Phoenix

by

The England Fire of 1974

Plain City, Weber County, Utah is not a place that conjures images of billion-dollar industries. Its name suggests modesty, and its streets deliver on that promise — quiet fields, small farms, and houses set back from roads that run straight and flat through Weber County. There is substantial residential development in the past two decades. Even then, this small town produced a remarkable concentration of American transportation entrepreneurial energy. At the center of it stands one man: Chester Rodney England.

When a fire consumed Chester’s lumber yard on the evening of 6 April 1974, his neighbors rose to defend him to allow him to rebuild. Among those neighbors were my grandparents, Milo and Gladys Ross. What they did in the weeks that followed is documented below — eight pages of signatures collected on lumber yard estimate forms, a newspaper clipping, and a typed petition text. This post tells the story behind those pages.

Chester and Maude

Chester Rodney England was born 12 November 1896 in Plain City to William and Ismelda Thueson England. He grew up there, attended Weber Academy, and in 1916 married Maude Vivian Knight — a Plain City girl herself, born in August 1897. One month after their marriage, Chester received a mission call to the Southern States. He was set apart on 5 December 1916 by Apostle Anthony W. Ivins and left his new bride on 6 December 1916, serving for two years. He returned to find Utah in the grip of the 1918 influenza epidemic, his wife under quarantine, and her sister Elizabeth Knight Ericson dead. His mother was also ill, and he spent a week with his aunt Laura England before he could be with his family.

Chester wrote his own history late in life, and his voice is direct. After the mission he worked at the Amalgamated Sugar factory, farmed through the winters, bought a small Ford truck, and began hauling produce to the stores up through Cache Valley. “I found I could make more money doing this than farming,” he wrote, “so I turned the farm back to my father.” On 24 October 1919, his first son, Eugene Knight England, was born in Ogden. On 6 March 1923, his second son, William Knight England, followed. Two daughters, Rosemary and Carol, completed the family.

Milo James Ross
Milo James Ross (1921–2014)

In 1924 the Weber Central Dairy Association organized and asked for bids to truck milk from the dairymen into the dairy on 19 Washington Boulevard in Ogden. Chester submitted his bid, was accepted, and trucked the first load. He delivered milk in the morning and hauled potatoes up through Cache Valley in the afternoon. Gene and Bill grew up in the business. During summers Chester took them along on the long hauls, building a shelf of boxes out from the cab seat so they could nap on the road. He made sure they always had a bottle of pop at each stop.

During World War II, while Gene and Bill served in the military, Chester hauled Mexican bananas coming into the country at El Paso, Texas, distributing them throughout Utah. Gene served in the 77th Infantry Division at Okinawa, earning the Bronze Star for crawling under fire to drag a wounded soldier to safety — 129 men went up to the escarpment, 27 came back after 72 hours. Bill served in the Air Force in the Philippine Islands from 1943 to 1946. The two brothers found each other on Cebu using a coded letter — Gene had written his middle initial as “B” to signal his location — and Bill arrived with a mattress, making Gene the only man in his division sleeping on something other than a canvas cot. A letter written from the Hotel Keystone in San Diego in May 1946 — Chester on the road at age 49 — gives a picture of those years on the home front. He writes to his wife about a load of bananas, his plans to buy a semi-trailer, and his satisfaction that Gene and Bill are doing well.

Shortly after their return from service, Gene and Bill joined Chester hauling produce. Their first postwar hauls included lumber from Oregon back to Utah, and it was that trade that gave the family firsthand knowledge of the lumber market. The first diesel truck — a used 1940 Kenworth conventional — was purchased during this period. As the business grew, the company also ran two packing sheds and a storage facility for Idaho potatoes at its peak. Around 1957, an unforeseen change in the potato hauling market prompted Gene and Bill to file applications for ICC licenses to haul all kinds of freight, opening an entirely new range of products and geographic lanes. That same year, C.R. England offered 72-hour coast-to-coast service, the first such offering available to American shippers. The first trip east was made by driver Robert Gould in a new 1959 Kenworth, tractor number 17, hauling produce from California to Philadelphia.

In the 1950s Chester stepped back from trucking, leaving Gene and Bill to run what had become C.R. England & Sons. He returned his attention to Plain City. As he wrote: “Our sons retired me from C.R. England & Sons so I started building homes on our property in Plain City. I soon decided I needed a lumber yard if I was going to continue to build. In 1960 I built a lumber yard on the property just west of the home we had sold.” The family’s years hauling lumber from Oregon had given Chester intimate knowledge of the lumber trade, and that knowledge informed the decision. He built three homes on adjacent property and sold them to Keith Lund, Ray Cottle, and Blaine Gibson. He built 25 homes in Plain City and many others throughout Weber County. He built a 12-unit apartment complex in Roy. He took second mortgages from young couples who could not otherwise buy. “It was a great satisfaction to have young couples come and tell me they would never have bought their homes without my help,” he wrote.

Maude was with him through all of it. Born in Plain City in August 1897, she never really left. She served as president of the Plain City Primary, held positions in the Relief Society throughout her life, and attended the Ogden Temple with Chester twice a week when they could manage it. She died in Plain City on 12 February 1982, having lived there her entire 84 years. Chester moved to Salt Lake City after her death and died there on 5 January 1989. He is buried beside her in Plain City Cemetery.

The Sugar Factory

The sugar factory was woven into both families long before the fire. The Amalgamated Sugar Company plant at Wilson Lane, just south of Plain City, was one of the economic anchors of Weber County from the early twentieth century onward. Plain City farmers hauled beets to the rail dumps each fall for decades; the railroad that came to Plain City in 1909 arrived largely to move beet cars to that factory. Chester England worked at the sugar factory himself after returning from his mission in late 1918, spending two winters there before he turned to farming and then trucking.

Milo’s father, John “Jack” Ross, worked for Amalgamated Sugar much of his adult life, following the company between its Ogden, Burley, and Paul, Idaho plants as work demanded. That movement accounts for the geography of the Ross children: Milo was born in Plain City in 1921, his brother Paul born in the town of Paul, Idaho in 1922, and Harold born in Burley in 1924. Amalgamated Sugar built its Paul factory in 1917, and families from the Plain City area followed the work north. The factory experienced difficult early years — a postwar agricultural depression after World War I, and then the beet leafhopper blight that devastated crops through the 1920s and into the 1930s — but it survived to become, in time, the largest sugarbeet processing facility in the world. Chester England and Jack Ross were contemporaries who had worked for the same company in the same corner of northern Utah before either of them had settled into the lives their families would remember them by. For more on the sugar factory’s role in Plain City’s history, see History of Plain City Pt. 1.

The Cradle of American Trucking

Chester England’s 1920 Model T purchase was the seed of something considerably larger than one family’s business. Four major American trucking companies trace their origins directly to Plain City, and all four connect back to Chester. The Standard-Examiner and C.R. England’s own history have documented this story in detail.

C.R. England & Sons grew steadily through the postwar decades into one of the largest refrigerated carriers in the United States, eventually operating a fleet approaching 4,000 trucks and headquartered in Salt Lake City. Gene England served as president of the company well into his later years, still coming into the office daily at age 88. He died on 13 November 2024 at the age of 105. Bill England, who married Fern Hadley — a Plain City Hadley, the same family that signed the petition — died on 28 March 2018 at age 95. He spent his last ten years without sight but maintained, as his family recorded, an extraordinary optimism throughout. He entitled his life history “It Is As Good As It Gets.”

Carl Moyes had driven trucks for C.R. England in his younger years. In the late 1950s, Carl and his wife Betty started B&C Truck Leasing in Plain City. In 1966, when their son Jerry graduated from Weber State College, the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona and formed the company that would eventually become Swift Transportation — for many years the largest truckload carrier in the United States. Jerry Moyes later observed that he liked to say there was “diesel in the water” in Plain City, and that the people there were conceived in sleeper cabs.

In 1990, brothers Kevin and Keith Knight and their cousins Randy and Gary Knight left Swift to found Knight Transportation. All four had grown up in Plain City and gotten their start working for the Moyes family’s Swift Transportation. The Knights were also related to Maude Knight, who had married Chester England in 1916, making them family to the man who started the Plain City trucking tradition. Knight Transportation started with five trucks; four years after going public the company had between 250 and 300. Knight and Swift announced a merger in April 2017, creating Knight-Swift Transportation, valued at an estimated $5 billion with approximately 23,000 tractors and 77,000 trailers.

