Alma Peter Benson (1860-1918)

Life Story of Alma Peter Benson

Written by daughter, Amy Grace Benson Richardson, Transcribed by Annette Hancey Lunceford (Edited 1998)

Alma Peter Benson was born August 21, 1860 at Lehi, Utah, the eldest son of a family of eight children born to Peter Benson and Kirsten Ericksen Benson. At the age of eight years he moved to Clarkston with his family where he made his home with his family for about seven years. While there his father had some hay land and a small irrigated farm. With the early methods of farming, the grain was cut with a cradle and his father would cut the grain and he and his brothers would rake and tie it into bundles. He also hauled wood from the hills back to Clarkston which they cut for fuel for there was no coal in those days.

His father, being a carpenter, built many of the early houses in the community. He also helped with that when needed. He hauled logs at times to the saw mill which was located in the northwest of Newton to make into lumber. When he was about sixteen years of age the family moved to Newton to make their home, and as they were among the first settlers there. He helped with many of the early projects of the community such as building the old reservoir, hauling rock from the quarries and logs from Logan Canyon to build houses, etc. He also helped build the first meeting house at Newton, and helped build the railroads, at one time going to Montana to work at the railroads, and he and his brother, Mark and John J. went to Park City and vicinity to get out ties for tracks there. He was active in Church activities and community entertainment, was a member of the Newton Dramatic Organization, which put on many plays for the entertainment part of the community. He possessed a fine sense of humor always, and was called upon often to take part in community programs. He was married March 18, 1885 to Annie Catherine Ericksen. To this union was born 11 children, 10 of which reached the age of maturity. Their first home was in Newton on the lot where aunt Rachel Benson now resides. He later hauled the rock and with help built the home, which since that time has been occupied by the family.

At the age of 46 he accepted a call to the L.D.S. Mission Field and spent two years laboring as a missionary in Denmark, Europe, which was a sacrifice at the time for he had to leave his wife and nine children and sell his farm, implements and horses in order to go, but in so doing he and his family were blessed and he fulfilled an honorable mission and returned to his family safe, well, and happy. While in the mission field he kept a diary, which is very interesting as, he would make some little rhyme each day. Brother Rasmussen of Honeyville, who was a companion of his, said Alma was really a savior to them when they were blue and despondent. He would cheer them up and make them forget their troubles and go on anew.

He spent most of his later years working for the Utah Power and Light Company and as a guard in Bear River Canyon during the First World War. He passed from this life on December 13, 1918 and was buried in the Newton Cemetery leaving a wife and ten children. He died in full faith of a glorious resurrection and to date there are his wife, eight of their children, forty-seven grandchildren living. (This was in 1947)