Upward and onward

Since I found the pictures I wanted on the hard drive, it has been easier to continue with where I began on this blog. So, here is a short history of my paternal grandmother.

Annie LeFevre was born 24 Sept. 1888, in Spry, Garfield, Utah, she died 28 August 1960 in Panguatch, Garfield, Utah. Her father was John Henry LeFevre from Parowan, Iron, Utah and her Grandfather was William LeFevre. Here is where the polygamy pops up in our family, my great great grandfather William LeFever, had 2 wife's at the same time. Grandma LeFever Wilcock said that she called her grandfather's second wife Aunt Fanny, her name was Francis Banks.

Annie LeFever married Ralph James Wilcock on 21 June 1911, they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple in 1912. They had 8 children, 6 boys and 2 girls. Annie was often left alone by her husband, I think I mention that in his posting and the reason why. When you read Grandma's auto biography you can almost feel the resentment come through.

There is one story that when she was expecting one of the babies, she was once again alone, she sent one of the boys out to get the doctor, or midwife, I don't remember which one. The older son rebelled (it was a cold and dreary night) so grandmother took a razor strop to him to make him do what was needed. Later that strop went missing and was found on top of the house cut into very small pieces. No one else was ever convinced to do anything by that strop again.

Annie was the oldest of 9 children and was not afraid of hard work. Her family was raised in Spry, Garfield, Utah on a farm, or ranch. After she was married, the family had to "go home" to Spry and seek help from her parents. Therefore, that's where my own father was born. They ended up living in Panguitch, Garfield, Utah in a large Victorian red brick home. I remember going to that home as a girl to visit my grandparents.

Here is a picture of Annie LeFevre Wilcock:

I know somewhere I have an adorable picture of Annie and her younger sister Effie when they were children, when I fine it I'll post it for you but for now this will have to do.






Grandpa & Grandma Wilcock.
Ralph James Wilcock &Annie LeFevre Wilcock.
You are right I croped this picture for their individual photos.








Here is a photo of the children of Ralph and Annie, I think this was taken in Panguitch after Annie's funeral. Standing is John M. (Jack), H. Edith, Annie Elizabeth (Beth) J. Garn - Front is Alma, Grant (my father) Gale, & Author (Art). I hope you can see it, it scanned really small. Double click on the picture and you can see it better, It's a little fuzzie, and Uncle Garn, must have moved because his face is really funny. Sorry!

Anyway, that's all for now, it's almost my bedtime, where should I go nexe?? Any suggestions??

Writer's Block

I don't know what's wrong with me, writers block?? I can't seem to get going on my Dad's side of the family. I've put all my pictures on an external hard drive and it's hard to retrieve them. However, upward and onward and I'll write a little about my paternal grand parents.

Ralph James Wilcock, born 21 June 1876 in Parowan, Iron, Utah. Died 4 Nov. 1956 in Salt Lake City, Utah - I remember Grandpa as Dark hair, brown eyes and tall, he was probably at least 6 ft., and very thin. He like to sing and played a couple of instruments, especially the piano. He was a taxidermist and had "stuffed" animals around the house. He worked in a saw mill near Panguitch, I think it was a pardner ship or he owned it. Sorry I don't know that much about my grandfather Wilcock.

My grandmother was his second wife, he married her after his first wife died. He had a daughter by his first wife who lived with her maternal grandparents. The story is that whenever "Madge" called, grandpa jumped up and ran. I think this caused some problems with my grandfather and their family.

Grandpa was the youngest of 9 boys, and his family consisted of 8 children, my father was number 4. At this writing, only on of the children is still living, the youngest, Alma. Uncle Alma lives in Murray, Utah.

I'm going to try to retrieve a picture of grandpa, I don't think I have one when he was young but let's see what I can come up with.

Ok, so I did find a picture of a young Ralph James Wilcock. I don't really know when this was taken, he looks to be about 20???

I have one of a group of musicians with him playing an instrument when he was a very young boy.

He grew up in Parowan, Iron, Utah - his family was very active Church Members.

Great I did find a photo of Grandpa Wilcock as an older man. I know he loved the great out doors and I think he transfered that love to each of his boys. I know my father loved to be out in the open.

