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1974--During the summer of 1974, we remodeled our house. We added three rooms. One was added for a music room, one for a garden room (we raise flowers and vegetable [sic] in it), and one for a storage room. We had new carpet put down in all the house except the kitchen. We are really enjoying the extra space, our new carpet, our baby grand piano and our organ. One evening in early October, our Bishop, William Lyda, came to visit us. He said he came to ask me (Velma) to teach an advanced genealogy class. He would not sit down because he said he had another appointment soon. He walked about in our house for a few seconds and stopped and said, “I have the impression that I should call you two on a mission“. He said, "Don't answer now. Think about it awhile." Then he left for his next appointment. It didn't take us very long to decide to go where ever we were called. The bishop reported to Salt Lake City and we were called to the Missouri Independence Mission and were to leave 22 February, 1975. I had some health problems develop. We couldn't leave until March, 1975.
We entered the Mission Home 22 March, 1975 and departed 26 March. We arrived at the mission in Independence, Missouri, 29 March, on a Saturday. President Graham W Doxey was our Mission President. We stayed in the Mission Home until we found an apartment. The President assigned us to work as guides in the Mormon Visitor Center in that city.
We found an apartment in the Kingsboro apartment complex on 140 S. Forest street, Apartment Q, 3rd floor, middle apartment, facing north. The rent was $149 per month. Everything was furnished except the lights. All the guides lived in this complex while we were there. Four couples worked during the winter because we were not busy during the winter. It was too cold and icy for people to travel in that area. During the spring, summer, and fall, we had eight couples working there as guides and we were all kept busy. We had people come from all over the world to visit. Some days we would have four to six bus loads plus the regular visitors. It was very interesting to meet these people and see their reactions to the building and the lecture we gave them. Some were very interested in our story of the Church and its teachings. The majority only wanted to see the many beautiful paintings and historical diplays [sic] that were in it. The painting that attracted the most interest was the picture of Christ in his second coming surrounded by his Angels. It faced the large glass front of the building and could be seen at night from outside. A policeman came in one day and stood looking at the painting for awhile and said, "That is a beautiful impressive picture. Very often at night I drive around my beat, then drive in and park in the parking area across the street and sit there and look at the Christ for a long time."
We had people come from all walks of life and different professions. I took four ministers and their wives on tours. They were very polite and didn't try to argue. One day I took some Catholic peolpe [sic] on a tour. When I came to our display of the Bible, I pointed to it and said, “We use the King James Version of the Bible.“ One of the women said, “Oh, do you claim to be Christians?“ I told her that we did. We went on to the painting of the Savoir's [sic] visit to the people in America (Nephites). I quoted John, Chapter 10, verse 16; "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: Them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one told, and one shepherd." The woman said, "I never saw that in the Bible." I asked her if she wanted me to show it to her. She said, "No!, I will believe you.“
I took a young man, his wife and two children, through one day. They were members of the Church. The wife was visiting her mother. I took them on a tour. A few days later, a long distance phone call came to the Visitors Center, asking for me. It was the young man I had taken on a tour a few days before. He said he had to go back to Arkansas to take care of some business and left his wife and children at her mothers. His wife had become ill and was in the hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. The Doctor said she had a tumor in her head and must have it removed soon. The young man asked me it [sic] I would ask my husband and another Elder if they would go to the hospital immediately and administer to his wife. They administered to her. About a week later, the man came in the Visitors Center. I asked him how his wife was. He turned around, pointed to her and said, “There she is!“ After the administration, the Doctor did another x-ray. There was no tumor. The Lord had performed a miracle. The tumor was no more.
Another time, I was taking a group through the Visitor Center. One man said, “Your Church pays all your expenses while you are here, don't they?“ I told him we paid all our own expenses. He looked at me a few seconds, as if he didn't know if he could believe me. "Well, I must say you sure are devoted.“ I told him, all our missionaries, where ever they were, pay their own expenses. In other churches, the ministers are payed to preach to the people, they are paid to sing in their choirs (the larger church congregations, anyway). The few that go on missions have to be paid. I feel, within myself, that it makes a missionary more humble, more devoted, and closer to the Lord, if they have to pay their own way and sacrifice some of the things they might have if they did not go on a mission. I enjoyed my mission very much. It was a very good learning experience. I am glad and thankful that the Lord allowed me to serve Him in this manner. I had many other experiences that were thrilling when someone was interested in the message we had to give them and I was sad when I could not. I felt it was my fault. Maybe I could have presented the message in a more sincere attitude. I don't know.
We were priviledged [sic] to have our daughter, Moena, and family, visit us twice while we were there. Many of the people we knew from our home state came to the Visitor Center while we were there. Also, my brother, Leslie Tyler, and wife, Edith, came with a bus load from Salt Lake City, Utah and visited us.
The parts of Missouri I have seen are very pretty, especially during the spring time when they have so much rain. The flowers and other vegetation grow so rapidly in the warm damp weather. There are so many trees that bloom and all the many, many flowers; it looks like I think the Garden of Eden looked.
We were released from our mission 24 October, 1976. We were very happy to come back to our home in Kimberly, Idaho. I was happy to see all of my family again.
>>Part 4
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Life History of Velma Tyler Glenn (1906-1996): Part 2 (Vacations/Tours)
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My husband and I have taken many long tours together. We have made many trips to Moscow, Idaho, taking the children to school, taking them supplies, etc., until they were through school. The roads to Moscow were mostly winding and over hills. The scenery was beautiful during the spring and fall.
The last week of February and the first week in March of 1953, we toured all the LDS Temples in the United States. We went to Los Angeles, California, through Nevada. While in Los Angeles, my sister Glenda and her husband, John (Jack) Frances Hansen took us to Knotts Berry Farms, the Wax Museum, the Sea World, and to China Town . We had dinner in a Chinese restaurant. We looked at all the things in their different stores. We went out to the shore and watched the big ships come in. We went to Glendale's “Forest Lawn", a very very large cemetary [sic] and Mausoleum. In it there are three churches; "The Little Church of the Flowers", "Wee kirk'O The Heather", and “The Church of the Recessional." People come from all over the couintry [sic] to be married, to hold furnerals [sic] or to just sit in peace and quiet in the little churches. "The Wee Kirk‘O The Heather" was recreated from the kirk at Glencian, Scotland, the home of Annie Laurie. "The Little Church of the Flowers" is a replica of the village church at Stoke Poges, England, where Thomas Gray composed his immortal "Eulogy Written in a Country Churchyard." The "Church of the Recessional" is a recreation of the parish church of St. Margaret in Rottingdean, England, where Rudgyard Kipling worshipped. Some of the most beautiful stained glass windows and some of the most renouned [sic] sculptures in the world are found in the "Church of the Recessional." The architecture in all of the buildings is copied from early English 16th century styles. In the enclosed walled "Mystery Garden", are marble statues of Mary and other Bible characters such as Moses being found in the bullrushes, Moses as a man. A large sculptured group, "The Mystery of Life", depicts life from infancy to the grave. The reproduction of Michael Angelo's colossel [sic] figure of David (20-1/2 feet high, weighing ten tons) stands in front of a building representing the Court of David.
In the Mausoleum is a stained glass window, a recreation of "The Last Supper" by Leonardo De Vinci [sic].
The builder of Forest Lawn, a Doctor Eaton, had a large hall built to house the picture of the "Crusifixion." [sic] It is a beautiful building depicting the Gothic architecture. The picture is 45 feet high and 195 feet long. After we had see the picture and heard the lecture, we had the feeling we had actually seen the events take place.
The above is quite a detailed story for a history, but I have never seen so many different things in one place as we did there.
One day, while we were seeing sights, my sister and I and our husbands traveled farther down the coast of the Pacific Ocean to Tijuana, Mexico. The stores in the town had open fronts. No heat to keep them warm. The store clerks wore heavy coats to keep them warm or to keep them from getting too cold. We saw the big race tracks were [sic] people take their famous horses to race.
My husband, Wesley, and I came home by way of Boulder Dam, which is built across the Colorado river where California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah join. We went on a guided tour through it. No one could imagine how large the different rooms are inside of it.
We drove through Zion's National Park; went through the St George. and Manti Temples, through Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah, and then came on home to Kimberly, Idaho.
The last of February, 1954, our daughter Patricia's husband, Allan E Bates, called from the army post at Ft Benjamin Harrison, near Indianapolis, Indiana, to say he was going to Japan. Patricia called for us to come and get her and bring her back to Idaho . We had three days to get there, so we didn't have time to do sightseeing. While there, she took us around to see Indianapolis. Coming home, we traveled in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and home to Idaho. A blizzard was following us so we didn't get sight seeing done on the way home, either. We did stop in Springfield, Illinois, to see President Lincoln's home, his tomb, and we bought a few souveniers.