In 1976, Jeff England — Gene’s oldest son and Chester’s grandson — bought his first truck while still working at C.R. England as an owner-operator, initially under the name “Pride of England Enterprises.” In 1979, with three trucks and a haul contract moving produce from California to New York, he left the family firm to go fully independent. His wife Pat was his partner from the beginning. In the early 1980s he assembled a group of investors, purchased ten more trucks, and rebranded as Pride Transport Inc. By 2017 the company operated a fleet of 500 trucks. In 2012 Jeff passed ownership to his son Jay England. Jeff England said of his decision to leave: “I felt that I needed to do my own thing.” He was 76 at the time of that interview and still driving a truck a couple of times a month.

The fuel infrastructure serving these fleets also has roots in this region. O. Jay Call, who came to Willard, Utah in the mid-1960s, founded Flying J in 1968, naming it for his love of flying, and built it into the largest retailer of diesel fuel in North America. His uncle, Reuel Call, had founded Maverik convenience stores in 1928 in Afton, Wyoming. FJ Management acquired Maverik in 2012. The Call family’s fuel network and the England-Moyes-Knight trucking empire developed in the same northern Utah environment across the same decades.

In September 2022, representatives of all four trucking firms gathered at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in Ogden for the premiere of a documentary about their shared origins. Gene England, then 102 years old, was present on stage alongside Jeff and Dan England, Jerry Moyes, and Kevin Knight.

The Fire

On the evening of 6 April 1974, Chester England went over to open up the lumber yard. He was 77 years old.

He described what followed in his own autobiography:

As I opened the office door, the place exploded and was engulfed with flames. It had been smoldering during the night. We do not know what caused it but it burned everything. I ran in to get the invoices but the ceiling began falling and burned holes in my jacket so I could have lost my life. This was a terrible experience watching everything you have worked hard for go up in flames. I was down in bed for 10 days from shock. We had insurance on it but I had been buying so much merchandise that the insurance didn’t begin to pay for the loss. I appreciated the fire department and the ward members who worked so hard to help. It took many weeks after to clean up. My family thought I should retire and not build it up again. However, I knew I wouldn’t be happy without something to do so I started rebuilding as soon as I could.

The 1977 History of Plain City records the fire at “England Builder’s Lumber Company” and gives the date as April 6, 1975. That date appears to be a transcription error in the town history; Chester’s own autobiography gives 6 April 1974, and that account is the primary source. The fire also destroyed the adjacent Leigh Archery Company, operated by LeGrande Leigh and Robert Jones. The insurance fell short. Chester was 77 and his family urged him to retire. He refused.

Plain City Will Consider Future of the Lumberyard

A newspaper clipping, attached to the first petition page, reported what happened next:

PLAIN CITY — The City Council here will hold a special session May 9 at 8 p.m. to make a decision on requests to rebuild a lumberyard and business destroyed by fire.

Requests that the city permit reconstruction of the lumberyard and Leigh Archery Co. came from Chester England and LeGrande Leigh and Robert Jones.

The council reported, however, that there have been some objections from citizens who do not want to see the lumber operation reestablished.

It also was reported there have been some questions as to the nature of the archery business being conducted. It has not been determined whether it is a commercial business or a manufacturing operation.

The requests to rebuild have been referred to the city planning commission for its recommendation. The recommendation is expected to be received prior to the May 9 meeting. All interested citizens are invited to attend the meeting which will be held in the City Hall.

The council also will consider various projects the city can carry out under the Utah Extension Service Program. Ronald Bouk of the service outlined various programs cities such as Plain City can conduct that may bring it awards and other benefits. The city must make application for such projects by May 31.

Some citizens did not want Chester to rebuild. And so his neighbors organized.

Milo and Gladys Ross

Milo and Gladys Ross
Milo and Gladys Ross, 30 May 1942

Milo James Ross (1921–2014) was born 4 February 1921 in a log cabin just north of Plain City. His mother, Ethel Sharp Ross, died of puerperal septicemia in August 1925 when Milo was four years old, leaving three surviving boys. Milo went to live with his Uncle Ed Sharp, Harold with Uncle Dale Sharp. They were raised in separate homes within a few blocks of one another in Plain City, the extended Sharp family absorbing the loss. For more on the Sharp family’s tragedies, see Sharp Tragedies.

Milo grew up working Ed Sharp’s farm — tending onions, hauling salt from the flats at Promontory, doing whatever needed doing. He played baseball with the Plain City Farm Bureau team and attended Weber High School.

Plain City baseball team
Plain City baseball team. Back (l-r): William Freestone (manager), Norman Carver, Glen Charlton, Fred Singleton, Elmer Singleton (1918–1996). Middle: Clair Folkman, Dick Skeen, Albert Sharp, Abe Maw, Milo Ross. Front: F. Skeen, Walt Moyes, Arnold Taylor, Lynn Stewart, Theron Rhead. See also: Plain City Hurler.
1937 Plain City Baseball Champions
1937 Plain City Baseball Champions. Back (l-r): Ben Van Shaar, Ervin Heslop, Ellis Stewart, Kenneth Taylor, Don Gibson, John Reese. Middle: Frank Hadley, Howard Wayment, Wayne Rose, Ray Charlton. Front: Keith Hodson, Howard Hunt, Wayne Carver, Lyle Thompson, Milo Ross.

In 1940 Milo met Gladys Maxine Donaldson (1921–2004) at a Plain City celebration. They married on 4 April 1942. Six months later Milo enlisted in the Army. He served in the 33rd Infantry Division, 130th Regiment, Company C, trained in weapons and earned expert ranking. He arrived in Hawaii on 4 July 1943 — the same day his son, Milo Paul, was born in Utah, a son he would not meet for three years. He fought through the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines and was present at the Japanese surrender at Luzon in June 1945. He received two Purple Hearts and the Silver Star. His company received a Presidential Citation for outstanding performance during the seizure of Hill X in the Bilbil Mountain Province. For more on Milo’s military service, see Milo James Ross Military Medals and his 1997 oral history interview.

Milo Ross in uniform
Milo Ross in uniform at Fort Lewis, Washington

He came home and went to work as a contractor and builder, eventually building and remodeling hundreds of homes throughout Utah, mostly in Weber County. That work is why, when the time came to gather signatures for Chester England, he had a pad of lumber yard estimate forms at hand. They were his working tools. He pressed them into service as petition pages.

Milo knew Chester England personally. A childhood photograph survives showing Milo alongside Harold Ross, Howard Hunt, Josephine Sharp, and Janelle England on horseback — the England and Ross and Sharp children together in the neighborhood as naturally as their parents moved among one another. In his 1997 oral history interview, Milo recalled Chester among the Plain City men who had struggled during the Depression years, when banks failed and farms were lost. Chester was woven into Milo’s memory of Plain City going back to his earliest years.

On Horse l-r: Harold Ross, Howard Hunt, Milo Ross, Josephine Sharp (arm only), Janelle England, Eddie Sharp. In front l-r: Ruby Sharp, Lucille Maw, and Milo Riley Sharp.

The Petition

The typed text at the center of the petition read:

We the citizens of Plain City feel that Chester England should be allowed to rebuild his lumber yard. Since when do you kick a man when he is down/ Lets stand together and help Chester England when he needs a friend.

The headers on the petition pages identify the organizers: “By Gladys and Milo Ross — To Help Mr. England — Rebuild Back Up.” The forms were passed through the community in the weeks leading up to the May 9 city council meeting. One page was circulated by Joan Jenkins.

My father, Milo Paul Ross, had worked for Chester England as a teenager. He and his first wife, Victoria “Vicki” Feldtman (1945–2018) — married 5 March 1963 — both signed the petition. For more on Vicki, see Vicki’s Class Pictures. My grandfather Harold Ross also signed. The Sharp cousins — W.A. Sharp and Florence Sharp, children of the family that had raised Milo and Harold — signed as well. Maude K. England and Chester R. England signed the petition themselves.

Among the more than 340 signers, the connections to Plain City’s history run deep. The Moyes family signed in force — the same family whose son Carl had driven trucks for Chester England and whose grandson Jerry would found Swift Transportation. The Knights signed — relatives of Maude Knight England and future founders of Knight Transportation. Elmer Singleton (1918–1996), the Plain City baseball legend who pitched in the major leagues for five teams over fifteen years, signed with his wife Elsie. Cherrill Palmer Knight (1931–2021), who had served as Plain City City Recorder and was the daughter of Vern and Viola Palmer — also signers — added her name alongside her husband Thayne (1931–2018). Roxey R. Heslop, who contributed the school and cemetery histories to the 1977 Plain City history book, also signed. Hildor England (1896–1983), born Johnson, who married into the England family, signed as well. Gordon C. Orton (1924–2008), a Plain City general contractor and World War II veteran who served in the Philippines, New Guinea, and Okinawa, signed with his wife Leone. Vernal Moyes, who had served as a Plain City councilman, signed alongside his family.

