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LIFE STORY OF LOIS RAWLE CARRIGAN BARLOW

I was born 10 November 1901 in a large white two-story house in Peterson, Morgan County, Utah to George Edward Carrigan, son of James Rawle and Margaret Mary Simmons. Mother said I had real black hair and an olive complexion. The doctor said I was the prettiest baby he had ever delivered. I guess he hadn't delivered many. Maybe I was the first. Well, that all changed as I grew older. My hair turned real light blond and no olive complexion. Dad had black curly hair. All of his children had different shades of blond and not any with as curly hair as his. Tom has wavy hair and I don't have to have permanents. I had six brothers and six sisters. Two of the brothers were twins. I was named for my grandmother Lois Bent Carrigan. My father's family said there was only one child, the one youngest in the family and me, one of the many grandchildren and the second to bear her name. I didn't appreciate this honor as I grew older because I was the only one she would have help her with her Saturday's cleaning. The first four children in our family were girls. I was the oldest. The second child Lucile was born 8 December 1902 at Morgan, Utah. She was just thirteen months younger than I. Lola, the third child, was born 31 March 1904 at Morgan. She was sixteen months younger than Lucile. Verna, the fourth child, was born 16 November 1905 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was one year and six months younger than Lola. We had many playmates without going away from home to find them. In fact, children would come to our home to play. Mother was going to name her children with names beginning with the letter "L." She named the first three Lois, Lucile, and Lola. She couldn't find any more she liked so she named the next child Verna. James and George were the twins born 31 July 1907 at Morgan. George lived but a few minutes after birth. Agnes came next. She was named after Dad's sister Agnes Ann. She was born 14 September 1909 at Morgan. Then there was Margaret, born 6 Mar 1911, named for our grandmother Margaret Rawle. Leslie, the name planned for a boy when using the letter L was born 8 December 1912 on Lucile's birthday anniversary. Thomas (Tom) was named after a well-liked brother-in-law of Dad. The husband of his sister, Mary Jane Rackham. He was born 15 October 1914. Another boy was born 29 March 1916. Mother wanted a son named after Dad. The child named George Rawle died so she named this child Rawle George. He died also as a baby. Grant was born 20 October 1917 and Phyllis 18 September 1919. The second name of all the children was Rawle (my mothers maiden name) except Rawle George. That always helps when working in genealogy. There has to be a relationship.

Most of my childhood was spent in Peterson and Morgan. I stayed with Grandma Carrigan when Uncle Jim was away, to keep her company. I guess I was about five years old. Grandma lived in Peterson and our family lived in Morgan. I remember being so homesick I would lie in bed at night and hear the frogs croaking in the pond at the back of the house. The window in the room faced the pond. To this day croaking frogs make me feel so sad and lonely. I didn't want to leave her alone "she wouldn't have anyone to gather the eggs." Grandma was a widow. She was 26 years younger than her husband. Grandpa was 65 years old when dad was born so he couldn't remember very much about him. Grandma had a neighbor who had to carry water from a spring back of Grandma's house. He always carried a fresh bucket of water for her too. She would have him sit down and have tea and cookies with her. She was from England so that was the thing to do. His name was Eric Peterson. I don't think he ever did get married. There was a lady who came for tea quite often, Mrs. Horsefield. She was Danish and had been married several times. I used to play with her daughter Lenora. When Dad worked at the Carrigan Livery Stable in Morgan, we lived just a couple of blocks away. We played with Adeline and Camille, our cousins, children of mother's sister Margaret (Aunt Maggie). Dad kept the car in the stable back of the house. One day while Mother was on her way to Aunt Maggies about a mile away, Agnes got under the car and drank some gasoline that had dripped into a can put there to catch the drippings. She rolled out from under the car; her eyes rolled back and it was white all around her mouth. We all ran out in the street yelling and screaming. There was a blacksmith's shop next door. They came running over and called a doctor. By the time Mother got home they had her stomach pumped and everything in order. We were a bunch of frightened kids.

I started school at south Morgan so we had quite a distance to walk as we lived in north Morgan. I remember one morning on our way to school we met some boys and girls from the higher grades coming in our direction. They told us there wasn't any school that day. They were on their way to see a display being shown on some cars at the railroad station. We didn't know until the next day that they were playing hooke. We were all called into the principal's office. We were just kids in the lower grades so we got off easy. I think we learned our lesson anyway--we were so frightened. The Carrigans sold the livery stable and Dad moved our family to Peterson. We lived on a dry farm that was called "Over the Peak." There was a hill that came to a peak just before you came to the farm and that is how the name originated. After living in Morgan with many families around us, I was very lonesome. I told Mother I was lonesome and she said she could give me some work to do so I would forget. I said I was lonesome all the time I was working. She had a difficult time keeping a sober face because she was homesick too. There was another family living there, Uncle Irven and Aunt Cynthia. Two of their children were about our age, Pauline and Bill. We spent hours picking choke cherries, and wild currants. We would take our luncheon and spend hours out on the hills. Sometimes we would have a fire in the sheep camp wagon and cut up vegetables and make stew (no meat). I remember mother had some currant jelly that went to sugar. We took it in the sheep camp and made candy. We had sticky hands and faces and were full of candy that had to be eaten with a spoon--yuk.

Dad always had a beautiful garden. We earned some spending money by selling fresh vegetables from Dad's garden to people in the settlement of Peterson. We could have all the eggs we found to take to the store for a treat. The chickens ran wild all over the place so at times I'll bet the eggs were not too fresh. They maybe got a little chicken as a bonus. I always found the most nests. I told my sisters it was because the ring I wore was magic. Of course, I wouldn't let them wear it, but they were satisfied just to touch it. We also weeded the grain fields for Uncle Jim (father's oldest brother). He would water the grain and make the soil soft. Then we would go through the field in our bare feet and pull all the mustard seeds. We got paid so much for the field. When my father got home from a hard days work at night he would encourage us by helping us finish the job. We bought us each a dress, a sailors suit. Mine was blue with a big velvet collar. Lucile, Lola and I sang for all the programs for Church, Sunday School, funerals and farewells for our soldiers of World War I, although we were just children in the elementary school. We were known as the singing family. Much of our leisure time was spent singing in the evening together.

