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Show Volume XXV Issue XII The Ogden Valley news Page 9 May 1, 2019 Angus William McKay: His story – Part II Note: This biography was taken from “Wangsgaard/Wangsgard Roots & Branches, 1866 1889” compiled by Stanley Ferrin Wangsgaard. Part I appeared in the April 15, 2019 issue of “The Ogden Valley News.” It happened that the 17th of June was “Circus Day” in Ogden, and many had come to see it. My father took me down and I visited around all afternoon with Miss Christina Wangsgaard. She and Brig Folkman were the last ones to see me off on the train. At the train I met a friend, Fred Hayes, who was going to the same mission. I had taken Christina out on several occasions prior to this day, and we corresponded during my entire mission. Elias Kimball was president of the Southern States Mission in the beginning, then when Ben E. Rich was called to take his place as president, I was called into Chattanooga, Tennessee, along with Fletcher B. Hammond and Owen Jarvis. President Rich gave us our instructions and we sent back to our different fields of labor to open up the first large cities in the Southern States Mission. Elder Hammond to Knoxville, Tennessee; Elder Jarvis to Charleston, South Carolina and I to Louisville, Kentucky. I established headquarters in the Victoria Hotel, along with Elder Arrowsmith, Elder Walsh, and Elder Taylor. This Louisville assignment was a wonderful experience for all of us. We made friends with some members of the Josephite Church and converted a number of them. This made the Josephites bitter against us. I met many wonderful people in Louisville and vicinity, among them Mr. Enoch McKay, who was a leading attorney who lived in Bowling Green. He told me that he was very much interested in the genealogy of the McKay Clan and that he had spent a number of thousand dollars in gathering data which he was putting into a book, and when completed would send me a copy. However, I never heard from him again. After laboring 31 months in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, I was released. I did some visiting up in the East part of Kentucky and then returned home, 29 Nov 1899. That winter I was called to work on the MIA Board of the Weber Stake with John L. Herrick, John Bluth and Heber Scowcroft. I was also appointed head of the Intermediate Department of the Huntsville Sunday School, having Christian Mortensen and Jennette McKay as teachers. There were about twenty girls and eighteen boys in that department. In the winter, early in 1900, I was set apart as one of the Seven President of the 75th Quorum of Seventy. The summer following my return home, Uncle Hugh and I rented the buck sheep which my father had been running, and Uncle Hugh bought enough to make us a nice little herd. In 1901, I bought Andrew Renstrom’s mother’s home in Huntsville. This was in the fall, and I rented it to Joseph Larson. (According to the Book of Abstracts, Weber County, Utah, this was recorded 30 June 1903, having been purchased by Angus W. McKay from Catharine C. Erickson for $350. Described as the South 2/3 of lot 7 and the North 2/3 of lot 8, Block 22, Plat A, Huntsville Survey). That fall of 1901, I left to take sheep to Chicago, and got a pass form the National Livestock Commission to go to the Buffalo Fair, via Cincinnati. From there I went to Kentucky to visit some of my very good friends, then went on to Buffalo to see the fair. The winter of 1901 I spent on the western desert with the sheep. The summer of 1902, Don, Frank, Tone, and Lou Felt took our two herds of sheep over to Meadow Valley where we could dip them in Alex Hill’s dipping vat. Jay Pitkins, Uncle Hugh and myself was [sic] bringing up the dip and supplies. We got as far as Mill Creek when night overtook us, so we camped. This was the night of July 3. Jay and Uncle Hugh slept in the camp and I made my bed outside. When I awakened in the morning, July 4 1902, there was six inches of snow. We took our time and went over the hill to the dipping vat and finished our job, then came back to Huntsville. From this time on, I was preparing and making plans for the most important event in my life, when I married Christina Wangsgaard. This took place 23 Oct 1902 in the Salt Lake Temple…. (They moved into the two-room log house that Angus had purchased, and here Christina lived and worked for others to support herself while Angus went on a mission.) I left on a