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

Young Birda in photos

The following are a handful of photos of Birda Lewis Merkley when she was still pretty young.

Photos are all from the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak.

Birda Lewis

Birda and brother-in-law, Harold Hullinger

Birda Lewis Merkley, 1921-22

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

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

Birda and Jennie

Birda was the 2nd to youngest in her family, with Jennie being the youngest.  As the tail end of a long line of kids, these two got along famously, and were very dear to each other.

"Jennie and Birda Lewis"
From personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

"Birda Lewis, Jennie Lewis, George Fisher, and unknown-
on way to Dinosaur National Monument, 1916"
From personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

"Jennie and Birda with branches, Feb 1968"
From personal albums of Bryce Merkley

Asher and Birda as babes

The following are photos of Asher and Birda as little tiny kids.

(Aww, cute....)

From the personal albums of Bryce Merkley.

Little Asher Merkley

"Birda Lewis about 1900"

Asher & Birda serve a mission

Asher and Birda Merkley served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Texas from 1963-1965.

Photo from the personal albums of Bryce Merkley

Newspaper notice:

SOURCE: Vernal Express 1962, Dec 27, p.4

Newspaper notice transcribed:

Missionary Farewell Testimonial Sunday for Asher & Birda Merkley

Asher and Birda Lewis Merkley will be honored at a missionary farewell testimonial at Vernal's 5th Ward Chapel, Sunday at 5 p.m.

Opening prayer will be offered by their son, Douglas L. Merkley.  Speakers will be Harold E. Hullinger, President Wm. B. Wallis and LaMond Tullis.  A response will be given by the missionaries, Asher and Birda Merkley.

Special musical numbers will include a duet by Tamera and Edwin Hacking, and an organ solo will be played by Mable Stagg.  A duet will be sung by Pat Stewart and Virginia Hacking.

Mr. and Mrs. Merkley have worked in the LDS Church for many years.  They both have served stake missions.

Mrs. Merkley has worked with the children in Primary, Sunday School and Mutual.  She has also been in a stake capacity.

Mr. Merkley has worked mainly with the young men in the priesthood.

The Merkleys will enter the Mission Home January 7.  Their mission address will be Texas Mission 5514 Caroline Street, Houston 4, Texas.

Texas mission photo, taken 8 Jan 1963
Asher and Birda are on 3rd row, 7th and 8th from right
Photo from the personal albums of Bryce Merkley

The following are a handful of letters Birda wrote home to her family, from various dates.  I include them here because they may be of interest to her posterity, but because they are personal letters, I am not transcribing them.  Click on the images for a better look at them, and good luck reading them as her writing has faded a bit and scanning could only pick up so much.  You can zoom in a little, but it takes some work to decipher the text.  From these letters I learned that Asher was called to be a Bishop while serving in Texas, something I would not have known otherwise... so preserving these letters has proved valuable, and I'm glad to have them here.
All letters come from the personal albums of Bryce Merkley.

Asher & Birda on 14 Nov 1965
(after their missionary service)
Photo from personal albums of Bryce Merkley

Asher & Birda Honeymoon

AMAZINGLY, photos exist of Asher & Birda's honeymoon... or, at least they're alleged photos of their honeymoon outing as some of them are dated 28 July 1920, and they didn't officially get married until 2 Aug 1920... but what do I know?  Maybe that's how they did it last century, or maybe they were dated wrong.

Either way, these are of the same timeframe of when they were young and blissfully in love.

News clip:

SOURCE: Vernal Express 1920, Aug 6, p8

News clip transcribed:
"Asher Merkley, one of the popular members of the younger social set was married to Birdie Lewis, another of Vernal's younger crowd last week.  The happy couple are spending their honeymoon in the new-style, 'back to nature' way at the lakes of Old Baldy."

All photos are from the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak.

The following is an excerpt story from their son Bryce's memoir, "Some Remembrances of My Mother", written May 2001:

"...They decided to go to the “Ballies” for their honeymoon.  The following information came from J. Clive Davis...  J. Clive was dating Jennie Lewis who later became Jennie Hullinger.  Asher, Birda, J. Clive and Jennie loaded up pack horses and riding horses and started for the “Ballies” to fish.  After arriving there and fishing for a couple of days, Asher came to Clive and asked him if some different sleeping arrangements couldn’t be worked out.  The men had been sleeping together and so had the women.  Asher decided that it was time to work out some other arrangement..."

These next two I'm assuming are from the same trip (based on the clothing similarities),

but I wasn't aware that more than four were on this trip together....

maybe they tagged along at the beginning or end?

Either way, I don't know who they all are, but you CAN pick out Birda in the white dress.

(Birda on far left)