Next I'll give you a little history on Grandmother Wiclcok, we didn't know our Wilcock grandparents too well, we seldom went to visit them and I don't remember them visiting us too often. When they did visit us we had a kneeling prayer at dinner. The chairs were turned backwards to the table and we would kneel to pray. We seldom prayed in our home and I found I liked them to come visit.

Grandpa's first wife was Virginia Jackson, here is a picture of her. She and Ralph had 4 children, three boys and 1 girl. All died as infants except for the girl Madge. I don't know much about them, because they are not my direct line, however if you are interested you can check new.familysearch.org to get the whole family.

Gosh, I guess once I get started you can't stop me, however that's enough for now. Next time I get the bug I'll tell you about my paternal grandmother.

A quick post

I do look forward to February, for the last many years my sweet daughtor and I get together to do something. It is so fun to have her come here, like she did this year. Loralie, we didn't get to the beach this year, we must be getting old.
We had a wonderful weekend, doing "whatever we wanted". Loralie helped me out with my fabric stash and made a really fun quilt. We got up "before breakfast" on Saturday and went to the New Port Beach Temple. It's great to visit with and have so many things in common with your adult children. I really have wonderful children, in spit of me!!! Thanks Kids.

Fun, Fun, Fun

Scanning these pictures in takes a ton of time, probably because I have to stop and look at each one and decide when it was taken and where. Many I am keeping just because of the background. When I was 11 I got a Brownie Box camera for Christmas. I found a bunch of pictures I took with that little black & white camera. Including a great shot of the elementary school I attended for the first 6 grades. The school has been torn down now so for me it is a treasure.

In the last post I told you I had pictures of my Dad with kids all over him. Here is one, not with grands, but with his own children on his back playing "horsey" no wonder he would groan "o my aching back."

He really is under all those kids somewhere.

Memories

I just read Loralie's comments on my post about my grandmother, her great grandmother. I love that my children have some great, happy memories of their ancestors.

I have been scanning in pictures, the object is to reduce the amount of shelf space the many, many, books take up. I have come upon a couple of pictures I would like to share.

This is a picture taken in Oak City Canyon, in Millard County, Utah. The little girl is my sister RosaLee she was about 1 year old, so this was taken in 1947, the boy setting next to her is a cousin, Stephen J. Jensen, Stephen took his own life in 1988.
I like this picture because it shows how much hair RosaLee had, notice it is piled on top of her head, anyway that's what it looks like. Great old picture!!



This is a picture of me, I'm the oldest and RosaLee again, the was taken in 1947 as well. Notice the stroller, were they really called strollers??? This picture reminded me how much my sister and I do not look alike, never did. Even though this is a black & White picture, you can see how much lighter my hair is than hers. However, we both look very well fed. Anyway this is a treasure I found today, one more!


I know I posted pictures of my dad before, but this really reminds me of him, he loved his grandchildren and when they were around he usually had one or two of them on his lap. These little ones are my nieces, RosaLee's children. The oldest is Taresa, and the baby is Jacquie Lynn. I know there are pictures of him with a bunch around him, when I run into them you may get another dose of my dad. Enough of now, I have other stuff to do.

As Promised

Here are a couple of pictures of my Grandma as I remember her. She died too young, or we didn't enjoy her enough!!

Loralie will you remember "Grandma's Kitchen"? This pictue brings back mega memories for me. Look behind her, that little shakey built in porch where she usually had plants. She grew orchads at one time and anything else she took a fancy to. Watering her plants were a joy to her, when she came to California she "collected" plants to take home and try to grow. She often said that they grew better if you "borrowed" a slip. Enjoy!!

OK, what do you want next??? Nana's siblings or should I switch over to the Wilcock line?

My Mother's Mother

Helen Lola (her birth certific reads Dowes) (she was born out of wedlock so she was known as Breadhead) (she was adopted by a couple names Raymond) (her step father was a Jorgensen) - so Helen Lola Broadhead Dowes Raymond Jorgensen and finally Jensen.

Grandma was born 3 March 1907, in Aurora, Sevier, Utah.Her Grandfather arranged for her adoption to a couple from Blackfoot, Idaho. Her mother was not of age and un married so, yes it was legal her mother later married and found her and she was raised from about the age of 9 (when this picture was taken) by her birth mother and step father. She married John W. Jensen in 1924 she was 17 he was 43. She would often tell us "it's better to be an old man's sweetheart, than a young man's slave".