The 1977 History of Plain City records the outcome: “Builders Bargain Center, formerly England’s Builders. This business was started and run by Chester England for many years.” Chester rebuilt. The community’s voice prevailed. For more on Plain City’s history, see the Plain City series on Sagacity.

Circle A Construction

Milo Paul Ross and Larry Aslett
Milo Paul Ross and Larry Aslett

My father’s career at Circle A Construction was built substantially on the same industry that had shaped the England and Ross families in Plain City. Circle A, founded in 1952 in Jerome, Idaho by Marvin Aslett, hauled sugar beets for Amalgamated Sugar for most of its operating history. For roughly 34 years, from around 1971 until Circle A transferred the Paul operations to AgExpress in 2004, my father supervised beet hauls across the Magic Valley, from the fields to the Amalgamated dumps at Paul and elsewhere across southern Idaho — the same plants Jack Ross had worked in a generation before.

Marvin Aslett and Milo Paul Ross
Marvin Aslett and Milo Paul Ross at Milo’s 20-year service recognition, 1990. See: Circle A Construction Honors.
Circle A truck in Paul parade
Circle A Construction truck in the Paul, Idaho parade, about 1985. See: Circle A Construction Trucks.

Marvin’s sons Larry and Steve Aslett ran the company alongside my father for decades. We called Larry “Uncle Larry” growing up. The Asletts took us to roundups in Mackay, to ranch country above White Knob. I worked for Circle A myself from 1993 through 1998. My first job in 1994 was washing and waxing trucks at the old Hynes beet dump in Paul after harvest. Jack Ross had worked for Amalgamated Sugar in Paul in the 1920s. My father hauled beets to Amalgamated in Paul for three decades. Circle A’s beet hauls fed the same company in the same town across three generations of this family’s working life.

Circle A trucks in front of Idaho Capitol
Circle A Construction trucks in front of the Idaho State Capitol, 2000

The Petition Pages

Below are all eight pages of the petition as collected by Milo and Gladys Ross in the spring of 1974.

Complete List of Signers

Names marked with an asterisk (*) represent uncertain readings of the cursive originals. Dates are given where confirmed through research. This list was transcribed from handwritten signatures; corrections and additions are welcome.

Adams, Alice
Adams, Allene C.
Adams, Calvin Rex
Allen, Jeanine
Alsup, Marguerete W.*
Alsup, Phil S.
Amussen, Doris Maw
Amussen, Richard W.
Ashdown, Rex R.
Ashdown, Virginia
Bacon, R.A.
Baker, Dean A.
Baker, Penny
Baker, Tom D.
Baker, Vivian
Beeler, Diana
Beeler, Jack
Beutler, Kandis C.
Beutler, Lloyd J.
Bingham, Dee
Bingham, Evelyn
Bingham, Farrell J.
Bingham, Junior D.
Bingham, Lorene
Bingham, Zona F.
Brown, Donna
Brown, Robert
Bullock, Duane
Bullock, Joyce W.
Bunn, Carol
Bunn, John H.
Burr, Adle R.
Burr, Arnold K.
Burr, Kenna F.
Burr, Lester
Burr, Roy D.
Butler, Donnette R.
Butler, Kenneth L.
Butterfield, Judy*
Calvert, Elaine
Calvert, Kent W.
Carver, Brent
Carver, Harold C.
Carver, Jane
Carver, Liland
Carver, Theone
Chase, Dannell
Chase, Ladd
Chase, LaRene G.
Chase, Norma P.
Child, Melvin E.
Chournas, Beverly*
Chournas, Chris*
Christensen, Barbara
Christensen, Darrell
Christensen, Ivan
Christensen, Ken
Christensen, Margaret
Christensen, Ted
Cliften, Elaine
Cliften, Robert
Close, Tom*
Cook, Dee
Cook, George
Cook, Harvey
Cook, Jennie
Cook, LaRae
Cook, Lyman H.
Corey, Dean
Corey, Fae
Costley, Elsie
Costley, Paul
Cowell, Florence
Crook, Carlene
Crook, Lane
Daley, Kenneth*
Daley, Thora
Dall, Kathie*
Davidson, Donna
Davidson, Kathy
Davidson, Marland L.
DeVries, Norm
Donaldson, Betty M.
Donaldson, David
East, Ava M.
East, Donald
East, Jimmy K.
Eddy, Beverly
Eddy, Max
Ellis, Carole
Ellis, Diana
Ellis, Donald B.
Ellis, Glen
Ellis, Janet
Ellis, Lynn
Ellis, Ray
England, Boyce
England, Chester R. (1896–1989)
England, Hildor (1896–1983)
England, Marvel S.
England, Maude K. (1897–1982)
England, Merlin
England, Mona
England, Orel W.
Eskelson, David Lon
Etherington, John E.
Etherington, Nelda
Fisher, Dorothy K.
Fisher, Robert W.
Folkman, Andrea
Folkman, Carl
Folkman, Clair
Folkman, Clara
Folkman, Cliff
Folkman, Jim
Folkman, LeRoy
Folkman, Norma
Folkman, Robert L.
Folkman, Viola
Foremaster, Bonne*
Foremaster, Pete
Fuller, Mary Lynn
Fuller, Rex
Fuhriman, Viola
Gallegos, Edith
Gee, Vilate
Giles, Lewis
Giles, Lucille
Grieve, Claramae
Grieve, Paul
Haas, Julie
Hadley, Barbara
Hadley, Connie
Hadley, Devaine
Hadley, Doug
Hadley, Gordon
Hadley, Howard
Hadley, Janet
Hadley, Karma W.*
Hadley, LaVirra*
Hadley, Lenora
Hadley, Mary Fee*
Hamp, Beth
Hansen, Gaylen G.
Hansen, Loren M.
Hansen, Nancy
Havseler/Tesseder, Christine*
Haws, Arlene
Haws, Darwin C.
Haws, Varnell
Heslop, Roxey R.
Higley, Shirley
Higley, Willard J.
Hill, Gary
Hill, Kae
Hipwell, Elmer
Hipwell, Joanne
Hipwell, Rosetta
Hobson, Connie
Hobson, Jack
Hodson, Delbert
Hodson, Lyle M.
Hodson, Mr. Ivan
Hodson, Ms. Ivan
Holmes, Doug
Holmes, Joanne
Hori, Nancy
Hori, Sam
Howard, Virgie
Howell, Kent*
Howell, Peggy J.
Hunt, Jan
Hurst, Vick*
Imlay, Nancy
Imlay, Terrence
Jackson, David W.
Jackson, George
Jackson, Mrs. George
Jackson, Mrs. Keith
Jackson, Keith
Jenkins, Ellen W.
Jenkins, Genevieve
Jenkins, Joan
Jenkins, JoAnn
Jenkins, Joyce
Jenkins, Quentin M.
Jenkins, Ronald
Jensen, Blaine R.
Jensen, Joyce
Jensen, June B.*
Jensen, Kit O.
Johansen, Barry L.
Johansen, Carol
Johnson, Judy B.
Johnson, Randy
Johnson, Rex L.
Jolly, Grace
Jolly, L.M.*
Jones, Kathy
Jones, Robert
Kapp, Clara Jean
Kapp, Leon
Kawa, Grant D.
Kelley, Bertha
Kelley, Gail
Kelley, Jesse R.
Kelley, Leona
Kennedy, Hazel
Kishimoto, Lorn
Knight, Argus*
Knight, Arson*
Knight, Cherrill (1931–2021)
Knight, Thayne E. (1931–2018)
Lakey, Dixie
Lakey, Tom
Large, Fred*
Large, Kay*
Larkin, Wade R.
Laub, William R.
Lord, Clarendon “Gene” (1929–2015)
Lord, Cline
Lund, Elizabeth
Lund, Eugene
Lund, Keith
Lund, Pearl
Mace, Rieths*
Mahoney, Kathryn
Mahnke, Eugene
Mahnke, Laura
Maw, Abram E.
Maw, Floy A.
Maw, Karen
Maw, Monna B.
Maw, Norma Jean
Maw, R. John
McFarland, Fenton
McMillan, Nola L.*
McMillan, Thomas A.*
Merrill, Paul O.*
Mikkelsen, Leo
Mikkelsen, Renee
Miller, Clarence
Miller, Ranae
Miller, Thomas A.
Miller, Veda L.
Moyes, Beverly
Moyes, Dale L.
Moyes, Edna
Moyes, Elaine
Moyes, Elbert
Moyes, Fentis*
Moyes, Ivan
Moyes, Juanita
Moyes, Kay H.
Moyes, LuJean
Moyes, Lynn V.
Moyes, Mable
Moyes, Orin
Moyes, Vernal
Nash, Augusta R.
Neff, Mr. Wayne
Neff, Ms. Wayne
North, Janet
North, Rick
Olofson, Mary L.
Olofson, Robert L.
Olsen, Ian*
Olsen, Mary
Olsen, Ron
Olsen, Yvonne
Orton, Gordon C. (1924–2008)
Orton, Leone
Overman, Curt
Painter, Cleo
Painter, Lee
Palmer, Douglas
Palmer, Lawrence
Palmer, Susanne
Palmer, Thelma H.
Palmer, Vern
Palmer, Viola (1908–2009)
Post, Bessie
Post, Judy O.
Poulsen, Bernard
Poulsen, Nora
Rasmussen, Don J.
Rasmussen, MaryLynn
Reese, J.D.
Rhead, Bonnie
Rhead, Steve
Rhead, Theron
Rhead, Vivian
Ritz, Mark
Robins, Jay*
Robins, Mildred
Robson, Amy
Roddomy, Ronald*
Rogers, Dennis O.
Rogers, Shareen
Roper, Mr. Rodney
Roper, Mrs. Rodney
Ross, Gladys (1921–2004) — organizer
Ross, Harold
Ross, Milo James (1921–2014) — organizer
Ross, Paul M.
Ross, Vicki (1945–2018)
Russell, Joe
Russell, Shirley
Sargent, Evona
Sargent, Kent
Saunders, Carl R.
Searcy, Hazel
Searcy, Kenneth J.
Seegmiller, Dale
Seegmiller, Marie F.
Sharp, Florence
Sharp, Laurel
Sharp, W.A.
Shaw, Jerrell B.
Shaw, Phyllis
Simpson, Archie W.*
Simpson, Florence
Singleton, Elmer (1918–1996)
Singleton, Elsie (–1988)
Singleton, VaCona
Skeen, Archie
Skeen, Charles
Skeen, Dick
Skeen, Lorraine
Skeen, Luella
Skeen, Wayne
Smith, LaWanna R.
Smith, Vernon J.
Sneddon, Dennis
Sorensen, Gordon A.
Sorensen, Karma
Sparks, Mildred
Stagge, Floyd
Stagge, Myrle
Statler, Lynda
Statler, Richard
Stevens, Debra
Stevens, Gwen C.
Stevens, John W.
Tafoya, Arthur
Tafoya, Via
Taylor, Alice
Taylor, Annette
Taylor, Call
Taylor, Clare
Taylor, Edna
Taylor, Elma
Taylor, Elvin L. (1920–2004)
Taylor, Elizabeth
Taylor, Fern
Taylor, Frances
Taylor, Gerald J.*
Taylor, Grant
Taylor, Idona Maw
Taylor, Jr.*
Taylor, Kathlene
Taylor, Kathy
Taylor, Ralph A.
Taylor, Rodney
Taylor, Rolla H.
Taylor, Ross M.
Taylor, Sheri
Taylor, Val
Taylor, Valoy (1932–2024)
Tesseder, Doug*
Thomas, Duane F.
Thompson, Gordon
Thompson, Lavina
Thompson, Margaret
Thompson, Marvel
Thompson, Merrvin*
Tippetts, Larry*
Truscott, L.C.
Truscott, LaVona
Valdez, Evelyn
Valdez, Raymond J.
Van Meeteren, Beth
Van Meeteren, Frank
Van Meeteren, Jean
Van Meeteren, Ron
Van Workom, Joyce*
Vaughn, Bert
Vaughn, Renee
Wakefield, Marilyn
Walton, Neale
Walton, Rhea
Weatherstone, Lorraine
West, George C.
West, Lillian
Westbrook, Herman
Weston, Becky
Weston, Brent
Weston, Eldon
Weston, Fae
Weston, Jae H.
Williams, Arnold A.
Williams, Charlotte
Williams, Delbert
Williams, F. LeRoy
Williams, Karen A.
Williams, Nadiene
Winder, Jane
Winder, Wayne
Wright, Norma

