December 1996 Blazer

Musician and artist Samuel H. Jepperson

THE HISTORY BLAZER IVEI~' S OF ZrTAH'S PAST FROM THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grade Salt Lake Citv, VT 84101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 533- 3503 Musician and Artist Samuel H. Jepperson C. C. A. CHRISTENSEWNA S NOT THE ONLY DANISH- BAORRTINST to cross the plains in the Christensen handcart company of 1857. Traveling with his father and mother in that same group was Samuel Hans Jepperson, born in Copenhagen in 1854. Although Jepperson never achieved the same renown as Christensen, his history is perhaps more intriguing, and his artistic contribution rivals that of his older countryman. In Salt Lake City, Nils Jepperson, Samuel's father, worked for a year on a dairy farm. In the fall of 1858 he moved his family to Provo where they lived for a while in their wagon box before settling into a small cabin at First South and Fifth West. Samuel spent much of his youth helping his father earn a scant living. Very early in life, though, he yearned for art and music. His father, a very practical man, considered artistic activities a waste of time. The budding artist was not completely discouraged, however. At the old Second Ward School, Samuel f111ed every margin of his arithmetic book with drawings and drew on any scrap of paper he could find. Consumed with the urge to paint, but with no money for supplies, he made his first brush by tying small feathers to a smooth stick and concocted paints from berries, mustard, leaves, and roots. Then he found he could mix dried house paints. Late in life he remembered obtaining his fust real paints fiom " old Mrs. Savory." He hung around her until she had to give him some paints. He lay awake nights thinking about those colors. He also found musical fulfill-ment. His first instrument, a Jew's harp, contented him for a while, but eventually he wanted something more sophisticated- a violin- but he had to make it himself. He drilled holes in an old cigar box and attached a neck and four strings. Then, with a homemade bow, he learned to play it. At age 13, a fortuitous opportunity came his way while his father was in Echo Canyon working on the construction of the transcontinental railroad. It was Samuel's responsibility to provide his mother with fnewood for the winter and to cut enough wild hay from the lowlands near the lake to feed the animals. He had finished with these chores when, George Evans, a neighbor who had now wagon of his own, offered to trade his violin for four loads of building logs from nearby Slate Canyon. Samuel hurried to seek his mother's approval. When she reminded him that he had no shoes, Samuel said he would go barefoot. After several days of hard labor, the boy had the logs and was awarded with his prize- one poor violin. Its condition did not stop him from learning to play it, but his father almost did. Samuel was not permitted to practice the instrument at home because that would brand him as lazy, so he practiced in the barn where he could not be heard. Soon he was good enough to play for small dances and house parties. Next, he and his musical friends organized a quadrille band that for several decades played for hundreds of dances. Music ( more) also helped Samuel find a wife. He gave guitar lessons to Minnie Johnson, a daughter of J. P. R. Johnson, the Danish bishop of the Provo First Ward. Over time the couple concluded that their interests extended beyond music, and they drove to Salt Lake City to be married on July 11, 1879. They built a home on the corner of Third South and Fourth West in Provo. In 1884 Samuel organized the 20- member Provo City Silver Band which he conducted for 30 years before turning those duties over to his son. Besides playing music, Samuel enjoyed making instruments. Over the years he made 180 guitars, 50 violins, and a number of cellos, violas, and double bass viols. Samuel also developed as an artist while pursuing his musical talents. In 1871, at age 17, he took up house painting with Henry J. Maiben, a master painter from England who taught Samuel drawing and fine art. John Selck, who also worked for Maiben, was a fine artist from Germany. He instructed Samuel in scenery painting and fine art. Selck and Jepperson painted scenery for the Provo Opera House. By the mid- 1880s Samuel had begun to earn a reputation as a skillful oil painter. About that time, lead poisoning brought his 15- year career as a house painter to an end, and he was forced to rely on other sources of income. He cut and delivered ice from Utah Lake and caught fish and shot ducks for the local market. He painted backdrops for local photographers and also began to finish more oil paintings which were sometimes raffled off or sold to the highest bidder. In 1891 he painted a nude for Knight Brother's Saloon. This 9 x 12- foot painting was not the traditional bar nude; it depicted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. His association with other Utah artists, such as Dan Weggeland, John Hafen, James T. Harwood, Alfred Lambourne, and John Fairbanks, helped Samuel, as did New York painter George Henry Taggart who spent two summers in Provo hoping to improve his wife's health. The couple camped on a lot across from the Jeppersons, and Taggart helped Samuel refine his technique. Out of economic necessity, Samuel bought a parcel of land near Provo Bay and began farming for a living, but he continued to paint. He would take his easel and paints to the farm and paint part of the day. During the next four decades he continued to farm and paint, eventually finishing over 1,000 paintings, most of them landscapes or depictions of historical themes. One of his favorite subjects was a wheat field north of his farm. A granddaughters recalled, " He especially loved it because it faced north- so Mt. Timpanogas. ..[ was] in the back- ground and there were various sized clumps of Willow Trees- edging the north end of the field which gave it ' character' he said. He painted that field in various years and from various angles- all a bit different.. . . " In or near this field Samuel met his death one June morning in 1931. He was helping his son and another farmer spray an apple orchard. Samuel was driving the wagon when the front wheels struck a ditch. The horses slowed up and then lunged forward. When the rear wheels struck the ditch, Samuel was thrown to the ground, breaking his neck. A rare Sunday afternoon funeral honored early Provo's favorite musician and artist. Harrison R. Merrill said of him, " He had lived a simple life, unsung, unappreciated, but not unloved. To know him is to love him." Sources: Grace H. Croft, With a Song in Her Heart: Biography of Dr. Florence Jepperson MMacisen ( Salt Lake City, 1960); Florence Jeppemn Madsen, " A Sketch of the Life of Samuel Jeppemn, Sr.," in Kate B. Carter, comp., Heart Z'hrobs of the West, 12 vols. ( Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1939- SO), 2: 471- 72; H. R. Merrill, " Samuel Jepperson: A Pioneer with A Singing Soul," Improvement Era, 29: 755- 57; Prow Herald, June 8, 1930, June 2, 1931. THE HISTORY BLAZER is produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone [phone].