On my visit home in about 1980, my Grandma Annie Chamberlain was sitting alone in the living room of my parents home in Holladay, Utah. She was about 87 years old. This would be a great time, I thought, to learn more about her life.

How are you doing Grandma? I asked.

“I’m just doing,” she answered.

“Grandma, I would like to talk to you for while. Could you tell me a little about yourself?  I would really like to learn more about you.”

“Oh no,” came her sorrowful reply, “my life was just too sad.”

I later regretted that I had not been a more skillful and patient conversationalist. Was her story really that sad? Or were these merely the words from the heart of a lonely old woman who lost her loving husband Harry in 1973?

Childhood visits to Grandma and Grandpa Chamberlain

I always loved our family’s monthly visits for Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Chamberlain’s home in Bountiful, Utah. Home made ice cream was always the main attraction. If I was lucky, I got to add the salt and ice, turn the crank and then watch the liquid as it became a creamy frozen blend.

Grandma was a wonderful cook and the food was great. As the family sat around the long dinning room table, Grandpa would tell stories. I don’t remember those stories but I do remember Grandpa’s jovial laugh as he told them which brought me great joy.

Our uncles Richard and Robert were still living at home as they were 18 and 20 years younger than my father. Richard was a very serious student and would usually be busy working on his home work. He loved cars and I was amazed that he knew the year, make and model of every car we could see in the distance. Robert would often play with Martin and me, and being six years older than me, he was able to teach us a lot of cool stuff.

For about an hour after dinner, Dad would spend time with Grandpa, while Mother would sit in the living room conversing with Grandma. I would usually explore the small farm full of fruit trees, and small animals such and rabbits and chickens. Or the basement, which had a washroom and bedrooms with model airplanes hanging from the ceiling.

Grandma had a long row of beautiful tulips growing between her front yard and their large tomato field. They were great for target practice with my Daisy BB rifle. With almost every shot I could pop the head off a tulip. Dad came out of the house and said, “Dennis, what are you doing?”

“Aaaa, target practice.” I said.

Target practice? Oh, he said. “Well… let me try that!”

Soon Mom came out and we were both in trouble.

My memories of Great Grandma Ankarstrand

Sometime before she moved to live in the home of her daughter Annie and Harry, we visited her in her cottage on Hazel Avenue. She lived there alone and I remember, even to a five-year-old, the place was very small. She had her kitchen utensils and a lot of cool old stuff hanging around the room. And unlike my mother’s modern electric iron, hers were made of solid… well, iron. She was heating them on her small wood burning stove to press her clothes.

By 1948 she had moved in with Grandma and Grandpa. I remember visiting her there when she gave Martin and me each a brand new Benjamin Franklin silver half-dollar. 1948 was the first year these coins were minted.

Uncle Robert, when about 12, was quite mischievous and liked to tease almost everyone. One time Grandma Ankarstrand was standing in the living room looking out the large plate glass window. Robert climbed up on a step ladder on the front lawn and pretended to fall off which gave the old lady a good scare.

Nevertheless, Grandma Mathilda Ankarstrand lived until she was 98-years-old.

Maria Mathilda Erikson Ankarstrand (Annie’s mother)

July 14, 1855, Maria Mathilda Erikson was born in the small community of Axberg, Orebro, Sweden. Her father Erik Larson and mother Maria Person had a small farm where they raised a few crops and small animals to provide food for the family. Mathilda loved the animals and often made them her pets. The farm life was not for her as she could not stand to see the animals butchered for food. Therefore, she left her home on the farm and went to Stockholm to make a life the city.

In Stockholm she became employed by a doctor who happened to be the physician to the royal family. While attending visits to the palace she became acquainted with the staff. They liked her and asked if she would like to work for them there. She accepted their offer and they sent her with the countesses to France to learn cooking and sewing from top chefs there.¹

She worked in the palace for a while for the King of Sweden and Norway, King Oscar II. He was a down to earth type man who liked to do things for himself.

“May I take off your coat?” Mathilda asked.

