Per Gustof Jansson

It occurred to me that the picture of the Murray Coop may not mean anything to some of you, so I figured I would give a bit of explanation.

Per was the father of Anna Ardella, my dad's mother. He was born in Fasterna, Stockholm, Sweden to Jan Erick Andersson and Johanna Christina Fredriksson. Tradition in Sweden was to use the father's first name and add 'son' to make the last name for the children. Per was Jan's son, so his surname became Jansson. While living in Sweden Per was engaged to be married, but his fiancee died. He served for many years as a missionary after joining the LDS church, and finally emigrated to the United States in 1891 where he decided to live in Murray and work in the smelter. It was there that he met and married Karin Larsson, also a Swedish immigrant. The picture before the Coop one was of her home in Vestorp, Osteraker, Sodermanland, Sweden.

Harry Haynes owned the Murray Coop. Charles Brown was the husband of Per's niece. Per first worked at the smelter in Murray, then in the Coop. He was the favorite clerk of the Swedish customers, many of whom would wait for him to finish with other customers so he could help them. When the Coop closed, Per got a job in Tooele for a few years, then returned to Murray to work at Banks Mortuary where he was in charge of running funerals, caring for the horses, and bringing corpses into the parlor.

He served as 1st counselor in the bishopric of the Murray Ward from the time it was organized in 1900 until his death in 1915. Charles Brown served as 2nd Counselor. Uriah G. Miller was the bishop. Per helped to plan, build, and dedicate the Murray First Ward building built across the street from their home on Vine Street, just east of State Street. I drove by there a few months ago and found that their home is no longer there, but the church is.

Because he had been working for the mortuary when he died, his employers covered the expenses for his casket. Anna was only 20 years old when her father died on 19 October 1915 of a burst appendix. Per's only son of their ten children, Parley, was a year and a half old, and their youngest child, June was born 8 months after his death.

He was a loving father and a faithful servant of the Lord.