I'm Not From Montana...

...but if I were, I would want this quilt! I just finished this cute "row" quilt for a quilter who's entering it in an upcoming quilt show.
She is from Montana and each one of her friends made a row of this quilt.

I quilted it in a lovely Signature variegated thread. Don't you love this moose?

Although I am not from Montana, I was reminded of my great grandfather who worked in a silver mine in Anaconda, Montana in the 1890's. He's pictured below, standing in the doorway on the left. My great grandmother is seated in the center. This looks like a hard life. They worked for my great grandfather's wealthy brother who owned the mine. You'd think he'd put them up in better accomodations. Wait, maybe these were the best accomodoations!
Now here's a crazy coincidence for you. My great grandfather was a friend of a man name George Washington Love. He worked in that mine too! George Washington Love was my husband's great, great, granduncle! Here they are both pictured below. This picture was taken in Anaconda, Montana. Small world, don't you think? Yes, my ancestors and my husband's ancestors were friends. Of course, being some of the Mormon pioneers, they probably all knew each other! (don't you think my great grandfather, pictured on the left, was a handsome man?)Now, get back to work, Vivian!

Looking for Mary Jane

To continue yesterday's story...

With today's technology, there is so much family history information at your finger tips. With just a click of a mouse, you can find all kinds of stuff.
The LDS Church FamilySearch.org website is a great source and it's free! Another one I use, which requires an account is Ancestry.com. And Utah is what I call the 'genealogy capitol of the world.' So where was Mary Jane?

Did you know that if you want to find just about any grave in Utah, you can search here: Utah State Burials. Now Richmond, Utah is not the smallest town in Utah, but their cemetery records are NOT on that search engine! Our family records indicate that Mary Jane Brower was buried in Richmond, Utah, but I wanted to verify it.

Well, wouldn't you know it? The beginning of Aug. I knew I was going to be in Logan, Utah with Daughter #1 at her Sweetheart's Family Reunion. And wouldn't you know it, Richmond, Utah is just a few miles north of Logan. I asked Daughter #1 if she would take me up to Richmond to go hunting for Mary Jane's headstone in the cemetery. Daughter #1 was a good sport about it. (believe me, this wasn't the first time I've asked one of my kids to go hunting in a cemetery!)
Richmond is a small, quiet town. Here are some pictures I took as we drove around looking for the cemetery. By the way, a drive around town takes about 5 minutes!Check out the picture below. I thought this was so funny! I thought this was someone's pet. It's a sheep! A sheep was tied up in someone's front yard! No need to get out the lawnmower!

We finally found the cemetery! We got there and walked all around that cemetery for an hour and never found Mary Jane's headstone. Daughter #1 and I searched and searched. Below is Daughter #1 doing her "detective work." (I think she was imagining she was on CSI!)We talked to a gardener who said the only index and map of the cemetery was at the City Hall. Wouldn't you know it? They were closed! When I got home, I did more research on the city of Richmond, Utah. I also searched the Internet for any more records on the Brower family. Then I called the Richmond City Hall and asked if they could direct me to website with an index of their cemetery records.

"Sorry," the lady said. "We're not on the Internet."

Then I asked, "So could you email me an index?"

"Sorry," the lady said again." "We can't do that. We don't really have a list. Our cemetery records are on index cards."

She asked who I was looking for and she could look it up. I said, "Thanks anyway. The next time I'm up there, I'm coming in to your office. What are your hours?"

I couldn't believe it. A card catalog? What? Wasn't this Utah? Wasn't this the "genealogy capitol of the world?" Ok, below is not a picture of the lady at City Hall. But it's who I imagined I was talking to!

In my research about Richmond, Utah, I learned that they had a 5.7 earthquake there in 1962 that caused some extensive damage. Check out this picture below. I found it in a news article about that earthquake. Look what happened to their cemetery! Could Mary Jane's headstone be one of those that's toppled over? I made another phone call to the woman at City Hall. (I think she may be their only employee.) I asked her if the headstones were repaired after their 1962 earthquake.

She said, "Oh, no...well, I hate to tell you, but the broken headstones are still stored in a shed."

Another shock! These people's headstones have been stored in a shed since 1962!

***

My next trip to Utah was over Labor Day weekend to attend a wedding in Twin Falls, Idaho. I flew to Salt Lake City, then stayed at Daughter #1's house. We had one morning free before we took off to Twin Falls, so I begged Daughter #1 to take me back to Richmond to visit the City Hall. The woman at the City Hall didn't look at all like I imagined. She was actually quite young and very nice and helpful. She looked up Mary Jane's records and told us where the headstone was located. Somehow we missed it. Isn't it beautiful? "Mary Jane H. Brower 1835-1915, Age 80 years."

Perhaps we were meant to miss it. After all, I would have never discovered more about her life. And by the way, I have contacted the Utah State History website and have asked them to contact Richmond, Utah and encourage them to get their records online! I'm also working on who to talk to about getting those headstones repaired too!

Look at what else I found. I found a picture of "Brother Brower." I will call him Brother Brower, too...just like Mary Jane did.

Thank you Daughter #1 for your help! You really were a great help. After all, it's your heritage!
Tomorrow...a picture of one of the most beautiful quilts. Time to put the genealogy away and get back to work.

Two Mysteries Solved

Have you ever done a mystery quilt? Well, here's one for you to enjoy. I quilted it for a lady who loved the fish fabric and wanted to incorporate into the quilt. I think this quilt turned out lovely.
Although afterwards, I thought, maybe I should have quilted a fish or two on it.
And here's a family history mystery I've been working on. It's about a woman in my husband's line named Mary Jane Humphreys. She was born in 1835 in Canada and as a young girl joined the Mormon church with her family. They traveled to across the border to the U.S. and lived in Nauvoo, IL. There, her parents died, leaving her and her sisters and a brother as orphans. She even knew Joseph Smith and family stories say that she told her grandchildren that he would push her and her sisters in a swing in Nauvoo.

