These portraits are sisters Mary Maria and Ada Rosella Jenkins. They are the daughters of John Jenkins and Rosella Newberry Morris. Since our direct ancestor, Mary, married Everest Elliott Watrous at the age of sixteen in 1902, we estimate that these portraits were taken about the same time. They were taken in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mary is wearing the same dress in both her wedding portrait and in these portraits and her hair is fixed the same way.
Hartson Jerome Fitzgerald was born in 1860 in Missouri. In 1885 he married Mary Watrous Reynolds. Mary was the daughter of William Reynolds, who was brother of our direct ancestor Mary June Reynolds Watrous. Thus, Mary Reynolds Fitzgerald was the niece of Mary June Reynolds Watrous. It is not known why the younger Mary had the middle name of Watrous, since she was not a Watrous by any connection we can find. Hartson and Mary became the parents of three children. They were Charles, Marie and Thomas. They raised their children in Muscatine, Muscatine, Iowa where Hartson practiced law. Sometime after 1911 and before 1920, Hartson and his family moved from Iowa to Utah. They are found in the 1920 Census in Salt Lake City. Living at home are children Charles and Marie. The children are twenty-nine and thirty.
Hartson and his family came to Utah at a time when Mary’s cousin Henry Reynolds Watrous was practicing law and spending time and money in the pursuit of mining claims. By 1916, the Utah Watrous family which included Henry, his two sons Everest and Earl and others, including the mayor of Salt Lake City, incorporated The Cottonwood Metals Mining Company. We assume that Hartson came to Utah to practice mining law. That was his specialty.
Hartson is mentioned in two different letters written about 1919-1920 by Sarah Rebecca Watrous Gittings, sister of Henry Reynolds Watrous and thus also a first cousin to Mary Watrous Reynolds Fitzgerald.
Hartson died in 1927 and was buried in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah. Buried with him is his son Charles, both of Charles’ wives, his daughter Marie and his wife Mary Watrous Reynolds Fitzgerald. The men were buried but the women were both cremated. Mary actually died in California and had her remains sent home for burial.
Unless a person is familiar with the people in this summary, it is easy to see how the various uses of the name Mary, Watrous and Reynolds could be confusing.
JosephThompson Painter was born in Pennsylvania to William Painter and Martha Torton. He was the seventh of nine children born to his parents. His sister, Sarah Painter Reynolds is our direct ancestor. She married Henry Reynolds. Among the many accomplishments of Joseph Painter there are these:
- Served three years for the Union in the Civil War 1862-1865
- Was active in politics. First a Whig, then a Republican
- Served as a Constable
- Was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church
In 1828 Joseph married Jane Graham in Pennsylvania. They became the parents of three children. Jane died in 1834. In 1835 Joseph married Phoebe Rea. They also became the parents of three children. Two of Joseph’s sons served in defense of the Union. They were Charles whose mother was Jane and Arion whose mother was Phoebe. Arion was killed at The Battle of Pittsburgh Landing.
Joseph died at the home of his daughter Mrs. S.F. Bryan in LaHarpe, Illinois.
This is a keepsake portrait of the family of William Thomas Gale and Huldah Priscilla Hjorth. They became the parents of five children but had four when this portrait was taken in about 1918. The children are Claude and Lavon in the back, Floyd on the left. He is the direct ancestor, and Maxine who is on her mother’s lap. Maxine died at the age of four in an elevator accident. Child five, Elaine was born in the year before her sister’s death.
This portrait was taken in Salt Lake City, Utah.
August was born in Denmark to Niels Gregersen Hjorth and Johanna Dorthea Larson. He was the third of four children born to his parents. August’s parents were very poor. At the age of seven, he was sent to live with a man named Mr. Hansen who was responsible for August’s room, board and clothing in exchange for whatever work the boy could do. August stayed in that home for two years. Then, he went to another home of a family with the same name. He lived in that home five years. It was while he was in the second home that he heard the message of the Restored Gospel and was converted. He was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints in 1860. He emigrated from Denmark to America and on to Utah in 1861. He walked the entire distance across the plains. In 1872 he married Huldah Content Terry. They became the parents of eight children. Child seven, Huldah Priscilla Hjorth Gale Lambert Cannon is the direct ancestor. When August was thirty and Huldah was 25, they were called to serve a mission in Indianola, Utah. It was a mission to help the native Indians who were many. August and Huldah served in that capacity for twenty-two years.
