22 July 2012

Lois Jane WATT

 Lois Jane WATT
Born: 22 October 1911 in Thatcher, Box Elder, Utah.
Christened: 4 February 1912
Parents: Richard Golightly WATT & Mary Ann HARRIS
Married: Harold Ross COOMBS on 24 October 1935 in the Salt Lake City Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mother to five children: Don, Harold, Eileen, Gae and Boyce.
Died: 5 May 1995 in Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah
Buried: 9 May 1995 in the Honeyville Cemetery, Honeyville, Box Elder, Utah





This is my grandmother.  We lived only a 15 minute drive from her, so I knew her well.  I knew she loved me.  During her last few years of life, she lived in my childhood home with my parents.  I knew she was the youngest in a family of many children.  She loved and stayed in contact with her sisters.  I personally knew Grace, Verna and Hattie.

I remember her baking (blueberry pancakes in shapes for breakfast when we slept over; homemade bread; fudge; pecan rolls; fruit leather; etc.).  I remember that she talked to my mother on the phone almost every day.  I remember her large garden, cherry trees, and walnut tree that was fabulous to climb.  I remember her standing on the porch and yelling, "here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty" calling the cat to eat scraps from the kitchen.  My mom talks about Grandma feeding the "hobos" that came in on the train which ran right behind their house.  I remember her having her big picture window painted with Christmas scenes for Christmas and then my mother doing the same at our home.   I remember her hugs that were soft and warm and enveloped you in love.  I remember watching Lawrence Welk, her entry way that was hardly ever used (everyone came in the through the side door), and the laundry room that always had mice (according to my mom).  I remember cereal sorted into plastic containers, spoons full of protein powder and her dishwasher that hooked up to the sink. 

Her Headstone:
http://tams-hickman.blogspot.com/2007/08/harold-ross-coombs-lois-jane-watt.html
Cause of Death: Lois Jane WATT - Pulmonary embolism due to chronic renal failure due to high blood pressure.


Her Obituary:
Link: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/419395/DEATH--LOIS-WATT-COOMBS.html?pg=all

Lois Jane Watt Coombs passed away in Brigham City Community Hospital on Friday, May 5, 1995, after a short illness. She was 83 years old.

Lois was born on October 22, 1911, in Thatcher, Utah, to Richard Golightly Watt and Mary Ann Harris Watt. She graduated from Bear River High School and married Harold Ross Coombs on October 24, 1935, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple.Though Lois was awarded blue ribbons and highest honors at county and state fairs for her baking and candy making, she dedicated herself to being a homemaker and found her biggest reward in her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

All of her sons served LDS missions and each one of her children was married in the temple and is a college graduate. Lois also worked faithfully in the LDS Church, including service as secretary under three different Relief Society presidents, and was involved in various compassionate service projects in the community. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

Lois was preceded in death by her husband Ross, who passed away on December 20, 1978, and by her parents and 11 brothers and sisters.

She is survived by three sons and two daughters, Don W. Coombs of Seattle, Wash.; Harold Ross Coombs of South Jordan, Utah; Boyce W. Coombs of Vernal, Utah; Mrs. John H. (Eileen) Sorensen of Omaha, Neb.; and Mrs. Bruce O. (Gae) Tams of Perry, Utah; 24 grandchildren (one currently serving an LDS mission), and 11 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, May 9, at 11 a.m. in the Honeyville Ward Chapel, 2620 West 6980 North. A viewing will be held at the Olsen-Myers Mortuary, 205 South 100 East, Brigham City, Monday from 7-9 p.m. and Tuesday from 9:30-10:30 a.m. in the Honeyville ward church building.
Interment, Honeyville Cemetery.