“No Mathilda, I can,” the king replied.²

Life was quite exciting for Matilda to work in the palace for the royal family where they called her by her first name. After a while, however, this became routine and she had no personal life. Therefore, she requested to return to work as an aid for the doctor. They granted her request.¹

During this time she met the missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her father was horrified that she was meeting with the Mormon Missionaries. He told her he would rather see her buried than to see her join with them.²

Nevertheless, she continued to learn about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She was baptized in the Stockholm Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by E. Johansson on November 20, 1881.³

At this time, the growth of the church in Sweden was slow. Swedish born missionaries were sometimes arrested and missionaries from Utah were driven out. “New converts suffered persecution at the hands of some of the clergy, civil authorities, and even from neighbors in the communities”. The Church encouraged members in Sweden to emigrate to Utah.⁴

Mathilda arrives in Utah

In 1883 Mathilda emigrated to America. She made friends with other immigrants on the ship including a married couple Martin and Bentga Ankarstrand who were also heading to the Latter-day Saint Zion in Utah territory. The last part of her journey to Utah was by railroad.¹

Mathilda’s arrival in Salt Lake City, Utah was a traumatic experience. The lady she expected to meet her was not there.² She was greeted by several scraggly clad men who wanted to marry her and set her up to work to support them.¹ She was now alone and could not speak the language and had no job. On her first night she slept in a haystack.² This was a time that really challenged her testimony.¹

She got a job at Salt Air Resort and enjoyed swimming every night. However, her training in sewing and cooking for nobility provided her a better opportunity.² Many foods such as cow tongue, liver and kidney were considered delicacies in Sweden. These items were not appreciated by the Mormon population and were thrown away as waste by Utah butchers.¹

Her skills, however, were in demand.  Wealthy gentile (non-Mormon) families hired her. She waited tables, cooked and sewed working in large homes and got acquainted with some of the richest families in Salt Lake City including the Walker Brothers.²

The Walker Brothers of Salt Lake City

Mathilda became acquainted with the Walker brothers who played a prominent role in Chamberlain family history.

When the four brothers and their mother arrived in Salt Lake City in 1852 they were destitute. Their father and two sisters died in Saint Louis after contracting tuberculosis on their voyage. The four boys had attended the best schools in England, however before emigrating, their father lost his fortune in an English stock market crash.⁵

On their arrival in Salt Lake City, they were given a few food provisions and 20 acres of farmland along Willow Creek. They paid their commitment to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, but eventually left the Church over tithing and other issues with Church leaders.^5,6

William Nixon became their first steady employer. The Walker brothers were excellent merchants and helped make Nixon wealthy. In 1859 Patrick Hickey, who freighted goods out of San Francisco, helped the brothers establish a store in Fairfield, Utah near camp Floyd. The U.S. Army had established Camp Floyd during the 1857-58 Utah War.⁶

Wagon trains selling goods would regularly stop in Salt Lake City, but they accepted only federal currency or gold dust as payment for basic necessities such as nails, shovels, and cooking utensils. The Walkers brothers saw this as an opportunity. They acquired a heavy iron safe to store items such as gold dust, coins and currency for other merchants and soldiers. The community trusted them to handle deposits and withdrawals of their funds. Their popular safe opened their way into the banking industry, and in 1860 they set up a banking section in their store.^5,6

In 1861 the soldiers went off to fight in the Civil War and Camp Floyd closed. The corrupt and wasteful Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, had built three hundred structures and stockpiled them with goods. Floyd was a confederate sympathizer taking kick-backs on every purchase and intentionally making huge unnecessary expenditures. This incredible waste for the federal government proved to be a great blessing for the community.  Especially the Walker Brothers who would realize a massive windfall.  They were able to buy at auction stockpiles of shovels, fence rails, and rifles at huge discounts, thus allowing them to greatly expand their business.⁵

When Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institute (ZCMI) was incorporated, Brigham Young discouraged “good” members of the church from shopping at the Walker Brother’s store. Therefore, the Walker’s allowed their loyal LDS customers to enter a backdoor and disguised their shopping bags so they could continue shopping there. Nevertheless, store sales plummeted. By this time, however, the brother’s mining and banking businesses were highly profitable allowing them to keep their dry good store doors open until conditions improved.^5,6

The Walkers speculated and made a fortune in the Silver mining industry. They invested $30,000 in the Emma Mine in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It proved to be an incredibly rich mine with a nearly 4 foot wide vein of almost pure silver. The mine was in operation for over three years. They sold their shares before a scandal broke of mining shares sold in England at inflated prices.^5,6

The banking business continued as the center of the Walkers ventures. They secured a national charter in 1885, and became incorporated as Walkers Brothers Bankers in 1903. They purchased the Salt Lake City branch of Wells Fargo in 1905 and made important loans to Utah Sugar and Idaho Sugar companies in 1906. In 1912 they built the sixteen-story Walker Bank Building at Main and Second South. At the time it was the tallest skyscraper between San Francisco and the Missouri River. In 1921 the corporation bought McCormick Bank and owned twelve million dollars in resources.⁶

Martin Trulson Ankarstrand (Annie’s father)

On July 1, 1851, Martin Trulson Ankarstrand was born in Ankerod, Brosarp, Kristianstad, Sweden. He was the son of Truls Olsson and Anna  Martenson. He married a young woman from Evenrod, Kristianstad, Sweden, Bengta Hansdotter,  in 1878.

