Hannah’s sister, Mary and her husband, met them at the end of the railroad and took them to Richfield where she lived. They traveled by wagon. Hannah found employment from a man named Jensen who ran a store in Elsinore. Hannah helped Mrs. Jensen in the home. With Hannah and her father both working, they hired a girl to come and sit with her mother. Hannah’s father worked at cutting stone to earn money to build a home and buy a farm.
Her father bought an inexpensive lot from the city and by working hard he soon had a beautiful place with trees and flowers. He farmed this lot for a few years then sold it. This farm was south of Richfield. He then leased some land from the city to the north of Richfield. This land was all cut up from floods and was in a bad condition. Again, by working hard and long he soon had a level farm that produced very abundantly. He broke up and farmed the land that the Richfield City Cemetery now occupies.
He farmed this land until he became sick and died in 1907.
Hannah married two years after she came to Utah. She married Christian Christensen Brown. Christian was born 2 February 1839 in Fjellerup, Fjelsted, Denmark, a son of Jens Christensen and Anne Sophi Pedersen (or Petersen.) (See History of Christian Christensen and Dortha Andersen.)
Hannah and Christian met during a Stake Conference in Richfield. Christian had been invited to the home of the Hans Nielsen’s for dinner and became acquainted with Hannah at that time.
Hannah was 24 years old when she married. Christian Brown was a personable man, fine and splendid. After a brief courtship they were married in the St. George Temple, 25 June 1879. They then settled in Monroe, Utah.
They were blessed with the following nine children:
- Christian
- James
- Hans
- Kistie Marie
- Hannah Dortha
- Dora Ann
- Adell Christina (Christena)
- Magdlane
- Della Manilla
In addition to caring for her home and children, Hannah often went over to Richfield to care for her invalid mother until after her mother’s death. Her mother had been an invalid for twenty‑five years.
The Pioneers were allowed as much land as they were able to take care of.
Christian chose a beautiful place, covering twenty acres west of Monroe, where it was peaceful, quiet, and lovely. Christian wanted a home and a family of his own. He built a one room log house that later became the living room, as additions were made to the home. The logs were drawn from Monroe Main Canyon.
One night while sitting up late, Hannah felt as though someone was watching her. She looked up at the window and there, with his face pressed against the window pane, was an Indian. She hurriedly blew out the light and went to bed. After that she covered the window when she worked late at night.
Christian and his son, Andrew, built a house just south of their home. Andrew married and lived with his father for a while, then moved into the new house. After Andrew had lived in the new house a short time, he moved out and went someplace else in Monroe.
This house was later dragged over and became part of Christian and Hanna’s home.
Christian owned the first team of mules in Monroe, he was the envy of the valley.
The early settlers had little money and no way of getting cash for their farm produce. The settlers decided to band together and take their produce to Nevada where they could sell it to the Mining Communities. In order to do this, they had to freight it by team and wagon.
The farmers took advantage of this scheme to sell their surplus farm produce. Their surplus consisted of flour, oats, eggs, cured bacon, and fresh produce. The trip took 10‑14 days roundtrip. The townspeople were happy for this means of making money, which they used to pay their taxes.
Christian was a very industrious and hard working man. He was respected by all who knew him.
The following is a story told by Dora Brown:
“There was a man by the name of Harmon Swindle who lived in an old log house on the north side just one block straight south of us. He had been burning trash on his place during the day. In the evening, a wind came up and sparks from the fire blew across the street into Sam Shimmons corral, setting fire to his stacks of hay and straw. The sparks from this fire blew down onto our place. People who came to help said they wouldn’t give a nickel for our place that night. The machinery was pushed out of the sheds and the cows and horses were turned out of the corral. It surely looked like our place would go.”
“Father was down irrigating in the lower field. He could see the bright flames from the fire. Thinking it was our place on fire, he said he ran all the way home. Jim and mother were out at the corral and soon came in and said, lets pray for the protection of our home. To our surprise the sparks blew over our sheds and some of them lit on some old straw below the place and started a fire there. Thanks to our Heavenly Father, our place was spared.”
Hannah’s washing was done using a scrubbing board. She heated the water in a large copper boiler on the kitchen stove. The wash water came from the irrigation ditch. The drinking water was drawn from the neighbor’s well and had to be hauled in.
Hannah raised a large vegetable garden. She also loved flowers, and had a large flower garden. In her younger years, she did all the sewing for the family. When Kistie grew up, she took over the sewing. Adell later inherited the sewing job.