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Josie Juanita Abraham Charlesworth

Written by Josie Juantia Abraham Charlesworth

I was born II Nov. 1894, daughter of Sarah Evelyn Bingham and Abinadi Abraham in Kanosh, Millard Co., Utah. the second child of a family of eight children--4 boys and 4 girls: Leonard. myself, Myron, Manilla, James Sanford, Mona, Mildred and Clawson. Leonard, a year and a half older than I, was born in a little one-room home where my parents had lived since their marriage. Before the three-room adobe home could be finished I was born, which meant that quilts had to be hung to the windows and doors to keep out the cold air, until a carpenter could finish his work.

I attended grade school in Kanosh, up and including the eighth grade... Alice Watts was my first grade teacher, with school being held in the little one-room building, which was later used for Relief Society meetings, one block east of the church house. It was in this building that I fainted from standing too long at the blackboard, and as I fell I struck my mouth on a box, so Sister Watts walked me home. Susan Whitaker and Clara Robison were my next teachers. School was held, at that time, in one end of the old chapel. We then went into the new red brick school building, which was built in 1905.

My teachers were: Viella Allred, who only taught until Christmas because of one unruly child who misbehaved so badly. Katie Melville replaced her for the balance of the year. Kate Dorrity was my 5th & 6th grade teacher. John A. Watts was my 7th & 8th grade teacher. Since we didn't have high school close around, Hinckley, Utah was the nearest place, so I repeated the 8th grade under the same teacher because my parents didn't think it a good policy to send girls away from home to attend school without proper supervision. My older brother Leonard was permitted to go there, however..

I was baptized when 8 1/2 years of age by Benjamin Roberts in an irrigation stream north of Kanosh where they made a pond by banking the sides. I was confirmed the following Sunday in church by George Crane.

One day Mother sent me to get a start of yeast from Sister Larsen, Mother of Lillie Christensen. I took a small pitcher, but I liked yeast so well that I didn't get home with all of it, but enough to make some bread.

When very young my cousins Emaline, Acuma, Pricilla George and I gathered wild flowers for Memorial Day of sego lilies. Indian paint brush, wild daisies and roses. We picked and played until reaching the Hatton road, when I remembered Aunt Minnie Whitaker living in Hatton, formerly known as (Petersburg), so we went to her home and played until dark. My parents became worried, so they sent my cousin, Will Abraham, to search for us, not knowing just how far he would have to go. He found us there and Aunt Minnie suggested leaving us with her to spend the night. Will returned to Kanosh and told our folks we were staying, so they wouldn't worry. We ate a lovely supper with the family, and afterwards, were treated to some stick candy that Uncle Joe had brought from Fillmore. Aunt Minnie found each of us a nice white nightgown to sleep in. After a good night's sleep, and a delicious breakfast, we walked back to Kanosh gathering more flowers on our way.

As a child I helped on the farm, leading the horse on the derrick and tromping hay. Also, I helped plant and weed crops in the field, such as corn, and potatoes, etc. The only switching I got from my Dad was when I neglected a chore of herding cows out of the garden, thus they ate a whole row of cabbage plants.

My Mother slapped my hands one day when I put my fingers in a bucket of drinking water, as I was picking out pieces of ice. Mother had carried the water from nearly a block away. Our drinking water came from this ditch or from melted snow. Before our cistern was dug the water was turned down the ditch and dipped into a barrel, and ashes were added to settle it for washing. The cistern was a luxury, the water being drawn out by buckets on a pulley.

One special trip, going with my family, was when we went to the Edward & Katherine Mortensen Ranch east of the Indian Reservation, where we visited and spent the night. They were good friends of my parents, and Sister Mortensen was an excellent cook. The thrill of being there was because of the foothills, where we played among the cedar trees.

When I was very young, my family went to Gold Mountain in Kimberly (a mining town) to visit with Aunt Ann & Uncle Frank Penney. It was such a thrill when we were allowed to ring a gong so the men working in the mines would hear it and come for their meals. Two brothers, whose names impressed me, were Fitch & Lote Kenney.

My Father was a hard working, successful farmer. Mother was a faithful wife, and a true companion. She was a kind loving mother, slow to anger, while Father was rather quick-tempered, but a good honest man. Together they provided the family with all the necessary things of life, as well as a few luxuries. Father was a member of the town board, and really pushed for the water to be piped into town, and was still a member when it was finally accomplished.

At about the age of twelve four couples went to Black Rock for Easter. I was with Clyde Barrows, and we rode on a wagon pulled by a team of horses and we sat on spring seats. Arriving, we climbed the mountain and saw Indian footprints and arrows. Then, afterwards, ate the lunch we girls furnished.

A group of young people were headed for Warm Springs on a hay wagon when Charles Christensen noticed I wasn't with them so he came back to town on a horse and got me while the rest waited for us. I thought that was very considerate of him.

My Uncle Phillip Nadauld, my age, and I played together and had many good times climbing trees and doing everything boys did. He and I were such close friends: Phil's father, Grandpa Albert Nadauld, owned the only big mercantile store in Kanosh. After going out of business he let my friends and I go upstairs and play. One day we put on a show and charged a few straight pins for admission.

