This is a photograph of Everest Elliott Watrous and his second wife, Susan Irvine Shirts. Everest had been a widower since his wife’s death in 1929 and boarded in the home that Susan owned. In 1945 they married and remained in her home until near Everest’s death in 1958 when he went to live with his son Everest Raymond Watrous. We don’t know the occasion which caused both to be dressed in their Sunday best. Everest’s grandchildren have all mentioned how much they loved Grandma Susie.
Everest Elliott Watrous married Mary Maria Jenkins in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1902. Everest was nineteen and Mary sixteen. This portrait was taken upon their marriage. They became the parents of three sons who were Mervin, Wayne and Raymond. The youngest, Everest Raymond is our direct ancestor.
This keepsake photograph is of the first four children of Justin Pugmire and Hannah Elizabeth Winterbottom. The oldest is Justin Gerald on the right, next is Thomas William, then baby Joseph Albert and finally Griffith Clyde. Justin and Hannah eventually became the parents of thirteen children. This portrait was taken in 1899. The oldest, Justin is our direct ancestor. He married Clara Lzina Barker.
Annie Matthews was born in England to William Matthews and Hepzibah Jarvis. She was the seventh of eleven children born to her parents. She heard the Restored Gospel from the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints along with her siblings and parents. They were baptized in 1850. Annie emigrated to America with her parents and settled in Utah. At the age of twenty-three, in 1862, Annie became the fourth plural wife of direct ancestor George Morris. Our direct ancestor Hannah Maria Newberry was his first wife. George was twenty-three years Annie’s senior. Annie and George became the parents of ten children. Only three lived to adulthood. There was great conflict between Annie and Hannah Maria Newberry Morris who was George’s first wife. When George was called to go to St. George to work on the construction of the Temple, he took Annie with him. They were there for eight years. The question is whether George saw his children with Hannah during that time.
When they returned to Salt Lake City, George was forced to live alone for many years as a result of the passing of the Edmunds-Tucker Act which made polygamy illegal. Later in his life he resumed living with Annie and did not ever return to living with his first wife Hannah or his two other wives. Annie and George lived adjacent to present-day Temple Square in the Seventeenth Ward. They are buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery along with their seven children who died young and Annie’s parents.
The migration of Annie Matthews Morris
England to Utah
Direct ancestors Justin Gerald and Clara Lzina Barker Pugmire lived in many homes throughout their married lives but never owned one. When this neighborhood of new homes was built in the early 1940s, their youngest son Glenn took the money he and his wife were going to use to buy their first home and gave it to his parents instead. This act of kindness made it possible for Justin and Clara to have this new home north of downtown Salt Lake City. It was a small but clean 600 square-foot home. It had a deep yard as was the custom at the time, with a one-car garage and an alley at the back of the property which separated the homes on each side. They planted trees and flowers and honeysuckle on the front porch. There was just enough room for one chair on the porch. There was a small living room, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. There was also a small room near the back door for a washing machine. Theirs was a ringer washer. There was a clothesline and a raspberry patch. There were venetian blinds in the windows and plain carpet without padding on the floor. The kitchen was linoleum and so was the counter top. There was a tub but no shower. There was a crawl space under the house which was about two feet high and there were “storm windows”. The furnace was in the floor of the living room, covered by a large, metal grate. All heat for the house came from that source. The refrigerator had to be defrosted about once a month and the stove had to be lit with a match. There was a gravel driveway leading to the wooden garage wherein there was a workbench with Justin’s vice attached to it. The garage had a gravel floor which smelled of oil. There was a short wire fence between their driveway and their neighbor’s. At the end of the fence, near the garages of both homes, it ended. An opening was left for neighbors to pass through which they often did. The street in front of their home was wide, in the tradition of early Salt Lake City streets which carefully and faithfully followed a straight and square grid. Their address told anyone looking for their home that they were 10 blocks west of Temple Square and 3 blocks north. One block away was the 29th Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints where they attended church. Three houses away from the church was a small, neighborhood store where they sold a little bit of everything and lots of penny candy. A block away was an elementary school and two blocks away was a large grocery store and later in time a Sprouse Reitz store. A block and one half took a person to the bus stop and a walk of two blocks took a person to the fairgrounds.
Justin died in the living room of this home in 1949. Clara lived in the home until her death in 1969 at which time it was sold and the $10,000 shared among her seven surviving children. The two youngest children received a larger share according to Clara’s wishes in her Will. They had contributed significantly to the mortgage and to the care of the home after their father died.
Today, the house is not recognizable when compared to the original. The old garage is gone and the house is covered with siding of a different color and with artificial rock. In fact, there is nothing in the outward appearance of the house that would give a person the slightest clue that this was once Justin and Clara’s house.
This is a photograph of direct ancestor Jonathan Pugmire in his old age. A summary of his life is found elsewhere on this site.
This is a photograph of the home which John Thompson Barker built for his wife Jane Pickett and his family. That family included our direct ancestor Clara Lzina Barker who married Justin Gerald Pugmire. It is located in St. Charles, Idaho.
When we first visited the Pleasant Green Cemetery in what is today Magna, Salt Lake County, Utah, we found our ancestor James Jenkins resting under this handmade grave stone. We assume that it was made by one of his children upon his death in 1904. It was cast from ordinary cement and carved. Dark stain or paint had been put into the letters and numbers so that they would be easier to read. Through the years, the wind, water and weather wore away at the stone. Next to it was another similar to it. It simply said ” Baby Jenkins “.
When we returned to the cemetery in 2009, the original stone had been replaced with this stone. Thank you to whomever replaced it. We wonder if someone kept the original stone? It was quite touching to see and especially to be reminded of a time when people did what they could with what they had which is a very good thing to remember.
The biographies of Everest Elliott Watrous and his son Everest Raymond Watrous were written by Thomas Watrous. Both tell the tale of this family and their efforts over many years to find the magical mine. Henry Reynolds Watrous is on the left. He was a prominent attorney in the Utah Territories but his heart was in the mountains. His biographical sketch is included in The Story of Henry Reynolds Watrous and Edith Glendora Pancake which was compiled in 2006. The man leaning against the porch is Everest Elliott Watrous, Henry’s son. Our direct ancestors are Henry, Everest and his son Everest Raymond, who is likely the baby on one of the laps. The boy is perhaps Everest’s oldest son Mervin, but that is not certain. We believe that the women in the back is Sarah Rebecca Watrous Gittings who is Henry’s sister. We assume that one of the women with a child is Everest’s wife Mary Maria Jenkins Watrous but we aren’t certain. This photograph was likely taken about 1906 in the area of what is today The Spruces in Big Cottonwood Canyon outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.
This is direct ancestor George Morris after he came to Utah. It is thought that this portrait was taken in about 1865 when he was forty-eight years of age.