Utah

by

Joseph and Ann Reed Wayment

In September 2020, Amanda and I took our family out to Golden Spike National Historic Park at Promontory Summit, Utah. I have written about that visit previously. What drew us there, in part, was the knowledge that Amanda’s 3rd great-grandfather Joseph Wayment had been present on 10 May 1869 when the last spike was driven completing the transcontinental railroad — and that Andrew J. Russell’s famous photograph had captured him standing in the crowd. I promised in that post to tell more of Joseph and Ann Reed Wayment’s story another time. This is that time.

Hiram, Amanda, Aliza, and Paul Ross, Bryan Hemsley, Lillian and James Ross, and Jill Hemsley at Golden Spike National Historic Park, September 2020
Hiram, Amanda, Aliza, and Paul Ross, Bryan Hemsley, Lillian and James Ross, and Jill Hemsley at Golden Spike National Historic Park, 7 September 2020.
East and West Shaking Hands at the Laying of the Last Rail, Promontory Summit, Utah, 10 May 1869. Photograph by Andrew J. Russell.
East and West Shaking Hands at the Laying of the Last Rail, Promontory Summit, Utah, 10 May 1869. Photograph by Andrew J. Russell. Joseph Wayment stands in the crowd on the left side of the image. Find the man standing below the Union Pacific’s No. 119 locomotive light with his jacket open and white shirt, then find the man whose head is in front of that man’s right thigh, behind the fellow with the partially raised hat. That is Joseph Wayment, age 25.

Andrew J. Russell, the official photographer of the Union Pacific Railroad who took this photograph, wrote of that moment: “The continental iron band now permanently unites the distant portions of the Republic, and opens up to Commerce, Navigation, and Enterprise the vast unpeopled plains and lofty mountain ranges that now divide the East from the West. Standing amid ‘The Antres vast and Desert wild,’ surrounded with the representative men of the nation, an epoch in the march of civilization was recorded, and a new era in human progress was ushered in.”

Joseph Wayment was one of the men in that crowd — a twenty-five-year-old English convert who had crossed the Atlantic seasick on the Amazon, walked the plains behind an ox team, survived Montana winters so cold the dishwater froze before it hit the snow, and was now building a life in a patch of Utah desert he would spend the next six decades transforming into a home, a farm, and a community. Would he have fathomed that 151 years later his great-great-great-granddaughter, and her children, would stand at that same spot.

Origins in Whaddon

Joseph Wayment, circa 1874.

I used AI to colorize and sharpen the images. If you click on them, you should be able to see the original black and white. AI took a bit of liberty on the photos regarding clothes.

Ann Reed, circa 1874.

Joseph Wayment was born 7 February 1844 in Whaddon, Cambridgeshire, England, the second son of William and Martha Brown Wayment. His older brother Aaron had lived only one day, so as far as the family was concerned, Joseph was the eldest. I have written previously about his parents, William and Martha Wayment.

Ann Reed was born 1 January 1852 in the same small village — the fifth child and second daughter of James and Sarah East Reed. Whaddon was a tight community, a small village in the district of Royston, County of Cambridge, gathered around the ancient stone church of St. Mary the Virgin. Whaddon appears to have been somewhere around 400-500 people. The Wayments and the Reeds were neighbors in every sense of the word. Their children attended the same meetings, worked the same fields, and children would be baptized in the same river/brook.

Ann’s early life was marked by tragedy. When she was two years old, she slipped into a deep ditch near their home. No one else was nearby. Her mother, Sarah East Reed, then heavy with child, jumped in after her. Ann was saved, but the ordeal brought on labor. The baby girl was born 13 July 1854 and died the same day. Three days later, Sarah also died from complications, and mother and infant were buried together in the same casket. Ann’s father James Reed did his best to keep the family together, but he too died on 2 February 1858, leaving five orphans — the oldest fourteen, Ann just five years old.

Their mother’s sister, Hannah East, came to Whaddon to keep house for the children. Hannah was herself from Whaddon — born there on 24 August 1828, the sister of Sarah East Reed and of George East Sr., who would later become a familiar figure in Warren, Utah. Hannah was baptized LDS 3 June 1848. She stayed with the Reed orphans for several years before emigrating to Zion, where she eventually settled in Lehi, Utah, married Thomas Karren in 1865, and lived until 2 May 1907. It is a quiet thread of continuity that Hannah — who held Ann’s orphaned family together in Whaddon — ended her days in the same territory where Ann built her life, just a day’s journey away in Lehi.

After Hannah left England, the children were kept by the Parish until they could earn their own living. Ann went out to service at age eleven. She endured difficult conditions in several positions before finally working David and Mary Hide Grieg (the histories state it was Grigg), where she stayed nearly five years and carefully saved her wages toward passage to America. The Grieg family lived in nearby Melbourn, a family that was not LDS.

The Gospel Comes to Whaddon

I wrote how the William and Martha Wayment home had become a gathering place for LDS missionaries since William’s baptism in March 1850, how despite community hostility, meetings were held in different houses and baptisms conducted at night to avoid mobs. The gospel took hold in Whaddon. On the night of 7 May 1860, Joseph Wayment, age sixteen, was baptized in Whaddon Brook along with his brother Samuel and sister Emily. Ann Reed, age eight, was baptized and confirmed the same night.

They shared the same baptismal waters and would eventually share a life.

Joseph worked in the peat bogs with his father from his early teens, fossil digging to earn enough for his passage to Zion. He had one more memorable appearance in Whaddon before he left: shortly before his departure, he sang a solo at a church meeting that deeply impressed those present. His voice was described as a clear and beautiful bass. Ann Reed, then twelve years old, was in that congregation. Decades later she would tell her grandchildren with deep feeling how thrilled she had been sitting in that meeting listening to Joseph sing.

The Voyage of the Amazon, 1863

On 1 June 1863, Joseph left Whaddon for Liverpool. Three days later, on 4 June, he booked passage on the sailing vessel Amazon — listed on the manifest as “Joseph Waymound,” age 19 — and sailed from Liverpool with 881 fellow Saints bound for Zion. As I wrote in my Stoker family post, the Amazon was a famous voyage. It was this crossing that Charles Dickens observed and wrote about, describing the Mormon emigrants not as misfits and scoundrels but as the “pick and flower” of England. Future U.S. Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland was also aboard (whose family was LDS). George Q. Cannon dedicated the ship. My own Stoker ancestors were on this same vessel — an extraordinary coincidence that ties our two family lines together. Since Warren and Plain City were small communities, they likely knew each other.

Joseph was seasick nearly the entire six-week crossing. The Amazon landed in New York around the middle of July 1863. He traveled by train to a point on the Missouri River, then by boat up to Florence, Nebraska. From there he walked and drove an ox team across the plains in Captain Dan McCarty’s company — a new experience for him, as he later told his grandsons, having learned to handle horses in England but never oxen. He arrived in Salt Lake City on 3 October 1863, four months and two days after leaving his father’s home.

The very next day the October General Conference of the Church began, held in the Bowery. Joseph stood near the speakers’ platform. Brigham Young was one of the speakers, and Joseph later said it was one of the most inspiring sermons he ever heard — that Brigham Young seemed to be surrounded by a bright light. Part of that sermon Joseph remembered all his life.

The Freighting Years, 1864–1866

After a winter in Lehi, Joseph went to work in the spring of 1864 for a freighting company, probably the Toponce Freighting Company, hauling goods to Montana. He stayed with the outfit until the fall of 1866. Those were hard and consequential years.

