Willden Family History

HISTORY
of
Minnie Agnes Holt
and
Andrew George Willden

Written by Manila May Willden Hardy

Minnie Agnes Holt, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah April 25, 1864. She was the first child of Sarah Ann Bailey and William George Holt, pioneers, who arrived in Salt Lake City in December of 1863. The day after Minnie's birth her mother, Sarah Ann Bailey Holt, died, and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Minnie Agnes was a tiny baby with large brown eyes, and long black hair as soft as silk. She was so small that it was said she could sit in a half pint cup. Her father, in desperation after the passing of his wife, feared that his little girl would also die, so he had the Patriarch of the Church give her a blessing, and pray for her that she might live. The Patriarch said that she would live, but better that she should die, because he could only see hardship and hard work for her all of her life.

At the age of 9 years and Acrostic was given Minnie Agnes by F. T. Whitney:

M. Minny your of the chosen few
I. Increase in faith you will be true
N. Nothing will hinder your increase
N. Now you will ever live in peace
Y. You'll live to see the Savior come

A. Among the Saints you'll have a home

H. Hear what your grandma says to you
O. On earth you will be wise and true
L. Live long and keep the Lord's command
T. Then you'll in Jackson County stand.

William struggled to raise his baby. At first she was fed by wet nurse Mrs. Greenick. Then he started to feed her and had to pay a dollar a pound for sugar to sweeten the milk. William at that time worked in the old sugar factory, from which Sugar House got its name.

William's sister Isabelle, after marrying Josh Bennett, took care of little Minnie. Uncle Josh always teased that Minnie was their baby on their wedding night. Minnie was to be given to her grandmother Sarah Holt, however, she along with her children, Mary Agnes and James died on the prairie, migrating to Salt Lake. Minnie's grandmother Alice Bailey, who had come to Salt Lake with Minnie's parents, could not spare the time and means to care for the baby. So Isabelle and Josh cared for the baby until William remarried. He and his new wife took Minnie to their home in Beaver. William had known Millicent while in England. He had dated both Sarah Ann and Millicent. As it happened Sarah Ann and William traveled in the same big ship to America. William chose Sarah Ann for his bride somewhere during the journey to Salt Lake., After Sarah Ann's death, William sent for Millicent to come to Utah to be his wife.

Minnie's parents held back the facts about her real mother and grandmother from her. Millicent's resentment of being second choice was taken out on Minnie. Just as the Patriarch had predicted, Minnie's girlhood was very hard. When her father was away from home Millicent would beat her. Even when William was home, Minnie was forced to do more than her share of work. Once when her father was away from home her stepmother put her into the potato pit, in the winter. When her father came home and discovered her she was almost frozen.

Minnie was not allowed to go to school, even though she really wanted to. When she was 13 or 14 her stepmother allowed her to go. Since she could not read or write, she was put in the class with the smallest children. Everyone teased her so much about this she left school.

Around this time she was given organ lessons, but the lessons ceased when Millicent learned that Minnie was making greater progress than her own daughter Annie. Her teacher Mr. Beesley pleaded with her parents to let her continue with the organ, but they would not consent. Another reason she left the organ lessons was because of the load of chores she was required to do.

Among the children who teased her most was a neighbor girl Sarah Ann. Sarah Ann, it seems, teased her so much that Minnie hated the name during her youth.

When the government stationed soldiers in Beaver, all the young girls were forbidden to have anything to do with them. One day when Minnie was working in the garden, a soldier stopped to talk to her. When Millicent found out about this she punished her by cutting off Minnie's thick black hair, that (before the trimming) was so long she could sit on it. This broke Minnie's heart and now that her hair was shoulder length, she was prey for ridicule. Sarah Ann of course, took advantage of this situation, and started everyone calling Minnie "Holt's Squaw."

When there were Indian uprisings, her father often had to guard the town at night. It was Minnie's duty to take him a hot lunch at Midnight. She said at times she would be so frightened she would creep along, almost afraid to breathe. Conversely, at other times when her stepmother was exceptionally cruel to her she would step out boldly into the dark night hoping an Indian would shoot her and take her out of her miseries.

Minnie's Christmas gift was always some article of clothing, usually a pair of shoes, which had to last the entire year. Sometimes the shoes did not last. Even as a young lady she had to go barefoot from Spring until Fall. She said she couldn't remember having a doll, although her father possessed the means, according to other farmers and merchants of that day.

