line (Petersen) Poulson, who were natives of Denmark. Following their conversion
to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints they came to America
and settled in Sevier county in 1873. Upon locating in Richfield the father assumed
a commanding place in the new city and his labors constituted an element in its con-
tinued growth and progress. He was for fifteen years the street supervisor and upon
the building of the Marysvale branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad he was
elected by the people to supervise the work and look after the interests of the resi-
dents of the valley. As a director of the canal company Mr. Poulson had much to do
with the building of the irrigation ditches of the valley and is regarded as the father
of the water system of Sevier county. A prodigious worker and born leader, he left to
his son and namesake a heritage greater than gold an untarnished name and an ex-
ample well worthy of emulation.
Niels Christian Poulson whose name introduces this review was educated in the
graded schools of his native county and in the Brigham Young University at Provo
and the Latter-day Saints University at Salt Lake. When his education was finished
he returned to Richfield and became connected with the mercantile business. He was
engaged in trade, however, for only a year when he was appointed by President Mc-
Kinley to the position of postmaster of Richfield and through the succeeding thirteen
years filled that office to the satisfaction of his fellow citizens regardless of party poli-
tics. During his incumbency in the position the ground was purchased for the pres-
ent handsome federal building at Richfield. About the time of his retirement from
the office of postmaster the church called him to a mission to the northern states, where
he labored for over two years and was secretary of the mission and on his return to
Utah he was appointed bishop of the first ward of Richfield, which post he still fills.
About the same time Mr. Poulson entered the grocery and produce business in
connection with his brother and remained active along that line until June, 1919, when
he retired from commercial pursuits. He is now giving his entire time and atten-
ton to his municipal and churchly offices. In the fall of 1917 he was elected mayor of
Richfield and is still serving in that capacity. His administration has been one of
Vol. IV 4
50 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD
progress and advancement along every line and his own industry sets a splendid ex-
ample to others. He feels no hesitancy in demanding the best possible service from
city employes, for he is himself giving undivided time, thought and effort to the duties
of his position. Since he became mayor many thousands of dollars have been spent for
sidewalks and more would have been invested in that way had not the war stopped
work of that character. The matter of public highways has always been a question of
deep interest to Mayor Poulson and other progressive citizens but for a long period
there was much opposition to the improvement of the roads by those who did not wish
to pay additional taxes. Mr. Poulson and his supporters, however, felt the necessity
of good streets and called a mass meeting of the citizens to talk over the situation.
The evening selected for the meeting was in a particularly bad season of the year when
the mud was knee deep in the streets. In his talk to the people the Mayor asked this
one question over and over: "How long are you going to walk in the mud and stall
your teams with gum to the wagon hubs?" His argument won out and an election
was called, at which only thirteen votes were cast against the improvement of the
streets, so that six and a half miles of concrete roadway is now being built in Rich-
field, the Mayor happily watching the work. With equal capability, promptness and
efficiency Mayor Poulson handled the influenza epidemic of 1918. The doctors of
southern Utah were inoculating the public at a cost of four dollars per individual. A
friend of the Mayor's remarked to Mr. Poulson that he had just paid out twenty-eight
dollars to have his wife and six children inoculated against the disease. MV. Poulson
figured that the serum must be expensive and not a poor man's serum, so he wrote to
the state board of health, asking the price thereof. The reply was that all the serum
was furnished free of charge by the board. The Mayor immediately acted. He at once
wrote to the board of health for a supply and for the services of a trained nurse to
administer the serum. Then he announced to the citizens that they could be inoculated
free of charge by calling at the city hall. Twenty-seven hundred citizens responded to
the offer, so that Mr. Poulson saved to the people something over ten thousand dollars
at a cost to the city government of thirty-five dollars per week the salary paid to the
Salt Lake nurse. Mr. Poulson is indeed a man of broad vision, of keen discernment and
sound judgment. He acts with the utmost promptness in cases of emergency and works
for the progress and benefit of Richfield and Sevier county.