The winter of 1864 was brutal. The freighters were snowbound on a Montana river for several weeks. Joseph served as camp cook. He later told his family that when he threw out the dishwater, it froze to ice before it hit the snow. Some of the cattle froze to death. One day the lot fell to Joseph to fetch wood. His hands were tender from cooking and dishwashing, but he went out and cut an armful. As he was picking up the last piece of wood, he felt his whole body beginning to freeze. He stumbled back toward the cabin, but before he reached it his whole body had gone numb. The men rubbed him with coal oil and did everything they could to revive him. One of them said, “Joe Wayment gets no more wood this winter — I’ll get it for him.”

During the freighting years two confrontations became family legend. In the first, a stranger from another company approached the camp and asked if there were any Mormons present. He was directed to Joseph. The man told him he had helped mob the Saints in Missouri and Illinois, then pulled open his shirt to his chest and said, “Now shoot me.” He had lived such a miserable life since helping the mob, he said, that he wanted a Mormon to shoot him. Joseph replied: “No Mormon will ever stain his hands with your blood.”

In the second, the freighters encountered soldiers who had been in Johnston’s Army making their way north into Washington. Learning that some of the freighters were from Utah, they asked to hear the song that had been made up about Johnston’s Army coming to Utah. Joseph was the best singer in camp. He refused at first, knowing it would anger them. When they promised not to get angry, he relented and sang. One soldier became so furious he drew his pistol and threatened to kill the singer. The captain of the soldiers, quick as a flash, drew his own pistol on the angry man and said he would kill him if he harmed the singer. The other soldiers took the man away.

A third incident, at a freighters’ stop near Oxford, Idaho, demonstrated that Joseph was a man of both faith and action. He and his longtime friend and fellow teamster William Butler had pulled in for the night after a long drive. Other freighters already there greeted them with jeers — “There’s those Mormons” — and tried to force them to move on. Joseph and Butler had weary teams and held their ground. When words grew heated, Joseph walked briskly to his wagon, took the green willow switch he used to urge his team, walked thirty paces to some soft ground, and with one swing left it standing upright. Then he walked back, drew his pistol, turned, and split the willow with one shot. The heckling stopped immediately.

In the fall of 1866 Joseph had a strong feeling come over him that he should return to Utah. The company he was working with was a rough and irreligious crowd. He found a secluded spot in the timber, knelt, and asked the Lord for guidance. The next morning his mind was made up. He saddled his horse, gathered his belongings — three buffalo robes and his working clothes — and started for Utah.

Settling Salt Creek

He came first to Layton or Kaysville, then went to Call’s Fort near present Honeyville where he worked for a man named Barnard and helped build the first schoolhouse there. He bought a piece of land at Call’s Fort but eventually sold it. In 1872 he moved to what was then called Salt Creek, southwest of Plain City, and bought the land he would own until his death — purchasing it from H. H. Wadman, making him the second family to settle on Salt Creek. He kept “Bachelor’s Hall” there for about two years. His brother John B. Wayment, who arrived from England in July 1873, lived with him for part of that time.

The home of Bishop William Thomas Wayment and his wife Maud at 662 N. 5900 W. in Warren. Joseph Wayment appears at far right with a horse.

About 1872, Joseph began writing letters to a young woman of his boyhood acquaintance back in Whaddon — Ann Reed. She had grown up, gone out to service, endured difficult years, and was now working for the Greig family, carefully saving her wages. She accepted his invitation to come to Utah and be his wife.

Ann Comes to America, 1874

Ann left her place of work on 2 June 1874 and sailed from Liverpool on 24 June 1874 aboard the steamship Idaho. The Idaho carried 903 passengers on that voyage, arriving in New York on 6 July 1874. Ann traveled overland by rail and arrived in Ogden about the middle of July.

Joseph met her in Ogden — likely taking her to his brother Samuel’s home. On the way they crossed a stream of clear running water. Joseph stopped the horses to let them drink, cupped his hat, dipped it in, and offered Ann the first drink. She couldn’t bring herself to drink water out of a hat from a river like that. Joseph enjoyed the cool drink regardless.

On 7 August 1874, Joseph Wayment and Ann Reed were married by Louis Warren Shurtliff at Joseph’s home in Salt Creek — ending, as Alma Hansen later wrote, the era of “Bachelor’s Hall.” On 29 June 1876, Joseph and Ann traveled to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, where they were endowed and sealed to each other for time and all eternity. Joseph had been ordained an Elder by Alonzo Knight ten days earlier, on 19 June 1876, in preparation for that ordinance.

The First Years in Salt Creek

The Joseph and Ann Reed Wayment home in Warren, photographed June 1928. Joseph is likely the seated figure visible on the front porch.

Their first child, Sarah, was born 29 October 1875 — one of the first white children born in the Salt Creek area. In the spring of 1876 the Weber River overflowed its banks and covered much of the country where Warren now stands. The first time it came up, it stayed two weeks. The crops survived. But the river flooded again, higher than before, and stayed six weeks. The crops were completely destroyed. Joseph’s house was just high enough to keep the water from running under it — but it came right to the doorstep. He kept a rowboat in which he and Ann traveled to the sandhill in Plain City to do business. His horses broke loose just before the flood and were later found on meadows west of Brigham City. The other cattle and horses in the area lived on the high knolls until the water subsided.

Joseph planted the first fruit and shade trees in the Warren area. He watered them by hand from a well he dug himself, using a long pole with a hook and a bucket because he didn’t have a rope. Later he had a windmill built over the well and irrigated some of his crops with it. About 1880 the residents of Salt Creek organized together and built a ditch up to Four-Mile in the southern part of Plain City to run water to their crops. Part of that original ditch can still be seen near the north side of the bench in Warren.

In March 1881 Joseph was appointed secretary and assistant superintendent of the Salt Creek Sunday School, offices he held for many years. In 1883 he was chairman of the board of trustees for the first schoolhouse built in Warren — a one-room brick building on the bench. His sister Martha Wayment, now Mrs. David East, was the first teacher.

About 1877 Joseph was appointed the first road supervisor in the Warren district, a position he held for ten years. The road supervisor received no pay for his services other than to apply his labor toward his poll taxes, as did all the other men. About the first work done was to fill up some of the creek crossings. He also hauled salt from the creek banks west of Plain City up to the Hot Springs — a full day’s work per load for which he received fifty cents. The salt was used in the smelting of silver ore in Montana.

Six more children followed Sarah: Martha Ann (2 June 1877), Leonard Joseph (12 September 1878), Mary Jane (8 May 1880), Walter Hyrum (14 November 1881), Hannah Alberta (23 August 1883), and Amelia Brown (29 July 1890).

Back row, left to right: Sarah Wayment, Martha Ann Wayment, Leonard Joseph Wayment, Mary Jane Wayment. Middle row: Hannah Alberta Wayment, Joseph Wayment, Ann Reed Wayment holding Amelia Brown Wayment, Martha Brown Wayment (Joseph’s mother). Seated in front: Walter Hyrum Wayment. Photograph circa 1890–1891.

The family portrait above, taken around 1890–1891 when Amelia was an infant, captures all seven children in a single frame. Four generations are present — including Joseph’s mother Martha Brown Wayment at far right, who had herself made the journey from Whaddon in 1878. I wrote about her in the William and Martha Wayment post.

The Flood of 1884 and Ann’s Heroism

In the spring of 1884 the Weber River flooded again — not as severe as 1876, but severe enough to kill all the crops, many fruit trees, and berry bushes. Joseph moved his family into his brother John’s house on the brow of the hill north of the Arthur Marriott home — a one-room house, not large enough for all the family to sleep in. Some of the children slept in a wagon under the shed.

