#52ANCESTORS - EDUCATION

Last May we visited Capitol Reef National Park.  Sad to say after living my whole life in Utah this was my first visit there (still have never been to Arches and Canyonlands).  Before we left for the trip my father, Ray Burt, mentioned to my son that he remembers, while spending time in the area with his grandparents, when he was about 8 or 9 (so around 1938) driving into Capitol Reef on a road that wasn't paved.  On the left he could see a schoolhouse that he was told was still in use and on the right were the orchards.  Fruita Schoolhouse.  I thought about that schoolhouse as we drove through the Park. As we listen many nights to the news reports of school shootings, we often wish we could go back to the "good ol' days".  

Following is a very incomplete list of four generations of my family and the schools or best guess of schools that they attended.

Scott - Bellview Elementary 

Bobbi - Edgemont Elementary (just up the street from Bellview) All three of our boys went to at least one year at Edgemont, Bryce and Brad then went to Alta View Elementary for the ALPS program. Brock tried the ALPS program, not a good fit, and was back at Edgemont until we moved to Vernal in 2000 and went to 4th at Ashley Elementary, 5th at Discovery, that was the only grade that was there, and then 6th began middle school. 

Ray Burt - Forest Elementary, Salt Lake

Maida Webb Burt - Highland Park, Jefferson and Forest (not at the same time as Ray, they were 5 years apart), all in Salt Lake 

Roger Gessell - West Jordan Elementary where he states that his Aunt Eva was his teacher for three years. 

Doris Lindsay Gessell - Altamont? I need to find out about this one from her sister. I believe there was only one school for all grades and I don't know if it was in Altamont or Mountain Home. (I tried to call Janet (Doris' sister) today on her birthday.  She is in an assisted living home.  I was excited to ask her about her elementary school days and find out the elementary she and her sister attended.  She couldn't hear me and I was unable to find out the information.)  

Ray Burt, Sr. - Census of 1920 has him in Salt Lake City Ward 1 at a home on Lincoln Street (runs from 1300 S to 1500 South between 900 E and 1000 E. Forest Elementary was built in 1906 at 900 E 2100 S Wanda Peterson - In the 1920 census was in Sevier County.  

Henry Hudson Webb - I don't know where he went to school.  He has done a few histories but none of them mention a specific school.  This picture was included in a group of photos that I obtained from him.  Looks like a schoolyard.  

Maida Cottrell Webb - 1910 Census has her in Salt Lake City Ward 2, on Mead Street (between 9th So. and 13th So. and 2nd West runs for just a couple blocks East).  Maybe Whittier Elementary?? It was at 120 West 5th South and built in 1885.  

Earl Gessell - the 1920 census has him at West Malvern Avenue in Salt Lake, maybe Highland Park Elementary School.

Mildred Haun - near Winchester Street in Murray in the 1920 census, maybe Liberty Elementary or Bonnyview. 

George Geddes Lindsay - residence in Park City in 1910.  The Lincoln School is a possibility, but a history of Park City states it was one of three schools built to meet the demands of a growing school population as mining in the area increased.

Thelma Andersen Lindsay - 1910 census has her family living in Castle Dale, Emery County, Utah.  The LDS Church had built a school known as a Stake Academy.  It functioned as a high school (7th - 12th) for LDS residents from anywhere in the county.  Thelma was in the Uintah Basin by 1920 and I'm not sure when her family left Emery County.\

So what I learned by this post - unless there are stories told and shared, histories written or facts known, the information, even seemingly basic information such as what elementary school did you attend, is lost to posterity. 

#52 Ancestors - Week 6 - Valentines

I thought with this one I would find as many stories as I could about how a couple met.  I'll work backwards.

Brock and Angie - He was deployed in the Navy to Iloilo, Philippines and used the Tinder dating app while he was there and met Angie.

Brad and Erin - They had a mutual friend and met at a group activity.

Bryce and Alicia - He was her roomate's home teacher in their BYU student ward and were in the same FHE group. 

Scott and Bobbi - Scott was a wrestler and I was a wrestlerette at Jordan High School in 1978.  

Ray and Maida - from Mom's history:  "He had given me a ride home from school in October.  I didn't know him, but he lived in Highland Park Ward, too.  He had joined the Air Force not long after we moved into the ward, but I do remember him in church when he came home on leave.  He would sit on the back row with his uncle, Jay Peterson, who was as dark as Ray was light.  (They were married one year later after the ride home.)

Ray and Wanda - from Dad's history:  "I am an only child.  My parents were divorced when I was an infant.  I believe my mother was pregnant before she was married, but she won't talk about it."

Hudson and Maida - from Hudson's audio history:  I had an opportunity to go to Daynes-Beebe, it was the big music business in the city.  Maida worked there, we worked side by side.  She was actually my boss.  And we dated.  Although not seriously.  I remember the first date I took her on.  We went to Wandamer, that was where the golf course is now, it is located at 7th East and 27th South [Salt Lake].  They had a lake there and on the lake they had a stage... I took her there and she got out of the car and he stepped in a ditch of running water.  Oh, I was embarrassed to death. 

Heber Peterson and Lovina Short - "For several years Lovina worked at the Glenwood [Sevier County, Utah] store and then she fell in love with a returned  missionary - Heber Peterson."  Heber owned a ranch at Grass Valley, a section of country between Glenwood and Fishlake.  

Charles Cottrell Jr. and Erminnie Layton - His mission journal begins with leaving his home in Kaysville for the depot and stopping at the home of Mr. Charles Layton (Erminnie's father) and wishing them all goodbye. 

John Burt Jr. and Mary Etta Seddon - "Though he was engaged in building railroads, when Father could be in Salt Lake City, he courted a lovely young lady with hazel or dark grey eyes and golden hair.  She lived in the 6th Ward - a few blocks away on 3rd West and 6th South St [Salt Lake City] and was employed by the Deseret Book Binding Company."    

