FOUNDATIONS
From A History of John
Burt Jr. 1853-1926 by Margaret Hazel Burt Tensmeyer and Carolyn Tensmeyer
Andersen.
Though he was engaged in building railroad,
when Father (John Burt Jr.) could be in Salt Lake City, he courted a lovely
young lady with hazel or dark grey eyes and golden hair. They married on 6 Nov 1879. Father took his bride to live in a new home
he had built for her of adobe, next door to his father’s home on 3rd
West Street.
When the BURT and CONDIE
Construction Company contracted railroad building up the Spanish Fork Canyon
during 1884 and 1885, Father moved his family to Spanish Fork Town so that they
would be near his work. A small home was
rented from Alfred Reese, who was the father-in-law of Adam Burt, father’s
younger brother. After returning to Salt
Lake for a brief time, Father disposed of his property in Salt Lake City and
moved his family permanently to a small two room house in the Palmyra District
in Utah County. The house was situated
on a knoll, as was the small shed for horses.
The house was situated on a knoll, as was the small shed for
horses. The place had a tree or two, was
not fenced and there were a few patches of alfalfa. This needed much care, cultivation and water
to yield a small crop. The property in
general was quite undeveloped and a great deal of clearing the land of
grease-woods, saleratus and saltgrass had to be done. It was rather low and ponds of water in the
northern part had to be drained. It had
a good water-right for irrigation but it meant hard work and patience before it
eventually yielded good crops. Deep
ditches were dug to carry away the alkali and salt water that formed when it
rained or was irrigated. Renewing the
old irrigation ditches and making new ones to take care of the cleared off land
kept the men folks busy. It seemed the
water turn came frequently and must be used to the best advantage. It was a never ending job of grubbing and
stacking of the pitch-filled brush. When
a large stack was dry enough, it was used in the stoves for firewood. It gave a great deal of heat so sometimes we
roasted corn and potatoes on a stack for a treat.
Not far from the house was a clay
bed and as Father knew the art of molding this substance into blocks, he made
molds for blocks. With these blocks he
made a large room some 16 by 10 feet in size.
It was cool in summer and warm in the winter and made a lovely addition
to the house. A milk house was also
built of adobe where the water ran through the wall into a trough and out the
other end. This was used as a
refrigerator for milk, butter, eggs, meat and fresh fruit.
The home was five miles from the
town of Spanish Fork where supplies were bought and the mailed picked up. We were some distance from any neighbors and
almost two miles from the Little Red School house where we went to school.
In 1903 the original two rooms were
torn down and the house from my mother’s brother’s property was moved to give
us three large bedrooms. This gave us
ample room and many improvements were made to make it even more
comfortable. A defective flue caused a
fire that destroyed the home and most of its contents in the spring of 1908. This was such a tragedy to witness – our lovely
home and precious belongings went up in flames.
Even the trees were blackened and barren from the heat. A strong wind from the north fanned the
flames and when we returned at night only the walls of the adobe room were
standing, bleak and cold. The remainder
of the home was an ash heap.
Mother, Samuel and myself and the
two little girls were eating our lunch on that beautiful spring day in
April. The door to the kitchen was open
and we smelled smoke. The door to the
front room was opened to investigate and the draft fanned the embers into
flames. In seconds the roof was on
fire. Our neighbors saw the fire and
came to help but it was too late.
A fund was raised by our friends to
help replace the house. Workmen swarmed
all over the place to clear away the debris and start the new building. By fall, it was ready to move into. The new home did not have the room we had
before and part was not finished but we were grateful to be back home
again. It took several years to replace
clothing, bedding, dishes, pans and furniture.
This was the prompt from Amy Johnson Crow the first week in
2022. I have been putting off doing this
blogpost since that time. I knew that I
wanted to do something about the construction company and John Burt Jr. but
just never took the time. As I read from
the history, I had forgotten about the house fire. I then thought that I needed to add current content
to the blogpost to pull two stories together.
On Friday, January 14, 2022, I was at my son’s home in Utah County
visiting for a few days. I received a
phone call from my brother-in-law stating that he couldn’t get a hold of my
husband. He told me that he was on his
way home from work because he got a call that his house had burned down (in
Kearns, Utah). I told him I was on my
way and would see him there. I rushed
there and this is what I found:
It was a total loss.
And it was heartbreaking. My
father-in-law had been living there with him at the time so they are both
homeless. They will rebuild on the
foundation that is there. Because of the
over-priced and short-on-inventory housing market in the valley, four weeks
later it continues to be difficult to find temporary housing. It would be nice if this could be repeated
from 1908: A fund was raised by our friends to help replace the house. Workmen swarmed all over the place to clear
away the debris and start the new building.
By fall, it was ready to move into.
For all of our technology and advancements, community, family and
friends remain the most important foundation in our lives.
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