Flora Bird (Cuddy) and I ran a confectionary in this same store, where we sold ice cream and candy. We ordered candy C.O.D., which came in my name. We bought the cream from Mabel Rappleye and Lydia Hopkins, and our parents furnished the milk. We sold two sized dishes, one 5 cents and one 10 cents, with all the crackers they could eat. We went in the hole on this venture. Flora took the freezer and all I got was the SCOOP: Because of this debt, we went to Milford, Utah to find work as waitresses in a big hotel. We stayed across the street in a building owned by our boss. Lemuel Dorrity and his son Arnold were going to Milford with a wagon load of fruit and vegetables to sell, so Flora and I rode out with them. Later, Robert Watts became very concerned about our well-being out in that railroad town, where all types of men were, so he went to my Father and said he should have me come home. Father asked Collins R. Charlesworth to go out and get me, which he did, using his own team hitched to Father's white-topped buggy, which was one of the nicest in town. Flora didn't come home, but I did, and I settled my bill for the ice cream shop debt.

At about the age of fourteen I did spring house-cleaning for Vern Robison George, who lived in the house previously owned by my great-grandmother, Sarah Woolsey Hickerson, later belonged to Freddie Lawrence Bird. I knew very little about grandmother Hickerson other then when Mother took me to see her when she was near death. Vern had several children and I worked very hard for her. She had home-made carpets that had to be taken outside and beaten with a broom, on the clotheslines. The padding was fresh straw laid down on clean wooden floors, which 1 helped scrub. We washed walls in both large rooms. All dishes were taken out 0£ the cupboards, then washed and put back. Windows were washed inside and out, the curtains taken out, cleaned and hung. We cleaned a room each day, then on the third day we washed and ironed clothes all day. She paid me 75 cents for the three-day workout: I should have handed it back, but I kept it and bought some blue sheer material for a pretty dress.

Later on, I worked for Alice Watts, helping to prepare the meals for the Seguine carpenters, who were building her a home. I also helped with household duties. She paid me 50 cents a day without hesitating, and I had reasonable hours, too.

Father took me to Richfield, Utah to work for my cousin, Millie Ross Sly, who was expecting a baby. 1 stayed about three weeks and she paid me about a dollar a day. With this money I bought some material for a skirt, which she made for me. Being there almost a week too soon, I stayed with Aunt Mary Jane Ross, Millie's Mother.

I went to the Manti Temple with my parents, brothers and sisters, just before turning 18 years of age, for the purpose of my parents taking out their own endowments, and having we children sealed to them. This was 11 Oct. 1913, on my brother Myron's sixteenth birthday. I had a brother and a sister born after this time, in the covenant. Father's mother, Martha Phelps Abraham, also went with us to have Father sealed to her. We went by team and wagon, camping out one night each way.

I'll never forget the time I lost my Mother's beautiful brooch and never found it. Another time, we were playing hop-scotch in front of Aunt Ann Penney's when I hung my new hat on a post and it blew into a ditch and was ruined.

I dropped and broke a beautiful doll that was given to me by my Grandfather John Bingham.

I lost a new pair of galoshes at a children's dance and I knew who got them. I felt terrible about it, so Mother wrote a note and I took it to the girl's mother, who sent the new galoshes home with me.

Vie Watts (Lewis) and I had some enjoyable times together. It seemed we found more foolish things to laugh about than any other two kids. We were walking through the Square one day when we met George Hunter, her, Cousin, who said, "How are you girls?" And she said, "How's yourself?" This was rude to say to him, but we giggled and laughed all the way home. In school Vie had a little 'ditty: that I've never forgotten. It was, "Now, what do you t'inks, Johnny?" "I t'inks nothing Dad." "You do. You t'inks DAM YOUR OLD DAD. Now, I'll fix you for 'dat." I've remembered this all of my life.

I spent a few summers in Fillmore with Aunt Martha and Uncle Rob Seguine. I remember the pretty organdy dress she made for me. It was trimmed with white lace on the square collar. While there, I was churning cream into butter, and it took me such a long time that when I tried to stand up my legs had gone to sleep and I fell forward, tipping the churn over, spilling all the cream. It was a tall wooden churn with a dash.

One of the most enjoyable entertainments that came to town, when I was a small girl, was a circus on the public square. It was a family show by the name of Godfrey. They were tight- rope walkers and actors. They had twin girls named Zeima & Trelma. Two babies in Kanosh were named after these twins, Zelma Watts and Trelma Penney.

As a child, I had to turn the grindstone while Father sharpened the mower blades and I hated every minute of it because it was a long blade and had to be sharpened on both sides.

Some of the games we played were: Run Sheep Run, Hide & Seek, and Hop Scotch. We often had bonfires and roasted potatoes.

Our group of girls seemed to have no trouble finding ways of amusement. We had parties of making candy, ice cream, popping corn, and at times, we would include the boys our age.

