for years, was taken quite sick a few days ago, and repaired to his room where he died, as stated, on Thursday night, friendless and alone.

Dr. Guhl came to Council Bluffs from Utah, where his wife and two daughters still reside. Not living happily with his wife he separated from her several years ago and came to Council Bluffs, residing with his aged mother until her death a year or two ago. During his residence here, the doctor was more or less interested in the labor movement, and in his sober moments was a man of considerable ability and force, but he was the victim of man’s greatest enemy, and during the last few years was bordering on imbecility. He was a man of about 50 years of age at the time of his death.

Among his effects was found a letter from his two daughters, which was dated at Clover Creek, Utah, January 16, 1881. This joint letter was well written and contained many terms of endearment. The photographs of the daughters, Mary and Lena, were enclosed in the letter. They are the pictures of two quite prepossessing young women, of intelligent countenances, and evidently bright girls.

The remains were taken charge of by Undertaker Morgan and were yesterday afternoon buried in the pottersfield by the county.

This may be a bit of a downer for Christmas Eve -- not "may be," it "is most definitely" -- but I wanted to share it anyway. And I will try to track down some more information on Mariane, as well, for a future posting and a page dedicated to her.

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.