Amasa Loren Kenney & Cannie Christine Tullgren

I look forward to meeting my Great-Grandma Kanney Christine Kenney Squire Peterson.  Seriously, anyone that can handle that tongue-twisting name must be amazing!  So I decided to gather information on her parents, Amasa Loren Kenney and Cannie Christine Tullgren.  Just as a reminder from a previous post, Kanney Christine Kenney's mom, Cannie Christine Tullgren, died just ten days after she was born.  So her father, Amasa Loren Kenney, legally signed Kanney Christine Kenney over to her Aunt Lena (the deceased mother's sister.)

Amasa Loren Kenney

Amasa Loren Kenney was born on 9 April 1858 in Fillmore, Millard County, Utah to Loren Edward Kenney and Mary Ann Tucker.  Amasa married Cannie Christine/Christena Tullgren in about 1876.  Amasa and Cannie had two children, Amasa Axel Kenney, born 9 March 1877, and Cannie Christena Kenney, born 12 January 1879. Amasa's wife, Cannie, died ten days after their daughter's birth.  Amasa signed Cannie over to her aunt, but he may have kept Amasa, Jr. 

Amasa then married Ann Eliza Gledhill in about 1880 and they had five children together; Charles Loren b. 1881, Samuel Eugene b. 1883, Vinnie Elizabeth b. 1886, Vance Elmer, b. 1893, and Mary Iris b. 1894.

Amasa died in Fillmore, Utah on 29 April 1896.  He was buried on 1 May 1896 in the Gunnison City Cemetery.  Plot 02.58.06

Cannie Christine Tullgren

Cannie Christine Tullgren was born on 16 August 1858 in Spanish Fork, Utah County, Utah to Axel Tullgren and Elena/Ellen Nieson.  She was the fourth of seven children.  Cannie bore two children and died ten days after giving birth to her namesake Kanney/Cannie.  She died on 22 January 1879 and was buried in the Spring City Pioneer Cemetery.  

The pioneers established the Spring City Cemetery in 1857 and laid it out in the shape of Utah.  Many of the markers were made out of local sandstone and the elements have washed away some of the names and dates.  The cemetery was once nearly covered with wooden markers, mostly children's graves.  The last burial was in 1910.

The sources for this post came from Ancestry.com, Find A Grave, New Family Search, and A Genealogy and Family History by Loren DeLance Squire

The above ancestors were not buried in the Spring City Pioneer Cemetery.  I went there to find them and found them to be buried in the main Spring City Cemetery.

Squire Christmas Party 2012

DuWayne & Helen Squire Christmas Party

Friday, December 21 @ 6:30 pm

Fairways Chapel - 1533 N. 1075 W.

Food Assignments:

Soup: MJ, Kim, Brad, Verlynn, Sheralee & Melodee

Salad: Children of Kim & Sheralee

Rolls/Bread Sticks: Children of Brad & Cyndee

Dessert: Children of MJ & Verlynn

Paper Products & Hot Chocolate: Cyndee

Cannie Christena Kenney Squire Pritchard - Part 2

     I have enjoyed getting to know my Great-Grandma Squire Peterson, so I decided to continue this week focusing on her.  I found a copy of a news story covering Christena's funeral in my dad's genealogy file, but the heading was cut off so I do not know in which paper this was posted.  Even though newspapers are rich with genealogical data I have found that it is important to verify the statements, i.e. The following outline states that John P. Squire died in 1921, but he actually died in 1932 as can be seen on his tombstone. Further verification of this is that John was listed in the 1930 Census of Manti, Utah. 