The dances were held in the top of the old church house, until it was condemned, then they were held in the Cultural Hall. Besides the Cultural Hall, dances were also held in the old school building, which was purchased by Bill Fennemore, and was remodelled for a dance hall called the Rebel Hall. He and Weldow George were partners and tried to draw people away from the other dance, which my Father and other faithful ward members were opposed to. I attended some of the dances there, even though Father was against it. However, he didn't try to stop me from going. People from other towns came and bought tickets for both places, and would go back and forth during the evening. Later, Mr. Fennemore acknowledged that this was wrong, so discontinued holding dances there.

I never had to be forced to go to Sunday School, Primary, Sacrament Meeting or Mutual. It seemed to be the important things in my life to do. One of my favorite Primary teachers was Mary Rappleye Barney. My Father asked me to help him sing a song in Mutual, which I did.

One time when I was to Ida Cumming's with Flora, a brother-in-law (Dr. Winters and wife) were visiting them. I had a lump on my wrist so the Dr. looked at it and took hold of my hand, picked up a book and said, "What is this book?, I said, "It's a Book of Mormon", and he hit the lump with it, and I said, "Oh, Hell:" It happened so fast, and startled me so that I swore before I hardly knew it. He laughed and said it was a cist. It never came back again.

Some of my favorite, 3 dresses that I remember so well were: a pretty green one, flannel- type material, which Mother made into a two-piece outfit with green velvet collar and cuffs. The top had a peplin that came over the skirt. Another I really liked was a pretty canary yellow satin, long dress, trimmed in black. Flora and I bought the material and Ida Cummings made her sister Flora and I one alike. We did her washing for her while she sewed. I was supposed to go back the next day to iron, but I was so sick with the cramps from standing in the wash water so long the day before, that I couldn't go back. I never did tell Ida why I didn't come back, and I have felt guilty ever since!

I remember the Saturday night having Isaac Stott, a fellow from Meadow, Utah bring me home from a dance, and he asked me for a date for Sunday night. I was too scared and bashful for him to come to the house, so I disappeared up town with my girl friends and wasn't home when he came. He never did come back again, and I should have apologized, but didn't!

One Halloween, that I remember well, was when Acuma and I went snooping to Lizzie George's where Uncle Frank Christensen and friends were having a party, but Uncle Frank caught us in the act, and switched us out of the gate.

Flora Bird Cuddy and I were real good friends. She would usually stay with her sister, Maggie, when she came to town from Hatton. She invited me to go to Hatton and stay one night. Her mother was such a hard worker, and so generous: I can't forget the fried chicken and hot biscuits she served us for breakfast, and delicious groundcherry pie, with cream from the pantry, she served for supper the night before.

Occasionally, we went to dances in Fillmore, Utah. One night we stayed with Aunt Martha Seguine and two boys took us home. Flora was with Albert Robison, and I with a school teacher, Bert Trimble.

At about seventeen years of age, Father took me to James Kelley's Store in Fillmore, Utah and bought me a beautiful black plush coat, lined with orchid satin, of which I was very prou d. Father gave him a twentv dollar gold piece for it. I was the first one in town to have a coat like this until Margaret Erickson came to Kanosh on a visit wearing one. I later bought a pretty black hat to match it by selling a new type flexible steel corset for my Aunt Agnes George, who was the agent. She turned the business over to me and I delivered them to the customers.

As young girls we danced with boys our own age, then as time went on, we went with older boys, but were not allowed to get on the adult's dance floor until we were 14 years of age. I was really proud when Collins R. Charlesworth asked me for a dance, then when he asked me for a date, I was absolutely thrilled: Even though the dance hall was quite large it was necessary at times to be called by numbers because of the crowd. Collins loved to dance so well that his father gave him enough money to buy 2 or 3 tickets, so he could dance every set. He was a good dancer and a fine figure on the floor. I think that was the one thing that attracted him to me. He was also a good mixer, and his ready wit helped him to gain many friends.

I was with my Mother, up to Grandma Nadauld's, picking English currants when Coll came there to ask if I could go to Lost Creek by Salina, Utah with him to help his brother-in-law, Charles Prows haul hay for a few days. My parents trusted me with him. I think I was a big help to Mabel (Coll's sister), as she had a large family to care for, as well as cooking for the hay-haulers. She was also pregnant with one of her daughters and we had lots of washing each day.

Coll and I kept company for two years or more before he proposed marriage. I felt I was too young and that we should wait two or three years so we did. When he asked me which I would rather have, an engagement or a wedding ring, I told him I wanted both, and got them. He purchased the engagement ring from William Fennemore, marked $40.00, but he sold it to him at cost--$20.00.

I was nearly twenty and Coll twenty-four when we were married, on 24 June 1914 in the Manti Temple. We drove to Richfield in a buggy where we stayed overnight, I staying with Aunt Mary Jane Ross and he with his Uncle George Charlesworth. The following morning we took the train to Manti. The temple robe and veil that I wore were borrowed from Annie Crane. After the wedding we went to A jewelry store and bought a wedding band for $5.00, then spent the night in a hotel there. We then went back, to Richfield and stayed with Aunt Mary Jane Ross overnight then came back to Kanosh.

