Great Swimmers

Hello Dear Reader,
There were two artesian wells, north and east of the house, on the Hall property. The larger of the two was quite warm and flowed freely. The smaller well provided colder water but water from it tasted as awful as water from the warmer well.

Grandpa (Laning) Hall built a cement enclosure around the wells. The enclosure was about four feet square and three feet deep. The children were allowed to put their names in the cement when it was poured. After the tank was finished Grandpa Hall stopped up a hole at the bottom with rubber balls until the tank became full of water. Sometimes the children could persuade their father to let them swim before he watered the garden with the contents. They dog-paddled around in circles feeling they were becoming great swimmers. Grandma (Mary) Carter said, “It was fun if we could keep the big mosquitoes off from us.”
Love,
Aunt Genni

Siblings!

Hello Dear Reader,
Once Norley Hall had an argument with Grandma (Caroline) Hall and decided to run away from home. He packed some belongings into his wagon and pulled it to the field across the road. He set up camp out in the field. When it started to get dark Mary and Lois started to worry. They felt it was their responsibility to get him home. They devised a plan. They decided Mary would go over and tell him there was a crazy woman loose and that they had seen her going down toward the lake. Maybe he’d better come home so he wouldn’t run into her. Lois, in the meantime, went down the field and came back with a sheet over her making horrible sounds. Norley looked at her, took off after her, and ripped the sheet off from her. Lois was so startled she didn’t know how to react. Mary said, "You get home right now!" Norley finally agreed to return home with his sisters.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Finding Happiness

Hello Dear Reader,
As scary and uninviting as their new surroundings seemed, the Halls looked upon their relocation as a wonderful adventure. Grandma (Mary) Carter was happy to associate with “a dozen” cousins who became her best friends. She was happy to learn how to ride a horse. Mary was crazy about horses. She’d never been around them before. When there was a party everyone went on horseback. The boys put the girls behind them and off they’d go on a dead run. At first she was scared to death. But that soon passed and Mary longed for a horse of her own. The Halls weren’t able to afford to feed a horse, however, so Mary didn’t get her wish.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Good Eats

Hello Dear Reader,

The Halls kept a cow and some chickens so they would have milk, butter, and eggs. Grandma (Caroline) Hall always raised a good garden. She grew huge bell peppers. They made green pepper sandwiches by placing sliced, salted bell peppers on bread and butter. They thought they were wonderful sandwiches. The also had watercress because it grew easily. Sometimes they ate carp from Utah Lake. That was Grandpa (Laning) Hall’s favorite fish. Uncle Norley often caught a carp, put it in fresh water and fed it for a few days to remove the muddy taste. The family then enjoyed a delicious fish dinner.

Love,

Aunt Genni

Muddy Roads

Hello Dear Reader,
If Caroline and the children had to go some place on a muddy day, the children ran ahead of the car putting sagebrush in the ruts in the road so the car wouldn’t get stuck. They were always worried that they would get stuck. They had to go out sometimes to get groceries and other supplies.

One winter Caroline tried going home a new way. Hardly anyone ever used the road she took. Sure enough, the car got stuck. But Arch Francis, a friend and neighbor, came along with a big team of horses and pulled the Halls all the way to their house. Mary said, “It was awful, just awful. We about all froze to death.”
Love,
Aunt Genni

Carrying a Torch

Hello Dear Reader,
Grandma (Caroline) Hall had a hard time with the Model “A”. The family made a make-shift garage out of their granary with a little ramp up to it. Sometimes, when the weather was cold, Caroline made herself a torch with a broom handle wrapped with gunnysacks. She dipped it in coal oil, and lit it. She then went to the garage and put the torch under the car to heat up the manifold. It seemed to work because the old car would start right up. Mary said, “It was funny it didn’t burn right up.” Sounds scary to me!
Love,
Aunt Genni
PS: I officially launched my web page "The Family Thicket" last night. It is definitely a work in progress but I hope you'll visit. Here's the URL: http://sites.google.com/site/thefamilythicket/

A Terrifying Ride

Hello Dear Reader,
Before Grandpa (Laning) Hall left for his job he bought a second hand Model “A” Ford for Grandma (Caroline) to use. And then left. Sometimes Caroline practiced driving through the sagebrush-lined cow trails in their field. She practiced steering, backing, and turning.

