Memories of Grandma Free by Lenore M Ruesch

History of

ANNIE HICKS FREE

HANDCART PIONEER IN EDWARD MARTIN COMPANY IN UTAH NOV 30, 1856

written by Lenore M. Ruesch

Story Key:

Grandma Free-Annie Hicks Free

Grandma Rock-Louesa Eve Free Rock

Mother-Gertrude Rock McFarlane

 

Things I remember about Grandma Free

 

Grandma Free lived right through the lot from Grandma Rock on 21st South Street in Salt Lake City, and we always went to see her when we went to Grandma Rock's. Just before it was time for us to go home from our weekly visit to our grandmother's house, my mother would get all of us children together, see that our hands and face were clean and our hair neatly combed; and then we would walk Single file on the narrow path through the field to see Grandma Free.

 

I remember Grandma Free well. She always smilingly greeted us. She was a stately lady, tall and straight, old, yet young in spirit. She was dressed usually in grey or a small print, her dresses long, with high necks and long sleeves. Always she wore, it seems, a

Crisply starched white apron---which made her look "clean as a pin".  I remember that the fine leather black kid shoes she wore were always well polished. They were shoes not slippers, tightly laced over thin ankles.

 

Grandma Free had a gentle old face with finely chiseled cheek bones that sort of showed through. Her hands fascinated me with their raised blue veins. I remember her saying, "Well, Gertie, my girl, how are you?   My Mother was her oldest living granddaughter, and there was a close, warm feeling between them.

 

All of us children, my sister and three brothers and I, liked Grandma Free, too, and we were delighted when she would pump her little old organ and play and sing the Handcart Pioneer song. In my memory, I can still hear the words: "For some must push and some must pull, as we go marching up the hill, for merrily on the way we go until we reach the valley—O!  We enjoyed playing the organ ourselves, too. That was lots of fun!

 

Grandma Free was a special person in our lives, and we were very proud of her. She had left all of her people in England when she was only 19 years old, walked across the plains pushing a handcart and arrived in Salt Lake City without a single soul to meet her ---all because she had heard the Gospel and believed it. Then she had married in polygamy a man old enough -to be her grandfather. He was 60 years old, she 20. Never did she call him anything but "Mr.

Free.

 

He was a Patriarch in the Church, had come to Utah in Brigham Young’s second company in 1848, and had many children older than Grandma Free, among them Emeline Free Young, long a favorite wife of Brigham Young, and Louisa Fee Wells, wife of Daniel H. Wells.

 

Grandma Free's life was not without romance. A young man who had asked her to marry him before she left England came all the way to Utah to claim her as his wife, but she was already married to Grandpa Free and steadfastly refused to divorce him. It was against her religion to even consider divorce. Her lover, as she called him, went back to England but always remained a cherished memory.

 

Grandma Free was a hard-working pioneer woman, yet there was a quality of refinement and dignity about her that set her apart.  Her mother had been a member of the English nobility, but had been disinherited by her family because she married a sea-captain. Her

mother's brother, the Earl of Wenlock died without heirs, though, and Grandma Free was advised (long after she came to Utah) that the family title and property were hers and all she would need to do would be to go to England to claim the title and fortune. She never went, but often said, "When, oh when will I ever be the great lady I'm supposed to be?”

 

The feminine title equivalent to Earl is "Lady". It is the same rank as the European "Countess". And Earl ranks next below a Marquis and above a Viscount. He is the governor of a county or shire. Had my great-grandmother accepted the title and responsibility and money that went with it, she would have indeed been a great lady in the eyes of the world---Lady Ann of Wenlock. Instead she stayed in Utah, raised seven children and was true to her Church.  It was quite a choice to make! Truly she was a great lady even though she didn’t hold the title!

The Bus by Marilyn Ruesch Schneider

THE BUS

By Marilyn Ruesch Schneider

 

I grew up in the huge sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles. The only real shopping area then was downtown, a dirty, rather unsavory place, with only a few central blocks, somewhat safe from drunks, pickpockets and other crime.

By the time I was 15 or 16 years old I was going shopping on my own. My mother tried to keep me safe on these outings by giving me a short lecture before I left each time. It went like this "Marilyn, pay attention! Don't speak to anyone. If someone speaks to you, pretend you don't hear them, turn the other way and walk as fast as you can. Never smile or show any reaction no matter what they say."  I knew the lecture by heart by then.