We had to walk miles to school, rain or shine. Sometimes we would land in school looking like drowned rats. When the snow was deep and drifted, my father would take us in the covered sheep camp wagon. The roads were always slippery and dangerous. I remember the snow fell and was drifting all night. The next morning Dad was taking us to school in the sheep camp wagon that had been placed on bobsled runners. The snow had drifted so high you couldn't tell where the road was. Everything went well until we made a turn down the steep hill. There was a high ridge on one side and a steep embankment on the other leading down to the Weber River below. As we made the turn one of the horses slipped over the bank with the side of the sleigh headed in that direction. All the kids wanted to get out but Dad had them stay inside and hang on to the opposite side of the sleigh while he hung on to the outside. He told me to get out and lead the other horse. I wanted my cousin Bill to do it because he knew more about horses than I. But Dad said, "no" so I lead the horse. It was a tense moment. I knew that if the sleigh should slide, the wagon, both horses, Dad and all the kids would go rolling down into the Weber River along with a stove filled with hot coals. I started to lead the horse as close to the far side of the road as I could. He pulled and tugged and pulled and then it happened. The other horse got back on his feet, the sleigh straightened up and Dad was ready to go again, just as if nothing had happened. I am not like my Dad in that respect. I don't know how I got through that frightening experience without a nervous breakdown. I'll never forget it. I still shake thinking of it. When the weather was good we walked to school, taking a shortcut over a steep hill and through green pastures. It was a long walk, about three miles, especially for children in elementary school. It was easy going down the hill but to climb up the hill on our way home was something else. We would race up the hill to see who could make the top first. Then we would call back, "Don't you wish you were as far as I am?" Cousin Bill was my greatest competition. He didn't like to lose either.

We moved back to Morgan and lived in a two-story brick house belonging to Uncle Jack Hopkin. We were still going to elementary school at the time. The school and the church were close so we didn't have to walk very far. We were thrilled about that. We continued to sing in the evenings on the back steps. We didn't realize that the neighbors could hear us, we had no neighbors to contend with over the Peak. They let us know that they enjoyed our singing very much. Even today when we meet one of the sons of the family he always mentions how they enjoyed our singing. All of my brothers and sisters had the mumps while we lived there. I was the only one that didn't get them. Agnes was a plump little girl. Mother thought she had the mumps so she kept her inside. After the end of two weeks she came down with the mumps and had to stay inside for two more weeks.

I remember the Christmas we spent there. We called Santa Claus on the phone to tell him what we would like for Christmas. Then we would say, "my sister or my brother would like to talk to you." This went on until everyone had a turn talking to him. Grandpa Rawle was Santa Claus to everyone who called the North Pole and he made a good one. Early Christmas morning we would yell from our bedrooms upstairs to Mother and Dad downstairs, "Can we get up now?" The answer was always, "Lie down and go to sleep. It isn't time to get up." We would wait about five minutes more and then we would have someone else yell to them. We would all take turns yelling. Lucile was the best one to call. She would start to cry and that did the trick. We always used her as a last resort and it nearly always worked.

Uncle Ab was taking care of Grandma's farm. He wanted to go to Kaysville to work so Grandma wanted Dad to run the farm, that meant back to Peterson for us. We moved into Uncle Abs house in Peterson. It was better than over the Peak at that. We lived in a settlement and had neighbors around us. We rode to school in the school wagon--a wagon in the good weather and a wagon on bobsled runners in the winter. Dad was the driver. This was a little settlement so we had to create our own amusements. In the winter we played cards, rook, old maid, and donkey. Mother and Dad would play with us. Sometimes young adults, much older than we, would stop and join us. There wasn't anything for them to do either. We had an ideal place to go coasting. We would go down one hill and about three-fourths of a way up another so there wasn't much climbing to do. In the summer we would have all the kids in the neighborhood playing hide-and-seek, steal the sticks, run sheepy run and other outside games. I had to go to Grandma Carrigan's to help her wash and also help with her Sunday cleaning. She had to have help because she had injured her back while attending a Stake Conference in Morgan. She fell on the ice and threw her hip out of place. She limped and had to use a cane the rest of her life. That would have been taken care of today but then they could do nothing. This happened before my time. I didn't know her any other way but lame.

I taught Sunday School here when I was about twelve years old, the younger group. There was no one older that could take the class. I had to miss the lessons in my class in order to teach them. Sunday School was held in one room and they drew drapes to make classrooms. Dances were held, and basketball was also played in this room. Dad cleaned the building and we helped with the dusting and other small jobs. When they had dances Dad would sometimes let us sit and watch. It was fun to watch them bob up and down as they waltzed around. Joe Rawle, my uncle just two weeks older than me, came to our house by train to celebrate my birthday. He took me to the church house while Dad was doing the cleaning so the guests could get into the house without my knowing that they had planned a surprise party. Joe found a beehive and was so excited he ran into the house to show mother. He ran into the house and they yelled surprise and he really was. I came in after the surprise was over. He was really embarrassed.