Mr. Poulson was married to Miss Dora Staples, a daughter of George Staples, a
pioneer of Elsinore and a much respected man. They are the parents of six children:
Laurel Mae, Helen Mar, Rich, Carol, Garth and Shirley Deane, all of whom are attend-
ing the schools of Richfield. Such in brief is the history of Niels Christian Poulson,
who has spent his entire life in Richfield and whose activities have ever been directed
for the benefit and upbuilding of his community along material, political and moral lines.
His labors have been far-reaching and effective and over his public career there falls
no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. In office he has ever been faultless in honor,
fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation.
HEZEKIAH EASTMAN HATCH.
Centuries ago, in the golden age of Greece, Euripides wrote: "It is a good thing
to be rich and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be beloved of many
friends." The truth apparent at that time has remained unchanged to the present.
Had Hezekiah Eastman Hatch taken this as a life motto, his life record could not
have been more fully the expression of the Greek philosophy. He occupies a com-
manding position in 'financial and business circles and has exerted marked influence
along other lines and of him it is said that "every one is his friend." Honored and
respected by all, Hezekiah Eastman Hatch, of Logan, occupies a most enviable posi-
tion in financial and business circles, not alone by reason of the success he has
achieved but also by reason of the straightforward business principles that he has ever
followed. There is much in his life record to stimulate and encourage others and the
story may well be carefully read and pondered.
Mr. Hatch was born in Lehi, Utah, December 16, 1855. His father, Lorenzo Hill
Hatch, was a native of Lincoln, Vermont, born January 4, 1826. He came to Utah in
1850, crossing the plains with one of the old-time wagon trains. In 1863 he removed
to Franklin, Idaho, and was a resident of that state for fifteen years, winning a sub-
HEZEKIAH E. HATCH
UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 53
stantial place among the farmers and business men of Idaho and Utah. For an ex-
tended period he served as a bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
and his labors were untiring in behalf of the upbuilding of the church and the ex-
tension of its influence. He died in Logan in 1910, his memory remaining as a blessed
benediction to all who knew him. The mother of Hezekiah E. Hatch was Sylvia
Savonia Eastman. She was born in Vermont and passed away in Logan in 1903. She
had a family of live children, all of whom are yet living.
After mastering the branches of learning taught in the district schools of Frank-
lin, Idaho, H. E. Hatch of this review became a resident of Logan in 1872 and was a
pupil in the city schools until 1874. He afterward engaged in farming for a brief
period, but when about a year had elapsed he took up telegraphy and accepted a posi-
tion as telegraph operator at Franklin, Idaho, where he also acted as assistant post-
master until October 12, 1875. He next became connected with the Utah Northern
Railway, now the Oregon Short Line, at Franklin, Idaho, and so continued until
November 23, 1882. In the meantime, however, or in 1878, he went from Franklin^
Idaho, to Ogden, Utah, where he was given charge of the railway station, relieving
Richard W. Young, now Brigadier General Young of the United States army. Sub-
sequently he returned to Franklin, Idaho, and for a few months again had charge
of the railway office there, after which he was transferred to Logan, Utah, where he
became local station agent and assistant train dispatcher. He was thus employed
during the construction of the Oregon Short Line between Franklin, Idaho, and Butte,
Montana. He left his railway position on the 23d of November, 1882, and in connec-
tion with Moses Thatcher, George W. Thatcher, of Logan, and W. D. Hendricks, of
Richmond, Utah, and S. T. Joselyn, of Omaha, Nebraska, all now deceased, he organized
the banking business of Thatcher Brpthers & Company. He was made the cashier
of the bank, with George W. Thatcher as president. This partnership continued with
mutual pleasure and success until January 3, 1889, when a reorganization was effected,
the business being taken over by the Thatcher Brothers Banking Company, Incor-
porated, of which George W. Thatcher became the president, Lewis S. Hills vice presi-
dent and H. E. Hatch cashier. Until 1910 Mr. Hatch remained in the position of
cashier, when he succeeded the late Moses Thatcher in the presidency and so remains
as the head of this splendid banking institution, regarded as one of the strongest and
most reliable not only in Cache county but in this part of the state. They occupy
beautiful and commodious quarters in the Eccles Hotel building and from the be-
ginning the business of the bank has steadily increased in volume and in importance.
