I found some negatives that did not look familiar. I asked my father-in-law to help and he got them scanned and converted. These turned out to be real treasures that I don’t have anywhere else. Be careful with those negatives you think are probably just duplicates of photos.
Jackie was born in 1960. These are all in the home in Richmond, Utah. Happy Birthday Jackie! I recognize some of the furniture in the photos, bookshelves, headboards, decorations.
Dad has these two photos sitting on his desk at home, they sat on his desk at work too. The one above is from the recognition party given for him and Mel Keyes in 1990. Dad still has the picture, one of the trucks on the cake, and the Traeger smoker. Circle A transferred Dad to AgExpress in about 2004 when AgExpress took over the Paul operations. Dad had roughly 34 years with Circle A Construction. I am posting this in honor of Mel and Dad for what is 55 years since they started for Circle A Construction!
This photo below is for a supervisor training get away some time in the 1990s. Dad could not remember the exact year.
Leslie Sanford Abbott (1953 – 2005)
Lenny Aslett
Larry Dean Aslett (1944 – 2022)
Marvin Bridges Aslett (1926 – 2022)
Sage Aslett
Steven Le Roy Aslett (1947 – 2021)
Clifford “Boomer” Bailey
Eli Calamantes
Dave Dana
Mike Ehrmantraut
Tom Ehrmantraut
DeLane Terry Fetzer (1947 – 2020)
Edward Lenn Foreman (1951 – 2015)
George Reece Garro (1947 – 2012)
Gradus Geert Heeling Jr (1951 – 2020)
Jeff Herzinger
Dale May Keyes (1947 – 2017)
Melvin Eddie Keyes (1943 – 2018)
Jeff Mecham
Milo Paul Ross (1943 – alive)
Tom Schmidt
Nick Stephens
Gerald Stowell
Terry Vitek
I attended the temple in June and did the proxy endowment for Richard Max Hirschnitz. I felt captivated by the name and the individual.
The temple card indicated he was born 20 February 1893 in Langebruke, Kamenz, Dresden, Deutschland.
After doing some research on Richard Hirschnitz I discovered he passed away in 1917 in Belgium. Which to me told me he was likely a casualty of World War I.
He died 1 May 1917 in Flanders Province of Belgium. It shows he was buried in the Vladslo German Military Cemetery. He was definitely fighting for the Germany military.
I could not locate a formal battle happening in Flanders in May 1917. A German website shows Richard is at Seeflugstation I at Zeebrugge. The ongoing Battle of Arras seems too far away for him if he was a pilot. He could have been part of preparations for the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). I just don’t have enough detail to tell me more about how or where he died.
FindaGrave shows this designation: Flugzeugf.-Matrose. He was certainly on an aircraft. Planes in 1917 were not very large and not many crew members.
What he shot down? Crashed? Plane failure? He was just over 24 years old.
His proxy baptism and confirmation were performed 13 April 2019 in the Twin Falls Idaho Temple.
His proxy initiatory was performed for him 26 April 2019 in Twin Falls Idaho Temple.
I attended to his proxy endowment on 28 June 2025 in Twin Falls Idaho Temple.
His proxy sealing to parents is yet to be performed.
He appears to be fourth of 13 children born to the marriage Max Friedrich Heinrich Hirschnitz and Johanne Therese Schlegel.
I have more questions but cannot locate answers. Perhaps some day?
“HELP BUILD LOCK. These foremen and supervisors are working on the Eisenhower lock in placement of concrete. They hail from various parts of the country. Shown are Ward Turner, supervisor, from Arkansas; Manuel Martinez, vibrator, from Mexico; Golden Andra, general foreman, from Idaho; John Catera, foreman, from Utica.
This newspaper article and photo were in the records of Golden Andra. Golden is named in the newspaper, I don’t know/think the second photo is of Golden. It says it came from the Department of Interior, he kept it for some reason unknown to me.
I know this was a significant time in the life of the Andra family. Golden worked and is shown as a general foreman. But I also know that Golden’s brothers Donald and Ross both also worked on the St. Lawrence Seaway. I believe they both worked on the Eisenhower Lock as well.
Golden and Utahna adopted a boy born in 1957 at Bombay, Franklin, New York.
Donald married in 1957 at Hogansburg, Franklin, New York.
Ross told me multiple stories of New York. Unfortunately, I don’t remember any to share.
Since this is Golden, and this article also shares some information in New York, I share it here as well.
“Andra, former Preston man, gets Silver Beaver. The Citizen (Preston, Idaho) 20 March 1986.
“A former Preston man was awarded a Silver Beaver award from the Mt. Whitney Area Boy Scout Council in California recently.
“Golden Andra, son of William F. Sr., and Mary Wanner Andra, of Preston, was one of the two Tulare, Calif., scouters to get the prestigious award, the highest given on the council level.