I remember one morning Dad said if we milked the cows we could have all the money from the cream we sold. We had never milked a cow before. Time went by and Dad couldn't figure out why we were so long. When he came to the corral we were just milking our first cow, two on each side. He said that was the only cow there that would put up with such a thing. Any of the others would have kicked us to kingdom-come. Verna was the only one foolish enough to learn to milk a cow. Grandma Carrigan died while we were living there. She was staying with Aunt Mary Rackham in Ogden, Utah. She was buried in the Peterson cemetery. We all had the measles while we lived there. I lost my voice for a while and Verna's eye sight was affected. It was at this time that Rawle George died. We were all confined to bed at the same time except Agnes. She was the one who brought it home. When we asked for something she would hide under the table. I guess we did keep her busy. I went to Morgan my first year in High School and stayed with Aunt Ella and Uncle George Neutaboom. They lived in an apartment with a telephone office on one side. Uncle George was a supervisor for the telephone company and Aunt Ella was an operator. Aunt Edna, a sister to Aunt Ella and to mother, was a night operator. A couch was pulled up to the operators switchboard at night and a loud buzz sounded when a signal came in. I slept with her. I remember one night a most terrible thing happened. Some students were practicing for a school operetta. On the way home the car they were riding in hit a railing on the bridge and rolled over into a swift deep canal. They had spotlights up and down the canal but only three were saved. Two sisters were with the missing. We didn't get much sleep that night. I was taught how to work at an operators desk so I could relive them for a few hours in the evening. I began by just answering the local calls and called Uncle George when the Ogden operator called in. All long distance calls went through the Ogden operator. One day the Ogden signal came in and I yelled for Uncle George. He was no where around and I had to answer. The first long distance call I sent through Ogden, I guess I gave quite fast. She said, "Morgan, I'm not taking this in shorthand."

The following year an epidemic of flue hit the country. People died like flies. Uncle George and Aunt Ella both died. Uncle George one night and Aunt Ella the next morning. They left a little boy three years old for Grandma Rawle to raise. We moved back to Morgan the following year. The older children went to Morgan High and the younger to elementary school. Both buildings were close--about a ten minute walk. When I was in my junior year of high school the school was closed because of a measle epidemic. Dad wouldn't let us get vaccinated because of a bad experience one of his nephews had. We went to the town called Devilslide to help Aunt Sarah in a hotel she ran for the Red Devil's cement company. While we were there we were vaccinated along with the rest of the occupants of the hotel. Mine didn't take. I got an extra big dose later on and boy was I sick. We didn't go back to school when it opened that year. I guess I should explain where this company town got its name--Devilslide. To the south and across the river from the town two rims of protruding limestone out-cropping, with a lower soil center between them, plunged down the ridge of a steep hill side giving the appearance of a giant slippery slide. It was known as the Devilslide. Thus giving the small cement company town its name.

We really had a fun time while we were helping Aunt Sarah. Nearly all the boarders were young fellows working at the cement plant. They would have a list of fellows on KP hanging in the lobby. Each night they would come to the kitchen and help with the dishes. Then the rest of the evening we would spend together as a group. One night two of the fellows were fooling around. One had a big butcher knife and the other was using the dish pan for a shield. The one with the knife stuck it through the dish pan making a big hole. Lucky for us the fellow was Frank Hopkin, Aunt Sarah's nephew. One afternoon we got into a water fight that spread all over town. All the company houses had water hoses in front and as you ran along the sidewalk you would be followed by someone who would turn the hose on at each house. You just couldn't get away. We went to dances in Coalville and Hennifer. The fellows we went with played in the Red Devil Band. They played mostly in their home town so we were free to dance with anyone we pleased. There were movies shown there twice or three times a week. When the noon meal was over we would have dinner together--Aunt Sarah, Jay, Lucile, Lola and myself. At the end of the meal Aunt Sarah would have each of us eat a soda cracker and whistle. The last one would have to buy the ice cream. We would get her laughing and she would always have to buy the ice cream. She was such a giggler anyway. Sometimes Uncle Jack would have me come to his office and work on his books while Lucile and Lola did the dishes. This didn't go over very well with them. A sad thing happened while we were there. Ellis, Aunt Sarah's oldest son, died of a telescope bowel. We took care of the cooking and cleaning while Aunt Sarah was at the hospital. At the opening of school next year we were given a test on English, a required subject and was given our credit. I graduated from Morgan High with the honor of being valedictorian of our class. I was also president of my class my senior year. I got a job in the summer at the Morgan Canning Company canning peas. Everyone worked there to get money for school clothes. I got to work before I really should have because dad knew the man who owned it. (James Anderson.) I also got a job that only a few girls could get at the pea filler because there were only about 5 fillers. I guess I worked there about 3 summers. Later Lucile and Lola worked there too. The following year I attended the Smithsonian Business College in Ogden. I stayed with Aunt Mary and Aunt Agnes. My cousins Jay Hopkin, Bill and Pauline Carrigan stayed there too. Jay went to Weber High and Pauline and Bill to the Ogden High. When I returned home I got a position as a bookkeeper at J. Williams and Sons store in Morgan. I took a stenographic course with a little bookkeeping that was suggested. I ended up as a bookkeeper and never used my typing or shorthand. Lola worked for Morgan Power and Light Company. Her office was just a few doors down from where I worked. We went swimming about twice a week at Como Springs, then to a dance there every weekend.

While we were working there our family moved to Bingham Canyon, Utah. My father got a position as patrolman for the Utah Power and Light Company. Lola and I stayed in Morgan with Grandma Rawle. We soon followed the family to Bingham. We didn't think we would stay there very long because to us it seemed like a dirty, run-down town, a typical mining camp. After getting acquainted however there was something fascinating about the place. We had some wonderful times there, sleigh riding and dancing in the Royal Confectionery (the gangs meeting place) and then dancing at the Canyon Hall on every weekend. We all met our future husbands in Bingham Canyon but they were from different parts of the state working at the mine. Vinal was on a surveying crew. I met him at a dance. He was from Clearfield, Utah. I saw him several times after that. Dee takes the credit of getting us together because he would talk me into going with Vinal and would keep bringing him to our home when Dee came to see Lola.

I worked at the Bingham Merc. Lola worked at the Post Office. Lucile taught school and Verna was a telephone operator. As my brothers became of a working age they went to work at the mine. At that time it was called the Utah Copper Company. Later Kennecott Copper Company. James was a mechanic in the shops, Leslie, a level foreman, Tom a mechanical foreman over the heavy equipment and Grant an electrician. These positions were acquired over long years of good service. Soon after we came to Bingham they had a big fire. The streets were so narrow and the buildings so close that it was difficult to keep the fire from taking the whole town. It started in a garage which burned to the ground. The doctors office and the hospital were also burned. A wall that two men stood on while fighting the fire collapsed and they fell into the fire and burned to death.

