This keepsake photograph was taken in 1894, judging by the age of baby Thomas William Pugmire who was born in that year and died in 1956. On his father’s lap is direct ancestor Justin Gerald Pugmire 1892-1949. Justin Gerald Pugmire married Clara Lzina Barker. Thomas William Pugmire married Olive Margaret Farmer. As adults, these brothers were often found together in censuses and often worked at the same trades.
This is the death certificate for direct ancestor Henry Reynolds Watrous. It was issued by the State of Utah and obtained from its records. There are several points of interest on the certificate. Henry’s son Earl Pancake Watrous was the informant. He indicated that his father was a widower and listed his wife Glendora, who died in 1920 as the reason that Henry was a widower. While it is true that Glendora Pancake was Henry’s first wife, and died in 1920, Henry was divorced from Glendora and married for a second time to a young woman named Clara McGregor. While Clara was also dead, Henry and Clara were also divorced after which she had married for a second time. Without knowing these facts, the certificate itself would lead a researcher to think that Henry had only one marriage.
It appears that Henry sought medical care in October and died in December. It would be interesting to know if he ignored having the cancer examined to his peril. Henry died at the Salt Lake County Hospital, which was razed many years ago. The mortuary who handled his burial is no longer in business and its records were destroyed. That fact has made it impossible to know if Henry had a funeral or an obituary. We have not found evidence of either and his grandson, Everest Raymond Watrous didn’t talk about one. Henry was buried by his sons Earl and Everest. His grave was not marked until 2001 when we went looking for it and discovered that fact. Henry rests next to his son Earl who died about ten years after his father Henry. They are in the Murray City Cemetery in Murray, Salt Lake County, Utah. Elsewhere in the cemetery is the burial place of Henry’s other son and direct ancestor Everest Elliott Watrous.
Farrell Max Pugmire was born in 1917 to Justin Gerald Pugmire and Clara Lzina Barker. He died in 2004 in St. George, Washington County, Utah. His burial was in the St. George City Cemetery with full military honors. He was a veteran of World War II. He was the brother of direct ancestor June Pugmire Gale. Farrell’s grandson presented the flag which had draped the coffin to Farrell’s oldest son.
This keepsake photographs is of Mervin Reynolds Watrous and his brother Wayne Elliott Watrous. They are the oldest of three sons born to Everest Elliott Watrous and Mary Maria Jenkins. The third son and youngest child of these parents is direct ancestor Everest Raymond Watrous who married Mildred Bates.
This is a photograph of Clara Lzina Barker Pugmire, who is our direct ancestor. She is in the center. On her left is her son Farrell Max Pugmire and on her right is Farrell’s wife Dorothy. To Dorothy’s right is June Leitzell Pugmire, wife of Clara’s son Glenn. The three little girls are left to right, Sandra, daughter of Clara’s daughter June, Robyn, daughter of Clara’s son Glenn and Farol, daughter of Clara’s son Farrell who is shown behind his daughter.
This photograph was taken in about 1942 in Salt Lake City, Utah. It shows direct ancestor Clara Lzina Barker Pugmire with some of her grandchildren. In the back are Barbara and Jerry Pugmire, children of Clara’s oldest son Gerald. In the front on the left is Ronald Hammer, oldest son of Clara’s daughter Theora. We do not know who the baby girl is at this time.
Clarence Roland Gittings was born in LaHarpe, Hancock County, Illinois to James Gittings and Susannah Thompson. He was the oldest of three children born to his parents. His father had been married once before he married Charles’ mother. His parents moved from Ohio to LaHarpe in 1836. When Clarence grew to adulthood he purchased 200 acres in the town of Terre Haute, a short distance from LaHarpe but in Henderson County. That same year, in 1873, he married Mary Witherspoon. They became the parents of two sons, Frederick and Charles. In 1879 he purchased the 80 acre farm of our direct ancestor Jerome Timothy Watrous. Jerome, his wife Mary and their daughters Sarah Rebecca and Mary Ellen Byrnes, moved to Red Oak, Iowa to be near their son Henry Reynolds Watrous. Henry had married Edith Glendora Pancake the year before and was going to Red Oak for his first job as an attorney.
Clarence was a two-term member of the Illinois House of Representatives and was well regarded. In 1889, his wife Mary died. In 1891 he married Sarah Rebecca Watrous, daughter of Jerome and Mary Reynolds Watrous. They married in St. Louis, Missouri. At the time of their marriage, Rebecca was teaching at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Kansas. Clarence and Rebecca returned to the small town of Terre Haute. For Rebecca, it was a return to her childhood home and the land where she had been raised. It was the land her father had sold to her new husband. Clarence and Rebecca traveled together and especially loved to visit California. Clarence was a Mason, a Knight Templar, a member of the Odd Fellows and affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church where his funeral was held.
Clarence died of cancer in 1907 and was buried in the Terre Haute City Cemetery Henderson County, Illinois. His first wife is buried in The LaHarpe City Cemetery and his second wife Rebecca, is buried in California where she died.
Grace Priscilla Hutchison was born in California to Mark Hutchison and Myrnie Vail McVey. She was the second child of two born to her parents. Her older sister was named Bernice. Grace was the granddaughter of William and Ophelia Pancake McVey. Ophelia was the sister of direct ancestor Edith Glendora Pancake who married Henry Reynolds Watrous.
Grace married Raymond Spiking. They adopted a daughter named Susan. When Grace died, her obituary stated that she was survived by her sister, a daughter and a granddaughter. She is buried in California.
Richard Jones was born in South Carolina to parents whose names we can’t confirm. He served in The War of 1812 and for his service he eventually secured a land warrant which he used for his land in Illinois. In about 1816, he married Margaret Jenkins and together they became the parents of eleven children. The oldest child, Mary Ann, is our direct ancestor. Before the year of 1832, Richard and his family heard the message of the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints and were baptized. They began a migration which took them through several states, all in connection with the persecutions of the Saints of their new church. They lived for time in Nauvoo, Illinois where in 1840, Richard received a Patriarchal Blessings by the hands of Hyrum Smith. Richard appears on the Nauvoo records both as a land owner and as a defendant in a case brought by the infamous William Law. Richard was driven by persecutions from Illinois to Iowa to Missouri to Illinois. He finally settled in the area of Upper Alton where he exercised his land warrant from his military service. It is not known why some members of his family continued west with the Saints and some did not. Richard and his wife Margaret died in the Upper Alton area and are buried there.
The migration of Richard Jones
South Carolina to Tennessee to Illinois to Missouri to Iowa to Illinois