One day when Minnie's parents were away on a trip, Minnie sold her brother Willie to an Indian squaw for a pint of pine nuts. Willie had a habit of kicking her on the shins if she did not do what he wanted immediately. On this particular day she was mixing bread when he came in from playing and demanded something to eat. She asked him to wait till she finished, so he started to kick her. Willie's shoes were heavy because their father always had copper toes put on to keep them from wearing out. In pain, she yelled, "Willie, if you kick me again I will sell you to the first squaw who come to the door". He was angry and kicked her again and as he did, a squaw knocked on the door. She was selling pine nuts and Minnie sold him. She waited until the squaw was out the gate with him, then she ran after her with the pine nuts to get her brother back, but the squaw refused. Minnie begged, still the squaw refused. She finally had to get the men of the town to get her brother back. She was afraid of what her stepmother would do to her, but neither Willie or the men told her parents what she had done. Willie never kicked her again. In fact, after Minnie was married, Willie could not find anyone who could make bread the way he liked it so he would bring it to Minnie's house for her to make it for him.

In the summer her family would go to Puffer's and Panguitch Lakes where they would fish and gather berries for Jam. Minnie enjoyed these trips. These were the happiest times of her girlhood.

Minnie had many suitors. Her parents wanted her to marry into polygamy, which was practiced at the time, but she never cared to do so. One of her suitors was quite old and had asthma. Minnie said she could hear him breathing a block away. She would hid e so she would not have to entertain him. Minnie 's father had an apprentice named Earnest Horsley, who lived in their home. He came from England about 1877 or 8, when he was about 16. He was very kind to Minnie. She liked to tease him. Sometimes she would starch his shirt tails very stiff as a joke. They were lifetime friends. He would visit her in Salt Lake. The last time he visited her was in 1940 one year before her death.

Minnie chose Andrew George Willden to be her companion through life. George Willden was born in Willden Fort, on 27 July 1864. He was the fourth son of Ellott and Emma Jane Clews.

George did not have a great deal of schooling, but he did learn to read and write and do arithmetic. From there on he was self-educated. George learned to do the usual farm boy work. When he was nine years old he was left in the mountains to herd sheep. He was alone all summer and he killed his first rattle snake. It was quite large, having nine rattles and a button. He kept these rattles all his life and added others to them.

George was a student of nature. It was a joy to walk with him in the canyons. He knew all the trees, bushed and plants, He knew what was good to eat and what was not, what would heal wounds and what to make a tea from for a fever or stomach ache. He knew animals and the birds. George was a great fisherman. He often took men from the East on fishing trips. He was classed as a very good guide. One time a man hired George to take him fishing. The man had all the latest fishing equipment. When he saw George's bamboo rods he told him not to expect him to share his fish. George caught all of the fish and gave them all to this man. He was quite a hunter, but he loved to fish most of all. He spent many winter evenings winding silk thread on his bamboo fishing rods. He also wound fishing rods for others for pay. At that time this was quite a skill. The silk thread was wound around and around the slender bamboo to give it strength, then a varnish was put on to give it a long lasting quality.

When George became a man he was slender and tall (about 5'10"). He had dark brown hair almost black and large deep set blue eyes. He was a kindly man and loved babies. On trips to the canyons he always made whistles from the limbs of the willow trees for all the children in the party. George was strong. One of his feats of strength he loved to show, when the young men were performing before the young ladies, was to bite the top off a picket fence. In his later life, he pulled his own teeth, and when they were all gone, he never got dentures. I don't think he was ever in a dentist's office, yet he could bite and chew apples with just his gums.

When a young man, George and his older brothers, built their parents a rock home, which still stands on the Highway at the South end of Beaver. However I think the new highway goes to the rear of this home. It is still owned by his half brother William (Billie.)The brothers hauled the stones from the mountains, dressed them and built the home. George was always a builder. He loved to have and handle good tools. He always took good care of his tools, sharpening his own saws and plane bits. He was also a dreamer. He could have done great things if he had had an education and incentive.

I know little of George's courtship of Minnie. I think they were very happy. They had many hard times. They were married 12 March 1884, by Judge Cox, in Beaver, Utah, where they made their first home. Their first child, a son, was born in Beaver 27 June 1885 and they named him William George. He was christened Thursday July 30, 1885 by Bakes and C.C. Harris. He died August 13, 1885 and was buried in the Beaver cemetery. At the time of their baby's death George's father Ellott said "Minnie could not raise children, she did not have sense enough" and that Minnie would always make George poor because she always at two things on her bread at once. Ellott always insisted the bread be cut very thick because it would not use so much butter. Although Ellott said unkind things, at heart he was a good and compassionate man. After the loss of George and Minnie's baby he made a trip to Salt Lake. When he came back to Beaver, he told Minnie that her stepmother was not her real mother and that her real mother had died when she was born. He told her her own mother's mother was still living in Salt Lake City and that he had visited her and she wanted Minnie to come to her. Minnie learned from Ellott that her Grandmother's name was Alice Bailey and that she lived in the home she had bought on second south between 10th and 11th East. This was a great joy to Minnie and she gave George no rest until he promised to move to Salt Lake.