The winter of 1926 another disaster hit the mining town. A snow slide came down the mountainside at Highlandboy burying alive many people, 30 or more and injuring others. I remember we were getting all the quilts, and sheets and blankets and things that could be used from the store where I worked. It was experiences like these that brought the people of Bingham so close together, one big family.

Vinal went to Walker Mine to work. It was located about 25 miles northwest of Portola, California. He had me write a promissory note on the back of his checkbook as follows: "I promise after a certain number of months to marry V.S. Barlow and move to Walker Mine." I didn't fill my part of the contract so he sent a telegram and asked me to come down. I wrote back and said I couldn't. When he learned that I had some bills that I had to pay first he came back and paid the bills and we were married 10 April 1926 at Ogden, Utah. He was a civil engineer at the mine so we made our first home there. I got so homesick, there were no young girls there, many young fellows and couples with families but no one for me to associate with. The L.D.S. Church was miles and miles away and there were no members at the mine. We did go once to Portola to a dance. We were chaperons for a young couple. The girl was about 14 years old. Her mother was dead and her father was trying to raise her and a young brother alone.

I finally came back to Bingham. Vinal stayed a few months longer and then followed me back. Our first child, Jaqueline (Jackie) was born 2 April 1927 at Bingham Canyon, Utah at the home of my parents. She was the first grandchild and received a lot of attention. Each of my brothers and sisters would teach her a poem, a story, or song and when anyone would come in they would have her perform for them. She got so she wouldn't do anything unless she had a big audience. She would say, "Come on Pa, come on Ma," She couldn't say Grandma or Grandpa so she called them Ma and Pa and the rest of the grandchildren did the same. At the age of 8 months she could say "tanksdibby day." She would talk long before she could walk. She did so well everyone wanted me to take her and have her appear on a radio program. To get her to sleep we would put her in her crib, hold her hand and tell her a story. When she was a little older she began to have a high temperature and take convulsions. We took the temperature down by putting her in a tub of tepid water. The doctor had her put in the Holy Cross, a Catholic hospital. Sometimes when we visited her, there sat the father of the Catholic Church, sitting by her holding her hand. She must have asked him to. They found out that she had pyelitis caused by a stricture between the kidney and the bladder. We didn't have a phone so when Jackie started taking a convulsion I would give her to Vinal and run for Mother and Dad. They lived quite close. They had an outside door to their bedroom and I would go there and say, "Jackie is taking convulsions again." Dad would slip on his high laced boots and away he would run with his shoe laces dangling down the side. I would come second and Mother the tail end. Looking back at it now I guess it was a funny sight. I didn't think we would raise her to adulthood. She was under a doctors care most of the time. The feeling came to me that this was the Lords way of getting us to go to the Temple and have her sealed to us. This we did through the interest and help of Vinals' Mother, Sarah Luella Stoker Barlow on 28 January 1932. Jackie was catheterized once and the doctor said if she wasn't having any trouble not to have it done again. There was always the chance of infection.

Not many years after, Jackie's trouble cleared up and although the doctor thought she might have a recurrence during adolescence or childbirth, she never did. For this we are very grateful. We spent much of our time at Mother and Dad's home. There was always something going on there. In the evening we played pollyanna and a checker tournament was also going on. Many times Dad would take Jackie and me along with him when he was patrolling the lines in a car. Mother always had bread to bake and other good reasons for not going. Nothing stopped me. I would just leave everything and go.

One time the car got stuck in the mud. Dad tried every way to get it going. After we had been there for some time Jackie said, "Come on Pa, let's go. We've been here long enough." He finally got a farmer with a horse to pull us out. Lola and I would go shopping in Salt Lake together many times and when anyone asked when we would be back Dad would say, "Not until all the stores are closed." In 1929 we moved to a new home in Copperton and this is where our second daughter Margene was born on 18 February 1933. We enjoyed her very much because she was a healthy child and we didn't have that constant worry. Verna lived just back of us and Dixie was just two weeks older than Margene. We had an opening in the back fence so we would go back and forth. We couldn't buy baby food like we can now. We had to cook food, meat and vegetables and strain them. Verna would cook some one time and I would the next.

While living in Copperton I worked in the Church as a Beekeeper for the Young Ladies Mutual for five years, chorister for the Relief Society, first counselor in the Sunday School for a number of years and the Superintendent of Sunday School. The men had to work at the mine on Sundays and there was no qualified man available for this position. This was quite an honor because this work was for the priesthood only. I know of no other ward having a woman as the superintendent. During the depression years we moved to Vernal, Utah. The mine was working only part-time. Vinal got a job as civil engineer for the Ashly National Forest. When the weather was good he would come home about every weekend. When the snow was deep they didn't keep the roads open and Vinal would have to go through Coalville and Evanston and make a circle back to Vernal so he didn't get home as often. He would call on the phone every night unless the wires were down. Jackie and Margene both had bronchial pneumonia while I was there alone. I had to hire a lady to come at night and I would take care of them during the day.

