Great-uncle Isaac Wasden

This is another picture of our great-uncle, Isaac Wasden. Even though he lived in Garland, in what used to be the old bank, I can't remember ever meeting him. Do a search of the blog, using the "B" search in the upper left hand corner of this page to see a later picture of him. He was Grandpa Wasden's half brother. There is quite a story of his marriage and how he ended up living in Garland. Check out the Wasden family bulletins that you all have in your files.

The Wasden farm: Photos from Mother's album

Health Habits as Prescribed by Professor Hill

As you can see, there are wonderful items of knowledge to be gleaned from Hill's Book....

"1. CLEANLINESS. Have always a pint or quart of water in the sleeping room. In the morning, after washing and wiping hands and face, then wet, with the hands, every part of the body. Cold water will not be disagreeable when applying it with the bare hands. Wipe immediately; follow by brisk rubbing. The result of this is the blood is brought to the surface of the skin, and made to circulate evenly throughout the body. You have opened the pores of the skin, allowing impurities in the body to pass off, and have given yourself in the operation a good, vigorous morning exercise. pursue this habit regularly and you will seldom take cold.
2. INFLATION OF THE LUNGS. Five minutes spent in the open air, after dressing, inflating the lungs by inhaling as full a breath as possible, and pounding the breast during the inflation will greatly enlarge the chest, strengthen the lung power, and very effectually ward off consumption.
3. DIET. If inclined to by dyspeptic, avoid mince pie, sausage and other highly seasoned food. Beware of eating too freely of soups; better to eat food dry enough to employ the natural saliva of the mouth to moisten it. If inclined to over-eat, partake freely of rice, cracked wheat, and other articles that are easily digested.Eat freely of ripe fruit, and avoid excessive use of meats. Eat at regular hours, and lightly near the hour of going to bed. Eat slowly. Thoroughly masticate the food. Do not wash it down with continual drink. Tell your funniest stories while at the table and for an hour afterwards. Do not engage in severe mental labor directly after hearty eating.
1. EXERCISE. Exercise, not to violent, but sufficient to produce a gentle perspiration, should be had each day in the open air.
2. CONDITION OF MIND. The condition of the mind has much to do with health. Be hopeful and joyous. To be so, avoid business entanglements that may cause perplexity and anxiety. Keep out of debt. Live within your income. Attend church. Walk, ride, mix in jovial company. Do as nearly right as you know-how. Thus, conscience will always be at ease. If occasionally disappointed, remember that there is no rose without a thorn, and that the darkest clouds have a silver lining; that sunshine follows storm, and beautiful spring follows the dreary winter. Do your duty and leave the rest to God, who doeth all things well."
Could you ask for better advice on how to get along in this world today?

Etiquette for 1874 - And Today?

The cover for this book is really much darker, but this gives you a better view of the pictures and wording on the front. This book was purchased by our grandfather, James Brooks Wasden in "Butte City, Montana" in 1897, a year before he married our grandmother. I'm so glad that he wrote in the flyleaf so that we would have that information. Since he was there to work in the mines, and those workers were usually a pretty rough lot, he may have felt the need to learn more about the social order of things in the polite world - who knows? Anyway, I can remember Mother borrowing the book from Grandma when we were fairly young, and we read gems from it's pages that seemed so antiquated that we had many laughs about the contents. I fell heir to the book, and have enjoyed leafing through it from time to time. Ann is preparing for a little stint that required something different, so I typed some of the more interesting bits for her, and thought I might include a few here for your entertainment:
ON WRITING LETTERS OF ADVICE:
“To what do you attribute your success?” “To an admonition given me by my father, when a boy, which was this:
“First, to attend strictly to my own business. Second, to let other people’s business alone. Observing this, I incurred no ill will by inter-meddling with others,….”
“Be very sparing of letters of advice. As a rule, you will have enough to do to attend to your own affairs:…”

SLEEP. Give yourself the necessary amount of sleep…Avoid feather beds…To maintain robust health, sleep with a person as healthy as yourself, or no one..

I will add more from time to time.

Another Mystery Picture

I know that Grandma and Grandpa Wasden are the two on the left - who is everyone else. The glare in front almost eliminates identification of the woman seated on the "almost" porch. I'm getting the impression that our grandmother was sassier than I remember. And Grandpa's glasses look like sunlgasses.

Penrose Relief Society

This picture came from Aunt Cindy's photograph album that I inherited. I've tried to figure out the time period - must have been in the early late 30's or early 40's? (Since Mother wasn't in the picture, I would guess that we were either living in Cody, or in Ralston when this picture was taken.) We don't have too many pictures of Grandma during this period of time, so this picture is special for that - also, to see some of the people we knew later is of interest. I played with Larry Hogg a few times when Mother would visit with his mother. He sent me valentines on Valentine's Day for a few years after they moved away from Penrose to California - I remember hearing Daddy telling Mother that Larry had died by hiding in a refrigerator and suffocating to death. Sad story. But, back to better thoughts. I was pleased to find Grandma's handwriting on the back of the picture - sorry about the glue that discolors part of the back. Anyone have an idea whose house this was?

