TITLE PAGE PIONEER (full name) Celestia Snow Gardner BIRTH (date and place) 12 March 1859 Fort Lehi, Ut DEATH (date and place) 13 Sept 1959 Salt Lake PARENTS William Snow Ann Rogers MARRIED (who and date) John Alexander Gardner 16 Feb 1877 ARRIVAL IN UTAH (date) Native pioneer Company arrived with) HISTORY (who wrote) herself and funeral Service (date written) 24 March 1946 and 16 Sept 1959 (who submitted) Delores R. Kimbal (address) Rt #1, Box 333 Morgan, Utah 84050 CAMP & COUNTY SUBMITTING Weber River D.U.P. Camp Morgan County (Camp Historian & address) Jean Bigler 6386 Davis Morgan, Utah 84050 County Historian & address) Dena C. Rich 1266 n Morgan Valley Dr., Morgan, Utah SOURCE OF INFORMATION & PAGE NUMBERS: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CELESTIA SNOW GARDNER I was born in Lehi, Utah County, March 12, 1859 and lived there until the fall of 1865 when my father was called by Brigham Young to go to Southern Utah to help build up that part of the Territory. In the summer of that year I had attended a school in a private home taught by Sister Woodworth. There were several girls to whom I became quite attached so that when we left Lehi to start South, I grieved at parting with my friends. Father left one of his wives there. She had a girl one year younger than I whom I missed most. We left Lehi about the middle of November. Our company consisted of my father with his first wife and six children, my mother and five children, John Norton and family, a man named Parker and his family, Norman Wedge and family, a young man, Joseph Cox, who drove one team for father and who later became my brother-in-law. We waited in San Pete ten days for Cyrus Reynolds while the weather was fine and,in consequence, encountered real cold and stormy weather the latter part of the journey. On the way down, we sometimes stopped over night at settlements where we found acquaintances that took us in and entertained us. That seemed a real treat after camping out so many nights. Some of the places I remember were, Rapalee at Kanosh, John Murdock at Beaver, Orrie Fish at Parowan, Ritchie at Pinto. I specially remember the nice clean, warm bed we slept in at Beaver and the evening we spent around the nice bright fire. At these places, we would remain one day to wash a few clothes and bake bread to last a few days. When we came within three miles of Pine Valley, where we were to make our home, the snow was so deep that Joseph Cox had to get on a horse and ride into town to get help to break a snow road so we could get to the town. Arriving there, a family named Whipple had a nice hot supper prepared for us which we greatly appreciated. Erastus Snow, my uncle, had preceded us to the South so he had built a four room house for us. There were two rooms down stairs and two upstairs. Mothers family occupied two rooms and Aunt Sally's family two. After supper, Father secured some pitch pine wood and made a blazing fire in the fire place in our new home and we all betook ourselves to explore and enjoy it. Our beds had to be spread out on the floor for the night but I slept as soundly as if I had a bed of down. Mother's furniture had all been hauled in the wagon in which we rode and consisted of one large clothes chest, a cook stove, four chairs and a small box of dishes. Father was a carpenter as well as farmer and had bought his chest of tools. After he and the boys had gone up the canyon and hauled several loads of wood, he went to a sawmill and purchased some lumber to make furniture for the two families. He cleared the snow from the sunny side of the house, constructed a work bench, and started to work on the furniture, making two bedsteads, a table cupboard, light stand, and wash bench. The bedsteads were unique in that they were morticed together without nails and laced with rope which answered the purpose of springs. The beds were very comfortable. 2. We used the furniture for several years without paint as there was not a store in town and paint could not be had. There was a school in the little log school house which my brothers attended, but the snow was deep and the weather cold so mother taught me at home. My text book was an elementary spelling book, and I had a slate and pencil. We children went barefoot in the summer as the one shoemaker in town was kept busy getting shoes made for the children for winter. The boys must have their shoes first as it was necessary for them to be out of doors doing chores. I did not get mine until after Christmas and mother was my teacher again the second winter. I had read through the Primer, the First and Second readers, and could spell most of the words and write some before I started to school. Religious training entered into my course at this time. My father and mother were both very sincere and the custom of family prayer was strictly adhered to. Mother's people had been Bible students, so Mother often quoted choice passages from the Bible, creating in our minds a love for the Sacred Book. Mother had a "sweet voice and often sang the songs of Zion as she plied her daily tasks. I recall that one morning I awoke at the sound of Mother singing, "Oh, My Father Thou That Dwelest in That High and Glorious Place." I thought it the most beautiful song I had ever heard. Mother had the gift for government and, although she seldom scolded, we children thought her word was law. She made our friends welcome in our home and was loved and respected by the young people. Those were