Somehow the little girls made it to the Salt Lake valley. Their brother died along the trail. My husband's line actually comes through her sister Sarah Maria. However, I've been working on compiling records and pictures of the entire Humphreys family.

In 1854 Mary Jane became the sixth wife of Ariah Coats Brower. Her older sister Sarah Maria lived in Nephi, Utah, married to Andrew Love. My records indicate that Mary Jane and her large family lived in a home in Richmond, Utah until her death in 1915. In a life sketch I found about her I read the following...

"Mary Jane spoke of her husband as 'Brother Brower' and once asked by her granddaughter, 'Why do you call him by his first name, didn't you love him?' She told her, 'I respected Brother Brower, but I never knew love until my children were born and they are my love.' "

This just broke my heart and I have been searching for Mary Jane (at least her headstone) for quite sometime now. Last month I went to Richmond, Utah and I finally found Mary Jane's headstone. I thought it would be an easy task, but as you'll find out next time, it was harder than I thought.

Mary Jane Humphreys Brower, in her later years.
Her sister, Sarah Maria Humphreys Love, below, is my husband's great-great grandmother. Note: Both these women have such frowns. I've learned they had such hard lives, no wonder they frowned.

Times...They Are A Changin'

While visiting Utah last week, I saw many changes since the days I lived there...both in Salt Lake City and Provo. I attended Brigham Young University back in the days of Brigham Young himself. Just kidding! Anyway, these were the dorms I lived in pictured below. When I lived there I thought they were quite new and modern. Well, they've been torn down! I was shocked and saddened. My dorms got old! How did that happen?

Here's a picture below of U-Hall as I passed it last week. It's so sad. That's the hall I lived in.

When I attended BYU and went to the football games (of which I had no clue!) this was what the stadium looked like below. I thought it was beautiful and modern.

Well, they changed that too! Below is a picture of my BabyBoy standing next to a mural in the BYU Football office. This mural depicts a football game in the new stadium. The stadium is huge! They call it the Lavell Edwards Stadium.

Here's something that hasn't changed! Thank goodness they are still the BYU Cougars! Here's my BabyBoy goofing around with one of their cougars.

As I walked across campus, I saw so many buildings I had never seen before. Back in my day, this building wasn't even there. I remember visiting a fellow student in the building that was there before. He was studying Computer Technology, which was new and modern. His classroom looked much like this picture below. I thought it was awesome. I had never seen anything like it before! Data punch cards! We thought it was the wave of the future...now they are obsolete!

I was happy to see this old smoke stack hasn't been torn down yet. I used to walk by it everyday.

This science and chemistry building was still there. I can honestly tell you that I never once set foot in that building! I avoided science and chemistry!

And while I was at BYU, this building was just being constructed. Now it looks quite old. It's the Kimball tower.

In Salt Lake City, while I waited for my DH who was attending a meeting, I strolled around Temple Square. I thought, since I have some time to kill, I'll just go shopping. When we lived there, 25 years ago, there were two shopping malls downtown. Now they are both completely gone! And the first year we were married I worked in the audit department of a bank. I worked on the 19th floor of this tower in the center of this picture. What? There's no tower in the center of the picture? Where did it go? It's completely gone! Here's a picture of the tower being demolished. (I hope my old boss got out of there in time!)

I must admit...the following change didn't bother me so much. You see before moving to Los Angeles, some of my ancestors lived in this house in Salt Lake City. It's called the McCune mansion. Well, it has now been beautifully restored and is called the McCune-McCarthey Mansion. It is just beautiful! The home is 100 years old and has 21 rooms. It is reported to be haunted. I think all McCunes go to this house when they die. It's their heaven!

And lastly...here is a old pioneer log home on the grounds near Temple Square. It was lovingly restored and is on display near the Family History Library.

This is what it looked liked in the old days. These women look like quilters if you ask me! Weren't all women of that day quilters, though?

Notice the pretty quilts on display inside the log home?

Wait a minute! Check out the picture below. Is that a pioneer ghost in the mirror? No, it's just me! I guess I'm sort of a pioneer too! After all, I attended BYU with Brigham Young, right?!!!

All in a Machine Quilter's Day's Work

As a machine quilter, I get all kinds of quilts come through my studio door. I enhance them. I embellish them. I help finish them. Here's one I got a kick out of. I hope this puts a smile on your face too.

This is a "medallion" quilt. This customer really did a ton of piecing. Every row all around is something different. I got to do different freemotion quilting designs throughout. So much fun. This is the top.

Let's roll the quilt a little more and see more of her piecing.

Let's see what I did close up on one of the rows. Fun. Fun. Fun. (I'm not kidding! I'd rather do machine quilting than anything else!)

Let's roll it down a little more.

Wait a minute! Hold the presses! What is that in the center? What is the 'medallion' in this medallion quilt? Let's take a closer look.

Keep going....

Keep scrolling...

You're almost there...

Hey! Isn't that the "Mudflap Girl"? Do you need a closer look?

How about an even closer look and you can see how I quilted around her. No, I didn't quilt on her, just around her.

This quilt is for my customer's nephew. He's in his late 20's. She told him she would put whatever he wanted in the center of his quilt. As they were driving down the highway behind a semi-truck, he pointed and said, "That's what I want in the center of my quilt." And his dear aunt put exactly what he asked for in the center. The Mudflap Girl.

I wonder if my great-great grandmother, Ann Midgley McCune, professional quilter and weaver from England (later Nephi, Utah...pictured seated) ever saw such a quilt come through her studio.

Did they have "Mudflap Girl" mudflaps on wagons???

Have a great day! :)