A long and detailed biographical history of August is in our home computer file. He lived a rich and full life. It was marked by sacrifice and service to his Church and to his fellowmen. In 1896, he was at Promontory Point when the Golden Spike was driven, connecting the railroads of the East and the West. He died in Clinton, Utah and was buried in The Fairview City Cemetery in Fairview, Sanpete County, Utah.
The migration of August Adrainus Hjorth
Denmark to Utah
Charles was born in England to Charles Gale and Anna Marie Woodford. He was the oldest of six children born to his parents. At the age of twenty-two he married Emily Blake in the Copey Thorne Church in Cadham. He had always been a member of The General Baptist Church and was actively involved with it. In 1850, a missionary from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints knocked on his door. He was converted and baptized. In 1857, he was ordained an Elder and sent out to preach the Gospel. His mission lasted six years. In 1863, he and his family emigrated from England to America. They spent eight weeks on the water and the same amount of time crossing the plains. When they arrived in Salt Lake City in the fall, they remained through the winter. Charles worked in City Creek Canyon and hauled rock for the Salt Lake Temple with teams of oxen. In 1869 he married a much-younger Amanda Jane Cloward. She was a plural wife. Her parents had also heard the message of the missionaries and had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. Charles and Amanda Jane became the parents of twelve children. Six died in infancy.
Charles served as a High Priest for many years. As was the custom at the time, when he became old and ill, he was released from his responsibilities. When he died, he was buried next to his wife Emily in the Payson City Cemetery in Payson, Utah County, Utah. Twenty-three years later, his wife Amanda Jane Cloward Gale joined them.
The migration of Charles Gale
England to Utah
This photograph includes children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of John Jenkins and Rosella Newberry Morris. It was taken in Pleasant Green which is today Magna, Salt Lake County, Utah.
Amanda Jane was born in Provo, Utah County, Utah to Thomas Poulsen Cloward and Mary Page. She married Charles Gale as a plural wife in 1869 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her sister wife was Emily Blake Gale. Charles was a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints and had emigrated from England to America. Amanda’s parents were converts as well. Amanda and Charles were the parents of twelve children. Six died in infancy. Child number seven was William Thomas Gale who is the direct ancestor. Emily Blake Gale died three years after Amanda’s marriage to Charles Gale. Charles and both of his wives are buried in the Payson City Cemetery in Payson, Utah County, Utah. Amanda was born and died in Utah County, outliving her much-older husband by twenty-three years.
The dictionary defines a keepsake as “something to be kept for the sake of or in memory of the giver”. These are keepsakes. My grandfather, Justin bought them for me one by one when I was too little to know. My mother carefully tucked them away until I was old enough to handle them and to understand their significance. The tea kettles are smaller than a quarter and the little chairs could sit comfortably on a dime. The grand piano and the chair where someone sits to hear the music are painted glass. The serving tray and the roaster pan in the back are for little fingers to cook dinner. The radio behind the chairs is for music while cooking.
When I was young, I kept them on my dresser. When I had children I put them away lest they get lost or broken. From time to time I get them out and handle them. I think of my grandfather, lovingly choosing each piece and bringing it home for me to treasure when I was old enough. I treasure these and other things like them that remind me of the love of family and of the special nature of keepsakes.
These keepsakes are made more special to me by the fact that my grandfather died at a young age, saving me from harm. His hands handled these tiny pieces just as they reached out to me, a crawling baby, and protected me.
Sarah Jane Pugmire was the second child of eleven born to her parents Joseph Hyrum Pugmire and Eleanor Creighton. She was born in Cedar City, Iron County, Utah. By the time she married, in 1877, her family had left Cedar City and resided in Laketown, Rich County, Utah. Laketown is on the border of Utah and Idaho in the Bear Lake Valley. In 1877 she married Samuel Newton Henderson in Randolph, Rich County, Utah. One year later Sarah and Samuel were sealed to each other in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. They became the parents of thirteen children. Sarah’s husband came to Utah with the original companies in 1847. He had been born in Missouri but migrated with the Saints upon his baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. He was also a veteran of The Blackhawk War.
Sarah’s brother Justin Pugmire married Hannah Elizabeth Winterbottom. Their son Justin Gerald Pugmire married Clara Lzina Barker. Two of Sarah and Samuel’s children married siblings of the same Barker family from which Clara Lzina Barker Pugmire came. Ester married John Thompson Barker Junior and Jasper Henderson married Nancy Alice Barker.
Sarah and her husband bought the simple log home which her father Joseph had built for his family. The photograph below shows a young Sarah Jane with some of her children.
The migration of Sarah Jane Pugmire Henderson
Utah to Idaho