On April 20, 1880, Martin became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his wife then emigrated to America in 1883, and headed for Zion in Utah.

Their only son, Victor, was born in Salt Lake City on January 4, 1884. (Victor’s family spells their name Anchorstrand)

Martin’s beloved wife, Bengta, died on December 24, 1886, at age 29 years.

Maria Mathilda Erikson had been friends with Martin and Bengta in Utah’s Swedish community since they met on the voyage from Sweden. Mathilda married Martin Ankarstrand in Salt Lake City on October 7, 1887.⁷

Martin became a citizen of the United States of America on December 31, 1891.

The Salt Lake Temple

A powerful motivation for Latter-day Saint emigration to Utah was to be near a temple. Immigrants came from all over the world. When the Ankarstrands arrived in Utah in 1883 there was only one temple in operation. However, three more temples were under construction. All of these were in Utah.

The gospel of Jesus Christ, restored to the earth in this dispensation, is for the redemption of all mankind. In the temple the things of this earth are joined with the things of heaven and all generations will be united through the saving ordinances of the holy priesthood.  Vicarious work for our ancestors who lived before us, as well as ordinances for the living generation are performed in the sacred house of the Lord.⁸

According to Isaiah, nations would flow to where the Lord’s House would be established in the top of the mountains, where the people would learn of God’s ways and learn to walk in his paths.

It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isa. 2:2-3)

On July 28, 1847, four days after his arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young pressed his walking stick into the desert sod and declared, “Here we shall build a temple to our God.”

The corner stone for the Salt Lake Temple was laid in 1853, and after forty years of work and sacrifice, the six-spired, solid granite structure was completed and dedicated to the Lord on April 6, 1893.

Martin and Mathilda Ankarstrand were married in 1887. The ongoing construction of the Salt Lake temple would take six more years. However, on July 6,1893 exactly three months after the dedication, their marriage was solemnized in the Salt Lake temple for time and for all eternity.

Annie Ankarstrand, born October 23, 1893

The Ankarstrand family grew to four with the arrival of  Annie Mathilda Ankarstrand, born on October 23, 1893. Martin 42, Mathilda 38, Victor 9 and baby Annie lived on Euclid Avenue about 8th West in Salt Lake City.

About two years later they moved to Provo, Utah where Martin opened a tailor shop.⁹ An ad in the Provo Daily Enquirer, May 13, 1895 introduced his new business:

NO HUMBUG!
Suits made of home or imported
goods in First Class Style.
Perfect Fit Guaranteed, and
prices to suit the times.
M. Ankarstrand, Center Street,
Provo, near Factory race.

Martin’s business was very successful. However, a larger tailoring shop soon moved in to Provo which cut into his business. Therefore, the Ankarstrands moved back to Salt Lake City to the 2nd Ward, near 3rd East and 8th South. Then about 1899, they moved again to the 9th Ward on the block between 5th and 6th East and between 4th and 5th South.⁹

Annie’s prize at the Swedish Festival

On June 24, 1903, 3000 Swedes came from all over the state and from as far away as Idaho and Montana. They gathered at Lagoon to celebrate the mid-summer day festival, a national Swedish holiday.

There was an excellent program of literary and musical performances. They gave prizes for various contests: Youngest child 3 months; oldest man 88, oldest woman 88. The shortest man and the tallest man in attendance also won a prize. Mr. and Mrs. Bergquist and their nine children won the award for the largest family.

Sporting events included boat races and running races. Runners competed within separate age categories for men and women, girls and boys. Fourteen categories in all from under age 8 to age 60 and over.

Nine-year-old Annie Ankarstrand won the race in the category: Girls 8 to 10.¹⁰

From a dream to a nightmare

Martin was an excellent and successful tailor. He and Mathilda were very frugal, living in a humble cottage while they worked hard and sacrificed to build a future. They built their dream home up on the Avenues over looking the beautiful Salt Lake Valley. They completed the construction on their lot located within the block between 5th and 6th Avenues and E and F streets East.

Martin however, as a matter of principle, believed that they should not move into their newly completed home until it’s mortgage was paid in full. Therefore, they continued to scrimp and save to soon fulfill their dream without the evil bondage of debt.¹¹

Annie Ankarstrand was at the very sensitive age of 13 when the family’s dream turned into a terrible nightmare.