Just Words

As I am going through more "stuff", I ran across a book titled "Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics". On the inside cover it is stamped "Big Horn Academy Library" and was published in 1915. It is an amazing collection of poems, etc., especially knowing what things were considered appropriate to discuss in her home during Mother's growing up years. When whistling was considered inappropriate, this little book certainly seems to indicate that literature was quite another matter. As I glanced through the different poems I wondered which ones caught Mother's eye as she did her homework. I also wondered if Grandma knew what Mother was reading - so many of the poems are of love lost, passion, and all kinds of emotions that were perhaps ok to read about, as long as they were written by people like Shakespear, Wordsworth, Burns, Lindsay (who?), Moore, Shelley, Keats, to name just a few of the better known authors, whose works are included. One of the poems is titled "A Ditty". How many times did we hear that word?
I wanted to share just one of them with you, and you can wonder, with me, if this is one that Mother read with a twinkle in her eye. For any man who may read this, I mean no disrespect, but because you knew Mother and Dad you probably will appreciate this a little more.

ADVICE TO A GIRL

Never love unless you can
Bear with all the faults of man!
Men sometimes will jealous be
Though but little cause they see,
And hang the head as discontent,
And speak what straight they will repent.

Men, that but one Saint adore,
Make a show of love to more;
Beauty must be scorn'd in none,
Though but truly served in one:
For what is courtship but disguise?
True hearts may have dissembling eyes.

Men, when their affairs require,
Must awhile themselves retire;
Sometimes hunt, and sometimes hawk,
And not ever sit and talk:-
If these and such-like you can bear,
Then like, and love, and never fear!
(By T. Campion)

Brooks' Letter, Second Installment

I do have other pictures of Uncle Brooks, but this one is on my computer now, so I'll use it. He is center front on the front row, with Uncle Norman Sorensen on his right, and Aunt Elna and her doll on his left. The back row is Aunt Sofe Johnson, Aunt Cindy (Lucinda) Sorensen, and Aunt Lorraine Wasden. The picture was taken in Lovell, Wyoming, on Aunt Sofe's front steps in 1975

To continue with the letter: "The rest of the trip up the canyon was more and more mind boggling [and] thrilling. The roar of water, the birds daring to fly up those sheer walls, and then the dam with the water piled up behind it! This little boy and all that his eyes and mind could behold for all time - he was sure.
We made it to the "Hanging Rock" for the evening camp. Real trees big, big! A place to graze the horses like the story of "The Virginian" by Owen Wister. Next morning we passed the rock formation, "The Holy City". What romance that excited! And the day continued to expand unlimited beauty and more beauty.
Father met us below Pahaska, on horse-back. Wondered what took us so long. Camp was inside the Park just below the steep incline to Sylvan Pass. About a week later we moved camp down to Pahaska. It was here that Father put me on a road-grader - very pleased with what he had taught me to maneuver it. Hoped I would not let him down. We "bladed" the road from Pahaska to the entrance in time for Mr. Albright's first visit. The road did look neat and he took time to speak to me. This excited the other laborers because "officials" did not usually notice them. The next morning, Father kind of shuffled about for a bit, and then said,
"Now, don't get the big head but Mr. Albright said, "That son of yours can handle a grader like that? Tell him he's always got a job here with me as long as he wants one." Father, I know, hated to tell me that because he knew it would be hard on hat-bands. But for Mr. Albright to notice me, to give that notice of recognition, did a miracle for my self esteem. Perhaps, just perhaps, I could do something good, worth a compliment. It has ever been a cherished thing.
The next year, I did send him an application for work. When it arrived in the mail box there in Penrose - a big envelope - there was a second big envelope with it. One envelope said, "Report to Cody Wyoming to------." The other envelope said, "You are called to fill a Mission----."

And that is the end of his Yellowstone Park story in the letter. Of course, we know that he went on to fill a mission in Texas; he told Mother a story about some of his experiences there, which she recorded on a cassette tape, which has become garbled with time. We all knew that Uncle Brooks could be quite a story teller - perhaps that talent has come down through the family.