One can only imagine Minnie's great happiness at being united with her Grandmother. She who had always been abused and imposed upon. At last she had a grandmother of her very own. She was always too overcome to talk much about this reunion. She did say she asked her Grandmother what her mother's name was. When her Grandmother said "Sarah Ann", Minnie broke down and cried. She could not bear to think her Sainted mother had the name she detested.

George and Minnie rented part of her grandmother Bailey's home and there, their next two children were born. Emma Jane and Ira. The summer after Ira's birth, Minnie and George lived at a place on what is now 9th East and 33rd South. George worked on the farm and Minnie did the house work. On Sundays they would walk to Grandmother Bailey's home and back. George carried Jane and Minnie carried Ira.

Sometime after Ira's birth, Minnie and George moved to 4th North and 4th West where their second daughter, Minnie Irene (called Irene) was born. When Irene was a baby they had some neighbors by the name of Hallgate. This couple had no children and begged Minnie to sell the new baby to them. They offered $1,000.00 which was a lot of money at that time. Minnie and George were very poor, but they would not sell their baby. When Irene was a baby Minnie thought her lost and had everyone looking for her. They found her asleep under the bed.

In later life Minnie's ambitions were greater than George's. Although they were very happy, Minnie wanted to progress in the church. George, although a Latter Day Saint, was not very interested. George was ordained a teacher by Brother Felt in the 11th ward in Salt Lake City, 24 Feb 1896. He had started smoking as a small boy while herding sheep and would not give it up. This prevented them from progressing in the church and this made Minnie unhappy. Minnie felt ashamed of George's smoking and tried to hide the fact. She would cough if he smoked in her presence when there was other's around. George, I think, to tease her would always leave the strings of his tobacco sack hanging from his pocket. He always smoked Bull Durham and rolled his own cigarettes.

From now on George will be called father or papa and Minnie will be called mother or mama, as we always called them

Sometime after the birth of Irene, father became homesick for his home and the people of Beaver and persuaded mother to move back there. While at Beaver their third son was born 16 Oct 1893. They called him Andrew Roskell.

After Andrews birth, mama wanted to go back to Salt Lake City and her Grandmother. So they lived again with Grandmother Bailey, then rented a part of a house in the south west corner of 10th East and 2nd South. After they came back to Salt Lake father had the city cemetery surveyed to find where mama's mother was buried. When this was done, papa made a headboard for her grave. He made it out of a plank and put a glass panel in the front. Minnie made a wreath of white flowers to go under the glass panel. George painted it all white, then he lettered it in gold with the inscription, "Sarah Ann Bailey Hold, born in England Dec. 7, 1840, died Salt Lake city, April 26, 1864. This always made mama very happy and when her Grandmother Bailey died, George made a headboard just like it for her. I remember them both very well..

At their home on 10th East and 2nd South, their next two children were born, girls. Sarah Ann, using the two initials S.A., who we called Essie; then Manila May, called May.

Jane wrote of this time: "Mother's grandmother Alice Bailey died while we lived in the house where May and Essie were born. Mother was heart broken. All ties of her own people were now gone. When it was summer we had lots f flowers and if we asked to go for a walk, mother would send Ira and I to the cemetery. We liked to go and take our flowers. Pa had the plot surveyed to find the exact grave of mother's mother, Sarah Ann. He made a lovely headboard and put a glass on the front. There was a place for artificial flowers, so mother made flowers to go in this space.
Pa took care of Great Grandmother Bailey's grave and to me it was my grandmother, the only one I could remember. I could not remember my grandma Willden."

When mama and papa lived on 4th north and 4th West, papa worked the summer at the City Cemetery. He was a garner and could make anything grow. Mama also had a 'green thumb' and always had beautiful plants and flowers both inside the house and in the gardens. Minnie and George beautified every place they lived.