In March, 1907 Martin began to have strange delusions. His family and friends knew something was wrong when Martin set out on a Sunday evening to buy a sewing machine. His delusions continued over the next few weeks. He believed he owned all the land in Utah and tried to sell it. On April 2, 1907 he was examined by two county physicians. A judge and a commission declared him insane and ordered him sent to the state mental hospital in Provo.¹²

These are classic symptoms of a brain tumor. However, in 1907 there was no way to diagnose such a problem.  At this time mental illness was misunderstood and it carried a terrible stigma. I am sure the family was devastated and publicly humiliated. However, that was the least of their problems. They had lost their husband, father and provider.

They could no longer afford the payments on their house on the Avenues and had to sell the property quickly. On May 8, 1907 the property, plat D, block 76, lot 4 (72.5 feet by 21-3 rods) was transferred from M. Ankarstrand to the Salt Lake Real Estate and Title Company for $2100. The real estate company immediately sold it to Eliza F. Spencer for $2500.¹³

Martin T. Ankarstrand died on Christmas day 1908 in Provo, Utah.

Maude Adams

Annie took a speech class from Mrs. Ann Kiskadden, the mother of Maude Adams. Maude, born in Salt Lake City, had become the most successful and highest-paid actress of her day. 

Mrs. Kiskadden was also an actress and Maude had been performing on stage with her from the time she was two months old. She took her mother’s maiden name, Adams, as her stage name.

Maude Adams became a star with her performance as Lady Babbie in The Little Minister. which opened at the Emporium in New York in 1897. A tremendous success, it ran for 300 performances in New York. Usually there was standing room only. It set a new all time box office record of $370,000, and then ran for another 65 performances in Boston. The role which Maude Adams was most closely identified, however, was Peter Pan which opened October 16, 1905. She was the first actress to play the role of Peter Pan on Broadway.¹⁴

In about 1911, Annie and Maude “became very good friends and had many interesting times.”⁹ This friendship ignited a passion in 17-year-old Annie for stage performance. Maude was about 38 and openly helpful to aspiring young actors and actresses.

Annie became very interested in the stage and acting and Maude encouraged her. However, Annie’s mother disapproved. She considered stage actors immoral which was a common assumption at that time. “Mother didn’t approve of actors on stage so after Mrs. Kiskadden died I gave up this interest,”  Annie wrote.⁹

Many years later Annie’s son Ernest Chamberlain wrote of his mother:

Mother was excellent in giving readings. She gave many of them in Emerson Ward and other wards. I remember her rehearsing “The Other Wise Man” and “The Blue Bird of Happiness”. From some talk she would extend both her arms forward and upward and with feeling say, “Mercia, Mercia”. I took a liking to this and I would go about the house dramatizing this. After a while it provoked mother.

Mother used to tell me how much she enjoyed acting… From some remarks she made, I feel she at times wished she had at least given acting a try.¹⁵

Annie, in her 80th year wrote: “I gave up this interest but always remained stage struck to this day.”⁹

When Harry met Annie

Harry Chamberlain went to Polytechnic College for six months in California, and then he and his mother went back to Iowa to be with his father. In 1912 his father asked him, “Do you want to go to Des Moines to school or to Salt Lake City? Harry chose to go to Salt Lake City.

He got room and board in downtown Salt Lake City and later at 3rd Avenue and M street. This was the first time he had been away from his family and he got quite homesick. He attended Henager’s Business College and took more courses in shorthand and typewriting.

When he finished the college courses, they sent him to Remington Typewriter Company to apply for a job. As he went in the door, a young lady was just leaving. He had seen her before but didn’t know her. The lady at the desk said, “If the lady who just left does not take the job you may have it”. She didn’t take it, so Harry got the job.

Harry dated a Catholic girl and they were engaged to be married. One day, however, Harry’s girl told him that she thought they should not get married but part as good friends. So they did.¹⁶

Annie Ankarstrand also had taken a few business courses. Unfortunately, because of her father’s death, she could not afford to attend the University. In high school she took sewing and loved home economics more than business.⁹

In June of 1914, Harry’s Mother was living with him in Salt Lake City. One day Mrs. Knight a dear friend and neighbor came to visit Mrs. Chamberlain. Annie came with her.⁹

Harry was attending a church meeting that evening, but when he returned home he had quite a surprise. When he came through the door he saw Annie sitting on the front room couch. There she was, the beautiful young lady he had seen at Remington Typewriter Company. When they left, Harry said to his mother, “I wish I would get a girl like her.”¹⁶

