Gustaf Emil Hanson and Martha Heap

Gustaf Emil Hanson (who went by Emil), is my great-great grandfather, born in 1859 in Goteborg, Sweden. The Mormon missionaries came to his family's door with the gospel of Jesus Christ when Emil was a child. They were taught the gospel and baptized. Emil's father, Elias, died later from typhoid fever when Emil was still a youth.

The city of Goteborg where Emil grew up is on the coast and is in a shipping center. Emil liked to watch the ships sail into the harbor and out again. His mother always told the children not to go to the harbor, but they were more interested than ever because some of their relatives had come to America. Emil couldn't resist going to the harbor, even though it was against his mothers advice and he was punished for it.

This punishment hurt his pride and his feelings, so he ran away from home at the age of 13 and managed to get aboard a ship sailing for America. On board he hid until the ship was far out to sea. An Uncle of Emil's was on board by the name of Lars Hanson, so after the discovery of the stowaway, the uncle took responsibility of Emil and brought him to America with him.

Emil managed to get as far as Ogden, Utah and walked from Ogden to Logan where some of his relatives were living. He made his home with Lars Hanson until he was 17. At this time, 1877, he sent to Sweden for his mother and the rest of the family. The family was glad to come where they could worship after the dictates of their own conscience, since there was severe abuse in Sweden because they had joined the Church.


Emil met his future wife at a July 4th celebration in Star Valley, Wyoming, where he worked laying railroad tracks. The program was going on under the bowery and during the community singing, someone heard Emil sing and urged him to sing a song. That was when Martha Heap (daughter of William Henry Harrison Heap and Sarah Ann Marsh) fell in love with Emil. She was 5'3'' tall with brown eyes and hair, and Emil had blue eyes and dark curly hair. They were married in Montpelier, ID in 1889. On September 15, 1897 they traveled by horse and wagon to Logan, UT with four of their children to be sealed for time and all eternity.