We came back to Clearfield in 1936 and stayed with Vinal's Mother and Father while he had a tonsillectomy. Then we went back to Bingham and lived in an apartment over a grocery store. We made quite a few moves until we found a home in Copperton again. We also made a few moves in Copperton. When Vinal got his promotion he had to live in homes that were assigned for the job. We lived in a beautiful white stucco home. The gardeners kept up the yard, the flowers and the furnace. The house was cleaned every year, washed and painted, the floors cleaned and waxed and windows washed. Vinal was assistant superintendent at the time. When he was made superintendent of the mine we didn't want the home for the superintendent. It was a much larger and older place. So we remained where we were. We attended some gala affairs when Vinal was working at Kennecott. The company gave a formal dance every year at the country club for the top officials of the mine, mill and smelter and their wives. We had dinner parties at Hotel Utah in their ballroom. The entertainment was brought in from Las Vegas. We had dinner and dancing on the roof of Hotel Utah. An outstanding affair was the New Year dance at the Aviation Club. We danced all evening and had an early breakfast in the morning. There were dinners at the Ambassador Club, the Newhouse Hotel, the Golden Embers, Fins and many others. We had a program and dinner every month at the Alta Club given for the womens auxiliary of A.I.M.E. American Institute of Mining Engineers of which I was a member. We had steak fries at the home of Nelson Alrich. He was the public relations director for Kennecott. This was a very special event. It was held in a beautiful garden in his backyard. Lois Hatch and I were given a surprise party for our birthdays. Mine the 10th of November and hers the 11th. It was held at the Hotel Utah. Those present were the wives of top officials from the mine and mill. They gave each of us a wrought iron serving table with a round hand-painted tray forming the top and a smaller tray half way down the bottom forming a two-layered table. They also had a beautiful decorated birthday cake. We celebrated our birthdays together other times as well but not quite so elaborate. The outstanding dinners that were served were those given by the Utah Manufacturing Association. They gave the ladies exquisite favors. Each couple was also given a box filled with all kinds of things donated by each company. Another dinner we looked forward to was the earth-moving contractors and mine equipment and sales company. They didn't spare the money. The dinner was out of this world and the entertainment the best that could be found.

Our family, the George and Ida Carrigan family, were so close we did things together. I remember we always celebrated James birthday the 31st of July at Saratoga. We would all go swimming and then have our luncheon together. When Mother and Dad moved to Union and later to Midvale you could go to their home any day of the week and find some of our brothers and sisters and their families there. We would sit on the front porch and visit and watch people go by. That was the family meeting place. I give the credit to a wonderful, lovable Mother. We all got together on the 4th of July on Leslie and Betty's patio to have lunch, hot dogs, hamburgers and all that goes with it. Everyone brought their own food. In the evening the families would go to see the fireworks. On Christmas we start at Leslie and Betty's for breakfast. Then to Lola's for homemade candy and dips and then to James and Alice's for a table filled with anything you could ask for and to Grant and Betty's for more refreshments. Then to our home for clam dip, hot spiced apple cider and cranberry drink. We sure missed having Tom and Ada with us this year. Tom died of a heart attack the 3rd of October, 1977, the healthiest in the family so we thought. Dee Johanson, Lola's husband died the 20th of November 1948. He was the first to go from our family circle. Dale Johnston, the husband of Agnes died 10th of November 1954. They were both good friends of Vinal's even before they married. Lola moved to Midvale with her two children, and lived with Mother and Dad until they found a home for her just back of their home. Agnes also moved to Midvale and lived with her daughter Roberta and her husband John Wallace. We celebrated Mothers golden wedding anniversary at our home in Copperton. It snowed so much that day and evening that her relatives from Morgan and Ogden couldn't come. Those from Salt Lake came and we had a good time together. All the family helped with the food and the entertainment. Grant got some old time music records and songs popular at the time of their courtship and had them played in the amusement room downstairs. The wedding cake was displayed on the table in the dining room. A picture of the family was taken. We also celebrated their 60th anniversary at our home in Copperton. Margaret came from California as a surprise for them. She also made the wedding cake. We were all seated at the card table in the amusement room and they were brought down. We didn't yell surprise because we didn't know what effect it would have on them. We played games and had a nice luncheon.

The 10th of October, 1949 Jackie went on a mission to the Eastern States for almost 21 months. I missed her so much. When I went to sleep at night, she was always home and then I awakened to find it was only a dream. We were so proud of her and she gained so much for it. She met a missionary, Gordon Bodily, there and when they returned they were married. He got a job at the mine and later they got a home in Copperton just about a half a block from us. After Margene graduated from High School we wanted her to got to college. No matter how we talked it up she wouldn't go. She got a job, bought her china, sterling silver and crystal and had money in the bank when she married Eldred Haws. They made their home in Magna, Utah. Both of our daughters were married in the temple and are good workers in the Church.

A high point of our life was the planning and building of our dream house. We drew up the plans ourselves on the kitchen table and enjoyed watching it become a reality. We received much guidance from prayer. This we know because everything turned out so perfect. We moved into our new home at 218 Roosevelt Street, Midvale, the 1st of February, 1957. We have had some of the most wonderful blessings since moving here. I was made second counselor in the Relief Society, making many dear friends. We had been going to the temple on our stake night about twice a month with another couple after work and thoroughly enjoyed it. Vinal was made a High Priest and later a High Priest group leader in charge of Genealogy. We made some short trips while Vinal was still working. We went to Margarets while she was living at Downy, California and then to Arizona. The first trip we stayed at Scotsdale and another time at Tempe, located between Mesa and Phoenix. Vinal loves the desert. We would take our hibachi, some steaks for sandwiches and some soft drinks and then go to the desert. We would spend hours walking through the desert then back to the car and our steak dinner. Velma, Vinal's sister, lived in Mesa so sometimes we would take her with us. We went to the temple at Mesa several times while we were there. Vinal began working at the mine as a civil engineer, then as track foreman, assistant superintendent and superintendent. He retired at the age of 60 so we had more time to spend with our genealogy. We found this very fascinating. We had some very interesting and enjoyable trips since Vinal's retirement. The first was November 1964 to Hawaii for a month. We went with a tour for two weeks and then we got a room for two more weeks where we could do some cooking. I was on a strict diet for food allergies. I couldn't even have pineapple, one of their most important products. Then in 1965 we went to New York for the World's Fair. While in New York we went to a stage show, "Hello Dolly" presenting Carol Chaning. It was held at the St. James theater. We spent two days at the world's Fair then went to the pageant given every year by the L.D.S. Church. While Jackie was there on her mission both she and Gordon took part in the presentation. We saw Niagara Falls from the United States side then went over to Canada and took pictures from the Canadian side.

