(Interview of Francis Marion Gibbons conducted by Daniel Bay Gibbons September 19, 2001 in Salt Lake City, Utah)
Christensen and Gibbons Grandparents
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| Fannie and Marinus Christensen in front of old Christensen family home in St. Johns, Arizona |
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| Marinus and Fannie Christensen |
Home and Property of Grandpa Christensen
FMG: Well, the home was just across the street from Rendol’s home, the house that was built by Uncle Dick. This would have been to the south of Rendol’s home. Then to the east of the Christensen home was the Overson home – Ove E. Overson.1 Of course there was a tie between the Christensens and the Oversons, in fact Grandpa Christensen’s sister married an Overson.2 So they lived there in that home just east of Grandpa Christensen’s place. His place adjoined the Grammar School. Right across the fence from Grandpa Christensen’s home was the Grammar School that I attended when I lived in St. Johns.
DBG: That was not in the Church block?
FMG: No, no.
DBG: A little bit south and west?
FMG: This would be south and west, right. Right. The corner lot that was in the block of the Gibbons compound was Jim Overson, who had the service station, and then a block to the south was the school, which adjoined Grandpa Christensen’s home.
Grandpa Christensen’s Orchard
Grandpa Christensen was a good husbandman. He had a nice orchard on the south side of his home and all sorts of fruit trees. I’m sure that this is where Joe Christensen got his image of what he wanted to do. Remember that he had this home out here that had a lot of fruit trees on it. So Grandpa had a lot of fruit trees, and then he had a garden plot on the west side of his home, and beyond that garden plot were several large cottonwood trees.
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| Marinus, David, Adeline, Fannie and Annie Christensen |
Grandpa Christensen’s “Refrigerator”
I can remember that they had a little box out there that had been built, and on top of it was burlap sack, and then he had a can that was anchored above that box and a couple of holes in the can and it dripped water onto this burlap sack, and with the breeze blowing in that provided refrigeration, and that’s where Grandma Christensen used to keep her cheese and butter and milk. And then down west of that was a granary that Grandpa Christensen had, and he had a cow down there. He had quite a big place and it was well kept up. He was an artisan, and being a blacksmith he knew how to use his hands. In this garden plot, which would have been north of his home, he had vegetables and then of course he had the fruit trees and he had his cow, so that they lived very well.
Watching Grandma Christensen Churn Butter
I can remember sitting in my Grandma Christensen’s kitchen as she churned her butter. She would let me help her churn the butter. After the butter was all churned, she would make it into a nice little pile, rounded on the top. It was really, really good butter.
Entering Grandma Christensen’s House Through the Back Door
Their home consisted of this very large kitchen, which really served as their dining room. The actual kitchen with the stove was adjoining this large room. The family always entered the house through this kitchen. Never through the front door, because inside of that door was a screened porch, and then inside of the porch was this special, special room that Grandma Christensen always kept. That’s where my mother and my father were married, first civilly, in that lovely front room. It was well carpeted, nice furniture, nice curtains and drapes, and it was kind of like a mausoleum to me. (Laughter) It was so seldom used. They never tracked through that room. You never entered through that porch and room. You always walked around and entered through the kitchen.
DBG: Besides marriages, what did they use it for?
FMG: Well, once in a while they would have guests, and they would sit down and visit and have a nice time. Although I never saw anybody visiting there, but I assume they did. (Laughter). I think I’ve told you about this one little love seat that was in that room that always attracted my attention, and I was very interested in it and I used to question my Grandmother about where she got it, and she said, “I fell heir to it.” And I could visualize this thing coming in through the air in some mysterious way and planting itself there in that room. (Laughter). Then they had, I think there were three little bedrooms on the west side of this main room.
Uncle Elmer and Aunt Hilde Christensen
My Uncle Elmer3 and his wife Hilde4 lived there for a number of years using those little rooms. I was never in them because it was their private living space, but I imagine that Aunt Hilde had a kitchen in there. Uncle Elmer was a trucker. He owned a truck and he would hire that truck out to haul stuff here and there and everywhere, and apparently they did quite well. His wife Hilde later joined the Church and later on she had a place down in Mesa where she did a lot of Temple work. But that was the Christensen home, and I assume that when my mother and her siblings were growing up that they needed all of those three rooms that Uncle Elmer and Aunt Hilde used.
DBG: Tell me about your Grandma and Grandpa Christensen.