03 June 2012

Leonidas Marion HICKMAN

Leonidas Marion HICKMAN 
Born 10 September 1891  in Wilford, Bingham, Idaho
Died 8 January 1956 Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States
Buried  12 January 1956 Ogden City Cemetery, Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States Plot: J-11-31-6W

Son of Josiah Edwin Hickman and Martha Augusta Lawisch
Married Winifred Whitehead on 3 September 1914 in St. George, Washington, Utah, United States



Leonidas Marion HICKMAN
Death Certificate - Link
School Teacher
Died - Age 64 (myocardial infarction due to arteriosclerotic coronary turustrosis due to diabetes meletus)

Ellen GARNER

Ellen GARNER


Source:  http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/none/the-descendants-of-erastus-bingham-and-lucinda-gates-eno/page-23-the-descendants-of-erastus-bingham-and-lucinda-gates-eno.shtml

"Ellen Garner was born 15 January 1885, in Ogden, Utah, the daughter of Phillip and Mary Ann Garner.  She lived all her young life in Ogden. Her first job was with the W. H. Wright and Sons Department Store where she had some very fine experiences.

After Ellen and Norman were married they lived in Ogden a little more than a year then in the spring and summer of 1910, they built a home in Riverdale just west of Norman's mother and spent many happy days there and the children enjoyed being close to their Grandma Bingham.

They spent most of their married life in Riverdale and Ogden where Norman followed several lines of occupation other than farming, such as: Telephone Company employee, teller at Ogden State Bank, buying, feeding and selling cattle, buying and selling horses for the Army during World War I, Treasurer of Weber County School Board for six years, some Real Estate business, worked for the Government at Utah General Depot in Ogden in the Auditing Department and as agent for the Beneficial Life Insurance Co., which business he followed so long as he was able to work.

He worked in all the auxiliary organizations of the church, serving diligently and faithfully as Sunday School teacher, Stake Religion Class Board Member, and Home Missionary in Riverdale, Weber Stake. He also served as counselor to Bishop Murray K. Jacobs in the Riverdale Ward, Ward Teacher, Counselor in the Presidency of the High Priest Group and two years as President of the High Priest Group. His last assignment was Chairman of the Genealogical Committee of the 23rd Ward in the Mount Ogden Stake.

His wife, Ellen, also served faithfully in the different auxiliaries of the church. She was a wonderful companion to her husband and a devoted mother to her children. Norman and Ellen were real sweet-hearts all their married lives and stood faithfully together side by side through all the joys and sorrows of their married life. They just lacked one day of having been married 56 years when Norman passed away of a heart ailment on 19 January 1965, after a month's illness.

At this writing (June 1966) Ellen still lives at their home at 1063 28th Street, Ogden, Utah."

Norman Fife BINGHAM

Norman Fife BINGHAM 
(Trent's GGrandfather - Father of Verla Bingham Hickman)

Born on 18 September 1886 in Riverdale, Weber, Utah, United States
Died 19 January 1965 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States
Buried in Ogden City Cemetery, Weber County, Utah, USA; Plot: E-6-6-1E

Married Ellen GARNER 20 January of 1909
Son of Sanford BINGHAM and Agnes Ann FIFE
Father of 6 children (Ralph, Melvin, Walter, Ellis, Lorna and Verla)

From ebook The Descendants of Erastus Bingham and Lucinda Gates
http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/none/the-descendants-of-erastus-bingham-and-lucinda-gates-eno/page-23-the-descendants-of-erastus-bingham-and-lucinda-gates-eno.shtml

Speaking of Norman . . . "He lived all his youth in Riverdale, going to school, attending to his church duties and in general living a good wholesome life. He was a good-natured, happy fellow and loved by all who knew him. He served in the Deacon's Quorum Presidency and when he was ordained a Teacher he served as a Ward Teacher. At the age of 16, he was called to serve as a Sunday School teacher.

After finishing elementary school, he attended the Weber Stake Academy. David O. McKay was President of the institution at this time and Norman said "I am very grateful for his leadership through those wonderful school years. " A highlight in his life was that President McKay was his teacher of the New Testament and what an inspiration he was.

In October 1906, he left to fill a mission to the Eastern States returning in 1908.

On 20 January 1909, he married Ellen Gamer in the Salt Lake Temple and to this union were born six children, 4 sons and 2 daughters."

(continuing the entry on Ellen in the same book)
"After Ellen and Norman were married they lived in Ogden a little more than a year then in the spring and summer of 1910, they built a home in Riverdale just west of Norman's mother and spent many happy days there and the children enjoyed being close to their Grandma Bingham.

