Lessons I learned from My Fathers Personal History

I was rereading my father's, Thomas Burgess Slade, personal history and realized that there are a lot of life lessons for his descendants in this history. So I though I would share some of these lessons:

Tom Slade as a Boy

Lesson 1: Make Friends with Your Enemies

After his family moved to Durango Tom was about 12 years old. He spent a lot of time on a horse guiding herds through town and taking prospectors out to their claims. He tells about some trouble he ended up in. "There was a couple of brothers ... who had it in for me because they wanted an old motor my father had and he wouldn't give it to them. One time they tried to steal it and I noticed them and told father & he turned them in, so they didn't like me and every chance they had they would gang up on me and give me a licking, so every time I was on a horse and caught them out I would rope them and drag then around for awhile. This went on for quite a while but finally we became friends and I sure was glad because I believe I was getting the worst of the deal."

Lesson 2: Don't Mock the Teacher 

Old Schoolhouse similar to one in Kline

"I attended the first four grades of school at Kline and enjoyed the small school house very much. We only had two teachers for the eight grades. One day during the morning recess we were mocking the teacher just outside of the building and she happened to overhear us and became very mad and expelled all of us and sent us home. My father happened to be home when I arrived and after a good spanking I went right back to school again and along with the rest of the boys we told the teacher we were sorry and all was forgiven."

Lesson 3: Surround yourself with Family

"When mother was alive she and dad used to spend the winters with me and all the kids living within driving distance would come and spend weekends at my house. This was enjoyed by all." Note that my father had 6 sisters and they were all married. Only one of his sisters lived outside the driving distance and that was his sister Clara that lived in Los Angeles, CA, so I expect my father had a very full house on many weekends. During this time my dad was single and 33-38 years old so it could have been a very lonesome time for him but instead he surrounded himself with family. 

Lesson 4: To be happy, marry a "Mormon Girl"

"In 1946 I met Hazel Bowman and in April of 1947 we were married at Phoenix Ariz. We were married only a year and divorced. We were just not meant for each other. I think our main troubles was that she didn't belong to any church and when I tried to keep active that brought up an argument. I made up my mind then and there if I ever married again it would be to a Mormon girl." 6 years later Tom met Dorothy Haws and they were married and lived happily every after.

The full Personal History of Thomas Burgess Slade is located on FamilySearch.org and can be read at Thomas Burgess Slade Personal History

Jane Ann Coles (pt3) Immigration and Life in the United States

Jane Ann Coles

    When we last spoke of Jane Ann Coles, it was 1890 and she husband Thomas had decided to immigrate to Utah. The death of their son Joseph and the realization that their sons would be stuck in the coal mines had alot to do with their decision to immigrate. Jane and Thomas worked for two years to save enough money for the trip.
    Thomas, and sons William (age 13), John (age 11) and possibly Thomas Henry (age 8) worked in the coal mines. They also had money sent to them by missionaries they knew who had returned home to Utah. Cost per person for steerage for the voyage to New York was between $25 and $30, which was a couple of weeks pay for a coal miner. $25 in 1892 is like $625 today. So for Thomas, Jane and five children the total cost would have been $4,375.
    The trip from Ynysybwl, Wales to Liverpool was 122 miles as the crow flies, or 216 miles taking today's roads. Then the Evans family boarded the Passenger Ship Nevada, which departed Liverpool, England on Aug. 27, 1892. The voyage to New York took 10 days. Their arrival in New York had some issues which Thomas explained in his history and shown below.
    "We arrived there on Thursday Night, Sept. 6th at 8 oclock. We thought to land on Wenesday [sic] Morning, but ware disipointed [sic] for when the Docter [sic] Came on Board he informed us that we could not Land. There was some German Ships in the Harbour that had Cholera on board...”

Passenger Ship Wyoming that was very similar to the Nevada

    After 12 days in the harbor, they were taken to Fire Island for five days. From the Passenger List we see that the Evans family of two adults and six children had 3 pieces of baggage. They really took very little with them as they had very little.