the days of home manufacture. Each man owned a few sheep and the wool had to be washed, carded, spun and woven into cloth, or knit into stockings. The winter I did not go to school, I was taught to knit and sew. I knit the feet in eight pairs of stockings besides piecing quilt blocks and doing other sewing. After living in the upper part of Pine Valley for two years, the peiple decided to move the townsite. It became necessary for Father to build a home in the new town. He rented a sawmill, which was run by waterpower with an upright saw,and hired a man to help with the sawing. He then did the carpenter work and all of the work on the house with the exception of the chimneys and plastering. In the fall after I was nine years old, I started to school for the first time. Our school year then consisted of three months in the winter, but later we also had three months in the summer for all that could be spared from other work. In the fall of 1868 and 69, Father was elected a member of the legislature, so we moved into the new house before it was quite finished. That fall the Navajo Indians were on the war path, had killed tow men in St. George, a settlement thirty five miles from Pine Valley, and had stolen some horses from Pine Valley. It was thought best to have the town guarded at night. My oldest brother took his turn at night watching. The nights he was away, we had a feeling of anxiety and loneliness, fearful lest he might be killed by Indians. As near as I can remember, our first Sunday School was organized about 1871. The method of teaching was to read the Bible or Book of Mormon in class, each pupil reading a paragraph. Then, I was fifteen years old, I was asked to teach a class and 3. We enjoyed our playtime and simple amusements. One summer Susan Alphin invited our group of young girls to her home to pick wool. The wool that had been sheared from the sheep had been washed and had matted into wads the size of ones fist. The girls pulled it apart into fluffy,soft wool that could be easily carded. This was fine entertainment, for we liked to play at the serious work of our parents. During the last of the work, Mrs. Alphin began preparing supper for us. I was disappointed to smell the molasses cake burning. My mother prepared such delicious molasses cake I was disturbed at the thought of anything so delicious getting burned. But the rest of the lunch was good and there was a surprise in store for us. After the lunch, a group of boys came and the village fiddler. The table and chairs were moved out of the big room and we had a dancing party. To me, the event of the evening was a dance I had with James Gardner. He was as old as my older brother Willard and seemed so graceful and manly. I remember well a little teaparty at Lydia and Lizzie Earl's home. The tea was made from fresh green peppermint gathered from the ditch bank. Distasteful as it was, I felt it my duty to drink it and it made me sick. Another well remembered party was a 'rag bee'. As I was one of the youngest girls there, I was afraid of being embarassed by sewing the smallest ball of rags. I worked hard and sewed as large a ball as the other girls. I was hurrying home to tell Mother what a good time we had,when Father stepped to the door to call her. He wanted her to see a strange cloud coming out of the west. We children followed our parents to the west of the house. There was a strange cloud, dense as the black smoke from a train. It did not roll and rise as a cloud of smoke or drift as a rain cloud. It moved steadily forward. Sometimes it would split and then unite. Sometimes one side would move ahead, then slacken and the other side moved forward. There was a faint and then more distinct noise that resembled a whirr or swish. It came nearer and nearer the town and gave the Impression of something from another planet until it came near enough for us to see that it was a great cloud of grass hoppers and the point of it was headed toward the green fields of late May grain. They alighted and began eating every green thing in sight. Men hurriedly hitched up their teams and hauled straw to pile around the fields. Then men, women, and children broke branches from the willows and drove the hoppers into the straw where they stayed to roost. At night the straw was set on fire. This continued until most of the hoppers were destroyed except a two acre patch belonging to a Mr. Burgess. He and his two wives guarded the little patch from early morning until the hoppers had gone to roost at night and thus saved the precious little patch. The farmers hurriedly planted corn in the grain fields and it matured. We had corn cake for breakfast, a little white bread for lunch, corn meal mush for supper and hulled corn for desert until another harvest. I first saw Brigham Young when I was nine years old during one of his visits at a Conference In St. George. He came to Pine Valley and, as my father was the Bishop, he stayed at our home. I remember well how solicitous he was of Mother and her young baby. 4. When I was fifteen years old, I was asked to teach a class and was set apart by Apostle Erastus Snow. He promised me that if I would take an interest in my work and put forth my best efforts, I would be blessed. I found that by studying the lessons and preparing to teach, I got more out of the lessons than my pupils. Therein came the blessing. When I was between sixteen and seventeen years old, I was chosen to be President of the Young Ladies Retrenchment