After they moved to 9th East and 21 South, on top of what was known as Knight's store, their fourth son Norman Earl was born. Not long after he was born, they moved to a place called Lake Breeze, West on 2nd South. That winter was very difficult for all. It was a very cold winter. Water had to be carried about a block for drinking and cooking.

George though he had a good deal on raising hogs with a partner, but was disappointed, and their agreement fell through. Minnie took in washing and ironing. Ira and Jane picked up and delivered the clothes, as well as haul all the water.

Mr. Bear, who owned a store across the river going west, had a cherry tree that was very large in front of the store. He wanted it moved. He told George that if he would move the cherry tree and it lived, he would pay him $100.00. The tree lived and with the $100.00, papa and mama bought a lot at 113 Wilson Avenue.

In the spring George started to build a home on this lot. He was a good carpenter and would walk from the West side of town to the East side, both ways, carrying his tools on his shoulders. Although the house was just roughed in with the outside walls, roof, windows and doors, they were happy to move into this unfinished home, the fall of 1902. The following spring their fifth son Warren was born. In 1905, their last child, Marion John, the sixth son, was born.

Minnie and George made this home into a most beautiful place with large sloping lawns, flower gardens, vegetable gardens and fruit trees. There was a stream of water (Emigration Canyon stream) which was the division of their land on the west. George built a lovely pond of rock near the stream.

It was in this home that my childhood memories are the dearest. Here where I started school. The most pleasant thing I remember was the unity of our family. The winter evenings with all of us seated around the fire in our old pot-bellied heater. Father with the next to youngest child and mother with the youngest in their arms, singing together the old songs we loved and would ask them to sing. They both had very pleasant voices which harmonized beautiful. The songs they sang were: Religious, "Love One Another, Angry Words, Oh Let Them Never, Rock of Ages, Love At Home, Sunshine In Your Heart and other songs, Sweet Alice BenBolt, After The Ball, Over the Garden Wall.

Mama could sew, knit, crochet, make many kinds of rugs and make wonderful quilts. She had knitted socks and stockings for herself and her brothers and sisters as a girl. She loved to knit but she disliked to turn the heel. In the evenings mama's hands were never idle. After dinner we would card wool or make quilt blocks. Sometimes papa would help her cut quilt blocks and often help her make rugs. At one time papa bought Essie and I a trundle bed. He cut the blocks to make the quilts for it. The blocks were blue figured, berry and white, the blocks formed a chain, I believe it was to be called by quilt makers, "The Irish Chain". Mama made a quilt out of silk pieces. They were set on muslin and embroidered around each scrap.

Mama had many sayings. These sayings have stayed with me all my life. Some of them were; Sing before breakfast, Cry before night. Pretty is as pretty does. Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. Drop a dish rad, someone is coming dirtier than you. Never leave home unless your underclothing and person could be seen if you met with an accident. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. If a job is once begun never leave it 'till its done. Practice what you preach. Also, Judge not that you be not judged.

In the summer time we always went camping in the canyons. Papa almost always had a horse and light wagon and although our family was large we always had room for other families to go along. Usually it was pap's cousin Nell Livingston and her family. They would stay at our house the night before we left. We would get up at 4 a.m. put the food , utensils, and bedding in the wagon and all the children would climb on top, singing and laughing. When we came to a hill and the horse could not pull the wagon we would all climb down and walk up (the hill._ We did not make very good time, but we were happy, if we just made it into Parley's Canyon. We were a long way up if we got to the cement works and a very long way if we made it to Mountain Dell. If we went to Big Cottonwood Canyon, the old paper mill was about as far as we got. Before the reservoir was built in Parleys Canyon there was an old vacant school house, where we generally camped. Mother would clean the school house and make a very long bed for everyone. We slept in this order, first the oldest boy then the next, etc. to the youngest then father, then mother, the youngest girl and so on up to the oldest girl. We always slept warm and cozy.

Before these trips mother would spend days baking. Mother was a wonderful cook, she would make large loaves of bread, coffee cake, cinnamon rolls, pies and cakes and pot roasts. For one supper we always had round steaks, as only mother could cook them.

Mother and Father had some friends, I think their names was Jones. They always enjoyed mother's cooking, especially her pies. Mr. Jones wanted mother to go into the bakery business and offered to be her partner. He said he would furnish all the capital if she would just do the baking, but mother, due to the lack of educations, refused the offer.

