History taken from Family and Descendants of Fredrick and Ane Petersen of Mount Pleasant, Utah by Albert C. Peterson. Pgs. 59-63.
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Dorthea Petersen Andersen (1)
By Marie Olsen Davis, a Granddaughter

Dianthy Andersen was christened Dorthea Christina Petersen (2). Her family called her "Dorthea," which is the Danish pronunciation. Because her teacher and the students in school had trouble with the pronunciation, the teacher asked her parents if they could call her Dianthy. The name remained with her throughout her life. She was also called Thea (Taya).

Dianthy was born November 30, 1874 at Mount Pleasant, Utah to Fredrick and Ane Madsine Nicoline Larsen Petersen (3). She was the oldest of a family of thirteen children, except for two children who died in infancy. Two brothers and three sisters survive her.

The Petersens were of Danish descent. They settled in Mount Pleasant, a Scandinavian community of Mormon immigrants. Grandma has related to her children many of the difficult encounters of her childhood, such as when the Indians would come to their home in search of food, and a time when a flood brought boulders down from the mountains and washed rocks and mud around the house.

When she was four years old, the family moved to Castle Valley. It was a long, hard journey by ox team and wagon. Thea and her mother were walking behind the wagon. Mouritz, who was two years old, was in the wagon. As they were traveling in this fashion, the oxen got loose from the wagon and it headed for the river. They were so afraid that Mouritz would be drowned, but the wagon hit some willows and stopped.

Shortly after they moved, Thea's father was called to help build the St. George Temple. She didn't see him for some time, and when she did, he had grown a heavy beard and she hardly knew him. She had to get to know him all over again (4).

When she became old enough, she helped her father with his work in the field, tying bundles of grain, raking hay, weeding and so forth. She worked very hard. One day as she was helping weed potatoes, she became very ill. Her father could see she was sick and so he administered to her and told her to sit quietly for a few minutes. She did as he said, and she was soon feeling as good as ever. It was a faith-promoting experience.

The family had small means, as did most of the early settlers of Utah. This made it necessary for the girls, as well as the boys, when they became old enough, to find jobs and earn their own way. Dianthy hired out at an early age to cook and do housework in different homes. When she was about eighteen or nineteen years old she went to Salt Lake City to work in homes, and at one time became a cook in a hotel there. Many Danish dishes were included in her menus, but I especially remember her big, round, thin cookies made with cream and shimmery sugar on top.

Upon her return to Mount Pleasant, she kept company with and later married James Nielson Andersen, a Native of Denmark, whose trade was shoemaking. They were married in Manti on December 1, 1894, (5) and made their home there for a few years. On September 5, 1895 a baby girl was born to them. They named her Johannah Marie Christina, after her mother and two grandmothers.

It was about the year 1898 they moved to Provo Bench (now Orem) and bought land located just across the highway from the old Sharon school building. Before building a log cabin they had to grub out the sagebrush, burn it, and level the ground. Then they planted an orchard and berry patches. They raised strawberries, peaches, apples, cherries and other produce. Thea carried sagebrush to heat water for washing clothes.

Four more children were born to them here: Niels, Frederick (who died at two weeks), Jennie Venetta and Ejnar. Ejnar died from burns received in an explosion in Texas in 1931.

In 1906 the family moved to another location, the present home site, where they built one of the first large, stately homes in Orem, in the current popular architectural design. After sixty years, the buff colored, brick structure still stands, a remembrance of the stalwarts of its day. While the new home was being built the family lived in a one-room log cabin just to the south with a tent at the back for the children to sleep in. The home was partially finished in 1907. There was a windmill beside it and a barn and corral in the back, where a dairy herd of some twenty head was tended. It was carried-over custom from the old country that women did the milking, and this Grandma did for many years. She always worked hard, but cheerfully, thankful for the tasks at hand. She realized, as did all the early settlers of the Bench that work is one of life's most gratifying endeavors. It gives spiritual uplift as well as peace of mind and health of body.

To plant a fruit orchard and berries, sagebrush was again grubbed, burned, and the ground leveled. Raising fruit, mostly peaches, raspberries and strawberries was the family's main occupation and income. Three more children were born here: a boy was stillborn, then a girl, Ruby Viola who died at the age of nine, and a boy James Nielson Jr. who died at the age of eighteen months.

