Elizabeth Wheeler Jones Lunnes

Some of the following was taken from an interview I had with my dad about his mother and some comes from her personal history.  Elizabeth Wheeler Jones Lunnen was my paternal grandmother.

     Elizabeth Wheeler Jones was born in Logan, Cache, Utah, United States on July 7, 1915.  She was the daughter and seventh child of John Parsons Jones and Juliette Wheeler.  She had two brothers, Harold and Veldon and four sisters Belva, Delsa, Juliette, and Elmira.  Beth, as her family called her, never knew Juliette and Elmira as they had died before she was born. 

     As a child Beth lived in Idaho and various places in Utah.

     Beth was a mild-mannered woman, very kind and loving.  She was even tempered and didn’t get angry very often.  She lived in a time where there were lots of physical hardships, at least compared to what we have today.  She had difficulties with her eyes growing up and as a result didn’t do very well in school.  She got her first pair of glasses when she was in the fourth grade. 

     Around June of 1931 she met Albert Lester Lunnen who was a good friend of her brother Veldon.  They dated for a while but didn’t go steady.  Times were tough the previous year as Beth’s father had died and they struggled to make ends meet.  It was especially difficult as the nation was in the midst of the Great Depression.  They lived on potatoes and fruit that they picked and canned themselves.  They made a living by washing and ironing the sheets for the nearby hospital.  They didn’t make much, but with help they were able to make do.

     When Beth was eighteen, she and Albert decided to marry and were sealed for time and all eternity on Friday the 13^th of October 1933 in the Salt Lake Temple.  Because Beth and Albert both were reared in homes where there wasn’t much money, they learned how to live on very little.  They lived on about 20 dollars a month with one quarter of that going for rent.

     In Oct 1934 Beth and Albert’s first child, a daughter was born.  They named her Shirley Joyce and called her Joyce.  About a year and a half later their first son was born and they named him John Edmund and called him Jack.  More children followed with a few miscarriages in between.  In April 1944 Beth was a single parent for some time as Albert went to serve in the Navy.  She had to take care of four children on her own.

     After their fifth child was born, Beth’s mother came to live with them.  She was in failing health and was having dreams of her husband and two daughters that died when they were very little.  Not long after she moved in, she passed away.  Jack remembers her talking about the new breakfast cereals and saying how it was like eating wind.  Then in November of the next year Albert’s mother moved in with them.  This was a very stressful time as the little children made her nervous.  It probably didn’t help that she was confined to a wheel chair as she had had both legs amputated.

     It was just after her mother died that Beth’s health started to fail.  She was frequently sick and struggled to care for her children.  She did the best she could.

     About 1951 is when the family moved to a little town in Montana, called Heron.  The previous year had driven through the area and fell in love with the place.  Beth’s brother Harold had moved there and so they tagged along.  They were really roughing it as there was no indoor plumbing to the house.  Jack remembers on time when his dad had to go to the outhouse. He heard something moving in there, so he got flashlight and discovered a porcupine up on the seat. He thought he would lasso it and drag it out and release it. So he lassoed it and in the struggle, the porcupine fell down the hole. So his dad got the 22 rifle and shot it. 

     In June of 1971 Beth suffered a stroke that almost completely paralyzed her.  One day when Jack was visiting her shortly before she passed away, she smiled at him.  To him this said that she loved him and was proud of him. 

      Elizabeth Wheeler Jones Lunnen was a kindhearted woman and leaves a legacy of love to her children, grandchildren and all those following after.

Faith

There's a favorite Primary song that deals with faith.  It compares it to a seed and when planted, grows.  This hymn also states that faith is knowing that the sun will rise in the morning.  I think that sometimes even when we know something, it still takes faith to keep on believing that it will continue happening.  Take a seed for instance.  When we plant a seed in rich soil, tend it by watering it, pull the weeds when necessary, we have faith that it will grow.  Sometimes though even with the tender care given, the seed doesn't blossom.  It could because the seed is too old or something else is wrong with it.  Instead of giving up, we keep trying.  We take another seed and tend to it as carefully as the first.  Again, this may have the same result as the first seed, but it might not.  When we have faith we keep trying.  This occurs frequently when searching for ancestors.  Sometimes we find things in our search and sometimes we don't.  Just because we don't find something we give up.  Instead we try looking in a different spot or try a different type of record.  In other words we keep going.  This is what it means to me to have faith, to keep going even when it seems like I'm going nowhere.