Funeral Held for Christine Peterson
     Funeral services were held in the Center ward chapel Saturday afternoon for Mrs. Christine Kenney Squire Peterson, 69, who died of a cerebral hemorrhage Feb. 19 at the home of a daughter, Mrs. William Thorpe, 2587 McClelland St., Salt Lake City.
     Mrs. Peterson was born in Spring City, January 12, 1879, a daughter of Amasa and Cannie Tullgren Kenney.  She had spent most of her life doing practical nursing and had lived in Manti for many years before going to Salt Lake City last December.
     She was married to John P. Squire in the Manti temple, Jan. 8, 1897.  He died in 1921 [1932] and she later married Frederick W. Peterson who died in 1932.  She had been an active member of the LDS church, a member of the Manti Ladies Literary club and Daughter of Utah Pioneers.
     Survivors include a son, Loren D. Squire, LaVerkin, Washington County, a daughter, Mrs. Thorpe; a step-daughter, Mrs. Leona Squire Pruhs, Alhambra, Calif.; two brothers, Amasa Kenney, Gunnison; Vance Kenney, Elko, Nevada; two sisters, Mrs. Vinnie Boulter, Sandy, and Mrs. Iris Wood, Los Angeles; 20 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.
     Bishop Ward Magleby conducted the funeral and Miss Jane Anderson played prelude and postlude music.  The Singing Mothers sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" with E.H. Peterson as soloist.  The invocation was by Alfred Larsen of Spring City and Mrs. Norma J. Allred, accompanied by Mrs. Elaine A. Jarrett, both of Ephraim, sang "The Holy City."  Mrs. Lilliam Armstrong read a tribute to Mrs. Peterson and Keith Peterson played a violin solo accompanied by Virginia Barton.
     Pres. Charles G. Braithwaite told of Mrs. Peterson's work as a nurse and of the joy she had witnessed as children were welcomed into the world.
     "In the Garden" was sung by the South Ward Quartet.
     Pres. Morris Pack told of Mrs. Peterson's sense of humor, her love for her family, and for children.  Closing remarks were by Bishop Magleby.  The Singing Mothers sang "Though Deep'ning Trials" and the benediction was pronounced by Patriarch J. Hatten Carpenter.  The grave was dedicated by Pratt Allred.

Cannie Christena Kenney

In trying to decide who to write about in this week's blog I was looking at my family pedigree and started thinking about my Great-Grandma Squire.  I have often wondered what her correct name was and now that I have spent several hours researching and looking through documents I have come to the conclusion that the more important questions are...Who is she? and What was she like?  But first, What was her REAL name?  My grandfather, Loren D. Squire filled out her death certificate with the name of Cannie Christine Kenney Squire Peterson.  Although, she can be found in several reliable records with a variety of names.

Here is how her name appears on her tombstone Christena K.S. Peterson.

On the Western States Marriage Index it shows her name as Kanney Charistina Kenney.  At this point, I was beginning to understand the confusion of Cannie's name.  I found her in the United State Census records in 1910 as Christina Squier, in 1920 as divorced Christina Squire, and in 1930 as Christina Peterson. 

When I saw that she was divorced in 1920, I thought, "What happened? Why did my great-grandparents get a divorce?" I never found out those answers but I did find some interesting clues from reading my Grandpa Loren D. Squire's, A Genealogy and Family History.    Here is an excerpt:

Amasa Kenney and his wife, Kanney, were the parents of two children.  First, Amasa, Jr. who married Annie Hansen [Jensen] and they made their home in Gunnison where they raised their four children, two boys and two girls.  Their second child, a daughter, was born Jan. 12, 1879 in Spring City and given the name of Kanney Christene Kenney.  Her mother died ten days after she was born and her father drew up a contract with her dead mother's sister, Lena Tullgren Larson (who later married Moroni Bradley) to have her take and raise this baby girl as her own. (This agreement is in my possession.)  In this agreement her father states that her name shall be Kanney Christene Kenney.  Many records spell Kanney as Canny and Christene as Christena.  This agreement was made and signed on Jan. 30, 1879 when mother was 18 days old.  Lena Larson had a baby son near mother's age and she raised them on her breast as twins.  My mother had a pretty rough life as a child, as her aunt's husband run off and left her with her family along with the additional child she had taken to raise.  She was the only mother my mother ever knew and we called her Grandma Bradley, as she later married Moroni Bradley, a widower.  She was also known at times as Aunt Lena.

On Jan. 8, 1897, my father, John P. Squire, being a widower at the age of forty with two children, Leona, age nearly eight and Gilbert, age five and a half, married my mother, Kanney Christene Kenney, who was four days short of being eighteen.  So my young mother had a family to start with.  Father owned his home and a good farm three miles south of Manti.  Father was a hard worker and a good provider and was known everywhere for his honesty.  

