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Show The Ogden Valley news Page 10 Volume XVI Issue II January 1, 2009 HISToRICaL cont. from page 9 rd was born on the 23 of May. 1893 – Mama became president of the Primary and my father counselor to Bishop McKay. His occupation was mainly farming—eventually two farms—Perry Farm northeast of town and Spring Creek, northwest of town, now covered by Pineview Dam. He was in several ventures such as stock raising, belonging to a co-op farm south of town, and co-owner with Bishop McKay of a threshing machine and fanning mill. He was an energetic, hardworking, successful farmer. On January 1894, Arnold was born and, following two sisters, it must have been a joyous event. Grandmother Eriskson was living with us; also Aunt Matilda when she wasn’t at school in Ogden. One year before the schoolhouse burned down, she taught a huge class of about eighty students. I have a picture to prove that. On October 12, 1895, I was born in an upstairs bedroom. In 1896, Utah was given statehood. William McKinley was elected the 25th president and was re-elected in 1900. He was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at Buffalo, New York on September 14, 1901. Theodore Roosevelt followed as President. Uncle Adam had bought the Hammond home east of us and converted it into a hotel. The hotel on the corner was a busy place. Aunt Matilda stayed there and other school teachers were boarders along with other people. Aunt Annie was actively engaged as mother, cook, and housekeeper, and had an added job of baking bread for many men working at La Plata, a mining camp in Middle Fork Canyon. This camp was exciting to the villagers and to men seeking work for after silver was discovered there it started a boom, cabins were hastily constructed and digging occupied most of the time. David O. McKay, a young man then, carried daily the mail by horseback to the miners. Someone unknown to me carried Aunt Annie’s bread and I suppose other food to them. It was a short-lived boom, and no one seemed to get rich although stock was sold. There is nothing left there now, and difficult to visit because of its isolated location. One day the hotel caught fire. It burned rapidly due to its wooden construction. Some furniture was saved and piled on our lawn. That night, all of the family slept at our house and later a tent was erected on our back lawn until Uncle Adam found a house to move into down at the west end of town. In November of 1898, I was sent down to Aunt Annie’s to spend the night with my cousins. Since I normally slept in my mother’s bedroom they knew I should be away for sometime during the night a baby was to be born. He was a blue baby, and he lived for a few hours and was blessed with the name of John. On returning home, I was shown a small box with the baby in it ready for burial. In November 1899 a baby girl was born who lived only a few hours, and was blessed with the name of Eva. On November 7, 1900, another baby was born, a boy, and it seemed wonderful to me, and must have been to my mother as we have been told she remarked, “I can’t lose this one; I have paid my tenth in babies.” Standing around her bed, we talked together of a name for him, and if one of the others suggested any at all, they were by-passed in favor of the one who had been the baby for five years, and had definite ideas of a suitable name. “. . . [l]et’s call him George Washington,” and my father answered “Why not?” so he was named George Pehrson Renstrom. Christmas holidays this year marked the end of the 19th century, ushering in the new 20th. Just what the world outside of our Valley was doing we knew very little, and beyond the boundaries of Utah, far less; news traveled so slowly or not at all. Santa Claus visited us with red suit on and white whiskers and danced clumsily around our Yule tree (dear little Aunt Tillie did her very best and never failed us). Uncles Adam and Will, Aunts Annie and Emma and their children were our guests as on so many other Christmases, often staying over night. The three bedrooms upstairs were warmed by two heaters, and with the big cook stove and parlor heater downstairs we were kept warm from the cold winter outside. Santa passed out presents, candy, and nuts. But the big surprise came in the morning when we searched for the big present in and around our homemade stockings hung close by the Christmas tree. Weeks before this year of 1901, my father carved candleholders for the front room windows in our house both up and downstairs and on New Year’s Eve placed candles lighted in the windows. We tramped outside to the square and looked back at our shining house. The neighbors came and many others to see this unusual display of patriotism while listening to the tolling of the church and schoolhouse bells. This custom of the bells was carried on for many years. One half hour before midnight the mellow-toned church-house bell began to ring. After 15 minutes it was joined by the harsher schoolhouse bell, continuing together for a half hour. Then the old year died with the silencing of the church bell and the louder brassy school bell rang on for 15 minutes alone, saluting the new year, and, this time, the new century. There were always an eager number of young men to take their turns at the bells. The Ogden Valley News is looking for Ogden Valley and Ogden Canyon historical biographies, stories, and photos to use in its publication. Please mail, email, or call Shanna at 745-2688 or Jeannie at 745-2879 if you have material you are willing to share. 