Ronald Soren Creer

Ronald Soren

Born: May 26, 1915 in Spanish Fork, Utah

Died: August 26, 1995 in Spanish Fork, Utah

Parents: Charles Cannon and Mary Margaret Peterson Creer

Married: Beth Rose on March 24, 1936

Children: Ronald Deloy, Vera Beth, Charles Albert, Joyce Ann, Richard Lynn, Douglas Ray, Curtis Duane, Shawna Lee, Craig Rose

Relationship to Me: Great Grandfather (Creer Branch)

Ronald Soren (left)
and brother Harold Mark

Ronald was the 11th and last child born to Charles and Mary, and his birth came as quite a shock to some of his siblings. as his sister, Clara, wrote in 1988: "No one knew mother was expecting another baby...As far as I know she confided in no one and so it was with complete surprise and perfect delight that Ronald Soren was born into the family." Mary had suffered a debilitating injury some years prior, causing her to gain considerable weight. This fact, coupled with the idea that pregnancy was not something often talked about in those days, led to the "surprise" birth. All the girls in the family competed to see who would take care of him. Typically it was Alvera who got home from school first, so she spent the most time caring for little Ronald. Alvera thought, though, that Ronald was too formal a name for such a sweet baby, so she began calling him Bonnie. This nickname stuck with him for the rest of his life.

Ronald Soren and nephew Ledru

When Bonnie was 11 years old Mary Margaret died of heart failure and the task of raising him was left to his father, Charles. By this time all of the Creer sisters had married and moved away, and although they all had offered to raise Bonnie, Charles insisted. Eventually his older brother Harold came back home to help with the family farm. The great depression was in full swing, and Charles' health made farming a challenge.

Ronald Soren and children, Joyce Ann
and Ronald Deloy

Bonnie attended school in Spanish Fork. He married Beth Rose in 1936, and soon after their first son was born, Ronald Deloy. Beth and Bon had nine children, although only 5 would survive to adulthood. Vera Beth, Shawna Lee and Craig Rose were all stillborn or died shortly after birth. Charles Albert died in 1943, when he was three and a half years old, from complications of German measles. Bonnie build a home in Leland, and another in Spanish Fork.

Ronald Soren with brother in law
Stewart Mason

Like his father and grandfather, Bonnie made his living primarily from farming and ran his own farm for a number of years. He also drove truck for Premium Oil for a time, in order to supplement his income.

Ronald Soren and Beth

He and Beth enjoyed camping and fishing. They held many callings in the church. One of their favorite programs to help out with was the Boy Scouts. In 1986 Beth and Bon celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary, eight months after the birth of their first great grandchild.

Ronald Soren's 80th Birthday
Back Row L-R: Joan Krebs Creer, Joyce Ann, Curtis Duane,
Judy Henline Creer, Karolyn Searles Creer
Front Row L-R: Ronald Deloy, Ronald Soren, Beth,
Richard Lynn, Douglas Ray

In 1995 Bonnie celebrated his 80th birthday. All of his children, and many of his grand- and great-grandchildren attended a party in the park across the street from the house where he was born, and where his brother Harold still lived. Shortly thereafter, though, he fell ill. In August of 1995 Bonnie passed away, leaving behind his sweetheart of nearly 60 years.

L-R Harold, Clara, Ann, and Ronald Soren
In the background is one of the great mirrors hanging
in Harold and Laura's house

Now comes the fun part. I was lucky enough to have known my great grandfather, and was born when a few of his siblings were still alive. Aunt Cal (Clara), Aunt Ann (Elizabeth) and Uncle Harold were all still alive when I was growing up, although I can only recall ever meeting Uncle Harold and his wife Laura. I visited their home a few times, the home that my great-great-grandfather built, and I remember playing under the huge pine trees in the yard with my cousins. I went inside once, and in the front room was a great mirror hanging on the wall. Aunt Laura told me very cryptically that if I looked into the mirror I could see my family's future as well as its past. As I child I took this to mean that the mirror was magic, like in a storybook, but now that I'm older I understand that she was talking about the history of the house and its aged inhabitants being viewed in the same mirror as the family's youngest generation. I still hold a spark of hope that the mirror was magic, though. Aunt Ann and Aunt Cal I never met, but the family always boasted many creative skills that they possessed, such as china painting. I always wanted to go to their house so that they could teach me how to paint china, but this never came to pass.