Juliette Wheeler Jones (events remembered by her son Veldon Jones)

Juliette Wheeler Jones is my paternal great grandmother.  The original transcript has the date of Mary Elizabeth's death as 1979, but I have changed that since I feel it is a typo.
Contributed By jennibrighton1 · 2013-10-31 21:41:40 GMT+0000 (UTC) · 0 Comments

(transcribed from what was typewritten by/for Veldon Wheeler Jones. A few notes are added by me [Jenni] in brackets for clarification.) Juliette Wheeler Jones--some additional events in her life that are remembered by her son, Veldon John Jay Wheeler, Juliette's father, had fought all through the Civil War and had contracted consumption. His poor health made him decide to go to a warmer climate, so in 1877 or 1878 he took his family to Texas. On the fourth of May, 1878, Mary Elizabeth, Juliette's younger sister, was born. She lived for a year and was laid to rest on the 8th of June 1879. The warmer climate didn't seem to help John's health and on February 3, 1880 he passed away. Eliza Ann, Juliette's mother, eventually accepted the proposal of a friend of her husband, Jesse Mantonio. He was a gambler and mean to his wife and daughter. He once beat little Juliette with a stick with a nail in it, and that was about all she could remember of him five years later. In Reinback, Iowa Juliette found to girl friends, Bertha Marble and Cora Starrett, who became her pals. They were together as much as possible. When they were about 18 years old Cora cut her hand one night and died from lockjaw [tetanus] a few days later. The L.D.S. Missionaries had been to the Bistline and other homes in the community and Juliette and her uncle became interested but wouldn't join without coming to Utah to investigate thoroughly. It was on the 24th of December 1897 that Juliette and her uncle arrived in Ogden, Utah. One of the missionaries who had visited the folks in Iowa was a clerk from Liberty, just outside of Ogden, and Juliette went there and stayed for about six weeks helping with a new baby. The following probably took place in the log cabin [which Juliette and her husband John built when first married] and I am going to relate it as I remember Mother telling it to me, as she didn't write about it in her history. One night John's sister was staying with John and Juliette, so John slept on the couch in the kitchen and left his bed for his sister. During the night he awoke and saw a person standing in the doorway between the two rooms. Thinking it was his wife and something was wrong, he called to her. She didn't answer so he called again, and then a third time. Then she vanished. By that time Juliette was awake and came to see what was wrong. John told her, but there was nothing to do but go back to bed. A few days later John, Juliette, and John's sister were looking at some pictures when one picture came into view. John said, "That's her, that's the person I saw in the doorway the other night." It was a picture of Cora Starrett. The next time they saw Patriarch Larkins they told him about the experience and he advised them to do the temple work for Cora as soon as they could. This they did. This sojourn in Idaho was the winter of 1918-1919, the year the flu raged so much. The whole family had it, but John was the only one who received any ill effects from it. He never regained his health completely. No matter where they lived John & Juliette kept busy in the church and as the children grew they participated in church activities and all were happy in Church service. After they moved to South Cottonwood Ward near Murray, John's health began to fail fast. After two years in South Cottonwood Ward the family moved to a farm in North Point, a place Northwest of Salt Lake City. That winter John lay at death's door for three months and some times there was no food in the house and no fuel except wood, which Juliette and Beth could scrape out of the snow. It was only the goodness of the Lord through the neighbors that gave them what food they had for they were snowed in most of the winter.