“Andra, who has been involved in scouting for more than 20 years is serving as district commissioner for the Golden State District, and Explorer advisor for Post 234.
“An active member of the LDS church, he married Utahna Bird of Salina, Utah in the Salt Lake LDS Temple.
“He worked for Morrison Knudsen Construction and the government for many years. He now works in sales for Selig Chemicals and has been in sales for 20 years. He is now buying the old Willard Wanner home in Preston for retirement.
“Andra organized the first charter for the Boy Scouts in Hogansburg, N.Y., for Mohawk Indians, becoming scoutmaster; worked with youth in Pierre, S.D.; Page, Ariz.; Roseville, Calif.; Crows Landing, Calif.; served as a counselor to a branch president and scoutmaster in Manteca, Calif.; scoutmaster, stake missionary, president of the Seventies, president of the MIA in Tulare.
“He also served as High Priest group leader, stake assistant secretary and scoutmaster over all scouts, last year being given the district award of merit.
“The Andras have six children (four living) and three foster children.
In June, 2021, the Hales Family came to town. We took a little trip to the desert for some fun.
The same day we hit Bear Trap, we also visited nearby Split Butte. It was quite the adventure.
Bear Trap Cave is huge, but not necessarily deep. Some other caves go in more than a mile. Other caves are nearby too. But this one was safe to take so many little kids.
Working through the family history book of Golden Andra that was given to me, I opened a page to scan some photos and found a surprise. Behind that photo were some ordination certificates. These are originals. I thought I better get them scanned and preserved. I also uploaded them to FamilySearch and got them linked with the names in the documents.
I think they are valuable for family history. They are also a peek into church history. This gives us the missionaries who baptized and confirmed my Great Grandfather in Germany. I have provided some limited biographies at the end.
Also an original Notification of Birth Registration for Robert Lee Andra, son of William and Mary, who died at birth. I am not sure why the United States Department of Commerce is issuing this Notification, or the Bureau of the Census. There is some history behind this I am not aware. Last, a copy of William’s obituary.
I had to do some history on individuals listed on the certificates. Some fascinating individuals, obviously some of them local church leaders.
James Richard Bodily – born 11 February 1872 in Hyde Park, Cache, Utah – died 12 April 1967 in Preston, Franklin, Idaho
Wilford Woodruff Emery – born 16 October 1880 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah – died 10 September 1954 in Salt Lake City.
John Edward Hanks – born 30 August 1877 in Salem, Utah, Utah – died 5 July 1970 in Salt Lake City.
William Gibson Palmer – born 16 July 1884 in Croydon, Morgan, Utah – died 15 May 1977 in Preston.
Henry Helaman Rawlings – born 8 April 1893 in Fairview, Oneida, Idaho – died 14 February 1984 in Fairview.
Adelbert Augustine Taylor – born 9 April 1883 in Springerville, Apache, Arizona – died 15 November 1948 in San Felipe de HÃjar, San Sebastián del Oeste, Jalisco, Mexico.
Luther Hovey Twitchell – born 17 October 1878 in Salt Lake City – died 15 April 1962 in Bountiful, Davis, Utah.
I continue to work through the massive box/crate of photos and documents that were given to Dad after Aunt Betty Donaldson passed away. Much of it was garbage, some of it was interesting, but I have been getting to some really good stuff lately. One little such item was hit pocket album that belonged to my Great Grandmother, Berendena Van Leeuwen Donaldson. I pulled all the photos out and scanned them. But first, here is the pocket album.
The first photo in the album was that of her grandchildren. This photo was taken in 1951. The names and dates are on the back.
Berendena went by Dena her whole life. But since her daughter was also named Dena, I usually go with her full name. The next picture is of her and the two Ross girl grandchildren.
Then a picture of her and her husband, David Delos Donaldson.
Then a picture of her daughter Dora.
Then her son David “Dave” Donaldson.
Last picture was of her and all give of her children.
Several of these photos were taken at 639 Wall Avenue in Ogden, Weber, Utah. This photo was not in her pocket album.
We have arrived back in America after a very long day of traveling. I am very glad it is over. Our luggage was lost somewhere on the way. It took another day to arrive. They must have ran it through the oven. All chocolate melted and everything else was jarred. They even opened the luggage to inspect.
I just uploaded 169 photos for the album. After going through and naming all 169 of them, the thing defaulted and then did not save them. So you may want to wait before looking at the photos. I will let you know when I get them named. Additionally, I have ran out of room again for the second month in a row. The photos only run to Northern Wales. Everything for the past week I cannot upload until August arrives. I suppose you will just have to wait!
Life is good. I am glad to still be alive and feeling in one piece after the flights.
Sagacity 