Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Grandmother Merkley's home

Keturah Merkley was Asher's mother.

The following are photos of her home in later years and the surrounding garden, which many of her grandchildren speak fondly of.

The following excerpt comes from the history of Keturah P Merkley, a written document found in the personal albums of Sarah Nielsen (written by Sarah Nielsen):
"... Nelson died April 18, 1924, in the old home in Ashley Valley.  In a year or two Kate and Ellen moved into town (Vernal) to a home Kate had had built.  They lived there until 1940 when they moved to Heber..."

The following excerpt comes from the written document, "Memories of Birda L Merkley" (p2) written by Bryce Merkley and found in the personal albums of Bryce Merkley, regarding the building of this home:
"... Upon Nelson Jr.'s death, Keturah continued living in her home for a while.  Asher had decided to build a new home for Birda.  They had chosen a location at about 1000 West Main Street.  They had hauled in cobble rock to build a foundation and had logged lumber out of the mountains and had them sawed into "sawed logs" which meant they used solid timber to form the walls for the house.  About this time Nelson Jr. passed away and so the family decided that Asher should take over the farm, the homestead, and the "sawed logs" should be taken to a site at 141 West 1st South in Vernal to build Keturah a new home...."

"Grandmother Merkley's Home, Vernal, Utah"
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak
"1931"
Back states: "Merkley home in Vernal after grandfather's death"
From the personal albums of Sarah Nielsen
"Grandmother Merkley's Home" (and garden)
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak
"1933"
Back states: "L-R Dorothy Ann Whitbeck, Carolyn Sander, Kathleen Merkley, June Sander-
in Grandmother Merkley's flower garden"
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak
"Kate, Ellen, and bunch of kids, 1936"
From the personal albums of Ellen Fletcher
"Sander girls at Diamond Mountain-
Buffy with Carolyn in front, Kathryn with June in front"
From the personal albums of Jane Haugsoen
*Due to the amount of vegetation, I doubt this was taken at Diamond Mtn
but instead taken from Keturah's flower garden.
"LEFT Buffie with Carolyn in front, Kathryn with June in front"
Appears to be on side property of Keutrah's home
From the personal albums of Shannon Andersen
"Keturah's home in Vernal"
From the personal albums of Delores Horton

3 comments:

  1. Wow, I LOVE the photo of the girls in the flowers! That is such a great shot!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Did you ask Lois Chatfield about the girls?
    She might know.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lois Chatfield could give you lots of information about this family.
    Have you done work to trace this back to Kate's ancestor Jacob Broom?

    ReplyDelete