When necessary Caroline drove but was scared to death. The family traveled along old muddy, rutty roads that took the car wherever the ruts went. One time as they approached a bridge, Caroline saw a car coming from the opposite direction. In alarm she threw her arms in the air, and exclaimed, “Oh! Here comes a car.”

The children grabbed the steering wheel and tried to hold the car on the road. They told Caroline to put her hands back on the wheel and assured her, “It’s all right Mama, it’s all right, Mama.” They were able to get home safely after a terrifying ride.
Love,
Aunt Genni

No Bathroom

Hello Dear Reader,
The Hall’s lack of bathroom facilities was similar to that of the Carter family. In order to take a bath they heated water in the reservoir on the old coal stove. They used kettles to heat additional water. They got out the #3 tub and placed it near the stove. Chairs were put around the tub with coats or blankets hung on them for privacy. The first child in got clean water. After that a teakettle of hot water was added each time another child had his turn.

Their outhouse seemed like a long walk through the half-dead Red Astrican (apple) trees. The trees were full of hoot owls that seemed to watch suspiciously twisting their heads around at anyone who passed by. The house was surrounded by large half-dead poplar trees. The night noises came from hoot owls, screech owls, crickets, and frogs—quite a change from the noisy, shrieking steam engine, railroad days that the Halls had known in Milford.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Near the Lake

Hello Dear Reader,
Living close to Utah Lake had its advantages—and disadvantages. In winter, when the wind blew across the water and under the house, it lifted the linoleum in the kitchen right off the floor boards. That gives you an idea of what living in the old house was like.

In summer the mosquitoes swarmed and buzzed around the heads of everyone in their path. Grandma (Mary) Carter was allergic to mosquitoes (she called them “beastly pests”). She said, “I was always swollen from top to bottom. It seemed as though every time I wanted to go some place one of my eyes [was] swollen shut. I used to think that they [the mosquitoes] would take me up with the whirl and hum of thousands of wings on a hot summer night.”
Love,
Aunt Genni

Making a House a Home

Hello Dear Reader,
At first the Hall family used coal oil lamps for light in their old house in Lake Shore. The lamps gave off a dim glow. When they got gas lanterns the light was brighter but the smell was worse. Grandma (Caroline) Hall decided to turn the house into a home. She had little money but bought light-colored paint and wall paper and began decorating. The nesting instinct is strong among the women of our family.

A few years ago Mary wrote a sketch entitled, “Mama’s Project.” In it she told about being her mother’s assistant in papering the living room. Mary brushed each cut paper strip with wheat paste her mother had cooked up, folded the ends of the paper to the middle, put the paper over her shoulder, and climbed a ladder to the scaffold where Caroline was waiting. They carefully unfolded the paper and applied it to the ceiling, something that isn’t done nowadays. Mary held one end of the paper up with a broom as her mother brushed the paper with a wallpaper brush until it adhered. “The walls were easier,” Mary recalled.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Unnerving Nights

Hello Dear Reader,
The house the Hall family moved into was at the end of a long dirt lane. They felt quite isolated. The lane was usually full of ruts and when it rained or snowed the mud made it almost impossible to travel. Grandma (Mary) Carter said, “The sticky mud would pull our galoshes right off from our feet as we wallowed to our destinations.”

The Halls’ closest neighbors were Uncle Henry and Aunt Bertha Brooks (Laning’s sister) who lived about ½ mile west of their house. Grandpa (Jasper) and Grandma (Eva) Hall also lived ½ mile west, across the street from the Brooks. About ½ mile south of Laning’s and Caroline’s was the home of Roy Davis and his family of eleven children.

Grandpa (Jasper) had become senile and Roy Davis was, in Mary’s words, “a wife beater.” The Hall females were all nervous about being home alone at night. Grandma Hall slept with a hammer under her pillow.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Lake Shore

Hello Dear Reader,

The House that the Halls moved into in Lake Shore was half brick, half adobe. There was an added lean-to made of wood. Because the bootleggers had had their still in the living room, the floor was torn up. The ceilings in the house were fifteen feet high; the walls were dark, peeling, and crumbling. There were none of the conveniences the family had enjoyed in Provo—no inside water, no electricity, and no bathroom. To top it all off there were chicken feathers everywhere.

Grandpa (Laning) Hall was called back to work about the time the family was moving. The work offered was far distant which meant that he would be gone for long periods of time. Grandma (Caroline) Hall was left alone with the children to face who knew what.