In 1966 we went to Mexico. A couple from Salt Lake we met on our Hawaiian trip, Jenny and Walter Mink, took the same trip. It is always more interesting if you have someone you know to associate with. We went to a health spa and had everything--a mineral bath, a massage, a facial pack, the works. It was really comical. Everyone on the tour, men and women alike were sitting around by the swimming pool with a mud pack on their face. It was supposed to be very beneficial. Everyone looked the same to me as they did before they got the treatment. We stayed there overnight, and we were on our way after breakfast the next morning. We had some fun experiences there. All the taxi drivers were Mexicans. They couldn't speak English and we couldn't speak Spanish. Vinal and a traveling friend wanted to exchange a shirt. They got into a taxi and were trying to explain to the driver where they wanted to go. He nodded his head yes, he knew and started to go in the wrong direction. What to do next? Finally they had a bright idea. The sales slip with the name of the store. By that time they were miles away. They got the shirt exchanged, however, and got back to the hotel safely. Jenny and I went shopping. We could pick out the material and pattern and they would take the dress and deliver it at the hotel. They delivered it the day we were leaving and when we tried them on, well, they could have been worn by anyone from size 12 to 18. We found out that you have to watch your step here or you are going to be taken. Vinal was called Dr. Barlow on this trip because everyone coming down with the dreaded Mexican plague would come to him for some paregoric he carried with him. He didn't need it himself but he sure had a lot of patients that did. We went night club hopping (I think they called it). We would stay long enough at each place for a drink and some entertainment and then go on to the next. The girl that always spoke for my drink got really happy before the night was over. I don't know who got Vinal's drink. We went by plane to Acapulco. It was really hot there. As you come to the doorway of the plane the heat hits you right in the face. As we were walking around the business district, my arm and face on the side facing the sun were sunburned and it didn't take very long either. We took a scenic trip on a boat at Acapulco Bay leaving the business district in the upper end of the bay. We traveled parallel with the shore line and went out into the ocean. This is where the wealthy people have beautiful homes on the cliffs on the ocean front. Many movie stars from the states have homes there. There are miles and miles of those gorgeous homes. The ride was very relaxing. I wore a big hat that tied down with a scarf. No more sunburn for me.

October 1967 we went to Canada and Alaska by bus, train, boat, and plane. We left Salt Lake City by bus. We had a lot of fun while traveling. We played games, sang songs, and stopped at interesting places. We spent one night at Lake Louise in Canada where we had a formal dance and dinner. We went to Edmonton and stayed overnight. We then went up over the Alcan Highway to White Horse in the Yukon Territory and from there to Dawson City, a famous gold mining town with a population at one time of over 40,00, now reduced to about 800. We went over a high divide and into Alaska and then to Fairbanks. Because of a flood in Fairbanks we had to return to McKinley Park. Our bus was put on a flat car and we went by train to Anchorage. We got back on our bus and went sight-seeing around the town. We saw the ruins left by the 1964 earthquake. We had our dinner at a cafe that specialized in all kinds of fish dishes. We stayed in anchorage overnight and the next day flew to Kotzebue, an Eskimo village above the Arctic Circle. From there we flew to Nome on the Bearing sea. We had a parka loaned to all of us worn over our coats. A wind was blowing and it was quite cold. We were taken by a guide in a private car to a place where we panned for gold. I didn't hear of any big finds there. We were served a drink and a cookie before returning to our hotel. We flew back to anchorage and went down to the Peninsula by bus and then flew to Kodiak. Our tour leader had purchased some Alaska king crab and everything to go with it. We went by bus to a green clearing and had a big feast. We had all the king crab we could eat and some left over. There was a factory there where they canned all different kinds of fish right on the ship. We got a case of the very best shrimp to take home with us. Many others on the tour did the same. We flew back to the Peninsula where we left our bus and then went back to Anchorage. We went by bus to White Horse and took a small gage train to Skagway. This was the most colorful scenic ride, a shutterbugs delight. As the train was making a U-turn we could see from where we were sitting at the front, a freight car carrying our bus at the end of the train. The white clouds, the green trees and shrubs were mirrored in the many small lakes we passed. Vinal and many others with their cameras in hand were running back and forth trying to capture all of the beautiful scenery we were passing. From Skagway we went by ferry boat down the inner passage to Juneau, then to Ketchihan where Vinal had planned to go fishing. It was raining hard and was so cloudy and wet it was called off. We continued by ferry boat to Prince Rupport. We had to go the rest of the way by bus because of a ferry boat strike, taking us inland 800 miles to Prince George. Some of our fellow travelers were robbed in the hotel that night while they were sleeping. Money, credit cards and other valuables were taken. We continued by bus to Vancouver, Victoria and back home. We were gone 31 days.

We made our first trip to Morrow Bay 1956 and again in 1957. Morrow Bay is a small fishing town just north of San Louis Obispo. We stayed with our friends in their summer home. It was so much fun there--so informal. Dewey Knudsen was Vinal's fishing companion and that is how he got acquainted with this fun-loving group. Ruby was Dewey's wife and Inez was Ruby's sister. Inez's husband's name was Arthur, last name Burt. It was at their home that we stayed while at Morrow Bay.