Mr. Hatch has further extended his efforts in banking circles, being now the president
of the West Cache State Bank of Trenton, Utah, a director of the State Bank .of Rich-
mond, Utah, and a director of the Hyrum State Bank of Hyrum, Utah. Farsighted,
his keen sagacity has enabled him to recognize and utilize opportunities that others
have passed heedlessly by and he is today a dominant figure in business circles in
this state. He is the president of the Promontory-Curlew Land Company, operating
very successfully, having owned and controlled some four hundred thousand acres of
land, of which more than two hundred thousand acres has now been sold and is being
rapidly developed and settled by farmers and stockmen. At the time of the organ-
ization of the company Mr. Hatch became its vice president and treasurer. He is also
the president of the Thatcher Milling & Elevator Company, Incorporated, having one
of the oldest mills in Utah, founded by the firm of Thatcher & Sons in 1860. Mr.
Hatch is likewise the president of the Farmers' Utah Loan Association of Logan, a
corporation making long-time loans on farm mortgages, and in this connection an
extensive business has been built up.
The efforts of Mr. Hatch have not been confined alone to enterprises which have
had to do merely with the welfare of the stockholders. For two years he was presi-
dent of the Commercial Boosters' Club of Logan, which has been a most potent element
in the development of the city, the expansion of its trade relations and the promotion
of its civic standards. He was likewise the vice president and a member of the ex-
ecutive committee of the Utah State Bankers' Association and has done everything
in his power to maintain the high standards of service among the banking fraternity
of the state.
On the 16th of October, 1884. Mr. Hatch was married to Miss Georgia Thatcher,
a daughter of Joseph W. Thatcher, one of the very prominent pioneer settlers of Utah
who contributed much to the upbuilding and development of his part of the state.
Mr. and Mrs. Hatch are now the parents of seven living children and also lost two.
54 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD
Hezekiah Sumner, mentioned elsewhere in this work, married Olive Baker and left
four children at the time of his death April 15, 1919, namely: Alice Fay, Marjorie,
Prances and Sumner. Georgia Vivian is the wife of Asa Bullen, of Logan, also repre-
sented on another page of this volume, and they have two children, Philip Asa and
Richard. Hannah died in infancy. Ella is the wife of W. W. Anderson, of Logan.
Joseph Eastman recently served as a first lieutenant with the United States army in
France. Lorenzo Boyd, who married Annie McQuarrie in 1918, has been recently
discharged from the army at Camp Lewis. La Fayette Thatcher, nineteen years of
age, was a member of the Student Army Training Corps and was discharged in Novem-
ber, 1918, and is now attending the Agricultural College at Logan. Waldo Morrison,
seventeen years of age, is attending Brigham Young College in Logan. Adrian William,
a youth of fourteen years, is a public school student of Logan.
Mr. Hatch has ever remained an active and consistent member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and for twenty-five years has been an untiring
worker in the Sunday school, acting as superintendent for ten years. His political
allegiance has always been given to the democratic party, but he has never been an
office seeker. However, he has served as city commissioner for Logan and prior to
that time was commissioner for Cache county. His activities have thus largely touched
those lines which have to do with the general interests of society in the material,
social and moral development of the commonwealth. While he stands at the head of
many large and important corporation interests, he is a man of most democratic spirit
who judges his fellowmen not by wealth but by individual worth and numbers his
friends among young and old, rich and poor. While he has prospered, the most en-
vious cannot grudge him his success, so honorably has it been won and so worthily
used.
ANDERS KROUGH HANSEN.
With various lines of activity having to do with the public affairs and moral
development of Richfield, Anders Krough Hansen has been closely associated. He was
born in Draper, Utah, in December, 1870, a son of A. K. and Aurelia (Quistgaard)
Hansen, who were natives of Denmark. The father came to Utah in 1863, first settling
in Salt Lake.
