Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Edith Richards Davis

Edith Richards Davis
Verland's Maternal Grandmother

Monday, May 31, 2010

M.A. Smith and Blanche

Emory's Parents
M.A. and Blanche

More Ranch Pictures

Blanche, Edith, Rachael, Alice Trip to Southern Canyon
Mac, Verland, Sidney, Lois Denne

Phyllis, Alice, Blanche, M.A., Emory

Edith Evans, Blanche, Verland


Emory & Ray
Ray and Emory

Growing up at the Ranch

1940 Sidney and Allan
Sidney

Sidney

Deep Creek Ranch Pictures

Geland Bench

Deep Creek Sheep


A New Skin

A New Mother

Deep Creek Ranch Pictures

Crossing the Sheep, Smith Ranch Colorado
1934 Fritz Schlenitz
1917 M.A. Smiths Summer Ranch
1908 M.A. Smith Prize Buck
4th of July 1937
Verland, Lois Denne, Sidney

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Moroni Alma Smith

Moroni Alma Smith
Merrill, Emory, Ray & Scott Smith

M.A. Smith Family at 1205 East 3rd South
M.A. Smith - Wallsburg, Utah

Mary Ann Edith Smith Evans

(Verland's Mother)
Mary Ann Edith Smith

Sarah Thornton Coleman

Sarah Thornton Coleman 1806-1892
(Emory's Paternal Great Grand Mother)

Sarah Thornton Coleman, daughter of William Thornton and Elizabeth Christian, was born June 11, 1806, in Paxton, Huntingtonshire, England. With her family she joined the Church of Latter-day Saints in the year of 1841 and emigrated to Nauvoo, Illinois, soon after. The family lived on the farm of Hyrum Smith, brother of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Here her husband, Prime Coleman, and the oldest daughter died. The mother, with her seven children, was left to share the hardships and mobbings with the other saints.

After the martyrdom of the Prophet and his brother, Sister Coleman and family moved to the Eleventh Ward, in the city of Nauvoo. Here she became acquainted with Bishop David Evans through receiving help from the ward. Trouble for the saints was steadily increasing, and when companies were formed to move, she and family were placed in Bishop David Evan’s company. For three years they moved form place to place in Missouri, and they made the final move to Utah, arriving in Salt Lake City in the fall of 1850. They returned there that winter and the next spring moved to Lehi, then known as Dry Creek.

Sarah T. Coleman passed through the hardships of pioneer life, raised a highly respected family and lived the life of a latter-day saint. She was respected, and loved by all who knew her, and was president of the first Relief Society organized in Lehi. She died March 1, 1892, at the ripe age of 86 years, nine months.

SARAH THORNTON COLEMAN EVANS



Mrs. Coleman was more much inclined toward religion than was her husband, and often said that while she attended church, he enjoyed more to rest at home reading and smoking his cigar. When the Elders found them, the Coleman family was not long in making their decision to join the Church and come to the new world. So, with their four children who where over eight years of age, were baptized in 1841 and 42; and on the first of January, 1843, left their comfortable home at Thorncot in a large baggage wagon and began their journey to America. Christoper Layton (for whom the city of Layton, Davis, Co., Utah was afterward named) had been one of the hired men on the Coleman farm in England, and was baptized and came with the family to America. When they arrived at Nauvoo, Illinois, the Coleman family went to live on the farm belonging to the Patriarch Hyrum Smith as Brother Prime Coleman had been an experienced farmer in his native country. After a little over one year of this new life of sacrifice and hardship, typhoid fever broke out in Nauvoo. Some of the Coleman children were down with it. The father, and the eldest daughter, Sarah age 15 years, died in June of 1844. They died within a few days of each other, and were buried in an old dry well along with others. This left Sister Coleman with seven children to raise, lacking the comfort of “olden days in England,” and almost destitute of the necessities of life. Two of the children, Elizabeth and Prime went to live with Hyrum Smith’s family. 10 year old Elizabeth relates her story: “We staid at the house of Hyrum Smith for a short time upon arriving at Nauvoo, then we moved out to Packs farm, as our family had been farmers in England. We remained on the farm about a year, when the then prevailing fever seized on us, we all had it and were very sick, my father and sister, Sarah, dying with it. During our sickness, we had several visits from Hyrum Smith. After the death of our father, Hyrum Smith took myself and my brother Prime to his house in the city of Nauvoo where we remained until the martyrdom with Prophet Joseph Smith at Carthage Jail. I well remember when the news was brought of their deaths, and of the great grief and sorrow of Hyrum Smith’s wife expressing her fear that the mob might come and kill more of us. The news reached us at about two o’clock in the morning. There was no more rest for us that night, nor for many days after. I also remember saying to my brother, ‘Let us get away from here or the mob may kill us too.’