I must introduce you to some friends of Inez and Art's: Kate and Red Williams of Cayucos, close to Morrow Bay. I guess his hair was red at one time but white now. We would sometimes go to their home in the evening. Kate would play the piano and we would all sing. She could play any song. You'd just hum it and off she'd go. The men went fishing sometimes on the surf and sometimes deep sea fishing from a boat. Vinal came back one time with two big albacore, 25 pounds each. That was a happy day. They would go clamming at low tide sometimes at 4 o'clock in the morning. But it was a lot of fun. The women would sometimes go shopping at San Louis Obispo or dress up for a luncheon at some exclusive dining place. We would all go to a picnic at the park on the beach. One time we took hot dogs, cold drinks and ice cold watermelon. The weather turned off so cold we stood over the fire to cook the hot dogs and had the cold drinks and watermelon at home. We had a lot of fun just the same. Ruby and Inez were such cut-ups, never a dull moment. Kate always called Arthur, (Art) Arturo. She was around Spanish people in their younger days. Art was a wonderful host. He took us to all the most interesting places: Hearst San Simeon, Madona Inn, Solvang and we also stopped at Anderson's for split pea soup.

The next time we went to Morrow Bay, Dewey wasn't feeling very well so Ruby stayed with him at Morrow Bay while Inez, Art, Vinal and I went to Yosemite National Park. It was really a nice trip. We enjoyed it very much.

In August 1961 we spent our vacation at Elk Horn resort west of Gunnison, Colorado with the same group, Inez, Art, Dewey, Ruby, Vinal and me. This was a fun trip too. The next year this resort was covered with water. They were in the process of making a dam while we were there. Dewey died March 22, 1965. He had a heart problem for many years. We miss him ever so much.

November 1967 we were invited to Inez and Art's home in Fresno for their golden wedding anniversary. We stayed there for about a week then we all went to Morrow Bay: Inez, Art, Ruby and Ruby's sister Ethel, Vinal and myself. We stayed there three weeks more. Imagine, entertaining company for a month. We would play hearts, a card game nearly every evening. That was a jolly time. Ruby was having such a bad time with her angina and other problems, the next time, 1969, we went by ourselves. We all went to the Golden "T" for dinner once with Kate and Red and Art and Inez took us all the second time. We also went to Bismo Beach one afternoon. We never thought Ruby could ever be able to go back on that long trip to Morrow Bay again. But she surprised us and made two trips with us later. Inez and I would play aggravation with Vinal and Art. I guess the final score of the games averaged about even. The game got sort of hot sometimes. Inez died 10 May 1976. We have never been back to Morrow Bay since. Art invited us to come any time but it just wouldn't be the same. I don't think he goes there very often either. He stays at his home in Fresno.

The most outstanding trip was the Caribbean by ship. Jenny and Walter Mink, our traveling friends, made the trip with us. What I like most was living on the ship. We were not traveling from hotel to hotel carrying all our luggage with us. We would go from the ship to the island and then back to the ship anytime we desired. While traveling there were many things going on, ballroom dancing lessons, art classes, table tennis, tournaments, and swimming and exercising equipment. There were movies in the evenings and always dancing, and late in the evening a beautifully arranged buffet and always a lot of drinking. We didn't stay up for that. The Minks were not L.D.S. but they didn't go for that sort of thing either. The food they served was out of this world. But as time went on I would have traded my filet-mignon for a hamburger. We boarded the ship at Los Angeles and we stopped at Mazatlan, Mexico and then went to the Panama Canal. Going through the Panama Canal alone was worth the trip. The islands we visited were Curacao, a Dutch Island, then to Grenada, the spice island, Caracas, a city in Venezuela and Barbados, a British island. We visited Trinidad on a Sunday, many of the businesses were closed. But they had made makeshift counters and displayed their goods. I was looking at a necklace that cost $2.75. I decided not to take it and was going back to the ship. He called, "Lady, lady," and let me have it for $1.25. When I got back to our cabin Jennie had the same kind of necklace and had paid the full price. That didn't go over very well with her. She had been jipped.

The other islands we visited were Martineque, a French Island, St. Thomas, of the Virgin Island, Aruba, Dutch Island, Cartagena, Columbia, South America, then to Cristabol on the caribbean side of the Ismus, then by bus to Panama City, then to our ship at Balboa on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal then back to Acapulco, Mexico. This trip was a 30 day trip, by the time we got to my sisters in Chatsworth, California.

The year 1971 we flew to England and landed in London. We went by rail to Leichester, rented a car and went to Desford Leichestershire where my grandmother Lois Bent Carrigan was born. We visited the parish where she was christened and the home and store where her sister had lived. We also went to Scotland on a chartered bus and had a wonderful time. Vinal's brother Ora and his wife Melvira, Clarence and his wife Ann were with us. We tried all their methods of transportation in England. We went to Leichester by rail. The L.D.S. Church was on the other side of town, and we went there by the underground. Before we left London, Vinal was quite an expert finding his way around by underground. A funny thing happened when we tried the double-deck bus. We had gone for a walk and we were on our way back and decided to take the double-decker bus to our hotel. We asked the conductor to tell us when we got to Belgrave Road. We were just climbing the steps to go to the upper deck when he called out our road. I'll bet he got a chuckle out of that. We didn't realize we were so close to our destination.

Vinal and I went by plane to Ireland. We rented a car and visited the parish where Grandpa Carrigan was christened, Carbury, County Kildare. We got in touch with the reverend of the parish and had him search his records for Grandpa's family. We now have birth dates of grandpa, a brother and two sisters. He had no marriage nor death records. We visited many places we had only seen on maps or heard about in songs, Tipperary, Galway Bay, River Shannon, Lakes of Kilarney, Kilkenny, Dublin and many more. We also kissed the Blarney Stone.

My Mother died the 25th of May, 1965 as a result of Pneumonia. When she was operated on for a gallbladder, the doctor found a malignancy in the limp glands. She lived two years with the help of the doctor, free of pain. We were glad she didn't live to suffer months or even years as many do. She was never told that she had cancer. I sure miss her very much. She was a living example of what a mother should be. Two years after Mother's death Dad followed her on the 1st of August, 1967. He must have had a stroke. There were times when he didn't know anyone. He was living in the past most of the time.