My Grandpa Loren D. Squire continued his writing of his parents and stated that early in his parent's marriage his father, John P. Squire, had some differences with ward leaders and knowing the way of their life became disturbed and became inactive and remained so all the rest of his life.  He never said anything against the church and usually went to the quarterly conference.

I guess it doesn't really matter why my great-grandparents divorced, but maybe it had something to do with the 22 year age difference or the fact that John P. Squire had become inactive.  Kanney married her second husband, another widower, Frederick Peterson.

My dad recalls Grandma Peterson (Kanney Christene) with fondness.  He said she was kind and not bossy.  It appears that Kanney preferred to go by the name of Christina. I think it is interesting that my Grandpa Squire said he had the agreement document in his possession showing her name as  Kanney Christene Kenney, but listed it on her death certificate as Cannie Christine Kenney Squire Peterson.  I'm guessing that my Grandpa Squire had to fill out his mother's death certificate from memory and that is why there is a spelling difference.  But, after visiting her mother's tombstone, her namesake, Cannie, and  visiting Grandma Peterson's tombstone listed Christena, I am going to go with Cannie Christena Kenney in my PAF file.  It has been a fun journey getting to know my Great-Grandma Squire Peterson.

The paradox of genealogy is that family history doesn't usually become important to you until the people who had the answers are gone.

Morris Wilson, Jr. Obituary

Morris Wilson, Jr. is my maternal great-grandfather.  Although, he passed away several years before I was born I feel as though I know him.  I have heard so many wonderful stories of this amazing man.  In a former post I shared one of his incredible missionary experiences.  In the obituary that follows it lists that he served as bishop of the La Verkin ward for 16 years, but in a history posted on FamilySearch.org it states, "As the populations of the settlement [La Verkin] increased they were organized into a bishop's ward June 23, 1904, with Morris Wilson, jun., as Bishop....Morris Wilson, jun., acted as bishop of the La Verkin Ward until 1928..." My mother and his grand-daughter,Helen, has often spoke of his 24 year service as bishop. Morris' obituary appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday, March 11, 1955:

Death Claims Settler, 80, At La Verkin

     La Verkin, Washington County-Morris Wilson, Jr., 80, former county commissioner, church worker and banker, died here Thursday after an illness.

He was born at North Creek, Washington County, Sept. 13, 1874, a son of Morris Sr. and Sarah Elizabeth Isom Wilson.  He married Minnie A. Stratton, May 2, 1899 in St. George Temple, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

     Mrs. Wilson died a year ago.

     One of the initiators of the Hurricane Canal and a worker on the diversion canal for 15 years, six of them as foreman, Mr. Wilson was one of the first settlers of this community and served for 16 years as bishop of the La Verkin LDS Ward.

     At the time of his death he was a director in the State Bank of Hurricane and patriarch in Zion Park LDS Stake.

     He served six years as county commissioner and prior to his appointment as patriarch was a member of the high council of Zion Park Stake.

     He formerly served on a mission for the church and had been active since a youth.  Surviving: four sons and a daughter; Wayne, Reed Wilson, and Mrs. Thora Gubler, La Verkin; Paul, Carmichael, Calif.; and Dilworth, Henderson, Nev.; 28 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren; a brother and four sisters; William F. Wilson, Mrs. Pearl W. Stratton, Hurricane; Mrs. Amelia Sanders, La Verkin; Mrs. Edna Bundy, St. George; Mrs. Nellie May, Las Vegas.

     Funeral Monday 2 p.m. La Verkin LDS Ward.  Friends call Spilsbury Mortuary Sunday, 7 to 8 p.m. and at family home Monday after 10 a.m. Burial La Verkin Cemetery.

Korean War Experience of DuWayne Squire

The following excerpt comes from the Life History of my dad, DuWayne Gilbert Squire.  This experience occurred during the Korean War in 1951.  He was Sargent First Class in the U.S. Army-213 Field Artillery.

On a few occasions I have had vivid promptings from the Holy Ghost.  At such times the visitation or prompting was given as real as if any person would normally speak to me.  One such event occurred while I was serving in the War in Korea.