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| St. Johns Ward Sunday School Marinus Christensen, as Superintendant, is seated front and center |
Memories of Grandpa Christensen
FMG: Grandma and Grandpa Christensen were really special to me. Grandpa was a big, tall, burly man who usually kept his hair in a crewcut, because of the dirt around his shop. He liked to joke. So the joking propensities that I have, I am satisfied, came through Grandpa Christensen, because he enjoyed it. He was a very faithful member of the Church, and for years he was the superintendent of the Sunday School. I don’t know whether you’ve seen that picture of the St. Johns Sunday School with Grandpa sitting down in front, and Uncle Roy was one of his assistants. Grandpa Christensen had dramatic ability. He liked to perform in plays. He was called on often to do that.
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| Marinus Christensen Blacksmith shop in St. Johns |
Grandpa Christensen’s Blacksmith Shop
He had this blacksmith shop that was located in what would call the downtown area. I don’t know if you remember where the Whiting store was. The Whiting store faced on Main Street, and then there was a back entrance and there was a road there, and if you went down that road to the east you would come to Grandpa Christensen’s blacksmith shop. I can remember many times running as fast as I could after school to go down to Grandpa Christensen’s blacksmith shop to see him. I really was there to put the touch on him. I wanted to buy some candy. And he never disappointed me. He’d fool around with me for a while, you know, and kid me, and I don’t remember exactly what he’d say, but I think he’d tell me, “Well, you’re going to ruin all your teeth” or something like that. Then after we’d bantered for a while, he reached down in his pocket and he would pull out this purse – and I remember how long it was. It folded up, and when it unfolded it looked like it was really about that long [indicating 8 to 12 inches with his hands]. He would dip down into there and he would come up with a nickel and give me the nickel. He was very generous and loved his family. He loved them with a passion.
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| Marinus Christensen, back left, as Sergeant of the St. Johns Militia, circa 1900 Future son-in-law Andrew Smith Gibbons is fourth from the left, back row |
“Fanny. What are these children doing here?”
I guess I’ve told you many many times about the occasion when my father had a commitment to preside in another court and he’d taken my mother with him and they had left Ruth and me with Grandpa and Grandma Christensen. So, that night Grandpa came home and saw us there, and then to joke with us – he was just joking – he turned to his wife, and said, “Fanny. What are these children doing here?” And she said, “Well, you know. Andy and Addie have gone out of town and Ruth5 and Frank are going to stay with us for a few nights.” And he said, “We can’t afford to feed these children!” (Laughter). Both Ruth and I ran out of that house in tears, so Grandma had to come to retrieve us. That was really my first experience with Grandpa’s kidding. But he liked to do that.
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| Blacksmith photo of Marinus Christensen |
Joking Between My Mother and Grandpa Christensen
My mother told me that on one occasion she was kidding with her Dad, and he’d walked out the door. He was going back to the blacksmith shop, and she followed him out, and she was harassing him, and she kicked at him, and he grabbed her leg and started to walk off, and she just had to hop on one leg, all the time saying, “Dad! Let me go! Let me go!” And finally, he said, “What are you doing here?” (Laughter) And so this was the way he liked to joke with his family. You realized that with your grandmother. So that’s where she got it from. Once you learned that it was just a joke and you’re having fun with them, why then you could give as well as you could take, as you did with my mother. So that was his character.
The Sons of Marinus and Fanny Christensen
Of course I was never in that home as the family was raised, but my inference is that, although my grandparents were active in the Church, that it was not really the kind of a home where the Church influence was exemplified. I doubt that they had family prayer, and for that reason the Christensen boys – none of them; none of the Christensen boys – remained active in the Church. They were active as long as they were in that home because the Christensen parents always went to Church and would have insisted that the children attend with them. But you take David6 and Elmer and Frank7 and Joe8– they could take the Church or they could leave it. It really didn’t mean much to them.
