Because I have Been Given Much

Because I have been given much,
I too must give.
Because of thy great bounty,
Lord each day I live.
I shall divide my gifts from thee
with every brother that I see
who has the need of help from me.
  Lyrics by Grace Noll Crowell (1877–1969)

Before I was Born

Violet Bennett, circa 1909

Violet Bennett - my great Aunt's daughter.  She was a pretty little girl with golden ringlets hanging close to her face. Don't you just love her winter coat with a muff, leggings and a horn of plenty hat!

She married and had one son and two daughters but she was taken home to her Heavenly Father in the prime of her life at age 40. It makes me wonder why some people are taken early in this life and whiles others defy all logic and live beyond the age of man.

I love baby photos. They are a delight in any generation. Back in the early 1900s, boy babies wore dresses just like the girls did.

Thus, we see Henry T. Eames in 1917 hanging onto his baby buggy. Too bad, he closed his eyes.  He lived to a ripe old age of 86.

Frankly, for myself, I don't want to live that long but I do have longevity in my family lines and it would be just my luck to live past 80.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. I am blessed to have memorabilia from my grandparents and great aunt including these wonderful black and white photos - some are a real hoot.  The tall guy on the left is one of the Jones boys - not sure which one and the fellow on the right is my great Uncle, Joe Edwards - both home grown boys from Almo.

Joe and two of his sisters were out in the hills east of Almo rounding up stray cattle when a storm came up. It had been a beautiful sunny day for a ride on our horses but when the sky clouded up, you could see a storm moving in from the west.  Joe said we had better head home and leave the cattle.  It began to rain before we got home and by the time we made it, we were drenched.  Lightening and thunder were all around and they could hear the telephone wires singing as the crackling of electricity in the air. They had just hung on and let the horses find their way home.

The next day the men folk went to bring the stray cattle in and when they got there, five of the cattle were found dead along side the road. They had been killed by lightening. Clarissa said, "we thanked our lucky stars for getting home alive that day."

Phone Call Mystery

My phone rang and I saw it was my daughter so I said hello but no answer. I could hear people talking in the back ground so I said hello again. Nothing.  Then I thought maybe it was my 5-year-old granddaughter who called me once accidentally so I said Rachael? Nothing.  Then I heard a joyous noise from my 11-month-old granddaughter and I knew I had another accidental call but then my daughter heard my voice after the baby pushed speaker and realized that yes, the baby unlocked the phone, pushed a number and rang me and then pushed speaker phone. So when my daughter picked up the phone I was saying hi to granddaughter two.

She was very upset when mom took the phone away.  After all, grandma was speaking to her.

My daughter found a boat last week that had her name on it - not just her first name but both her first and middle name - what are the odds?

Aunt Julia

Tory Campbell and Julia Eames

Julia the School Marm

Julia wrote: In 1910 I married my childhood sweetheart Fred even though his parents objected to our wedding because we had both trained to be teachers and they thought that a wife should not work.

Fred & Julia

It was the fall of 1918, when the war was in Germany and Japan.  The flu was so bad in this country right after the war.  Of course, no one expected me to give birth to my baby, as I was only seven months and wasn’t expecting to deliver until the last of December. The hospitals were full.  You couldn’t get in for anything but the flu.  But by Wednesday the doctor knew I was in labor, so our friend, Nellie, came with the doctor and they delivered a little boy, so tiny, only four pounds.  The old doctor was very ill; he was shivering in the kitchen by the stove.  I screamed, the pain was so dreadful.  I said, “The baby is coming.  Someone come quick!”  Nellie ran to the bed and she could see a little foot.  She had the doctor there and sure enough there was another baby.  It took them quite some time to get this baby.  If he hadn’t been so small, I am sure he would not have lived.  He only weighed three pounds.  There were my twin boys, so tiny you could hardly believe that they were alive, or that I could keep them that way.  I got right out of bed and put a pillow on a common breakfast chair, then a blanket.  Nellie laid them both on the chair and covered them.  I had no clothes to put on even one baby, but never expecting two, I was quite mystified.

My sister-in-law came right over and brought outing flannel in squares.  She diapered and wrapped each one baby comfortably.  The doctor put boiled water in two bottles and they were fed.  Those boys were determined to live in spite of my ignorance, for goodness knows I didn’t know the rules of raising such tiny premature infants.  I could never have done it without Clarissa and Nellie.  They were as interested as if the babies were theirs. Our first baby David was stronger.  In two days, he started nursing.  But if my mother hadn’t come, we might have lost the smaller one.  She milked me with a breast pump and fed little Ned with an eyedropper for three days before he had the urge to nurse.  He was so very tiny.  We prayed constantly that we should be allowed to save these babies, and somehow, God seemed to listen and help us in every way.  Now they are fine men, and each served his country in the Second World War.  Each has sons that we pray may never be called to serve in any war.  These boys were born on October 9, 1918. They surely brought peace into the world. On November 11, 1918 there was peace.  

Pioneer Music

Last week I got all gussied up and drove over to the meeting house for our Daughters of the Utah Pioneers meeting and no one was there.  Someone put the wrong date on the schedule and I changed my phone so I didn't get a reminder call. Now what do I do?

Oh well, today I got all gussied up again and found friendship, a hearty lunch and learned about the pioneers.

Wagon and Spinning Wheel Decorations

We had a bit of candy left from Halloween. A cute little pioneer wagon adorned the table.

Artifacts shown were a button hole hook for shoes with an ivory handle. I bet that it cost a pretty penny or two.

The yellowish plastic tatting shuttle was sent around the room.  I saw a shop on Etsy from Anna in Poland who is tatting earrings - very clever.   Koroneczka at Etsy - check her out. She does tatted Christmas ornaments too.

Tatting Shuttle

This crocheted bedspread was made about 1940 by a member's grandmother.

We sang an old Irish song, "The Lily of the West".  There is a current version of this 100-year-old song by the Chieftains at The Lily of the West and I must say that it is a better rendition than a bunch of old campers singing it.  The pioneers brought this song along with them and probably used a flute or violin - portable musical instruments were all they could bring.

William Grant (1838 - 1916)

William Grant was paid to sing in his grandfather's pub in England when he was a small boy. He was an extremely small man and was affectionally, called "stubby". Not only could he sing well but he also learned to play the coronet. While at Ellis Island, he played his coronet for the masses. Becoming famous for his music, he was enticed to move to American Fork, Utah where he started a brass band and Grant's Emporium. Later, he was arrested and thrown in jail with the other polygamists. While there, he started a jail band. He had two wives and 31 children.

Children came into his Emporium and traded an egg for candy.  There was a divot line the length of the counter so that when an egg was placed on it, the egg would not fall off. One young boy came in and his egg fell off splattering everywhere onto the floor. William gave the boy candy anyway because the boy was honest.  He knew he was honest because it was not a hard boiled egg (a lunch for many children).

The Old West in Idaho

Grandpa used to sing a song about Idaho which has gone the way of unknown songs of an older generation - they are lost.

 These characters lived in a small farming ranching community called Almo, Idaho.

I am probably related to at least one of them but I haven't a clue which one. My guess is the tall fellow in the middle who looks the most normal.

Vern Eames, Jack Hitt and Chris Hansen, circal 1930

Jack Hitt was famous, for what I am not sure.  I know that there is an American author who was controversial but I am not sure that it is the same person.

I have no idea where this photo was taken but I would guess that it is someplace in the west - not Idaho because there are no bridges that big in Idaho that I know of and they were all on a trip somewhere in America.