Me, with my great grandpa

My earliest recollection of great grandpa is before I was old enough to go to school. He and great grandma drank coffee in the morning and tea at night. I remember that on this particular evening they fixed a cup of tea for me as well, so I was able to share a cup of tea with my great grandparents. Grandpa had a piggy bank shaped like a butler, and the platter the butler was holding read "retirement fund." I always begged my mother to give me a coin to put in the bank, which brought a smile to grandpa's face. He had a big orange metal desk that looked like a cabinet when you closed it up. This is where he kept his important papers, and I was forever being scolded for getting into grandpa's desk, looking for papers to color on. In the TV room was a lamp that had Model A and Model T cars on it, and great grandma told me that grandpa owned a Model A car just like the one on the lamp. In the mornings grandpa would dress in the bedroom before coming out to sit at the dining room table to put his shoes on while he drank his coffee. He sang You're the Cream in My Coffee while he did this, but modified the words to better fit the situation. "You're the cream in my coffee, you're the lace in my shoe." When he and great grandma lived in their little brick house in Spanish Fork, grandpa granted my brother and myself access to his workshop (something that seldom happened, as far as I'm aware) so that we could make toy boats to sail down the irrigation ditch that ran in front of the house. After he passed away we continued to make boats, and when our parents told us to stop we insisted that it was okay because grandpa had said so. He owned a brown and tan pickup truck which he had driven as far back as I could remember, and likely longer than I was alive. The pickup had mudflaps featuring Yosemite Sam which read "Back Off." He found those mudflaps to be quite amusing indeed.

Ellen Mary Carter Bone

William Stockdale & Granddaughter
Ellen Mary Carter Bone

  Born: January 24, 1837 in Plymouth, England

  Died: November 12, 1915 in Kaysville, Utah

  Parents: Edwin J and Mary Ann Stockdale Carter

  Married: William Henry Bone on August, 10 1854                    in Kennford, England

  Children: Ellen Mary, Rhoda Jane, William James,   Francis, Emma, Thomas Henry, Alice, Clara,           Florence, Clarence, Annie, Richard Edwin

  Overland Travel Company: Milo Andrus 1861

  Relationship to Me: 3rd Great Grandmother             (Bone Branch)

Ellen Mary was the fourth of six children born to Edwin and Mary Ann. In 1842, when Ellen was about 4 years old, her father died unexpectedly in a mining accident leaving Mary Ann to care for their five children alone. (Ellen Mary had an older sister who was also named Ellen, but she died in infancy.) Her mother worked hard and made many sacrifices to care for her children and make sure that their needs were met. In 1845 Mary Ann married James Martin and the couple had a son that they named James. A few years later James Sr died and Mary Ann was left alone again, but this time her children were older and were able to help support the family. In 1851 the family was introduced to the gospel of the LDS Church, and soon after Mary Ann was baptized.

In 1856 Ellen met and married William Henry Bone. A few months after, the couple were baptized and confirmed in the LDS Church. A daughter, Ellen Mary, was born to them and soon after they set sail for America. They stopped first in New York, where two more children were born. Once they had saved enough money to continue on, the family pressed forward, traveling by train as far as Florence, Nebraska. Here, they purchased a wagon, oxen, and a handcart. They joined the Milo Andrus Company and began their journey to Zion. Ellen, her brother James, and her mother Mary Ann pushed the handcart, while William and the little girls alternated walking and riding in the wagon. Due to a debilitating childhood injury, William was only able to walk a short distance at a time.

The family arrived in Salt Lake City on September 12, 1861 and settled in Kaysville, where Ellen's two sisters, Jane and Mary Ann, were living. Eventually the couple homesteaded land in Layton and purchased a farm in Kaysville.

Like most pioneer women Ellen put forth a great deal of effort to see to it that her family was taken care of. The following is an excerpt from her life story written by her granddaughter Alberta Streeper:

"A fireplace was built in one end of the large living room where Ellen baked bread in a Dutch oven by heaping hot embers over and around it. She preserved potawatomi plums in molasses, gathered service berries (pronounced service), wild currants, greens, (lambs tongue), sego roots, and in the spring made a tonic of various herbs to cleanse the blood from winter. A small bag of asafetida was worn around the neck to ward off disease. All clothes were made by hand, tiny stitches made by her nimble fingers, a work of art, all were washed by hand on a washboard, a wooden frame around corrugated metal that stood in the tub, soap was rubbed onto the clothes and the clothes rubbed up and down on the corrugated metal.
Large ticks were made of denim and filled with straw or corn husks for mattresses. She tore inch wide strips of cloth from worn out clothing, sewed the ends together, wound them into one pound balls, had them woven into yard wide strips which she sewed together making a carpet for the floors. She, as nearly all pioneer women, was very industrious, making their homes as pleasant as their means and provisions could provide."