My folks gave us a lovely reception which was held on their lawn. Melissa Charlesworth Burnham, Aunt Martha Seguine, and Ora Paxton Anderson helped my Mother with the preparations. Every married couple in town was invited, along with all the young people, with whom we associated. My Mother bought the white satin sharmoose material for my wedding dress. Elsie made it as her wedding gift to me. The guests were served a banquet, which was the usual thing in those days, and cost my folks plenty. We received so many lovely gifts, and such a variety of useful things: The groom had to hire the dance hall and pay for the orchestra.

We stayed with my folks for several days before moving into a two-room log house. Our first day there my Mother gave us the necessary house-hold items: salt, pepper, butter, sugar, jam, eggs, bread, etc. She helped wallpaper and get the house comfortable, but before we moved in Aunt Jane Charlesworth told me the house was crawling with bedbugs, so we put cayenne pepper in a cooked flour paste (used when we wallpapered). I went around the edges of the mattress and other places with coal oil and wasn't bothered after this until later when we left the house vacant for two summers while spending them at the Jew Farm. I noticed this when Leora was the baby and her hands were red with bites. This process was repeated again to get rid of the bugs. This house was given to Coll by his father James Charlesworth. Coll's brother Jim let us use some of his furniture until we could buy things for ourselves. We sent back east to the Hartman Furniture Company and got a round table, six chairs, a rocking chair, cupboard, bed & bed springs, all for less than $100, and they even paid the freight. My folks gave us a little heater and steel couch, and Jim let me, use Clyde's sewing machine. Jim lived with us when we were first married, until the first of November, while his wife, Kitty Clyde went back to Kentucky to visit her folks. My sister-in-law Melissa moved in with us also. She was a big help to me, as we bottled and worked together. I did enjoy her company, but this created an unpleasant situation in my marriage, because we women slept together and the men together.

Coll worked with his father on the farm for a living. Clyde and I husked corn for days to fatten pigs while our husbands were in the fields. We had a lot of fruit trees and owned a cow, pigs, a horse, and gradually got more livestock around us. I'll never forget the time our bull chased us. He got out of the pen and took after Coll and I, and we barely made it to the granary. Coll stopped him with the pitchfork. We found the bull dead one morning and felt that someone had poisoned him because of his viciousness.

While Leonard was herding sheep in Kimberly, Coll and I took Mother and Leonard's wife Florence, in a Model A Ford up to see him. We were within about a mile from camp but had to walk the rest of the way. Leonard cooked us a real delicious breakfast of mutton. We put Mother on a horse to go back to the car.

On the 20th of March 1915 we were blessed with a baby daughter who we named Carma. Dina Dorrity was the mid-wife and helped to deliver her. Three other daughters were born here: Dathel 10 June 1918, Leora 12 Feb. 1922, and Geraldine 23 June 1926. By the time the fourth child was born, Aunt Ann Penney could see that we needed more room, so she suggested just how this was to be done and she did have good ideas, so our home was divided, making four rooms Instead of the two larger ones.

Ervin and Ethel Roberts were very dear friends to us and we did lots of visiting together and made ice cream many times. Ethel and I would do our sewing together for our babies. I was up to their home when it started snowing and it kept up all day. I suppose Coll figured I would stay there all night or Ervin would see me safely home, which he did. He walked ahead and made a trail the best he could, and I followed with the baby in my arms. When I got home, Coll was settled comfortably in bed. He had set the table for supper, thoughtful or thoughtless Ethel and Ervin spent part of their married life in California and coaxed us to come down and spend one winter. In January 1917 we went by train and stayed in one of the Japanese houses that the Turners had in charge. It was surrounded by orange groves that the Japs owned. The house was large and looked like a big barn, with a built-in cupboard, a table, a small oil stove, and a couple of chairs and a cot. My brother Myron and Lloyd Rogers stayed with us, as the men worked in the orange groves. While there Clara Roberts and Della Paxton kept Carma for us while we went to Los Angeles over-night. The highlight of this trip was to see the Sunken Gardens. We went by bus and had to go ,through the groves to get to the highway to meet the bus. Coll got turned around when we got off the bus to come to the house and started going in the opposite direction, but he accepted my judgement that time. While we were enjoying this nice California weather, my dear Mother was concerned about our home and put a lantern down cellar with a blanket up to the door to keep the fruit from freezing. We came home in March and stopped in Milford to see Melissa. She was homesick to visit with us so Coll went on home, leaving Carma and I for an extended visit. Carma had her second birthday there. Georgia Melissa's daughter, enjoyed having Carma there to play with her.

Power was brought into Kanosh in 1926, twelve years after we were married. We did have a beautiful gasoline lamp that we bought from James Cortsen that we used until that time. I was happy to get a Maytag washer, which helped me greatly. Coll sold his choice milk cow to Alonzo Kimball for $200 to purchase the washer. This beat scrubbing by hand: During the time we were living in the log house, we spent two summers at the Jew Farm, two miles west of Hatton. Coll and I attended some of the dances at Winopa, about a mile away, where people could swim and dance. Our children could hear the music from the house. People from far and near attended this weekly dance and we could watch car-lights coming from all directions. The water was piped from the hot springs and Winopa got its name from "Wino--meaning good, and Pa--meaning water:" Vernon Hunter received the prize for making up this title.