Society. The name of the organization was later changed to Mutual Improvement Association. I served in this position about ten years. This sketch would not be complete without saying something about our play. As children we would gather together in our back yard, which was ideal for such games as 'hiding seek', 'pomp', 'steal sticks, and all such games. There were hay stacks, corn shocks and gramneries to hide behind. When we were grown, our pleasures consisted of dancing parties, house parties and sleighing. Guessing games were the favorite ones at our parties. In summer we had canyon parties, often riding horse back, two on each horse, and the girl who was fortunate enough to have a side saddle was the envy of all the other girls. We had quilting and carpet rag bees. At these bees, we would usually have some older lady who was good at story telling entertain us with stories while we plied the needle. On February 16,1877, I was married to John Alexander Gardner in the St. George Temple. It was an open winter and the ground was bare when we left Pine Valley,February 15, for St. George. John drove a good team of horses in good harness and the covered wagon in which we rode was new. The horses were not rough shod; and when we reached the "devil's twist," a road that wound through a rock gully semicircling a hill, the horses could not travel over the slick surface of the rock and hold back the wagon. John Unhitched the horses and fastened a rope to the wagon tongue, then to the tugs and,from long distance,the team pulled the wagon across. I walked across. When we reached the Temple the next morning, we entered with a feeling of awe. In the newness and whiteness and brightness we had a feeling of being on the threshold of heaven. The three officiators were dressed in white serge suits and had the appearance of angels. They were President Brigham Young, Apostle Wilford Woodruff and Apostle Erastus Snow. Apostle Erastus Snow, my cousin, performed the ceremony. The girls were beautiful in crisp, white muslin dresses. I wore a dress of victoria lawn. The St. George Temple was built of the sandstone from nearby hills plastered inside and out to make it endure. The foundation was of black volcanic rock of a special kind found in the vicinity, all of which was used. Not since has there been found enough to build a house foundation. During the year the temple was being finished and made ready for opening, I was teaching school in Pine Valley to get money for my trousseau. The salary was twenty five dollars a month and the county paid half, the parents half. The wages paid by the parents were in produce except for one and one half dollars cash for one pupil. My younger brother, Charles, went with his cart to help collect the produce, which consisted of grain and fruit. I did sixteen washings for Maria Sargent for a chest her husband made specially for my dowry. We delayed our marriage for the opening of the temple. 5. In six weeks after we were married, we moved up to the canyon where my husband and my brither-in-law owned a sawmill. My sister and I cooked for the mill hands. We lived in cheaply constructed houses and when the weather turned cold in the fall, we moved back to town. On the ninth of May 1878, our first baby was born, a fine baby girl, wieghing nine pounds. She was such a darling, my cup of happiness was well nigh full. We named her Tillie Celestia. We went back to the canyon that summer, remaining until cold weather set in. The two summers we spent in the canyons were very enjoyable. There were fine mountain trout in the streams and several varieties of berries in the canyon. Our friends came up for an occasional outing and we took fishing trips and climbed through the bush and bramble to pick the berries. Sometimes we wondered whether the pleasure we got out of it was commensurate with the cost of scratching our hands and tearing our clothes. On February 5, 1880, our second child was born, a ten pound boy. He was also a beautiful child and our love for him was equal to the love we had for the first baby, When he was blessed, we gave him the mane of John Williaam. In Grass Valley On the third of May 1880, we moved on a farm five miles out of town. We usually drove to town once in two weeks to attend Sunday meeting and moved into town in winter. I continued to hold the position of President of the Young Ladies M.I.A. until about the year 1885. On On the eighth of January 1882, our third child was born. On the day she was born, the ground was bare. That night it started to snow and continued for several days with the wind piling it into great drifts. When I was able to walk to the window and look outside, our four-feet picket fence was completely covered. We named our third child Josephine. The weather was extremely cold for two months. Our lumber house was not built for warmth and we suffered with the cold. On the fourteenth day of October 1883, at Grass Valley, our fourth child was born. We named him Willard. (Then he was about a year old, I resigned my position as president of the M.I.A., feeling that my home duties were too arduous for me to do justice to the position. About 1885, we organized a Sunday School in Grass Valley where our farm was located, I was chosen as a teacher and acted in that position about twenty years.When Mother would tell me stories of her childhood home, In Wales I would have a longing to see it and imagine that sometine I might go on a mission there. My dreams of travel were cut short when I married. My first child was born before I was nineteen years of age, and at the age of forty, I was the mother of ten children. The dates of birth of those following the four above recorded, are, George, born at Pine Valley November seventh 1885; Robert, born May 22, 1888 at Grass Valley; AnthonySnow, born at Grass Valley July eighteenth, 1890; Grandison, born Septem 18, (at Grass Valley)1892; Marie, born Janu 27., >, 1895 at Pine Valley; Rulon, born January eighteenth,1899, at Pine Valley. 