Part 5 of Grandma Birdean remembers Grandpa Joseph Stickney

Grandpa Stickney seemed to enjoy farming and that was his life.  He raised beautiful work horses and he kept them well groomed and well fed.  There were new colts and calves being born every spring, and everyone in the family had work to do.  Grandma and Grandpa - Annie and Leatha were twins, Leona, my mother, William, Ivan, Albert, Julius, Edna,  Sadie and Rowena.

My mother, Leona, had a great sense of humor.  How she managed to develop it is a mystery.  Everyone else in that family were stern and un-smiling.  Life was to be tolerated - not enjoyed!!

Mother told me that her mother did not like her, so she spent most of her time outside, working on the farm with Grandpa.  When thrashing season came, all the farmers helped each other in turn until all the wheat was thrashed and put in bins for winter.

Mother helped in the thrashing.  She lifted sacks of grain and carried them on her shoulder and and emptied them in the grainery for winter use.  She worked in the barns and on the farm doing the the work of a man.

Mother did not look like the rest of the family.  She favored Grandpa.  They both had coal black hair, while the rest of the family had brown hair.

Mother said Grandma did not like her, though she did everything she could to please her.  One day Mother and her sister Edna were arguing in the house.  Grandma hit Mother in the mouth, and knocked her front teeth loose.   Mother went down to the barn to wash away the blood in the water in the horses trough.  Grandpa came out of the barn and said " What happened "Leonie?"  She said, "Mother hit me."  Grandpa was angry.  He went in the house, and  confronted Grandma.  Mother did not know what was said but from then on Grandma made Mother's life miserable.

Mother started having young men noticing her at this time.  She was so pretty, with coal black hair and big brown eyes.

She was always smiling and she had a wonderful sense of humor.  One young man wanted to take her dancing, and after getting permission to go, she decided to make a new dress for the occasion.  She worked diligently at sewing a new outfit to be ready for the special night.

Some of the family made fun of her and said, "If your boyfriend sees how terrible that sewing is, he'll never take you out to dance again."

Mother turned the dress wrong side out and hung it on the front gate take sure he did see her stitches.  Now she was a young woman, she had dates and she did indeed go dancing.

This ends Grandma's remembrances of Grandpa Stickney

Part 4

My Grandpa Stickney had lived in Santaquin all his life.  He was a farmer.  He was a tall man with a sense of humor.  He had a lot of land that he farmed.  He planted a vegetable garden for Grandma and she took care of it, while he had many acres of wheat and oats and hay and pasture ground.  They had trees with every kind of fruit - (apples, peaches, pears, prunes, etc.)  They had cows which had to be taken care of.  After the milking, the girls in the family had to herd the cows to pasture for the day, and bring them home at night for milking.  They also had to feed the pigs, the young calves, the colts.  They had to work from early morning until after dark.  Farm life was a hard, tiring, necessary life.  Everyone in the family had a job to do every day.  Grandpa (Jody, we called him), said one time, "First thing I do when I get up in the morning is sit down and have myself a big long rest."

While Grandpa was still a young man, he married Leatha May Taylor.  Her family was from South Carolina.  Her father had been a soldier during the Civil War.  He had been severely wounded and left on the battlefield for dead.  He had crawled on his stomach and knees for many days, eating out of garbage cans and horse troughs and wherever he found anything at all edible.  He just barely kept himself alive until the war was over.  Then he brought his family to Utah, and settled in Payson.  I saw him once.  He was sitting in an arm chair with both hands closed over a cane that he held up in front of him.  He had an abundance of snow white hair, both on his head and his chin.  His beard hung nearly to his stomach, and it was combed and slightly curly.  His mustache was neatly trimmed and when he smiled his white teeth could be seen.  His wife, my great-grandma, stood behind his chair with her hand on the back of it.  She was a very stern, unhappy looking woman with white hair.  She was very thin and cross looking.  Her very hard life showed on her face.  She was my great-grandmother.  Her daughter, Leatha May Taylor was my grandmother.  She married Joseph Stickney and they lived in Santaquin, Utah.

Part 3

Grandpa told us about an accident that happened to his father during the days that this little settlement was trying to survive.  His father and another settler had up their horses and gone up Santaquin Canyon to get a load of logs for winter.  They cut down trees, trimmed off the smaller branches, and loaded the logs on their wagon and set out for home.  The road was not very wide, and the canyon walls were tall and steep.  Halfway down, out of the canyon,  a snowslide came down, burying horses and wagon and both men.  It was impossible to get them out until the snow melted enough so they could clear off the roads, and that didn't happen until spring.