Our National Guard Unit, The 213 Field Artillery, was called into active duty and we boarded a troop ship on 1 January 1951 at Seattle, Washington.  We went to San Francisco, California and picked up some more troops and then headed for Osaka, Japan.  After a couple of days in the Japan Harbor where we picked up supplies we headed on over to Pusan, Korea.  Pusan is on the Southern tip of Korea and at the time we arrived there the North Koreans had pushed the South Koreans all the way down to within 45 miles of pushing the South Koreans into the ocean.  So that is where we joined the South Korean (ROK) Army along with the 24th U.S. Army infantry troops in trying to stop the North Koreans and start pushing them back into North Korea.

To make a long story a short one - We were having a hard time in digging the North Korean's out of their entrenchment and fortifications.  That is when General MacArthur got the bright idea to make a landing at Inchon, which is up near the middle of Korea.  So we were pulled out  of the Pusan Harbor and we along with our heavy equipment were shipped up to Inchon.  That put us right in the middle of the enemy with half of their army South of us and the other half North of us.  It was a great tactical move which caught the North Korean Army off guard.  Within a week we had retaken the Capital City of Seoul, and became strongly entrenched.  We eventually were able to remove the enemy from the area South of Seoul and then concentrate on the enemy North of Seoul, which was in North Korea.  For the next few months we were making some headway in pushing the enemy to the North above Seoul and then China dumped a multitude of soldiers (some estimates ranged from 200,000 to 300,000) across the Northern border.  Each Chinese soldier had a pack sack on his back in which they carried a supply of rice and ammunition and they were armed with AK-47 automatic rifles.  Needless to say, when they reached our front lines their vast numbers overwhelmed our forces in a hurry.  We were pushed back to the North perimeter of Seoul.

 At this point I will state that I was the Supply Sargent for our Unit and had been assigned a half track vehicle which had a fifty caliber machine gun mounted on a circular track so we could swing the gun around to be able to shoot anywhere on a 360 degree angle, either at aircraft or men and equipment on the ground.  While we were setting up camp for the night I turned on the short wave radio in my half track and was listening to the U.S. pilots who were flying over and attacking the oncoming ground forces of the enemy.  One of the pilots said the enemy were all on foot without any form of transportation.  He went on to say the enemy were so numerous that all of the hills looked like ant hills covered with moving ants - and all were heading South toward us.  If that wasn't enough to put the fear and trembling into me - I saw several truck loads of Marines going up to the front to fill in a gap where the South Korean (ROK) Army had all broken ranks and fled South.  Then a couple of days later I saw 3 big trucks with high side racks all returning from the front with dead Marines stacked in the trucks like cord wood, 10 feet deep.  As we were setting up camp on the north edge of Seoul our Commanding Officer came over to my half-track and told me that since I had the only 50 caliber machine gun I was to position my half-track on the North East corner of our encampment because that is the most likely place where the enemy would attack from.  He then commanded me to remain awake and be on guard duty all night and that I was to shoot at anyone that came from the North - He said there will not be any "Friendlies" coming from the North so I was to shoot without a challenge!

I stood in the five foot diameter circular gun mount with my hands on the trigger guards and my thumbs on the two triggers.  I was cold and miserable, and I might add very tired.  But after listening to the pilot's warning concerning the numerous enemy coming our way I couldn't have slept if I had wanted to do so.  The hours passed and just as the sky began to lighten up a bit indicating that morning would soon be coming - I heard the padding of several feet coming from the North directly toward my position.  When they got about 30 feet away I began to see movement of several shadowy figures. I was ready to squeeze the triggers but was stopped by a voice telling my mind, "Don't Shoot."  I answered in my mind that I must shoot because I was given a direct order to do so.  So I was about to squeeze the triggers again and the voice told my mind in no uncertain terms that I should not shoot.  I held off shooting and within a few seconds I could see about 20-30 people coming and I was able to discern that they were very old men and women and several children, some small children were even carrying babies on their backs.  I discerned that they were poor refugees just trying to get out of the way of this cruel war.  They walked within 2 or 3 feet of the side of my half-track.

How grateful I was that the Holy Ghost had so firmly warned me to not kill those poor innocent Old civilians and their Children!  Had I done so, I doubt there is any way I could have ever forgiven myself.