Christian Hans Monson
(Christen Hansen)
1837–96
Christian Hans Monson is standing third from right. President George Q. Canon is seated in the center.
These men were imprisoned for polygamy.
Residence: Richmond, Cache Co., Utah
Arrival date in Copenhagen: 20 November 1878
Missionary labors: Göteborg Conference
Departure date from Copenhagen: 5 July 1880
Name of departure ship: Cato
Birth date: 16 June 1837
Birthplace: Stora Boeplads, Tune, Østfold, Norway
Father: Monsen, Hans
Mother: Nielsdatter, Berte
Spouse: Kruetzback (Kredsbank), Nielsene Olsen, Marriage date: 29 June 1858, Marriage place: Lehi, Utah Co., Utah
Spouse: Peterson, Anna Catherine, Marriage date: 26 April 1861, Marriage place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Spouse: Mansson, Ellen Persson, Marriage date: 16 March 1867, Marriage place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah [grandmother of Charles Horald MONSON]
Spouse: Olsen, Karen Maria, Marriage date: 2 May 1870
Spouse: Jenson, Elna (Ella), Marriage date: 5 January 1874, Marriage place: Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Spouse: Jacobsson, Wendla (Vendla), Marriage date: 15 March 1883, Marriage place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Death date: 23 September 1896
Death place: Richmond, Cache Co., Utah
Burial place: Richmond, Cache Co., Utah
Christian’s father was a woodcutter by trade. He was industrious and hardworking, and he expected everyone around him to be the same. He had a violent temper, and Christian recalled being “mortally afraid” of his walking cane. However, when he was in good humor, Christian enjoyed sitting and talking to him as he smoked his long-stemmed pipe (see Skidmore, “Biographical Sketch of the Life of My Father Christian Hans Monson as I Knew Him,” 1).
Christian was baptized on 4 April 1853 by Svend Larsen. At the time, he was an employee of the Fredrikstad prison. He recalled carrying meals to the elders who were imprisoned for preaching. In this process, an elder asked him why he abused and tormented him, for “so persecuted they the Christ and his followers.” The prisoners set Christian to thinking. One night during the winter of 1852, he released his prisoners. Together they walked to the fjord, where Christian was secretly baptized, after which the elders returned to their prison cell (see Skidmore, “Biographical Sketch of the Life of my Father Christian Hans Monson as I Knew Him,” 2; Skidmore and Horne, “Immigrant Pioneers: Christian Hans Monson,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Lesson for October 1984, 41–53; Roberts, “Love Is Its own Reward,” New Era, February 1978, 6–7).
Christian was whipped by his father for being baptized and told never to return. He left home and labored as a local missionary in Drammen, Buskerud County, Norway. At that time, he was five feet nine inches and weighed 190 pounds. He had blue eyes, a fair complexion, brown hair, and a beard (see Skidmore and Horne, “Immigrant Pioneers: Christian Hans Monson,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Lesson for October 1984, 41–44).
He was ordained an elder on 8 September 1856. He began his emigration to America on 9 August 1857. He voyaged from Liverpool to the United States aboard the Westmoreland. He crossed the plains in the Christian Christiansen handcart company to reach the Salt Lake Valley (see Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission, 236). Christian settled in Lehi, Utah County, before moving to Logan, Cache County, and finally Richmond, Cache County. He was called from Richmond to serve as a guard in Echo Canyon during the Utah War (see Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, 1042). After the threat of war passed, he was endowed on 26 October 1861 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City.
He married Nielsine Kruetzback, a widow fourteen years his senior. This marriage ended in divorce. After the divorce, Christian accepted a mission call to Scandinavia in 1878. He arrived in Copenhagen on 20 November 1878 and was assigned to labor in the Göteborg Conference. After completing an honorable mission, he departed from Copenhagen on 5 July 1880 aboard the steamer Cato with 346 emigrating Latter-day Saints and other returning missionaries (see Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission, 243).
On 23 June 1888, the First District Court of Ogden sentenced Christian to six months’ imprisonment and a one-hundred-dollar fine for unlawful cohabitation. He was discharged from the penitentiary on 23 December 1888 (see Jenson, LDS Church Chronology, June 23, 1888; December 23, 1888).
After his discharge, he served as president of the Thirty-ninth Quorum of the Seventy and as a temple worker in St. George. He is remembered as being a pioneer builder and lumberman. He is credited with assisting in the construction of the Salt Lake, St. George, Manti, and Logan Temples (see Skidmore and Horne, “Immigrant Pioneers: Christian Hans Monson,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Lesson for October, 1984, 49–50).
In his later years, he moved to Franklin County, Idaho, where he set up a lumber mill. He operated the mill until his health failed. Christian died in 1896 from jaundice and gallstones in Richmond at age fifty-nine (see Skidmore and Horne, “Immigrant Pioneers: Christian Hans Monson,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Lesson for October 1984, 51).
(Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center Bibliography - M)
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