STORY OF AN AUTOMOBILE WE OWNED WHEN I WAS YOUNG

You may think the early pioneers had a hard time with their oxen, but can you imagine the difficulty of owning an automobile at a time when there were no garages, auto mechanics, or gas stations? This is the situation which my Father found himself in when he purchased his first automobile, an Overland, which was the first automobile in Morgan County, Utah. (About 1910)

Dad and his brother Jim, operated the Carrigan Livery Business in Morgan and they purchased the car to use in that business. Many traveling salesmen, drummers as they were called, came to Morgan by train and would hire Dad to take them to Heber, Park City, Devil's Slide, Croyden, Henefer, Echo and Coalville. It was quite a distance to travel by horse-drawn vehicles, which made it necessary for Dad to stay over night and return the next day. When the automobile was made available he was eager to buy one because it seemed as though it would be perfect for the business.

Pioneering with the automobile was anything but easy. Dad had to have gasoline shipped from Ogden by train, in fifty-gallon drums and then he had to siphon it into the car as it was needed. The head-lights were carbide and there was a large brass container on the running-board for the carbide. Although I was very young when we owned this car, I will always remember the obnoxious odor from this container.

There was no facility for carrying a spare tire so when we had a flat, which was often because of bad roads, it was necessary for Dad to fix it before we could go on. This took considerable time and effort as the air had to be pumped into the tire with a very inadequate hand-pump. Dad was usually exhausted long before the tire had enough air in it. Of course the repairing had to be done in the clothes Dad was wearing at the time, usually his Sunday best. It was always upsetting to Mother to see the condition of Dad's clothing after he had worked on the car.

This car looked very glamorous with its shining black paint and an abundance of sparkling brass trim. However, underneath all of this finery was a very temperamental engine. When we started for a drive we were never quite sure just how or when we would return. Many times the car had to be pulled back home with horses. In fact, there were times when Dad, anticipating what might occur, tied a horse to the back of the car when he started, so he would be assured of a way home.

I remember traveling to Ogden in this car and returning home by train when the car refused to go. Dad had to stay with the car and Mother, alone and tired had the exasperating experience of caring for six tired and soiled children while we waited for the train that would take us home. We children had a good time because it was a new and exciting experience for us, however this only complicated Mother's problem as she tried to keep us under control.

Mother told me of a time when we were going to a show in Ogden and the car stopped on the way. Many of our friends passed us in their horse-drawn vehicles, on their way to the same show. After working for a considerable time Dad finally was able to start it but not before our friends were again passing by on their way home from the show.

There was no end to the trouble this car could cause without any help, but there was a time when it did receive some assistance. Dad was returning from a trip to Coalville and had four drummers with him, when the car stopped after going only a few feet. He was unable to find the cause but after a short time he was able to start it again, and again it stopped after going a short distance. This pattern was repeated for some distance before the drummers gave up and found another ride. Dad stayed over night and the next morning he found the cause of the trouble. He found a small wooden plug in the gas-line which had closed off the gas except for a small amount that seeped through a crack in the plug. This was the reason the car would go a short distance and stop when the small amount of gas was burned up. Later he learned that the plug had been placed there by a jealous competitor who was afraid that Dad would get all the business of the drummers. He was trying to prove to them that the horse-drawn carriages were the most dependable. Little did he realize that this car was quite capable of doing a very effective job of proving this without any help.

The problem that upset me most when riding in the car, was how frightened the horses and their drivers were as we met on the roads. Dad would drive as carefully as possible but the horses were so frightened as we got near them, they would act as though they had gone suddenly mad. They would leap into the air and try to run away, while their frustrated drivers tried frantically to control them. I was always sure the horses would leap into the car with us. The drivers were so upset they would swear at Dad and tell him to get that "blankety blank" thing off the road. One man even tried to have Dad arrested for honking the horn to warn him that we were coming. It was terribly disturbing to know that people shared the same feeling for us that they had for the plague.

There seemed to be no end to the trouble that car brought to us and at one time it brought near-tragedy to our family. Mother had gone to visit her sister, Aunt Maggie who lived about three blocks away, and had left our baby sister Agnes in our care. We were playing in a barn where the car was kept and Agnes, a very curious child, crawled under the car and drank some gasoline from a can Dad had put there to catch leaking gasoline. She was unconscious when we found her and we were all panic-stricken. Our cousin Adeline Robbins, who was playing with us, ran into the street screaming "help fir". Some men from a nearby blacksmith shop came to help and they called Grandpa Rawle, who worked in a store a short distance from our home. He called the doctor and Agnes' stomach was being pumped by the time Mother reached home. She hadn't even reached Aunt Maggie's home before this happened. Agnes was soon revived and had no ill effects, so this time there was a happy ending, but no thanks to the car.

Although we spent many frustrating hours with this car, Dad learned to be an expert auto-mechanic from his experiences. However, it gave him no help in controlling his Irish temper.

Dad owned many different makes and models of cars during his lifetime but all of them combined did not tax his skill or his patience ad did our old "Overland".

(Written by: Lola Rawle Carrigan Johanson, a sister)

I finished my history in 1978 and it is now 1994. I really would like to forget the 1980's because it was a decade of problems. Vinal started having trouble with his heart in 1981 and spent several hospital stays for angina, pacemaker placement, heart attack and open heart surgery and his last stay with kidney failure. I also was in the hospital with an operation for gall bladder removal and hernia repair and we both had cataract operations on both eyes. So, we spent most of the 1980's either sick, in the hospital or recovering from surgery.

Three members of my family have passed away since I wrote last. James on December 1, 1978, Lucile on December 13, 1981 and Leslie on October 24, 1987.

We were, in spite of our problems, able to attend weddings and receptions for several grandchildren. Margo in August 1979, Gena in September 1980, Bradlee in September 1983, Terrilee in February 1986, Craig in June 1988 and Kae in September 1988. We went to blessings and baptisms for several grandchildren. We were able to get together with family every year on July 24th, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day.

Vinal died from kidney failure on February 11, 1990. I am still living in our home at 218 Roosevelt Street and I am able to get together with family members on special occasions.