Ellis & Jean postcards

Ellis was Asher's eldest brother.

Ellis Merkley
From the personal albums of Delores Horton, Aug 2012

A few postcards survive between Ellis and his special flame, Jean, when he was serving in the Southern States mission between 1906-1908.  

"Jean Gerber, 1908"
From the personal albums of Delores Horton, Aug 2012

The following are from the personal albums of of Delores Horton, scanned between Sept 2013- April 2014.  Some of the postcards are images of both the front and back of the card, scanned and arranged as a single image.  They have been transcribed below each image to the best of my ability, correcting spelling wherein I was aware.

Heber, June 11, 1906

Here I am in Heber.  Have come up to stay a week or two and then I am going home.  I am roaming so much I don't know when I'll get my mail but I'll write in a day or two.

Best wishes,

Jean

July 8, 1907 (2:30pm)

Dear Jean,

I am now in the depot at Chattanooga and have a few minutes to wait before our train leaves for Atlanta.  I drop you this card to let you know all is fine with me.  I have had a good time so far on my trip but find it hot as love in July.  I am very glad my labors are in Ohio.  I expect a letter to meet me in Atlanta so I will write you again soon.  If you see spots on this card it is sweat not tears so don't you cry.  Be good, keep smiling.

From one who often thinks of Jean

(Stamped: 3 Sept 1907)

Hello Ellis

Dear Ellis-

[Thought] you would like this picture.  Might be of interest to a Vernalite so far away.  I tell you this house is something to be proud of and we all feel thankful for it.  We are all quite well. [Mable?] is feeling pretty well today, in fact for a few days I [thought] I would write tonight but too many children to tend so will try tomorrow.  

With love,

Jean

(no written message, but dated around 1 Nov 1907, addressed to Jean, mailed from Ohio)

Maeser, Utah

Feb 18, 1908

Dear Ellis:

Yours of tenth reached me last night.  Delighted was I?  Well I guess yes.  So you really, truely, surely, intent to come home and that very soon?  You can rest assured that one little girl is having palpitation of the heart.

Wonder if this will reach you ere you depart?  Well if it does or if it don't I am doin' it.  I sorta want to address you at Cinti once again so here goes.

By the by, those valentines ha ha!  They are just too cute for any use.  Such unique affairs, and so expensive of a.. you know. 

I sincerely hope Bro. B. gets well immediately, for his sake for your sake, for my sake.  Don't you?

Say be we had [some] a jolly sleigh ride and dance, Leap Year.  We girls took the boys to a party.  The only regretful remorse was the aftermath occasioned by late hours, I mean early- 4:30 and on.  That isn't bad for Mutual Officers and Pres of Stake D.B. is it?

What if Bro. Bills doesn't get well son, that wicked 'if' makes me stand still often.

Sweetheart I am O so tired tonight so I'll not try to write more.  Remember I am just the same to you.  Will tell you all the stories of two years before many day now.

Lovingly Jean

XXXX

Where shall I send this?

Cincinnati, Ohio

Feb 28 '08

To the Girl I soon will meet

Dear Jean, In [haste] I write you these lines to let you know I soon will be on my way.  I am to go to Chicago on business on the first (Sunday) And will be there perhaps one day and then west I go.  I will likely have Chicago the second and go to Denver.  That will mean the night of the third I will get to Denver.  However this may be one day to fast.  Which I think it is.  I rather expect to get to Denver on the evening of the fourth.  That night if I catch my train out I will be able to get the 2 p.m. train on the Uintah over to Dragon.  Then the stage will bring me in to Vernal on the sixth.  Now I will try and let you know more [definite] so you can meet me if you wish to in the south side of the town.  If all goes well I may send you a wire from Dragon and you get Ezra to come with you to see that all goes well and meet me so I will not have to walk home from town.  By the way don't meet me in the city.  The poeple will think I want to take your life.  And may get me arrested for setting a bad example to the young people.  However I trust that will come out ok.  I am well and happy and hope to see you not long after you get this letter.  I am very busy and have now got to go and see Elder Bills [off] on the train to Columbus.  All are dandy.  I will explain more to you when I speak to you face to face.  Keep smiling and "May God Bless You".  Wishes to You From [Your] wandering sweetheart Who loves You Still, 

Ellis

XXXXX XXXXXX

Keturah's quilt

The following photos are of an inherited quilt with a history to it.

Apparently, this quilt came across the plains with Keturah Thurman Peterson as a young girl.  Her daughter, Mary M Sander, took this quilt off of Keturah's bed after she passed away and passed it down her family line.  Upon last inquiry, this quilt was in the possession of J. Haugosen.

Pretty, isn't it?

Doug and Rhea get together

Doug is the eldest son of Asher and Birda.

This video was put together rather hastily for a Christmas surprise this year.  I'd collected the photos and interview footage in previous months and years before, and I'd always MEANT to assemble something up this avenue, but never got around to it.  I'm glad I finally did.  :)

Doug & Rhea get together from Sare & Jamo on Vimeo.

Password hint:

What is the name of Doug & Rhea's baby of the family? 

(Caps sensitive)

Photos of Isabrand Sander

Isabrand Sander Jr. married Asher's sister, Mary, making them brothers-in-law.