Mary Ann Mitchell Davis

Mary Ann Mitchell Davis 1822-1892
(Verland's Maternal Great Grandmother)

Mary Ann Mitchell Davis, the daughter of Robert and Sarah Hunt Mitchell, was born in London, England, 0ctober 19, 1822; was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in 1842; and was married to Elisha H. Davis in London, December 25, 1846. She set sail with her husband for the United States on the day of her marriage, and settled in Winter Quarters, Nebraska, where she lived one year. She was in Iowa three years, and then emigrated to Utah in 1852.

In Lehi, Mrs. Davis has held many offices of trust and honor in the organizations of her sex. For many years she was the treasurer of the Relief Society; was the third lady teacher called to labor in the Sunday School in 1866; and continued to act until the time for her death. On the 16th of October 1888, she was set apart as a president in the Primary Association, a work with which she was connected for a number of years. She had great influence over the young, whom she won to her by strong affection and undying love. She was a true wife and a most affectionate mother. As a Saint she lived a holy life, and had the gift of interpretation of tongues, which she received in her early association with the church, and which she retained through life. She died September 14, 1892.

Her family consisted of the following children;
Mary Ann, born near Council Bluffs, Iowa, October 31, 1848; living at present in Lehi.
Elisha Hildebrand, born near Council Bluffs, Iowa, February 7, 1850; now living in Lehi.
Sarah Agnes (Mrs. Charles Karren), born on Keg Creek, Porawattamie County, Iowa, March 21, 1852; now living in Magrath, Canada.
Orinda Jane (Mrs. Dilbert H. Allred), born at Bountiful, Davis County, Utah, April 14,1854; now of Lehi.
George Edward, born in Bingham Fort, near Ogden, February 4, 1857; now of Lehi.
Alphonzo Mitchell, Born February 19, 1859, near Lehi, still residing in Lehi.
Edith Richards, born near Lehi, December 17, 1860; died.
Sabrina Ann, born near Lehi, December 9, 1862; now of Salt Lake City.

Moroni Alma Smith

Moroni Alma Smith 1875-1954
(Emory's Father)

My Great Great Grandfather, Moroni Alma Smith was known through out the west as an expert Sheep man. He wrote a booklet on raising sheep and published it. At age 28 he had $54,000 cash. Rockefeller had a stock offering. MA wanted to buy shares but never did. (Why)

MA as he was called, along with five other sheep men in Heber, Wasatch County, Utah leased 500,000 acres in Strawberry Valley for a summer sheep range. Later the Indians wanted to sell the land and gave it over to the Bureau of Land Management. MA had the opportunity to purchase the ranch land from Indian Territory. Each individual could purchase 360 acres so Blanche also bought 360 acres as did her two brothers. Frank Smith bought Square Top. MA was almost indicted for collusion in these purchases, but his lawyer at the time was Don B. Colton who was in the House of Representatives and the collusion was resolved.

The Deep Creek Ranch is on the Escalante Trail Sink Draw, which was part of Escalante Trail and is between Fruitland and Duschene.