801-745-4000 2555 WOLF CREEK DR. EDEN STORE HOURS: MON. - SAT. 7 AM - 10 PM SUNDAY 7 AM - 9 PM Party Tray of $39.99 or more $5.00 Expires oFF1/1/09with coupon indelithe any Loaf of Garlic Bread from the Bakery 25c oFF with coupon Expires 1/1/09 any Ham in the Meat dept. $1.00 oFF with coupon Expires 1/1/09 any Gal. WF apple Juice or Cider 50c oFF with coupon John Grogan’s “Marley & Me” By Vicki Wight As a number one New York Times Bestseller, most people obviously love this book, have heard about this book, maybe have even read this book. It was my book of choice to accompany me on my vacation to Hawaii. I wanted something I knew I would love, and would be easy to read and easy to hold. Check, check check . . . . John Grogan delivered a fantastic book not just about his dog Marley, but about his family, how they grew into each other, and their struggles and heartaches as well as the joy and challenges of owning a dog. I loved how candid and honest his shared experiences were. I loved that after trash talking Boca Raton, he ended up a resident there! I adored Marley from the beginning, but he didn’t try to make me love him either. He wasn’t cuddly and cute for more than five pages of the whole book, but it was full of his adventures, mishaps and, I’ll be honest here, pain in the pocketbook as well as the pants! “Marley & Me” is a great light read that will tug at the heartstrings, especially if you’re a dog lover. If you have a dog, you might very much just enjoy comparing John’s Marley to yours. Several descriptions in this book brought me to laughter, and several to tears. Yes, don’t forget the tissues for this one; though, through most of the book I was chuckling— sometimes out loud—and shaking my head. One particular description of Marley’s antics that I could relate to was about the “Portable Alcatraz.” If there ever was an unsuspecting couple, it was John and Jen, and, man, did Marley take that portable kennel for a trip! I won’t spoil the description for you. I highly suggest this book. I probably could even highly suggest the movie. The cast contains two of my personal favorites, and who could resist a show about a dog like Marley? over 25,000 Historical Titles Now Free online—FamilySearch digital preservation initiative hits milestone FamilySearch International reached a milestone on December 15 with the digitization of its 25,000th publication online. It began the initiative in 2007 and is ramping up to do even more—and faster. The effort targets published family, society, county, and town histories, as well as numerous other historical publications that are digitally preserved and made accessible for free online. The digital publications can be searched at www.FamilySearch.org (Go to FamilySearch.org, then click Search Records, then click Historical Books). The 25,000th digitized publication was A History of Lewis County, in the State of New York, from the Beginning of Its Settlement to the Present Time by Franklin B. Hough. The book was published in 1860. The lengths of titles digitized to date vary in length, but the average is about 350 pages. There are even publications in Spanish, German, French, and Russian. FamilySearch has nearly a million publications in its famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and there are millions of similar publications elsewhere in the United States. “The problem with the collection [of out-of-print titles] is limited access,” said Ransom Love, FamilySearch senior vice president of Strategic Relations. “To view the publications, patrons have to travel to Salt Lake City or one of FamilySearch’s affiliate libraries. If you are lucky, you might be able to order a microfilm copy, but then you have to wait for it to arrive at your local family history center. And there’s the inconvenience of having to read it on a film reader,” added Love. FamilySearch aims to change all of that. Working with volunteers and select affiliate libraries, it plans to create the largest digital collection of published histories on the Web. It is targeting a wide range of historical publications—for example, users might be pleasantly surprised to find digital copies of Hawaii Sugar Planters Association Filipino Laborer files (19091949), medieval family history resource titles, and oral history abstracts (mostly from Hawaii), and numerous gazetteers. “These are publications that were usu- ally limited in the number originally printed and therefore only accessible in a few libraries or special collections worldwide. Yet there can be some great information of genealogical significance in the publications that only a few people would have access to prior to now,” said Love. Through its Records Access Program, FamilySearch is digitally preserving a copy of the publications and making them available online for the masses. Once digitized, the collections have “every word” search capability, which allows users to search by name, location, date, or other fields across the collection. The search results are then linked to high quality digital images of the original publication. FamilySearch is not stopping with its own collection either. Over the past year, it announced that it is also helping to digitize and publish collections from the Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library; Brigham Young University— Hawaii Joseph F. Smith Library; Allen County Public Library (ACPL) in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Houston Public Library in Houston, Texas; and Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri. When all is said and done, there will be over a million publications in the digital collection online. It will be the largest free resource of its kind. about FamilySearch International FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,500 family history centers in 70 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Arkive Skate & Snow Stosh Lemberes Skateboards t Snowboards t Streetboards t Clothing t Owner Shoes t Outerwear Phone: 801-737-1213 t Accessories Cell: 801-660-5577 t And More! 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