History of William Parsons Jones

Contributed By JensenAnnC1 · 2013-10-25 22:45:05 GMT+0000 (UTC) · 0 Comments

HISTORY OF WILLIAM PARSONS JONES William Parsons Jones married Elizabeth Shaw on February 25, 1858, while he was on furlough from service in the Utah Militia, which at the time was assigned to protect the Mormon settlements from the approaching US forces under General Johnson, in what history has come to call the “Utah War.” Their first home was a dugout at Kaysville furnished with a few pieces of home-made furniture. Elizabeth was the same age as William. She was also a convert from England. In 1857, she came across the Great Plains to Utah with Israel Evans Handcart Company. Her Uncle, Al Fletcher, introduced her to William Parsons Jones and romance bloomed immediately. Their first child, William Clinton Jones, was born in Kaysville in 1859, then they moved to West Weber in the spring of 1860. Three children were born in West Weber, then the family moved to South Weber, at the mouth of the Weber River in 1864. William and Elizabeth spent the remainder of their lives in South Weber. They had thirteen children, eight of whom lived to adulthood. Their first child, William Clinton, and their third child Ellen, died of whooping cough while the family was still at West Weber. William was a farmer, a hard worker and a good man. Always active in the Mormon Church, he was a Superintendent of the Sunday School and later a Bishop. He also served on the community School board as a trustee. A daughter, Annie E. Jones Peterson, wrote the following regarding her parents: “They had thirteen children and they assisted in the work, the girls helped in the house and the boys helped with the outside work. Schools were in session from three to five months a year. The dancing parties were about the only entertainment they had. The people of the community were mostly Latter Day Saints and were an industrious, thrifty class. The only public building was a school house used for school, meetings and dancing. Many things had to be learned such as making soap from lye and grease, after making the lye from ashes. Sheep raising was another industry. The wool was clipped from the sheep, washed and picked to get the dirt out. It was then sent to the carding mill and made into rolls, which my mother spun into threads for weaving. She afterwards wove the cloth which they called jeans and linsey, the jeans for men’s suits and the linsey for women’s and children’s clothes, also for men’s shirts. My mother did all her own sewing and knitted all the socks and stockings. My parents struggled along, enduring many hardships. They finally built a comfortable home and raised their family. Elizabeth Shaw Jones was the mother of thirteen children, eight of whom grew up and raised families which were an honor to her name.” History of William Parsons Jones continued On July 9, 1891, at the age of fifty-four, William suffered a sunstroke while working in his fields. He died a few hours later. Like his father, he set a worthy example for his posterity. His wife survived him by twenty-five years, dying on December 13, 1916. She was a noble pioneer mother. William Parsons Jones a son to Thomas E. Jones and Mary Parsons

Elizabeth Shaw, My Paternal Great-great Grandmother

HISTORY OF ELIZABETH SHAW JONES Taken from the book Pioneer Women of Faith & Fortitude Elizabeth Shaw Jones was born, May 23, 1837, in Yorkshire, England. Elizabeth was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when she was eleven years of age. As a young woman of nineteen years, she left mother, brothers and sisters to come to Utah. She pulled a handcart from Iowa City to Utah, arriving with the Israel Evans Company in the Salt Lake Valley on September 11, 1857. Her uncle introduced her to William Parsons Jones and they were married, February 25, 1858 in Kaysville, Utah, while William was on furlough from service in the Utah Militia. The Militia was assigned at that time to protect the Mormon Settlements from the approaching Unite States Army, under General Sidney Johnston. Shortly afterwards, William moved Elizabeth and his parents south according to orders. He returned to the Salt Lake Valley to act as a Minute Man during the trouble with Johnston’s Army. The couple’s first home was a dugout in Kaysville, Utah. It was furnished with a few pieces of homemade furniture. They later moved to South Weber, Davis County, Utah where they spent the remainder of their lives. Elizabeth was a faithful Relief Society worker, serving the sick. She wove wool into cloth called jeans and Linsey. From this material she made suits for men and dresses for women and girls. She knitted socks and stockings from her family. Elizabeth was a widow for twenty-five years, William having died in 1891. Elizabeth died, December 13, 1916, in Ogden, Utah. Birth Date: 23 May 1837, Yorkshire, England Death: 13 Dec 1916, Ogden, Weber, Utah Parents: Paul Shaw & Ellen Fletcher Pioneer: 11 Sep 1857, Israel Evans, Co. Handcart Spouse: William Parsons Jones Married: 25 Feb 1858, Kaysville, Davis, Utah Death Sp: 9 Jul 1891, South Weber, Davis, Utah Children: William Clinton, 5 Apr 1859, Thomas Lorenzo, 25 Jun 1860 Elizabeth Ellen, 9 May 1862, Anna Emily, 9 Oct 1863 Mary Adaline, 23 Oct 1865, Agnes Elinore, 13 Oct 1867 James Franklin, 18 Jan 1869, John Parsons, 15 Apr 1871 Rebecca, 13 Mary 1874 (twin), Ruth, 13 Mar 1874 (twin) Cynthia Catherine, 9 Jun 1877, Robert Joseph, 25 Nov 1879 Martha Alvaretta, 19 Feb 1882

Beginnings

I would like to begin by saying this blog is created as a school assignment, but I hope to make something that will benefit my family.  I would like to share a few thoughts.  First I am not a writer.  Second life is not fair, so get over it.  Lastly, family can bring us the greatest happiness as well as the biggest heartache.  That may sound strange, but it's true.  My greatest joy comes from time spent with my children and my husband's family.  Some of my greatest struggles have come from my relationships with what I call my first family, the one I was born into.  I won't go into details here because it's not necessary.  What I will say is this, these struggles have helped me appreciate the family my husband and I created, my second family, even more.  It has given me a desire to feel connected to my ancestors and learn more about them.