Love,

Aunt Genni

Adventurous Move

Hello Dear Reader,
Before I tell you about Grandpa (Wesley) Carter’s high school days here’s what was happening in Grandma (Mary Hall) Carter’s life.

While the Hall family was living in Provo, the Great Depression began taking its toll. Grandpa (Laning) Hall lost his job with the railroad. The family had been paying $25.00 a month rent. Without income the family couldn’t afford rent, or anything else for that matter.

Before Laning was married he had purchased 60 acres of land in the little farming community of Lake Shore where he had lived with his parents. There was an old vacant (they thought) house on the property. Grandpa had to kick out bootleggers who had built a still there. He then moved his family into the old forsaken home. The family took the move with a sense of adventure. What a good attitude!
Love,
Aunt Genni

Trivia, Trivia

Hello Dear Reader,
Grandpa (Edward F.) Carter, who was always called Ed, wore his curly hair in long ringlets when he began school in 1884 at the age of six. The boys at school made fun of him, so he went home, took some scissors, cut off his ringlets, and burned them up. He went to school through the 6th grade. Grandpa (Laning) Hall went to school through the 8th grade. Both of their wives attended college at BYU--Grandma (Caroline Ferguson) Hall graduating in 1909.

According to the 1880 U. S. census Edward M. Carter, Ed’s father, could neither read nor write. But he was a talented musician. Mary Angela (who went by the name of Ann), Ed’s mother could read but couldn’t write according to the same census.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Summer Work

Hello Dear Reader,
After graduating from junior high Grandpa (Wes) Carter went to work for Boyd Christiansen’s dad doing construction work. He made $3.00 a day or $18.00 a week. His job was shoveling crushed stone and sand into a cement mixer and hauling the cement in an iron-tired wheelbarrow to the forms. Sometimes he was so exhausted at noon that he ate his lunch and lay flat on the ground to rest so he could finish the day’s work.

He took his lunch in a paper bag. Lunch was sandwiches (wrapped in newspaper) and occasionally a Twinkie that he bought for a nickel when he had a spare nickel. He walked about 1¼ miles to work. After work he walked home, took a bath, got in his baseball uniform, and walked 1½ miles to play baseball. Then he walked home again. No wonder he was exhausted.
Love,
Aunt Genni

End of Junior High

Hello Dear Reader,

At Dixon Grandpa (Wes) became good friends with Boyd Christiansen. They are both listed in the Dixon Junior High School Graduation Exercises program dated May 23, 1933.

Graduation took place in the Provo High School auditorium and began at 7:30 pm. The program began with a half-hour orchestra concert and included lots of singing and several addresses. The invocation was offered by Boyd Christiansen and, at the end of the program, there was a graduation ball held in the gymnasium. The grand march of the graduating group was led by Wesley Carter and Gordon Mitchell,  both outstanding athletes.  There were 170 graduates that year.  Grandpa had many good experiences during his years at Dixon Junior High School but now it was time to move on.

Love,

Aunt Genni

WPA

Hello Dear Reader,
When Grandpa (Wes) Carter was about fifteen it seemed impossible to get a job. No one had work of any kind. But every family with a small income was eligible for government help under the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Wes worked on a WPA project digging sewer-line trenches with a pick and shovel. Some trenches were dug ten feet deep. All the dirt had to be thrown out of each trench with a shovel—hard work. The pay was in the form of groceries and commodities. To receive their goods, the workers went to the old woolen mill at 125 North 1st West in Provo and stood in line. Finally Wes refused to do this. He didn’t mind the work but hated standing in line for the pay.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Junior High Achievements

Hello Dear Reader,

Grandpa (Wes) Carter continued to do well in sports and in academics but sports seemed to take precedence over class work. He did complete a prescribed reading course for the school year 1933-34 and became a member of the Utah State Pupils’ Reading Circle.

In the spring of 1935 he went to the 25^th BYU Invitation Track and Field Meet and Relay Carnival representing Dixon.  He placed 4^th place in the high jump.  This was before the days of the Fosbury flop as you can tell by the photo.  They used to do it the hard way!

Love,

Aunt Genni

Rich in Spirit

Hello Dear Reader,
Though it was hard work Wes found the mining operation interesting. Grandpa (Ed) Carter and Wes’s uncle, Art Croft, drilled holes in the rock, put dynamite in the holes and blasted. Then they shoveled the broken rock into a wheelbarrow and hauled it over to the mine shaft. Wes hoisted the ore up on a wench with a bucket, dumped it into another wheelbarrow, and, when the wheelbarrow was full, dumped its contents into the ore bin. One of every ten buckets might contain ore. The rest was waste which Wes then wheeled to the waste dump.