They spent most of their married life in Riverdale and Ogden where Norman followed several lines of occupation other than farming, such as: Telephone Company employee, teller at Ogden State Bank, buying, feeding and selling cattle, buying and selling horses for the Army during World War I, Treasurer of Weber County School Board for six years, some Real Estate business, worked for the Government at Utah General Depot in Ogden in the Auditing Department and as agent for the Beneficial Life Insurance Co., which business he followed so long as he was able to work.

He worked in all the auxiliary organizations of the church, serving diligently and faithfully as Sunday School teacher, Stake Religion Class Board Member, and Home Missionary in Riverdale, Weber Stake. He also served as counselor to Bishop Murray K. Jacobs in the Riverdale Ward, Ward Teacher, Counselor in the Presidency of the High Priest Group and two years as President of the High Priest Group. His last assignment was Chairman of the Genealogical Committee of the 23rd Ward in the Mount Ogden Stake.

His wife, Ellen, also served faithfully in the different auxiliaries of the church. She was a wonderful companion to her husband and a devoted mother to her children. Norman and Ellen were real sweethearts all their married lives and stood faithfully together side by side through all the joys and sorrows of their married life. They just lacked one day of having been married 56 years when Norman passed away of a heart ailment on 19 January 1965, after a month's illness." 



 Source: Find A Grave - http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26392867

Additional information from his sister, Maria Louisa Bingham Campbell can be found here:
http://www.wk77.net/wiki/images/6/69/Maria_Louisa_Bingham_Campbell.pdf

01 June 2012

Stephen Robert WELLS





(Written by Anita Cramer Wells)
Stephen was raised and well-educated in England, the second of seven children and twin to sister Isabella, who died as a child.  He had roots in the servant class, his father was a stonemason, and his maternal ancestry connects back with Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon. His mother used to say, “Study hard so you’ll grow up to be as smart as Uncle Isaac!” Even further back, his genealogy line connects in with the Merovingian dynasty in France and King Clovis. Stephen was always a fine English gentleman.  

Stephen embraced the gospel in London, along with his mother and siblings. He is listed as a salesman in the Paddington Branch emigration records. However, only he left, of his family, to gather with the Saints.  Stephen married fellow British convert Mary Ann (Lowe) en route, and they settled first in Big Cottonwood and then Spanish Fork in 1853, where their three children were born. During this time he married Mary Ann’s cousin Annie (Thorn), also a British convert, as a plural wife. Stephen served as a bishop in Spanish Fork.  Interestingly, Mary had no more children after Stephen took a second wife, although that could be due to advanced maternal age.

Stephen was an excellent blacksmith, and he could make nearly perfect wagon wheel rims. After he fashioned the hub and wooden spokes, he would pound out the circular metal rim and fit it over the wheel while it was still very hot, then immerse the wheel in water.  The sudden cooling of the hot metal caused it to shrink around the wheel. The family was called in 1861 to settle Dixie and raise cotton. Soon after arriving, Stephen donated thirty dollars to build the Tabernacle, even though he did not yet have a roof over his own head.

Stephen farmed in St. George, and built a two-story adobe home at 1st South and 3rd West.  After Stephen came to Utah, he continued to write letters home to England, but there may have been a rift in the family (Elder Robert E. Wells speculated due to polygamy), because when the Wellses did temple work in St. George for others, they neglected to do it for their English family members.  Instead, they were sealed into the family of Erastus Snow.

Stephen served as the first counselor in the St. George 2nd Ward.  He was a popular entertainer (doing what?).  His son Samuel became quite prominent, and his daughter Ann Eliza became the plural wife of J.D.T. McAllister and accompanied him as president of the Manti Temple. Stephen and Annie worked together in the St. George Temple and were remembered as being always faithful and efficient. 