short-term mission to Southern Idaho, right after our marriage and returned home early in 1903. Our first child was born in the Renstrom House in Huntsville, 6 Dec 1903, and we named him Angus Vincen. Grandma Hislop was the midwife. Then in April 1904, we moved to south Willard (Bonneville Fields), one mile north of Utah Hot Springs. We found nothing but an unfenced almost bare farm and old bachelor, William Christie, who had been living there alone from about 1870. He and my father were old friends and Mormon converts. They had formed such a friendship that they came to the United States and Utah together and was never separated from that time until they died. On the farm (in Huntsville) was the old log house in which I was born, that was being used as a granary. When father finished his big rock house in Huntsville, this log house was moved to Bonneville Fields. Also on the farm was a one-room adobe house with a shed roof and big round boulders on top to hold the roof down. These were located on the east end of the property. We lived in this adobe house with a sheep camp at the back of it until we could build a house. I hired Harry Monson, and we hauled brick from the kiln and builded [sic] a one-and-one-half–story house with four rooms in which we moved at Christmas time 1904, a big improvement over living in the old adobe house, and we began to live in earnest, enjoying that Christmas and winter very much. By this time my wife and neighbors became quite well acquainted which made it more pleasant for her. Christina’s father was killed in a gravel pit 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 801-745-2688 or Jeannie at 801-745-2879 if you have material you are willing to share. cave-in, 19 Oct 1905, which was a great shock to everyone. Christina told that they had sent a telegram to her at Hot Springs and it was sent back up to Willard. It was finally delivered to us, but we didn’t get it until late at night and the next morning we started out early for Huntsville. Uncle Christian met me outside and said, I’m sorry but he had passed away. I think Adam Peterson was the speaker. Uncle Hugh returned from his mission to Ireland and Scotland and came to our home bag and baggage. He made his home with us until he died in 1908. This was while I was in Wyoming as manager of the Utah-Wyoming Land and Livestock, backed by the Bigelow Bank. I quit them in 1910 and came home to help take care of the farm and orchard. From the time they were married, Christina said she was practically a widow, because Angus was away so much of the time. From The Past . . . Kurtis Compton, with his mother Dona and younger brother Kyle, at the Pineview Plunge, circa 1967. Photo and flier courtesy of Kurtis Crompton of Huntsville. A Blast from the Past: The Pineview Plunge! The ad pictured right ran in The Ogden Standard-Examiner during the summer of 1964. In the early ‘70’s, the pool and restaurant had closed down, and the Vista Café opening afterwards. The commercial center was located on State Road 39 across from the old Snow Basin road turn off and where the older condos west of Anderson Cove in Huntsville now stand. Kurtis Crompton states, “When I was a kid, we used to go over there and mess around in the empty pool and abandoned buildings after they burned down—probably around 1976. It had sat vacant for several years after a second restaurant opened—the Vista Café—then burned.” If you have any additional pictures or memories of the Pineveiw Plunge and restaurant, or of the Vista Café, please call or email information to Shanna at 801-7452688 or slfrancis@digis.net or Jeannie at 801-745-2879 or <crwendell@digis.net> Make Mother’s Day Special Brunch 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Reservations required. 801-392-6775 2668 Grant Avenue, Suite #104A, Ogden, UT 508 Ogden Canyon, Ogden www.grayclifflodge.com Saturday Night 4:30 p.m. Sunday Morning 8:00 a.m. Sunday Morning 10:00 a.m. Tuesday Night 6:00 p.m. Fr. Charles Cummins 801-399-9531 StFlorenceHuntsville.org Before and after any Mass or by appointment. Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary, Middle School, and High School Providing a challenging, college-focused education in the proven tradition of Catholic schools, for the families of the Ogden Valley. We want to teach your children! For information on our program, financial assistance, tours, or application, please call 801-393-6051 or 801-394-1515. 801-612-9299 |