Oda Juanita Larsen (1906-1993) 52 Ancestors #7

This week, in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge from Amy Johnson Crow, I've chosen to write about my paternal grandmother, Oda Juanita Larsen.

Oda Juanita Larsen (1906-1993)

Oda Juanita Larsen was born November 27, 1906 in Hyrum, Cache, Utah. She was the third child born to Ernest Andrew Larsen (Swedish heritage) and Anna Hansina Petrea Albretsen (born in Denmark). She had two older brothers (Garnel & Lavon) and seven younger siblings (Mabel, Melvina, Lloyd, Effie, Kathrine, Donna, and Ila Mae).

When Oda was only three weeks old, she had pneumonia and was very sick. The Elders administered to her and she recovered fully.

Grandma never liked her name. Oda was named for a Danish opera singer, and her middle name (Juanita) was for a girl in a novel that her mother had read.

Just before her 18th birthday, Oda and her nine brothers and sisters were sealed to their parents in the Logan LDS temple (November 14, 1923). That must have been quite a sight to see a beautiful family with ten children dressed in white to be sealed together in the temple that day.

Oda in her younger years

Oda worked as a telephone operator for several years at the telephone office in Hyrum, Utah. In 1932 she went to Logan to work as a telephone operator and stayed with her sister, Mabel and her husband, George.

Oda married Wendell Gayle Allen in the Logan LDS temple on November 29, 1933. They lived in a home on Center street in Hyrum east of the town square until 1952, when they moved two blocks south.

Grandma enjoyed going to the Logan LDS temple to do temple work. She recalls going to the temple with her mother-in-law (Margaret Nielsen Allen) and spending all day there, going through two sessions.

Oda and Wendell had five children (3 boys and two girls), all of whom are still living except for their eldest daughter (Gayle), who died in 2008.

Grandma was a quiet woman and never wanted to impose on anyone else. She never had a driver's license, and would always leave the driving to her husband or one of her children. She kept a diary, which contained very short entries on most days, but is fun to read. She also wrote a short life history, which contains a few more details and stories from her life.

In her later years, she had dementia and lived with her daughter, Gayle in West Valley, Utah. I remember that she would sometimes think my dad was her elder brother, Lavon.

I remember going to grandma's house in Hyrum and she would make really good homemade rolls. After dinner, she would often say "Did you get what you could eat?". When it got to be late at night, she would say "It won't be this in the morning."

My grandmother Oda Juanita Larsen Allen passed away July 14, 1993 in West Valley City, Utah at the age of 86 and is buried in the Hyrum City cemetery.

Wendell Gayle Allen (1905-1985) 52 Ancestors #6

This is the sixth post in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. So far I've been focusing on ancestors on my mother's side of the family. I'm going to be a lot more systematic about my writing from now on. This week, I've chosen to write about my paternal grandfather, Wendell Gayle Allen.

Wendell Gayle Allen (1905-1985)

Wendell Gayle Allen was the second of four boys born to Albert Silas Allen and Margaret Maria Nielsen. He was born September 14th, 1905 in Hyrum, Cache, Utah. I share a birthday with him and he was very proud that I was born on his birthday. I am also his eldest grandchild. Wendell had an elder brother (Merlin) and two younger brothers (Alton and Clain), both of whom died of pneumonia in childhood.

I don't know much about Wendell's childhood, but it must have been hard on him and his family to see his younger brothers get sick with pneumonia and die. Andrew Thale Allen (age 2) passed away in 1911 (Wendell was 6), and Alton Clain Allen passed away in 1921 at the age of 9 (Wendell was 15).

Grandpa's elder brother, Merlin, never married. He would often come over to see us when we came to visit grandpa Allen. I remember he always used to bring soda pop for us. I always liked to drink a bottle of Sprite that Merlin had brought us at grandpa's house. I remember that Grandpa and Merlin seemed to argue a lot. Merlin picked up some bad habits (alcohol) in the service, but I didn't know about it until recently. Merlin operated a gas station in Hyrum at one time, and my dad tells me about a time that he worked for him and saw him very drunk. This is a side of him I never saw. I do remember that his house was very cluttered and full of junk, and that he used to swear a lot (damn and hell).