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Memorial Day 2025

Time continues to march forward. It does not care what we think about it. Some want it faster, others want it slower, others want it to stop.

In preparation for Memorial Day, I was trying to think of something that would show that I truly hold in memory those who served in the military and especially those who died in that service. Hopefully here are a few things that show a more human side. I am not aware that I have any ancestor who has died in a war, especially in the service of the United States of America. I guess for that I am lucky and honored. But I have many who have served in the military.

Portrait of David Delos Donaldson after WWI

David Delos Donaldson is my paternal grandmother’s father. I tried to get a copy of his military records many years ago, but they were destroyed in a St. Louis, Missouri, fire long ago. I only know a few things. He worked in California as a pipe fitter/plumber at some point, but I believe that was for WWII. He went through basic training and ended up learning signaling. At some point he was allegedly in France and was exposed to the dreaded mustard gas, which injured his lungs. He smoked to settle his lungs as prescribed by doctors. He ended up dying from complications due to his lungs.

Here are some notes I have from 2006.

“I stumbled upon a registration form for my great grandfather, David Delos Donaldson, and WWI.  He was working in Twin Falls, Idaho.  The best part is, we never knew he went to Idaho, ever.  Not only that, he was working there, and was exempted because he was working to support his younger siblings and mother.  He did later enter the war, we don’t know when or how, but went to France in the Argonne and was gassed there.  He suffered his whole life and eventually died from the mustard.

“With this information, I went to visit my Uncle Dave Donaldson because my Dad did not know anything.  I picked his brain.  We know little about my Great Grandfather before he married.  Now we know he was working for Ballantyne Plumbing in Twin Falls in roughly April 1917.  He served in WWI with two brothers.  As mentioned, he was hit with mustard, spent some time in hospital, and he wasn’t getting better, so they sent him home.  He married my Great Grandmother in 1919, Berendena Van Leeuwen.  They had 5 children.  During the great depression he worked down south as a plumber.  Dave did not know where, but there was a possibility it was at the Hoover.  When they went on a trip to Los Angeles, he insisted on stopping at Boulder City and the dam on the way home.  Oh, we do know that before they got married, he worked as a plumber in Phoenix.  How long we don’t know, but he could not bear the heat down there.  During the depression when he worked down south, the family stayed in Ogden.  Dave was young enough that he remembered his father coming home, but not knowing where from.  Again during WWII, the whole family moved to Napa, California and Great Grandpa was a plumber at the naval yard there. I do not know if there were any other naval bases down there.  Then they moved back.  The family must not have stayed down there, or he did not work the entire war, as my Grandpa and Grandma met in 1941-1942 at the Berthana on 24th street Ogden at a dance.  They were married in April 1942, shortly before he left for war.  Great Grandpa was a plumber by trade.  He worked up until the 1950’s when his health failed him.  He picked up smoking because it soothed his lungs.  It sounds like the mustard burned his lungs the rest of his life.  He would smoke to deaden the nerves.  Dave told me this increased until he died.  Even the last few years of his life, he had oxygen when he went places and when he slept.  But he kept smoking.  Dad told me of one of the few memories he had of his Grandpa.  He went to visit him in Ogden, Grant Ave if I remember right, and he was laying in bed.  There were newspapers all over the floor.  He got into a coughing fit and coughed a big thing of phlegm up and it went on the floor.  It was the combination of the irritation to the lungs from mustard and the smoking.  It was what eventually killed him.

David Delos Donaldson (back), John Edmund Donaldson (left), and William George Donaldson

Here are some postcards David sent home to his mother. His father, William Scott Donaldson, died of cancer in 1913.

“Part of Carlin, Nev.”

I am not sure why the writing on the left is crossed out. But you can see Miss W. S. Donaldson 2270 Moffett Ave Ogden Utah. It says Carlin and Delos Donaldson. It might say “Yours” above it. The postmark is dated 1914, but I cannot make out the rest of it.