6. Tillie Celestia, our oldest daughter, died February 16, 1909. She was married to Albert Berry and had two little daughters, Alberta, born July 8, 1906 and Josephine, born September 26, 1908. We raised Alberta and Josephine as our own. An opportunity to travel came after the labors of raising our family had decreased. Our youngest son Rulon enlisted in world war I and was sent to San Francisco with his friend Howard Moench. When It was rumored that his company would soon be sent over seas, I had a longing to see him before he left and Howard's mother and I decided to go to San Francisco for a short visit with them. It would give me an opportunity also of visiting Grandison who was in the air service In San Diago and Robert and Anthony who were working on a large farm in California. In company with Howard's brother George, we left Salt Lake City in March and visited with Rulon and Howard until they were mustered out, then went to Tracy to visit with Anthony and Robert and their families. From there,we went to Sacramento to visit Grandison and he took me to see Sutter's Fort where the Mormon Batallion men first discovered gold. In a building was stored the ox yoke and sled used by Mr. Sutter. There was a picture on the wall of the members of the legislature and George C. Cannon was in the group. He had visited the Legislature while on his way to the Sandwich Island. We visited the beautiful capitol grounds, East Lake Park, and saw for the first time some white swans. The scenery during all our travels was most beautiful, and the trip was most pleasant save for the sadness of parting with our sons. Some twenty years after my trip to California, An opportunity came for me to visit my daughter Josephine and her family in Chicago. There I saw and heard many things of Interest, outstanding among them was the concert given by Lillle Pons on the lake front at Grant Park when she sang to an audianee of two hundred thousand people. During this visit, we went to Nauvoo and had the privilege of sleeping in the Bedroom Formerly occupied by the Prophet Joseph, The house is now converted into a tourist home. Another interesting trip I made in later life was through the Yellowstone National Park with my sister Nellie and her husband. It has been my good fortune to see and hear each of the seven Presidents of the Church preach the gospel,and I bear my testimony that each of tham were servants of the Lord and were actuated by His Holy Spirit. When I was about seventreen years of age, I went to St. George and heard President Brigham Young speak in Conference. He was such a fine looking man and such a powerful speaker, I was filled with admiration for him. Wilford Woodruff was a guest in our home one night. During the evening we sat around the fireplace and he related the story of the old Prophet Mason as it is written in his book, "Leaves From My Journal": the vision of the beautiful fruit Prophet Mason handled but did not taste; his living to have a Book of Mormon but not to bo baptized. How I enjoyed the Spirituality of that evening. After one of our Stake Conferences in St. George, John Taylor came to our town of Pine Valley to hold a meeting. I remember his talk well. It was just what we needed. Many of the townspeople were still living in the same log houses built in early pioneer days. Ha urged the people to use more pride and to tear down the old houses and build up the town as if they expected to 7. live there permanently. His talk seemed to strike home for it was not long until some very well-made homes were built. I heard Lorenzo Snow speak at a Conference in the St. George Tabernacle. His talk was along practical lines. He urged the people to start home industries; to raise cotton to supply the cotton mill which had been built to give employment to the people of Southern Utah. At that time he was wearing a beautiful black suit which he said had been made in Brigham. The yarn had been spun and the cloth woven there and the suit had been made by a local taylor. While Joseph F, Smith was President, I was in Salt Lake City for Conference and heard Joseph F. preach a marvelous sermon. I was staying at the home of Reuben Miller and when he came home his son asked, "What did you think of President Smith's talk today?" His father replied, "My son, If ever a man spoke under the influence of the Holy Spirit he did today."During the time Heber J. Grant was an Apostle, on one of his visits to the St. George Stake, he came to Pine Valley and held a meeting and spoke with a Spiritual power I could never forget. On his return to Salt Lake my husband was taking him to the railroad station and brought him to our home in Grass Valley. He stayed long enough to eat Dixie water melon with us and we never forgot his genial manner and the way he had of making us feel as one with him. I have listened to George Albert Smith speak in conference and felt that if ever a man spoke under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit he did. While living in Logan, Utah, I taught in Religion class for three years and was Principle four years in the Fifth Ward. I was Secretary of Relief Society In the Fifth Ward three years. While living in Logan Fifth Ward, I attended a class in Genealogy under Sister Adams, and began feeling the importance of a family organization for the purpose of gathering genealogy. I wrote to my oldest brother Willard at Richfield, Utah; to the next oldest, Jeter, living in Pine Valley; and to my mother living in Pine Valley, telling them that, with their consent, I would go to see our cousins living at Benson, Cache Valley and encourage action toward forming a family organization. I also wrote to my brother Orrin, living in Canada,requesting him to stop at Logan and see me on his next trip to the Salt Lake Conference. Quite unexpectedly, Orrin came the day of my appointment to meet our cousins, Hark and Celestia Rogers at their home in Benson. He went with me and we arranged a meeting for the following Saturday in Salt Lake City. We telephoned our plans to Willard and asked if he could be at the meeting. He replied that he was alone on the farm and was so busy putting in his crops that he could ill afford to leave. On the appointed day, I entered the Hotel Utah, the place of meeting, to find Willard already.there. He, Orrin and I represented our branch of the family; and Mark Rogers and his wife, Celestia, and daughter, and his brother, Henry represented the Rogers branch. It was here that the organization was effected with Henry Rogers president, my brother, Jeter Snow,vice president and my sister, Nellie Gardner, secretary. The first meeting was called at Logan and it was decided to employ Susan Sewall to gather the names of our ancestors, Each member of the families was to pay five dollars to finance this work. Sister Sewell soon reported that there was little material in the Salt Lake Genealogical Library from Wales and referred the organization to Brother George Minns, who was then in England. At the next meeting, a ten dollar assessment was made. 8. This was the last official meeting held. All future business was transacted through corresopndence through me and my sister Nellie, our corresponding secretary.Through this means, there were between three and four thousand names gathered and the temple work done. One day at the temple I was impressed to inquire of Sister Sewell if she had come across any Streeter names. She replied that she had not and suggested that I write to the Genealogical Society. In a letter to my sister Nellie, I mentioned her suggestion. Nellie wrote to the Society and received an answer at once saying that a book of several thousand names on the Streeter ling connected directly with our lines. The book could be bought for twenty five dollars. Nellie decided to write to a member of each branch of the family regarding the purchace of it. She wrote first to Edward H. Snow who was living, in Salt Lake City during his term of service on the State Tax Coflmislon. Upon receiving her letter, he went at once to the Genealogical office and bought the book to send to her. The temple work for these names was done by members of the family living near the Canada, Manti,,and St. George Temples. While living in Salt Lake City, Nellie and Orrin visited me during one of the general Conferences and we talked of our temple work. Orrin suggested that we should have a Snow organization of all the Snow members in Utah, and that I should contact some one in each of the branches regarding it. Therefore, I called to see Elisabeth Ivins and Leroy C. Snow. LLeroy C. informed me that his time was largely taken up compiling a history of his father, Lorenzo Snow, but that his sister Mrs. Critchelow was very much interested in temple work and he would give as much time as he could spare. Plans were made for a general meeting during the Oct. Conference and notice was sent by post card to the various members in Utah. One hundred and forty attended and a permanent organization was formed. Leroy Snow was chosen president, I was chosen a vice president, representing the William Snow family, and Erastus B. Snow of St. George,to represent the Erastus Snow family. My interest in the Snow, Rogers, and Streeter families in no way dims my high esteem for and interest in the Gardner families. Vividly I recall a visit from a beautiful and charming woman who made us a visit soon after our arrival in Pine Valley. She was Jane Gardner, first wife of Robert Gardner whose family had settled in Pine Valley shortly before we came. I looked upon her grown daughters with adoration and thought her sons true gentlemen. Robert's wife, Mary Ann, lived in St. George and her daughters Minnie and Cheer sometimes came to Pine Valley.I became very fond of them and of their father and his families. On my visits to St. George, where I went to the Quarterly Conferences, I was made very welcome In Mary Ann's home.At the time of my marriage to John A. Gardner, we stayed at her home. We went to the temple early in the morning and when we returned about five o'clock, she had a nice dinner prepared and had invited a few friends. It was a kindness never to be forgotten. The two llarge families of of William Snow and Robert Gardner have intermarried until a history of one is a history of the other. According to a count made by Bernella Snow Gardner, genealogist, Robert Gardner's posterity numbered approximately 1200 in Aug, 1945.