Patricia and her mother-in-law came back in Patricia's car. It wasn't in too good condition, so we had her drive in front and we drove behind so if she had any car trouble, we would know it.
In 1956 and 1957, our oldest daughter, Moena, lived in Tacoma, Washington, while her husband was in the Army at Ft Lewis, Washington. My husband, Wesley, and I made several journeys by car to see them. We went by way of Boise, Idaho, Vale, Baker, LeGrande and Pendleton, Oregon, and Pasco, and Yakama, Washington, through the Snowqulamie Pass (mountains) and through Rainier National Park. We drove up the mountain to the resort which is as near to the glacier as anyone can get in a car. The scenery was beautiful . We would see mountain range after mountain range any way we looked. Close around us, the grass was green and small flowers were in bloom. But, the wind was very cold, blowing off the glacier. The icy peak of Mr [sic] Rainier shone in the distance like a huge diamond.
The next year, 1957, we went to the west coast by way of Boise, up the Payette River to Horse Shoe Bend, Cascade, Donnelly, McCall, up the Salmon River through Riggins, Whitebird, Grangeville and spent the night with our son Donald, in Moscow, Idaho.
The next morning, we went on the Spokane, Washington. We took highway 2 to Wilber and 4 to the Grand Coulee Dam, which is built across the Columbia River. If [sic] furnishes water for irrigation and domestic use for about 400,000 people. We went through the dam which was very interesting. We then drove on to Winatchee, Washington, the apple country. We stopped there and bought a bushel of Red Delicious apples to take to our son Derald and family who lived in Seattle, Washington.
After visiting our son and his family in Seattle, and our daughter and family in Tacoma, we traveled on down the Pacific coast. It was a beautiful drive. We could see the big waves coming in and dashing against the big black rocks that are jutting out along the coast. We saw some oyster beds. We crossed the mouth of the Columbia River on a big ferry boat at a little place called Megler, Washington. We landed at Astoria, Oregon. We stopped at Seaside, Oregon, went out on the beach, went throught [sic] an acquarium [sic] that had all kinds of deep sea fish in it. We enjoyed the journey down the coast very much, because we didn't hurry. We stopped many times and looked at the ocean and took many pictures.
At Newport, Oregon, we started back across the state of Oregon, going through Corvallis, Burns, Nyssa, Boise and on home to Kimberly. The scenery along the coast was very beautiful because of the abundance of rain in that area. There were huge trees, smaller trees, large broad leaf ferns, mosses, flowers and lakes.
The last week in September, 1958, Wesley and I took another journey to see our daughter, Moena, and family who had moved from Tacoma, Washington to Beloit, Wisconsin where her husband had a job working as an engineer for Fairbanks-Morse.
We left Kimberly and went through Burley, Idaho and Ogden, Utah, Rock Springs, Rawlins, and Casper, Wyoming. From there, we took highway 20 through Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. We stopped at Galena, Illinois, and went through President Ulysses S Grant's former home. It was very interesting to see. The State Historical Society is preserving it and it's furnishinings [sic] as it was when he lived in it. We then traveled easterly to Rockford, Illinois. There, we turned north about 20 miles to Beloit, Wisconsin, where our daughter and family lived.
After visiting with our daughter, Moena, for two weeks, we came back through Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. We drove through "The Bad Lands“ in South Dakota. This is really a sight to see. I could not describe it in a way anyone would really know what it looks like. To stand on a peak and look out over the vast expanse, it looks as if at one time all the land was the same height, flat and level . But through erosion, deep canyons, caverns, large and small peaks have formed. Some places may look like a large castle with its many rooms, turrets and windows. Some peaks will extend up into the air until the top most point will be as small as the end of my finger yet down its sides, it will have the same eroded places as a large peak. It looks as if a very heavy rain had fallen straight down and washed little canyons straight down the sides of the little peaks. The colors of the formations run in horizontal lines and are mostly grays, oranges, yellows, and tans. Anyone can look across it in any direction for miles and it all looks the same. If anyone got lost there, they would never get out because it all looks the same. We were there just before sunset. We stayed and took a picture of the sunset. It was beautiful.
We stayed at Graybull, South Dakota that night, and drove on to the Black Hills the next day. We went through the Mt. Rushmore Cave early the next morning, drove to Mt Rushmore, climbed up to the foot of the peak where there is a large building which has one side all of glass. Anyone can sit in the building and look at the Mr. Rushmore peak where the busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are carved into the granite mountain. From the building, they look life size, but we were told that the nose of Goerge [sic] Washington is 40 feet long. This will give you an idea of the size of the busts.
After we left Mt. Rushmore, we drove through Montana, and Wyoming. We went into Yellowstone Park through the east entrance, which is the Shoshone Canyon. The road was chipped out of the solid rock walls of the canyon, and not too wide. I sure was glad when we got through it . We traveled about in the Park, took a look at the geysers and took some pictures. The "Old Faithful“ and "Castle" geysers are the largest. We left the Park through the west entrance. We came home by way of Ashton, Rexburg, Idaho Falls, American Falls, and Burley, to Kimberly.
In February, 1960, Wesley and I went to Los Angeles, California, to bring my mother, Mary Ann Hogan (Tyler) home to Kimberly. We went through the Los Angeles Tempie and to Marine Land while we were there.
From Los Angeles, we went to Mesa, Arizona, stayed all night and went through the Temple while we were there. We met quite a number of our friends who had gone to Mesa for the winter. The weather there is very nice during the winter, but rather hot during the summer.
We came back home through Pheonix [sic], Wickenburg, and Parker, Arizona, Needles, California, Seachlight, Hederson, Las Vegas, Caliante, Ely and Wells, Nevada, and Rogerson, Twi n Falls and home to Kimberly.
196l---We have traveled through 23 of the 50 states, and visited 12 of the capitol cities. We have visited the Teton National Park, in Wyoming. We took a ride in a boat on Jenny's Lake. We drove to the Jackson dam and lake . It was very pretty in that area. Many large pine trees and the lakes. The Grand Teton peaks were standing close by and reaching up above everything else in that area. The park is in the side of Wyoming where it joins Idaho on the west.
We visited the volcanic formation which starts at the Yellowstone Park above Idaho Falls. The lava flow spread almost all the way through eastern Idaho from north to south. It formed many craters near Arco which area is called "Craters of the Moon." There are many places in a northerly direction across the river from Kimberly, Idaho, where the rocks have blown up forming a large mound or a long ridge of rocks that have large cracks in the top. All those cracks and holes had to open so the hot steam and gases could escape from the earth. There isn't any historical record of this huge eruption, that I know of. It must have happened at the time of the death and crucifixion of the Savior.
In 1966, the last week of February, we went to California. We took the road that would go through the famous "Death Valley“. We were told that it is so hot there during the summer time that many people in the early days met their death trying to go through. That is why it is called “Death Valley". We went through “Scotty's Castle" which was built or supervised by Scotty, an old prospector who lived and hunted treasures near there.
A very well-to-do man who was in very poor health came to that area hoping to improve his health. When he found Scotty there, he told him he would furnish all the money he needed to build him a home there where he could be out in the fresh desert air when he wanted to. This Scotty did. The building had many different kinds of wood and other materials from many countries of the world. The building was very modern for that period and much was far advanced modernization, far surpassing what was thought of at that time except by a very few. Or maybe, he was inspired. I have never heard of anything so modern at that time. He had water piped from up the canyon to the house. Each room was cooled by water running down the wall from the ceiling to the floor. It ran into a shallow pool at the bottom then collected for use again or it was recirculated. He built a large music room. A large pipe organ covered one side. He made it so it could be made to sound like any single instrument or it could cound [sic] like a very large orchestra. The kitchen was large and very convenient. The Castle cost two million dollars in the early 1920's. I don't know how much it would cost now. The Scotty Castle would be a marvel for anyone to see.
When we left the Castle, we took highway 72 through Death Valley to Baker, Barstow and Montebello, California, where my sister Glenda lives. While we were there, my sister took us to the Huntington Library at Whittier, California. The gardens around the building are very beautiful. The library contains many rare books and paintings from different parts of the world.