A day or two after they moved, a heavy rain set in. The children’s bedding became soaked. In trying to provide for his family, Joseph was exposed to the rain, cold, and mosquitoes, and he took down with malaria fever. The house was too small for any comfort, and some of the men of the locality moved the family back into their own house — even though it was surrounded by water.

For six weeks Joseph lay near death. Many did not expect him to recover. During this time Ann would walk — and sometimes wade, in water up to her knees — a quarter to half a mile west on the bench to where their cow was pastured. She milked the cow and carried the milk back to feed her husband. For a while he was so weak he could not feed himself, and Ann would have to feed him by hand. He sent for elders from Plain City to administer to him. While they were visiting, he asked to be propped up in bed and talked with them at length. From that time he continued to improve, though he was not entirely well for several years. That fall he was well enough to work on the threshing machine.

Of all the incidents in the long life of Joseph and Ann Wayment, this one — Ann wading flood water to milk the cow and hand-feed her dying husband — speaks most directly to the character of their partnership. The memorial card at their graves in West Warren says it plainly: “Ann Reed Wayment gave loyal and loving support to her husband. No problem arose that they did not find a place of adjustment and agreement.”

Firsts in Warren

The 1902 Portrait, Genealogical and Biographical Record of the State of Utah described Joseph as “one of nature’s noblemen” and enumerated his contributions to the community. He planted the first fruit and shade trees. He was the first road supervisor, serving ten years. When the first schoolhouse was built he served as school board chairman, assessor, and collector. He was one of the first stockholders and directors of the Slaterville Creamery. He raised one hundred tons of sugar beets annually for the Ogden sugar factory.

By 1888 Joseph had shifted his main occupation from general farming to dairying. He kept as many as fourteen milk cows at once. His children did much of the work — milking the cows, putting the milk in cans under cool water until the cream gathered to the top, then skimming and churning it to butter. They sold as many as 2,000 pounds of their own butter in a single year. Later the milk went to the Slaterville creamery, of which Joseph was a founding director.

Joseph’s brother Samuel Wayment was also a builder of the Plain City and Warren community. According to the Plain City history preserved by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and now available at plaincityutah.gov, Samuel drilled an artesian well 249 feet deep that produced additional water for the early settlers, and he also oversaw the iron work and the building of the Chief Canning Factory in Plain City. Another Wayment, Owen, served as a representative of the Warren Irrigation Company in the 1961 negotiations to cement the main irrigation canal. The Wayment family’s contributions to the water and agriculture infrastructure of the Plain City and Warren area extended beyond Joseph’s own record.

In November 1910 Joseph was elected Justice of the Peace of the Warren Precinct — a fitting civic capstone for the man who had been among the first to settle Salt Creek and had spent decades building its institutions.

In 1896 Salt Creek was officially named Warren, after Lewis Warren Shurtliff, the stake president who organized the new ward — the same Louis Warren Shurtliff who had married Joseph and Ann in 1874.

Ann in Warren

Ann Reed Wayment.
Ann Reed Wayment at her home in Warren.

Ann Reed Wayment was a woman of quiet and enduring strength. Her daughter Mary Jane wrote of her: “She was an energetic worker in Relief Society, holding and filling many offices in it. She was very useful among the sick, exercising great faith as her best healing art. She was a kind, loving, very thoughtful mother to her family. She lived a useful life, impressing her children and those who mingled with her what a wonderful mother and woman she really was.”

The Warren Ward Relief Society was organized on 30 November 1902. Ann was sustained as its Treasurer, her sister-in-law Castina Wayment, wife of Joseph’s brother Samuel, served as First Counselor. Ann was not present at the organization meeting but was set apart as Treasurer on 5 February 1903. At the first Relief Society meeting held at the home of President Jane Stewart on 18 December 1902, Ann bore her testimony and gave the benediction. She served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Warren Relief Society from 1902 to 1916.

Alma Hansen, who knew both his grandparents personally and compiled their biography from firsthand family accounts, described Ann in a single memorable sentence: “She was short of stature but stood ten feet tall in her loving service.”

A February Week in Logan, 1893

Logan, Utah, with the Logan Temple visible in the background, circa 1890s. Digital Image © 2001 Utah State Historical Society. All rights reserved. Used for non-commercial, educational purposes.

In February 1893, Joseph and Ann made an extended trip to the Logan Temple — a journey that had been years in the making. In careful sequence over eight days, they completed ordinance work for ancestors in their lineage and sealed their families together for eternity.

On 16 February 1893, Joseph was sealed to his parents, William and Martha Brown Wayment, in the Logan Utah Temple.

On 21 February, proxy baptism and confirmation were performed for James Reed and Sarah East Reed, Ann’s parents, in the Logan Temple.

On 22 February, the proxy endowment was performed for Sarah East Reed in the Logan Temple. Almost certainly the same was done for James Reed that day, though that record was later lost and the ordinance was repeated at the Manti Temple in 1938.

On 23 February 1893, Ann was sealed to her parents, James and Sarah East Reed, in the Logan Temple.

For a woman who had grown up an orphan at age five — whose mother died saving her life in 1854 and whose father died in 1858 — this February week in the Logan Temple completed a covenant that no earthly circumstance had been able to make. The parents she had barely known were now bound to her forever.

A Mission at Fifty-Six

Joseph Wayment’s handwritten mission acceptance letter to Brother George Reynolds, Warren, 15 January 1900. “It would be agreeable my feelings, and consistent with my circumstances, to take a mission to preach the gospel, if I am considered worthy. I can be ready within 30 days, or less. I remain your Brother, Joseph Wayment.”

On Christmas Day 1899, Joseph was asked to fill a mission for the Church. He was fifty-five years old, a grandfather, and still carrying the kidney effects of a severe malaria attack from fifteen years earlier. His response, written in his own hand on 15 January 1900 to Brother George Reynolds of the First Council of the Seventies, occupies four plain lines: it would be agreeable to his feelings and consistent with his circumstances; he could be ready within thirty days, or less. He remained the reader’s Brother, Joseph Wayment.

On 19 January 1900 he received his formal call from President Lorenzo Snow to labor in the Southwestern States. He was set apart on 14 February 1900 by Apostle George Teasdale in the Temple Annex in Salt Lake City — the same day his Seventy’s License was formally issued, signed by Seymour B. Young, President of the First Seven Presidents of the Seventies.

Joseph Wayment’s Seventy’s License Certificate, issued 14 February 1900, certifying his ordination as a Seventy by Jacob Gates on 7 November 1889. Signed by Seymour B. Young.

His Missionary Certificate bore the signatures of the entire First Presidency: President Lorenzo Snow, First Counselor George Q. Cannon, and Second Counselor Joseph F. Smith. That Joseph’s mission call passed through the hands of George Reynolds, historically notable as the defendant in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Reynolds v. United States (1879), places it in the living history of the Church.

He left the next day for Kansas, laboring first in Elk County under Elder H. E. Harrison, then for nearly four months in Greenwood County, until he was taken very sick with malaria again. In his own words: “I left my field of labor on the 4th of July for St. John and arrived home on the 7th, three days later. I was sick for three or four months.” The malaria affected his kidneys, an effect he felt until his death.

While Joseph was away on his mission and then ill at home, Ann kept the farm, the animals, and the household organized. When he returned, she nursed him back to health.

The Children

Of their seven children, three preceded them in death. Martha Ann, their firstborn daughter, married Louis Alma Hansen on 23 November 1898. She died on 19 October 1908 at age 31 of acute nephritis, leaving four children and her husband. Her loss was a grief Joseph and Ann carried quietly for the rest of their lives. Leonard Joseph married Sarah Naomi Hodson in 1902, was called to the British Mission in November 1915, labored in Belfast, Ireland, took sick, and arrived home 19 July 1916. He passed away the next morning, leaving a wife and three children.