He only made enough money for school clothes that summer. But Wes went back to school full of self-confidence. He considered himself the best basketball player and the best dancer at Dixon Junior High School.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Seeking a Fortune

Hello Dear Reader,
In the summer between 8th and 9th grades Grandpa (Wes) Carter went to Mercur (close to Ophir) and worked for his dad and uncle, Art Croft, who had leased a gold mine. They lived in a dugout, a miners’ shack dug back into the side of the mountain. Three of the walls of the shack were earthen but the front wall was made of lumber lined with cardboard.

Their diet consisted mainly of stew and beans. Wes lived to go home on weekends and eat his mother’s wonderful cooking. One Sunday, on their way back to Mercur, the men killed a jack rabbit for dinner. As they began to eat they found the rabbit had a boil. Wes said, “It’s funny we didn’t all get sick and die.” By “funny” he meant amazing--he wasn't amused.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Wasted Saturdays

Hello Dear Reader,
I remember Grandpa (Wes) Carter talking about taking his Grandpa (William) Blake to town. He told how every Saturday it was his job to take his blind grandfather into town to get his hair cut and do a little shopping. They walked east on Center Street about nine blocks or so and it took most of the day to complete this chore—Wes considered it a chore. Of course he would rather have been doing other things.

After the haircut Wes took Grandpa Blake to a store (probably Woolworth’s, across the street north from the tabernacle) where Grandpa Blake bought a bag of wintergreen mints—you know, the fat pink lozenges. Sometimes he bought the white peppermint kind. After spending what seemed like hours, when Wes finally got his grandfather home, he was rewarded with one mint. One mint! That didn’t seem like much of a reward.

Wes said, “But Grandpa Blake was blind and I watched to see where he hid his candy. Then when I felt like it I sneaked as much as I wanted.” Oh Grandpa!
Love,
Aunt Genni

Social Graces

Hello Dear Reader,
In PE at Dixon Junior High they had a weekly dance class with the girls. (As I recall, we did the same thing when I attended Dixon.) Because Grandpa (Wes) was shy around girls he never danced. Lee Buttle told him, “Wes, if you don’t learn to dance I won’t give you your grade in physical education.” Wes decided he had to do it. He became, in his words, "a pretty good dancer" and began enjoying it.

Some of the popular songs during Wes’s Junior High years include Mimi, April in Paris, I Wanna Be Loved, Easter Parade, Anything Goes, and Lullaby of Broadway. The class danced to these and other similar tunes.

At that time bread was 8¢ a loaf, milk was 45¢ a gallon, and gas was 19¢ a gallon. A new car cost $575.00 and a house went for $5,972.00. The average income was $1,506.00 a year. How times have changed.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Junior High School

Hello Dear Reader,

When it was time to attend seventh grade Grandpa (Wes) went to Dixon Junior High School where he served on the student council in both the 7^th and 8^th grades. It was at Dixon that another teacher had an influence for good in his life. The teacher was Leland Buttle, a recent BYU graduate who taught English and PE. Leland saw Wes’s athletic potential and encouraged him to develop his talent. He sometimes had Wes stay after school to play handball with him. 

Wes became a member of Dixon’s basketball team. In one game with Farrer Junior High, he got confused and made a basket in the Farrer team’s basket scoring for the opposition. Dixon lost the game. Wes, in remembering the incident, said, “A hero one day and a bum the next!” I guess we’ve all felt like that at some point in our lives.

Love,

Aunt Genni

Self Confidence

Hello Dear Reader,
From the time Grandpa (Wes) was about nine years old he worked and bought his own clothes. Maybe that’s the reason he took such good care of his things. He never threw his clothes down and seldom laid anything down. Unless something was dirty and went in the laundry hamper he hung it up. He kept his clothing clean, brushed, and repaired. He also made sure his shoes were polished, his face was washed, and his hair was combed. He usually looked very nice—ready to face the world.

His ability and willingness to work hard added to his self confidence although, around girls, he was bashful (a word no longer used much). Wes was starting to grow up.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Work Before Play

Hello Dear Reader,
One reason the Carters moved back to the house on Center Street was that money was hard to come by during the Great Depression that was taking place. Grandpa (Edward F.) Carter contracted a patch of beets from a woman by the name of Patsy Creer. The whole Carter family went to her farm to thin, water, weed, and top beets. When it was harvest time they harvested their crop. The rows were about 300 yards long; Wes earned 5¢ a row. If he worked hard he made 30¢ a day.