His son and namesake was educated in the Sevier Stake schools and in the Brigham
Young University at Provo. Taking up his abode at Glenwood, Sevier county, he
engaged in farming and sheep raising from 1883 until 1903, or for a period of two
decades, after which he removed to Richfield. During the twenty years of his con-
nection with Glenwood he was prominent in the public life of the community, serving
as mayor of the city, and since taking up his abode in Richfield he has for many terms
been a member of the city council and in office has put forth every possible effort to
promote the public welfare. In county affairs he has also been active and has at different
times served in county offices, including that of assessor, to which position he was twice
called by popular suffrage. In 1918 he was elected county commissioner and is occupying
that office at the present time.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Mr. Hansen has also been a
consistent worker. He has filled the position of ward teacher and has passed on through
the priesthood to bishop's counselor. He was prominent in the building of the Second
Ward church and has occupied the position of ward president. Along still other lines,
too, he has been active for the benefit and upbuilding of the section of the state in which
he makes his home. For seven years he was the president of the Sevier County Fair
Association and under his guidance its annual fairs became known as among the best
in the state. No enterprise that means progress, whether of a public or private nature,
ever seeks his aid in vain.
Mr. Hansen's place in business circles, too, is a prominent and enviable one, for
he is now a director of the bank of James M. Peterson, a director of the Model Mercantile
Company of Richfield and of the Jumbo Plaster & Cement Works, one of the largest
industries of Sevier county. He likewise operates a farm of a thousand acres, upon
which he raises general crops, but a part of it is grazing land and he devotes much time
and space to the raising of graded sheep. Whatever he undertakes he carries forward
UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 55
to successful completion, for he is a man of determined spirit, in whose vocabulary there
is no such word as fail. y.*
On October 13, 1897, Mr. Hansen was married to Miss Amelia Louise Heppler, of
Richfield, the wedding being celebrated in Manti Temple. The Heppler family occupies
a prominent position in connection with the history of southern Utah. The father,
Andrew Heppler, was for many years probate judge at Sevier, while W. S. Steegmiller,
an uncle of Mrs. Hansen, was for a quarter of a century president of Sevier stake. He
also many times represented his county in the state legislature and presided over that
body as speaker. Mr. and Mrs. Hansen have six living children, namely: Arendell
Kelsch, Leland Anders, Lina, Alta, Phil and Floy. One child, Velva, died at the age of
eighteen months.
In social circles the family occupies an enviable position and Mr. Hansen has long
been recognized as a most forceful and resourceful man whose labors have been a
potent factor in the development of city and county along material, intellectual, social,
political and moral lines.
LEON FONNESBECK.
Leon Fonnesbeck, attorney at law of Logan and also an inventor, was born Feb-
ruary 2, 1886, in the city which is still his place of residence. His father, Christian
Fonnesbeck, is a native of Denmark and came to the United States in 1877. He at
once made his way to Logan, where he carried on business as a shoemaker and farmer
for a number of years. He is now living in Boxelder county. He has long taken an
active and helpful interest in public affairs and church work, serving as postmaster
and in other official positions and putting forth effective effort as well in behalf of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which he has represented in mis-
sionary labors. He married Anna M. Jacobson, also a native of Denmark and still
living.
Their son, Leon Fonnesbeck, began his education in the public schools of Logan
and passed through consecutive grades. He entered the Agricultural College of Utah,
in 1901, and there he pursued his high school and college studies from 1901 until 1909.
In the meantime he taught school in 1906 and 1907 and upon his graduation from the
Agricultural College won the degree of Bachelor of Science. He next entered the
University of Chicago in preparation for a career at the bar and was accorded the
degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence on his graduation with the class of 1912. On the
2nd of August of the same year he was admitted to the bar in Salt Lake City and has
since engaged in active practice. In the fall of 1918 he was elected county attorney
on the democratic ticket by a good majority and has since ably defended the legal in-
terests of Cache county. He belongs to the Cache County Bar Association and aside
from his profession he is well known by reason of his inventive genius. He pos-
sesses a mechanical trend of mind and has been allowed patents on various inventions,
notably on farm machinery. These include improvements on the rotary plow and a
motor plow. He is actively interested in farming, being the owner of land which he
has brought under a high state of cultivation.