The four who outlived their parents were Sarah (married Joseph Emelius Hansen), Mary Jane (married Samuel Bagley Willis, later Orson Francis Waldram), Walter Hyrum (married Iva Dell Wade), Hannah Alberta (married Thomas LeRoy White), and Amelia Brown (married George James Lythgoe).

The 70th Birthday, 1914

Family portrait honoring Joseph Wayment’s 70th birthday, 7 February 1914, Warren, Weber, Utah. Third row center: Ann Reed Wayment and Joseph Wayment, flanked by siblings John Brown Wayment and William Thomas Wayment and sister Martha East.

On 7 February 1914 the extended Wayment family gathered at the Warren home for Joseph’s 70th birthday. Included were children, grandchildren, siblings, their spouses and children, and young Alma Wayment Hansen himself, visible as a boy in the second row, who would later compile a biography of his grandparents. At the center of the third row sit Joseph and Ann, flanked by his brothers John Brown and William Thomas Wayment and his sister Martha East. By this gathering all the children had married.

The Grasshoppers

One incident from Joseph’s later years became a touchstone story in the family, attested to by his daughter Sarah. A summer or two after his first malaria attack, he had planted wheat in the field north of the house. The crop grew abundantly, had headed out full, and was beginning to turn yellow when the children noticed one evening that a great horde of grasshoppers had descended on the grain. They went in and told their father. He was not well, still weakened from the malaria. He arose, took his cane, and walked out into the field.

The grasshoppers were large and so thick they were bending the stalks almost to the ground. What once looked like a bounteous harvest now seemed doomed. Then right there in the midst of the grain and the grasshoppers, Joseph knelt and made a most fervent appeal to his Heavenly Father for aid. Night came on. The family retired, but not without family prayer. The next morning not a grasshopper could be found on the grain. There were no traces of where they had been.

The Golden Wedding, 1924

Salt Lake Tribune, 12 August 1924. Joseph Wayment and Wife Honored on Their Golden Wedding Day.
Left to right: Walter Hyrum Wayment, Amelia Brown Wayment Lythgoe, Joseph Wayment, Ann Reed Wayment, Sarah Wayment. Photograph taken at the Warren home, circa 1924.

On Thursday, 7 August 1924, Joseph and Ann celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with elaborate festivities at their Warren home. The Salt Lake Tribune reported the occasion. By remarkable coincidence, a great-grandson was born that same day at nearly the identical hour that Joseph and Ann had married fifty years before, a son born to Mr. and Mrs. William Bennington Jr. of Ogden. The event, as the paper noted, cheered the aged couple considerably.

The celebration drew family from across Weber County. Among those present were Joseph’s siblings, his sisters Mrs. Martha East of Warren and Mrs. Emily Mullen of Ogden, and his brother Bishop William T. Wayment of Warren, along with four daughters, one son, and twenty-six grandchildren.

The photograph captures something of what fifty years in Warren had built. Joseph stands center-rear, his great white beard the same beard his doctor had prescribed after the 1884 malaria, protection for his throat and chest from the cold. Ann stands center-front, hands folded, short of stature. Sarah, their eldest, the first white child born in Warren, stands at the right. Walter Hyrum, their only surviving son, is at the far left with his wife Amelia Lythgoe beside him.

Final Years

Ann Reed and Joseph Wayment.
Left to right: Verlan Hansen, Ann Reed Wayment holding Donald Peterson, Eulail Peterson (back), Robert Hansen (front), Joseph Wayment holding Elaine Hansen, Irene Hansen. Joseph and Ann were the great-grandparents of the children in this picture.

Joseph bought his first automobile in 1912, just past his 68th birthday. About 1922 his eyesight became too poor to read. From that time until his death, someone had to read all news to him. He lived at his own home in Warren until the very end, cared for by his daughter Sarah. He delighted in bearing his testimony and seemed never to tire of talking about and explaining the principles of the gospel. His last public appearance was at a fast and testimony meeting on 11 October 1931, where he bore a strong testimony to the truthfulness of the Gospel and to the fact that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.

Ann did not live to see it. She died on the morning of 14 June 1931, at 8:10 a.m., at their Warren home after a three months’ illness — her cause of death recorded on her death certificate as chronic myocarditis with arteriosclerosis as a contributing factor. She had lived in Warren for 57 years without interruption. Her brother-in-law Bishop William T. Wayment was among the speakers at her funeral. A sextet of nephews and nieces sang. Mrs. Jessie Wayment sang a solo. Grandsons served as pallbearers. Granddaughters took charge of the flowers. She was buried in the Warren Cemetery on 17 June 1931.

Joseph took sick on the afternoon of Thursday, 17 December 1931. He passed away very peacefully on Sunday evening, 20 December 1931, at Dee Hospital in Ogden, of bronchopneumonia, the chronic malaria that had plagued him since 1884 listed as a contributing condition. He was 87 years old.

Obituary of Joseph Wayment, Ogden Standard Examiner, 21 December 1931.

He was buried on 23 December 1931 in the Warren Cemetery, beside Ann, who had preceded him six months and six days. They had been married 56 years, 10 months, and 7 days.

Legacy

Sarah Ann Wayment Hansen and her father Joseph Wayment in his final years. Sarah cared for Joseph at home until his death in December 1931.

When Joseph and Ann Wayment arrived in Salt Creek in the early 1870s, there was almost nothing there. When they died in 1931, Warren was a community with a church, a school, a creamery, roads, canals, orchards, many of the first of each having been planted, built, or organized by Joseph himself. They lived to see 32 grandchildren and 37 great-grandchildren. Two of their children served missions; one granddaughter and five grandsons also served missions, all returning safely.

Amanda and I visited their graves in the West Warren Cemetery on 24 May 2020. The memorial card at their headstones, the laminated display that prompted this research, was photographed that day. Amanda is their 3rd great-granddaughter through the line: Joseph and Ann Wayment → Martha Ann Wayment Hansen → Walter Wayment Hansen → Bryan Hemsley → Amanda Ross.

Bryan Hemsley, Amanda, Aliza, and Hiram Ross with the tombstones of Joseph Wayment and Ann Reed Wayment, West Warren Cemetery, 24 May 2020.
Bryan Hemsley, Amanda, Aliza, and Hiram Ross with the tombstones of Ann Reed (1852–1931) and Joseph Wayment (1844–1931), West Warren Cemetery, 24 May 2020.
The memorial card displayed at the graves of Joseph and Ann Reed Wayment, West Warren Cemetery.

Source Documents

The following family histories are available for download:

Life Sketch of Joseph Wayment – copied from a record belonging to Ida H. Johnson (granddaughter), transcribed by Hollis R. Johnson, 1956

Emily Wayment and William Negus – compiled by Alma W. and Martha M. Hansen, 1979

John Brown Wayment and Sarah East – compiled by Alma W. Hansen, 1980

john_brown_wayment_sarah_east_biographyDownload
emily_wayment_negus_biographyDownload
joseph_wayment_life_sketch_1956Download
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Ross in Hawaii

I remember Grandpa, Milo James Ross, telling the story of his arrival in Hawaii. He often shared that, upon arriving, he heard over the loudspeakers that he was the father of a new baby boy. Somehow in my mind, I always equated Dad’s birth as the same date Grandpa arrived in Hawaii. Now knowing communications and technology available in 1943, the birth would not have been communicated to Hawaii the same day. The story suggests the birth and related information arrived before Grandpa to Hawaii. But by how much time?