In those days few people had automobiles. My father had one but it stayed in the garage except for vacations and other shorter pleasure outings. I was very used to walking or taking the bus wherever I went. People in that big city were wary of strangers. We actually had only one neighbor we had ever spoken to. Fear was everywhere.

And so, one year when I was about 17, I took the bus downtown on Christmas Eve to do all my shopping in one day. (Most people didn't shop very far ahead for Christmas) Late in the day, very tired, I got on the bus for the 30-minute ride home. I was among those standing in the aisle holding tightly onto a pole, guarding my purse and many packages as the driver made his way slowly through the congested streets. 

Everyone on the bus was very quiet and remote from those physically dose.  We all tried not to come into contact as the bus swayed back and forth. People inched their way on and off at the frequent stops.

At one of the stops a man got on carrying a large guitar case and made his way to the back of the bus where he saw an empty seat. As he sat down he yelled "Merry Christmas!" Nobody answered. Then he said "Oh come on, everybody- It's Christmas Eve. Why don't we sing?"

Then he pulled out his guitar and started to play and sing Christmas carols. There was a shocked silence for a moment, then first one and then another of the people on the bus started to sing with him.

Soon the whole atmosphere of the bus had changed and everyone was singing and laughing, many with tears streaming down their faces. We sang song after song. As people got off at their stops we all called out "Merry Christmas" and either shook hands or hugged them as they passed us.

Egg Candeling the cure for common Shop lifting

 

 

Egg Candeling the cure for common Shop lifting

 

Excerpt from Remembrances of Rosabelle Larsen Schneider by Dallas Max Schneider

When Rose was about 16 or 17 she went to work for a small local grocery store simply called, "Allen's", located on the main street of Hyrum.  They paid her about 10 dollars a week for 60 hours of work. 

There were no adding machines at that time and things were added on the spot in the clerks mind with pencil and paper.  Mother told me she could add a column of figures so fast that no one would believe her sum and would painstakingly take a long time to recheck her figures.  The owners, recognizing her gift for numbers told her to deliberately take more time even though she knew the answer so that the slower customers would not think she was incorrect because of her speed.

Money  was always scarce and many times eggs were used as bartering items.  The eggs had to be candled to see that the egg was a good egg.  Bad eggs had blood clots or half formed chick embryos inside of them. 

The method for determining good eggs was called, "Candling".  A clerk would take the eggs to be bartered into a dark room and hold the egg up to a strong focused light.  The light would make the egg transparent and could be examined quickly to see if it was fit for transforming into money or other items like sugar or flour.  I guess this is where the term came from when referring to boorish behavior of people, "He's a bad egg!".

When Rose was alone in the store and had to go into the dark room to candle eggs, she had a little hole that she could see out of and look at what the customer was doing.  Sometimes the customer succumbed to the temptation that no one was looking and would slip some small item in their pockets or purse.  She could usually see what it was that was thought to be secretly purloined and would add it to the list of things the customer had bought. 

When the customer would protest, gentle Rose would quietly give them a graceful excuse out of their thievery by saying, "Oh, that can of baking powder is in your pursue.  You just forgot to put it with the rest of your purchases".  Then they would without a word pay for the stolen goods and get out of the market as soon as possible. They were highly embarrassed that they had been stealing. 

Not many people did that but enough did so Rose would always take a peek out of her secret looking hole.  People today steal much from our supermarkets and go to elaborate schemes to take items that are never paid for.

Life Sketch of Matilda F. Larsen by Marilyn Schneider

Life Sketch of Matilda F. Larsen

originally hand written by Marilyn Schneider (granddaughter in law)

Pauline Emile Matilda Frederiksen was born April 23, 1872 in Sindal, Denmark, a daughter of Christian Frederiksen and Flora Spaanheden.  Her father served in the Danish Army and passed away while she was a baby.  Her mother married again and to this union was born a sister May (a half sister.  Their mother  was left a widow again and had to work hard to support her two little girls and had to hire someone to take care of them.   Matilda stayed with her grandmother until she was eight years old and her grandmother died.  She was then sent to live with the Peter Eriksen family where her sister May had been living since she was 6 months old. 

Matilda worked hard as a young girl, often walking 10 miles to hoe weeds and pick berries.  She attended school in Bagterp and Hjorring and was warned often by the people she was living with to avoid "those awful Mormons" and "never to go to Utah".  Nevertheless, she was very much impressed with the singing of the Mormon missionaries who were holding meetings near their home.  She wondered how such beautiful hymns and singing  could come from bad people. 