MA always dressed well. He hated gray so he never wore it. He like red straps (suspenders). Once he bought a wool suit the fabric being $5.00 a yard, which was a lot at that time. He was short of stature and later in life quite heavy. He had curly hair. He called money “rags”. Liked silver very well and always gave the grandchildren a silver dollar for Christmas. After he died his son, Scott Alma, carried on the tradition.

Part of the land they homesteaded and the other part they purchased. The ranch is still in the family today.

(author unknown)

Mary Blanche Beck Smith

Mary Blanche Beck Smith 1881-1954
(Emory's Mother)

Mary Blanche Beck was born March 16, 1881 on the Highland Bench, near Alpine, Utah County. She was the second of sixteen children of Jacob and Elizabeth Healey Beck. As her arrival became imminent, her father rode from the ranch at Highland through snow deep enough to cover the fence posts, to fetch the midwife.

As a young girl Blanche lived in Highland, walking to Alpine for her schooling and church activities. At home she helped with the care and raising of her younger brothers and sisters. She was an active, high-spirited, intelligent girl with a keen sense of humor. These charming characteristics she retained all her life. She had a cleaver phrase, a pertinent comment to make regarding all situations and people.

As Blanche was just a year and five months younger than her older sister, Minnie, the two became close friends. They did housework and tended cows together and attended school in Alpine in a horse and buggy. The road from Lehi to Alpine ran diagonally past the Beck home. It was covered with deep snow in winter and mud and dust in the summer, as there were no graveled roads yet.

Like her sister Minnie, Blanche had a talent for music, and the two sang many a duet together. Blanche possessed a keen sense of humor and a twinkle in her green eyes. Her fair complexion was set off by light auburn hair. As her younger sisters were born they looked upon her as their second mother. She was a hard worker and kept busy all her life. On holidays the children would take the cattle out to feed extra early so they could return by noon in order to attend the celebrations in the town later in the day.

When Blanche finished the grade school in Alpine she went to work for the Adams family in American Fork, where she attended school. In the summer she would return to the farm in Highland to help with the children and the many chores outside and inside. On one of these summers, she met Moroni A. Smith of Lehi, who had come to her father’s farm to buy cattle and feed. He says he first remembered Blanche as a lively girl of 15.

Six years later they were married, January 2, 1903, at her parents home. After the wedding a supper was given and the next evening Rone and Blanche had a large reception at the Lehi Opera House.

Moroni Alma Smith was born in Lehi, Utah County, Utah June 27, 1875, the youngest child of Joseph Johnson and Ann Coleman Smith, converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from England.

The first years of Blanche and Rone’s married life were spent with Rone’s mother, a widow in Lehi, and Blanche always recalled that time as a pleasant experience. Their summers were spent in Heber and in the sheep camps in the mountains of Wasatch and Duchesne counties, where Rone was in partnership with his brothers, David and Albert.

Blanche and Rone soon purchased a home in Heber, where six of their nine children were born. While Rone was a success in the sheep business, Blanche acquired a reputation for herself as an expert housekeeper. She would arise at four on Mondays in order to get her wash on the line before her neighbors did.

Blanche and Rone made many friends in Heber, but they were close to their family members as well. Blanche opened her home to her sisters. Each spent a portion of her time there, and it was here that three of the sisters, Minnie, Amanda, and Winifred, met their husbands. The summer after Blanche married, her mother, Elizabeth Healey Beck, had her last child, Golda. Blanche returned to Highland to assist her mother at this time.

Blanche and Rone were actively engaged in the sheep industry their entire married lives. Blanche was one of the first women in Utah to own and operate a sheep business independently. For 40 years Blanche and Rone’s home in Salt Lake City was open to relatives and friends. Both of them had come from large families and enjoyed having their relatives come and stay for an hour or a year. A “Cousins Club” was begun by Blanche and her sisters-in-law, which still held monthly meetings after twenty-five years.

Blanche and Rone had nine children, seven of which grew to maturity. The children are Lela, Ray, Merrill, who died at twenty years of age, Evelyn, Emory, Scott, Blaine, who died in infancy, Alice Marie and Phyllis.