I worked hard as a farmer's wife, working side by side with my husband, doing such things as mowing hay, guiding the derrick horse, milking cows, feeding cattle, tromping hay, besides doing lots of cooking for my family and the threshers.

We always had a big beautiful garden and I helped plant, irrigate, weed and harvest the produce, besides filling our cellar with bottled fruit, vegetables, jams, pickles, and etc., and also filling our root cellar with apples, carrots, turnips, cabbage, potatoes, etc.

As we didn't have a refrigerator, we used a cooler outside, which had screen on all sides to keep the flies out. It contained several shelves to hold the pans of milk which I skimmed to make our own butter, in a wooden churn that was turned by hand. Many pounds of butter were molded in using my wooden mold and paddle. Besides drinking the good, cold butter- milk, I used it in my cooking to make delicious hot biscuits nearly every morning. This cooler was covered with burlap to soak up the water which ran constantly from a slowly drizzling hose fastened to the tap.

Another enjoyable place for families to go was the Warm Springs northwest of Hatton. We travelled by team and wagon to swim in the natural warm water, then we would eat supper that we would take with us. There was no privacy, so after swimming we would hide behind sagebrush to dress. It was about an 8 to 10 mile ride back home, but we were comfortably snuggled down in home-made quilts.

I had never driven a car until Lloyd. my son-in-law insisted that I back his car out of his lot. Not knowing anything about a car. I stepped on the gas instead of the brake, and shot across the street, just missing a ditch when it finally came to a stop!

Another experience driving was when Coll and I were returning to Kanosh from taking a load of chickens to the Jew Farm. He insisted I drive the Model A car. I thought I could see some men on the highway so made a sharp turn to avoid hitting them, causing the car to tip over. Neither of us was thrown out, but Coll's head went through the slats in the top, breaking them, costing him a new cover for it. It was really horses that I saw instead of men!

Thressa Whitaker Whatcott and I picked and bottled cherries for Aunt Alzada Day when she was laid up with a broken hip. She only wanted a dozen quarts and told us to take the rest. We were glad to help her and we were pleased to get some nice cherries for ourselves. Aunt Alzada didn't live long enough to enjoy the cherries. I was coaxed to run a race with Effie Cummings Ross on the fourth 0f July. I was sure I could outrun her, as I was a young married girl, while she was older and rather short. I was given a silver dollar for winning: She was real pleased when I gave her half of it, as she did her best.

Clyde and Jim Charlesworth, Charles and Mabel Prows, Melissa C. Burnham, Florence Christensen, Coll and I went to the dedication of the Mesa Temple in Arizona in 1927. President Heber J. Grant was President of the Church at that time and he dedicated it.

While still a young married woman I took one of the leading parts in two plays which were so ably directed by Hyrum Prows. I took a part opposite Wilford Whitaker and my name was Ruth. I made me a dress for the play of red striped material. For the last scene I wore a white pleated skirt borrowed from Lois Gardner, and a pretty blouse I had. In the second play I have forgotten who was the other main character, but I took the part of Alma. My Father was amazed as to how well I remembered all my lines.

Edna Abraham, Parley Kimball, Grant Staples and I were on a committee to raise money for a missionary fund. We put on a good program, asking two parts from each organization, which made a full evening's entertainment for everyone. The Ward members furnished the sugar for all kinds of candy that we made to sell. This helped greatly towards the missionary fund.

Coll heard that Ella Gardner's home was for sale so he and I went across town to look at it. A. A. Kimball, a neighbor, had it in charge. This was on a Saturday night, and Brother Kimba11 called Ella in California, told her we wanted to purchase her home, and the deal was made right then! Coll paid her $2500 cash, and the house was furnished, all except the piano, but we already had one we bought from Ed Rappleye. Coll asked about the new cream separator, and Mrs. Gardner said we could also have it in the deal. After having lived in a small log home, this large one seemed like a mansion to us.

We soon had berry bushes of all types, asparagus, fruit trees, a grape vineyard, artichokes, and a big area for a garden, besides chickens, pigs, cows, horses, a cellar, a vegetable pit, and other out-buildings, one of which was an "old four-holer" with three large holes and one smaller one for the children. We supplied the wiping paper with a big supply of Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogues!

Iris was born 6 Apr. 1931, the last of our five children. We put in cement walks and porches, and had the kitchen remodeled by James Ransen, who asked for $60.00, but later decided he should have $70.00, which we were happy to pay because he saved us a lot of money by using old lumber he found up in our corral. Coll was upset about me hiring the job done right then because he was so busy in the turkeys, but he was happy about it later.

I remember wanting a nice shiney tea kettle instead of an old gray granite one, and I asked Coll to bring me one from Fillmore, but he purchased the kind I had asked him NOT to bring and he sent it to me by Athella Avery, thinking I would accept it, but I made him take it back, and I bought the kind I had been wanting in our Kanosh store.

In 1936 we had an Abraham Family Reunion at our home in Kanosh. I baked and prepared food for days, and made eleven beds to accommodate the crowd. Carma took pictures of each family group.