    After going through immigration on Fire Island they rode a train all the way to Utah, arriving on Thursday, Sept. 27, 1892. In Salt Lake City, they lived with David R. Gill for a few days. They found a house at a brick yard on Eight South and Third West. The whole family was rebaptized on Nov. 7, 1872, which was a common practice at the time. Thomas and Jane's family lived in Salt Lake City for about a year but could not find stable employment. When Brigham Young found out that Jane's husband Thomas had been a coal miner in Wales, he sent the family to the San Juan area of New Mexico to open up the coal mines there, according to a family story. They left Salt Lake City on Aug. 24, 1893, and arrived in Fruitland, New Mexico on Sept. 4, 1893. Thomas was the first white man to mine in that area. Thomas, Jane and their family lived and worked in the San Juan area for six years from 1893-1899.
    In 1899, Jane Ann, who had been suffering from congestive heart failure since living in Wales, was getting weaker. Jane wanted to go to the temple and have her family sealed to her before she died. When they were last in Utah upon arriving in from Wales, the Salt Lake Temple was not yet completed so they did not do their temple work at that time. For the journey to Salt Lake City, they made a bed for Jane in a small wagon, which was pulled by their only horse. They had no money so they walked each day until they would come to a community where they would do any work they could find until they could get enough food and supplies to make it to the next community. They cooked over a campfire and slept on the ground. They did this until they made it to Salt Lake City, a journey of about 400 miles. They arrived in June 1899, and they would have found a city that looked somewhat like the picture below.

   On June 28, 1899, they went to the Salt Lake Temple; Jane and Thomas went through the temple and had their family sealed for time and all eternity. This includes Joseph, their infant son who died in Wales. It would have been in a sealing room that looked something like the picture to the right.
    Jane wanted a remembrance of this special occasion so her family bought her a plate with a picture of the Salt Lake Temple on it. The plate would have looked something like the plate shown on the left.
    After the temple they returned to New Mexico the same way the traveled to Salt Lake City, walking and working. Jane died a couple of years later on Oct. 29, 1902 in Fruitland, New Mexico. She was 47 years old. Her husband Thomas lived another 39 years and he never remarried. It was obvious that he was still in love with Jane. There was only one picture of Jane which only shows her as a young woman. Thomas described his wife Jane as tall and lovely. Thomas carried the picture of Jane in his key wound watch. When he would show the picture to his grandchildren he would tell them it was his wife in a way that impressed them of his love for Jane.

Relationship Chart

Other Posts on Jane Ann Coles
    Jane Ann Coles (pt1) The Early Years
    Jane Ann Coles (pt2) Married Life in Wales

Sources/Notes:
1. A Biography of Thomas Evans by Richard P. Evans (1973).
2. List of Passengers is from the Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island foundation website http://www.ellisisland.org/
3. Jane Ann's Temple Plate, Story on familysearch.org.

Pictures:
Passenger Ship Nevada picture from www.immigrantships.net/v2/1800v2/wyoming18720422_1.html
Salt Lake City in 1910 Panorama from World Digital Library wdl.org
Salt Lake City Temple Sealing room from http://www.moroni10.com/LDS/Temple_Tour Antique Salt Lake Temple plate from picClick.com

Harrison Burgess' Doubts and Visions

Recently I was visiting with my niece Hannah and she told me that she had learned something interesting about our ancestor Harrison Burgess. This story was found in the personal history[1] written by Harrison Burgess. In this history he relates the following about his conversion

"I was born Sept. 3rd, 1814 in the town of Putnam, Washington County, State of New York. I lived with you [my] parents until I was 14 years and a part of the time afterward and being the oldest of my Father’s Family I was kept constantly at work and had but little opportunity of acquiring an education. My father made no profession of religion but led a moral and virtuous life. My childhood was not marked with any crime although I paid but little or no attention to religion until the 17th year of my age. In July 1832, when I first heard the fullness of the Gospel proclaimed by Elder Simeon Carter. At this time I was convinced that the Scriptures were true and that the Book Of Mormon was a divine Revelation from heaven. I was baptized by Elder John J. Carter and confirmed a member in the Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints by Elder Orson Pratt. I spent the following winter in going to School, and working for my board and in meets [meetings] with the Saints." 

Harrison was called to serve missions preaching the gospel and in his personal history he recounts the following experience which shows the power that the adversary can have on all of us

"In the spring of 1833 I started in company with Brother John L. Carter to the State of Vermont. We came to the Benson Branch where I was ordained a Priest under the hands of Br. Carter with whom I continued to travel and preach for about two months in the state of Vermont. We then returned to the state of New York.
"On the 3rd Sabbath in May while speaking to a congregation I declared that I knew the Book of Mormon to be true and the work of God. The next day while I was laboring in the ----------something seemed to whisper to me, “Do you know the Book of Mormon is true?” My mind became perplexed and darkened and I was so tormented in Spirit that I left my work and retired into the woods. The misery and distress that I there experienced cannot be described. The tempter all the while seemed to say, “Do you know the Book of Mormon is true?”

