“In the spring of 1908, Dad was called on a mission to Norway. Mother and five children were left home. In the spring of 1909, Edna was stricken with pneumonia, so the doctors thought. It later was diagnosed as spinal meningitis. One cold wintry night, Mrs. Williams, a neighbor, came over to help mother as Edna was so ill. It was almost midnight when Mrs. Williams said, ‘I am afraid she is gone.’ Mother put her head under the mattress and cried ‘No Dear God, no!’ I had been taught about prayer and about the elders of the Church. So I ran a half a block up the street to Bro. George R. Emery with bare feet and snow up to my knees, and asked if he would come and bless my sister. He put his coat over his long night shirt and carried me home. As he put his hands on Edna’s head and started to pray, I stood by and watched her little white face so still. All of a sudden, little red streaks started up from her mouth and then a gasp. She relaxed into a sleep for the first time in weeks. This was my first testimony and answer to prayer and I knew God heard and answered prayers … Edna was always very precious to me from then on. My interests were always for her.”
(As told by Edna’s sister, Lillian, from The Hansen & Gulbrandsen Family History – Ancestors & Descendants of Edna Violet Gulbrandsen & Harvey Ralph Hansen, compiled by: Jana Greenhalgh, Dona Losee, Ray Hansen, 2014, pg 133. Photo contributed to FamilySearch.org by Jana Greenhalgh) #AncestorClips
Lars Josephson came by train…to Brigham City. There he worked on the railroad…then drifted northward and took up a 160-acre farm at St. John, Idaho…He got a job in Star and Marsh valleys to pay for a yoke of black oxen…Crossing the Bear River, one of the oxen got stuck in quick sand and they were unable to save him, so he had to work some more…He married Anna Isaacson in 1871 in Salt Lake City in the Endowment House. They…had 12 children: 4 girls and 8 boys. He was quite a religious man and [rode] 15 miles to Portage to Priesthood meetings and went to Malad to conferences…They dug an 80-foot well and drew the water up in buckets. He was a shoemaker…and made all the…harnesses they used–also mended shoes for the neighbors. He helped build 2 reservoirs and had good water rights for his farm. His home, barns and sheds were all made of logs which he hauled…by ox team…He had to haul his crops long distances to Corrine to the railroad…very long cold trips of two and three days and they had to sleep by a campfire in all kinds of weather…They always had plenty of flour, cured meats, honey, fruits, and vegetables and large cheeses. He was generous and shared much with his neighbors…[On] December 2, 1902, their home burned to the ground. They saved a few things and the people turned out and helped build a two-roomed log house in a short time with some logs Charles had there. They lived in a tent until the house was finished…He was of normal temperament and seemed to have a good understanding of the gospel. He had a lot of friends, and his family was well behaved. He loved his horses and drove them on a trot and sang as he went.”
“Lillie’s life was not an easy one, but she knew how to find joy in work, in her family, friends, in service to others and many other little things. She loved the beauty around her and worked to keep her garden and flowers a delight to all who came to call. She created beauty with her hands, sewing many quilts as gifts and as a means of support for herself. One year, 1948 she quilted 26 quilts, made three more tops, braided and hooked 10 rungs and tatted four hankies. In July 1956 she got prizes on two of the three hooked rugs at the county fair. Her hands were never idle, and she gave of herself diligently to make life happier for those around her. [She] worked hard through her widowed years to sustain herself. She cared for mothers and their new babies, spending ten long nights and days for $25.00; the size of the family was no problem for her… While spending the last of her mortal life at Edna’s and Elmer’s just three nights before she died, as they knelt to have their family prayer, she said, ‘Let me pray tonight.’ And mind you she was very sick at this time. She said, ‘Dear Father, I am ready to die, and I want you to send my husband to get me…’ ”
In 1848, five-year-old Francis Ann Coon and her siblings tried to cross the Garner pasture, but the bull saw them and charged. They ran for safety. Her sister “Permilia…climbed [a] tree and…[her brother] John handed all the younger children up before he climbed up himself” narrowly escaping the animals wrath.1 The Coon family, in route from Nauvoo to Council Bluffs was selected to go with the first pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley, but then Brigham Young assigned father Abraham Coon to remain a few years in Pottawattamie “to run a mill and help provide for the Saints…”2 The “corn was scarce,” but the “bluffs, glens, and running streams” were “picturesque.”3 Francis observed her father, Bishop Coon,4 a former member of the Nauvoo Legion and guard to Joseph Smith, faithfully help operate the Indian Mill on Big Mosquito Creek and care for families whose men had gone to serve in the Mormon Battalion2 including William Garner, the likely owner of the bull.3 At this young age, Francis experienced the faith of her parents, their determination to be endowed in the temple before leaving Nauvoo,2 and their sealing in Winter Quarters.5 After fulfilling their assignment in Iowa, Francis and her family walked1 most of the way to Salt Lake to carry out their hopes and dreams in Zion. It was in Salt Lake where Francis would meet her future husband.