There was always three holidays that we as a family celebrated. Christmas, the 4th of July and the 24th of July. We always looked forward to Christmastime. I can remember making gifts for all my brothers and sisters, usually a pen wiper for my older brothers and a pin cushion for my sisters. Mama always made sure that every one had gifts for each other. We always received a toy and an article of clothing from Santa. We hung up our stockings and Santa always filled them with nuts and candy, an apple and an orange. Papa always made some of our gifts, which included sleighs, wagons, wheel barrows for the boys, chair, tables, doll beds and cradles, and toy boxes for the girls. One Christmas time papa had made a doll house out of will branches in the shape of a log cabin.

Just before Christmas papa fell while shingling a house. He was badly hurt. The Dr. said he had a sprained back, but I am sure if it were today they would have called it broker and put it in a cast because from that time on he had a hunch back. He also had a broken arm and leg. They brought him home and the Dr. put his leg in traction. He was ill and out of work all that winter and mother had to support us as well as take care of him. Janie worked and helped and Ira left school and also got work. That Christmas day there was not many gifts and we had no oranges. Oranges were a treat, and usually only had at Christmas. We, my sister Essie and I wondered who papa would give the doll house to. She wanted it and so did I. Christmas morning papa called me into his room and gave the doll house to me.

On the 4th of July we always had fire crackers and if it came on a week end, we went up the canyon. On the 24th of July we always went to the Pioneer Parade. Mother made home made ice cream. It was always a big day.

The summer after we moved to our new home on Wilson Avenue, and after Warren was born mama was very ill. They called it Lung fever. She almost died. In fact, Dr. Stewart gave her up and gave papa some pills to give her, to help her pass on. Mama heard them talking and refused to take the pills. She asked papa to get some one to administer to her. Bishop Atwood and Brother Evans came and prayed for her to live for the sake of all her children. Brother Morris Young also had prayers said for her in the Temple. Mama seemed to know when this was done and she would ask us children to be quiet and pray also. Mama lived and regained her strength and worked as hard as ever. This was always her testimony.

Many things happened to our family, some happy and others tragedy. Like the time during a confinement, a tent in which mama had an incubator with many baby chicks caught fire and all of them burned. Mama had tried to go into the chicken business and it was a very great loss to her.

After they came back from Beaver to Salt Lake, mama entered Andrew in a baby contest. He was a beautiful healthy baby and he won first prize, which was a high chair, that was used by all of us. Mama said the other women who were there with their babies looked a Andrew, and then at mama, and then some of them even asked if Andrew was really hers. Mama, after that, would never let any of us enter a contest.

Mama and papa both went to the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple. They went to the afternoon session. I have papa's admittance ticket. This was on 17 April 1893.

On November 20, 1907 our oldest sister Jane was married to George E. Kilner, in the Salt Lake Temple. Mama and papa gave them a lovely reception in our home. George Kilner had bought a home in Salt Lake on Ramona between 11th and 12th East for himself and Jane. On October 13, 1908, mama and papa's first grandchild was born in the home on Ramona Ave. It was a little girl whom they named Helen Jane. I can't tell you how happy we all were. I thought it wonderful to be an Aunt at 10 years. On April 9, 1910 George and Jane had another girl who they named Dorothy Agnes, also born on Ramona Ave.

In the spring of 1911, papa and mama sold their home on Wilson Ave, George and Jane, also sold their home. They moved to John's Valley in Garfield County, where papa and George filed for a government homestead. Johns Valley is the long plateau that runs Northeast from Bryce Canyon, just over a range of mountains from Panguitch. They each had a homestead of 160 acres. Mama and papa also bought an acre of land in a small settlement, then known as Winder, later called Widstoe. We left Salt Lake early in June. I can well remember my mothers very white face as we left. She had opposed this move. She surely hated to sell her beautiful home and disliked the idea of us children leaving school for the farm and the hardship which she knew only too well.

Papa bought a team of horses and a covered wagon. They were bay horses named Tom and Dick. George and Jane also bought a team and a covered wagon. Their horses were gray and were called Duke and Monty. We children were anxious to go because it was a big adventure. We had a picture book farm in mind, with chickens, cows, pigs and horses, with beautiful fields and pastures. Instead we came to a wilderness with little else but pinon pine, cedar, sage and greasewood. It was so cold that most farm products would not grow, let alone ripen. Papa and George were talked into this move by a man by the name of Lige Thompson, who was a land promoter and wanted to start a community named after him. He never sold his home in Sugar House to come to the valley. Papa built a home on the lot in the town and put a tent on the homestead, where he lived when he was working the land. The only think we could raise there was heart ache.

