(An account of Frederick William Larson’s missionary service as well as some of his posterity. Written by David W. Larson.)
Leaving his wife and two small children, ages fifteen months and three weeks, at their small farm house just north of Oakley, Idaho, Frederick William Larson began his mission to the Western States Mission in Denver, Colorado, on the third of October 1906. The missionary journal which he kept and some of the letters which he wrote during that mission have been a great source of inspiration and faith to his posterity. From the entries in that journal, which has now been formally published (“Preaching The Restored Gospel,” Frederick William Larson, edited by Stan Larson, Blue Ribbon Books 2005) it is very clear that Fred Larson loved the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon with all his heart and soul and was absolutely devoted to its principles and to the leaders of the Church. And though the cost would turn out to be terribly high as both of his young children, LeRoy and Annie Laura, died while he was on his mission, he was steadfast in his service, and totally devoted and committed to fulfilling that mission assignment. He never wavered. Following the death of the children, his “Dear Alice” joined him in the mission field. In an entry dated January 19 to 26, 1908, he wrote:
“During the week that has passed I have been working among the people every day tracting on Capitol Hill… and I enjoy the work in getting the gospel before them, especially the Book of Mormon, and I have sold three of them this week. One book I sold to a watchmaker, and one to a barber, and one to a photographer, so all classes of men will get the record by and by and they in turn will tell someone else so that some day there will be a great harvest from what we are now sowing. I hope so and that the righteous will be gathered in by the fishers and hunters [of men] that should be sent out in the last days to warn them to flee from the wrath to come when God will pour out his judgments on the wicked and ungodly without measure, but unto them that fear his name he will protect and bless with a choice blessing…” [emphasis added]
At that point in time, Elder Fred Larson could hardly have imagined how many of the “fishers and hunters” to which he refers would be sent to participate in the “great harvest” from among his own posterity. Because of the family’s humble circumstances, his own untimely death at age 49 when his oldest son was only 16, and World War II, none of his children were able to serve full-time missions until their retirement years. But in 1961, the next Larson missionary (from his posterity), a grandson, was called to serve a full-time mission to Florida, opening the flood gates. In the following forty-four years over seventy missionaries who were his direct descendants, including several of his own children and their spouses were called to the four corners of the earth to help teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to the inhabitants of all the world.
Since 1961 there has been only one year, 1970, during which there was not a full-time missionary serving from descendants of Fred and Alice. There have been many years in which more than five were serving at the same time. And, in 1992, ten descendants were all serving missions simultaneously. Undoubtedly many hundreds of lives have been blessed by the faithful missionary service of Elder Frederick William Larson and his posterity.
Although I have no written record, my father, Lloyd Larson told me on multiple occasions that his mother, Alice Tolman Larson, told him of a blessing that she and/or Fred received from their mission president, Joseph McCrae, near the conclusion of their full-time missionary labors. Words were said in those blessings to the effect that “because of your willingness to serve and to sacrifice, withholding nothing, you will yet have a great posterity and their lives will be preserved because of your faithfulness.”
As the family knows, Fred and Alice came home from their mission and had 12 more children, all of whom lived to a healthy old age and four of whom are still living – even though they were all born at home in somewhat difficult circumstances and their births pre-dated the modern vaccination era. There was not a death from among Fred and Alice’s posterity (though Frederick himself would die at age 49) from October 12, 1907, until December 28, 1978, when Joe Raymond Varela, Fred and Alice’s oldest grandson, died (also at age 49) at Stanford University Hospital while undergoing a heart transplant. So there was period of over seventy-one years wherein there were no deaths from among Fred and Alice’s direct descendants, though their numbers were well over one-hundred at that time. So the promised blessing was certainly fulfilled. I believe that to be a modern miracle. And now, nearly 100 years after his mission, there are over 600 of us! Clearly our lives have been blessed and protected because of Grandpa Frederick Larson’s faithful missionary service – something that we had nothing to do with. And just as surely, later generations, including those yet unborn, have been and will be blessed – in ways which we often do not know nor understand – because many of his posterity will also have served.
Visit FamilySearch to learn more about Mary Alice Tolman, Frederick William Larson, and other ancestors. Also visit the Thomas Tolman Family Organization to find out how you can get more involved in family history.
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