12 Peter Anderson Lofgreen and Zipporah Elizabeth Nielsen
"I took a journey to Salt Lake City to
inform President Taylor of my circum-
stances, when I arrived there I did not
see President Taylor, but apostle Frank-
lin D. Richards was at the office, I laid my
case before him, and at the close of my
recital he simply asked me, "Are you will-
ing to go on this mission?" My answer
was yes. Then he said "The way shall be
open for you to go and you will be
blessed".
"I then removed my family back to
Huntsville and prepared myself to go.
Through the efforts of Bishop F. A.
Hammond I obtained means for my jour-
ney.
"I bid adieu to my family on April
26th 1880. I arrived at the city of New
York on May 2nd. I left by K.S. Nevad on
May 4th at 1:30 o'clock."
During this mission he was able to
see his Sister Kjersti, who had been left
with her grandmother when the family
left for America. He had not seen her for
18 years.
In this history he writes, "On August
17th 1880 I received the sad news that
my dear wife Johanna had died on the
23rd of July. The cause of her death was
lung fever. I felt the blow very keenly but
by the aid of the Spirit of God I continued
my labors in the missionary field".
He summed up this mission, "While
on a mission I baptized or assisted in
baptizing 39 persons and held 368 meet-
ings. 136 were held with strangers and
158 at regular places of meeting and 74
were held at the private houses of the
saints."
After returning home to Huntsville he
assisted Charles Wright in teaching
school during the school term.
92
The Church called several families to
take their families and settle St. David
Arizona.
"On the 6th day of November 1883
my brother Benjamin L. Lofgreen, my son
Louis and I started for Arizona by team."
He tells about his decision to move; "I
was very much impressed by the Spirit to
take this journey and St. David, Cochise
County, Arizona was my destination. We
had many inducements to stop and locate
elsewhere, but our determination was to
keep on to the end."
On the 7th day of July 1884 Peter was
ordained a High Priest and was set apart
as 2nd counselor to Bishop William D.
Johnson at the same time. Then in 1885
President John Taylor visited St. David
and he was set apart as first counselor to
Bishop Matt Merrill.
Zipporah and family had remained in
Huntsville until Peter could get settled.
On the 6th day of April 1885 Zipporah
arrived with the balance of the family.
They came on train by way of California.
On the 3rd day of May 1887 a severe
earth quake shook this part of the coun-
try. Many houses cracked and some
were damaged to such an extent that
they were unsafe to live in.
In the book "Mormon Pioneers in the
San Pedro Valley" it says, "St. David was a
swampy place and infested with mosqui-
toes, which caused much discomfort and
disease."
Apostle Erastus Snow visited St.
David and learned that the Saints who
had settled there wanted to return to
Utah because the swampy land and mos-
quitoes. He counseled them that if they
would remain faithful to their mission
calls, the Lord would make their part of