Happy Pioneer Day! This year is the first year I have started looking into my pioneer ancestry. I always knew I had lots of pioneer stock, but I had no idea the incredible stories I would discover! I want to tell you my favorite story.
Once there was a family who lived in Illnau, Switzerland. The family's name was Bryner. The parents named their first son (as many families did) after his father, Hans Ulrich.
Well, when Hans Jr. was 16, he became very ill (perhaps with typhus). He was one among many who were infected, and the sickness even claimed the life of his best friend. The Bryners were very afraid they would lose their first born son. The sickness progressed to the point where poor Hans Jr. was fevered and delirious. His family watched over him closely, but his little brother Casper would not leave his side.
Finally, Hans Jr.'s fever broke and he started to recover. As he regained his faculties, he related a dream that he had to his family. In it, he was wandering about it the darkness. After a time of stumbling around, a man came to him. This man had a strange appearance, with grey whiskers and "peculiar eyes." The man was from America and had come to preach to Hans. He led him back to America and brought him to the foot of a large building with six spires. Then the man told him about the city of Zion and the gates through which he could enter. But then the man told him he would have to wait for a time before he could enter.
The family was interested in his dream, but mostly passed it off as part of his delirium. But young Casper didn't forget the stranger with the "peculiar eyes."
Hans Jr. grew to a man and married (Anna Maria Dorothea Mathis) and became a butcher. His brother Casper assisted him. In 1853, he was dressing a slaughtered pig. The pig was hanging from it's back hooves from a hook in the ceiling when suddenly a tendon in the pig's hind leg snapped and slipped off the hook. As the leg fell, it hit Hans Jr. in the eye, instantly blinding him. Casper led his brother through the town to the hospital. Although the wound was cleaned and dressed, it became infected and spread to Hans Jr.'s other eye, blinding that eye as well. From this point on, Hans Jr. became known affectionately as "Blind Bryner."
While in the hospital recovering from the infection, Hans Jr. had a second vision that supported his first dream. He mentioned it to his family again.
Before Hans sufficiently recovered to be released from the hospital, he heard that some missionaries were preaching a new Gospel in Zurich. He immediately sent his family (including his mother, wife, and his brother Casper) to listen to the missionaries. When they returned home, they visited Hans and asked him to relate his two dreams again. After he finished speaking, his mother-in-law announced, "We have met the man in your dreams!" The man had grey whiskers and was very cross-eyed and wore thick glasses.
A month later, the missionaries came to the town of Illnau. Hans Jr. was released from the hospital and was at home late one night when there was a knock at his door. It was late enough that his wife, Anna begged him not to answer, but Hans Jr. did anyway. It was the two missionaries. Hans invited them to stay in his home, and so they did for the next few months, despite the fact that Hans Jr. was persecuted for it.
On March 16th, 1854, twelve members of his extended family were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In 1855, almost exactly a year from the baptism date, the family got on the ship Juventa and set sail to join the saints in America. Some of the family settled in Atchison Kansas until they could collect the supplies they would need to make the journey to Utah. Casper didn't wait though. He set out with his sister Anna Barbara for the Salt Lake Valley. He had been assigned to be a captain in a company under the direction of Richard Ballentyne. They arrived on September the 25th, 1855.
Hans Jr.'s lot wasn't so easy. Being blind, he needed special arrangements for bringing his wife and two small children with him. He finally left in a wagon train under the direction of Dan Jones in August of 1856. You might think that sounds a little late in the year to be setting out to cross the plains in a covered wagon, and you would be correct. On October 19th, the wagon train caught up to the Martin Handcart company. Trying desperately to increase their speed to beat the weather, they left a lot of their supplies along the trail to lighten the loads. They assisted the handcart company throughout the early winter storms that were raging. They made it to Martin's Cove in Wyoming, and were caught in a blizzard.
Brigham Young sent out help from the Salt Lake Valley, and in the rescue team was Hans Jr.'s little brother Casper. Hans Jr. and his wife, children and mother arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on December 10th, 1856. His feet were completely frozen, but he was administered to by Brigham Young who advised he wrap his feet in a special poultice. After his obedience to the prophet, his feet became whole.
The Bryner family was called to settle Price in Carbon County and later to a mission to establish St. George. In 1862 Hans Ulrich Sr. died and was the first person buried in the St. George cemetery. You can see a monument of him today. Hans Jr. lived to "see" the dedication of the six-spired building, the Salt Lake Temple, though when he had the vision, it was no more than an architech's idea. Hans Jr. died in St. George in 1905, and his brother Casper died in 1914.
Casper is my great-great-great-grandfather.
 |
| Casper Bryner's original tombstone next to his wife's. |
 |
| Hans Ulrich Jr. or "Blind Bryner"'s original tombstone |
 |
| Hans Ulrich Senior's grave marker. He was the first one buried in the St. George cemetery. |
 |
| Reconstructed grave marker for Casper Bryner, my Great x's 3 Grandfather |
All of the information given here, I obtained from "The First Book of Steve" my uncle's personal history.