The following are a few images of Isabrand when older that have not yet been posted.

From the personal albums of Shannon Andersen

From the personal albums of Jane Haugsoen

Mary Merkley photos in college

The following are a handful of photos of Mary Merkley when she was attending school in Provo.

"Siblings Mary and Ellis Merkley, outside a house in Provo, UT"
From the personal albums of Delores Horton

Mary Merkley and roommates
From the personal albums of Delores Horton

Written details on back of photo above
(names of all girls lined up)
From the same source as above

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

Merkley Mother's Day photo

"Mother's Day, 1918"
Keturah, Helen, Margret, Mary kneeling

Helen Merkley in photos

Helen Merkley Colton was one of Asher's sisters.

The following are a bunch of photos of her in her younger years that have not yet been posted.

All are from the personal albums of Sarah Nielsen.

Baby Helen Merkley

Younger Helen Merkley portrait

Helen Merkley portrait in oval

Helen Merkley portrait

Young Helen Merkley

Another young Helen Merkley

Helen Merkley by ivy

Ellis & Jean Merkley- 60 years together

Ellis Merkley was Asher's older brother.

Ellis and his wife, Jean, celebrated over 60 years of marriage- this post covers that hallmark.

Photos and documents are all from the personal albums of Delores Horton unless otherwise stated.  Articles are not transcribed, but can be read/examined by enlarging the article images.

Jean and Ellis

Anniversary Invitation:

*For some reason this image has decided to become blurry when posted.
For those interested in a better copy, please contact me...

Milestone article:

NO SOURCE- likely Deseret News or Salt Lake Tribune, 1968
Found in the personal albums of Delores Horton

 Anniversary notice:

SOURCE: Vernal Express 1968, Jun 27, p.10

"Ellis and Jean in their home, 60 years married"

"Jean and Ellis Merkley- 60th Wedding Anniversary, 1968"

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's seldom-mentioned siblings

Asher's parents, Nelson Merkley Jr and Keturah Peterson Merkley, were the parents to a total of nine children, only six of whom lived to adulthood.  Family records indicate names and dates of these additional children who did not live much more than a week, but other than family recollection there are not many legal records acknowledging their existence.

The following are the names and dates as recorded in a family group sheet done by their surviving sibling, Mary Elizabeth Merkley Sanders, a copy of which was found in the personal albums of Doug Merkley (and scanned therefrom):

Milton Merkley (male)

BIRTH: 30 Apr 1893- Vernal, Uintah, Utah

DEATH: 9 May 1893- ASSUMED Vernal, Uintah, Utah

Sarah Merkley (female)

BIRTH: 30 Apr 1894- Vernal, Uintah, Utah

DEATH: 30 Apr 1894- ASSUMED Vernal, Uintah, Utah

Kate Merkley (female)

BIRTH: 27 Nov 1906- Vernal, Uintah, Utah

DEATH: 27 Nov 1906- ASSUMED Vernal, Uintah, Utah

BUT, there are some questions here.

This family record also shows Milton and Sarah as being born on the SAME EXACT DAY one year apart.  The odds of that are highly unlikely, so are they ballpark dates?  Typos?  Death certificates weren't too common in Utah until around 1904, so this leaves us with a bit of a mystery...

An additional family record found in the personal albums of Sarah Nielsen (a descendant of Helen Merkley Colton- another surviving sibling of those in question) had these dates recorded in a written history on the life of Keturah P Merkley:

"... After Helen, born to them was Milton, 30 Apr 1893.  He died on 9 May 1893, two weeks later.  The next year, 20 April 1894, was born Sarah.  She died 30 Apr 1894, ten days later... Kate was born 29 Nov 1907 and died 27 Nov 1909..."

See how the dates from both records don't quite match?  Some coincide, others seem a bit off.  Typos would be my guess, but it's enough to throw research off if you're drawing from only ONE source, instead of multiples to cross reference everything.

The only information we have for sure for any of these children is found in the following death certificate of "Stillborn Merkley", which corresponds close enough with the information provided for Kate Merkley.

"Stillborn Merkley" i.e. Kate Merkley death certificate:

SOURCE: familysearch.org

In a most helpful manner, it indicates that the following is the most legitimate information for Kate is as follows:

 Kate Merkley

BIRTH: 27 Nov 1907- Vernal, Uintah, Utah

DEATH: 27 Nov, 1907- Vernal, Uintah, Utah

Another helpful clue in at least acknowledging the existence of Milton and Sarah can be found in the 1900 U.S. Census that lists Nelson and Keturah's family in the Vernal area.  Upon close inspection, questionnaire column #11 indicates the number of the mother's children as "7" and in column #12 the number of children living is indicated as "5".  Thus before 1900, two additional children were present but did not live very long.  They're not indicated by NAME, but it's close enough to me to make an educated conclusion that these represent Milton and Sarah.

1900 Census:

SOURCE: familysearch.org

And following up with that, we have the 1910 U.S. census that follows the same pattern.  Column #10 indicates that the number of children born was 9, and Column #11 indicates that the number now living is 6.  They are all thus accounted for, at least in number.

1910 Census:

SOURCE: familysearch.org