Blanche enjoyed attending and working in the Relief Society, where for many years she was a visiting teacher in the University (now known as Federal Heights Ward) in Salt Lake City. Her children recall many visits with her to Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting. Her checkbook was ever open to any call from the church. Her memory will be of lively person whose generous, cheerful nature knew no bounds. Her excellent habits in housekeeping, her exquisite taste in dress, and ready wit will long be remembered.

In 1945 Blanche suffered from an attack of flu, followed by Parkinson’s disease. She became more and more helpless until a fractured hip totally incapacitated her in 1951. She died two and a half years later, in April 27,1954. Just ten weeks previous to the death of her husband, Moroni A. Smith.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Verland's Obituary

Verland Evans Smith
“Bon Voyage”

Our Verland embarked on her final adventure September 11, 2004 and died as she lived – suitcase packed with plans to visit family in southern Utah.

Born June 19, 1910 in Lehi, Utah to Edith and Sylvester Evans, Verland graduated from Lehi High School with honors. She attended Heneger School of Business and was employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Myton, Utah where she fell in love with her lifelong sweetheart, Emory C. Smith, who caught her eye because he wore a starched white shirt to the dance. The two worked hand in hand for over 50 years, sharing the responsibilities of operating a thriving family livestock enterprise in northeastern Utah. In addition to her work at the ranch, she held prominent positions at the local and national levels of the Women’s Woolgrowers Auxiliary, including president of the national organization. She was one of the founders of the “Make it Yourself With Wool Contest,” and she wrote radio plays for the National Woolgrowers.

As work on the ranch wound down, Verland had more time to pursue other talents and interests. At the age of 50 she began traveling the world, and she explored every continent but Antarctica and South America. One of her favorite trips was a cruise down the Nile River in Egypt. At 55, she took up painting with oils and watercolors and eventually exhibited 50 of her favorite works in a Park City gallery.

Verland lived a physically active life. She loved to golf and was a member of the Fort Douglas-Hidden Valley Country Club. She participated in a bowling league and enjoyed brisk daily walks through her neighborhood. She was swimming the day before she died.

She was a fearless woman who lived her life to the fullest and never sweated the small stuff. She was as proud of her family and their accomplishments as we are of hers. In her 80th year, she went up in a hot air balloon and hit a hole-in-one on the golf course. She enjoyed reading, playing bridge, cooking, and treating her friends and family to parties in her lovely home.

Verland is survived by her sister, Karma Whimpey; brothers Dick, Keith, and Sterling Evans; children Sidney (Gary) Creer of St. George, Utah; Allan (Shirley) Smith of Roosevelt, Utah; Mac (Mary) Smith of Hanford, California; and Lee (Sally) Smith of Salt Lake City, Utah; 15 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren.

We will celebrate her life Thursday, September 16 at 11:00 a.m. at Larkin Sunset Lawn Mortuary, 2350 East 1300 South in Salt Lake City, where friends may call from 9:30 a.m. prior to services. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Salt Lake chapter of the Assistance League, 2060 East 3300 South, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84109

Verland & Emory Anniversary Pictures

Verland & Emory 50th Anniversary
Verland & Emory 40th Anniversary

Verland 40th Anniversary Party



Thursday, February 18, 2010

Sylvester Evans and Mary Ann Edith Smith

Verland Edith Evans Smith's Parents





Sylvester Evans and Mary Ann Edith Smith Evans
50th Wedding Celebration

Jacob Stephenson Beck & Elizabeth Healey Beck





Jacob Stephenson Beck and Elizabeth Healey Beck
Emory's Maternal Grandparents



Emory's Grandparents, Mary Blanche Beck's Parents




Emory's Grandmother


Emory's Grandfather

Emory's Great Grandmother Emory's Great Grandfather

Emory's Great Great GrandmotherEmory's Great Great Grandfather