Grandma had a "heart condition" so was never very active, although she managed to raise 5 children. She was good with her hands, I guess we call it "crafts". She did crochet, knit, tatting, oil paint, and many other things that were popular in her day.

She was very fun to be with, she was a smoker, and she liked her coffee in a glass. I remember her with a "glass" of coffee and a cigarette most of the time. I visited her as a child during the summer a couple of times and later as an adult I stayed with her after she had a surgery. She liked to watch wrestling on T.V. , and once in a while she had opportunity to go to the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City to enjoy it. She also liked mystery programs on radio.

She was a good cook, a dump cook like me I guess. I asked her to give me her receipt for Danish Dumplings one time and she said we would just have to make some to get it right. So I followed her around the kitchen writing down everything she did, a dash of this, a pinch of that. I did that several times to learn how to make different dishes.

Here is John W. and Helen Lola Jensen on their wedding day. 29 Jan. 1924. They made their home in Richfield, Sevier, Utah.

Here is the Jensen Family about 1940. Back row is Lars, Guila, Jack, Grandma, Grandpa, Beverly and Afton Jensen.

I thought I had a photo of her just before she died in June 1976, but it's not on the hard drive, so I will have to save that for later.

I hope you enjoy my grandmother, we all loved her very much. I remember going to her home for Thanksgiving and sometime Christmas, quite often she would be in our home for holidays as well.

There is much more I remember about her, she had a deep base voice and my grandfather sang tenor. I loved to hear them sing together, and they sang the wonderful old music you don't here today ie: Let me call you sweetheart, Big rock candy mountain, and many others.

Sorry about that

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I posted the bit about my grandfather! I do better and catch up soon, but not tonight! Tomorrow is out "Temple Day" and my coordinator is out of town, so I get the opportunity to make the schedule, and put out any fires that happen on our shift tomorrow. I've only changed the schedule about 10 times, and as soon as I thought I had it right someone called in and said she was not going to be there. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Anyway most of my computer time has been spent on the Lord's work this week, for last week I have no excuse.

On To the Past

Wow!!! I am finally feeling better. Anyone that catches this crud need to get a Z-Pak ASAP, the first dose has me up and feeling much better.

As promised, here is some more family history. I think this will begin my Mother's parents and siblings. You will not get it all at once, because there are too many of them and I hope to give you pictures and a small history of each one. So to begin with my grandfather - John William Jensen (he never liked the name William so it was usually John W. Jensen) Grandpa died when he was almost 70 years old. He was 27 years older than my grandmother, Helen Lola Dowes Jorgensen Jensen (we'll discuss this later).

I was only 7 years old when he died, but I remember him. He was a kind man and he loves us kids. He would cut an apple with his pocket knife and share slices with us. (He didn't have any teeth). He would give us "Danish Coffee" (more milk and sugar than coffee) and he drank his out of a saucer, he pored it from the cup to the saucer to cool it faster. He wore an old tan sweater and rode a bicycle, couldn't afford a car. I remember riding on the handle bars of that old bike. He lost all his wealth (I understand it was considerable) in the depression on 1929, he saved enough to build a small home for his family in Richfield, Utah and went to digging ditches to feed them. He was water master in Richfield for many years.
.John W. Jensen as a young man probably taken in the late 1890's.

John William Jensen cropped from a frmily picture taken in Richfield, Utah. John was probably about 20 years old so this would be about 1901.

John W. Jensen about 1941, about 60 years old.

John Married Helen Lola Broadhead Jorgensen in 1924, he was 43 years and she was 17. Some say he married out of compassion, she had an "out of wedlock child". But I think they loved each other and between the 2 of them they had 5 more children. Here is a picture of John and Helen on their wedding day. Taken in Richfield, Sevier co., Utah. Where they raised their children and lived until their deaths.
That's enough for now, next time I'll concentrate on my grandmother. She was such a fun grandma, I loved her so much!!!

cough, cough, hack, hack!!

This cough is making me crazy!!! I cough all night long, I end up sleeping in the recliner so I don't keep dad up. I probably caught it in the traffic jam we had to traverse on the way home. Oh well, this too will pass!!! I hope SOON!