Our youngest son, Derald, bought a newly built home in the City of Kimberly. He lived in it two or three years and decided he would like to live in the country with his growing family. He asked us if we would trade houses with him so he could raise his children on the farm. After much thought, we decided to trade. We exchanged places. We hurried to get our household goods and other supplies arranged in the house and got ready to go to the World's Fair in San Antonio, Texas. This was in July of 1968. We went to the Fair for two days. We all went on a boat ride on the San Antonio River which runs through the city. We visited some of the very old missions and saw the “Alamo” buildings and walls. We visited many old Indian ruins in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. While in El Paso, we crossed the border into Old Mexico. We visited some of the stores. The main interest to us was the Glass Blowing factory. It was very interesting to see the men form the many glass objects while they held the glass in a huge hot furnace. They had a room adjoining the furnace room in which they had on display many, many of the things they had made. In Houston, Texas, we took a tour through the huge Astrodome in which football and probably many other games are played. On one side of the building, on an upper floor, is a large area enclosed with glass where the elite sit to watch the games. It is furnished very elaboratly [sic] in red velvet chairs and sofas. Beautiful tables and chairs where they can sit and drink or eat if they choose.
We went through the Carlsbad Cavern, an enormous cave in the grand, at Carlsbad, New Mexico. This tour was with the James Travel Tours of Salt Lake City, Utah.
In October, 1970, we took a tour on the Kirkman Bros. Bus Lines. We went northwest this time. We went through Oregon, to Seattle, Washington and visited the World Fair Grounds. We traveled through British Columbia, Canada, to Banff. We saw Lake Louise, that so many talk about. We road [sic] on a lift to the top of one of their highest mountains. It was very pretty up there. We could see many large mountain ranges covered with large evergreen trees. We went to Waterton Lake, to a park where a large herd of buffalo were kept, to Calgary, Alberta, Canada and went through the Cardston Temple while there. We came home through the pan handle of Idaho. We travelled along Coeur d' Alene Lake and town, to Moscow, Idaho, on down through the state to home in Kimberly. The same year, 1970, we went on another tour with the Kirkman Tours. This time we went to the Fisherman's Wharf, in San Francisco, took a ride on the trolley cars, went across the Golden Gate Bridge and took a boat ride on the harbor waters. We drove down the coast of California and stopped at Carmel by the Sea and visited many of the old Catholic Missions that have been restored as tourist attractions along the coast.
We went with the James Travel Tours to the Rose Parade in Pasadina, Caiifornia, 26 December, 1970 through 2 January, 1971. We visited the famous Hersts Castle, went to a Lawrence Welk show, to the Sea World, and to Knotts Berry Farms (again), where we had dinner that evening.
In July of 1971, we went with the James Travel Tours to the Hill Camorah [sic] Pageant. We visited all the church sights in Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. The Pageant was in Palmyra, New York. We visited Boston, Massachusets [sic], Delaware, Washington DC, the Virginias, and many historical evidences of the early forming of America. We visited The Betsy Ross Home (the woman who made our first flag), The Old Church (there we saw the lanterns Paul Revere hung in the church to signal which way the British were coming). Paul rode through the country by horse to warn the people.
We drove to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal is on a group of islands in the St Lawrence River. We road [sic] on a subway train that went through a tunnel under the St Lawrence River to another one of the islands, to visit the World's Fair, or Expo-67, as they called it. It was very interesting as all Fairs are. We stayed in Niagra Falls, New York, one night. While there, we went up in a "Needle" to get a better view of Niagra Falls, the Niagra River, the city of Niagra Falls and the view of Canada across the river. It was a very beautiful sight. The city is very clean and beautifully landscaped. Wesley and I could see the Falls from our hotel window.
We saw Old Ironsides and walked on it. We visited George Washington's home and plantation, the Potomac River that George Washington was supposed to have thrown a silver dollar across. The river landing is on one side of his place. We saw his monument. We visited the Capitol Building, the United Nations Building, and the Empire State Building. In Virginia, we visited the Robert E Lee College and the chapel where he worshipped (this was in Lexington). We saw Stonewall Jackson's statue and the cemetery where he and all of his family are buried. This was across the street from The Heritage House, where we spent the night. We also went through the beautiful Luray Caverns in Virginia.
The latter part of September, 1973, Wesley and I flew to Beloit, Wisconsin, to visit our duaghter [sic] Moena, and family. While we were there, Moena took us sight seeing. We went through the Octagon House in Watertown, Wisconsin. It was designed and built by the owner, John Richards in the 1850's. It has three stories above the ground and a full basement. It has a circular stairway that extends from the basement through the center of the house, to the top. It is modern in its lighting, heating, water and sewer systems even if they are a little crude in comparison to the systems we have now. Water was piped from the basement through the center of the house and a faucet was installed on each floor of the house. If any member of the family didn't want or wasn't able to come down to the kitchen to eat, it was sent up to them on the Dumb Waiter. We also went through the Three Domes botanical garden in Milwaukee county's Mitchell Park. It was a very interesting place. The temperature was kept in the different rooms so that any flower from any country would thrive in it.
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My husband and I have taken many long tours together. We have made many trips to Moscow, Idaho, taking the children to school, taking them supplies, etc., until they were through school. The roads to Moscow were mostly winding and over hills. The scenery was beautiful during the spring and fall.
The last week of February and the first week in March of 1953, we toured all the LDS Temples in the United States. We went to Los Angeles, California, through Nevada. While in Los Angeles, my sister Glenda and her husband, John (Jack) Frances Hansen took us to Knotts Berry Farms, the Wax Museum, the Sea World, and to China Town . We had dinner in a Chinese restaurant. We looked at all the things in their different stores. We went out to the shore and watched the big ships come in. We went to Glendale's “Forest Lawn", a very very large cemetary [sic] and Mausoleum. In it there are three churches; "The Little Church of the Flowers", "Wee kirk'O The Heather", and “The Church of the Recessional." People come from all over the couintry [sic] to be married, to hold furnerals [sic] or to just sit in peace and quiet in the little churches. "The Wee Kirk‘O The Heather" was recreated from the kirk at Glencian, Scotland, the home of Annie Laurie. "The Little Church of the Flowers" is a replica of the village church at Stoke Poges, England, where Thomas Gray composed his immortal "Eulogy Written in a Country Churchyard." The "Church of the Recessional" is a recreation of the parish church of St. Margaret in Rottingdean, England, where Rudgyard Kipling worshipped. Some of the most beautiful stained glass windows and some of the most renouned [sic] sculptures in the world are found in the "Church of the Recessional." The architecture in all of the buildings is copied from early English 16th century styles. In the enclosed walled "Mystery Garden", are marble statues of Mary and other Bible characters such as Moses being found in the bullrushes, Moses as a man. A large sculptured group, "The Mystery of Life", depicts life from infancy to the grave. The reproduction of Michael Angelo's colossel [sic] figure of David (20-1/2 feet high, weighing ten tons) stands in front of a building representing the Court of David.
In the Mausoleum is a stained glass window, a recreation of "The Last Supper" by Leonardo De Vinci [sic].
The builder of Forest Lawn, a Doctor Eaton, had a large hall built to house the picture of the "Crusifixion." [sic] It is a beautiful building depicting the Gothic architecture. The picture is 45 feet high and 195 feet long. After we had see the picture and heard the lecture, we had the feeling we had actually seen the events take place.
The above is quite a detailed story for a history, but I have never seen so many different things in one place as we did there.
One day, while we were seeing sights, my sister and I and our husbands traveled farther down the coast of the Pacific Ocean to Tijuana, Mexico. The stores in the town had open fronts. No heat to keep them warm. The store clerks wore heavy coats to keep them warm or to keep them from getting too cold. We saw the big race tracks were [sic] people take their famous horses to race.
My husband, Wesley, and I came home by way of Boulder Dam, which is built across the Colorado river where California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah join. We went on a guided tour through it. No one could imagine how large the different rooms are inside of it.
We drove through Zion's National Park; went through the St George. and Manti Temples, through Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah, and then came on home to Kimberly, Idaho.
The last of February, 1954, our daughter Patricia's husband, Allan E Bates, called from the army post at Ft Benjamin Harrison, near Indianapolis, Indiana, to say he was going to Japan. Patricia called for us to come and get her and bring her back to Idaho . We had three days to get there, so we didn't have time to do sightseeing. While there, she took us around to see Indianapolis. Coming home, we traveled in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and home to Idaho. A blizzard was following us so we didn't get sight seeing done on the way home, either. We did stop in Springfield, Illinois, to see President Lincoln's home, his tomb, and we bought a few souveniers.
Patricia and her mother-in-law came back in Patricia's car. It wasn't in too good condition, so we had her drive in front and we drove behind so if she had any car trouble, we would know it.