Stephen wrote a letter to his teenage son Saint George, “When I think of the many duties of life that there is to do, I find that the boy or girl who begins the soonest makes the best man or woman. Therefore mix up with play and work some reading, spelling, writing, and then some music which will make your company always agreeable go where you may. You must labour with your hands and heads, sometimes with one at the time and sometimes with both at the same time.” His letter is interesting as it was “cross-written”: to conserve space, after he wrote one page, he turned the paper ninety degrees and continued to write across the other direction.

As the result of a buggy accident while driving home from Cedar City, Stephen was injured and died in the arms of his son Saint George. He is our earliest patrilineal (direct male line) ancestor to join the Church and has a number of namesake descendants.

Source - Anita Cramer Wells: http://www.familytreerings.org/2011/12/happy-189th-birthday-stephen-robert.html


This same source also makes the following comments about this line:
"Our same ancestor Sarah Newton Wells who is related to Isaac Newton is also related to Sir Francis Bacon, through her mother Sarah Bacon Newton.  Both of these men died without heirs, leaving only distant relatives to remember them."

"Shout out today to Wells relative Isaac Newton. He was actually born on Christmas day 1642, but with calendrical changes the date became January 4, 1643. Sir Isaac was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian who is considered by many to be one of the most influential scientists in history.

He died childless and I don't know if he'd claim us as relatives, but Gawain’s great-grandfather Stephen Robert Wells and his siblings were frequently told by their mother, Sarah Newton Wells (Isaac Newton’s great-something-grand-niece)—“Study hard so you can grow up to be as smart as Uncle Isaac!”"



Personal note:  I found this information as I worked on my husband's family line.  Richard Golightly (who is my GGG Grandfather) married Jane Thorne as his 4th wife.  Jane's illegitimate daughter, Annie Thorn was the 2nd wife of Trent's GGG Grandfather, Stephen Robert Wells.  Trent's line comes through Mary Ann Lowe, the 1st wife of Stephen Robert Wells.  But interesting anyway as I see our lines converge.

Adolphus Rennie WHITEHEAD



Clara C. Whitehead Kimball (sister), Adolphus Rennie Whitehead Sr., Elizabeth Jane Jarrold (mother).




On crossing the plains:
Elizabeth Jane Jarrold Whitehead, 45, brough her 4 children across the plains with the Milo Andrus Company in 1855. Son Adolphus was 13. For some reason husband, Francis stayed in England, but died in 1862 – this date must be a mistake because she is listed as a “widow with four children” on the Milo Andrus Company records.

Mary Ann LOWE

 This photo is labeled as Stephen Robert Wells family.  One source indicates that Annie Thorne is on the left and Mary Ann Lowe is on the right.  Saint George is the child in front and Ann Eliza in back.  Some sources have Mary Ann on the left.


Mary Ann LOWE [or Annie THORNE??]
(These pictures come from this site: http://www.familytreerings.org/2011/10/happy-182nd-birthday-annie-thorne-wells.html as well as from Peggy Proctor - bottom)

Annie's family identifies both pictures as Annie, but I'm not sure.  I think that the top photo could be Mary Ann.  The eyes are different.  What do you think?

Winston Hickman
     Winifred Whitehead
          Mary Ester Wells
               Mary Ann Lowe

Winifred WHITEHEAD

Winifred (Winnie) WHITEHEAD was my husband's Great Grandmother (mother of Winston Hickman).


2nd Cousin, Peggy Parker said, "This is such a beautiful photo of Winnie with her slender figure in the long white dress. I love it. I remember Uncle Leon and Aunt Winnie very well. Leon was a very jovial and personable man."



Sisters: Winnie, Effie, Leah and Lizzie [Elizabeth].
Source: Peggy Parker

31 May 2012

Mary Ester WELLS


Mary Ester WELLS
Source: Peggy Proctor


Mary Ester WELLS - bottom right (click to enlarge).

Anna Eliza Wells McAllister and Stephney Wells Davies (back L to R) and Jane Sarah Wells Wilkinson and Mary Wells Whitehead (front  L to R).  These are her sisters and/or half sisters.   I found this photo on another genealogy blog.
Source: http://ralawrence.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-decided-to-use-this-blog-to-post.html
http://ralawrence.blogspot.com/2008/08/correction.html