More Diamond Mountain photos

The following are additional photos of the Diamond Mountain homestead I have not yet posted.

1926- Diamond Mountain Homestead
Isabrand Sander, Margret M Hanson, Asher, Mary M Sander, Birda holding son,
FRONT Virginia Merkley looking at her mother
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

Asher and Ray/Roy Merkley, 1929
Diamond Mountain and dog, Six
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

1931- Buffie Hatch and Virginia Merkley on Calico
up at Diamond Mountain.
From the personal albums of Tamera Lund

"Asher on the way with sheep to Diamond Mountain,
May 22, 1936"
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

Asher with nieces and nephews at Diamond Mountain
(Aird Merkley is recognized on far right)
From the personal albums of Tamera Lund

Homesteading on Diamond Mountain
Sander girls in photo
From the personal albums of Shannon Andersen

"Keturah's Diamond Mountain Cabin"
(Likely grown Sanders girls and Virginia M Hacking, 2nd from right)
From the personal albums of Tamera Lund

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

Nelson Jr & Keturah with group of youth photo

The following is a photo of what appears to be a youth group convened on the property of Nelson Jr and Keturah's home in Vernal, UT.

Most of these are unfortunately unidentified, but it appears to be dated around 1909, based on costume clues and ages of those identified.

Youth gathering at Merkley homestead
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

Those that I CAN identify belong to the Merkley family, off on the far right by the tree, and social butterfly Erza Merkley in the very center back row where the white sheet drapes down to the right.

Here's a zoomed in version of those that I can identify:

From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

BACK: Nelson Merkley Jr

Mary Merkley just in front of him with Keturah Merkley between her and the tree

Margret Merkley in front of them with Asher Merkley next to her and leaning against the tree.

And this is a shot in the dark, but I'd say that fellow directly in front of Margret Merkley with the hat on looks an awful lot like Franklin Lewis, Asher's future brother-in-law.  I might be wrong, but then again he did live in the area and was a youth at that time, comparable in age to Asher's older brother, Ezra.

Family Summary- Nelson Merkley Jr & Keturah Thurman Peterson

The following is a brief summary for the family union of:

Nelson Merkley Jr.

and

Keturah Thurman Peterson

Nelson Merkley Jr.
b. 24 Mar 1857- Carson Valley, Nevada, to Nelson Merkley Sr and Sarah Jane Sanders Merkley
d. 18 Apr 1924- Vernal, Uintah, Utah

Keturah "Kate" Thurman Peterson
b. 8 Oct 1867- Hart Co, Kentucky, to Mary Elizabeth Thurman (and adopted by Peter Peterson)*
d. 2 May 1950- Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Nelson Merkley Jr. married "Kate" Peterson on 9 Jun 1884 in Vernal, Uintah, Utah (later solemnized in the Logan temple in Logan, Cache, Utah in 1889)*


Born to this union were the following:

Ellis Merkley
b. 2 May 1885- Vernal, Uintah, Utah
m. 17 Jun 1908- Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah to Jean Eleanor Gerber
d. 22 Mar 1976- Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Ezra Thurman Merkley
b. 23 Sept 1887- Vernal, Uintah, Utah
m. 15 Nov 1913- Vernal, Uintah, Utah to Alice Hacking
d. 18 Jan 1919- Vernal, Uintah, Utah

Helen Merkley
b. 9 Apr 1890- Vernal, Uintah, Utah
m. 29 Jun 1910- Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah to Byron Owen Colton
d. 22 Oct 1961- Roosevelt, Duchesne, Utah

Milton Merkley
b. 30 Apr 1893- ASSUMED Vernal, Uintah, Utah*
d. 9 May 1893- ASSUMED Vernal, Uintah, Utah*

Sarah Merkley
b. 20 Apr 1894- ASSUMED Vernal, Uintah, Utah*
d. 30 Apr 1894- ASSUMED Vernal, Uintah, Utah*

Mary Elizabeth Merkley
b. 25 Aug 1896- Vernal, Uintah, Utah
m. 6 Sept 1917- Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah to Isabrand Sander Jr.
d. 24 Oct 1974- Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Asher Merkley
b. 19 Jul 1899- Vernal, Uintah, Utah
m. 2 Aug 1920- Vernal, Uintah, Utah to Birda Lewis
d. 14 Feb 1974- Vernal, Uintah, Utah

Margaret Jane Merkley
b. 14 Apr 1902- Vernal, Uintah, Utah
m. 28 Apr 1927- Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah to Rulon Kershaw Hansen
d. 13 Mar 1989- Monroeville City, Allegheny, Pennsylvania (buried in SLC, UT)

Kate Merkley
b. 27 Nov 1907- Vernal, Uintah, Utah
d. 27 Nov 1907- Vernal, Uintah, Utah (stillborn)

Nelson Merkley Jr and Kate P Merkley family
Asher, Margret, Ezra, Mary, Nelson Jr, Kate, Ellis, Helen
From the personal albums of Lois Chatfield

Confirming documents for dates and places on all of these family members can be found within the posts on this blog.