She asked her mother's permission to be baptized and to go to Utah with the missionaries.  Her mother wanted her to have a good place to live, and to be brought up in a Christian home, so she consented.  A baptismal service was held at night, so that no one would see it--to avoid persecution--in the Park which had a beautiful lake with swans swimming in it.  This was May 18, 1885 at Hjorring, Denmark.  She was baptized by MM Jenson and confirmed by C. Knudsen.

One morning shortly after her baptism as she was walking along a lonely country road, she found a $20 gold coin.  There was no purse or any way to identify the owner and no one claimed it.  This made a very deep impression on her, because it looked as though the money was put there to help her prepare to immigrate to Utah.

On June 13, 1885 Matilda, age 13 and her sister May age 11,left their mother, relatives and friends, and their native Denmark, and along with some missionaries who had been released to go home and some other converts, sailed from Hjorring, Denmark for the United States.  May arrived at Ogden Utah on July 8, 1885 and went directly to Bishop Jensen's home in Mantua, Utah.

Matilda lived with the Jensen family where she worked hard to pay for her immigration to Utah for 5 years.  She was under very strict supervision in this home, where she milked cows, fed the pigs and calves, chopped wood, carried water from the spring to the house, cooked the meals, washed the dishes and helped make clothing from wool.

She attended school in Denmark for 5 years and now went through the grades in Mantua as far as it was possible to go

For recreation she was allowed to attend a dance and to go sleigh-riding occasionally and always enjoy the 4th of July and 24th of July celebrations.  But the most enjoyment came from attending and taking part in Sunday School, Primary, Mutual, Sacrament Meeting and other church functions.

In her own words "it wasn't easy for two little girls to come to a strange country, learn a new language, learn a lot of new things we weren't used to doing, and not a relative in this country, but we were blessed, and our Heavenly Father has been our best friend."

She first saw Neils J. Larsen, who also came from Denmark, on July 18, 1886 at Christina (Aunt Steenie) Larsen's home in Mantua.  She wondered who the tall handsome man was.  He owned the best horse and cart in town.  Later she enjoyed many pleasant rides in this horse-drawn cart and also a fine buggy.  On one trip down Brigham Canyon this high-spirited horse went so fast that all the tugs came unhooked, nearly causing a bad accident.

Her courtship with Neils lasted for a year and a half.  They were married Oct. 1, 1890 in the Logan LDS Temple.  They lived in Mantua for one year, then moved to Hyrum, Utah in 1891 where they established their home, reared their family, worked hard and were successful at farming and in the coal business.  Nine children were born and eight of them lived to have families of their own.  They were Leonard, Flossie (died at age 6), Lytel, Lola, Rosabelle, Delores, June, Lamont and Lorin.

Through all the hardships and trials of rearing a large family and making a living, she never lost sight of the values of honesty, thrift, hard work and above all the testimony of the Gospel that came to her as a child.  She believed in doing good unto others as she would like to have them do unto her, and of "loving her neighbors as herself".  No one was ever turned away from her door.  The wants and needs of her neighbors were sometimes considered at the sacrifice of her own family. 

Her service and assistance to the Relief Society in Hyrum 3 Ward extended over a period of 39 years, 7 of which she served in the Presidency.  In this capacity she had a determination to do her duty and to serve to the best of her ability and the Lord blessed her with much success and happiness.  She was always ready to help in sickness and death, some nights sitting up sewing clothing for the dead until early morning.  She would visit the sick and older people of the Ward, caring for their needs, cheering them up and bringing happiness to their homes with the belief that "we should never let our left hand know what our right hand is doing" and that the Lord loved a cheerful giver.  She always remembered the words of our Savior "in as much as ye have done it unto the least to these, ye have done it unto me".

She was a generous contributor to the various church organizations and to many projects undertaken by the church.  Her faith and testimony of the Gospel increased each day she lived, and it can truly be said of her that she was one of God's chosen people.

Death came quietly at age 81, May 16 1953.

The Railroading Life of Jacob Nephi Rock-by Lenore McFarlane Ruesch

 

Jacob Nephi Rock

written by Lenore McFarlane Ruesch (Grand Daughter)

Jacob Nephi Rock, pioneer of 1860, who came to Utah with his parents in the Captain J.D. Ross Company at the age of six, was a railroad veteran with a wide variety of experiences in "railroading".  He helped build the tracks; he operated a locomotive for many years; and he conceived the idea for a safety brake which now is standard equipment on all railroad engines and cars.