We are back in the swing of things here in old So. Cal., and it's summer here. I really do not like a "summer" cold. If the truth be known, I really do not like summer. The temperature has been in the 80's and we have "Santa Ana Winds" to help things along. We had an earth quake the other night just to remind me I still live in So. Cal. weather I like it or not. Anyway after an wonderful holiday with cold and snow we have to come back to reality and I promise sometimes this week I'll get back to what I intended this blog to be. Thanks to all my darling children for a Christmas to remember!!!

After Christmas

After Christmas, we moved from the Jim Fernley Home to the Troy Fernley Home. Gene went skiing with Nicole, Troy & Tasha and Jacquie went to RosaLee's to work on and eventually finish a quilt. My one regret about our stay is that I didn't get any pictures of our "grand dog" Jack. Jack is a lovable happy big yellow lab. So I'm going to scan a picture of Jack that is in the back of the F3 booklet you got for Christmas. Has anyone come up with a caption for this picture Yet???

We had a rousing New Years Eve party at the Jim Fernleys. (all these Fernley's become a little confusing don't they?) We were able to meet and greet many of our family and were happy to see the babies and enjoy all their noise. It's a little dis-concerning to be the oldest couple in a group and to have married grand children is really strange, but we are getting used to it.

We left Utah on Friday the 2nd of January 2009, stopped at Ihop in Provo for breakfast, and (many of you will think this is weird) at that Ihop Grandpa (Gene) noticed that they had butter pecan syrup, his favorite. We have not been able to find it in the stores, so we came away from Ihop with not only breakfast but a full gallon of butter pecan syrup!!

The road was pretty clear until we were on I15 in the middle of Vegas, then every thing pretty much stopped. We were slow all the way to State Line, so getting home from Vegas was about 6 hours.

Can you tell I'm board??? I wanted to open the Sun Roof and stand up to get a better picture, but Grandpa wouldn't hear of it. Sometimes he's no fun.

Sooooo We are home, safe and sound and had a wonderful time in Utah with all our dear family. We have the new printer connected and it is working wonderfully, so Thanks, Thanks, and ever Thanks to all of those who made our 2008 Christmas Holidays so wonderful!!!!!

Before Christmas

We stayed over night in Vegas with Loralie & Family, then on the 23rd we went to St. George, Utah to see the new baby (Sway) and play with Krew (Sway's big brother) for a few minutes.

The first thing Krew said was GG (great grandma) come see baby Way (Sway)! Isn't he adorable?? Baby Way I mean. Actually Krew is pretty adorable as well isn't he??

Jaci brought Emma over to play for a little while and let us get a hug from her, thanks Jaci!!! And thanks Jaci and Jonathan for the Christmas picture of the 3 of you. Miss Emma is getting cuter every time we see her.

Next we drove to Panaca, NV where Nana lives. Nana didn't want to go to Salt Lake with us so we stopped by to give her her Christmas present. She was especially glad to see Mikel & Emily and the babies. Here is Nana enjoying "baby way" (Sway).

Last of all before we headed off to Utah, here is Nana and her Christmas present, a digital frame that has over 700 pictures on it. It takes a couple of hours to get through the whole thing. Notice the pictures on the frame is of Aunt Beverly, Nana's sister.




Now we are on the road again, hoping we get to Salt Lake (actually Harriman) before the promised snow hits the Wasatch Front. Here is some snow from a previous storm on the road between Panaca and Cedar City.

Christmas

It's really hard to get a new bike for Christmas, especially when there is 2 feet of snow on the ground! Emily did a good job being nice about not being able to ride her bike, instead she road it around and around the couch in the family room.

It's wonderful to get a new "boom" box on Christmas, it doesn't matter if it is snowing outside. C.J. really likes his unique radio and CD player.

Nathan likes to vacuum, the carpet has never been cleaner sense Nathan got a new vacuum for Christmas.

Mom and Dad got everything they wanted as well, and Grandma & Grandpa sat back and enjoyed the whole deal.

Grandma & Grandpa received a very big stocking from Santa with a ton of "wonderful" stuff stuffed in the toe. Thanks Jim & Steph for a really great Christmas!!!!