Retail Business District, Tacoma, Washington 1918

Dated 2 April 1918. “Dear mother got here all ok like it fine Write me as Private David D Donaldson 20th Co., 5th Bn., 166th Dep Brig. Camp Lewis, America Lake, Wn. Mrs. W.S. Donaldson 2270 Moffett Ave Ogden Utah”

Front and back

“Signal Corps It does not look much like me Do you think so. Mother I am at the Signal School here.”

Front and back

Dated 28 June 1918. “Dear Mother just a line to say I am well and fair when I got in New York all for this time your son DDD. Written to Mrs. W. S. Donaldson 2270 Moffett Ave Ogden Utah

Harry Korb Cigars & Tobacco, known location with David standing in front of the store. Other three are unknown.

We might think it, but none of us are truly bullet-proof. This boy’s health was affected for the rest of his life by war. He did live to be 59 years old.

He did marry and had five children.

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Dora Note

Phoenix, Arizona Tent City Auto Camp

Once again, a number of family history photos have found their way to my desk. This one doesn’t really give me anything to place it in context of anything else. What is written on the back is interesting to me.

“Dora”

“Dear baby all is Well with you Dear Dady and I am going to send you something nice soon now”

“your dear Dady”

I will post the back of the card so you can see the handwriting. This card/photo was in a stack of old photos that include teenager photos of my Great Grandfather, David Delos Donaldson, that I will share another time.

David Delos Donaldson (1894-1953) has a few undocumented parts in his life. In 1910 he was 16 and living in Ogden Utah. I have written more extensively regarding his life. He served in World War I, then married in 1919 with twins arriving 28 May 1920. One of those twins was Dora Donaldson. So at least those portions match with Delos and his daughter Dora.

I assume this must have been one of two cards that were sent home since Dena and Dora were twins. It seems strange to write a note to only one of them. I am unclear who wrote it as it states “you Dear Dady and I,” which would make it seem to be written by Dena and that she was present with him. One also gets the impression that this was written to a child, not anyone older. So I am guessing this is between 1924 and 1928.

We obviously do not know if Dena and Delos stayed in the Tent City Auto Camp. I assume they stayed there or at least visited someone there. What were they doing in Phoenix, Arizona? That is a long drive especially in those days. The card is not mailed, so it must have been sent as part of a package or other letter.

Why are the people standing around? Trying to look closely at the vehicles in the picture, they do appear to be early 1920s vehicles. This photo appears to have been a regular postcard that was available, not a photo taken by Delos or Dena. This website states the Tent City was located at 1850 East Van Buren Street in Phoenix. This website further talks about the auto camps and later motels that were common on Van Buren.

As mentioned in the last of the two websites linked on this auto camp, these auto camps became the forerunner of the classic American motel. Interesting to see Delos and Dena take advantage of what is so commonplace in our day yet so fundamentally different in its rudimentary state. What things do we do now that will be odd or so long ago in only a generation or two down the road?

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Photos of James Thomas Ross/Meredith

In the last few weeks, family history communications paid some dividends.  I found the first quality photos of my Great, Great Grandfather James Thomas Ross also known as James R Meredith.

I previously wrote about James’ life story here on 8 January 2012.  I also posted pictures of our visit as a family to James’ grave at Belmont Memorial Cemetery in Fresno, Fresno, California at this post.

This past week, in conversations with Darlene Neault, a granddaughter of Martha Elnora Cackler, she let me know she had some photos of Jim and Martha.  I was very interested in obtaining a copy.  She was kind enough to mail them to me!  Very trusting.  I scanned them and already mailed them back to her.  These photos are uploaded to FamilySearch and I will also share them here.

Martha and James Meredith, photo has 1946 written on the back. 

As a refresher, James was born 22 September 1869 in Snowville, Pulaski, Virginia.  He married Damey Catherine Graham 9 August 1887 in Hiwassie, Pulaski, Virginia.  Four children were born, Robert, John “Jack”, Fanny, and James.  Damie passed away 3 February 1933 in Marysville, Yuba, California.  James remarried Henrietta Fountain 8 June 1936 in Sacramento, Sacramento, California.  She passed away 21 February 1946 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona.

That brings us to his marriage to Martha Elnora Cackler, widow of Daniel Gordon Brewer, 14 July 1947 in Fresno, Fresno, California.  Daniel and Martha had 7 children together.  Martha’s granddaughter, Darlene, had these photos in her possession.

I have a younger picture of James, but it is pixelated and not any good to really zoom in to see any facial features.  I hope some day to get a better scan of this photo.

James & Damey Ross

But until then, I now have photos of Jim later in his life.  James passed away 13 April 1951 in Fresno.  Martha passed away 31 July 1974 in Fresno.  James was buried in the larger Brewer family plot of Martha’s family.

I understand these two next photos are on their wedding day.

Jim and Martha on the happy marriage date

 

Jim & Martha with wedding cake

These next three pictures are also of James and Martha.  I am still trying to figure out who exactly the others are, but I understand Darlene is in two of the photos.  As I get the information, I will update the post.

Unknown four girls, I believe second from left is Darlene, then Martha and Jim

 

Unknown couple, James, Martha

 

James, Martha, Unknown, Darlene

I hope there are more photos out there to discover.  These were pretty exciting!

 

 

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Cove Fort

Having taken work all over the western United States during the great depression, David Delos Donaldson finally landed employment at the Ogden Depot in 1937 as Supervisor of Maintenance.  In 1939, he took his wife, Berendena Van Leeuwen Donaldson, back to California for an extended trip to visit family on both the Donaldson and Van Leeuwen family lines.

David and Dena hit the 1939 San Francisco World Fair and then wound their way over to Phoenix and up through Utah back home to Ogden.  A number of photos exist from this trip, including these two from Cove Fort, Utah.

David and Dena Donaldson at Cove Fort, Utah

 

David and Dave Donaldson at Cove Fort, Utah

On 4 November 2017, our little Ross family traveled to Cedar City, Utah for the Cedar City Temple Open House.

We immensely enjoyed our visit.  Well worth the trip.  Beautiful temple in every regard.

Cedar City Temple

 

Paul, Amanda, Aliza, Hiram, Lillian, and James Ross at the Cedar City Temple Open House

 

Jill Hemsley with Aliza, Hiram, Lillian, and James Ross at Cedar City Temple Open House

After we drove past Cove Fort on the way down, I kept thinking of the picture of my Great Grandfather David Donaldson and Grand Uncle Dave Donaldson from 1939.  I knew on the way back I wanted to stop and see if I could find the same site.

We stopped and had a great visit with the missionaries who serve at the site.  They also helped us find the spot of the picture from 1939 and we took the following picture.

Paul, Amanda, Aliza, Hiram, Lillian, and James Ross with Jill Hemsley recreating a 1939 photo of David and Dave Donaldson.

Here is the photo again for comparison.  The door behind Uncle Dave is the one behind Aliza and Jill.  The grey rock at the right of the bottom window behind me is the same to the right of Dave.

David and Dave Donaldson at Cove Fort, Utah

The missionaries had to visit with others about the history of Cove Fort.  The large tree in the old picture was only removed a few years ago, along with the well that David and Dave are standing in front.  We were able to figure out which side of the fort from the shadows (both sides look the same).  The fort was restored in the 1990s, so you can see the improvements in the windows, mortar, and the top of the walls above the roof.    But the photo is roughly the same area and vicinity.

I literally stood on the ground where my Great Grandfather David Donaldson walked some 78 years earlier.  Thanks to my family for indulging me.

The fort was an interesting place to learn and stop as well.  I recommend any passing through to stop.

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Ross-Donaldson Wedding

David and Dena Donaldson are pleased to announce the marriage of their daughter Gladys Maxine to Milo James Ross, son of Jack Ross and the late Ethel Ross.  They were married in the Donaldson home on 8th Street in Ogden, Utah on 4 April 1942.  (This post originally appeared in 2010 and is reposed due to Grandpa’s death)

Gladys is a 1940 graduate of Ogden High School.

Milo is a 1939 graduate of Weber High School.  He is currently employed with American Packing and Provisioning Company as a supervisor in Ogden.

The couple will make their home in Plain City.

While short and sweet, there is much more of a story behind those words.  Milo and Gladys met  in 1940 when Gladys and her sisters rode their bikes all the way to a celebration in Plain City.  Later they would meet at the Berthana, which included a dance hall on the second floor (built in Ogden about 1914).  The Berthana later converted to a roller skating rink before closing in the 1970’s.  The building is still there although I do not know what the use for the building is currently.