Upon reading this account I was amazed at the power that the adversary has to darken our mind if we let him. Harrison continues telling his experience in his personal history

"I remained in this situation about two hours. At last it came into my mind the faith that the Brother of Jared had in obtaining knowledge of God for himself, and others also. I resolved to know whether I had proclaimed the truth or not, and commenced praying to the God of heaven, for a testimony of these things. When all at once the vision of my mind was opened, and a glorious personage clothed in white stood before me and exhibited to my view the plates, from which the Book of Mormon was taken."

Harrison was able to overcome his doubt's when he chose to pray. He never again doubted his testimony and served as a bold witness of the truth.

Sources
1. Sketch of the life of Harrison Burgess, the son of William and Vilate Burgess, Harrison Burgess, Date unknown

Memories of My Father Thomas Burgess Slade

Tom in his early 20s

Tom as a boy

Tom in his 60s

    

Dad as an Arizona Bushmaster

My father served with the Arizona Bushmasters prior to and during WWII. He developed close relationships with those that he served. I have included some statements from my father’s personal journal about his time serving in WW2.

“My Regiment was sent on several missions on different islands yet all the time we were slowly moving in the direction of the Philippines. I spent three years oversees and with the exception of my panama time and the five weeks in Australia I was in a combat zone and under combat conditions most of the time. I was never wounded although I was in a great deal of bombings and had men killed all around me. It would seem that I was protected at all times by someone who considered me worth saving. 

“I came back to the states on rotation the last of 1944 and was sent to Florida for 6 months to train new men. I received an honorable discharge at El Paso in July 1945.

"A great deal could be said regarding the war but in order to forget some of the awful memory’s and tragic things that happened I will merely say, I did my duty to my country and I think I did a good job.”

This proud Arizona National Guard unit, the 158th Infantry (Bushmasters), organized as theArizona Volunteer Infantry, had its motto, "Cuidado" -- Take Care.

For more information about the 158th Infantry (the Bushmasters) unit that he served in see 
http://www.history.army.mil/html/topics/hispam/bushmasters.html
I remember my mother telling me that a couple of times my dad tried to go to a Bushmaster reunion. He never actually made it to the reunion. Before he would arrive he would struggle with the memories and not be able to follow through and go. I cannot imagine what kind of horrors he must have experienced during WW2 fighting in the South Pacific. He must have been a very strong man. He was able to overcome the PTSD issues to work and make a living, raise a family and serve as a bishop. The people he served loved him which is a testimony to how good a man he was.

2014
Dad Did Not Camp
When I was a kid my dad did not go camping. We as a family did not camp but a few times when we were at family reunions we camped but my father would wait until it was time to go to bed and drive back into town. I did not understand this at the time but I have come to understand that most likely camping in the outdoors at night was probably an issue with his experiences fighting in WWII. According to my mother he struggled with memories of the War and his buddies that he fought and died with him. As the condition called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is understood more we learn that that there are triggers that bring on Stress and Anxiety and so I am fairly sure that this was why he did not camp with us.
I remember reading from Dad’s personal history that as a boy when his family moved to Durango he guided trackers and herded sheep both of which would have included camping. He made it sound in his personal history like he really enjoyed this time in Durango.

Wooden Tops Like Dad Played With

Dad's Toy Top
I made a connection today, Feb 2015, about my dad and why he had a toy top that he liked to show us. It was a crude piece of wood shaped like a top and a coarse string would be wrapped around it in a certain way and then it would be thrown and sent spinning. It is very difficult to successfully get it to stay standing when you throw it.  When I was in Panama or Honduras I saw the children using these tops and even bought one from them and tried to learn to spin them.  That was back in the 1990s that I obtained the top. However, it was not until this past week that I realized where my Father got his top and learned how to use it. It would have been when he was in Panama in 1942 while training in Jungle Warfare and guarding the Canal before going to Australia to fight in the south pacific.

Rolls of Newspaper like we used to make

Rolling Newspapers with Dad
When I was a boy and teenager I remember working with my dad doing church welfare projects or projects to raise money for church budget or building funds. One thing that we did for many years was collect newspapers. We placed bins in trailer parks and would have to collect the newspapers every week or two. Sometimes we just added them to a trailer that the ward was collecting and then sold them to recycling companies. Other times we would unfold the newspapers and lay them flat and roll them into 20 pound rolls. These would be sold to businesses that paid more money than was paid for bulk newspapers. I remember doing this in the garage. We had these wooden machines that held the flattened newspapers and would tip when the weight got to 20 pounds. I can remember my dad doing this a lot and sometimes I would do it also. As I look back on my childhood my dad was a busy man and so it seemed like when I did get to spend time with him it was working on one of these service projects. These are some fond memories of working with my father.