Uncle Brooks' letter

James Brooks Wasden as a young man. I think that all of you might have in your archives a copy of this letter that Brooks wrote to Dad and Elna on May 9, 1987, but I was re-reading it this morning, and wanted to copy part of it into the blog, since the story it tells is so interesting.
Elna had sent Brooks a copy of an obituary for a man named Horace Albright, and this was his response. "How thoughtful that you would enclose his obituary. Yes, I knew him and darn near attached a little worship to the man. If I calculate rightly, I was 17 years older then, and he had been Park Superintendent for a year. (Park, being Yellowstone Park). He was promoting the need for improved roads for the sure-to-come automobile traffic - which Father hated to see come, but had to bow to "Progress". Father felt that this was the sure sign of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse rampaging throughout the world, desecrating and destroying all that is good and beautiful. How near his summary of such things proved true may not be as debatable now as then, but it was the increased activity in road building that gave Father the opportunity to return to living in the Gardens of the only remaining Eden on earth and feel the limitless wonder of it all. I can still see him wake up in the morning, go outside the tent, pause long enough to stand erect, raise his chin to bring into focus the heights of the mountain's about our camp, and inhale the sublime joy of privilege to live and feel and listen to the solitude his whole person could encompass.
Mr. Debs and his brother helped me trail our eight horses from Penrose to the Park. We drove "4" on a wagon loaded with grain and hay, and our bedroll plus cooking needs. The other "4" trailed along behind. We made it to Cody the first day and camped at the bridge which crossed over to the railroad station. This was the farthest I had been from home and the only time I had seen the Shoshone River with the city of Cody and its adjacent interests. We rolled out on beds and slept on the ground. Think of doing that now.
Early the next morning we were on our way. The only way to travel was the little thin line along the north side of the canyon you can see as you travel the present highway. Mr. Debs drove the team - thank goodness - because I was so totally enthralled with what my eyes were seeing. At first it appeared like a solid wall of stone and mountain blocked our way, but as each step forward of the teams revealed a widening crack - maybe, just maybe we might get through and not have to climb over the top. It was like the jaws of a huge gate slid noiselessly apart to let us through and then closed just as noiselessly behind us locking us in for keeps.
An automobile from Texas caught up with us. At the first chance we pulled our wagon into a side gap to let them pass. As they pulled up to do so, the trail horse at the rear jumped out and her hind leg hit the fender. They stopped all right. The poor lady was terrified. This was before the days of glassed-in windows and doors - just canvass "pin-ons". To the lady it appeared the horse was intending to get in and ride! Seemed there was a difference of opinions. I hopped down, went back and shooed the horse back into line. But the lady's terror increased; "We didn't mean to do it - We didn't mean to do it," she babbled hysterically. Her hands were quivering before her face and her eyes were so pleading - like she expected to be scalped and thrown into the gorge below. That's when I learned I had charm! I rebuked the horse, smiled at the lady, told her we were sorry. Her expression changed like sunshine bursting from behind a cloud. "You see, Henry, they are not mean; they will not hurt us." Such assurance! And they drove on.
(to be continued)

Music began with Grandma Wasden

The piano sat in Grandma and Grandpa's parlor, and when we went to visit as little children, we would do some pretend playing - I'm sure it was never allowed to last very long because it would have been very noisy. The piano had taken place of an earlier pump organ. Uncle David was given piano lessons, because he was the oldest, and, in keeping with old world principles of primogenture, got the most privileges. Aunt Sofe, (next in age), who was very musically bent, would sit in a corner, listen to the lessons, and then when everyone had left, would practice the lessons on her own. She became a very proficient pianist, much to Dave's dismay, and, so was no longer allowed to listen to the lessons. (That did not stop her - she certainly played well most of her life, and probably was the one who taught our mother to play.) I donot know that Grandma ever played the piano - I don't think that any of us ever heard her. But, when I became capable enough to play the hymns for Sunday School sometimes, she gave me this book of hers to use for prelude and postlude music. She does not mention music in her little autobiography - instead, she talks about writing poetry. Pioneer times were difficult and demanding for a woman. There must not have been much time in her life to pursue the finer arts.

Vintage Wedding Dress 1898

This is what has been traditionally known as Grandma Wasden's wedding dress. It was at least worn the day of her wedding to James. The style includes a separate skirt and a top. The fabric is a fine cotton, probably originally white, with a small green print.

A view of the back shows the skirt with a swish behind. Very noticeable is the teeny, tiny waist of 22.5 inches. The skirt is completely lined.

The sleeve detail has gathering all stitched by hand. With no elastic, the gathered opening of the sleeve had to be left large enough to slip hand and arm through.

The inside is a torture chamber: whale boning in every seam with extra in the front to give a lady a great shape. Instead of a nice zipper we have 22 sets of hooks and eyes for closure. The hem is finished with genuine horse hair braid.

It was certainly elegant in its day and we can only imagine that our little short Grandmother was just as little around. And her elegance would have matched her dress as James took her by the hand.