The altitude was so high, crops froze before they ripened. During the two years we spent there, we were hungry for the necessities. One time we lived for months on beans and brown bread. We prayed for potatoes. Even the good cook that my mother was, she could not bake with the flour, that was milled in the vicinity, from frozen wheat. My brother Warren lost half of his right index finger when a cow mother was milking got loose and kicked back and caught his finger between her toes and jerked it off. Yet we had good times too. Any celebration was a family affair and everyone came to the dances. There was a lady who played the organ and an old man who asked me to dance. Everyone could dance well and I was always thrilled.

Norman and I got a job to take care of the school house. Norman had to cut the wood to heat it and I had to keep it clean. I think we were promised $12.00 for the school year between us.

It is said mother civilized the people of the Valley. She was the master of cleanliness and soon after we got there people began to borrow our wash tubs, wash boards and soap. They did not have these things before we came. The home papa built was a two story home. There were two very large rooms on the ground floor. The largest room was the kitchen and dining room combination and a parlor, which was also mama and papa's bedroom. The two large rooms upstairs was where we children slept. One room was for the girls and one was for the boys. The stairs went up the North wall of the kitchen. Under the stair was a pantry. The kitchen had large windows on the East and West. The door was on the East. The parlor had windows on the West and South. Papa made most of our furniture and soon we had a very cozy home.

In December 1911, our sister Irene married John Wesley Young (whom we called Wesley). They went to Salt Lake and were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

On March 3, 1912, Jane gave birth to mama and papa's first grandson. He was born in Tropic, Utah, the nearest place where there was a midwife. They called him George Earl. On October 29, 1912, Irene gave birth to her first child, also a boy who they called Jay Wesley. Jay was on the battle ship Arizona and was killed at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.

When we moved to Johns Valley, my brother Ira did not go with us. He, at that time was working as an accountant in Milford, Utah. In 1912 he went to Texas to work for a land promotion company as a bookkeeper and accountant. Ira never married. Soon after Ira went to Texas he starting sending papa and mama literature on this land development. Soon papa could talk of nothing else but going to Texas. He sold all of our possessions in Johns Valley and again mama had to part with her home.

The following is a poem written for mama when we left Johns Valley.

Written for Sister M.A. Willden on leaving Winder, Utah
by Louisa A Mangum

Time is fleeting, Time is speeding
All are tested in lifes race-
Only he is most victorious
Who in hearts have found a place
Only he who loves his fellows
And in turn, their love compels
Only he the most unselfish
In this race of life excels.

Let me say we had among us
For the two years almost past
One in who we ever trusted
One whose influence will last
She has been so useful to us
Ever steadfast earnest true
And the friends she's made among us
Can't be numbered with the few.

In April 1913, all of us, with the exception of Jane and Irene, went to Texas. Ira had obtained a home for us out of town a little way. The town was called Danburry. Papa started to look for land for us to buy. We did not stay in Texas. None of us liked it there. We were Mormons and the people in town would not accept us. I think they were afraid of us. When Essie and I would walk to town to get our mail, people would cross to the other side of the street. They would not walk on the same side of the street where we were walking.

We went on an excursion by boat down a Bayou, to the Gulf of Mexico for a picnic. This trip was a land promotion deal, of course, it was to sell this land, and all the people who had come to invest were invited. Everyone would ask each other "where are you from" and when we said Utah, they moved so fast to the other side of the boat, that it was almost swamped.

IT took a great deal of money for us to go to Texas by train. When papa decided that they did not want Texas, we had just enough to get back to Salt Lake, but not enough for Andrew to come back with us. Andrew got work and said he would work his way home, which he did. Ira was still working for the land company so he stayed in Texas. On our way back to Utah, papa decided to go to Fillmore and try to make a home and a living for us. We stayed a few days in Salt lake and then went to Fillmore in June 1913.

Jane and George had left Johns Valley before we went to Texas. Jane was always very unhappy there, and got very homesick for Salt Lake. George sent her to his mother's in Salt Lake on a visit and she refused to come back, so George sold their things and went home to Jane and his mother. George was not a farmer, yet he always wanted to be a land owner. He was a glass worker by trade, having learned his trade in England. He was a glazier, beveler and silverer. He was very good at his trade. George's father and two of his brothers were glass workers also.