Annie was feeling bad at this time because she had just broken up with her fiance, Mrs. Knight’s nephew. A short time later another neighbor invited both Annie and Harry over where they became acquainted. Harry made a date with Annie “and it turned out to be a date for time and all eternity.“¹⁶

Marriage in the Salt Lake Temple

Harry Chamberlain and Annie Ankarstrand were married in the Salt Lake Temple on December 16, 1914. “How happy I am… for such a wonderful girl for my companion forever.“¹⁶

Annie brought all she owned in a single suit case and moved into their home on 1431 South, 10th East. Annie’s mother, “a wonderful person” prepared a wedding dinner in their home for a few close friends. Harry’s family was back in Iowa and Annie’s only family was her mother and half-brother Victor.¹⁶

The newly weds enjoyed riding the train together to Salt Air, sitting on the steps of the open car, having a picnic lunch and bathing in the Great Salt Lake.

In the Spring, Harry’s Dad and Mother took them on a Honey Moon trip to California. They went to San Francisco and then took the Balloon Route down the coast to to Los Angeles. They then traveled to Visalia where Annie met Harry’s sister and brother-in-law Myrtle and Harry Keese.¹⁶

It is believed that Harry’s father purchased the home at 1431 South, 10th East and gave it to them as a wedding gift. They raised their five children there over the next 32 years.

Perhaps Annie’s mother, Matilda Ankarstrand, gave them an equally valuable gift. She knew the Walker brothers and their families personally. In 1914, Mathew Walker was still living, his son-in-law John Wallace became chairman of the board in 1916. It seems plausible that Harry’s mother-in-law connection somehow led to his employment with Walker Brother’s Bank. In any case, his position with Walker Bank provided for his family through the Great Depression, through World War II and through Harry’s retirement.^9,16

I am very grateful for my great-grandmother Mathilda Ankarstrand and Grandmother Annie Chamberlain. Their choices and sacrifices charted the course and blessed the lives of their family forever.

To be continued….

The story no one knew about Grandpa Chamberlain. Chapter 25- Harry Chamberlain, Key Witness in Salt Lake Murder Trial

If you got this far, please click Goodbye or Table of Contents. This will simply tell me that someone looked at this post. Thank you! Dennis Chamberlain

© Copyright Dennis D. Chamberlain, The Chamberlain Story, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the written content of this site without express and written permission from the author and owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that credit is given to Dennis D. Chamberlain and direction to  www.thechamberlainstory.com.

References:

1- Robert Chamberlain, Maria Mathilda Erikson Ankarstrand, a biography written by Robert most of which he learned from his mother Annie Ankarstrand Chamberlain.

2- Annie Ankarstrand Chamberlain, “Great Grandma” Hand written “reminder notes” written in short, often incomplete phrases, perhaps an outline for a biography. She wrote it on the back of a church program dated November 16, 1975.

3- Robert Chamberlain served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sweden. After his release from service as a missionary, he was able to see the old church records in Stockholm where he received this information.

4- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sweden. (The Church encouraged Swedish members of the Church to emigrate to Utah up until about 1910). https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/

5-Richard Markosian, The Walker Brothers, Utahstories.com, 2015

6- Brian F. Hahn, The Walker Brothers, www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia

7- Familysearch.org

8- Howard W. Hunter, Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, The Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter-day Saints, SLC, Utah, 2015. p. 190.

9- Annie Ankarstrand Chamberlain, A brief auto biography hand written in a journal on pages dated Sunday May 1 through May 3, 1973. Transcribed by Deanna Chamberlain Grant.

10- Swedes Observe Festival, Salt Lake Telegram, June 25, 1903

11- My mother, Fay Barney Chamberlain told this story to me and my daughter Lara. Grandma Annie Chamberlain had told it to her. In the 1990s, my mother drove with Lara and me through the Avenues to show us the house. She had a very hard time locating it. I recently found the location of the property and now know why she couldn’t find it. A Smith’s Market had been built there which covers the entire block.

12-  The Salt Lake Telegram, TAILOR IS INSANE; HAS QUEER DELUSIONS, Wednesday, April 3, 1907.

13- Salt Lake Inter-mountain Republican, Real Estate Transfers, Wednesday, May 8, 1907.

14- Maude Adams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

15- Ernest M. Chamberlain, Sr., Autobiography of Ernest Martin Chamberlain, (47 page story of his early life up to about 1940)

16- Life Story of Harry Ellis Chamberlain, recorded by Martin and Genene Chamberlain, October 1972. Unpublished