Ruby Iverson, Uncle Frank Christensen, and Coll and I danced in a program in Fillmore where each ward in the stake had to furnish a part. We two couples danced the Mazurka for our part and everyone seemed to have enjoyed it very much.

Some of the trips we took were when Sheridan and Faye Prows, Leonard and Florence Abraham, Coll and I went to the canyons in southern Utah. Another, was when Clyde and Jim Charlesworth, Alice and Frank Christensen, Coll and I went to Yellowstone in our red car. Another was when Leonard and Florence Abraham, Coll and I went to Canada. We visited Idella and Lynn Hatton in Kalisbell, Montana then on to the Redwood Forest, on to San Francisco, Calif., then to Grass Valley to visit Sanford and Leah.

Geraldine and I went to Ely, Nevada in our car to look for pinenuts. We met Will and Laura Cummings out there, and all of us spent a night at Mona and Ed Robison's. We found enough pinenuts to be able to bring some home.

Our family went to LaVerkin, Utah for an Easter Sunrise Ceremony. We left real early because Coll (unbeknown to the rest of us), set the clock ahead so we wouldn't be late. It was beautiful to see the sun coming up over the mountain, and we ate breakfast under a blossoming apricot tree. All of us fell asleep on our way home. and when I awakened I saw that Coll was travelling 90 miles an hour, so I put a stop to that!

When my neighbor, Sister Annie Watts, passed away her two daughters, Jean and Atelka came while I was washing clothes outside, and asked if I would speak at their mother's funeral. It was a shock, but an honor. Coll was also asked to talk. One day Sister Watts told me that I was a good neighbor, but not neighborly, so I added this to my talk.

In 1938 Coll and Preal George went into the turkey business, and it looked as if they might lose their shirts, but they came out alright, and cleared $2,000 each, and went into the business again the following year, but only netted $700 each because they lost so many turkeys. A group of Gypsies came one day to the turkey herd, and a Gypsy woman went into the camp wagon to draw Coll's attention, opened her kimono thinking it would impress him, but it didn't. This happened while the men were trying to steal some turkeys. As far as Coll knew they didn't get away with any turkeys.

We also went into the chicken business, making money each year until prices of eggs dropped and feed raised, so we quit. One discouraging experience was when the large irrigation stream came down and drowned about 200 chickens that we were raising across the road from my parent's home. During the depression years of 1932-33, we lost a lot of cattle from starvation. We couldn't buy hay so fed the cattle oil cake.

My husband was called and set apart as Bishop of the Kanosh, Utah Ward 9 Jan. 1949, and served nearly four years, at which time a new ward chapel was built and dedicated in 1952 by Alma Sonne. It was the Bishop's duty at that time to take care of all finances, tithing, etc. When it was time to count the tithing each month, we would pull the blinds and latch the door so nothing would be seen from the street. Sometimes we would work until midnight to get the money to come out just right. Reed Wood was the auditor, and would come down monthly, and he said it was a pleasure to check our books because they were a ways so orderly. In fact, Coll said he wouldn't be the bishop if I couldn' t be the bookkeeper for him.

After being released as Bishop Coll and I went to Salt Lake City, Utah. We stayed at Aunt Alice and Uncle Frank Christensen's, and got a job at Z.C.M.I's, at which time we received a mission call. Before we left the Christensens, they gave us a going-away party, where their family members and a few friends attended.

We went to Kanosh and stayed a few days with Leora and Lloyd until we could get packed to leave for our mission 14 Feb. 1953, for a two-year Southwest Indian Mission, with Gallop, New Mexico our headquarters, with Golden R. Buchannan as President. We communicated with the Lamanite adults through their children who were taught English in school. Some of the people were located by following a road through the trees to their hogan. Doctors insisted on them having names for their villages so they could be located more easily, thus they chose names of states such as New York and Pennsylvania. We had to go across a small bridge, which was called the Booklyn Bridge. A bridge over a wider creek was called London Bridge. We first lived in a chapel built by the church at Sawmill, Arizona. Everything was ready for lights and water, but had not been put in as yet. We had to use coal-oil lamps and haul our water in milk cans. Down below the chapel was a spring and we carried our water from it to wash with. For fire wood we were given pieces of lumber from the mill, but had to buy coal.

The two elders, who were being released, were asked to stay a few days to go with us to introduce us to the Indian members. We had a good supply of food with us, so they were well taken care of. They borrowed our truck to visit their friends before they left, and at that time the snow was melting and the mud on the roads was ankle deep. Some of our friends reported to us how these missionaries took advantage of our generosity, and really raced the motor to plow through the mud! One of the elder's parents came to see the country and to take him home. They spent one night with us, and the weather turned off real cold, and we had quite a time finding enough bedding to keep them warm. We had to keep a fire burning all night.

I was blessed with a special talent in making flannel board characters (because I am not an artist), but I was able to draw impressive pictures to use while an Indian lady interpreted as I presented my stories in Sunday School.

An elderly Indian woman was promised in her patriarchal blessing that her skin would be white before her death, and before she passed away she showed me the parts of her body that were already white, and her promise was fulfilled.

