16. BERTHA C. WILCOX ANDERSON FJELSTED [varient spellings: Felsted, Fjeldsted]
By Mary Wilcox Calton (sister)

Bertha Charlotte Wilcox was born October 8, 1879 at Cedar Fort, Utah. She was the fourth child of Samuel Allen Wilcox and Annie C. Petersen. She was blessed January 1, 1880 by her father, baptized June 2, 1888 by James Rodeback and confirmed the same day by Eli Bennett.

Bertha was a beautiful girl and had a personality that attracted people to her. She also had a way of holding old friends as well as making new ones. Her youth was spent in Cedar Fort. She loved horseback riding. She used to ride a pony she called Nora. When the horse got tired she had a habit of stopping suddenly. This happened one day just as Bertha neared home. She was thrown over Noras head onto a pile of rocks. She was knocked unconscious and injured her kneecap. This injury was a source of great suffering for years.

In order to get many things which her mother was not able to give her Bertha sought work outside her home. At first she helped neighbors but an opportunity came for her to work at a railroad boarding house in Manning. This job paid a better wage. She gave great satisfaction to both her employers and the men she waited on. When she left they presented her with a lapel watch made from Mercur gold, which she always kept.

It was here she met Samuel Anderson, a mill worker, and married him October 18, 1897. They lived at Manning for some time and two sons, Eskel Edmund and Samuel Leland, were born to them. Bertha was left a widow when her children were quite small. She moved back home with her mother. Not being able to find employment, she went to Salt Lake and worked as a waitress in several different cafes. Here, her injured knee gave her a great deal of trouble. They would let her down without warning and no matter whether she carried a tray of dishes or an order of food it would go to the floor. It made her very ill at times. Later she was employed in the Paris Store in the clothing department. She was advanced to head lady in the coat and suit department. This is where Mr. Fjelsted came into her life. He brought his motherless girls into the store to buy coats. They seemed to strike a mutual feeling and she was invited out to visit his home at Smithfield. He was a miller at the Farmers Flour Mill. She later married him, June 1, 1910, in the Salt Lake Temple.

She was a good mother to his family of eight or more children. About a year later Mother and I took her two boys to live with them. They were a comparatively happy family. Bertha was an excellent housekeeper. She was very quick and neat as a pin. She was a good cook. She loved pretty things and made many fancywork articles for her home and for her wearing.

Eskel went to work for a Mr. Jorgenson in Nevada. He was driving a team pulling a haylift when the bolt broke, letting the doubletrees fly back hitting him in the stomach. Mr. Jorgenson sent a man on horseback four miles to hold the train till they could get Eskel there. He was taken home across the Lucein Cutoff. He asked the man that was with him to raise him up so he could see the sunset over the Great Salt Lake. He was about fifteen years old. He died about two days after he got home. It was a great shock to them and a great loss. He was such a sweet boy.

Soon after Mr. Fjelsted was transferred to the Garland Flour Mill. Both Bertha and Mr. Fjelsted were very active in church and community affairs. She was a delegate to the Federated Women's Club Convention held in Salt Lake. Her leg never got any better and an operation was performed but although she was in the hospital for about nine months she never was free from suffering.

There was so much mud in Garland that everyone wore knee high boots. Bertha's leg was so bad she couldn't walk so when the car could not be used, Mr. Fjelsted used to pull her in a little wagon or on a sled to Relief Society, Church meetings, and everywhere she wanted to go. He was very good to her in every way. After the close of World War I, Dr. Ralph Richards and Dr.Tyree operated on her knee, taking a three-cornered piece out of her joint. It left her with a stiff knee and she had to have her shoe built up. She was permitted to go home after a few days and was around on crutches in a short time. About six months after the operation she was able to dance. When she and Mr. Fjelsted got up to dance the crowd clapped for sheer joy.

Bertha had a goiter and throughout her suffering it did not get any better. She was under the doctors care for a buildup preparatory for an operation when she passed away in her sleep, November 28, 1925.

She was given a wonderful funeral in the stake tabernacle in Garland. She was buried at Logan.

Her only surviving son, Samuel Leland Anderson, lives at 3661 Barry Avenue, Los Angeles, California. (This history was written in 1949.)

Online death certificate available:
Entry 10359--FELSTED, BERTHA CHARLOTTE - 1925

Children:
Eskel Edmund Anderson
Samuel Leland Anderson

Siblings:
Children of Samuel Allen Wilcox and Martha Bolton Parker
SAW1_1 Malinda Wilcox Pugh Cook
SAW1_2 Lucy Wilcox
SAW1_3 Sarah Jane Wilcox Allred Austin
SAW1_4 John Dingman Wilcox
SAW1_5 Asenath Viola Wilcox Passey
SAW1_6 Adam Wilcox
SAW1_7 Samuel Allen Wilcox Jr.
SAW1_8 Joseph Wilcox
SAW1_9 Silas McCaslin Wilcox
SAW1_10 Phebe Roseltha Wilcox Berrey Christie
SAW1_11 Boyd Extine Wilcox
SAW1_12 David Almearn Wilcox

Children of Samuel Allen Wilcox and Anna Christina Peterson
SAW1_13 Anna Laura Wilcox Calton
SAW1_14 Margarett Maren Wilcox Brems
SAW1_15 James Alfred Wilcox
SAW1_16 Bertha Charlotte Wilcox Anderson Fjelsted [aka Felsted, Fjeldsted]
SAW1_17 Martha Cordelia Wilcox Stephens
SAW1_18 Mary Inger Wilcox Sabey Calton
SAW1_19 Ross Ernest Wilcox
SAW1_20 Helen Mar Wilcox Yates
SAW1_21 Ole Able Wilcox