Grandpa Allen was quite different from Merlin and maybe that's why I remember them arguing a lot. Grandpa was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints all his life. He served a mission to Germany. I don't know much about his mission, but I do remember that I loved the cuckoo clock at his house. I assume this came from Germany. It had a little bird that came out and would "cuckoo" every hour on the hour. It looked something like this:

Here's a picture of Grandpa Allen as a young man, probably about the age of a missionary:

After grandpa returned home from his mission, he married Oda Juanita Larsen November 29, 1933 at the age of 28 in the Logan, Utah LDS temple. Wendell and Oda had three boys and two girls, all of whom are still living except his eldest daughter (Gayle), who passed away in 2008.

Grandpa was a manager over custodians at Utah State University and he operated the sewage treatment plant at Bushnell Military Hospital (later the Intermountain Indian School) in Brigham City, Utah. He was also a temple worker in the Logan, Utah LDS temple.

One thing I remember about grandpa as a child was that he would firmly grab my leg above the knee and say "You've got a stick of wood!". He would also take his grandkids on his knee and bounce them and sing the "Hansa Dansa" song. I think this came from Denmark (through Grandma's family), but I remember him singing it.

He would also do this thing with our toes. He would grab each toe one by one (calling them by name) "Icky Pee, Penny Rue, Rudy Whistle, Mary Hostle, and Old Tom Bumble." Then he would do the toes on the other foot like this: "Tom a Tot, Slick a Pot, Long a Mon, Gulabron, and littly bitty Spielamon" (perhaps this was German?).

Grandpa had a nice home in Hyrum with a big wrap-around porch. He had a large yard and a big garden. I remember grandpa liked to watch the Lawrence Welk Show on TV (I could never understand why). I actually lived in grandpa's house one summer as I was attending summer term at Utah State University before I was married.

I remember going up to Hyrum with my dad to help mow the lawn in his later years (lots of grass to mow). Grandpa passed away at the age of 79 on March 17, 1985 (St. Patrick's Day). I was a senior in high school at the time. He is buried in the Hyrum City Cemetery.

Oda and Wendell Allen

Ellen Elizabeth Croxford Ashton (1848-1932) 52 Ancestors #5

Ellen Elizabeth Croxford

For this week in the 52 Ancestors Challenge, I've chosen to write about my 3rd great grandmother, Ellen Elizabeth Croxford. Ellen (or Nellie, as she was also known) was born December 22nd 1848 in Kingston, Oxfordshire, England to William Croxford and Ellen Loader. Ellen was the eldest of her siblings (Arabella, Estella, Ernest, and William).

Ellen's parents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in England in 1854 and as a 6-year old, Ellen and her parents emigrated to New York in 1856 on the ship John J Boyd. The family eventually made the trek westward to Utah in 1862 with the James Wareham Company.

Ten years later on February 6, 1866, Ellen married William Ashton in Pleasant Grove, Utah. William and Ellen lived in a home that William had built for her in Pleasant Grove (the historic Ashton-Driggs home, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places).  Six children were born to William and Nellie in this home (Kate Maria, Leslie, William Stanley, Lynne, Reece Llewellyn, and Grace Ellen) before the home was sold in 1880 to Olivia Pratt Driggs, the eldest daughter of mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt.

Ashton-Driggs home in May, 2012. Built by William Ashton in 1865.

It's interesting to note that I worked in Pleasant Grove for about two years in the late 1990's and I had no idea that William Ashton had built this historic house just a couple blocks away from where I was working.

In 1880 the Ashton family moved to Ashley Valley (now Vernal, Utah), where the Ashtons became prominent pioneer settlers.

William and Nellie had three more children in Vernal: Ethelyn, Clarence, and Winnie Hazel.

After William's death in 1909, Ellen moved to Los Angeles to live with her daughter, Hazel (Ashton) Robinson. Two other daughters (Ethelyn (Ashton) Smith and Kate (Ashton) Brown) also lived near their mother in the Los Angeles area.

Ellen passed away at the age of 84 on November 24, 1932 at the home of her daughter, Hazel in Los Angeles. She is buried in the Inglewood cemetery in Los Angeles.

Final resting spot for Ellen Elizabeth Croxford Ashton in Los Angeles

From Ellen's obituary published in the Vernal Express:

The deceased fitted in well with the early pioneer conditions and was always helpful to her scattered neighbors in their times of stress. She became active in church and other activities along with her many duties as wife and mother. Her one great desire was to see an honorable family reared, which she successfully accomplished. Her pleasing personality won for her many friends among all classes of people.