During the Depression the Carter males cut trees (probably from the woods near the Provo River) and hauled them home to chop for firewood. That was their source of fuel and heat for the winter. Wes added to their fuel supply by walking along the railroad tracks picking up coal that had fallen from railroad cars. Everyone had to help support the family--baseball came after the work was done.
Love,
Aunt Genni

First Base

Hello Dear Reader,
Right after Christmas of the year that Grandpa (Wes) Carter was in the sixth grade, his family moved back to the house at 900 West Center. The following summer Wes began playing American Legion baseball. He made the all-star team as first baseman and was considered a very good player. His team went to Price, Utah for the American Legion state tournament.

In the first inning of the first game Wes got a hit. He was off to a good start. Then, when the other team was at bat, as he reached for the ball, the runner coming to first base kicked him in the head knocking him out cold. He was out the rest of the game. His team then lost the next two games eliminating them from the tournament. That was the beginning of Wes’s athletic career.
Love,
Aunt Genni

More on PAF

Hello Dear Reader,
Before I get back to Grandpa (Wesley) Carter’s history I think I should give you more specific directions on downloading PAF to your computer: go to http://www.familysearch.org/. Once you are at the web site, click on the “Order/Download Products” tab at the top of the page and will be taken to a page of Family History products. Click on “Software Downloads” and you will be taken to a page of search results where you can download various versions of PAF. You will probably want PAF 5 which is the first one listed. I hope this is helpful.

Tomorrow I will continue with Grandpa’s history beginning where I left off—about the time that he entered Junior High School.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Recording Information

Hello Dear Reader,
As of today, I have 20,428 names on my computer. I want to get them out there so that you can all have copies. I recently received my “Family Tree Maker 2009,” program and am hoping to update my old version soon.

Do all of you know that you need software on your computer (or you can use one of the new internet programs) in order to enter data about your ancestors? There are several good family history programs available and a couple of them are free. If you aren’t ready for the information I plan to share on my upcoming website I hope that you will download PAF (free at familysearch.org) or install another good program and start practicing by entering your personal information and that of your immediate family. Be sure to include sources. My greatest regret is that I didn’t enter sources right from the beginning.
Love,
Aunt Genni

Two Carter Lines

Hello Dear Reader,
You may not know that we also have a Carter line on Grandma (Mary Hall) Carter’s side of the family. These Carters are from the South. Extensive research has not been done on this line but there are indications that this family lived in Virginia and may have been somehow connected to George Washington and the ancestors of Robert E. Lee.

I recently picked up a book from the bargain table at BYU Bookstore entitled, The First Emancipator. It is about Robert Carter III of Virginia. I find it very interesting and am trying to figure out how he might fit into our “Southern” Carter line. When I come to some conclusions I’ll let you know.
Love,
Aunt Genni

School in Provo

Hello Dear Reader,

One specific memory of their home in Provo that Mary recalled was the sound of the milk wagon coming down the street delivering milk early each morning.

She attended the Maeser School in the 5^th and 6^th grades. Lois went to the new Farrer Junior High School and Myrl, who was a senior in high school, went to Provo High. Myrl was the only one of the children not completely enthralled with their new location. She missed her friends and the school in Milford. But she ended up marrying Vern Bray whose folks lived on the next corner. I guess all’s well that ends well.

Love,

Aunt Genni

Moving to Provo

Hello Dear Reader,
When Grandma (Mary Hall) Carter was nine years old her father, Laning Hall was transferred to Provo. He rented a large two-story house for the family to live in. They moved by train and took all of their possessions (except the furniture that went by truck) with them. Mary said, “We must have been some sight getting off the train with all the things we could carry, and me proudly leading the dog [Tip]."

It was a beautiful home. Mary loved it. There were two big bedrooms upstairs, a formal dining room, and a fireplace in the living room. The yard was beautiful. There was space for a garden. There was even a granary behind the house with all kinds of places to play. The neighbors were friendly and there seemed to be children of all ages in the neighborhood for the Hall children to play with. This house is now on the National Register and is a Utah Historic Landmark. You can view the front of it on the internet at Google maps. The address is 485 E. 400 S., Provo, Utah.
Love,
Aunt Genni