When we came back from Texas we left Essie with Jane and George. So there were only four of us and papa and mama who went to Fillmore. We did not have much better reception in Fillmore than we did in Texas. It was told in Fillmore that papa had squandered all his money and had came to live off his relatives. (His sister, Aunt Jane and her husband and their family lived in Fillmore. When the four of us started school in Fillmore, we were called "Texans", although we had spent only a few months in Texas. I believe Norman had to whip all the boys in the town which was anywhere near his age. After he had done this he was respected and made many friends. Papa and mama never lived off anyone. They soon got a home for us. It was an old home, people said it was haunted. The only things that haunted it was bats, and in my unfinished bedroom up the stairs they flew around at night.

Papa got odd jobs and put in a garden. He also got some stands of bees for some work. This started us in the bee business. We got some furniture and once more had a home. Mama as always worked very hard. She sewed and ironed for other people. Papa worked as a carpenter and any other jobs he could obtain. Papa made quite a business with his bees. Mama had all the work separating the honey from the wax and I helped her. The wax was made into cakes and sold, the honey was bottled and also sold. Andrew joined us in Fillmore, and worked on the farms around. Irene and Wesley came to visit us in Fillmore and while there Irene had her second child, a girl who they named Delsa, born March 6 ,1918.

Papa was not happy in Fillmore and work was scarce for he and Andrew. He decided to move to Beaver about February 1915. Some of his people came from Beaver and moved us there. Papa rented us a house just north of town, where once more we tried to settle down. Papa bought a horse and wagon and started in the wool-hide business. He and Andrew would travel from town to town, farm to farm and buy the accumulation of hides. He would take these to the nearest railroad, bale them and ship them to Salt Lake to the Utah Hide and Wood Company. His wages and expenses were the difference between what he paid the farmer and what the company paid him for them. He did not make much money.

In May 1915, Jane wrote mama and said that she expected another baby. She said she would pay mama's way to Salt Lake if mama would come and take care of her and the children. Mama decided to go and took Marian with her. That left Norman, Warren and I alone much of the time. I was to cook, wash, and iron for the three of us and for papa and Andrew when they came home.

On May 29, 1915, Jane had her baby, a boy, who she called Rulon Lee. Mama wrote that two of Jane's friends also expected babies and begged mama to stay and care for them. They would pay her for this service. She told papa that she could get lots of this kind of work and that she was never coming back to Beaver. She told him to send or bring Norman, Warren and I to Salt Lake. That if he wanted he would come to Salt Lake and make a living there.

Once more I made a long trip by covered wagon. I went with papa, Norman and Warren. I know this is not a great distance today, but then it took about a week. At night I always slept in the wagon. Papa and the boys slept under it. Papa always cooked the meals on a camp fire, often hunting the game or fishing at a stream for our fresh food. There was at that time places which farmers or someone in small towns rented out called camp house. Here the wagon traveler could spend the night for about 50 cents. The 50 cents included hay for the horses. I think these were the fore-runner of our beautiful motels. We never stayed there unless it was very stormy. We arrived in Salt Lake late in June 1915. We stayed at Jane's for a few days then papa rented us a home on 3rd East near 33rd South. Mama was still working, so I took care of papa and the boys. Papa sold the horse and wagon and got odd jobs to do. We moved from this place to Garfield Avenue, just west of 7th East. At last mother was home with us. Essie also came home at last, after living with Jane several years. At that time, Essie worked for Sweets Candy Company, and obtained a job there for me. I met my husband there in October 1915, we had our first date November 1915 and I married John Jacob Hardy May 22, 1916

From Garfield Avenue, Papa and mama moved to about 19th East and 21st South. They rain a dairy and a farm for a man named Hyde. Then they m9oved to a house at about 12th East on 21st South. Here in August 1917, Essie married Charles Cook.
From here papa and mama then moved to Douglas street, then to Westminster and then to 2019 S 8th East. They lived in this home many years. And her in May 1922, the first great tragedy came to mama and papa. Their youngest son, Marion, then a handsome youth of 16, developed a mastoid ear and after an operation, died May 3 and was buried May 7, 1922 in the Wasatch Lawn cemetery. I did not think mama would ever get over this loss. I guess she never did. She learned to live with it, but she never became consoled. Marion was a great joy to mama, he was full of fun, but he also helped her a great deal with her house work. He loved to cook and would often bake a cake. He never wanted his boy friends to know he helped with the house work and cooking.

After Marion's death mama went to visit Jane who now lived in San Francisco. George and Jane moved there in January 1920. Mama took Warren with her. Warren got work in San Francisco and he started to learn the shoe manufacturing trade.