First, Grandpa’s obituary (which I helped write) indicates he enlisted in the Army in October 1942. In the 1997 interview, Grandpa says he went in on “the first draft” shortly after Pearl Harbor (December 1941). He says he was sent to Fort Douglas and shipped out to Fort Lewis the same day. Grandpa also gave me the date for the photo below as 1942, which is almost a year after Pearl Harbor. He was pretty clear to tell me that when he enlisted, he was not aware that Grandma was pregnant. The first draft after Pearl Harbor, whatever that means, seems fairly immediate to me placing enlistment in 1941.

(l-r): Kenneth Barrow, Ellis or Keith Lund, Milo Ross, Jim Jardine, Unknown, Victor Wayment, Earl Collins 16 Oct 1942

The University of Utah Veterans Support Center states Grandpa landed in Hawaii on 4 July 1942. That seems to collaborate the 1997 interview with him enlisting right after Pearl Harbor. I wondered if that was a typo or if they had some records I was not aware. Was he in the army a whole year and just happened to be in Hawaii when the birth was announced?

There had to be some records out there to help clarify or pin down the dates. Military records give the insight needed. It was years since I did this search, and fortunately more records and information are now available. I try to link to them as they are referenced.

The 33rd Infantry Division arrived in Hawaii on 12 July 1943. Multiple independent military history sources — the U.S. Army Center of Military History, Army Divisions records, and others — all confirm this same date. As a reminder, Grandpa was in the 33rd Infantry Division, 130th Regiment, Company C.

The Division’s timeline shows it moved to Fort Lewis in August 1942. In March 1943, after Grandpa arrived in October 1942, the Division moved to Camp Young, California. There it conducted Desert Training Center maneuvers from April to June 1943 and then shipped to Hawaii in July 1943. This follows the pattern in Grandpa’s 1997 interview. (We have many photos of Grandma’s visit to Grandpa at Fort Lewis, I should share some of those.)

Dad was born on 4 July 1943, and the birth announcement came over the loudspeaker as the ship arrived in Hawaii. The official arrival date of 12 July 1943 means the ship would have been at sea on July 4th. “Sergeant Ross, congratulations. Your wife and son are doing well, and, one more thing, before you get off the ship you and your men have guard duty for the next four hours. Welcome to Hawaii.”

Additionally, a detailed record of another soldier, Staff Sergeant Charles Greer, in Company B of the 130th Infantry Regiment confirms the division’s movements through Fort Lewis in September 1942, Camp Clipper/Desert Training Center in early 1943, and onward — matching exactly what Grandpa described in his 1997 interview.

After settling the year, the next question for me was, where did they land in Hawaii and how long were they there? This took some more research to flesh out. I am grateful for those who continue to expand and make available these stories on the internet.

After arrival of the 123rd and 130th Regiments on Oahu in July 1943, the 123rd Regiment was sent to Kauai almost immediately. The 130th Regiment was sent to the Big Island almost immediately and later joined the 123rd on Kauai in December 1943.

Grandpa’s ship likely docked at a port on Oahu, almost certainly Honolulu Harbor. Honolulu was the primary army troop arrival port, rather than Pearl Harbor which was a naval base.

The primary Army installation area on the Big Island was Waikoloa Maneuver Area, near Waimea. Waimea is on the northern part of the island. Waikoloa Maneuver Area, located south of Waimea on Parker Ranch land, was used for live fire exercises in 1943. Camp Tarawa, also in Waimea, was also a major training ground used in late 1943, but primarily by Marines.

Grandpa’s 130th Regiment was almost certainly stationed in the Waimea/Waikoloa before transferring to Kauai in December 1943. I wasn’t able to find a specific named camp for the Army’s 130th Regiment there.

After the 130th joined the 123rd Regiment on Kauai in December 1943, both regiments completed their training and shipped out April 1944 to New Guinea. This comes from the Greer profile, linked above, which noted that on 21 April 1944, the 130th Infantry Regiment sailed from Honolulu to Finschhafen, New Guinea. It took two weeks to get from Honolulu to Finschhafen. Apparently, the 130th traveled on the S.S. Lurline.

The story of Sergeant Philip Beaman matches what Grandpa told in his 1997 interview. During the following months, the men worked to build up the outpost and conducted more amphibious operation training. They were even put to work unloading supplies at the port due to a shortage of stevedores. Grandpa’s account of unloading ships, digging drainage ditches, and building gravel walkways at Finschhafen matches Beaman. According to Beaman, morale suffered badly. According to the division’s own history, The Golden Cross, most men began to feel the division was “World War II’s forgotten unit.” The Division started calling themselves the “4F Division” — the Finschhafen Freight Forward Force.”

The Division arrived at Finschhafen on 11 May 1944 and remained there engaged in jungle and amphibious training. Later in 1944, the Division moved to Morotai Island arriving on 18 December 1944. The Division landed on the west coast without opposition. Grandpa also described in his interview arriving at Morotai, a PT boat mission, the bank robbery incident, booby trap explosion, and guarding the airstrip.

Dexter Kerstetter also served in Company C, 130th Infantry Regiment, with Grandpa. The Japanese had landed a regiment on the island, which lacked heavy weapons but had fortified the thick jungle around Hill 40.

On 10 February 1945, the 33rd Infantry Division landed at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippines. After Lingayen Gulf, Beaman describes combat in the foothills of the Caraballo mountain range, in areas nicknamed Bench Mark and Question Mark. From 19 February onward, there is the drive into the Caraballo Mountains toward Baguio.

Kerstetter’s history continues, that on 13 April 1945, during a battle he advanced ahead of his squad. The forward movement had been halted by intense fire that inflicted casualties. Kerstetter advanced beyond his squad and worked his way up the ridge where Japan’s defenses were located. Japan’s soldiers had the ridgeline defended with machine guns, mortars, and infantry in spider holes. He systematically took out enemy defenses with well-aimed rifle fire and grenades. Climbing above the defenses, he dropped down the ridgeline to destroy a cave entrance defense and its four defenders. He resumed his advance on the ridgeline defenses and next encountered a machine gun position, which he destroyed with accurate rifle fire and a grenade, killing four enemy soldiers. Kerstetter then fired on about 20 of Japan’s soldiers behind the main line of defense, scattering them. Out of ammunition, he returned to his squad for resupply. Having good knowledge concerning the locations of Japanese defenses, he led a platoon to the ridgeline and on the way took out a rifle position. The platoon was able to secure the ridgeline. Kerstetter killed 16 Japanese soldiers that day. Company C then held the hill, deterring Japanese counterattacks. During a counterattack two days later on 15 April 1945, Kerstetter was wounded in the leg by sniper fire and sent to a field hospital. He was promoted to sergeant and recommended for the Medal of Honor.

Grandpa being in the same Company was likely involved in some way with much of Kerstetter’s history. The Greer article places the 1st Battalion of the 130th Infantry fighting on Hill 1802 in the Labayug-Alibeng area from 23-25 February 1945. That is just two weeks after landing. The book about the 33rd Division places Hills X and Y in the Kennon Road fighting of late February to March 1945. It was Hill X that gave Grandpa the Silver Star and the whole Unit received the Presidential Citation. Shortly after Hill X Grandpa was wounded while tending to other soldiers who were awaiting medical attention. All this brutal mountain fighting took place on the approaches to Baguio.

Grandpa spent several weeks in recovery. University of Utah says two months, but that cannot be accurate. By mid April 1945 the 130th Infantry Regiment called in air support to help rifle companies get through a network of fortified hills. The fighter-bombers broke Japanese resistance and the 130th finally got across the river. The 33rd Infantry Division liberated what was left of Baguio on 26 April 1945. Grandpa indicates he was present for that liberation, which puts his recovery time at only a couple of weeks, not a full two months.