A Salt Lake news paper carried this story about him January 12, 1934:

ENGINES STILL APPEAL

Veteran Railroader recalls Early Day History

"No sir, I just can't pass a locomotive without stopping to look'er over."

In that manner Jacob N. Rock, 80, of 376 East Twenty-first South Street, sums up his boyish enthusiasm about railroads and all their appurtenances.

Rock has probably helped build more miles of railroad in Utah and operated locomotive over the same roads than any single living resident of the state.

He started railroading at the age of 18 years.  His first job was with a surveying party in American Fork Canyon, hired to lay out a railroad for the Miller Mining company.

The first stake for the Bingham Canyon and Camp Floyd railroad, which started at Midvale and ran via Bingham into Cedar Valley, was driven by Rock on September 1872.  The road was later sold to the Rio Grande Company, now the Denver and Rio Grande Western.

Rock also helped construct the old Utah Southern railroad, which later became a part of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake road, and the Pleasant Valley railroad, subsequently added to the Denver and Rio Grande Western properties.

The Pleasant Valley road was started in 1877 by farmers intending to use it to get coal from mines in and near Carbon county.  The Utah Eastern railroad, on which Rock worked as a builder and trainman, was likewise taken over by the Denver and Rio Grande Western after its completion by John W. Young between Salt Lake and Park City.

In 1893 Rock went with the original Salt Lake and Ogden railroad, now the Bamberger Electric railway.  It has been completed between Salt Lake and Beck's Hot Springs by John Beck when the veteran railroader went to work as a fireman and engineer.  Beck and the late Simon Bamberger were motivating forces which completed the road to Ogden.  For 18 years Rock piloted a locomotive on the line, even hauling the final load of materials used to electrify it.

The unable to bring himself to the point of giving up a steam engine, Rock quit and started operating a stationary steam engine in an ice plant."

 

Gertrude Rock McFarlane, his daughter wrote of him:

"When father was sixteen he left the farm and went to railroading.  His mother gave him her last two dollars and he set out for the American Fork Railroad Camp.  These camp were made up of very rough men who gambled with cards.  Every evening he played with these men whose stakes were drinks, and he won for a about a week,  but one evening he was the loser; and it took the two dollars, his mother's last cent, to pay for the drinks.  He felt so sorry about it he made a resolution that he was through with that kind of business for life; AND HE WAS.  The railroad was the American Fork, from there he went to the Bingham railroad and then to the Pleasant Valley.  After the Rio Grande acquired all these railroads, he was then sent to Montana where he worked for some time.

He bought a small farm at Bingham Junction, now Midvale, for his Mother and the family.  He paid for this and gave his mother the deed before he was married.

The day Jacob returned from Montana, he married my mother Louesa Eve Free, on December 24, 1881. ...Their first home was in Provo where Father was Yard Master Mechanic for the Rio Grande, while the road was under construction.  The tracks were laid north from Provo, and south from Salt Lake.  When the tracks met, Father was the first engineer to drive a train from Provo to Salt Lake City.  The train was composed of flat cars for hauling railroad ties, so Father took one of the kitchen chairs and with the help of a few planks and nails, he fastened it to the floor of the first car, and Mother rode on it, thus being the first women to ever ride on a train from Provo to Salt Lake.

From 1883 to 1887 Father and Uncle Al worked in Colorado for a Mining Co. and built a saw mill for themselves .  At the time Mother joined him there I was six months old. This saw mill was seventy five miles south of Grand Junction on an Indian Reservation.  When this creek was surveyed by the United States Government it was named "Rock Creek" after the two Mormon boys who had a saw mill on it.

After returning to Utah, father began railroading again working on the Utah central and Union Pacific.  About this time Father, together with John Hurst and George Goss, invented a wonderful airbrake.  This locomotive air brake is required by the Interstate Commerce Commission on all engines and cars.  It was tested over the summit in Parley's Canyon August 19, 1891 and proved very successful.  Father and his partners put the brake on exhibition in the Rio Grande Shops.  Westinghouse heard about it and sent his experts to examine it.  These experts duplicated it but concealed the double valve action in a single casing and appropriated it to their owe use and would never give Father even a hearing.

For thirty years Father was a locomotive engineer; the last railroad he worked on was the Bamberger.  He rain the "Dummy" (small engineer) for 18 years.

When he retired from the railroad on the account of his age he was employed at Hygeia Ice Co. and then the Holy Cross Hospital Heating Plant."

