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George Edward Carrigan, my father was born at Peterson, Morgan County, Utah, December 15, 1878, a son of James and Lois Bent Carrigan. He was the youngest of a family of eight children; Mary Jane, Elizabeth (died when an infant), James William (Uncle Jim), Agnes Ann, Eunice, Albert Bent (Uncle Ab), Irvin (Uncle Irv), and George Edward. Grandpa was 67 years old when Dad was born.

Most of Dad's early life was spent in Peterson. His father was one of six men to settle in Weber Valley, which is what Peterson was called until the railroad came through and changed the name to Peterson, the name of the first man who settled there.

Grandpa Carrigan was a minister in the Church of England when he was converted to the Mormon Church. His early training had been of an intellectual and religious nature and this new life was extremely hard for him. His children, and especially Grandma, had to work very hard and had to endure many hardships. Dad told me that Grandma would stay up late on Christmas Eve and make cookies in different shapes to put in their stockings. This was all they would receive for Christmas and they were very happy with them.

When Dad was 15 years old he went to Evanston, Wyoming, to live as did Grandma, Aunt Agnes and Uncle Irv. Grandma and Aunt Agnes operated a restaurant and Dad herded all the cows of the community taking them in the morning and returning them in the evening. Later he helped in the bar and luncheon counter. Their purpose for going to Evanston was to get money to buy wagons and other needed equipment for the farm and they sent home as much money as they could for this purpose. Uncle Jim and Uncle Ab stayed with Grandpa and ran the farm. Aunt Mary and Aunt Eunice were married and living in Ogden, Utah. They stayed in Evanston about two years and returned to Peterson after Grandpa fell and hurt his hip. Grandpa died about 18 months later at the age of 85.

Most of Dad's formal education was at Peterson where he demonstrated his Irish temper by throwing his teacher (male), out the window. Another time he threw a book at his teacher and hit him in the eye. Because the teacher had only one eye (which Dad hit), they had to close school until it healed. In later years he stayed in Ogden with his sister Mary and attended Weber Academy for about Two years. Grandma had him come home when she was told that Dad was more interested in having a good time than in receiving an education.

His early employment was mostly seasonal jobs. He worked on a construction job in Green River, on a canal construction in North Ogden and on railroad construction. He told me he received $3.00 a week on the railroad. He worked on a ranch on Antelope Island and Mother worked there at the same time for her aunt. Dad enjoyed teasing the buffalo and getting them angry, then he would dash to his buggy and go as fast as his horses would take him. Others who lived there were ready to run him out of the country because this frightened them as well as their horses.

Dad married Ida Laura Rawle of Morgan, Utah, in the Salt Lake Temple, January 18, 1901 They drove to Salt Lake in a cutter (a one-horse sleigh) to be married. Through the years the following children were born to them; Lois, Lucile, Lola, Verna, James and George (twins) (George lived only one half hour), Agnes, Margaret, Leslie, Thomas (Tom), Rawle George (who died when one year old), Grant, a still born daughter and Phyllis. Daughters Verna, Agnes and Phillis who were married and had families, preceded Dad in death as did Mother.

Dad was proud of his family and our accomplishments and would do almost anything to help any one of us, and did so many times. When we were young we would run to meet him when he returned from work and regardless of how tired he was, he would have a child sitting on each foot and he would carry the youngest and still manage to get into the house with all this load.

While he appeared otherwise, he was very tender hearted and when we wanted something we weren't sure we would get, we would have Lucile go to Dad and ask for it because she would start to cry and Dad was a pushover.

He had 29 grand children who affectionately called him Pa. He was very punctual and was never late for anything. People knew that if Dad wasn't there early, he wouldn't be there.

Dad always had a vegetable garden, whenever we lived where it was possible, which not only yielded a bounteous harvest but was a work of art. Every row was straight and you would never see a weed in it. All of this he did after he had finished a day of hard work. He didn't want us to help because he thought we wouldn't do a good job.

Dad worked for Pugmire Livery Barn in Morgan, which was later purchased by Uncle Jim and Uncle Irv and was operated by Dad and Uncle Jim. It was during this time that they purchased the first automobile that was owned by a resident of Morgan County. It was purchased for use in the business and was responsible for Dad's introduction to auto mechanics. This car gave him nothing but trouble. He would take people on picnics in it for 50 cents per person. He also took traveling salesmen (Drummers) to Croyden, Devil's Slide, Henefer, Coalville, Echo, Park City, and Heber.

