I thought some of you would like an update on a sort of miracle in the family.  Some old photos have surfaced in March and April of 2010 some of you will probably be very interested in.  (I republished this page because the links have all changed, so I just uploaded the pictures to avoid the link changes again.)  I also replaced the photos with fresh scans of the photos in February 2011.  If you downloaded the photos, you may want to download the newer scans.

Ethel Sharp was born in 1898 in Plain City, Utah to Milo Riley and Mary Ann Stoker Sharp.  Here is a photo of Ethel we found.

You can click on the photos for a closer look.

Another photo of Ethel and another friend, Gertrude Terry.  Ethel is on the right.

Gertrude Terry and Ethel Sharp

Another photo of Ethel and a cousin, Richard Thomas Stoker.

Ethel Sharp and Richard Stoker

Many of you are probably aware that Ethel Sharp was injured on the old electric train that went from Plain City in to Ogden.  After recuperating she took her insurance money, moved to Paul, Idaho, and opened a confectionery.  Here are two photos that recently surfaced of that little store in Paul, Idaho.  Obviously construction is not completed in this photo but the store was still open for business.

We don’t know the exact time frame when she purchased the confectionery, but some of the old checks, order sheets, and other paperwork call it the Streeter Confectionery.  We don’t know the location of this store, if she built it, or what happened to it afterward.

We do assume that she opened it while married to Mark Lewis Streeter who she married 7 May 1917 in Ogden, Utah.  We don’t know the exact date of the train wreck yet, but while in Paul she gave birth to a daughter 4 June 1918 named June Streeter.  Mark and Ethel couldn’t make things work and were divorced.  She remarried to Jack (John William) Ross 12 Jan 1920 at Fort Logan in Colorado.  Here is a photo of Jack and Ethel holding little June Streeter.

I have written more about Jack and Ethel at this link: Ross-Sharp Wedding.

4 Feb 1921, Milo James Ross was born in Plain City.

14 Feb 1922, Paul Ross was born in Paul, Idaho.  7 Nov 1923, John Harold Ross (Harold) was born in Burley, Idaho.

This is probably one of the last photos of Ethel Sharp Ross with baby Harold.

Here are some new photos of June, Milo, Paul, and Harold.  The first seems to be about 1925 and the later two around 1926 or 1927.

l-r: Harold, Milo, and Paul Ross with June Streeter

Ethel died of blood poisoning at 600 Cross Street in Ogden, Utah on 6 Aug 1925 after giving birth to Ernest Jackson on 16 Jul 1925 (he died 20 Sep 1925).  We don’t know why the family was in Plain City when she gave birth and passed away.  However, some time after the funeral Jack loaded up the children and took them to Rupert, Idaho to be with his parents for a time.  We don’t know where he went (find work, find a mother, who knows?).  However, after some time, we don’t know exactly how long, Jack’s parents could not take care of the 4 children anymore and asked the Sharp Family to come get them.

Os Richardson drove up to pick them up.  Eventually, June was raised by her Streeter grandparents; Milo was raised by Uncle Ed Sharp; Paul was raised by Aunt Vic Hunt; and Harold by Uncle Del Sharp.

Here is a picture of a bunch of Sharp cousins in a wagon in Plain City.

l-r: Ruby Sharp, Harold Ross, Milo Sharp, Milo Ross, Paul Ross, Ethel Sharp (cousin), and Bob Martin.

And another photo of Paul (R) and Harold (L).

Paul would die after falling out of a barn in 1932 just over 10 years old.

Now comes the story from the new photographs.  For reasons we do not know, the Sharp family did not like Jack Ross.  They did not allow him to visit his children.  All the mail received by any of the Sharp family for the Ross children was kept from them.  When Ethel’s mother (Mary Ann aka Lillie M Sharp) passed away, a photo album given to her passed to Vic Hunt.  Vic Hunt kept in her possession all the letters mailed from Jack Ross to the Ross boys as well as the photo album from which these photos come.  The photos and letters then passed to Vic Hunt’s son, Harold Hunt.  When Harold passed away in 2002, these passed to Harold’s nephew, Archie Hunt.  Archie just went through some of the stuff and found these items about March 2010 and gave them to Grandpa Milo Ross.

Milo James Ross went to visit Jack Ross in 1948 after receiving a telegram that Jack was dying in Livermore, California.  Jack mentioned to Grandpa that he had written after the boys went back to Utah, but Grandpa didn’t believe him.  Here we are, 70-80 years after the letters were written, and almost 90 years since some of the photos were taken.  Jack was vindicated to his own son 62 years later!  It was the first time Grandpa had seen the photos and letters he did not know existed.  How is that for a sort of miracle?  I hope at some point I can type up the letters and also make them available on here.  I know some of Grandpa’s family will have seen the photos, but know extended family will be interested in this find as well.

If anyone else has photos they would like to share, please let me know.  If you can fill any of the story, please let me know.

Oh, Grandpa finally answered one question he had when he visited his father in 1948.  One day working in the fields at Ed Sharp’s house as a kid, he saw a car at the end of the field.  The occupants did not leave the car but he could see a man watching him from the back window.  The car left and not until 1948 was it revealed to him that it was his own father looking at him across the field that day.  I can only guess what is going through Grandpa’s heart and mind as he reconciles his understanding of his own history in these letters.

l-r: Harold, Milo, Gladys, Milo, Caroline