David Delos Donaldson and Berendena Van Leeuwen are Gladys’ parents.  Read more of her parents at this link: Donaldson-Van Leeuwen Family.  David was a plumber by trade who had lung problems from being gassed in the Argonne of France in World War I.  He suffered from lung ailments the rest of his life.  He mostly worked in the Ogden area but worked prior to marriage in Phoenix, Arizona and Twin Falls, Idaho.  He also sought work in Boulder City, Nevada during the depression and as a steam and pipe fitter during World War II in Napa, California.  Apparently during World War II he worked almost exclusively in submarines.  You can read more of their marriage and family at the link above.  She went by the name of Dena her entire life.

Gladys and Maxine Donaldson ages 5 and 3.

Dena grew up LDS and David did not.  David’s parents were not active LDS and most of David’s siblings joined the LDS church between the ages of 10 and 22.  David and one brother did not.  Dena saw that all her children were raised LDS with little difficulty from David.  Apparently smoking is what kept him from being baptized (he picked up smoking after being gassed because he said it soothed his lungs).  When the time would come for Milo and Gladys to marry, they wished to be married in the temple.   For whatever reason, the Bishop determined that he was not going to allow them to be sealed without David being a member.  I do not know which Bishop, but I have a suspicion it was Gladys’ Bishop and that he knew the Donaldson family.  He probably hoped to bring errant David around so his daughter could get married.  The plan backfired.  It would not have worked anyhow because David was pretty set on Gladys marrying a wealthy man and would not have minded if the wedding had not gone through.  Milo said they wanted to get married and were not interested in waiting around for a Bishop to figure out what he was doing.  A week before they were actually married, they decided to elope.  They packed up and drove to Evanston, Wyoming on snow covered roads.  They arrived and decided they better do it proper with family around.  They enjoyed a meal and drove back to Ogden on a very snowy set of roads.  Leading them to get married in the Donaldson home the next week or so.  It would take them another 34 years before they finally made it to the temple to get sealed.  Perhaps the Bishop was inspired.

They married in April and World War II was in full swing.  They rented a place in Ogden for a few weeks until moving to Plain City and rented there (on 4700?) until they built a home after the war.  Milo and a group of buddies then went off to Fort Douglas to enlist in October 1942 rather than wait until they were drafted.  They anticipated at least a few more days or weeks in Utah before being shipped off.  However, Milo was put on a train that same day to Camp Lewis in Washington.  He spent the next two to four months there, he cannot remember for sure.  Gladys would move to Camp Lewis to be with him through basic training.  By this point the two knew they were expecting a baby.

Milo shipped out for Needles, California to Camp Ibis.  Due to his experience with building, he was one of the men asked to lay out some of the buildings for the latrines and then helped in starting the construction of those buildings.  Their division stayed there a few months before heading off to San Francisco from which he was put on a boat and headed to Hawaii.  He landed in Hawaii on the 4th of July 1943 with the loudspeaker welcoming the men to Hawaii and announcing the birth of a son to Sergeant Ross.  I have written of that baby at this link: Baby Milo Ross.

Gladys would live with her parents in Ogden until Milo returned from the rigors of war.  Her parents moved from their address on 8th Street down to Washington Boulevard during this time.

Milo worked for American Packing and Provisioning Company some in high school and on afterward until he went into the service.  American Pack would be sold to Swift & Company in 1949.  This packing plant would remain in use until the 1970’s when it was closed.

I have written previously about Milo’s loss of his mother in 1925 and her family keeping him from having contact with his father, John William Ross.  Here is the link: Ross-Sharp Wedding.  He was raised by his Uncle Edward William Sharp in Plain City.

Anyhow, the family would go on to have 2 more children in 1946 and 1948.  Milo received a homestead in Washington State in the late 1940’s, early 1950’s, but I do not know more about it.  The homestead is believed to have been abandoned because of medical needs of Judy and the family returned to a newly built home in Plain City around 1948 or 1949.  The family then built the current home at 2532 N. 4100 W. in 1955 and have resided there since.

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Edna Coley Neilson

With the recent passing of Ivan Blaine Neilson, I decided to prepare a history for his mother Edna Coley Neilson.  Especially since I just recently came in possession of a number of new photographs of the family.  Some day I will write a history of her parents, my Great Great Grandparents, but I am hoping some more photos of them will appear in the upcoming months.

Edna Coley was born 23 November 1900 in Lewiston, Cache, Utah.  She was the second of ten children, my Great Grandmother Lillian being the oldest, born to Martha Christiansen and Herbert Coley.

I don’t know much about Edna’s personality.  I have been told by numerous people that Edna was the preferred child of Martha and was often doted on to the the dismay of the siblings.  I don’t know that tells me much of her personality though.

Edna married Gerold Andrus (1903-1984) 17 April 1921 in Richmond, Cache, Utah.  The next month, 15 March 1921, Harold Christian Andrus was born.  Gerold and Edna were only married for a very short time, a shotgun wedding and a shotgun divorce.

Edna married Olof Alma Neilson (1891-1960) 23 July 1923 in Logan, Cache, Utah.  They were sealed 30 July 1924 in the Logan LDS Temple.  I don’t know if Harold was adopted legally or not, but Harold went by Harold Christian Neilson the rest of his life.  The only father he knew was Olof and Olof treated Harold as if he was his own son.

Olof and Edna would have what appears to be ten children together.  The records certainly show ten children, but I believe one of them is a duplicate, or mistakes in names leading to a duplicate child.  Nobody is alive to confirm either so I will list all ten but point out where I believe the duplication exists.

Alma Russell “Russell” Neilson born 23 Jun 1924 in Richmond.  He married Gloria May Olson on 9 Oct 1946 in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple.  He passed away 13 September 2017 in Washington Terrace, Weber, Utah and buried 19 September at Washington Heights.

Olga Helen “Helen” Neilson born 28 July 1926 in Richmond.  She married LeRoy “Roy” Hulse Draper 25 May 1943.  She passed away 4 March 2015 and was buried 9 March at West Point, Davis, Utah.

Olof and Edna, Harold, Helen, and Russell Neilson

Olof and Edna, Harold, Russell, and Helen Neilson (14 May 1927)

To Lillian and Joe, when she was 10 months old.

To Lillian and Joe, when she (Helen) was 10 months old

Olof and Edna Neilson holding Russell

Olof and Edna Neilson holding Russell

Martbamary Neilson born and died 2 July 1927 in Richmond.  He does not have a tombstone if he is buried in Richmond.

Hebert Neilson born 25 November 1928 and died 26 November 1928 both in Richmond.  He has a tombstone in Richmond.

Aenotta Neilson born and died 1 September 1929 in Richmond.  This and the next child were either twins or just variations on a name.  Only a documentation exists for the next child.

Jennetta Neilson was born 1 September 1929 and died 2 September 1929 in Richmond.  Jennetta also has a tombstone where Aenotta does not, you would expect Aenotta would since they were supposedly twins.

Ole Neilson was born and died 19 October 1932 in Richmond.  He was buried 20 October 1932 in the Richmond Cemetery and has a tombstone.

Russell Neilson

Russell Neilson

Ivan Blaine Neilson was born 26 April 1935 in Richmond.  He died 16 January 2013 in Yuma, Yuma, Arizona.  He was buried 25 January 2013 in Smithfield, Cache, Utah.  He married Gloria Gilgen 8 June 1954 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.  They were later divorced.  He remarried to Rebecca Anne Pitcher 4 September 1981 in Smithfield.

Ivan Blaine Neilson

Ivan Blaine Neilson

Lastly, Martha Mary Neilson was born and died 6 July 1937 in Richmond.  She is buried in Richmond.

Lillian, Edna, Martha (sitting) Coley in the 1940's

Lillian, Edna, Martha (sitting) Coley in the 1940’s

Russell Neilson

Russell Neilson

Harold Christian Neilson

Harold Christian Neilson

Nelen Neilson

Helen Neilson

Russell and Gloria Neilson

Russell and Gloria Neilson

1955 Coley Reunion, Richmond, Utah

1955 Coley Reunion, Richmond, Utah

I named the people in the reunion photo here.

Olof passed away of a heart attack at about 9:30 am 13 April 1960 at home in Richmond.  He died almost instantly.  He was buried in Richmond on 15 April 1960.

Edna’s mother passed away 14 August 1961.  The family gathered for the funeral 17 August 1961 for the funeral.  The photo below was taken that day in the Richmond Cemetery.