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| Family group of the Christensen family taken at the funeral of Marinus Christensen Frances Ann Thomas Christensen is seated with her children behind. Standing: David, Elmer, Jessie, Frank, Addie and Joe |
Joe Christensen and the Spiked Punch
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| Joe Christensen |
Frank Christensen
Frank was in the Army in World War I. And, of course he could have picked up the habit before he went into the Army, knowing the extent to which tobacco and liquor were common in St. Johns, but when he got out of the Army, Frank was pretty well addicted to tobacco and whiskey. Frank was quite a wheeler dealer. He was a tall man, he was about six two. During the Depression Frank was really hurting. He had worked with an automobile agency up in Winslow, and had done well. When the Depression hit in the 1930's that business just went down the drain. And so he came to Phoenix, and my father leased a Conoco station on Van Buren and about Eighth Street – this would have been a block east of the High School. You can remember where the Phoenix Union High School was. The station would have been a block east. My father leased that station and turned it over to Frank, and that’s what enabled Frank to feed his family. Then, after the Depression eased up, Frank went back into business, and he acquired a wholesale petroleum in Flagstaff and did very well. While he was there he was elected to the Arizona Legislature and was one of the shakers and movers in that Legislature, and was one of the men cooperating with people on the Utah side responsible for the development of Lake Powell. Frank had a lot of interest in boating facilities, and whatever, on the south side of Lake Powell, and that, with his oil business – he did very well. His son Don – Frank and Nellie had two children: Don, who was about my age and Neil, who was about two years younger. Don and Neil Christensen. Both are dead now. Don took over his Dad’s business. But Neil was a lawyer, and a very good one. Neil was a bright guy. He practiced there in Flagstaff and became active in civic affairs, and they’ve named a school after him there in Flagstaff – a grammar school: The Neil Christensen School.
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| Joe Christensen and Addie Gibbons Youngest son and oldest daughter both inherited joking propensities from their father, Marinus Christensen |
The Personalities of Frank & Joe Christensen
So Frank and Joe – you see, Joe was on the City Commission here – were these hale-fellow-well-met kind and good politicians, and everybody liked them. Joe, especially here, was well known for his athletic ability. He was one of the finest basketball players in this area while he was at – I think he was at Logan. Then later, he was a referee involved in the AAU. So Joe was a likable guy. So was Frank.
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| Elmer Christensen, caring for his chickens |
The Personalities of David & Elmer Christensen
But Elmer and David were the exact opposites. (Laughter). David and Elmer – they didn’t want even to shake hands with anybody. They just wanted to be left alone to do their thing. And David ended up on the railroad. I think he was a conductor on the railroad, and he loved it. I’ve told you many times about when my father died, David went from Winslow down to Phoenix. There were a lot of people in the house offering condolences and so forth. And I walked into the kitchen, and there sat Uncle David with my mother. And I guess because of the experience with his family, where they always entered through the back door (laughter), he came to the back door and knocked on the back door and my mother heard it and went and there was David. And there was David. He was a fine man, a fine looking man. Very quiet, very retiring. The exact opposites of Frank and Joe. And Elmer was the same way. So its quite a combination. I’ve told Helen, sometimes its “A Frank and Joe Day,” or its “An Elmer and a David Day” for me. (Laughter).
DBG: Tell me about your Grandmothers. Both Grandmothers. What were their qualities?
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| Elizabeth Harris Gibbons |
Memories of Grandma Gibbons
FMG: Grandma Gibbons had the softest bed in the world. It was a feather bed. My sister Ruth and I used to love to go up and visit Grandma Gibbons and lie in her feather bed. Lying in that bed you’d just drop out of sight, almost. And she liked to tell stories. She used to sing little ditties to us. I remember she had one song called, “The Haunted Hunter.”11 I don’t remember any of the words, but I remember that it had a very baleful quality to it.
DBG: Can you sing it?
FMG: Pardon?
DBG: Can you remember any of the music?
FMG: Nope. I can’t remember the music, but I know it was kind of scary. And so Ruth and I, whenever we went up, we’d always want a performance of “The Haunted Hunter.” So Grandma would comply. She’d sing “The Haunted Hunter.” She was always very welcoming and seemed to love to have us come to visit. And we used to visit quite often.
Relationship of Grandma Gibbons and My Mother
I’m sure you’ve heard many times by now that my mother apparently was not looked upon as the proper companion for my father. (Laughter). My mother, of course, felt that. We have some of the correspondence between my father and his parents, and my mother is never mentioned, and in one letter, when my father acknowledged the letter he received, he said, “Please, when you write, why don’t you mention Addie. She’d like a mention.” So, there was a little bit of this between Grandma Gibbons and my mother. I mean, it wasn’t natty or catty or anything, but it was almost my Grandma Gibbons didn’t know my mother existed. (Laughter). And that was really hard for my mother to take.