After Baguio, there was plenty of mopping up work required. The Division mopped up isolated pockets of Japanese troops around Baguio and captured the San Nicholas–Tebbo–Itogon route on 12 May 1945. Fighting continued and on 6 June 1945, Company I of the 130th Regiment was given a Medal of Honor for their activities near Tabio, Luzon. Grandpa indicates he was present at the Japanese surrender at Luzon in June 1945.

On 30 June 1945, all elements of the 33rd Division went to rest and rehabilitation areas. The division then landed on Honshū Island, Japan on 25 September 1945 and performed occupation duties until it was deactivated in early 1946. While the Division performed occupation duties, Grandpa had been honorably discharged 30 September 1945 and shipped home.

I am posting this article ahead of the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Baguio City.

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Delivery of Jonas Remains

I have written about Irwin Jonas before. I shared photos of his life and descendants. I understand things are done differently now with the military. I cannot imagine having to deal with this situation. He participated in D-Day and lost his life on 11 July 1944, just over 70 years ago, near Saint-Lô, France. This letter is dated 30 September 1947, over 3 years after Irwin’s passing.

Mrs. Lillian C. Jonas

General Delivery

Richmond, Utah

Dear Mrs. Jonas,

The Quartermaster General, Washington D.C., has advised this office that you wish the remains of Sgt. Irwin J. Jonas delivered direct to your home in Richmond, Utah.

Plans are being made by this office to deliver the remains of Sgt. Irwin J. Jonas by Funeral Coach from this Depot to Richmond. It will be necessary, in view of the mode of delivery, that you appoint a Funeral Director to be at your home to help handle the remains.

If the above instructions meet with your desires, will you please inform this office of the name and address of the Funeral Director, and also the address of your home. If you care to change the delivery address from your home to the Funeral Director, please tell us in your reply.

Sincerely yours,

Steven F. Capasso

Major, QMO

Chief AGR Division

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German Immigrants Faced Rough Winters

This is a story that ran in the Idaho State Journal 7 April 2013.

    Editor’s note: The information for this story comes from an account of pioneer life written by Marlene Christensen, granddaughter of Charles Nuffer, in 1949.

Charles August Nuffer

    In the late 1800s, the line between Northern Utah and Southeast Idaho was pretty blurred, but the hardships endured by pioneers knew no state lines.

    One of the many immigrants who settled in this harsh frontier was Charles August Nuffer, who came to Logan, Utah, with his German parents in 1880. The family eventually settled in Worm Creek near Preston.

    His granddaughter, Marlene Christensen, pieced together diary and verbal accounts of the Nuffer family’s struggles to survive. It paints a story as seen through the young eyes of Charles Nuffer.

    “After three weeks, we found a little old log house with one room and dirt roof and plenty of bed bugs to keep us company,” Nuffer recalled. “It was on a vacant lot on the street going to the college just east of the canal.”

    The log house with the dirt roof was traded for a home belonging to Jacob Engle within a month, but Nuffer’s father struggled to find work.

     “Father would go out wherever he could get some work,” Nuffer said. “He worked on the threshing machines, and I went with him to help, and he got a bushel of wheat a day. Grandma Spring, Regine and I went out in the north field to glean wheat, we would cut the head off and put them in a sack. Father threshed them out with the flail and it made about 16 bushels.” Nuffer said the effort fed the family, and his brothers, John and Fred, earned money to pay the rent.

    There were other chores to attend to as well.

     “We had to get the wood from the hills nearby,” Nuffer said. “They have brought a team and an old wagon so we went to get some wood. Father told me to drive, as I drove out the gate and over a little ditch, the tongue dropped down and the reach came up and the team ran away. I fell under the horse’s feet and received a broken shoulder, and the horses ran around the block and back in the gate.”

    Nuffer was 10 years old when this happened.

    The next order of business for the young German American was to master the language.

    “I went to school a few month during the winters of 1881 and 1882 and learned to speak English,” Nuffer said. “We lived in Providence from June 1880 until October 1883. So from here we went to Idaho, the place the Lord has chosen for us to build our future home.”

    It would take herculean effort and stout horses to pull the family’s belongings to Worm Creek. Paradise didn’t await the Nuffer family.

    “On arriving at Worm Creek (Preston), we found a place with a house on it, a log house about 14 by 16 feet, all one room, with dirt roof, no fence around it and no plowed land, and when it rained the mud would run down the walls, and we had to set pans on the bed to catch the rain,” Nuffer said.

    Winter brought even bigger challenges. Nuffer talked about a trip to retrieve straw purchased from farmers in Richmond and Smithfield, Utah.

    “The snow was so deep Regine and I filled some big sacks we had brought from the Old Country with straw and tied on the hand sled and pulled it over the crested snow for home,” Nuffer said. “The Miles’ were the only family that were living on the creek besides us on what is now known as the Webster Ranch, and we lived on what is now known as the Fred Wanner Place. The Miles family ran out of feed for their cattle in March and they shoveled a path over the south side of the hills where the wind and sun had taken snow off the grass that had started to grow, and when they drove the cattle thought the path you could not see them because the snow was so deep.”

    That was the long winter of 1884.

    Undeterred by winter, the family then moved to Cub River and started building a new log home. Lumber was in short supply.

    “They had lumber at the sawmill but they would not sell us any for wheat, and the store in Franklin did not pay cash for it,” Nuffer said. “Father had already laid some lings down to put in the floor on so we just had to step over them all winter, but maybe it was a good thing as we got the warmth from the earth as we only had a lumber roof over us 14 feet to the top and just a four-hole cook stove to warm the house and wood to burn, and it was not at all dry.”

    The hardships didn’t deter the family’s faith.

    “Still we were happy and thanked the Lord for what we had,” Nuffer shared. “Mother would read a chapter from the Bible. We would have prayer and go to bed.”

    By Christmas, things grew tougher.

    “On Christmas Day 1884, Father sent me over to John’s after 25 pounds of flour,” Nuffer said. “The snow was up to my knees. After that flour was gone we had to grind the wheat in the coffee mill as no one went to the store any more that winter until Father and I each carried a basket of eggs to the store in Franklin on March 2 over 2 feet of frozen snow to buy some groceries. We could not buy much as we had no money.”

    To help make ends meet, Nuffer’s mother baked sugar beets in the oven and ground them up to make a sweet sugary substance to put on the family’s “bread and mush.”

    The final leg of the winter provided even more trials for the emigrant family.

    “Finally the cow went dry so we had no milk for some time and no sugar, but we got thought the winter without any sickness,” Nuffer said. “But we thanked the Heavenly Father for what we had.”

150th Territorial Series

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Idaho becoming a territory, the Journal will continue historical stories about life in the early frontier each Sunday. A special event will be held July 4 at the Fort Hall Replica in Pocatello to mark its 50th anniversary with additional sesquicentennial recognition.

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More Donaldson Pictures

Scanning and working through the photos of Dave & Betty Donaldson continues to be a gold mine. While many of the photos are more routine or mundane, once and a while a few pop up that are an insight into the past we did not previously have. Here are some of those photos. I hope there are even more yet to be found.

Dave Donaldson

Likely in southern California, Dave looks like a young teenager. Dave was born in 1928, I guess he is about 12-14 in the photo.

Maxine, Gladys, Dave, Dena and Dora Donaldson

This photo is fun as it shows a glimpse into the young Donaldson family kids. I don’t have many photos of my Grandma Gladys and every extra one gives more reality to her childhood. Dave was born in 1928, I am guessing he is about 7 or 8 here. Even though Dena and Dora are twins, you can tell they are not identical. I still cannot tell them apart though. I love the wallpaper advertisement in the back ground. It looks like the boonies, but close enough to town to have a large sign advertising wallpaper.