*Visual copies of documentation for these life events have not yet been found.  Dates are based on family histories, newspaper clippings (such as obituaries), and database searches on familysearch.org that all seem to agree on or refer to the same dates and locations.

Asher and little kids

It's been told that Asher was fond of kids and would often take breaks from his jobs around the farm to wrestle with them or load them all up on a horse or help them bait a hook.  

The following photos show Asher in some capacity with some of the little people he loved.

"Asher on Merkley Farm with small nephew, Colton"
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

"Asher holding son Bryce on his blessing day,
Virginia holding her doll, ice house in background, 1934"
From personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

"Asher helping child to a drink"
From personal albums of Bryce Merkley

Asher and an unknown girl
From personal albums of Tamera Lund

"Asher with granddaughter, Maureen"
From personal albums of Tamera Lund

"Asher with grandson, Rob"
From the personal albums of Tamera Lund

"Asher and great-granddaughter, Erika, 1 May 1971"
From personal albums of Tamera Lund

Nelson Jr and Keturah Merkley family photos

 The following are a series of photos taken of Asher's parents and their siblings probably around the year 1916.

Nelson Merkley Jr & Keturah Peterson Merkley family
From the personal albums of Lois Chatfield

Enlarged version of photo above
BACK: Asher, Ezra, Nelson Jr, Ellis
FRONT: Margret, Mary, Keturah, Helen
From the personal albums of Lois Chatfield
Also found in albums of Tamera Lund

Nelson & Keturah Merkley extending family
BACK: Ezra & Alice, Ellis, Asher, Jean, Nelson Jr & Keturah, Byron Colton holding Merrill, Helen
FRONT Lorna, Aird, baby Thurman, Harold, Mary Elizabeth Merkley, Ruth Colton standing, Margret Merkley, Lula Colton standing.
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak
Also found in albums of Bryce Merkley and Delores Horton

"Ruth Colton, Harold M, Aird M, Thurman M, Lula Colton, Merrill Colton, Lorna Merkley (Ezra's daughter) about 1916"
From the personal albums of Delores Horton

Lula Colton blocking Harold M, Ruth Colton, Aird M with baby Thurman M, Lorna M, Merrill Colton
Grandchildren of Nelson Jr and Keturah Merkley
From the personal albums of Delores Horton

Photos of some of Birda's siblings when in youth

The following are photos of some of Birda's siblings in their younger days.

"Some Lewis siblings- Mary, Charlie, Georgia, Frank"
From the personal albums of Bryce Merkley

"Charlie Lewis standing, unknown seated"
From the personal albums of Patty Stewart

"Green River Swimming-
Likely Jennie far left, Asher next to her, Charlie standing,
Mary with arm around husband Charles Hatch,
children and other man far left unknown"
From the personal albums of Glen Hatch

"Birda, Frank and wife Frances, little Virginia with the doll"
From the personal albums of Tamera Lund

"Frank Lewis in his store, maybe 1930s"
From personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

"Siney Lewis Jr working in confectionery shop, maybe 1918"
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

Nelson Merkley Jr and company

Nelson Merkley Jr was Asher's father.

The following are a handful of photos of Nelson Jr in various situations.

"Nelson Jr, Byron Colton with
Merrill Colton in front, Asher Merkley"
From the personal albums of Sarah Nielsen

"Nelson Jr and a steer"
From the personal albums of Sarah Nielsen

"Nelson Merkley Jr in the snow"
From the personal albums of Lois Chatfield,
Also from albums of Delores Horton

"Charlie and Nelson Jr- brothers"
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

"Margret Merkley, little Ellen Murray, Nelson Jr, about 1921"
From the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak
(This was posted earlier, but I couldn't resist a repost)

Older Asher and Birda

The following are photos of Asher and Birda in their later years:

"Asher and Birda 1949 Mother's Day"
From personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

"Asher and Birda"
From personal albums of Doug Merkley

"Birda and Asher closeup"
From personal albums of Doug Merkley
(We also get part of their son Bryce's head in this shot)
*This may have been cropped from a larger image...

"Birda and Asher by side of house"
From personal albums of Bryce Merkley

"Asher and Birda by tree"
From personal albums of Bryce Merkley

Asher the hunter

Asher Merkley was quite the sportsman.

The following are photos of him after hunting expeditions.

"Asher and hunting party"
(Asher on front left, seated)
From personal albums of Doug Merkley

Asher with a bear
From the personal albums of Bryce Merkley

Asher with deer and bear- likely around 1947
From the personal albums of Bryce Merkley

Hunters with bear- perhaps son Doug on top left,
Asher bottom right- others unknown
From the personal albums of Bryce Merkley