In 1956 and 1957, our oldest daughter, Moena, lived in Tacoma, Washington, while her husband was in the Army at Ft Lewis, Washington. My husband, Wesley, and I made several journeys by car to see them. We went by way of Boise, Idaho, Vale, Baker, LeGrande and Pendleton, Oregon, and Pasco, and Yakama, Washington, through the Snowqulamie Pass (mountains) and through Rainier National Park. We drove up the mountain to the resort which is as near to the glacier as anyone can get in a car. The scenery was beautiful . We would see mountain range after mountain range any way we looked. Close around us, the grass was green and small flowers were in bloom. But, the wind was very cold, blowing off the glacier. The icy peak of Mr [sic] Rainier shone in the distance like a huge diamond.
The next year, 1957, we went to the west coast by way of Boise, up the Payette River to Horse Shoe Bend, Cascade, Donnelly, McCall, up the Salmon River through Riggins, Whitebird, Grangeville and spent the night with our son Donald, in Moscow, Idaho.
The next morning, we went on the Spokane, Washington. We took highway 2 to Wilber and 4 to the Grand Coulee Dam, which is built across the Columbia River. If [sic] furnishes water for irrigation and domestic use for about 400,000 people. We went through the dam which was very interesting. We then drove on to Winatchee, Washington, the apple country. We stopped there and bought a bushel of Red Delicious apples to take to our son Derald and family who lived in Seattle, Washington.
After visiting our son and his family in Seattle, and our daughter and family in Tacoma, we traveled on down the Pacific coast. It was a beautiful drive. We could see the big waves coming in and dashing against the big black rocks that are jutting out along the coast. We saw some oyster beds. We crossed the mouth of the Columbia River on a big ferry boat at a little place called Megler, Washington. We landed at Astoria, Oregon. We stopped at Seaside, Oregon, went out on the beach, went throught [sic] an acquarium [sic] that had all kinds of deep sea fish in it. We enjoyed the journey down the coast very much, because we didn't hurry. We stopped many times and looked at the ocean and took many pictures.
At Newport, Oregon, we started back across the state of Oregon, going through Corvallis, Burns, Nyssa, Boise and on home to Kimberly. The scenery along the coast was very beautiful because of the abundance of rain in that area. There were huge trees, smaller trees, large broad leaf ferns, mosses, flowers and lakes.
The last week in September, 1958, Wesley and I took another journey to see our daughter, Moena, and family who had moved from Tacoma, Washington to Beloit, Wisconsin where her husband had a job working as an engineer for Fairbanks-Morse.
We left Kimberly and went through Burley, Idaho and Ogden, Utah, Rock Springs, Rawlins, and Casper, Wyoming. From there, we took highway 20 through Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. We stopped at Galena, Illinois, and went through President Ulysses S Grant's former home. It was very interesting to see. The State Historical Society is preserving it and it's furnishinings [sic] as it was when he lived in it. We then traveled easterly to Rockford, Illinois. There, we turned north about 20 miles to Beloit, Wisconsin, where our daughter and family lived.
After visiting with our daughter, Moena, for two weeks, we came back through Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. We drove through "The Bad Lands“ in South Dakota. This is really a sight to see. I could not describe it in a way anyone would really know what it looks like. To stand on a peak and look out over the vast expanse, it looks as if at one time all the land was the same height, flat and level . But through erosion, deep canyons, caverns, large and small peaks have formed. Some places may look like a large castle with its many rooms, turrets and windows. Some peaks will extend up into the air until the top most point will be as small as the end of my finger yet down its sides, it will have the same eroded places as a large peak. It looks as if a very heavy rain had fallen straight down and washed little canyons straight down the sides of the little peaks. The colors of the formations run in horizontal lines and are mostly grays, oranges, yellows, and tans. Anyone can look across it in any direction for miles and it all looks the same. If anyone got lost there, they would never get out because it all looks the same. We were there just before sunset. We stayed and took a picture of the sunset. It was beautiful.
We stayed at Graybull, South Dakota that night, and drove on to the Black Hills the next day. We went through the Mt. Rushmore Cave early the next morning, drove to Mt Rushmore, climbed up to the foot of the peak where there is a large building which has one side all of glass. Anyone can sit in the building and look at the Mr. Rushmore peak where the busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are carved into the granite mountain. From the building, they look life size, but we were told that the nose of Goerge [sic] Washington is 40 feet long. This will give you an idea of the size of the busts.
After we left Mt. Rushmore, we drove through Montana, and Wyoming. We went into Yellowstone Park through the east entrance, which is the Shoshone Canyon. The road was chipped out of the solid rock walls of the canyon, and not too wide. I sure was glad when we got through it . We traveled about in the Park, took a look at the geysers and took some pictures. The "Old Faithful“ and "Castle" geysers are the largest. We left the Park through the west entrance. We came home by way of Ashton, Rexburg, Idaho Falls, American Falls, and Burley, to Kimberly.
In February, 1960, Wesley and I went to Los Angeles, California, to bring my mother, Mary Ann Hogan (Tyler) home to Kimberly. We went through the Los Angeles Tempie and to Marine Land while we were there.
From Los Angeles, we went to Mesa, Arizona, stayed all night and went through the Temple while we were there. We met quite a number of our friends who had gone to Mesa for the winter. The weather there is very nice during the winter, but rather hot during the summer.
We came back home through Pheonix [sic], Wickenburg, and Parker, Arizona, Needles, California, Seachlight, Hederson, Las Vegas, Caliante, Ely and Wells, Nevada, and Rogerson, Twi n Falls and home to Kimberly.
196l---We have traveled through 23 of the 50 states, and visited 12 of the capitol cities. We have visited the Teton National Park, in Wyoming. We took a ride in a boat on Jenny's Lake. We drove to the Jackson dam and lake . It was very pretty in that area. Many large pine trees and the lakes. The Grand Teton peaks were standing close by and reaching up above everything else in that area. The park is in the side of Wyoming where it joins Idaho on the west.
We visited the volcanic formation which starts at the Yellowstone Park above Idaho Falls. The lava flow spread almost all the way through eastern Idaho from north to south. It formed many craters near Arco which area is called "Craters of the Moon." There are many places in a northerly direction across the river from Kimberly, Idaho, where the rocks have blown up forming a large mound or a long ridge of rocks that have large cracks in the top. All those cracks and holes had to open so the hot steam and gases could escape from the earth. There isn't any historical record of this huge eruption, that I know of. It must have happened at the time of the death and crucifixion of the Savior.
In 1966, the last week of February, we went to California. We took the road that would go through the famous "Death Valley“. We were told that it is so hot there during the summer time that many people in the early days met their death trying to go through. That is why it is called “Death Valley". We went through “Scotty's Castle" which was built or supervised by Scotty, an old prospector who lived and hunted treasures near there.
A very well-to-do man who was in very poor health came to that area hoping to improve his health. When he found Scotty there, he told him he would furnish all the money he needed to build him a home there where he could be out in the fresh desert air when he wanted to. This Scotty did. The building had many different kinds of wood and other materials from many countries of the world. The building was very modern for that period and much was far advanced modernization, far surpassing what was thought of at that time except by a very few. Or maybe, he was inspired. I have never heard of anything so modern at that time. He had water piped from up the canyon to the house. Each room was cooled by water running down the wall from the ceiling to the floor. It ran into a shallow pool at the bottom then collected for use again or it was recirculated. He built a large music room. A large pipe organ covered one side. He made it so it could be made to sound like any single instrument or it could cound [sic] like a very large orchestra. The kitchen was large and very convenient. The Castle cost two million dollars in the early 1920's. I don't know how much it would cost now. The Scotty Castle would be a marvel for anyone to see.
When we left the Castle, we took highway 72 through Death Valley to Baker, Barstow and Montebello, California, where my sister Glenda lives. While we were there, my sister took us to the Huntington Library at Whittier, California. The gardens around the building are very beautiful. The library contains many rare books and paintings from different parts of the world.
Our youngest son, Derald, bought a newly built home in the City of Kimberly. He lived in it two or three years and decided he would like to live in the country with his growing family. He asked us if we would trade houses with him so he could raise his children on the farm. After much thought, we decided to trade. We exchanged places. We hurried to get our household goods and other supplies arranged in the house and got ready to go to the World's Fair in San Antonio, Texas. This was in July of 1968. We went to the Fair for two days. We all went on a boat ride on the San Antonio River which runs through the city. We visited some of the very old missions and saw the “Alamo” buildings and walls. We visited many old Indian ruins in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. While in El Paso, we crossed the border into Old Mexico. We visited some of the stores. The main interest to us was the Glass Blowing factory. It was very interesting to see the men form the many glass objects while they held the glass in a huge hot furnace. They had a room adjoining the furnace room in which they had on display many, many of the things they had made. In Houston, Texas, we took a tour through the huge Astrodome in which football and probably many other games are played. On one side of the building, on an upper floor, is a large area enclosed with glass where the elite sit to watch the games. It is furnished very elaboratly [sic] in red velvet chairs and sofas. Beautiful tables and chairs where they can sit and drink or eat if they choose.