“family Long Beach Calif 1932”

What is the Donaldson family doing in Long Beach, Los Angeles, California in 1932? What is the occasion? Who were they visiting? The neighborhood looks nice. They are dressed nice too.

Dave & Betty Donaldson in Jackson, Wyoming

It looks like a fun ride, but Betty also seems to be holding on extra tight.

Young Milo Ross

This photo is a bit of an enigma to me. I believe this is a pre-war Milo Ross. I haven’t seen this photo before. But why would Dave & Betty have it in their possession, how did they get it if it predates my Grandma Gladys? The hat is similar to some other photos I have seen.

Milo Ross planting
Milo Ross with planter

You can see both of these two photos have Grandpa with probably the same hat. The last one, with the horse in the field, probably dates this into the 1930s. I don’t know how to track down that planter and date it. But I am guessing late 1930s, maybe early 1940s.

Here is another with the same gun.

Milo Ross with gun
John Telford, Jan Birch, Richard Michaelson, Milo Ross

This photo was a delight. Another young photo of my Dad with his first cousins. I am guessing he is 6 or 7, so about 1950-1951.

My Great Grandma Berendena Van Leeuwen Donaldson with Eddie, Irene, Mary, and John Telford
Dena Michaelson and Berendena Donaldson at Will Rogers house (that I believe burned down in 2025)
Dena Donaldson and Dena Michaelson at their home in California. Interesting partial reflections in the water on the sidewalk.
David Donaldson and friends in San Francisco.

This photo appears to be a postcard of sorts. Here is the back of it.

The back gives us more information. The date – 11 December 1917. Taken at 225 Market Street, San Francisco, California. Jack and Byron both appear to have signed their names, but the rest of the writing is David’s. David and Jack are from Ogden, Utah. Byron is from Evanston, Wyoming. I don’t know which is Byron and which is Jack. I also cannot tell Jack’s last name and have been unable to locate something that matches. Kielman? Kiefman? Kilfner?

I located Byron Powell, born 21 July 1894 in Winters Quarter, Carbon, Utah and died 12 September 1957 in Ogden. Byron registered for the military draft in Uinta County, Wyoming, which includes Evanston in 1917-1918.

Dena, Dave, Dora, Maxine, David inside vehicle, and Gladys Donaldson on a trip

Again, I don’t know for certain which is Dora and which is Dena. But another fun photo of my Grandma I did not have before.

I don’t know where this photo is from, but I believe it is somewhere in southern Utah. Probably near or in Zions National Park.

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Plain City Takes Titles in Baseball

I hope some day to find a better copy of this newspaper clipping.

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

Presenting the City-County Baseball Champions… Plain City junior diamond athletes romped away with the county title for 1937 and walloped Lewis junior, Ogden city champions, in a title city-county event last week.

Wayne McLean Carver, athletic manager (1923 – 2015)

Ray S Charlton, second base (1920 – 1991)

Don Hipwell Gibson, catcher (1920 – 1975)

Frank Howard Hadley, third base (1921 – 2008)

Ervin George Heslop, center field (1921 – 2017)

Benjamin Keith Hodson, center field (1920 – 2010)

Howard Hunt, right fielder (1921 – 1944)

John Major Reese, principal (1896 – 1976)

Wayne East Rose, first base (1921 – 2017)

Milo Ross, pitcher (1921 – 2014)

Ellis Wayment Stewart, shortstop (1921 – 1940)

Kenneth Paul Taylor, right field (1922 – 1996)

James Lyle Thompson, left field (1921 – 1999)

Howard George Wayment, left field (1922 – 2001)

Bernard Henry Van Shaar, coach (1909 – 2001)

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In re Sprague

Decision: In re Jarred A. Sprague and Elizabeth J. Sprague, Case No. 12-41099-JDP (Bankr. D. Idaho, 18 December 2013)
Judge: Honorable Jim D. Pappas, United States Bankruptcy Judge
Counsel for Debtors: Paul Ross, Idaho Bankruptcy Law, Paul, Idaho
Chapter 13 Trustee: Kathleen A. McCallister, Meridian, Idaho
Trustee’s Counsel: Alexandra O. Caval, Meridian, Idaho

Background

Jarred and Elizabeth Sprague filed a Chapter 13 petition on 2 August 2012. Their plan was confirmed on 12 October 2012, and the bar date for non-governmental creditors to file proofs of claim passed on 3 December 2012. Under Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure (“FRBP”) 3004, the Debtors or Trustee had an additional 30 days — until 2 January 2013 — to file a proof of claim on behalf of any creditor that failed to do so.

The debt at issue arose in May 2009, when U.S. Bank closed Ms. Sprague’s bank account after a scam check deposited into the account bounced. Neither U.S. Bank nor its collection assignee, National Law Group (“NLG”), reported the resulting deficiency to any credit reporting agency, and neither contacted Ms. Sprague after the account was closed. When the Debtors compiled their bankruptcy schedules, they relied heavily on their credit reports — which showed no debt to U.S. Bank — and the obligation was omitted entirely from their filings.

In August 2013 — more than a year after the bar date — NLG contacted Ms. Sprague’s employer seeking to collect. Upon learning of the omitted debt, the Debtors promptly amended Schedule F to list U.S. Bank and NLG as creditors, served them with notice of the bankruptcy, and filed a motion to enlarge the time to file a proof of claim on their behalf under FRBP 3004 and FRBP 9006(b)(1).

The Trustee’s Objection

Trustee objected on several grounds. First, she argued the Debtors had not met the “excusable neglect” standard required under FRBP 9006(b)(1) to justify enlarging the FRBP 3004 deadline after its expiration. Relying on In re Schuster, 428 B.R. 833 (Bankr. E.D. Wis. 2010) — the only reported decision she could locate addressing this precise issue — the Trustee argued that the Debtors’ reason for delay was insufficient, as the account closure in 2009 should have put Ms. Sprague on notice that a claim might exist.

Second, the Trustee argued that granting the motion would prejudice the existing pool of unsecured creditors, who held approximately $37,894 in claims and whose pro-rata distributions would be reduced by the addition of a new creditor more than a year into the plan. She further contended that the omitted creditor itself would be prejudiced because its debt would be discharged upon plan completion — a result she argued was impermissible under 11 U.S.C. §§ 1328(a)(2) and 523(a)(3), which exclude from Chapter 13 discharge debts that are neither listed nor scheduled in time to permit a timely proof of claim.

The Debtors’ Brief

Debtors filed a detailed brief through their counsel addressing each of the Trustee’s arguments.

On the procedural question, Debtors’ counsel confirmed that FRBP 3004’s deadline, unlike FRBP 3002(c)’s creditor bar date, is not enumerated in FRBP 9006(b)(3)’s list of deadlines that can only be extended under their own specific conditions. FRBP 9006(b)(1) therefore applies, and the Court may enlarge the FRBP 3004 deadline upon a showing of excusable neglect.

On excusable neglect, Debtors distinguished Schuster on its facts. In Schuster, the debtor had purchased appliances on credit — physical items that provided tangible, ongoing reminders of an unpaid debt — yet still claimed to have forgotten the obligation. Here, by contrast, the Debtors had no collateral, no invoices, no collection contacts, and no credit report entry to put them on notice. Ms. Sprague did not merely forget a debt she knew existed — she was genuinely unaware that any debt was owed. Upon learning of it, she and her husband acted immediately. Debtors’ counsel also identified three unreported decisions from the District of Utah in which courts had granted similar enlargements under comparable circumstances.