In 1915 Mr. Fonnesbeck was married to Miss Jean Brown, a daughter of Frank
and Amy Brown, of Cedar City, Utah. They met when students in the University of
Chicago, Mrs. Fonnesbeck there winning a Master's degree. She is a woman of marked
culture and capability who is a well known contributor to magazines, and she is now
engaged in writing a history of the Mormon Battalion. She gave her hand in marriage
to Mr. Fonnesbeck in Salt Lake City and they have become the parents of one child,
Marguerite, who was born November 13, 1916.
It would be impossible for a man of Mr. Fonnesbeck's native powers, qualities and
mental trend to remain indifferent to questions of public concern. In fact he has done
not a little toward promoting public progress and improvement along various lines,
leaving the impress of his individuality upon the material, intellectual and moral as
well as the professional development of his part of the state. The extent of his interests
is shown in the fact that he is now a member of the legal advisory board of Cache
county, that he belongs to the Commercial Boosters' Club of Logan, that he is an active
worker in democratic circles and equally active in Sunday school work and in the Young
Men's Mutual Improvement Association. All this is in addition to his professional
56 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD
interests and his researches and experimental work resulting in various valuable inven-
tions. He is a man at all times alert and energetic, awake to the possibilities for
advancement in city and state affairs, and his achievements have ever been of a char-
acter valuable to the community at large.
WILLIAM J. ELWOOD.
William J. Elwood, superintendent of the coal mine of the Independent Coal & Coke
Company at Kenilworth, Carbon county, was born in Ashland, Kentucky, June 25, 1873,
and is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth Elwood. The father had extensive mine experi-
ences in England and developed a number of coal mines in the state of Kentucky. The
'son obtained a common school education in his native state and afterward attended the
National Normal University of Ohio, while still later he pursued a correspondence course
in engineering. He was a youth of sixteen years when he became identified with the
development of the coal deposits of Kentucky, working as a miner in that state. In
1889 he was employed by the coal department of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company
at Red Lodge, Montana, working as inside inspector and as mine foreman for about
nine years. He was then recommended by B. F. Bush, former president of the Denver
& Rio Grande Railroad, for the position of mine superintendent at Castlegate. After a
year spent in that connection he was transferred to Sunnyside. where he occupied a
similar position. Seven years later he was appointed general mine inspector for all
the properties of the company and thus step by step he was working his way upward
and becoming more widely known as an efficient factor in the development of the rich
coal resources of Utah. After a year spent as general mine inspector he was elected to
the state legislature and on the expiration of his term of service he accepted a position
with the Independent Coal & Coke Company of Kenilworth at an advanced salary. Later
when official changes were made he was promoted to the general superintendency of the
mine at Kenilworth and is now occupying that position. He invented and obtained a
patent on the Elwood automatic de-railing switch, a number of which are now in use
by the Independent Coal & Coke Company on their locomotive tram, and other useful
devices around coal mines, one of which is the retarding block now in use at the tipples
of all mines in the state.
On the 14th of February. 1901, at Red Lodge, Montana, Mr. Elwood was united in
marriage to Miss Rachel Wood, of that place. Their children are five in number,
namely: Curtis, who was born in 1902; Gladys, whose birth occurred in 1904; James,
whose natal year was 1911; William, born in 1912; and Kenneth, who was born in 1917.
Mr. Elwood gives his political allegiance to the republican party and it was upon
that ticket that he was chosen a member of the state legislature, in which he proved
a loyal supporter of many measures calculated to benefit the commonwealth at large.
He is a Mason of high rank, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish
Rite, and is a most loyal and worthy follower of the craft. His entire life has been
devoted to mining interests and he has thoroughly qualified by study and experience,
recognizing fully the obligations that come with responsible positions in mining circles.
As general superintendent he is giving uniform satisfaction not only to the corporation
which he represents but also to the men who serve under him and who find h'm always
just and fair.