Recorded in one of the history books written of the early settlers of Utah, is the statement that James Andersen was the first to deliver mail Provo Bench. He would drive his horse and buggy to the Provo Post office and bring back the mail to McBride's store, where the people called for it. A weekly publication from Denmark to which he subscribed was probably instrumental in his desires to get the mail through. It contained events of his birthplace and homeland where many of his relatives remained. He read it with interest and then passed it on to his Danish kinsmen on the Bench.

James Andersen was an early, active civic leader. He was a trustee of the School Board of the old Lincoln District nearly all of his years and a water-master and justice of the peace. After 42 years of married life James Andersen passed away in 1936, leaving Dianthy to face thirty years of widowhood, which she faced bravely and made the most of it.

She gradually turned to the raising of flowers as her most beloved achievement, although a large flower garden had always adorned the Andersen premises. During these thirty years Dianthy used the good earth to an advantage few people attain on a small scale. Her perpetual garden became an inspiration to all who saw it, and they rejoiced over its bouquets. In the fall she took up those plants too tender to winter through, and nurtured them inside until spring. To this day her floral talents have brought forth Mother Nature's most beauteous productions.

A great-granddaughter, Cynde Sue Davis, age twelve, wrote this for Dianthy's 90th birthday.
Queen of the Flowers
The queen of the flowers with all her many beauties
Walks through her beautiful garden with
God looking over her shoulder – in praise
All her flowers are blooming – look, on here
Another there, peeping up in between the green leaves.
They are beautiful, whispers the wind through
The trees, while blowing their green leaves.
She lives in this kind of world, with beauty all around,
God bless our Queen, Long may her life be.

As Part of their evening services, her Ward paid her a tribute on her ninetieth birthday just a year and a half ago. It was interesting to note that she was just almost a year younger than our Church President, David O. McKay. Few people attain such beautiful physical, mental and spiritual constance to this great age.

Grandma Andersen faced her recent torturous ordeal with great courage and patience. Her constant loving atmosphere, which was her mainstay, was an inspiration to all who visited or attended her. All who came to know her loved her.

The significance of her longevity was shown in her display of abounding good health and unlimited energy and eagerness to do for others—an exemplification or a reward for a life of hard work, righteous living and unending gratitude for the Gospel, people and for the world and all these meant to her. May we each be blessed with a memory of her that will inspire us who are her children and her friends to keep ever present with us, her kind of giving, thinking, doing, loving and living.

Dianthy died June 24, 1966 in Provo, Utah (6). She was baptized July 8, 1883 (7), and endowed April 22, 1954 (8).

1. This history is taken from a Tribute given at her funeral, and one given on her Ninetieth birthday, also some from a history given at a Petersen Family Reunion honoring her on her eighty-third birthday, compiled by Elenor P. Madsen.
2. Her name appears as Dianthea Christina Peterson on Church birth record. LDS Record of Members, Mount Pleasant South Ward, Gen. Soc. Film 6420 Pt 3, pgs 132 and 134.
3. See endnote #2.
4. An inconsistency is recongnized, granddaughter Marie Olsen Davis has this paragraph in her history of Dianthy:
"Shortly after they moved, Thea's father was called to help build the St. George Temple. She didn't see him for some time, and when she did, he had grown a heavy beard and she hardly knew him. She had to get to know him all over again."
Then on page 9, history of Fredrick and Ane, we quote from an account written by Marie and Mary as follows:
"In the Fall of 1873 Fredrick was called to go to St. George, Utah, to work on the temple there. He returned the following Spring."
Then we are reminded that Dianthy was born Nov. 30, 1874.
We are not sure what the correct answer is but we make these suggestions:
Date of Birth of Dianthy has been carefully researched, and we have no reason to question it.
The Patriarchal Blessing of Fredrick, pg. 49, was given in St. George February 17, 1874, lending credence to the account of Marie and Mary that Fredrick was in St. George working on the temple during the winter of 1873-74. It is improbable that he would go to St. George solely for a patriarchal blessing.
We are aware that Fredrick also spent time at least one winter working on the Manti Temple, on which construction started, in 1877, suggesting that perhaps this is the event which Dianthy remembered.
5. LDS Record of Members, Mount Pleasant South Ward Film 26,202, pg 22; also Sanpete County Courthouse, Manti, Utah, Bk 3, pg 66, Marriage License. Date is listed as 12 Dec 1894. Married to Jens Nielsen Andersen.
6. Provo, Utah City Cemetery, tombstone.
7. LDS Record of Members, Mount Pleasant South Ward, GS Film 6420 pt 3, pgs 132 134.
8. Salt Lake Temple Records, PC No. 13555, Bk I, pg. 646.