William Bone's Funeral
Ellen Mary Carter Bone is Seated

Ellen also kept beautiful flower gardens, and an orchard. There was a well in the yard which was open for use to anyone needing a drink. She kept a vegetable garden, even in her older years.

In November of 1915 Ellen fell ill with pneumonia and passed away in her home. She was buried next to William, who had passed 15 years before her.

George Graham

Born: December 14, 1847 in Thurnscoe, England

Died: 1877

Parents: Richard and Mary Woodcock Graham

Married: Ann Briggs on December 11, 1873 in Salina, Utah

Children: George William, James Richard

Overland Trail Company: Captain Ansel P. Harmon Company Left Florence, Nebraska in May 1862.

Relationship to Me: 3rd Great Grandfather (Graham Branch)

Second of 5 children born to Richard and Mary Woodcock Graham. Information on George has been very difficult to find. He came to Utah with his parents in 1862, but his mother died before reaching Zion, somewhere near the Utah/Wyoming border He married Ann Briggs in Salina on December 11, 1873 and their first son, George William was born the following year. In 1875 George's brother Richard was the first settler in Milburn, UT which is very near Fairview. George and his brother John soon followed. His second son James was born in 1876. The following year George passed away. I have not been able to find an exact date or cause for his death. Neither have I found a picture. It was stated in one of the documents I read while doing research that there is no known photo of him remaining today.

Charles Henry Hales

Born: On June 17, 1817 in Rainham, Kent, England

Died: On July 1, 1889 in Spanish Fork, Utah County, Utah

Parents: Stephen and Mary Ann Hales

Married: Julia Ann Lockwood on October 31, 1939. Frances Elizabeth Almira Brunyer on October 31, 1856. (This was a plural marriage.)

Children by Julia Ann Lockwood: George Gillett, John Taylor, Harriet Elizabeth, Maria Josephine, Stephen Fredrick, Joseph Lockwood, Charles Henry, Mary Isabell, Julia Ardena, Eliza Ann, Jonathan Hyrum, William Parley

Children by Frances Elisabeth Almira Brunyer: Lucy Elmina, James Lawrence, Alma Charles, Caroline Elmira, Franklin Henry, Harmon Brunyer, Edward Moroni, Joseph Mathew, Richard Smith, Sarah Jane, Hannah Permelia, Daniel Wells, Mary Ann

Relationship to Me: 3rd Great Grandfather (Hales Branch)

Charles was born in Rainham, England, the eldest of nine children born to Stephen and Mary Ann Hales. Growing up he and his family were members of the Church of England. He came to Canada with his family in 1832. His father, Stephen, was shoe and boot maker, and taught him to do the same. When he was 15 he was allowed to choose his own trade. Since being a boot maker did not interest him, he took up farming.

Upon hearing the gospel and being moved by it, Charles was baptized into the LDS faith in 1836 by Parley P. Pratt. In 1838 he sold the farm and began moving with the saints. He came to Huntsville, Missouri and stayed there for a time, working to earn money to push westward toward Zion. This is where he met Julia Ann Lockwood. Once he had moved to Quincy, Illinois he married Julia on "the last day of October 1839." She was just 15 years old.

In 1840 they moved to Nauvoo and Charles immediately joined a brass band. He and the band played at many local events, including a great number of building dedications for the ever-growing church.

He and his family arrived in Salt Lake City in 1852. He also chose October 31 to marry his second wife, Frances Brunyer in 1856.The family moved to Spanish Fork in 1858 and upon arrival were very poor. At that time their poverty was so great that they struggled even to feed and clothe their family. Eventually Charles became a prominent builder and farmer. He and Julia were members of the Spanish Fork Choir for a number of years. Additionally, he held offices and civic duties for the city of Spanish Fork.  Altogether there were 15 Hales children, and, despite the family's hardships, all of them survived to adulthood.

Spanish Fork Choir

James Briggs

Born: August 1828 in England

Died: 1877 between Fairview and Salina, Sevier County, Utah

Married: Hannah Smith on June 10, 1850 in Manchester, England

Children: William, Ann, Sarah, John, Eliza, Robert, James

Relationship to Me: 4th Great Grandfather (Graham Branch)

Information on James Briggs has been quite difficult to find. I have not yet found an exact birth date for him, nor have I found the names of his parents. He married Hannah Smith in 1850, and together the two had seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood. It seems as though he and his family made the journey from England to Utah sometime in the early 1870's. This time frame makes immigration and emigration information difficult to obtain, since after the railroad reached Utah in 1868, records were no longer as meticulously kept about who had emigrated to the territory. He, Hannah, and their children, lived in Fairview. In 1877 there was a drought and James set out for Salina in search of water to bring back to his family. Somewhere between the two towns he had died on the road. Some passersby discovered his body and buried it along the roadside.

