This keepsake photograph was taken at the home of Justin and Clara Pugmire in Salt Lake City, Utah about 1947. Justin is holding grandson Douglas in the back right. Justin died in 1949. Clara, his wife in front on the right died in 1969. She is holding a granddaughter Robyn. Next to Clara is an unknown girl with Ron in the middle and Don on the left. Don’s mother June is behind him with Ron’s father Lloyd behind her. In the middle back row is Theora with son Gordon. The adults in this photograph with the exception of one person are all deceased. The grandchildren are all living. They are just a few of what would be thirty-two grandchildren which would be a legacy of Justin and Clara Pugmire.
This wonderful photograph was in the collection of Mr. Painter in Terre Haute, Illinois. He made a copy for us which is shown here. Our ancestors Jerome Timothy and Mary June Reynolds Watrous adopted a “soldier’s orphan” in about 1870. Her name was Mary Ellen Byrnes. She is shown here in the checkered dress. The oldest girl is her new sister Sarah Rebecca Watrous, sister of our direct ancestor Henry Reynolds Watrous and aunt of direct ancestor Everest Elliott Watrous. The third child is said to be a cousin to Sarah Rebecca but her name is not known to us. This portrait was taken in LaHarpe, Hancock County, Illinois in 1870.
Mary Ellen Byrnes was born in 1860 to her parents Michael Byrnes and a mother whose name we do not know. She was born in New York. At the age of ten, she came to Illinois on the Orphan Train. She was called a “soldier’s orphan”. She was adopted by our direct ancestors Jerome Timothy and Mary June Reynolds Watrous. We don’t know where the train stopped, but likely in Springfield, Illinois. Jerome and Mary Watrous would have traveled there in order to bring Mary Ellen home with them.
Mary Ellen came into a home where education, music and the arts were very important. She became the younger sister of Sarah Rebecca Watrous and our direct ancestor Henry Reynolds Watrous. She learned to play the piano and to paint. She moved from Illinois to Iowa with her new family in 1879. From there, she and her sister Sarah Rebecca went to school at Oberlin College in Kansas. There, Mary Ellen met Joseph Longfellow Hoover. Meanwhile her sister Sarah Rebecca married and moved back to their childhood home of Terre Haute in Henderson County, Illinois. There, in Sarah’s new home, Mary Ellen and Joseph Hoover were married in 1892. They returned to Oberlin, Kansas where Joseph worked in a bank. The next year, in 1893, Mary Ellen and Joseph became parents of a daughter. They named her Merdeces. Joseph’s jobs took them to Colorado and then to Washington State where they lived the rest of their lives. We have not found the exact death dates for Mary Ellen and Joseph Hoover. She died between 1930 and 1935. Joseph died after 1937.
Mary Ellen was known as Minnie. Her daughter Merdeces Hoover Hensley became an educated woman in her own right. She earned a Ph.D and was a Professor of Art at The University of Washington. Merdeces and her husband Perry Hensley did not have children. Mary Ellen’s posterity ended with the death of Merdeces. Merdeces’ memoirs help us to better know her mother Mary Ellen Byrnes (Watrous) Hoover.
In 1924, our ancestor Nephi James Bates ran for the position of Sixth District Judge. It was an election which he won. This flyer was distributed prior to the election in order to introduce him to those who would be voting.
Sarah Sprague was the third child of five born to her parents Ithamer Sprague and Sarah Stedwell. Sarah’s mother of the same name had been married twice before she married Ithamer, Sarah’s father. Her life had been full of tremendous heartache. When Sarah was eighteen, she married Nephi James Bates 1848-1921 in Washington County, Utah. They became the parents of twelve children. Their second child, Nephi James Bates 1875-1958 is our direct ancestor.
An account of the life of Sarah’s mother is on this site. When Sarah’s mother tried to take her children with Ithamer to her family rather than move hundreds of miles to Washington County, Utah near present-day St. George, Ithamer persuaded the authorities to pursue her. The children of Ithamer and Sarah Stedwell were taken from her and given to Ithamer. Sarah Sprague Bates did not see her mother again until her mother was eighty years of age.
When Sarah’s husband Nephi took a second wife, life became difficult for everyone. Eventually Sarah and Nephi divorced. She did not re-marry. She lived to be ninety-seven years of age and died at the home of a daughter. She is remembered first-hand by many of her great- grandchildren who are alive today. She was buried in the Monroe City Cemetery in Monroe, Sevier County, Utah.
Amos Eli Barker was born in 1876 to John Thompson Barker and his wife Jane Pickett. He was the fourth child of eleven born to his parents in St. Charles, Bear Lake County, Idaho. He is the brother of our direct ancestor Clara Lzina Barker Pugmire. This keepsake photograph was taken during The Great Depression. Amos married Cora Fanny Early in 1911. They became the parents of seven children. Their names in the order of their births are Mildred, Amos, Everett, Thomas, Erma, Arnold and Glendon.
Cora died in 1946. Amos did not re-marry after her death. He died in 1962.
This is the funeral program prepared for the services for ancestor Clara Lzina Barker Pugmire. The funeral was held in the Riverside Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Riverside Ward was earlier called the 29th Ward. It was located on the corner of 1000 West and 300 North which was one half block from Clara’s home.
This obituary for Clara Lzina Barker Pugmire was carried in the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune. It is in our file and archived by both newspapers. A copy is also kept by Deseret Mortuary.
This resolution honored Nephi James Bates upon his death in 1958. It was created and submitted by the Southern Utah Bar Association.
This is the funeral program for Nephi James Bates who was born in 1875 to Nephi James Bates and Sarah Sprague. His funeral was held in Richfield, Sevier County, Utah. Following the service he was buried in the Richfield City Cemetery.