Matilda Benson

BENSON, WEIK

Posted By: Alice Daniels (email)
Date: 8/16/2013 at 15:40:12

Centerville Daily Iowegian And Citizen
November 23, 1943

ONCE RESIDENT OF APPANOOSE CO.
MRS. MATILDA BENSON DIED AT AGE
OF 82 AND LEFT HER LIFE STORY

A story of deep human interest, was left by Mrs. Matilda Benson when she died recently at Blakesburg, Iowa. She told of her girlhood in Sweden, coming to America, living at various places, one of them on a farm near Moulton, then at Unionville, Mo., and near Albany and Blakesburg. She tells of an epoch that is past, but one that played a large part in making the America we know today. She wrote: I was born at Raumarken, Dahls E. D. Alborgslan, Sweden, October 5, 1861, and was the eldest of nine
children. Times were not very good in Sweden, so my father decided he would make a trip to America to see for himself how times were in that country and it he did not like it there he would return to his family in Sweden. In the summer of 1868 after bidding my mother
and three children goodby he sailed for the new land. I was seven years old at the time. After so
long a time he wrote mother that he liked America better than Sweden, and in the summer of 1869 he sent for his family to come to the United States. During my father's absence we lived with my mother's parents. About the middle of July, 1869, I well remember the morning of that sad parting. My grandfather read a chapter from the old Swedish Bible, then we all knelt and grandfather led us in prayer after which we bid each other goodby. Mother was leaving her parents, four sisters and one brother. My uncle took us to Frederickshald where we spent the night with relatives. In the morning we got on one of the ships of the White Star line—a steamer. My father's sisters came to America with us. When the ship began to rock-and roll my mother became sick and was bedfast all through the journey and for a year later. I sure enjoyed myself on the ship. I never had been afraid of water. I loved to be on deck and watch the big waves splash against the sides of the ship and the water would run across the deck. Sometimes I could see great wide fish tails splash in the sunlight. One dark, foggy night the captain saw an object ahead of the ship and could not tell what it was; so about midnight anchor was dropped and in the morning we saw a large iceberg in the distance. It looked like a big mountain, in the water. It was very beautiful with the sun shining on the side. The passengers on board soon became one large family and our trip was saddened by the death of a child. It was necessary to bury the child in the ocean. The crew and parents tried to keep the body until we got to shore, but the whales got so numerous around the ship it was necessary to bury the child. The crew took a box on deck and bored it full of holes. The casket was then placed in this box. Someone prayed, at least that was what I thought he was doing, as I could not understand what he was saying. The box was lowered into the ocean with ropes. It floated on the water for sometime before it sank. I could hear the child's mother crying and screaming on the deck below. It seemed a long time not to see anything but sky and water for days, but about the middle of August, 1869, we landed at New York. From there we went via train to Ackley, Iowa, where my father met us at the station. I had not forgotten my father, but the two younger children had. I did not enjoy this part of our trip for when the train began to move I got sick. My father was working at Eudora at this time, but came home every Saturday night. I remember I began to think I was going to have a hard time taking care of my mother and the two small children, but anyway I did the best I could. I never seen a range stove and did not know what they were used for. One morning we found ourselves without bread, so I thought I could bake some pancakes. I didn't have anything to bake them in as we had not yet bought anything to cook with, so I took a cloth and washed one of the stove lids and cooked the cakes on the lid. They were very good. We lived at Ackley only a short time and afterward moved to Ottumwa, Iowa. In about a year mother was able to do the housework so she started me to school at which time the hard part of my life began. I could not talk or understand a word of English and nobody could understand my Swedish talk. I cried coming from school and also in school, but I had to go anyway. I had attended two terms of school in Sweden and could read and write the Swedish language. My first school in this country was in the west part of Ottumwa. My first teacher's name was Miss Heartwell. She taught three terms. The next two-terms were taught by a Miss Davis. Ottumwa was a very small town at that time. Where South Ottumwa now is was only heavy timber and brush. There was no wagon bridge across the Des Moines river at that time, crossing being done on a ferry boat. There were only a few buildings on the north side of the river and only a limited number of sidewalks that were made of boards. In 1874 we moved to Moulton, Iowa, and lived on a farm near there until 1877, moving then to Unionville, Missouri, where my father had bought a farm.
In the meantime the railroad company promoted my father to section foreman. This position he held for 40 years. In 1880 he sold the farm and moved to Unionville, Mo. My father and mother spent their last years with me. Father passed away in 1911 and mother in 1917. They were both buried at Burlington, Iowa. I also have two sisters buried there and a brother and sister
buried in Sweden. Mrs. Geo. Weik and myself are all that is left of my family. My husband, Chas. Benson was born at Haslet Holland, Sweden, July 13, 1851, and at the age of 18 came to America with his parents, locating at Ottumwa, Ia. where he lived for about six years. He then bought a farm at Albany in Davis county and moved there in 1885. His father, Ben Benson passed away in 1886 and his mother in 1891. They, with one brother are buried in the Albany cemetery, two brothers and a sister are buried in Sweden. There are now no relatives of my husband living in America, except his children and grandchildren. My husband joined the Swedish Lutheran church at the age of 16.
On July 3, 1880, I was united in marriage to Chas. Benson at my home in Unionville Mo., by Rev. Humphrey. Early the next morning of July 4th, we started for our new home at Albany, Iowa, not in a big car, but with a team of horses and a lumber wagon. Our home was already furnished and we arrived just as the sun was setting. My-mother-in-law had a wedding supper prepared for us when we arrived. I need not say it was a fine supper and that we enjoyed it very much. My husband worked for Jobe Jay the first year we were married. I got very lonesome alone all day among strangers, but made the best of it and got along very well. My father paid me a visit in about a year, then my sister, Mrs. Geo. Weik came out and stayed two years with me. To our union were born eight children—
five sons and three daughters in the order named: Emma, Minnie, Iona, Oscar, Virgil, Laris, Ecil and Charles, Jr. Our oldest daughter passed away at the age of six years, in 1887. The oldest son, Oscar, died March 15, 1934, at the age of 45; Minnie, January 10, 1942. My husband passed away on Feb. 5, 1918, at the age of 66. He and the children are buried in the Albany cemetery and Minnie in the Blakesburg cemetery. I lived on the farm 14 years after my husband's death, thus making a total of 52 years I have lived on this farm we moved to in 1880. On August 14, 1932, I rented the farm and moved to Blakesburg, Iowa, where I now live. Before closing I will say I united with the English Lutheran church at Munterville, Iowa, in 1877. The Rev. Hohansen, now deceased, at that time was the pastor.
MATILDA BENSON.