As soon as mama got to San Francisco she insisted that she wanted to find her step-mother and her half brothers and sisters. She didn't know exactly where to find them, so Jane began writing to the Post Offices in Southern California, (near Riverside) and after much effort finally found her. After visiting awhile she and Warren left San Francisco and traveled to Riverside. They found mama's step-mother in very ill health. She begged mama to forgive all the unkind things she had done to her when mama was a girl. Mama, of course, forgave her, and stayed and nursed her back to health. Mama was always very happy that she had been given the opportunity to spend this time with her step-mother, and had been able to do good for the evil that had been done to her. Later mama's half brother Walter and his son came to visit her in Salt Lake.

On October 26, 1922, Norman married Josephine Beckstead, and on September 23, 1925, Warren married Marvel Petro.

After mama's visit to California, she was very ill many times. At first she had a very bad sore on her knee, which the doctor called an ulcer. It took a very long time to heal, and she sat with her leg up until it got well. Then she had pneumonia and was very ill for months. Then she had a terrible case of vascular eczema and suffered a very long time with it. At times it would go away and then come back at one time this covered about half of her body. I thought she was tired, as Job was, and showed as much courage and faith.

On May 27, 1930, Ira died. Mama was in California visiting Jane and her family. Ira and papa were alone in the house on 8th East. One evening when papa came home he found Ira dead. He had died of hemorrhage. Again sorrow came to mama. Ira was buried June 2, 1930, in the Wasatch Lawn Cemetery. Ira had never been a well child. When a small boy Jane had to fight all his battles. He never married. He was always a big brother to me and after he came back from Texas he almost supported mama. Norman also support the folks. He worked very hard and paid all of Marion's funeral expenses.

Papa was sort of a happy go luck person. He was happy when he was traveling behind a horse. I remember on our covered wagon trips he would drive and always sing in a low voice. As I have said before, he was a builder. I can remember when I was very small he had worked all summer building cabins at Brighton. The snows came before he was through. All the rest had left and he was to finish up, then they would send for him. The snow came early and they could not get us the canyon. Papa built himself snow shoes and walked home. We children hardly knew him. He had a beard and a mustache but how glad we were to see him. Papa was always happy if he just had a little money in his pockets. After Marion died, papa got a job working for the Porte Publishing Company. He worked there quite a few years. He and mother both got a little bank account, but when all the banks went broke, during the depression, they lost it all. After Ira died, Andrew came to mother and father's assistance.

Andrew married Verda Jensen, January 24, 1930. He and Verda built a large duplex at 1997 Lincoln St. They lived in one side and mother and father lived in the other side. It was all new and beautiful, and at last mama had all the beautiful things her heart had always longed for. She had an electric range, beautiful draperies and a fireplace that they could sit and dream by. Later Andrew and Verda moved to Fresno, California. As usual they both worked very hard in the large yard and their flowers and vegetables were a credit to their labors.

Their life was quite happy here and it was here papa died on February 3, 1938 at 10:25 am. He was 73 years of age. He was buried on Sunday February 6, 1938. His services were held in the Lincoln Ward Chapel with Bishop Willard Richards officiating. The interment taking place in the Wasatch Lawn Cemetery.

Mama stayed on in the home at 1997 Lincoln St and just as soon as she could she applied for a recommend to go through the Temple. This was soon granted and the first part of May my dear friend Stella Bywater took her.

At last mama had achieved a life time desire. She hoped to work in the temple but about a week after she went through the temple, she had quite a severe stroke, and fell part way down her basement stairs. In a few days, after we found she could not walk, I decided to take her to my home and nurse her. I always felt this was the greatest privilege I ever had to repay in a small way the many wonderful things mama had done for me. Andrew did not think mama could ever live alone again. We decided to store her things and that she was to live with me. We got a wheel chair and I tried to make her happy, but she always longed for a home of her own.

In January, 1939, I found that after 14 years, since my last child was born, I was going to have another child. I tried to keep this news from mother, and she soon found out and after that she would not let me lift her or do for her. In April, Essie took mama to live with her, this was to be until after my baby was born, then she was to come back to me. Our baby was born May 20, 1939, a boy, named Paul Lee.

Early in the summer Andrew and Verda came up from California and took mother to Jane's home in Fresno, to live for a while. Mother was very happy with Jane. She even spent a few months with Helen and her family in Sacramento. In July 1941, Jack and I went to Fresno to bring mama home. We had May, Velma and Paul with us. Mama stayed a week or so with us in Salt Lake, but had promised Irene to spend a few months with her. It was there in Irene's home in Kamas Utah, that she had her final stroke. She died September 14, 1941. We brought her home and buried her September 18, 1941.