Frantz Martin Winters
Montpelier Examiner, Friday, 5 November 1915
ANOTHER PIONEER-Another one of Bear Lake county's pioneers and well known citizen has passed to the Great Beyond, in the person of Frantz M Winters, whose death occurred in the Dee hospital at Ogden last Friday at 5 am. Mr. Winters went to Salt Lake on October 1st to attend conference and while there he contracted a severe cold. On the 6th he came up to Ogden and went to the home of one of his daughters. As his condition became worse he was taken to the hospital on the 10th, where, after an examination, it was found that a minor operation was necessary.
On the 19th a second operation was performed. He withstood the operations well for one of his age, but bronchial pneumonia set in and although he battled bravely for life, his constitution was not strong enough to overcome the ravages of the disease and the end came peacefully last Friday morning. Mr. Winters was the son of Niels C and Maren Winters. He was born at Seonderkongerslev, Denmark, on May 16, 1844. His father died when he was two years old. His mother was able to give him as good an education as the schools of Denmark then afforded.
On Dec 13, 1850, he and his mother accepted the Mormon faith and May 8, 1861, they with other converts, embarked for American on a sailing vessel, which was six weeks in crossing the ocean. Arriving in New York the company came on to Omaha, where they joined others who were on route to Salt Lake. After a hard journey the company reached Salt Lake on Sep 22, 1861. Mr. Winters was then a lad of 17, a stranger in a strange land and being able to speak English only slightly, he found it hard to secure any kind of employment. After several weeks he got a job of herding sheep for Lorenzo D Young and remained at that work until the spring of 1862, when he bought a small tract of land at South Cottonwood on which he erected a log cabin. He tilled the land and worked at odd jobs until the fall of 1864, when he sold his place for a team of oxen, a barrel of molasses and $20. He disposed of the molasses and with the oxen he and his mother came to Bear Lake Valley, locating at Ovid.
That winter he and his mother wove all the cloth that was needed by the small company of people of Ovid. Mr. Winters taught school there for several terms. On July 11, 1865, he was united in marriage to Miss Johanna Larsen, who had recently arrived from Denmark. They remained in Ovid until the fall of 1869 when they came to Montpelier where Mr. Winters bought ground and erected a home on the site where the widow now resides. Five sons and five daughters were born to them, two daughters and one son having died. The surviving daughters are Mesdames W C Guernsey and J S Burrows of Ogden and J B Tueller of this city, and the sons are Francis M and Alma J of this city, John and Niels of Otto, Wyo. The latter is at present bishop of Otto ward.
When the Montpelier First Ward was organized with Charles E Robison as bishop, Mr. Winters was chosen as first counselor. He also served as counselor under Bishops Samuel Matthews and William L Rich. Later he served as president of the Young Men's Mutual Association in the First Ward and has always been an enthusiastic church worker. In 1893 he was called to go on a mission to Demark and returned home in 1895.
The body arrived from Ogden last Saturday afternoon and the funerl services were held at the First Ward meeting house Sunday afternoon at 2 pm and were largely attended. The speakers were Presidents Shepherd, Rich and Stucki, Bishops Matthews, Clark and Rich. The choir rendered the songs, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" "Unanswered Yet" "What Voice Salutes the Startled Ear" and "Oh My Father." The pallbearers were F M, A J and John Winters, J B Tueller, Bishop Clark and H S Stevenson.