We went through the Carlsbad Cavern, an enormous cave in the grand, at Carlsbad, New Mexico. This tour was with the James Travel Tours of Salt Lake City, Utah.
In October, 1970, we took a tour on the Kirkman Bros. Bus Lines. We went northwest this time. We went through Oregon, to Seattle, Washington and visited the World Fair Grounds. We traveled through British Columbia, Canada, to Banff. We saw Lake Louise, that so many talk about. We road [sic] on a lift to the top of one of their highest mountains. It was very pretty up there. We could see many large mountain ranges covered with large evergreen trees. We went to Waterton Lake, to a park where a large herd of buffalo were kept, to Calgary, Alberta, Canada and went through the Cardston Temple while there. We came home through the pan handle of Idaho. We travelled along Coeur d' Alene Lake and town, to Moscow, Idaho, on down through the state to home in Kimberly. The same year, 1970, we went on another tour with the Kirkman Tours. This time we went to the Fisherman's Wharf, in San Francisco, took a ride on the trolley cars, went across the Golden Gate Bridge and took a boat ride on the harbor waters. We drove down the coast of California and stopped at Carmel by the Sea and visited many of the old Catholic Missions that have been restored as tourist attractions along the coast.
We went with the James Travel Tours to the Rose Parade in Pasadina, Caiifornia, 26 December, 1970 through 2 January, 1971. We visited the famous Hersts Castle, went to a Lawrence Welk show, to the Sea World, and to Knotts Berry Farms (again), where we had dinner that evening.
In July of 1971, we went with the James Travel Tours to the Hill Camorah [sic] Pageant. We visited all the church sights in Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. The Pageant was in Palmyra, New York. We visited Boston, Massachusets [sic], Delaware, Washington DC, the Virginias, and many historical evidences of the early forming of America. We visited The Betsy Ross Home (the woman who made our first flag), The Old Church (there we saw the lanterns Paul Revere hung in the church to signal which way the British were coming). Paul rode through the country by horse to warn the people.
We drove to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal is on a group of islands in the St Lawrence River. We road [sic] on a subway train that went through a tunnel under the St Lawrence River to another one of the islands, to visit the World's Fair, or Expo-67, as they called it. It was very interesting as all Fairs are. We stayed in Niagra Falls, New York, one night. While there, we went up in a "Needle" to get a better view of Niagra Falls, the Niagra River, the city of Niagra Falls and the view of Canada across the river. It was a very beautiful sight. The city is very clean and beautifully landscaped. Wesley and I could see the Falls from our hotel window.
We saw Old Ironsides and walked on it. We visited George Washington's home and plantation, the Potomac River that George Washington was supposed to have thrown a silver dollar across. The river landing is on one side of his place. We saw his monument. We visited the Capitol Building, the United Nations Building, and the Empire State Building. In Virginia, we visited the Robert E Lee College and the chapel where he worshipped (this was in Lexington). We saw Stonewall Jackson's statue and the cemetery where he and all of his family are buried. This was across the street from The Heritage House, where we spent the night. We also went through the beautiful Luray Caverns in Virginia.
The latter part of September, 1973, Wesley and I flew to Beloit, Wisconsin, to visit our duaghter [sic] Moena, and family. While we were there, Moena took us sight seeing. We went through the Octagon House in Watertown, Wisconsin. It was designed and built by the owner, John Richards in the 1850's. It has three stories above the ground and a full basement. It has a circular stairway that extends from the basement through the center of the house, to the top. It is modern in its lighting, heating, water and sewer systems even if they are a little crude in comparison to the systems we have now. Water was piped from the basement through the center of the house and a faucet was installed on each floor of the house. If any member of the family didn't want or wasn't able to come down to the kitchen to eat, it was sent up to them on the Dumb Waiter. We also went through the Three Domes botanical garden in Milwaukee county's Mitchell Park. It was a very interesting place. The temperature was kept in the different rooms so that any flower from any country would thrive in it.
>>Part 3
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Life History of Velma Tyler Glenn (1906-1996): Part 1
LIFE HISTORY OF VELMA TYLER GLENN
Written February, 1961
Updated October, 1984
I was born of goodly parents on a farm ten miles north of Pocahontas, Randolph County, Arkansas, Thursday, 25 January, 1906. The sixth child of a family of twelve. My mother is Mary Ann Hogan, daughter of John Gabriel Hogan, born 22 March , 1851 , and Mariah Elizabeth Segraves, born 14 June, 1856. My father is Rufus Black Ty1er, born 20 August, 1871. He is the son of John Tyler and Sarah Catherine Jones.
The house where I was born was a large two story log house with a fire place in each room. It was built by my grandfather, John Gabriel Hogan, and his brother, Joseph Antony Hogan.
My ancestors are Irish, Welch, English, German, Holland Dutch, or so my ancestors said. There were Doctors, ministers, lawyers, school teachers, farmers, cobblers, weavers, etc. They landed on the eastern coast of the United States in the late sixteen and early seventeen hundreds.
Some of them were in all of the early wars—the Indian War, Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War and the war with Mexico. My second great grandfather, Vincent, was in the Revolutionary War. My great grandfather, Thomas Henry Segraves, was in the Civil War, on the side of the Confederacy. Also, his brother, Jacob, was in the Civil war. Great grandfather Martin Miller Hogan had four sons in the Civil War, on the Condfederate [sic] side. They were Humphry, Martin Miller, Jr., Henry Jackson Hogan and Benjamin Franklin Hogan. Humphry and Martin Jr, lost their lives in the war. Grandfather John Tyler had three sons in the Civil War, on the Confederate side. They were Ambrose, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington Tyler. Ambrose and Thomas Jefferson lost their lives as a result of the war.
I had two brothers, Samuel Lyman and Rufus Lloyd Tyler, in the Navy during World War II. My nephews, E1mer Johnson, Dewey Johnson, Clifford Johnson, Chester Alvin Issacs, Porter Issacs, LaVern Issacs, were also in the war. LeVern lost his life as the troops moved into Germany.
My ancestors were very religious and patriotic. The feeling of patriotism must have been born in me because, ever since I can remember, I have had a very reverent feeling toward our flag and our country. Saluting the flag and all our patriotic songs brings tears of joy and gratitude.
I have four brother and seven sisters: Ada Ethel, born 2 July 1893, died 20 June 1955; Emmett, born 22 June 1895, died 10 November 1921; Ora Blanche, born 18 February 1898, died 18 April 1980; Edna, born 21 April 1900 *; Thelma, born 31 March 1903, died 6 August 1904; myself; John Leslie, born 16 February 1909 *; Glenda Opal, born 19 May 1912 *; Mildred, born 27 February 1915 *; Jewel Catherine Elizabeth, born 23 June 1918 *; Samuel Lyman, born 27 March 1920 *; Rufus Lloyd, born 25 June 1923*. My mother and father also raised two children, Ethel and Ellen Tyler, infants of my father's brother, Alexander Breckenridge Tyler. (* still living Nov, 1984)
There were so many of us, we never had time to get lonesome. Each child had chores to do—washing dishes, bed making, carrying in wood and water, etc. This helped to keep us out of mischief. We caried [sic] all of the water from a large spring a few yards from the house. The spring was about four to six feet and flowed from under a large oak tree (about 2-1/2 to 3 ft in diameter). Father made a little house over the stream about 20 feet from the spring. In this we kept our milk, butter, etc, during the summer to keep it cool. We children had to take turns going after the milk, butter and water. We always worked in pairs--two to wash and dry the dishes, two to make beds, two to get the wood, etc. Then we would change jobs. If we forgot whose turn it was to do what, mother straightened us out.
After the evening meal, everyone gathered around the big fire place in the living room, played games, popped corn, told stories and sang songs.
When we children got tired of playing with each other, got angry or started to argue with each other, dad would make us kiss and say we were sorry. My! That sure is hard to do when you were mad at someone. I think we would rather have had a spanking.
Mother's mother and father lived quite close to us. We children loved to go visit with them. We very often spent the night with them. We always went early enough to help them with the chores and ate the evening meal with them. After the meal, we sat around the fire and talked. Grandma told us stories about their ancestors and grandfather played his violin. Grandma said he would sometimes sit up playing his violin until midnight. She would get tired and go to bed.
Grandfather and grandmother had a large Seth Thomas clock that set on a shelf on the wall. I loved to hear it's [sic] musical tones as it chimed the hours.