Daniel Graves

Born: March 18, 1806 in Yarmouth, England

Died: October 17, 1892 in Provo, Utah

Parents: Daniel and Mary Blanchflower Graves

Married: Elizabeth Sarah Baker on May 6, 1827. She passed away in 1838. Married Mary Newman on August 7, 1840.

Children by Elizabeth: Elizabeth Ursula, Edward, William, Jane Eliza, Isebel, Joseph, Robert, Marie Ann, James

Children by Mary: Joshua, Mary Ann, Lehi Moroni, Joseph Nephi, Henry Edward, Elizabeth Sarah, Ebenezer, Daniel Robert, Charlotte Maria, Alma

Overland Trail Company: Charles A Harper Company. Departed from Mormon Grove, Kansas July 25, 1855. Arrived in Salt Lake October 28, 1855.

Relationship to Me: 4th Great Grandfather (Rose Branch)

Finding information on Daniel Graves prior to him joining the LDS Church has been somewhat problematic for me, as most of the information I am finding has to do with he and Mary converting to the faith, their journey to Zion, and the events that took place after they arrived in Utah. Here is what I have come to learn so far.

Daniel was the 4th of 5 children born to Daniel and Mary Blanchflower Graves, and appears to be one of only two who survived to adulthood, the other being Anna Maria Graves Eastick. He first married Elizabeth Sarah Baker. To them nine children were born, of whom two survived to adulthood: Elizabeth Ursula and Jane Eliza. His wife Elizabeth Sarah passed away in 1838, and I have been unable to find any information about her.  Next Daniel married Mary Newman. They had ten children, six of whom survived to adulthood: Henry Edward, Daniel Robert, Charlotte Maude, Joseph Nephi, Alma, and Joshua. Mary Ann and Lehi Moroni died during an outbreak of small pox in England. Elizabeth Sarah died while crossing the plains. She fell from the wagon and the wheel passed over her head, killing her instantly. Ebenezer was born on the plains, and died in infancy while the family was living in Provo.

Daniel and the children were baptized into the LDS Church in December 1849, about a year and a half after Mary was baptized. On April 19, 1855 they sailed for America on the ship "Geminicus" as part of a company of 100. They left St Louis with Wagons and oxen, then joined the Charles A Harper company in Nebraska. On October 28, 1855 Daniel and Mary arrived in Salt Lake City, and soon after moved to Provo. In Provo, Daniel opened one of the first dance halls.

Daniel was educated to be a school teacher, and was a talented artist. He had beautiful penmanship and was skilled in drawing with pen and ink. In 1851 he won a medal at the World's Fair in London for a pen and ink sketch entitled "Life of Christ." He was very interested in agriculture and was one of the first to get on board with the growing of mulberry trees in Utah, in order to raise silk worms. Using silk from his worms, he had a fine silk vest made for himself. He became so proficient at this agricultural endeavor that he wrote a pamphlet to teach beginners how to raise silk worms, and gave lectures all around the state. On his property he grew walnut trees, and used the wood from them to make beautiful caskets for Mary and himself. In 1859 he organized the Utah County branch of the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society. In 1868 he propagated grapes and was quite pleased to show Brigham Young the vineyard he had planted in soil that was otherwise considered to be useless. In 1869 Daniel was elected as secretary of the Utah Agricultural and Manufacturing Society. He and Mary celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1890. Two years later, Daniel passed away.

Daniel and Mary's 50th Wedding Anniversary

Mary Woodcock Graham

Born: March 10, 1820 in Darfield, Yorkshire, England

Died: September 11, 1862 near Casper, Wyoming

Parents: George and Rebecca Harrison Woodcock

Married: Richard Graham Sr. on October 5, 1841

Children: Elizabeth, George, John, Richard Jr, Rebecca

Relationship to Me: 4th Great Grandmother (Graham Branch)

Mary was the third of eight children born to George and Rebecca Harrison Woodcock. Mary and Richard were married in England and joined the LDS Church there. They left England bound for Utah on May 14, 1862 on the ship "William Tapscott" along with their five children. They arrived in New York and traveled by train as far as Florence, Nebraska. From here they joined the Ansel P. Harmon Company. During their journey across the plains their company was plagued by many illnesses, including measles, and many lives were lost. Among them was Mary, who died near Casper, Wyoming.