In this later years, Jacob Nephi Rock was a bailiff in Judge Oscar McConkie's Court.  At his funeral, Albert E. Bowen of the Council of the Twelve said:

"He was, as Judge McConkie has said, an inventor, and not just merely an inventor of trivial things, but an inventor of deep penetration.  I learned from my associations with him that this great railroading industry, to which we trust our lives when we travel over the rails, owes to him one of the greatest inventions contributing to its safety.  He invented the basic idea that underlies the air brake, and I am convinced that it was but the appropriation of his device that the brake is now evolved that is used upon the stream liners that travel with such lightening speed over this country... The Westinghouse Airbrake, which as I have been told by him and I have no reason to doubt, has been established upon all the trains.

He carried some of his invention's patents, but unfortunately the claims covered by his patents weren't quite broad enough to protect him against copying and a little circumventing which made it possible to appropriate his brain-child by others.

A most complicate thing, far beyond my capacity to understand, Brother Rock used to come in every once in a while, painstakinly going over it with me trying to explain the principals involved, and I told him a good many times that it was all over my head, I couldn't understand it; but he enjoyed coming and repeating again, trying to instruct me and I enjoyed having him come.  It was always pleasant when unannounced and unexpected, he would put his head inside the door and say, 'Here I am again', and come in with some new idea for the prosecution of what he had in his mind, and it was then I learned to know the granite qualities of his character....

"I remember suggesting to him that he go to a competent patenter and arranged  a trip for him to go to New York to confer with someone.  They believed, as I have said, that because his claims were not sufficiently broad, his patent rights had been successfully circumvented.. And while he didn't realize in financial reward, the gains to which his inventions entitled him, he would leave behind him a contribution to the safety of everybody who rides upon the railroads of America, and that is worth more than any money he could have gotten out of it.  When you, his friends, journey across this land, you will know, if you stop to think about it, that you rest in mental comfort, freedom from anxiety about the safety of your journey largly because of the ideas developed and worked out to practical application by our brother whose remains lie here today.  I speak of a beneficiary of mankind, and he has lived a long life."

Jacob Nephi Rock was born at Waynesboro, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1854, son of Valentine Rock and Harriet Smith.  He died in Salt Lake City, Utah April 10, 1941

The Cousin Connection-How Related are We?

I recently found a cousin on the FREE family side and another Cousin on the MCFARLANE family side while working on family history.  So I'm submitting this relative/cousin chart as an easy way to remember different cousin terms.

History of Anna Marie Rasmussen Munk-By LaRue Munk Walker

Anna Marie Rasmussen Munk-->Bohlena Munk Miller--> Mary Ann Miller Ruesch--> David Lemar Ruesch-->Marilyn Ruesch

 

 

Biography of Anna Marie Rasmussen Munk

Written by LaRue Munk Walker (a Granddaughter)

Anna Marie Rasmussen was born December 7, 1822 at Asker, Bornholm, Denmark.  Her Mother's named was Bodil Margretti Hanson.  Her Father's name was Mikel Rasmussen.  She was married to Christian Ipson Munk February 4, 1842.  Christian and Anna Marie bought the home of Anna's parents and made improvements and agreements to care for her parents until their death.  Her father died in 1847 and her mother in 1846.

On some of the ground of this lot, flax was raised and Grandmother made linen cloth.  She also helped increase the family means by carding and spinning.  She had her first child on the 21st of September 1844.  He was called Michael Peter.  Two baby girls, Boline Christine on March 30 1845 and Christine Margret, on January 24 1851 were also born at this home in Aaker, Denmark.

Mormon missionaries came to the Munk home in the year 1852. They were allowed to have meetings in this home and teach the restored gospel.  Anna Marie and her husband were baptized on March 26th 1852 by Elder O. Svensen.

Like many other who accepted this faith they desired to come to Zion in America.  So on December 22, 1852 they started the long journey to America where they hoped to finally reach Salt Lake City in Utah.

After various delays along the first part of this journey they finally reached Liverpool in England and boarded an English ship called Forest Monarch bound for New Orleans.  This proved a hard sea voyage because of severe storms.  Sometimes the storms were so fierce that the waves would roll over the deck, causing damage to boxes of foodstuffs.  Once some boxes of apples were broken.  My, what a scramble when the children saw the apples rolling over the deck.  Grandmother thought this particular accident was a blessing for the children.  The diet on the ship had consisted larger of parched peas and black coffee so the apples were a great treat to the children.