Grandfather Hogan and my father at one time, had about 320 acres of land. We weren't rich, but we had as many clothes as anyone. Everyone had one best outfit every summer and every winter, two school dresses, and two every day dresses. We had to always change when we came home into our “every day clothes". Mother made all the clothes and was an excellent seamstress. Women came from all around the area to get mother to help with their sewing problems. She could make beautiful hand made button holes and her pintucks were perfect.
My grandfather, John Gabriel Hogan, built a church house on his farm. He said that people in that community needed a church to go to and any minister who would come into the community could preach in it. Ministers of different faiths came in and held meetings in it for some time. In the early spring of 1899, the Latter Day Saints, or "Mormons" came and asked permission to hold meetings in it. Grandfather gave them permission and asked them to stay with him while they were in the community. The missionaries stayed and taught grandfather and grandmother the religion while they were there. They were converted and baptized in June of 1899.
While the missionaries were holding a meeting one night, my father heard some of the men plotting to mob the missionaries. Father asked them to stay at our place that night. The men followed mother, father and the missionaries all the way home but didn't try to bother them. Father thought they would try to attack them after they went to bed. They all went to bed, father being the last. He first barred the heavy oak doors, loaded his shot gun, and stood it by his bed, then said a silent prayer for protection. He laid awake most of the night, thinking the men would attack at any time. No one came.
The missionaries went to some other area of the state. While they were gone, a minister of another faith come and told such disgraceful tales about the Mormons that father told mother if the Mormons were that kind of people, he didn't want anything to do with them. The missionaries came back into that area two more times. On May 29th, 1902, my father and mother were baptized. 22 February, my oldest sister, Ada Ethel (10 years), my oldest brother, Emmett (8), and mother's sister Mazie Hughes Hogan (9) were baptized. It was so cold that the missionaries had to chop a hole in the ice to do the baptizing, so grandfather wanted them to wait until warmer weather. Aunt Mazie refused and just walked into the icy water dressed as she was, shoes and all. They wrapped the children in quilts and blankets and walked to grandpas [sic] place, about a forth [sic] of a mile away, to change into dry clothes.
My parents joined the church (LDS) six years before I was born.
I was blessed by a missionary, Elder Ira L. Nealey, 13 April 1906. When I was 13 months old, the family decided they wanted to live where a branch or ward of the Church was located. They packed our things and moved off and left our home for Utah. We stayed in Murray, a suburb of Salt Lake City, for two weeks. Dad didn't like it there, so we headed back to our home in Arkansas (Foster, Randolph co, Ark). We did our traveling by train on the Denver-Rio Grande Railroad, through Salt Lake City, Denver and Pueblo, Colorado, Kansas City and St Louis, Mo. The folks did stay long enough to collect a few picture folders of the areas they went through, and of Salt Lake City.
By the time I was eight years o1d, the missionaries had persuaded my father to move to Enola, Arkansas, where there was a branch of the church called the Barney Branch, about 30 miles north of Little Rock. It was there I was baptized and confirmed by Elder Arthur Glover, 2 May, 1915.
A few days before the baptism, a heavy rain storm had made the river where we had to do the baptisms very swift and muddy. Sunday was set for the baptism. Another couple and I were the only ones to be baptized. A large crowd of members and a large one of non-members had gathered to see the baptism. Mother knew I had a horror of water it if [sic] was muddy so I could not see into it, and if it was more than ankle deep. She was afraid I would cry and refuse to be baptized. I imagine she said a silent prayer because I didn't feel the least bit afraid. Any time before that, or since, I would have screamed in horror if someone had tried to get me to go into the water.
Soon after we moved to the Barney Branch, father was put in as president and my oldest brother, Emmett, was put in as Sunday School superintendent.
We now had our own church to go to and our own school, taught by one of the missionaries. The non-members were very bitter toward the Mormons. We had to pass each other on our way to school. The non-members would not speak to us if there were four or more walking on the other side of the road. We children called them 'love breakers'. The church later thought it would be better if we went to the regular public school. It did help. The people became more friendly with us.
While we lived in the Barney Branch, our brother, Emmett, married and two sisters, Blanche and Edna, married and the two cousins mother and father raised from infancy, were also married.
On 27 February, 1919, my father decided he wanted to go back to the farm we left in northern Arkansas. About 15 December, 1923, Dad got the travelling fever again. We moved to Ft. Thomas, Arizona, where one of my sisters lived. On 9 June, 1927, we moved to Twin Falls, Idaho. All the married children except my oldest sister, Ada, had moved to Idaho and liked it very much.
I had finished high school and wanted to take nurses training, but my folks didn't want me to, because, at that time, a lot of people thought nursing was a degrading profession. I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do so I didn't go to college.
I saw my future husband twice during the summer of 1928. We met officially at a dance in September of that year. A friend, George Miller, introduced him to me. I suppose Jerald Wesley Glenn, who had just returned from a mission in Australia, was shopping around to see which girl he liked the best and had gone with George's girl, because when George introduced us he said, "Here is a nice girl. Go with her and leave mine alone!" We danced together that evening. We saw each other at the dance every week end. Then he asked me for a date to the "Green and Gold Ball". We went together steady after that night. We were engaged 20 January 1929, and married 30 August that year in the Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, by Elder George F. Richards. We spent some time sight seeing in Salt Lake City and took a drive up the Columbia river to Portland, Oregon. We were gone two weeks.
Our first home was an old five room two story house on one of the farms of Wesley's father. On 15 January 1931, our first child, a daughter was born. Wesley's mother named her Moena. On 17 March 1932, our second child, a daughter, was born. We named her Patricia because she was born on St. Patrick's Day and Ann because it was a family name on both sides of the family. On 24 August 1933, our first son was born. We named him Donald Wesley--Wesley after his father and Donald for another name, I guess. Our fourth and last child, a son, was born 21 October 1936. I never could decide on a name for any of the children. One day my brother Lyman was visiting me. I told him I could not think of a name. He thought awhile and then said, "Why not add a 'D' to his dad‘s first name and call him Derald instead of Jerald (his dad's first name). Then he said, "add Boyd for a middle name and you will have Derald Boyd Glenn." That is what we named him or what Lyman named him. We were very happy. We had two girls and two boys.
While Donald was a baby, we moved to the place where we lived for a long time, on Highway US 30, one mile north and one mile west of Kimberly, Idaho.
Our children had the usual childhood diseases,mumps, measels [sic], chicken pox, whooping cough, etc. There weren't any vaccinations for those diseases at that time.
They all went to school, both grade and high school, in Kimberly. They were in all plays, bands, and choruses. Donald studied the clarinet and Derald the oboe. The two girls took vocal, violin, and piano lessons. They all won awards at the music festivals with their musical selections. During the summer of 1947, Moena and Patricia studied music at the summer music camp in Moscow, Idaho.
Moena graduated from Kimberly High School in 1949, Patricia in 1950, Donald in 1951 and Derald in 1954. Donald and Derald were president of the Kimberly Future Farmers of America (FFA) while they were seniors in high school. They won a number of awards in that field of study. Derald was selected to go to Kansas City, Mo., two different years to attend the National FFA Convention. One year he played his oboe in the National Band.
Donald attended the University of Idaho, at Moscow for four years, graduating with a degree in agronomy. The first year in college, he was chosen to be a member of the "Inter-Collegent Knights", which was quite an honor because it is usually given to an upper classman. In Moscow he met and later married Bonnie Ann Pickett, 16 June 1953, in the Idaho Falls Temple.
Derald, our youngest, went two years at Moscow majoring in music. He met Lois Adelaide Taylor. They married 15 June 1955 in the Idaho Falls Temple. While Derald was going to school at Moscow, a representative from Boeing Aircraft contacted him and influenced him to go work in their plant at Renton, Washington. He worked there for two years. He decided he wanted to come back to the farm and work with his father. This he did.
Patricia took a business course at Henager's Business College in Salt Lake City, Utah, and then worked as a stenographer at the Idaho Power Company division office in Twin Falls. In 1952 she met her husband, Allan Eugene Bates. They were married 31 March 1953 in the Idaho Falls Temple.
Moena attended two years at the University of Idaho at Moscow as a music major. She was chosen to be a member of the "Women's National Music Organization". She met her husband, Van Tassell Stonehocker, there. They were married 11 September 1951, in the Logan Temple, Logan, Utah.
We never had very much money but we have helped all of our children in one way or another. We divided food we raised each year and some money now and then as we had a bit to spare. We divided milk, meat, and vegetables that we raised in the huge garden that I planted and took care of every year.
>>Part 2
>>Part 2
Friday, March 14, 2014
History of Richard Collings (1818-1891) and Emma Lawrence Collings (1825-1914): Part 2
Part 1
Part 2
The Collings family stayed in Salt Lake just long enough to recuperate from their dreadful experiences. Fred and David had their feet frozen so badly that the flesh came off from their heels.