This was fun exploring.  I need to do more and add to this when I can.  

#52Ancestors - Week 5 - 3 GENERATIONS OF SERVING WARE

The prompt this week was In the Kitchen. I thought about how I have become the repository for all things family history.  When someone wants to get rid of something that belonged to an ancestor, most likely I will say, "No, give it to me."  That's how I have ended up with three generations of china sets.  

I registered for china and silver at ZCMI in Salt Lake City when I was married in 1981.  We received place settings for 8, a few serving dishes and just a couple pieces of silver.  I should use it more than I do.  Mom was never the type to give advice and no one else mentioned to me that if I chose a color like blue with flowers it would be difficult to use at Christmas, etc.  I probably would have been too stubborn to listen anyway.

When my mother moved from her home into a smaller downstairs apartment, she had nowhere to store her china and glassware so I gladly took it.  I think I have a service of 8 along with some parfait dishes.  I'll update with info of when she acquired it and where.  Mom had received this set from her mother-in-law in about 1960 when they moved into their home in White City. 

I received my maternal grandmother's set (Maida Hope Cottrell Webb) either when they cleaned out her house after her death or when my mother moved and she had been storing it.  I couldn't let it be given away.  There is at least a service for 8 and is in such good condition.  She was married in 1928.  I'm not sure how old the china is.

Somewhere in the last couple of decades I gladly took the silver set of my paternal grandmother Wanda Peterson Kincaid.  I think my parents had it but never used it and I couldn't let it be given away.  My parents had received it from my dad's Aunt Alice somewhere in the 80s.  Wanda had given it to her sister Alice when Wanda moved from the area in about 1966.  It's still in the flannel storage pockets and has the label "Leyson-Pearsall", a jewelry company in Salt Lake City.  There is a service for 8 plus many serving pieces and a salt and pepper shaker.  On Thanksgiving 2019 since we had only adults there, we set out Grandma Webb's white with gold china, her goblets and Wanda's silver set.  All were willing to shine the silver beforehand and hand wash all pieces afterwards.  It was so fun.  One item we found was the tiny matchbox shown in the picture below.  I had never seen it before - it was tucked in one of the storage pockets.  It still has a full set of matches.  

I love all of my china/silver sets and need to make an effort to use it more often.  I have a couple of daughters-in-law that may be willing to take some of it when I am gone, but I'm not sure where it will all end up when we have to downsize or when I am gone.  I hope someone can appreciate it as much as I do.

FOOD TRADITIONS

I love food that I love.  Even thinking about it  – good ol' comfort food that I'm familiar with.  Rarely does a new recipe taste as good as a tried and true, many-times-cooked dish.  And it's fun to think about where they started.  Sundays growing up – roast and gravy and potatoes - don't forget the peas.  I'd love for someone now to cut up a banana and place the slices on a piece of iceberg lettuce, especially on a hot summer's day, just like Mom did.  Meatloaf and baked potatoes?  I cringed when Mom said that's what we were having for dinner, but not anymore.  A "Burt"-sized piece of chocolate cake.  The days following Thanksgiving with turkey smothered in cranberry sauce on a roll sprinkled with salt.

It's fun to think about where some of these most familiar and looked-forward-to foods came from.  

FUDGE

Mom remembers that at the "cousins' parties," if her Aunt Wynona (Grandma Webb's sister-in-law) was there, so was the fudge. 

Wynona, Grandma Cottrell, Mickie, Maida, (the Aunts)
Maida Jean (Mom) (being held), Marilyn, Bobbie, Colleen (cousins)

Great-Aunt Wynona Cottrell

Then, through Mom, we became the recipient of chocolate heaven.  Now, happily for us, Patti is the designated fudge maker.   

Patti's well-used fudge recipe

APPLESAUCE COOKIES

Along with carrot cookies and orange frosting, I remember having applesauce cookies.  So when I got married, I started making applesauce cookies and have never stopped. When the kids came along, I doubled the batch.  I'm now having to force myself to make just a single batch for me and Scott, we don't need over 60 cookies at one time; we want them, but we don't need them.  I wish I knew how many thousands of applesauce cookies I have made over the years...

Mom said she got the recipe from our across-the-street neighbor Donna Meadows.  THANK YOU, DONNA!  When Scott and I moved back into the home on Antimony in 1985, Donna and Lee became good friends, and through all those years of living there, I probably didn't realize that is where the recipe came from to thank her for it.  

APPLESAUCE COOKIES

1/2 c shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup applesauce
3 cups flour
1 t cloves
1 t cinnamon
1-1/2 t baking soda
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
chocolate chips (1/2 package)
Cream shortening and sugar.  Add egg and vanilla.  Sift all dry ingredients.  Add alternately with applesauce. Add chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.  Makes about 30 cookies.

Applesauce Cookies

MANICOTTI

Around 1995, we had a ward Relief Society social.  Cleo Ricks (Karen Travis' mother) brought a manicotti dish and I got her recipe.  I started making it and it has become a favorite of mine and the kids, and now even Addy!  

Karen Travis holding Brock, 1991
(For all of the time we all spent with the Travis' I could find
very few pictures. I loved this one.)

MANICOTTI

1 large carton cottage cheese

8 oz mozzarella, grated

2 eggs

parsley flakes, salt pepper

Mix ingredients.  With narrow spoon, fill uncooked manicotti shells.  Place in 9x13 pan with space between shells.  Mix 1 cup water with 32 oz. jar spaghetti sauce, pour over shells covering completely. Bake, covered tightly with foil, at 375 for 45-60 minutes. 

Do you know where your favorite foods come from?