PETERSON CHRISTIAN PETER BOEL by DORIS

Peter (Peir) Christian Peterson/Boel

Researched and written by Doris Halverson

And posted in Early houses in Mapleton by Camp Union DUP

Peter Christian Peterson came to the United States about 19877, bringing five of his eight children, also a hired man, Andre Anders, and a young house maiden, Anne Johanna Jensen, who he married.  Peter took the name of Peir Bole (or Boel) when he came to the U.S.  Two years later his wife, Maren Sorensen Peterson, came with the other three children to the States.  She never lived with her husband again, after hearing that he had married the hired girl.  Maren lived nearby in a dugout so as to be near the children.

They lived in Pleasant Grove for six years.  In 1883 they came to Mapleton, Utah.  They first lived in a one room house with a granary built on to it. This was on a lot where Mary Allen built a home.  They had to build a dugout to have room for all of them.

20 acre farm

In the spring, Peter bought 20 acres of land from Lucian Hall.  The land was one mile west from where they were living.  The land was covered with sage brush except for the two acres that was planted in lucern.  The sagebrush had to be cleared before a house could be built.  First a well had to be dug.  It was 20 feet deep with good cold water, and the well never went dry.  While this was being done the children were busy grubbing the sagebrush barefooted and with very little in the way of tools. 

They would haul the sagebrush in to a pile near where the house had been planned and built a dugout to live in while it was being built.   

They hauled rocks and timber from the bottom of the big slide.  They also had to make adobes to line the house.  Most homes in the early days were built in this manner.  Adobes were made by riding a horse around in a mud hole, putting in straw to help hold the brick together.  It was long hard work, many hours each day with everyone helping; friends, neighbors and relatives were all concerned with helping people build their homes. 

3rd house

Two rooms were built.  The ceilings were 12 feet high and the windows were small to keep the cold out in the winter and the heat out in the summer.  Glass was very hard to come by.  The well was built at the corner of the house.  Latter two more rooms were built to the north of the first rooms.  A walk way was built between the first rooms, which was similar to the homes they had built on Denmark.  As soon as possible, barns and sheds were built.  No clothes closets were built in the home because in the old country they had come from, a tax was levied for each room in a home, and tax people considered any extra small room as a room to be taxed. 

The picture of the building and the house was taken from the north out in the field.  This shows how well the structures were built and how industrious Peter was.  He was a tall stalwart man, very thrifty, a good carpenter.  He also made wooden shoes.  This helped with some of the meager ways of making extra money.  One time he had carved out 175 pairs of men’s wooden shoes and 30 pairs of ladies, helped during Christmas time when funds were short.

Last house

The home he built still stands today.  They lived here for many years.  Later on they built the barns and out buildings that are shown in the picture, which was taken about 1905.  over the years the home was changed drastically.  Two or three rooms and a bathroom was added upstairs, and a heating system was put in.  The home stayed in the family for many years.  At the present time the Melvin Beardall family lives there.