Dusty Roads – by Brent Greenhalgh (a tribute song to Jacob and Maria)
I have been reading biographies and autobiographies about my wife’s ancestors, 
On the farm young Ferril was taught by his father “to work hard and be a good person.” In addition to farming, football, dancing and music, Ferril was good “with [his] hands and could do construction and other tasks… The principal… once said, ‘I never had a son, but if I had I would like him to be just like you.’” Before graduating, with books in hand he hitchhiked each afternoon to learn about electricity and motors at a vocational school. With good grades in science, Ferril received a scholarship to BYU. He completing his undergraduate work at the University of Utah in his strongest subject, electrical engineering, where he “helped to run a student/faculty lounge, where we would electrocute hot dogs—the best hot dogs you ever tasted—with our electrical gismos.” In 1953 he earned his bachelor of science degree, complimented by the Outstanding Engineering Graduate award from the Institute of Radio Engineering, and received job offers from all seven of the companies with which he interviewed. Ferril chose Hughes Aircraft Company where he, “invented things and headed up the first satellite communications group,” completed his master of science degree at the University of Southern California, and for six years “did other things that were exciting.” At Aeroneutronics he “had an enviable record of getting new business, and that was very good for [him] financially.” After another 6 years, “I was shocked,” when “I received an offer to be the Chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department,” at BYU. He built what “eventually became one of the outstanding electrical engineering schools in the country.” Ferril taught for a couple decades and consulted for government agencies and industries. His specialties were radio, radar, and x-ray. In his retirement, he wrote two successful editions of an engineering textbook, in which he wrote, “there is both a desire and a need to learn about this important subject as completely and as easily as possible.”
“Grandfather always had such lovely flowers. He took 
Then I went in. Grandfather met me first. 
(by Mary Elizabeth Losee Olsen, about her grandparents, Andrew and Anna Maria Peterson
“I was 22 years… old when my first babe was placed in my arms… We arrived at the hospital just before 6 PM… The night was long and the pains were hard. My husband… was kind and attentive. ‘When, oh when would my baby come?’ I was a little frightened. I…pulled [at my husband] when those pains struck me. I had been with my mother when her last two babies were born and… realized a very small percentage of what took place at childbirth. Finally, as the wee hours… crept in, I was taken to the delivery room; nurses and doctors all in white. I was so tired and the pains more severe… I was to breathe deeply the stuff they put into the mask… I remember the roaring noise as I swiftly went down a flume that was taking me on and on, so quickly and so far away. The next thing I knew, I was… in a nice clean bed, a nurse nearby, my husband sitting near me. It was almost 7:30 AM of May 17, 1924. ‘Is my baby all right?’ Junior was born at 6:00 AM, a beautiful baby, 6 pounds, 2 oz.… [The nurse] laid that little gift from heaven in my arms, and his tiny little fingers were touched by mine. Oh, what a beautiful baby, and he is all mine. I am a mother, and my husband is the father. [Soon] we went to town and bought a Pullman baby carriage, the nicest one in Ogden city. It was a beauty. I had the most beautiful baby boy, and I was indeed proud of him. I sewed his clothes; thanksgiving was in every stitch. I made him two-piece suits and always a cute bow tie and cap. As he got to walking age, his hair was blond and very curly. Everyone stopped to admire him. He was a good baby.”
“Walter and Ben, were brought home shot in the legs,” the wagon jolt having discharged a gun. Ben lost his leg but Walter recovered. Their mother, Ruth Keep Griffin was acquainted with difficulty but met life with courage and a smile, likely influenced as a child by the faith of her family. “One night while grandmother Keep was in bed, her oldest daughter, Mary, came to her bedside and asked what she could get for supper as there was nothing in the house to eat. Grandmother answered, ‘Set the table, child, and the Lord will provide.” Just then there came a knock at the door. When Mary opened it, an old gentleman friend of Grandfather Keep’s came into the room. When he learned the condition of want they were in, he put his hand into his pocket and handed Aunt Mary money to get them all something to eat.” Ruth came from England to America at age 11. She worked, and developed skills. She met and married the faithful and hardworking John Griffin. Starting in a dirt floor log house they pieced together furniture as they build their family having eventually 13 children. She lost her hearing, but not her smile. She was the family gardener. “Flowers couldn’t help but grow for her with the care she gave them.” She sang, she danced, she joked, she knitted. They were a united family, in sorrow and joy. She was a radiant flower of Newton, Utah till she died at the age of 77.
AncestorClips 