Memories of Grandma Christensen
My Grandma Christensen was always jovial, always happy, always welcoming to the children when we went up to see her. She was the Relief Society President there in St. Johns for ever, I think. You’ve heard about the story of the ashes in the stove, haven’t you.
DBG: I haven’t.
FMG: One day my Grandfather came home from the shop and there the ashes were half removed from the stove and Grandma wasn’t around. And so he walked down to our place, which was just a block away. He came to the house and he said, “Addie. Who died?” And my mother said, “Well I didn’t know anybody had died, Dad. Why do you say that?” And he said, “Well, I came home and the ashes were half removed from the stove and I just assumed that someone had died and that your mother had gone to take care of it.” And that’s exactly what had happened. She was the town mortician. The Relief Society always took care of the bodies. And so whenever the Relief Society received a call that someone had died in town, she was there, first on the job. So that was our Grandma Christensen. She was a saint. She was a charitable, loving saint. And she had a good sense of humor. And that was a nice combination between my Grandparents Christensen, because you didn’t see that in the Gibbons.
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| Andrew Vinson Gibbons |
A.V.’s Austere Personality
My Grandpa Gibbons, of course when I came along, was paralyzed, so that I didn’t see him in his natural state. But according to my father, my grandfather was an austere man. He’d had a hard life with Grandma – the Pioneer’s wife – burying all those children, moving from here to there and everywhere, and he being the oldest son, he’d had a lot of the responsibility placed upon him to take care of the family while the Pioneer was out pioneering. And so A.V. apparently had lived a pretty tough life, and there was not a lot of joy and happiness in it.
Grandma Gibbons’ Love of Reading
Grandma Gibbons was not the jovial kind. Grandma Gibbons was an intellectual who liked to spend all of her time reading.
DBG: Really?
FMG: Oh yeah. My father said that my Grandmother read incessantly, which may have been her salvation with the job she had to take care of her paralyzed husband. The two Grandparents were so different.
Grandma Gibbons as a Housekeeper
I guess the combination of Grandma Gibbons’ proclivity to read all the time and the burden of taking care of her husband, she was not a neat housekeeper. The Gibbons household was very casual, to say the least. (Laughter) But you go into Grandma Christensen’s, and boy, everything was neat, in order and taken care of – especially in that front room. (Laughter). And so the images I carry of the two grandparents are so different. Different people entirely, but wonderful in their own way.
DBG: I was about to ask you about intellectual bent, and also musical. Nana had a lot of musical ability. Where did that come from do you think?
FMG: Well, I really can’t say.
DBG: You mentioned Grandpa Christensen had a dramatic flair. Was he musical?
Musical Ability in the Christensen Family
FMG: He had a dramatic flair. And I know that Frank played an instrument. Joe played an instrument. I guess my Grandma Christensen had musical flair, but I never really stopped to think about it. I do remember that she had a little organ in “The Room”, and so apparently she played the organ. And that must have been where my mother picked it up, because my mother was very musical. My mother loved music and she loved to perform, and she loved being in the choir. And you’ve heard the story of “Queen Esther”, and how she was chosen to play Queen Esther in place of this Patterson, who’d been to ChiCAAAgo. (Laughter). That was one of the triumphs of my mother’s life, that she was chosen to play Queen Esther.
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| Adeline Christensen Gibbons Oldest daughter of Marinus and Fannie Christensen |
My Mother’s Physique and Wardrobe
One of the other mountaintop experiences of my mother’s life was the fact that someone – there was a woman named Sister McRae, who lived down toward Egypt. And I went down with my mother to Sister McRae’s a number of times. And Sister McRae was a very skilled dressmaker and she used to make my mother’s dresses. My mother was a tall woman and very shapely. I think that when she was young she was really a looker, physically. Because of her height and because of her carriage she wore clothes very well. One day someone said to Sister McRae, “My, I wish you could make a dress for me like the dresses you make for Addie.” (Laughter). And Sister McRae said, “Well if you had the body to drape it on, I could.” (Laughter).
