This is a portrait of my Great-Grandmother,

Engerline Marie Pedersen Priestley. 1873-1951.  

Charcoal on paper. 18"x24"

 Engerline (spelled "Ingerline" on birth record, possibly pronounced An-ga-leena) was a 14-year-old in Denmark when she and other family members responded to the sacred message of the missionaries from America and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  When she was 17, her father had already passed away and his widow and 3 children wanted to emigrate to Utah.  Her mother and 2 younger brothers were the first to go.  She was left to sell the farm.  Without knowing English she agreed to go to Utah and marry someone her mother knew and recommended, in exchange for travel costs.  (Could that could be considered a mailorder bride?)  The above portrait represents her at 17, getting ready in fine clothes to travel.  To me, her expression shows the emotions she may have had when contemplating the travel and marriage commitments she had before her.  I wonder how her lovely dress and hat fit in with the culture in Heber City, Utah, where she soon would live?   She emigrated by ship and railroad.  After a couple of months in America, she married Wm Washington Priestley who was 28 years older than her.  This 5'2" young woman helped raise his younger children while proceeding to have 6 of her own.   The family moved to Felt in the Teton Valley in eastern Idaho where she spent her childrearing years in a two-room log cabin in beautiful but challenging circumstances.  Some people called the area "poverty flats."  A granddaughter called the place "a rock pile" and "weed patch" with no equipment.  After her 5th child was born, she had a stroke, which caused her to revert back to speaking in Danish.  Her oldest son, my grandfather Carl, as a 10-year old, rode horseback selling butter, eggs, and other homemade goods to neighbors and the town grocery store. Her second son, Erasstus, was lost in a snowstorm trying to bring in sheep from the mountain pasture, and after extensive searching was presumed dead.  All her life during snowstorms she would hope that he would walk in through the door.  Her darling 3-year-old daughter Engerline Sophia (Lena) died from heatstroke when they were traveling in a wagon to buy supplies in St. Anthony.  Her husband basically abandoned her and moved to Blackfoot, ID, where presumably the weather and work were more agreeable.  His children claim they never knew him. She raised the children alone in a home without running water (it had to be carried to the house in buckets) or maybe even electricity.   Today the farms have given way to beautiful homes.  At some point, she injured her foot and required a cane to walk.  She remained true to her faith, was active in the local church, and did her best to raise her children in the Gospel.  It was said that attending church was a 2-mile walk, each way.  After the children grew up and she divorced Priestley, she moved back and forth from Felt and Preston, Idaho, to Logan Utah where she enjoyed serving in the Temple.  She passed away at the age of 77 in Preston not far from her three sons.  I consider Engerline to be a strong and valiant woman who kept her word and her faith.  It was said that she had many friends and served in her community and that many would call her"blessed."  I believe she is worthy of our respect and honor.