As the voyage continued passengers weakened on the bad diet.  The tossing and rolling of the ship caused much illness.  Some passengers died, among them Grandmother's baby Christina.  Grandmother saddened by her baby's death and dreading a sea burial for her, prayed for help.  She felt God answered her prayer, for the Captain for the ship came to her and told her she would not have to bury the baby in the ocean but when they reached the sand bar he would let them off from the ship so they could find a place in the ground to bury the child.  Early on the morning of March 7th the land of America was sighted.  A three pm they reached the sand bar and left the ship long enough to bury the child.

The Forest Monarch reached New Orleans on March 19th.  It had taken 11 weeks to cross the Atlantic.  Here at New Orleans they landed from the ship and boarded a river steamer which took them a short distance up the river where they left it and boarded a larger steamer, the Grantover, and commenced their real river journey to St. Louis.

On the 20th of May the long trek across the plains was started with John E. Forsgren as Captain of the Company.

How happy Grandmother must have been on the 30th of September when this company reached Salt Lake.  On the 15th of October they arrived at Spring City, Little Denmark, safe and well.  But on the 15th of November they received word from Brigham Young to move to Manti because of Indian trouble.  Grandmother helped with the house work in the Father Millet home where they found shelter until other arrangements could be made.

A building lot was finally obtained in the east line of the Manti Fort and on this lot a home was erected in March 1854.  A grandson Ray Munk now lives at this location at the time of this writiing.

Many hardships came with the planting of crops.  Some years the rust would ruin the wheat and it wasn't worth harvesting.  Some years the grasshoppers destroyed most of the crops.  Grandmother and the children gleaned wheat on the edges of the fields where they were lucky enough to find any.  One season they gleaned 50 bushels of wheat.  One especially bad year the Munk home was without bread for 7 months.

My father Joseph Munk was born in January of 1855 which was one of those crop failure years.  Grandmother didn't taste bread for months before he was born but lived largely on squash and dried beans.  Never the less she was able to nurse another women's baby besides her own.

During the year of 1865 the Indians went on the war path and hostilities continued for three years.  After peace finally was restored between the whites and the Indians, the grasshoppers came and destroyed crops for three years in succession.

It was during these three hard years of crop failures and Indian troubles that Grandmother's other children were born.  There were two boys, Ernest born February 10, 1858 and Christian, April 4, 1860.  Also two girls Marriah Margareth, December 29, 1862 and the youngest Hannalr Cordelia December 23, 1867.

When my cousin May was a child she heard some folks say a family of quarreling neighbor's of theirs had moved down near her Grandmother Munk's.  So one day when May was visiting Grandmother she asked her "Do you quarrel with your new neighbors?", No dear, it takes two to have a quarrel", replied Grandmother.

Another time when May was at Grandmothers the young green peas were just at their best and she asked for some.  "Help yourself dear", said Grandmother.  Then she told May about the parched peas they were served on the ship coming to America and how distasteful peas looked to her for years afterward.

When Josie, my sister was graduated from elementary school Grandmother encouraged her to go on to higher schools of learning.  Since they were not available in Manti at that time Josie was sent to Logan to continue her education.

For many years Grandmother carded and spun wool for others.  Grandfather would sit and pick the wool apart, and then Grandmother would card it into soft fleecy bats with wool carders.  Often times she had a large clothes basket heaped with fluffy bats ready to be made into yarn on her spinning wheel or used for filling for quilts.

When she spun the wool into yarn she turned the spinning wheel with her foot and stretched the soft white bats into a twisted thread.  Grandfather would hold the yard while she would wind it into skeins to be used for knitting sox, sweaters, scarves or crocheted into afghans or cushion covers.

When the grandchildren went to the Munk home to visit, Grandmother often treated them to red and white striped stick candy.

Often calls came for her to help when illness came to families.  She was glad to go and do what she could to relive pain and give comfort.

Their son Christian says that he never heard his parents speak a cross word to each other and if a decision was to be made they often slipped into the next room and talked it over until they both came to the same conclusion.

Grandfather says his wife faithfully helped him in every way and was a loyal companion.

Grandmother died at the age of 87 at the home of her son Ernest.  It had been her desire to live until the return from the Australian Mission of her son Christian and this was granted.

She had 42 grandchildren and 28 great grandchildren.  She was a consistent Latter day Saint and was loved and respected by all who knew her.  She died March 15, 1910