On the Trustee’s standing to seek a non-dischargeability determination, Debtors argued that the Trustee lacked both constitutional and prudential standing to raise a dischargeability objection on behalf of a specific creditor. Dischargeability is a particularized right belonging to the individual creditor, not a general estate matter the Trustee may assert.

On dischargeability itself, Debtors argued that § 523(a)(3) would not apply if the Court granted the enlargement. If the time to file a proof of claim on behalf of NLG were enlarged under FRBP 9006(b)(1), the claim would be deemed timely filed under FRBP 3004, included in the plan’s pro-rata distribution to general unsecured creditors, and “provided for” under the plan within the meaning of § 1328(a). The harm § 523(a)(3) is designed to prevent — a creditor being denied both payment and discharge — would not exist.

The Court’s Ruling

Judge Pappas granted the Debtors’ motion in its entirety. Applying the four-factor equitable test from Pioneer Investment Services Co. v. Brunswick Associates Ltd. Partnership, 507 U.S. 380 (1993), the Court found that each factor weighed in the Debtors’ favor.

On prejudice, the Court found the impact on other unsecured creditors to be minimal. The omitted claim was approximately $1,500 in a pool of roughly $37,894 in unsecured debt — a modest reduction in pro-rata distributions that no creditor had objected to. As for the omitted creditor itself, the Court found it would actually benefit from having its claim filed and paid, rather than being left entirely outside the plan.

On the length and reason for delay, the Court found the delay understandable and outside the Debtors’ reasonable control. The creditor had made no contact for over four years, reported nothing to credit agencies, and provided no basis for the Debtors to know the debt existed. Upon learning of it, the Debtors acted promptly.

On good faith, the Court found no basis to question it — a conclusion the Trustee herself did not dispute.

The Court also expressly disagreed with the Trustee’s dischargeability argument, declining to follow Schuster on that point. Because the Court was enlarging the time to file a proof of claim under 11 U.S.C. § 501(c) and FRBP 3004 and 9006(b)(1), the creditor’s claim would be treated as timely filed. The Court doubted that §§ 1328(a)(2) and 523(a)(3)(A) compelled a contrary result under those circumstances, though it declined to rule definitively on the discharge issue as it was not formally before it.

The Order gave the Debtors fourteen days from 18 December 2013 to file the proof of claim for U.S. Bank.

Why This Matters

1. FRBP 9006(b)(1) can enlarge the FRBP 3004 deadline. Unlike the creditor bar date under FRBP 3002(c) — which is expressly restricted from enlargement except under its own terms by FRBP 9006(b)(3) — FRBP 3004’s debtor/trustee claim-filing window is not enumerated in FRBP 9006(b)(3). Courts therefore retain discretion to enlarge it upon a showing of excusable neglect. This is a critical distinction practitioners must understand when an omitted creditor surfaces mid-case.

2. Excusable neglect is highly fact-specific. The contrast between this case and Schuster illustrates how much the reason for delay matters in the excusable neglect analysis under Pioneer. A debtor who genuinely lacked knowledge of a debt — with no collateral, no billing, and no credit report entry — is in a materially different position than one who simply forgot about a known obligation.

3. Acting promptly upon discovery is essential. The Debtors’ immediate response — amending their schedules, serving the creditor, and filing the motion — was central to the Court’s good faith finding. Delay after discovery would have significantly weakened the equitable case for enlargement.

4. The Trustee lacks standing to raise dischargeability on behalf of a single creditor. A Chapter 13 trustee does not have constitutional or prudential standing to seek a dischargeability determination on behalf of a specific creditor. That creditor’s own silence — it filed no objection — reinforced the point.

5. Timely filing cures the § 523(a)(3) problem. Where a court enlarges the FRBP 3004 deadline and the debtor files a proof of claim on the omitted creditor’s behalf, that claim becomes timely for plan purposes. The debt is then “provided for” under § 1328(a), resolving the non-dischargeability concern under § 523(a)(3). Inclusion in the plan is the better outcome for all parties.

Full Decision: Available on PACER, Case No. 12-41099-JDP, Doc. 54 (Bankr. D. Idaho 18 December 2013)
Order Granting Motion: Doc. 55 (Bankr. D. Idaho 18 December 2013)

Enlargement MemorandumDownload
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68 Letter to Frieda

This letter was provided to me by Deanne Larue Yancey Driscoll. Deanne is the granddaughter of Frieda Minna Andra, who is sister to my William Fredrick Andra. This letter is in my Great Grandmother’s handwriting, Mary Louise Wanner Andra. She is writing from their home in Queen Creek, Arizona. I also have a copy of a 1978 letter to Frieda I shared.

Frieda was born in Meissen, Germany 6 March 1893. If you search this site, you will find various references to Frieda as she was a great source of history for the Andra family. She married George Edward Greaves (1892 – 1968) 10 June 1914 in Salt Lake City, Utah. They had five children together, George Andra (1915 – 1977), Walter Taylor (1916 – 2011), Elizabeth Frieda (1918 – 2001), Marion Minna (1920 – 1996 – Deanne’s mother), and Ada Helen (1923 – 2020). George disappeared. Frieda remarried Franz Heinrich Wilhelm Lehmitz (1863 – 1947) 10 August 1930 in Salt Lake City. Frieda and Franz had one daughter, Hazel Marie (1931 – 1945). She remarried after Franz’s death to Leonhard Michael Wendel (1883 – 1970) 6 March 1952 in Idaho Falls, Bonneville, Idaho. Leonhard was the son of Johann Wendel who had married Frieda’s mother after arriving in Utah. She remarried after Leonhard’s death to Brigham Horrocks (1890 – 1976) 7 June 1972 in Blackfoot, Bingham, Idaho. She passed away 18 October 1978 in Idaho Falls. She is buried in the Grove City Cemetery, Blackfoot, Idaho.

The letter refers to Dale and Judy Andra’s son, Jeremy Dale Andra. The letter also refers to Judy, who is Clara Anna Andra Blanke’s granddaughter. I don’t know details, but I believe she was charged with murder. Clara is Frieda and William’s sister. Another brother, Otto is also referenced. Iona and Carol are both Otto’s daughters.

March 3 / 68

Dear Frieda, thanks for the birthday card and money.

We’re glad you are better, we sure enjoy our selves down here it sure keeps me busy when we go to the Temple. I wash + Iron quite a bit, I think its a vacation for the men but we women have the same things to be done. Otto + Lizz left a week ago to go out to Iona’s should be back to night or tomorrow, they like it down here pretty good. Carol + hubby bought a home of their own so Otto has a job putting in bathroom sink + things, so they sure go over enough.

I have to go over to the ward house 4 miles away to singing Mothers we are going to sing in stake conference Sunday. It gets in the 80 in the after noons down here but it really feels good. We will leave about the 10 April it should be nice weather by then.

May God bless you both, Love: Bill + Mary

over,

P.S. Frieda have you ever heard anything about Judy’s trial? Rebecca sent down a clipping which stated they started Feb 15th but we haven’t heard a word since.

If you know anything about it I wish you would write us.

Sure to bad Clara + Emil have so much to go thru + my heart really goes out to them. They’ll “never” live it down I’m afraid.

Just got our 33rd grand child born the 27th a beautiful baby, they sent us a picture of the baby. A Boy just what they wanted. Dale is the proud father.

So please Frieda if you’ve heard, let us know. I wrote Clara a nice letter but she said she would write me a letter but as yet she hasn’t written.

P.S. Dale is the son on the farm, I already got a picture of the baby its a Boy they have the 2 little girls.