Notes:
1 Ove Ephraim Overson: The adopted brother of Marinus Christensen. He was born 17 July 1879, the son of Ove C. Overson and Mary Kay Christensen. History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , page 154 (Note: the “Marinus Christensen History” records Mary’s full name as “Mary Kjerstine Christensen”. See, Helen Bay Gibbons, “Marinus Christensen History”, page 1). Because his father was the adopted father of Marinus Christensen, Ove E. Overson was an adopted brother to Marinus. By profession he was a lawyer. Because he was essentially the same age as ASG and was ACG’s adopted uncle, it is interesting to speculate how he might have assisted ASG in studying for the Arizona bar. He served as Bishop of the St. Johns Ward from about 1905 to 1907.
2 Ove C. Overson: The adopted father of Marinus Christensen, and thus the adopted grandfather of ACG. Marinus Christensen’s father, Jens Christensen, died in Omaha Nebraska in 1866 while the family was emigrating from Denmark. At the time Marinus was only three years old. Later, after the family had arrived in Utah, Ove C. Overson married Marinus Christensen’s oldest sister, Mary Kjerstine Christensen. Because of Marinus’ young age, Ove C. Overson filled the role of a surrogate father, and Marinus was always considered “the adopted son of Ove C. Overson. See, History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , page 270. Ove C. Overson and Mary Christensen Overson were called to settle in St. Johns, and arrived in the Spring of 1880, bringing 17 year Marinus with them. History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake, page 270.
3 Marinus Elmer Christensen (“Uncle Elmer”): The younger brother of ACG. Born 26 November 1890 in St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona Territory. Married Hildegarde Garnatz 26 December 1919. Died 23 February 1959.
4 Hildegarde Garnatz: The wife of Marinus Elmer Christensen and sister in law of ACG.
5 Ruth Naomi Gibbons (“Ruth”): Sister of FMG. Born 24 February 1918 to ASG and ACG. Died 29 May 1962.
6 David Thomas Christensen (“Uncle David”): The brother of ACG. Born 2 August 1888 to Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas. Married Ines Jolley on 12 November 1908. Died 14 December 1949.
7 Francis Lee Christensen (“Uncle Frank”): The brother of ACG. Born 18 April 1898 to Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas. Died 30 June 1962.
8 Joseph Laurence Christensen (“Uncle Joe”): The brother of ACG. The youngest son of Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas. Married Susan Worthen Ellis.
9 Harold Morgan: The husband of Jessie Christensen, ACG’s younger sister. Harold Morgan was the son of Elder John Morgan, of the First Council of the Seventy.
10 Jessie Christensen (“Aunt Jessie”): The sister of ACG. Born 13 June 1893 in St. Johns, Arizona to Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas. She married Harold Morgan on 28 March 1914. She died 9 January 1980 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
11 The Haunted Hunter
(Traditional folk song)
VERSE 1
Speed on, speed on, my comrades
Our campsites far away
We must cross th Haunted Valley
Before th break of day
How I became so blighted
I will tell you as you go
By th blight of th haunted hunter
Who walks th midnight snow
VERSE 2
Thru th cold December heaven
Came th pale moon and th stars
As th sun is sinking fast
Behind th purple bars
Th snow it lay drifted
All along th ridge and crest
For miles an' miles along th trail
To th camp for which we pressed
VERSE 3
Said I, th dark is coming
An' for our camp must speed
An' my heart it would be like song
If I had company
So I sang and whistled
Keeping measure as I sped
To th sharpening of my snowshoes
As they sprang beneath my tread
VERSE 4
There was darkness on th hillside
An' in th solum woods
No sight, nor sound, nor motion
For t' break th solitude
Save th whipping of th moosebird
In its piney mount so bold
An' th sharpening of my snowshoes
As they sprang upon th snow
VERSE 5
Not far into my journey
Had I gone upon my way
When a dusky stranger joined me
In a cop suit of gray
Bending on his snowshoes
With a long an' limber stride
I hailed th dusky stranger
As we traveled side by side
VERSE 6
No token of communion
Gave he by word or look
Till a fear chill fell upon me
At th crossing of th brook
For I saw in th swiftest instant
As I followed 'im bending low
Th walking of th stranger
Left no footprints in th snow
VERSE 7
A fear chill fell upon me
As th shadows 'round me posted
And I fell upon th snow bank
As th haunted hunter laughed
There the other trappers found me
Just at th break of day
With by black hair turned quite blanched
As th snow on which I lay
VERSE 8
They spoke not as they raised me
For they knew that in th night
I had seen th haunted hunter
An' withered in his blight
Sing as we speed onward
For th sun is sinking low
An' below us lies th valley
Of th walker in th snow
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