As Promised

On Christmas day we were pretty much "snow bound". Here is a picture from Jim's back door, you will notice that these pictures are from the inside out. It snowed most of the day and the wind blew drifts so that poor Callie couldn't even go out to do her "duty". Poor Callie.
Here is a picture from the front window. The house across the street belongs to some really good neighbors. I did get out and shovel snow, after the storm was over and after watching Jim shovel for several minutes. It was really fun, I haven't shoveled snow for years. Hooray for a white Christmas.

ShovelingSnow

Merry Christmas!!! Hey it snowed most of Christmas Day, so when it quit snowing we had to go out and "shovel snow". I haven't done that since I was a kid. I'll include "real" pictures when I get home and unload my camera.

Christmas is more fun when you have little ones around. Hope you had a good one!!!!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

We are loading up and heading out to spend Christmas and New Year in the snow.

We are leaving in the morning to stop in Hisperia, California and wish "Uncle Howard" a happy birthday #79, then on to Las Vegas where Loralie promised dad some chicken enchiladas.

On Tuesday we hope to be up early to go to St. George, Utah (no snow yet) to spoil the newest great grand baby, then to Panaca, Nevada to deliver Nana's gift and give her a Christmas Hug. We would like her to jump on our Christmas Sleigh (do you think there is room?) and come to the snow with us, but I don't think she will.

So then we will head for the snow (we hope). Our plan is to make it to the Jim Fernley's in Harriman for Christmas. Then we hope to spend a few days with the Troy Fernley's in Farmington. Sooooo, we are off!!! Will not be back in California until the New Year!!

Please join us at the Jim Fernley's in Harriman for a Family New Year Celebration. Grandpa has some plans up his sleeve!!!

Newport Beach Temple

We love our cozy little temple. Yesterday was the last shift we work this year. It was raining so hard, and the wind was blowing so hard, that I could not open the front door to leave. Fortunately there was a very strong brother stationed at the door to let me out.

It was a very slow day, the good thing about a slow day is that the sisters on my shift get to know one another better. It was also the week before Christmas so everyone brought a favorite treat. So, as well as getting to know each other better, we got to sample some really yummy treats and now I really do have to 1.) quit eating and 2.) start exercising. Oh well, January is coming.

We are happy for the rain, although some that were affected by the fire last month, had to be evacuated this month because of possible mud slides. I'm so happy in my little "grandma" house in the "low lands". We just stay hunkered down here dry and warm.

That's all for this year, unless I get bored with the rest of what I have to do.

Back to the Parents

I found some old black & white photo's when my parent were young, even when I was young - when the world was black & white. Anyway, so you can peak in my blog and find something new, (while I get some more scanned) here are some pictures taken in Upland, California (where I was born) of my handsome parents, and one of me too.

Awwww how cute!

Christmas

I'm almost ready for Christmas!!! Hooray - all the gifts are wrapped, just need to get some in the mail. Then to fill in my time I have been asked to help with a quilt for our Bishop, never a dull moment, they want it completely finished by Christmas Eve. I've never heard of getting one done that fast, but I suppose they can do it if the put their mind to it. You might like to see one or two of my quilts, they all took more than 2 weeks.

Have a w wonderful Christmas. Mom/Grandma/Farawaygrandma/Jacquie

And the first shall be last

My first, oldest, and most beautiful child is a girl! (I bet you guessed that already) Loralie Ann Fernley was born 21 February 1962, In San Diego, San Diego, California. She has light brown hair, brown eyes - surprise - surprise, is 5'4", 2 inches taller than her mom. She has a bright, bubbly, happy personality. She has 8 boys and has often said she does boys really good, but she also has 2 girls and she does them really good as well.

Loralie is married to a great man who supports her is her goals, and annoys her just enough to keep her on her toes.

Loralie, at 46, has gone back to school this year for her bachelors degree, I am so proud of her!!! She is doing sub-teaching while she is accomplishing this goal.

Loralie has 5 grand children - 5 of her children are married, 3 simply roaming around doing the single thing, leaving her 2 at home. I'll elaborate on each of this crowd when I get to the grands.

Loralie at 2 months, I told you she was an adorable baby!!!

Below is Loralie and her sweetheart James W. Cuff