Art, Golden, Wilford, Roland, Lloyd, Edna, Hannah, Carrie, Lillian, Ivan Coley at their mother’s funeral in 1961

Edna, Will Thomson, Lillian

Edna, Will Thomson, Lillian in the mid 1960’s

Edna lived close to her sister, Lillian Jonas, now Bowcutt, and Lillian makes regular reference to Edna in her journals.  The thing that stands out to me is how close they were in that Edna would regularly aid or stay with Lillian.  Also, Lillian makes regular reference to Edna’s attending the temple in Logan.

Harold took his own life 9 March 1966 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona.  His body was brought back to Richmond for burial.

Edna lived in Richmond until she passed away 6 April 1983 in Richmond.  Her funeral was held 9 April 1983.

Edna's funeral program

Edna’s funeral program

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Meredith – Graham Wedding

William and Mary Graham are pleased to announce the marriage of their daughter Damey Catherine Graham to James Thomas Ross, son of James Meredith and Nancy Shepherd.  James and Damey were married 9 August 1887 in Hiwassie, Pulaski, Virginia.

I am stepping into a bit of a minefield in writing this biography because there is such a wide variety of opinions on the history of this family.  The stories I have were handed down and cannot be verified.  Some claim to have documents but I have been unable to obtain copies of these documents for various reasons.  These purported documents are family records and the public records I cannot find.  Therefore, hopefully documentation will come forward and this post will be altered as that information presents itself.  Poor Damey, not much conversation is available about her because there is so little controversy.

The picture above is of James Ross Meredith, or I assume he was called that at that time.  James Thomas Meredith was born to Nancy Adeline Shepherd 22 September 1869 in Snowville, Virginia.

In 1951, a few months before his death, James was interviewed by his granddaughter, Donna Beachell.  She indicated his mind was very clear.  He indicated to Donna that he was born out of wedlock and that his real father was James Meredith.  He said he was born in Snowville, Virginia.   He also said this James Meredith adopted him when he was about 4 years old and raised him.  He said the courts gave him the name James Thomas Ross Meredith.

The records of Pulaski County indicate this:

“Order Book 5, page 25
September 2, 1873
On the motion of Anderson Linkous, Overseer of the Poor for High Wassie Township for an order to bind James Ross aged 3 years son of Nancy Ross who has become a county charge and it appearing to the Court that said James Ross is now a county charge.  It is ordered that said Overseer of the Poor bind out according to Law to James Meredith the said James Ross son of Nancy Ross aged 3 years until he attains the age of 21 years and besides teaching him reading, writing and arithmetic said Meredith shall be required to pay the said James Ross upon his attaining the age of 21 years the sum of 100 dollars.”

The courts recognized him as James Ross, probably after his mother’s married name.  I have been unable to locate a birth record for him under either name.

He was almost 5 years old when Nancy Ross went into the poorhouse, or at least when the county gave little James to old James Meredith.  I am not sure why they thought he was 3.  Although some records have him born in 1869, and if this was correct, he was just shy of his 4th birthday.  But I will stick with the birthday that he gave during his life.

The county placed James Ross into the charge of James Meredith until he was 21 years of age.  Unfortunately, nobody seemed to ask when this James Meredith was born.  We also do not know when this old James Meredith died, or if he raised him until he was 21 (and paid the $100).  After James and Damey married, John Phibbs (brother-in-law to Fanny Ross) remembered visiting the family in West Virginia and that James’ mother, Nancy lived with her son and daughter-in-law, James and Damey, for much of the time the family lived in West Virginia.    Apparently Nancy was strong enough to carry in heavy sacks of coal and potatoes by herself.  This probably would have been the turn of the 20th century since they were in West Virginia.  No mention is made of old James Meredith who was the father and supposedly raised him.  Nancy must have kept contact through the years, lived close enough, or even got little James back.   We have so many holes to fill with information that we will likely never have.

Clarita Morgan, a researcher in Pulaski County in the 1970’s wrote to Donna and told her it was not uncommon for ladies to be placed in the poorhouse for having a child out of wedlock.  These women were considered a menace and a burden to the community.  At any rate, Nancy Shepherd Ross lived an especially hard life.  It is hard to put ourselves into their scene or time without many more facts.

When James married Damey, the marriage certificate has J. R. Mearideth.  Yet, when all the children were born, James and Damey gave them each the Ross name (or so it seems).  Damey died under the Ross name and no records indicate she ever went by the Meredith name.  James is listed as a farmer.

When James went to the LDS temple on 20 June 1935, he gave his name as James Thomas Ross born 22 September at Snowville, Pulaski, Virginia.  He gave his father as James Thomas Ross and mother as Nancy Shepard.  He also gave his baptismal date as 17 April 1898.  Nothing in any of the records provide any evidence of a James Thomas Ross to be his father, and either the recorder at the Temple put the wrong last name, or James made a mistake because he seems to have clearly known his father was James Meredith (was his father’s middle name really Thomas?).  When Fanny went to the LDS temple on 20 June 1923 she said her parents were James F Ross (misread?) and Damy C Graham.

Now, having said all that, one of the difficulties is that there are tons of James Merediths who lived in Pulaski County, Virginia.  In the 1880 Census, little James Meredith is living with elder James Meredith who was born in 1804 and the family lived in Hiwassie.  It is not uncommon for a 65 year old man to have a child.  However, elder James Meredith has a family of 10 children with his wife.  In that census, only elder and little James are shown as living together.  Elder James’ wife, Sarah (Sallie) Jane Bell Meredith, is “ill” and living with their daughter Sarah Jane Meredith Elkins.  I want to speculate but will not.

For years it was thought that James and Sarah Meredith’s son, James Anderson Meredith, was the father of our James Thomas Meredith.  But this was easily resolved in that James Anderson Meredith died in 1864 in a battle at Lexington, Lexington, Virginia, four or five years before little James Meredith was born.  Others thought that James Meredith, the son of Hugh Meredith Jr elder James Meredith’s brother, was the father.  He is four years older than Nancy and their ages seem more conducive to a relationship.  But, we are unable to track him down and prove anything for certain.  But one thing is sure, elder James Meredith told the census taker in 1880 that little James Meredith was his son.  I guess we have to move forward with that record as the basis for our assumptions.  Would the Uncle (elder James Meredith) of James Meredith (Hugh Jr’s son) ruin his good name by claiming little James Meredith as his own to save the name of his nephew?  I just do not know, but the census gives documentation of a relationship (we all know how terrible the census records are for accuracy other than names of family members and location of living).  (Some of my original research and ruminating on these issues can be found here.)

This begs the question of why 27 year old Nancy would have intimate relations with 65 year old and married to another elder James.  Ms. Morgan above said it was not uncommon for servants living in the home to be taken advantage of by the homeowner.  But we have no evidence that Nancy was a servant in their home.  If he did this and kicked her out, it could account for her being in the poorhouse and his reclaiming the child in court.  But we have nothing to support the notion Ms. Morgan suggests.

Well, if this is not enough to confuse the matter, lets jump back in time before James was born to where Nancy married Harvy D Ross 7 June 1860 in Pulaski, Pulaski, Virginia.  She married Harvy at 19 years old. On 9 September 1861, Harvy enlisted in Company F, 54th Infantry Regiment Virginia for the Confederacy.  He left for military service and we have few details of when he returned.  She bore James Meredith in 1868 and as far as we know, Harvy had not yet returned from the war.   By 1870 Harvy was back living in Alum Ridge, Floyd, Virginia after the Civil War. We do not know when he left Virginia for the “west”.  William Andrew Ross was born on 10 October 1873 in Snowville.  The birth index for Pulaski County lists William as a bastard, but his death certificate lists Harvy Ross as the father!  (Death certificates are highly unreliable for parental information.)  But why they were not back living together in 1870, we do not know.  He was back in the area and could very well be the father of William.  I just wish we had more information.  He supposedly moved to Tennessee or Kentucky and passed away there, never having anything to do with his son William, if he really is the father.  William was raised by Nancy and was told by her that Harvy was his father.  William never had a memory of meeting his father.

Now that I have given more history of Nancy Adeline Shepherd in this biography of her son and daughter-in-law, we can move on.  Our documentation is weak of who little James Meredith’s father is and where he was until he married Damey.  Although, I should mention that a cousin, Jim Ross, who claims he is in possession of the journals of James Meredith (or Ross) indicates that he was raised by elder James Meredith to believe that elder James was actually his father.  Well, rephrased, he never had any doubt elder James Meredith was his father.  Therefore, we move forward on that assumption even though I have only hearsay from a cousin (as I cannot get a copy of the book) and an 1880 census record.