Part 2
The Collings family stayed in Salt Lake just long enough to recuperate from their dreadful experiences. Fred and David had their feet frozen so badly that the flesh came off from their heels.
Grandfather with his family went to Springville, Utah County and there made their home and helped pioneer that town.
While living at Springville, four more children were born to them, my father, William Richard, was born August 3, 1858; Lyman James, born January 14, 1861; Sarah Ann (named for her two grandmothers) was born August 19, 1863; and Mary Jane born July 22, 1866.
Life in this new country was very different from that which they had lived in the city of London, but they made adjustments and were sturdy pioneers.
For two years they lived in Hobble Creek Canyon, just southeast of Springville. Here grandfather farmed and raised cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens.
Grandmother learned to bake saltrising bread; and she had always bought bread in London. She learned to churn butter, something she had never seen done before. Instead of buying ready mad [sic] clothes, as they had always done, grandfather raised the sheep and sheared them; and grandmother washed and carded the wool and spun it into yarn, then had the yarn woven into cloth.
In 1872, they moved to Monroe, Sevier County, and were among the earliest pioneers of that settlement.
By this time grandfather owned quite a few sheep and they were the first to be herded on Monroe Mountains.
Grandfather wanted to make a dugout to live in until they could build a house, but grandmother, who always had a mind of her own, said "No, I'm not going under the ground until I'm dead." So grandfather and the boys went out to the cottonwoods southwest of town and got a lot of branches and built a bowery with a roof and three walls. This was on their new city lot. Here they lived quite comfortably while they got logs from the mountains and hewed them so they were smooth, and built a house. It was one of the first shingled roofs in Monroe, and was larger and higher than the other houses. It seemed like a large house to those people who were living in dugouts and low dirt roofed cabins. This house was still standing as of 1938.
A number of years later when a call came for people to go to Arizona and help make settlements there, grandfather and grandmother went their to make a new home. This was in 1879. Their two sons, William Richard and Lyman James, had received special calls and they went to help pioneer that country.
After spending several years at St. John's our grandparents returned to Monroe where they spent the remaining years of their lives.
Grandfather died July 12, 1891, at the age of 73 years. Richard Collings was a quiet unassuming man who wanted to live at peace with his fellowmen. One of his outstanding traits of character was honesty.
Grandmother was a widow for more than twenty-three years. She lived in her log house on our lot.
She was a faithful Relief Society teacher for many years. She was a most regular attendant at Sunday School as long as she lived, and was always at Sacrament meetings and bore her testimony whenever afforded an opportunity.
Always on Pioneer Day Celebration, Grandma Collings was on the stage among the honored guests and usually sang her handcart song. She sang it when she was in her eighties.
She was well and active. Every day she went for long walks visiting her family and friends. What cared she for rain or snow, she enjoyed the walk in the out of doors.
In June 1914, her strength failed and she could not care for herself any longer. We had baked her bread and washed and ironed for her for a long time, but she had kept house for herself.
A number of years later when a call came for people to go to Arizona and help make settlements there, grandfather and grandmother went their to make a new home. This was in 1879. Their two sons, William Richard and Lyman James, had received special calls and they went to help pioneer that country.
After spending several years at St. John's our grandparents returned to Monroe where they spent the remaining years of their lives.
Grandfather died July 12, 1891, at the age of 73 years. Richard Collings was a quiet unassuming man who wanted to live at peace with his fellowmen. One of his outstanding traits of character was honesty.
Grandmother was a widow for more than twenty-three years. She lived in her log house on our lot.
She was a faithful Relief Society teacher for many years. She was a most regular attendant at Sunday School as long as she lived, and was always at Sacrament meetings and bore her testimony whenever afforded an opportunity.
Always on Pioneer Day Celebration, Grandma Collings was on the stage among the honored guests and usually sang her handcart song. She sang it when she was in her eighties.
Handcart Song
Ye saints who dwell on Europe‘s shore
Prepare yourselves with many more,
To leave behind your native land,
For sure God's judgments are at hand.
For you must cross the raging main
Before the promised land you gain,
And with the faithful make a start
To cross the plains with your handcart.
Chorus
For some must push and some must pull
As we go marching up the hill
So merrily on the way we go.
Until we reach the valley, OH!
Grandmother often related her experiences of crossing the plains and sang the six verses of this song.
In June 1914, her strength failed and she could not care for herself any longer. We had baked her bread and washed and ironed for her for a long time, but she had kept house for herself.
Her family decided to take turns taking care of her. I took care of her until in October, then she went to her son David's home.
She died December 7, 1914, just eleven days after her 89 birthday. Her sad death was the result of burns which she received when standing with her back to the stove and her clothing caught fire.
Grandmother had lived a life of trying experiences, and she had been true to the faith.
Our grandparents suffered all of the hardships incident to pioneer life and I appreciate them more each year, for their wonderful faith, endurance and courage.
Shall the youth of Zion falter
In defending truth and right?
While the enemy assaileth
Should we shrink or shun the fight? No!
True to the faith which our parent's [sic]
have cherished.
True to the truth for which martyrs have
perished.
To God's commands, soul, heart, and hand,
Faithful and true, we will ever stand.
written by Sylvia Collings Musig
History of Richard Collings (1818-1891) and Emma Lawrence Collings (1825-1914): Part 1
AND HIS WIFE EMMA LAWRENCE COLLINGS
written by Sylvia Collings Musig
written by Sylvia Collings Musig
Grandmother, Emma Lawrence, was born in London, November 26, 1825. She was the daughter of Simon and Ann Archer Lawrence.
One of the events of her girlhood that grandmother often related was that of seeing Victoria crowned queen. This was in the year 1837, when grandmother was about twelve years of age.
My grandparents were married May 26, 1844. Grandfather was nearly 26 years old, and grandmother was 18 years and 6 months. Their first child, a little girl named Alice was born May 13, 1845. She died when four years of age.
They joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and in the year 1856, they, with their five children, left their home and loved ones and immigrated to the "Promised Land."
Their children were Louisa, born November 1, 1846; Fredric John, born April 24, 1849; David, born April 19, 1851; George, born August 7, 1853; and Samuel Willard born December 7, 1855.
What courage those brave parents had, what love for the Gospel, that they could undertake such a journey with five small children, the oldest nine and one half years old and the baby only five months.
They embarked at Liverpool, May 22, 1856. They were forty-seven days crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a sailing vessel.
One night, while on the ocean, they were awakened by a great disturbance; the ship was rocking to and fro; the crew was running up and down, and there was such a noise and clanking of chains. The vessel was about to strike an iceberg. Naturally, grandmother became frightened but grandfather, in his cool collected way, said, "just keep calm, there‘s no use getting excited, there's no back door to run out of." They quietly kneeled down and asked God to protect them.
That remark was very typical of grandfather. He and most of their children, all through life, faced their problems calmly. When sorrow or misfortune came to them, they braced up and made no complaint, "there was no back door to run out of."
On June 30, 1856, 856 saints disembarked at Boston. They arrived at Iowa City, then the western terminus of the railroad, July 8th.
Before leaving London, grandfather sent money to Salt Lake City to pay their immigration, with the understanding that they cross the plains with an ox team, but after waiting on the Iowa camp grounds three weeks in the intense heat of midsummer, they were told that they were expected to walk and pull their provisions in a handcart.
As members of the Edward Martin Handcart Company, the Collings family left Iowa camp ground on July 28, 1856.
Grandfather pulled the cart, grandmother carried the baby, Samuel, who was then nearly nine months old, and at times she pushed with one hand on the cart. A little harness was made for Fred and Louisa and they helped pull. Fred was seven years old and Louisa had her tenth birthday one month before the journey's end. Five year old David walked all the way, and little three year old George rode in the cart on the baggage. Thus this brave hearted family, along with the others, traveled 1300 miles over plains and rough mountains.
The handcarts were poorly constructed, and were made of green timber, and they became so rickety on the way that the immigrants were forced to throw off part of their food and bedding which they needed so badly later.
Winter came early that year and found the company with little food or clothing and they were starving, freezing, and suffering from fatigue and disease.
How well I remember hearing grandmother tell the story, how at night the women and children helped scrape the snow away with tin plates so that they could pitch their tents. Often in the morning Aunt Louisa's hair was frozen to the ground.
One morning, fifteen in the camp were dead. The ground was frozen so hard that the wornout immigrants were forced to make graves so shallow that the company was scarcely out of sight when wolves devoured the dead.