James B. and Tilda C. Wasden in Pioneer Parade

The newspaper clipping that was with this picture reads as follows: "Senators Joseph C. O'Mahoney and Lester C. Hunt extend congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. James Brooks Wasden who have lived 45 years on land they homesteaded at Penrose on the Shoshone Project in Wyoming. It was to do honor to sturdy pioneers like Mr. and Mrs. Wasden that the two Wyoming Senators cancelled important engagements to attend the Powell Day celebration." There is another photo where one of the senators is shaking hands with Grandpa. Remember this parade? They were the hit of the celebration.

Spoons

I always thought that silverware was important because when Dad would get out the roll of silverware from his mother, we thought they were very special. When we married, he gave us each a sample, so that we would own something that came from the grandmother that we had never met. So, when I inherited the six silver teaspoons from Grandma and Grandpa Wasden, I just rolled them up in the Pacific cloth and tucked them away. I don't know their history - anybody? The top picture shows three of those spoons. The next picture is a mystery - two rather ornate spoons with cabins on the handle much like the cabins on the Log Cabin Syrup spoon that is shown next. (When son Tony worked at Fredericks & Nelson at the mall in Olympia, he came home one day very excited because he had seen a similar spoon ((the Log Cabin Syrup spoon)) at a kiosk at an antique show that was at the mall, and it was selling for $25.) The bottom picture is of one of the peacock spoons that Mother prized, as well as the Log Cabin Syrup spoon. After Mother died, and Dad asked Judy, Ann, and me to divide most of her things, we gave a peacock spoon and a Log Cabin Spoon to each of you - 6 of each.

I'm coming to the conclusion that silver spoons come in sets of six. By the way, there is a reason for the saying about being born with a silver spoon in your mouth. The healing powers of silver are well known, and if you could feed your child with a silver spoon, the likelihood was that he/she would be healthier. I was struck, when at Kirtland, Ohio going through the historical sites of the Church, to see in a cradle a baby bottle with the sucking aparatus made of lead - and people wondered why infant mortality was so high! It is interesting that Mother had very few things that belong to her parents, but these six spoons were obviously important to her.

Hey, the Final Pictures on Hay(ing)

I had to fade out the top picture of Grandpa Wasden in order to see his face. And, the older picture of Grandpa's stack yard is from Aunt Cindy's photo album.

Grandpa Wasden's cup and saucer

Aunt Sofe also received Grandpa's cup and saucer. The cup is white china with a pink flower design on it, and the words "Remember Me" in gold. Sofe remembered her Dad eating his bread and milk supper from this cup, so it dates back a few years. (Note added by Elizabeth - remember going to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the summer time, when they would be eating bread and milk, or bread and butter and little onions and radishes from the garden?)

Grandma Wasden's Goblets

This picture and story comes to us from cousins Ed Johnson and Alva Lowe. "Grandpa wanted to bring some beauty into their home. They had homsesteaded and pioneered for several years. One day he came home with a set of a dozen goblets so Grandma could enjoy some "nicer" things. The goblets were decorated with an etched star design. Grandma loved them, but felt they were "too fancy" for pioneers. Apparently she did use them, because this is the only one left. Ed's and Alva's mother, our Aunt Sofe inherited it."

Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia 1936

This is an entry that was found in the Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia Volume IV dated July 4, 1936:
WASDEN, James B., Bishop of the Penrose Ward, Big Horn Stake, Wyoming, from 1915 to 1928, was born July 16, 1870, in Scipio, Millard Co., Utah, the son of James B. Wasden and Anna Sophie Jensen. He was baptized by Isaac Pierce, moved to Big Horn, and filled a mission to the Southern States in 1898 - 1900, was ordained a High Priest July 30, 1910, by Jesse W. Crosby, jun., and a Bishop April 11, 1915.

As we all know, the father of James B. is John Brooks, but the remaining information is interesting. If anyone is interested, I did copy the pages that covered the Big Horn Stake, so I have the history of some of the other Bishops from the Basin. Please let me know if you would like that information and I will email the copies to you. Also, I have learned how to access the membership list for the Penrose Church and will do so when I go to the FHL in Salt Lake City.

John Brooks Wasden

This should go along with Judy's post of John Brooks Wasden's signature and book cover. Ok, I'm done for the day and another file is shared.

John Brooks Wasden

Family connections can be found in all kinds of places. In cleaning our bookshelf this weekend, I came across this small, worn book that Mother must have had. In opening the cover, I discovered the owner of the book to be John B. Wasden. The year reads 188_, which means he would have around 44 years old when he acquired this church book.

J.B. Wasden farm in the teens or twenties

Photos of the Penrose Wasden farm, with Grandpa James B. Wasden plowing with a double team of horses.  From Mother's photo album.