We were released from our mission 15 Feb. 1955, and were home only about four months when we were called on a two-year mission to the Manti Temple. We were set apart 6 June, 1955, and released 31 July 1957. We lived in a little white house at the foot of Temple Hill. While there I made a pretty (three-circled) braided rug and gave it to the Temple, which was put in Sister Anderson's room where we all met to have prayer. Everyone admired it and said that it just set the room off, but after the Temple was recarpeted my rug seemed to have disappeared, and no one knows where it went.

There were many get-togethers on the north side of Temple Hill where lovely entertainments were presented. Each year a Pageant is held on Temple Hill called the Mormon Miracle which lasts several days. Thousands of people attend this Pageant and come from all over the world to see it.

After the Christmas and New Year's holidays spent in Kanosh we were coming back to Manti, near the Mayfield turn-off, and Nine-Mile Reservoir, Coll dozed at the wheel and turned our truck over and back upon its wheels. I received one or two broken ribs and my glasses were knocked off, but they didn't break. Coll received bruises caused from the jar against the steering wheel, but didn't have any broken bones. We had a lot of food we were bringing back with us, including some eggs that were thrown out, but weren't broken. Ross and Carma took us to Dr. Davidson in Manti, and he released us to go with them back to Marysvale to recuperate. Afterwards, we returned to Manti to finish our mission there.

In January 1958 Coll and I were in Garden Grove, California visiting Geraldine and Franklin when Coll became ill with an enlarged heart. Our other four daughters came down with Terrill and spent some time while their father was convalescing in the hospital. Following this time we went to Salt Lake City. We lived in the Sherrill Apartments two months for $60.00 a month, then moved to the William Adams Apts. for $42.50 per month. We were called to work in the Salt Lake Temple 27 Jan. 1959, where we labored until Coll had a stroke, leaving him paralysed on one side. From the hospital he was taken to two different rest homes. I then thought I could take care of him and decided to take him back home to Kanosh, but before moving down I had a lot of scrubbing, cleaning, and painting that had to be done in the house, as it had been rented out for several years. Some women, along with my daughters, came to help clean and paint. Family members and friends came to lower the ceiling in the front room, and also put tile on the ceilings of some of the other rooms. Many hours of hard work went into this. Terrill and Iris took me to Salt lake City to get our furniture, and a rug I purchased from the Deseret Industries. My grandson, Glen Whitaker, took me to S.L.C. to bring Coll home. Luke S. Johnson could see how much a lift would help me so he built one just like he saw in a hospital when his sister was there. It was such a great help in lifting Coll on and off the bed! After a while our daughters could see that I would lose my health if something wasn't done, but he wanted me at his side constantly, so they went to Fillmore to talk to Dr. Evans and he advised them to bring Coll to the hospital for awhile, to give me a rest, which they did. He remained in the hospital about two months when we took him to a rest home in Mayfield, Utah, close to Ephraim where Carma and Ross could check on him.

Not long afterwards, our daughter Leora and I took Coll to a rest home in Parowan, Utah because of the neglect received at Mayfield. It was that day that the attendant discovered a bed sore where the bone was protruding, surrounded by proud flesh, and it was inflamed: They thought I knew all about this condition and so they didn't want to accept him there, but I let them know that I was shocked myself, that I had no knowledge of this, so they kept him there and started medication.

Not long afterward, Coll was taken to the Cedar City Hospital because of pneumonia. There, he passed away 20 July 1962 at the age of 72 (lacking 4 days). The funeral services were on 25 July because of Aunt Minnie Whitaker's funeral in Kanosh on the 23rd, and also because of the 24th of July celebration. President Golden R. Buchannan, who was our Southwest Indian Mission President, came down from Salt lake City to be the Special speaker.

I stayed in my home in Kanosh until after the first of the year, when I went to Tempe, Arizona and stayed with my sister, Manilla. I also stayed a few days with our relatives Joseph and Harriet Stradling in Mesa. While in Arizona, I wrote to the Salt Lake Temple President Smith to see if my release had gone through, since 1 had already asked for it. I received a letter, by return mail, saying they had my release papers on the desk, ready to send, but were happy that I wanted to come back as a worker, and they received me with open arms. I moved into the Kimball Apartments for 10 months, then to the Duplex Place for 4 years, then in the Royal Arms Apartments, across the street north of Temple Square. I have been greatly blessed to have good health, and am still enjoying my temple work. I have had, and still have close association with wonderful people. I have become acquanted with the sisters in the Royal Arms Apartments, who hold regular Home Evenings, and other get-togethers.

I worked 9 * years at the Salt Lake Stake Retirement Home, under Brother John Huefner, the Administrator, setting up tables and preparing them for meals, then clearing them afterwards. I also saw to it that each person received what medication was needed, but there were no bed- patients admitted in this Home.

In January 1978, I started working two half-days at Welfare Square filling orders for the needy. They don't pay cash, but commodities, which really helped with my grocery bill. Several women and I, from our Ward, caught a bus to and from work. I felt privileged to have been chosen to sing with a group of Relief Society women from ten stakes in the October 1974 Conference, in the Tabernacle. Ellen Nielson Barns was the director, with Alexander Shriner and Robert Cundick as organists. I purchased one of the recordings of this program.

