The Thompson Family descends from Henry Stewart Thompson b. 1890 and Florence Elizabeth Johnson (her parents are below).  Henry Stewart is the son of  Fredrick Christian Thompson b. 1846 in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Fredrick is the son of Niels Thomsen Thompson b. 1815 in Denmark. Niels is the son of Thomas Madsen b. 1776 in Denmark.  Thomas is the son of Mads Christensen b. 1747 in Denmark.  Mads is the son of Christen Jensen b. 1720 in Denmark.

FREDERICK CHRISTIAN THOMPSON (THOMSEN) b. 1846

Grandfather Frederick (Fredrick) Christian Thompson was a Danish Sailor. His mother had told him to go to Utah and marry a Mormon girl. He joined the Navy for four years or so in order to do it. When he was in South America he was bitten by a scorpion. A native sucked the venom from his leg, then asked for whiskey. He drank some and suffered no harm.

When he was a child in Denmark he said they used to put their peas on a knife and suck them off the knife, running their knife from one side of their mouths to the other. He said there were thousands of little black snakes there that would get in the houses. He was not afraid of them but played with them all the time. He used to skate from Denmark to Sweden to Norway because the North Sea froze over in the winter.

He would sing to his children in Danish. "Oh Tannenbaum," was one. It means Christmas tree. (note from Adrienne-I thought that was German) "Danskepagan" was "Danish maiden."

He had a farm in Cottonwood. He had a bar in Park City which burned when the city burned. Mother said he he was a wonderful husband and father. He paid tithing and ran a bar-figure that one out if you can. It must be said though that the Word of Wisdom was not emphasized before 1920. A lot of the Mormon men still smoked and drank.

When he came to Utah the church asked him to Americanize his name. It was "Thomsen" in Denmark.

This was originally transcribed by Gloria Thompson Foster, granddaughter of Frederick Christian Thompson, and she wrote at the bottom of the paper, "It appears that my dad didn’t have any writing paper because he answered on the back of Grandpa’s letter." From this it seems that the information above came from Gloria’s father, Stewart Henry Thompson.

Forence Elizabeth Johnson b. 1891 was the daughter of  Peter Alvin Johnson b. 1866 in Mt. Pleasant, Utah.  Peter was the son of John Martin Johnson b. 1835 Norway who married Marie Matilda Oman of the family of the mother of Pres. David Oman McKay.  John Martin Johnson was the son of Lars Johnson b. 1798 in Norway.  Lars was the son of Johan Larsen b. 1772 in Norway.  Johan was the son of Lars Olsen b. 1838 in Norway.

JOHN MARTIN JOHNSON (1835 - 1913)

His reasons for joining the Mormons and going to the United States: "...I had been sailing to France, England, Germany, and Denmark. Once I came home and my Father and Mother had embraced the gospel (Mormon church), and they told me that God had revealed himself to a man named Joseph Smith. I said, 'that cannot be as so, for we have a Bible and Martin Luther brought if for us to use.' One day my Uncle (my mother's brother), was going to be baptized. He lived on a little farm across the harbor. Father, Mother with two Elders and myself sailed in my Father's boat to my Uncle's home. My uncle got baptized and my parents got me to be baptized.

When we were sailing I was thinking I had done a wrong thing. When we got to our house they said we have got to go to a meeting. I said, "What for?" They said, "you shall have the Elders hands laid on your head for the gift of the Holy Ghost," and I told them I would go the next time. Well, it was a fine moonlight night. I took and lit my lamp; the table was standing between two windows. I took the Bible and the Book of Mormon and put them on the table for to read. As I read, a voice read after me for to bother me. I thought it was evesdropers (sp).

I took off my shoes and then I opened three doors, one to the East, two to the North, then I thought I would find the evesdroppers. I went around the house everywhere and nothing I could find. I went into the center of the room and had the books. I stood and cried and wished I could pray and get to know if this church was right. I turned for to see if anyone was outside and to the East Father had a frame building for wood; against the wall stood a man. Such a homely man I had never seen. He was covered with hair. I immediately knelt down to pray, being so frightened. It felt like something leaped on my back and was about to press the life from me. The spirit within me told me he was the devil.

I prayed with all my heart for deliverance and understanding if this church was true. I cared not for anything of this world but wanted wisdom and understanding. Then came a voice from where I had stood and read and it said "you have asked for nothing but wisdom and understanding. Secure all kinds of good books and you shall go to the West and you shall be tried hard." There he stopped, and I turned myself around for to see and there stood a man, a white cap on his head, white shoes, apron on him, and a robe hanging from his shoulders. The Gospel is true, believe me or not. There stands in the Bible that some shall have dreams and visions and visitors. Some believe and some do not believe." --by John Martin Johnson

Transcribed first by Gloria Thompson Foster, and online by Adrienne Foster Potter, from family records in our possession.