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

Lewis homestead in photos

The following are photos of the Lewis homestead, where Birda's parents (Siney Sr and Elizabeth) lived.  To my understanding they lived in this area for about 30 years, roughly from the 1900s-1930s.
These photos are from the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak

"Lewis Home in Glines, UT area
Elizabeth front left, Jennie and Birda on porch, Crystal, Siney Sr"

"Lewis home in Glines area,
about 2500 W 800 S, Vernal, UT"

Merkley Homestead

Asher Merkley grew up on his family's homestead in Vernal, UT.

Many photos exist at varying times of this property, including those that follow here.

They are from the personal albums of David Ahrnsbrak unless otherwise stated.

This house was likely built in two phases, as was customary for frontier living.
The image directly below is your basic two-room home: a public room for entertaining (i.e. a living room) and a private room (the family bedroom), and when time and expenses allowed, the house was usually added onto in the back (with an indoor kitchen, bedrooms, and eventually an indoor bathroom.)
In THIS case, the addition portion became the front of the house over time, which is why this first photo does not match the other shots of the homestead that follow it.

"Merkley farm homestead-
Nelson Sr seated far left, Nelson Jr seated on right of door"
Very likely Keturah and their oldest children surrounding Nelson Jr
(kids are likely baby Helen, Ellis, and Ezra)
Other people are likely descendants of Nelson Sr who lived nearby

"Merkley homestead- likely: Nelson Jr, Ezra, Helen, Ellis, Keturah holding Mary?"
From personal albums of Delores Horton

"Merkley homestead"
From personal albums of Lois Chatfield
Little girls unknown, but likely family?

"Merkley homestead"

"Merkley homestead backyard and granary-
Keturah coming out of shed"

"Asher and his dog- 1916"

"Nelson Merkley Jr homestead"
Pretty sure that's Margret (Asher's sister) on the right
and likely Helen or Mary on the left.

"Debris from tree that was 35 years old-
Merkley homestead- taken by Asher"

"Merkley homestead"
From the personal albums of Doug Merkley

"Merkley Homestead"
A painting done by David Ahrnsbrak
Owned by the family of Jane Haugsoen
(Further details are included on the back of the painting,
but I didn't want to include them here for privacy reasons)

"Merkley homestead in 2012"
(From the same perspective as very first photo)
Taken by me on a reconnaissance mission in 2012
With my own son modeling for scale