I was released from the Salt Lake Temple, as an ordinance worker, after serving in that capacity for over twenty years. One trip we took before Coll passed away was one to Canada. Charles Sherman, Mary Walker, and Peggy Blinco went with us. We stopped in Brother Sherman's home town in Bremmerton, Washington, where we saw his son, who was living in his home. We did a lot of sight-seeing along the way and saw a lot of beautiful scenery. This was the last trip Coll and I took together.

Since that time, the trips; have taken are: One to New York's World Fair on a bus tour with Edith Kimball, Ila Black, and Adelia Cortsen. Ila was my partner. Another one was when I went with my daughters, Carma and Leora on a trip to the Bahamas. We left 28 Apr. 1972, which took us to Nassau, Florida, Deep South, and Romantic Bahamas, and were gone 17 days. I took a Tour Bus Trip in the northwestern states into Canada. Elsa Walker was my partner. On 4 Sept. 1979 Leora took me on a fishing trip to Soda Springs, Idaho, where we spent some time with Gloria, Clawson and family. We did some fishing nearby, but had no luck. Leora had her trailer and we fished along the way back home, but still had no luck at all! In 1980 Leora took me to Nevada to spend the holidays visiting friends and relatives. We watched the Rose Parade on Naomi's beautiful huge television, then she and EvaDean showed us many lovely places, including taking us to an exclusive place for dinner.

On 5 Dec. 1980 I went with Dathel and Willard to St. George to go through the Temple with their son John and Shelley Heki, who were married the following day. On the way down we slid across the highway on black ice, breaking a tire. Luckily, no one was hurt: I remained in Nevada with Leora until after Christmas. She was camped in her trailer at Boulder Beach.

On Sunday, 1 Feb. 1981, I went to Vernon, Utah with Dathel and Willard for the blessing of my first great great grandchild, son of Vickey Lee (Martin) and Kim Pehrson. He was named Brandon Lee, grandson of Linda (Whitaker) , and Gail Martin, great grandson of Dathel and Willard Whitaker.

Elsa Walker took me to the hospital in American Fork to see my brother Leonard, who was very ill. We went on to Annabella to see Carma who fixed us delicious meals and nice beds to sleep in. Then she took us up to Fish Lake where we met Leora and Lloyd and had a lovely meal with them. We spent another night with Carma, on our way home. I paid all expenses for Elsa's car.

I attended Ed and Mona Robison's Golden Wedding Anniversary 3 Oct. 1981, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Manilla and I rode down with Clawson and Gloria. This was an elegant affair given by their four children. It was a Hawaiian Luau, where each of us was presented with a lei to wear. The food was not only delicious, but a work of art. It was a beautiful setting, with music for those wanting to dance. It was one of the nicer get-togethers because so many attended whom we hadn't seen for such along time.

I have enjoyed good health all of my life, except the time when I had streptococus erocypolus, a very contagious disease and very serious. At the time the infection I had, ate the membranes between my two nostrils. I was down with this sickness for about two weeks. My Mother brought something to eat nearly every day to help out with our meals.

My Church callings have been: a teacher in each organization, and a visiting teacher in the Relief Society most of my married life, a counselor in the Relief Society to Florence Abraham, with Vie Paxton as the other counselor. I was president of the Relief Society with Faye Prows and Freda Christensen as counselors, and Alice N. Christensen as Secretary. I was in this position during the Centennial year in 1942. I served as President of the YMMIA during the time Mark C. Black was president of the Young men.

 

To my dear family,

I am so thankful for the testimony I have of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for the knowledge I have that it was restored to the earth in these Latter Days through the Prophet Joseph Smith whose name I revere. The Lord has blessed me in so many ways and always keeps His promises, that if we pay our tithes and offerings, our blessings will be so great that we can hardly contain them. I can truly say that the Lord has blessed me with all the good things in life, including health and protection and will still bless me if I am faithful in keeping His commandments. My parents were good honest, virtuous and hard working people. They loved the Gospel and had a strong testimony of its truthfulness. Perhaps that is the reason I feel I have always had a testimony and that I was born with one. I was blessed with a good husband who loved the Gospel and honored his priesthood. His desire was to stay true to the faith and to provide well for his family whom he dearly loved. I feel that our Temple marriage has proven to be a great blessing to us in raising our family and in keeping us closer together. I hope and pray that the love we have for each other will grow stronger each day. As parents we tried to make a happy home for our five beautiful and lovely daughters. They are choice spirits and I love them with all my heart. I thank Heavenly Father for trusting them in our care. I love my grandchildren who have always shown me a great deal of love and respect. I want to thank my sons-in-law for the love and kindness they have always shown me. My desire now is to see all my family active in the church. The greatest blessings we can expect to receive in this life and the life to come will be through our obedience to the Gospel Of Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that I can live worthy of the many blessings I have received throughout my life and that we can all be together as one big happy family in the next life. I want to thank my lovely daughters for their kindness, and the help they have always given me. I do appreciate them and love them with all my heart.

Lovingly

Your Mother

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