Dad had a natural mechanical ability, which was good in this case but later it proved to be bad for us. Many times when Dad was going to take us somewhere, one of the men of the community would bring his car for Dad to fix and he would work on it all day Sunday, free of charge, while we stayed home and fumed.

When the livery business was sold, we moved to Peterson, living "Over the Peak" which was the name of the large ranch owned by Uncle Jim and Uncle Irv. Dad worked on the ranch as well as on road construction, while we lived there. We children were unhappy about moving away from our friends and Dad tried to paint a rosy picture of what life would be like there, promising to build us a playground. He did make a teeter totter,a swing and a miniature merry go round (using an old wagon wheel) but we still missed our friends. We had to carry all of the water we used from a spring and for such a large family it took a considerable amount for drinking, cooking, bathing, and for the family wash. The spring was down a hill from the house and I'm sure it wouldn't seem nearly as far nor as steep to us today as it did to us then.

We had a form of Family Home Evening almost every night. On winter evenings we would play card games, such as Old Maid, Donkey or Rook. On summer evenings Dad would play ball with us or we would sit on the porch and sing. Mother taught us to sing harmony and Dad would harmonize with us. I remember when Lois, Lucile, Dad and I sang together at a Home coming program at Mountain Green. Dad also played the harmonica very well. While we lived "Over the Peak" we shared many fun times as well as some harrowing experiences with Uncle Irv's family.

We returned to Morgan and Dad worked for the Union Portland Cement Company at Devil's Slide and later he worked for the Morgan Canning Company but then Grandma asked him to come and run her farm so back to Peterson we went.

He was very thoughtful of his mother and when we lived in Uncle Ab's house, he strung a wire from Grandma's home to our house and installed a telephone at each place. Grandma lived alone and when she wanted anything she could turn a crank at the side of the telephone and it would ring our telephone. There was no telephone service in the town at that time.

In addition to running Grandma's farm, Dad worked for the State Road Commission operating a road grader with his own horses. He also drove the school wagon, pulled by his horses. He loved horses and have them the best of care, regardless of how tired he was. Mother was glad he was considerate of his horses because it was the only reason he would stop working.

He was very fond of dogs and owned one most of his adult life, some were of a very special breed. His attachment for horses and dogs was very different from his feeling for cows, he thoroughly disliked them. Perhaps his experience as a boy in Evanston might have been the reason.

Dad was always interested in sports and was an active participant in Rugby (a more rugged from of football), baseball and basketball. We older children saw him play baseball and basketball and were his best boosters. He played basketball in the Peterson Ward House which was also used for dances as well as church meetings. It was in a game there that Dad's eye was injured when a player's finger was pushed into it. This permanently damaged his eye, making one pupil much larger than the other. In later years, when he wasn't an active player he managed a baseball team in Morgan, Utah. When Dad's sons became active in sports both he and Mother were there to support them. He enjoyed hunting and fishing and participated in both as long as he was able. He and Mother continued their interest in sports listening to all the baseball games of the Salt Lake Bees on radio and later they watched wrestling matches and the BYU basketball games on TV.

After running Grandma's farm for a number of years, we moved back to Morgan and shortly after Dad started to work for the Utah Power and Light Company. He worked with the repair gang of the Power Department and worked out of the Salt Lake Exchange. After working there for two years he was transferred to Bingham Canyon as a Patrolman. He worked there for seventeen years when the company discontinued having Patrolmen and he went back to the repair gang. He traveled through the state of Utah and some of Idaho. At times they would be gone for three weeds. Dad was a hard worker and for him to quit working because he was tired was unthinkable. He would quit only when the job was completed. Many times when he worked for the Utah Power & Light Company, he was sent to do a particular job because his boss knew it would be done perfectly. He was not one to be out done, even by younger men, he would work faster and do much more than the younger men. He climber those heavy steel towers and worked for hours in hot weather and in bitter blizzards in the winter, until his retirement. He retired after he was seventy years of age after falling off a switch rack when he had a sun stroke.

Years before his retirement he bought a home in Union, Salt Lake County, Utah. Here he had a peach orchard, chickens and a beautiful vegetable garden. Taking care of all of this had to be done in the evenings and it became too much of a burden for both Dad and Mother so they sold it and built a home in Midvale, Salt Lake County, Utah, where he lived the rest of his life.

He never lost his strong desire to work and when he couldn't walk without crutches because of a bad arthritic leg, he would sit on a box and chop weeds with a short handled hoe, even though he knew it would make his leg more painful.

He died August 1st, 1967 at the age of 88 years and was buried in the Memorial Gardens of the Valley, Salt Lake County, Utah.

Written by Lola Carrigan Johanson