Statement of Purpose

Frederick Kohlhepp was the father of both famous American West/Mormon painter Minerva Teichert and "mystic" Annalee Skarin (and of course many other children too). He came from a rich middle class background in Boston, and due to a fascination with nature coupled with his belief that it would be better for his lungs, set out to explore frontier America. With many haphazard circumstances that occurred along the way to Utah, he eventually met and married Mary Ella Hickman, the Mormon daughter of the notorious gunslinger Bill Hickman. Kohlhepp joined her church, and served devotely in it as a local seventy (then, the equivalent of stake missionaries), sunday school superintendent, and in its bishopric. He worked on railroads, farmed and introduced dry wheat farming to Idaho, and ranched. He loved literature and art and had hoped to be an engraver when he was young. Naturally, he was very supportive of Minerva's artistic career, and she loved him very much. Eventually, he served a mission for the LDS church in Switzerland and Germnay under Serge F. Ballif. Afterwards, he grew very ill and died from tuberculosis.

This short synopsis of Fred Kohlhepp is only the surface of his very extraordinary and interesting life. I want to explore in this blog what more can be gathered about him, as I work towards writing a decent biography on his life. How did such a personality as his arise out of his German Bostonian culture, and what environment did he and Mary Ella cultivate to influence the development of such extreme personalities like Minerva and Annalee?

Of course, it will be difficult to examine the life of one who is often neglected, and for whom no stockpile of documents immediately appear. I will be working on collecting primacy and secondary sources, and then create a variety of tasks to discover about each one. I am hopeful that through what I can gather, I can construct some sort of narrative about his life. Perhaps others will be interested in my research too, although this place is designed as a sandbox for my thoughts. Comments are welcome.