When they reached the Sweet Water River, they found a swift current; the was [sic] was waist deep; the river was more than one hundred feet wide and full of floating ice. To cross the torrent meant nothing short of suicide as one sixth of their number had perished from crossing the North Platte eighteen days before. All of the warring elements of nature seemed to be against them. They cried to the Lord for help and three eighteen year old boys of a relief party came to the rescue and carried nearly every member of that ill-fated company across the stream.
They let as many of the smaller children ride as the rickety carts could hold. Each of the boys pulled a cart and carried one of the larger children on his back at the same time. There must have been nearly five hundred people in the company at that time; we can estimate the number of times those three boys crossed the river in order to carry those men, women, and older children and pull their carts across the icy torrent.
The boys who carried the company across the Sweet Water River were: Allen Huntington, George W. Grant, and David P. Klmball. The strain was so terrible, and the exposure so great that in later years all of the boys died from the effect of it. When Brigham Young heard of this heroic act he said, "That act alone will ensure them an everlasting salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of God."
[Editor's note: Check out this article discussing the accounts of the crossing of the Sweetwater.]
Like the children of Israel, these brave immigrants had fled to a promised land where they could worship as they thought right, but no cloud guided them by day, no firy [sic] pillar by night. The waters of the rivers never rolled back leaving a path for them to cross; no manna fell at their tent doors when they suffered from hunger; but their humble prayers were not in vain, and they received courage and strength.
Grandmother often related the following incident which she felt was an answer to their prayer for food and help. Brother Ephraim K. Hanks, while at Provo, was impressed to go to Salt Lake. He stopped over night at Draper. While lying awake in bed, a voice called to him saying, "The handcart people are in trouble. Will you go and help them?" Brother Hanks answered "yes, I will go." The voice called three times, repeating the same words. The answer was the same. In the morning, Brother Hanks hastened to Salt Lake and
two days later was on his way eastward, alone.
Ten miles east of Green River, he met a number of teams that had been sent to the relief of the belated companies but had turned back because of the deep snow. Those in charge had come to the conclusion that the immigrants had all perished. Brother Hanks got some of their supplies and went on his way. Several days later he met other [sic] returning. From them he secured a saddle-horse and pack animal and
went on.
Sixty miles from Devil‘s Gate, he killed a buffalo. He cut the meat in strips and lashed it on his horses. Toward evening, he saw a black streak in the snow. It was slowly moving, he knew what it was. At last he reached the ill-fated handcart camp. Brother Hanks said, "The starving forms and haggard looks of those poor dejected creatures can never be blooted [sic] from my mind." Flocking around him, starving mothers reached out their hands saying, "Please give me some meat for my hungry children." Shivering urchins with tears streaming down their thin cheeks cried out, "Please give me some." In a short time everyone was eating bison.
During the evening, Brother Hank's went from tent to tent anointing and administering to the sick. Some were healed instantly, many drooping spirits took fresh courage.
Grandfather Collings was very sick that night and was one to whom Brother Hanks administered, and he received strength to go on.
After that, Brother Hanks spent most of his time caring for the sick and afflicted. Some days he anointed and administered to as many as two hundred, and in many instances they were healed almost instantly.
Notwithstanding these wonderful manifestations of God's power many of the saints lost their limbs through freezing. Some lost their hands and others their feet.
Their food became so scarce that the company was put on rations, and several times the ration was cut down. At times, the only food in camp was a little flour. A few ounces was alloted [sic] each person for the day.
Now such care is taken in feeding our babies, and the mother's diet is so important, I think of poor grandmother half starved and frozen, walking all day. How did she feed her baby?
The four hundred and thirteen survivors of the Martin Handcart Company reached Salt Lake City, November 30, 1856, true to their religion, and their faith in God unshaken.
While in the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City in 1924, I had as a roommate, an elderly lady with a wonderful personality. I had been in the room only a short time when she asked if I was a Mormon, then if my parents, or grandparents were pioneers. I said, "They were all pioneers," and when I told her that my father's parents were members of the Martin Handcart Company, she sat up in her bed, all interest, and said, "I shall never forget when that company came into Salt Lake. I was only six and one half years old. I stood by my father's side down where the Eagle Gate is now when a relief party brought the Martin Company into the city. Those poor people were so nearly starved and frozen that they scarcely resembled human beings. My father removed his hat, and stood with bowed head, the tears rolling down his cheeks and said, 'Of all the saints who have come to Zion, these brave-hearted people have suffered most. ' "
This remark was familiar to me and I asked, "Was your father President Brigham Young?" She said, "My father was Brigham Young and my mother was Zina D. Young. "
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Biography of Mary Boggs Perry (1843-1915)
Biography of Mary
Boggs Perry
Mary Boggs Perry was born 12 April 1843 in Nauvoo , Illinois Utah ,
being in the first ten of the second fifty of the first hundred under Daniel
Spencer’s company, arriving in Salt
Lake City in September, 1847.
Her father came in the first pioneer company under Brigham
Young. The family lived in Salt Lake
City for three years residing in the Eighth Ward. In
1850 they moved to Springville and lived there until 1857 when the family moved
to Fillmore, Millard
County
To this union were born eleven children, eight of whom are
living at this time. They lived at Springville ,
Utah
Mary Boggs Perry and her children were indeed pioneers of
the Union Bench, now known as Mapleton. Nine of her eleven children built nice,
attractive homes in Mapleton. Three of these children later moved to other
cities.
After the death of Aunt Ann Perry, second wife of Stephen C.
Perry, Mary Boggs Perry took her youngest son, Charles, and raised him with her
own family; he also built a nice home in Mapleton.
She was always a quiet, home-loving mother. In the later
years of her life she built a new brick home near the first log house and lived
there with her youngest son.
When the family first moved to the Union Bench in 1877, they
had one log room for a home, but they later built a room of lumber on the east
of the log room. But in July, 1884, after Aunt Ann’s death, the family moved
back to Springville and lived in her home, as it had four rooms, so there was
more room.
In the spring or [sic] 1884, Uncle Hine, Uncle George, and
Aunt Ell were married, and as the old home was vacant, Uncle Hyrum and his
wife, Luella Roundy Perry, and Uncle George and his wife, Charlotte Fullmer
Perry, moved into the old home and each couple had one room. They lived there
while they each built a home on the road south of the old home. Later Uncle George
moved to Castle Valley ,
later Ferron , Utah ,
and Aunt Ell moved to Idaho .
Grandma lived in Springville until after 1890 when the home
was sold, and they moved back to mapleton. Aunt Lucy was married by now and
lived in Springville. They lived for a few years with Uncle Charl as he built
him a five-room, brick home where Wings now live. When he was married in 1893
to Asenath Duncan, Grandma and her five boys moved back to the old two-room
home. A few years later, marion, the youngest son, built a new brick home out
by the road about ten rods east of the old home. Here Grandma lived until she
died, about ten years later, on 11 March 1915. At that time her family were all
married and lived near her.
--1938
The oldest daughter Francis was married April 9, 1883.
Biography of Francis Boggs (1807-1899)
Biography of Francis
Boggs
Francis Boggs was born May 17, 1807 in Belmont County , Ohio
Before coming to Nauvoo they had the following children,
Helen May born August 7, 1833, Reuben born December 4, 1835, Ephraim born
October 23, 1839, and Zachariah Cairn born December 4, 1840. A daughter Mary
was born in Nauvoo, April 12, 1843 and also a son Francis born October 25,
1845.
The Boggs family participated with the Saints in the exodus
from the City of Nauvoo and when a selection of men was made to pioneer the way
to the Rocky Mountains, Francis Boggs was chosen to go with the Historic Band
who blazed the trail westward under the leadership of Brigham Young, arriving
in the Valley July 24, 1847. Here he was joined by his wife Eveline and her
small children when the 2nd Company of Pioneers arrived in September
1847.
The family made their home in Salt Lake
City in the Eighth Ward, and while living in Salt Lake City two children were born to
them, a daughter Eveline October 25, 1848 and a son Hyrum Smith Boggs born
December 25, 1849. The family moved to Springville in 1850 and here three more
daughters were born, Hannah born December 14, 1852, Phebe Jane born 18 June
1855 and Nancy Orpha born March 18, 1859.
From Springville the family moved to Fillmore and were
called from there to help strengthen the town of Parawan and from Parawan they were called to
the Las Vegas Mission. After returning to Parawan they were called to Dixie and
they arrived in Washington , Washington
County, Utah
December 7, 1861. Here they made their home for the rest of their lives.
Francis Boggs was a faithful church worker and a hardy
pioneer. He was a carpenter by trade and also engaged in farming. He filled a
number of positions of honor and responsibility in the towns in which he lived.
He served one term in the Utah Legislature. He died January 22, 1889 at Washington , Washington
County, Utah .
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