Damey Catherine Graham was born 25 November 1874 in Pulaski, Pulaski, Virginia to William and Mary Graham.  William, her father, was a laborer on farms who moved to the mines.  As a miner he moved where the best paying jobs for mining were located.  In Virginia, the family worked in the iron mines.  Damey met James and probably knew him and his family growing up.  Hiwassie appears to be a very small town, even today.  I cannot imagine that James and Damey did not know each other growing up.    The two married in 1887 and began to raise their family.  All four children were born in Virginia.

Robert Leonard Ross was born 25 April 1888 in Draper, Pulaski, Virginia.

John “Jack” William Ross was born 2 September 1890 in Pulaski, Pulaski, Virginia.  Read more about John at this link: Ross-Sharp Wedding

Fanny Elizabeth Ross was born 18 November 1893 in Reed Island, Pulaski, Virginia.  Read more about Fanny at this link: Calvin and Fanny Phibbs

James Thomas Ross was born 19 October 1895 in Radford, Montgomery, Virginia.

Damey chose to be baptized into the LDS faith 27 February 1898 (a few months before James).  Family tradition holds it was in West Virginia but does not seem to hold up with the rest of the story.  James and Damey were supposed to have followed her family to West Virginia to the mines.  James and Damey do not seem to appear on the 1900 Census but Damey’s family were still in Hiwassie on the 15 June 1900.  Damey’s family moved shortly after 1900 to West Virginia to work in the coal mines of McDowell County.  James and Damey (and James’ brother, William) followed and were living in McDowell County, West Virginia for sure in 1906 when Fanny married Calvin Dickerson Phibbs in Welch, McDowell, West Virginia.  The first three children all married in McDowell County.  James Jr returned to Mayberry, Carroll, Virginia in 1913 to marry his wife.  On 10 May 1910, James and Damey were living in Big Creek, McDowell, West Virginia.

James and Damey Ross left Pulaski County about 1913 or 1914 and headed to settle in Rupert, Minidoka, Idaho.  James confirmed his brother a member of the LDS church 26 October 1913, so it had to be after that date.  As mentioned above, Fanny had married Calvin Phibbs and most of the Phibbs family of Virginia had moved out to Rupert in 1912.  The opening of the new farm land in Minidoka and Cassia Counties, a new sugar factory at Burley, Cassia, Idaho, and an economic downturn in McDowell County propelled the move for both families. Robert, John, and James Jr followed later as it does not appear any of the children went with James and Damey when they left.

James & Damey Ross

James & Damey Ross

James and Damey set up house in Rupert for a time probably living with Calvin and Fanny until they could find and afford a suitable place to live.  We do not know exactly where James and Damey lived for much of their time in Idaho because they appear to have rented.  Robert listed his parents as living in Idahome, Cassia, Idaho when he registered for the World War I draft in 1918.  That fall, James and Damey apparently moved to Paul, Minidoka, Idaho to work on the first sugar beet campaign of the newly built sugar factory in Paul.  They remained there until about 1926.  Robert married Rose Sanders (nee Clawson?) in Burley, Cassia, Idaho in 1919.  John met Ethel Sharp Streeter in Paul while visiting his parents in 1919 and married her in early 1920.  James and Damey somehow fail to appear on the 1920 Census, or their names are transcribed incorrectly.  James settled in Vernal, Uintah, Utah and attempted a short move to Rupert in 1922-23 to be closer to family before moving back to Vernal.  Milo Ross, James and Damey’s grandson, remembers his grandparents living on the north side of the tracks in Paul when he lived there 1925-1926.

In 1925, James and Damey’s daughter-in-law, Ethel Sharp Ross passed away.  John, their son, sought work and James and Damey took in all four of the children of Ethel.  The baby, Earnest Jackson Ross, died in September in Rupert, where he was being tended by the Phibbs.  By the spring of 1926, James and Damey were impoverished enough that they asked Ethel’s family to come get the children from Paul.  Apparently shortly after, the family moved again.

By 2 April 1930, James and Damey had moved to Bend, Deschutes, Oregon.  Robert apparently lived in the area and Robert’s son, Orson Lee Ross, was also living with James and Damey.  Robert is in Portland but appears to not live there, so this home in Bend may have been Robert’s or James and Damey were tending Orson, who was 9.  Robert later died in Bend in 1944.

Beulah and Damey

Beulah and Damey Ross

James’ journals indicate they lived in Merced, Merced, California for most of the 1930’s.  Damey passed away in Marysville, Yuba, California 3 February 1933 of colon cancer.  Her death notice in Rupert indicates she died after an operation for cancer of the stomach.  She had been in the hospital for five months previous to that.  The obituary also mentions that John lived in Manteca, San Joaquin, California, James in Lapoint, Uintah, Utah, and Robert in Marysville.  Fanny was still living in Rupert.

James returned to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah and on 20 June 1935 he was endowed, saw Damey’s proxy ordinance work was completed, and was sealed to her.

By about 1936, James was back visiting family in the east.  He spoke at a Conference of the LDS church that had met in Grundy County, Tennessee.  James spoke that morning to the assembled crowd.  That same day, James’ nephew, Howard Ross was baptized.  These conferences were a big deal because it was an all day event for James’ brother’s family to travel all the way from Gary, West Virginia to Tennessee, spend the day in meetings, and then go home.  Howard remembers meeting “Uncle Jim” for the first time that day.  Many people enjoyed the sermon he gave and came up to give their commendation to William and Sarah on his fine speech.  William’s wife, Sarah, had to set them right, that it was William’s brother, James who delivered the sermon.  Howard did not hear the sermon because in those days unbaptized children were not allowed into the meetings and even though he was to be baptized that day, he was not baptized yet.

“Uncle Jim” returned with the family to West Virginia and stayed for a couple of weeks.  James was so disappointed that the family did not have a cow for milk that he went out and purchased one for the family while he was there.  When James left, he took and sold the cow too.  The family recalled how rare it was for them to have milk, and it was many years before they would have it again.  James was also noted by the family for his girth and the sheer capacity to each large amounts of food.  Howard thought he must have pushed to near 300 pounds.  Howard also remembers that Uncle Jim was missing a finger and upon asking, James indicated that he had been bit by a spider and that the Dr. took off the finger to save his life because the finger had started to rot.

The story goes that James married while he was visiting the family in West Virginia.  Family history records have James marrying Etta on 6 June 1936 in Snowville, Virginia.  However, later information indicates this was Henrietta Fountain who was born in Sacramento, Sacramento, California and died in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona.  How she met James and why they would have married in Virginia does not add up, especially where she was from the west.  A cousin has the marriage in Sacramento which seems much more accurate.  A death certificate at some point will rest the case.  Her full maiden name was Henrietta Fountain and she was a widow of Charles Henry Lowell in 1925.  She died in 1946 according to the memories of Milo Ross and he is accurate.

James and Etta relocated to Lakeport, Lake, California after their marriage.  Lakeport was a town for the wealthy and Ms. Etta must have brought the money into the marriage.  It was here that James applied for Social Security 4 November 1937.  Due to the requirements he use his legal name, James went by James Ross Meredith the remainder of his life.  He began receiving his benefits 6 January 1938.  On 21 April 1938 he received a letter indicating he would have to have been a resident of California 15 years to receive the payments and no further payments were made.

James then married a widow by the name of Nora Brewer.  Her full maiden name was Martha Elnora Cackler and her late husband, Daniel Gordon Brewer, had passed away in 1943.  James and Martha were married in Fresno, Fresno, California 14 July 1947.  She had been born in 1877 in Iowa and died in Fresno in 1974, just short of 100 years old.

James lived until 13 April 1951 when he passed away in Fresno.  He was buried in Belmont Memorial in Fresno.  The last few years of his life, he took back the Meredith name.  Milo Ross, his grandson, indicates this was for Social Security benefits which had to be claimed under the birth name.  Either way, his tombstone reads James R Meredith.  His last letter to Donna Beachell was signed James Ross Meredith.

When he passed away in 1951, he was living at 344 Theta Street in Fresno the home of his widow.  One last thing, apparently while living in Fresno, he served as a Bishop of the LDS church.  We do not know when or where, but several lines of the family were all aware of this.  More information will be needed to share more.  The fact he was called upon to speak at a conference of the church in Tennessee seems to show he held some position but we don’t know anything more.

Update, we visited James’ grave in 2019.

Paul, Aliza, and Hiram Ross at the grave of James Thomas Ross, aka James R Meredith