Part 2

One day as Grandma was home alone (because Grandpa was working somewhere in his fields), she heard a noise outside the house, and before she could get to the door to open it, two burly, half naked Indians burst open the door and stood glaring at her.  Grandma had just baked a batch of bread and had barely taken it out of the oven and placed it on the kitchen table.  She was frightened but she grabbed two loaves of the hot bread and handed each Indian a loaf.  They looked at her in astonishment for a few minutes and then left.  Later she told Grandpa that it was better to feed them than try to outwit them.

Times were not easy for these early pioneers, and they were a united and brave bunch of settlers.

(She is in the picture that I posted last week.  She and the her husband are the old people in the front of the picture.  I'm most anxious that you see who the stories are about).

Grandpa Stickney

(This post is in the words of Birdean Fotheringham Duke, taken from her own writings.  It is rather lengthy.  Therfore, I will post it in parts.  Today is part 1).

My grandpa Stickney was a farmer.  He lived in Santaquin, Utah.  He lived there all his life.  His name was Joseph.  His mother (I think her name was Julia) was the post office operator.  He met and married Leatha May Taylor and they lived in Santaquin all their married lives.

Grandma's family came from South Carolina.  Her father had fought and been wounded in the Civil War, and when they came west they settled in Payson, Utah.  I saw this grandpa only once.  He was sitting in a chair and I stood and gazed at him.  He had an abundance of snow white hair and a long white beard.  This grandma stood by his side, very sober faced, and just looked at me and my mother.  I was not very old, but I can still recall how unhappy she looked.

My grandma (Leatha Taylor) was a short, stout, heavy set lady, while Grandpa was tall and thin.  Grandpa had a sly sense of humor.or, while Grandma was a very sober faced, demanding woman.

Grandpa used to tell us stories about Santaquin, and about how Santaquin got it's name.  He told us (his grandchildren) about an Indian encampment that used to be up the canyon, somewhere above the town.  The Indians seemed to be peaceful enough, and they were occasionally down in the town, so the people got used to seeing them.

Then one night, Chief Santaquin crawled on his hands and knees out of his encampment until he was out of sight of the Indians, and ran to the settlement and alerted the white settlers that the Indians were on the warpath.  When the Indians arrived in town, the town's people were armed and grouped, awaiting their arrival.  A massacre was averted and the town was saved.  The settlers were so grateful that their town, and the people were still there and all right, that they named the town after this brave and courageous Indian - thus Santaquin was now a town with an Indian name.

Grandpa Stickney

(This post is in the words of Birdean Fotheringham Duke, taken from her own writings.  It is rather lengthy.  Therfore, I will post it in parts.  Today is part 1).

My grandpa Stickney was a farmer.  He lived in Santaquin, Utah.  He lived there all his life.  His name was Joseph.  His mother (I think her name was Julia) was the post office operator.  He met and married Leatha May Taylor and they lived in Santaquin all their married lives.

Grandma's family came from South Carolina.  Her father had fought and been wounded in the Civil War, and when they came west they settled in Payson, Utah.  I saw this grandpa only once.  He was sitting in a chair and I stood and gazed at him.  He had an abundance of snow white hair and a long white beard.  This grandma stood by his side, very sober faced, and just looked at me and my mother.  I was not very old, but I can still recall how unhappy she looked.

My grandma (Leatha Taylor) was a short, stout, heavy set lady, while Grandpa was tall and thin.  Grandpa had a sly sense of humor.or, while Grandma was a very sober faced, demanding woman.

Grandpa used to tell us stories about Santaquin, and about how Santaquin got it's name.  He told us (his grandchildren) about an Indian encampment that used to be up the canyon, somewhere above the town.  The Indians seemed to be peaceful enough, and they were occasionally down in the town, so the people got used to seeing them.

Then one night, Chief Santaquin crawled on his hands and knees out of his encampment until he was out of sight of the Indians, and ran to the settlement and alerted the white settlers that the Indians were on the warpath.  When the Indians arrived in town, the town's people were armed and grouped, awaiting their arrival.  A massacre was averted and the town was saved.  The settlers were so grateful that their town, and the people were still there and all right, that they named the town after this brave and courageous Indian - thus Santaquin was now a town with an Indian name.

Who is this?