THE WADSWORTH WIKI PROJECT
Dollie and Lafe Wadsworth: A Collection of True Accounts
By LaRae Free Kerr, M ED and family members Simone Hentish, Natalie Hentish, Jule Wadsworth, Gretchen Free, Ann Packard, Priscilla Smith, NAMES OF OTHERS WHO HELP
Started 19 January 2002, New Harmony, Utah. Recommenced under divine direction March 2012, Spanish Fork, Utah. Thank you to all who will have helped, scanned, written, “scrapbooked” in any way. Further, you will note a running commentary going through this to which you may add your own questions and comments. Just be sure to add your name to each entry. When the project is completed, we may delete those questions that have found answers to make the history more cogent.
Please note, I’m finding it repetitive and tedious to keep identifying people as relatives. If you see a Wadsworth or Hollingshead surname assume there is a relationship to Gram and Grandpa Lafe, therefore to us. I’ll keep identifying others as I can. LFK
EARLY INFORMATION:
On the 27th of Feb 1984, I wrote to Uncle Lester Lee asking for answers to some intriguing questions. My dear Mom [Myrtle Joy Wadsworth Free] visited him on 16 March 1984 to record his answers.
I asked: Tell me about “lowering” the land in Panaca.
Uncle Lester’s reply as recorded by Mom: “There was lowering of the land where foundations were to be built, had to dig a trench where foundation was to go and leave it that way until water dried up. If they did not the walls would sink and break the walls of the building.
“The top soil is what seemed to cause the houses to sink. Uncle Lester says the story of cattle tramping it were not correct. They poured trenches 14 feet full of water for the Panaca grade school.”
This phenomonen of “lowering” the land is also explained in George Allen Wadsworth – Pilley to Panaca. Since I am attempting to give our Wadsworth family everything I can about our family, I will tell you a few things that have happened because of the George Allen Wadsworth book. The book won first place in an Idaho Writers contest. It was one of ten finalists in a contest in England which took us to lunch with the Duke of Norfolk at the Savoy in London. It was a runner-up in a Mid-West family history contest. The information in the book has been used by at least one researcher who studied early Mormon communities for an advanced degree. LFK
DECADE ONE: 1890-1899. This is the decade when Gram and Grandpa Lafe were born. Gram or Dollie is Minnie Adell Hollingshead Wadsworth b 1898. Grandpa Lafe is Milton Lafayette Wadsworth b 1894, both born in Panaca, Lincoln, Nevada. As the oldest grandchild, I remember them both vividly and can’t seem to help but call them Gram and Grandpa which I do in my narratives. Others who contribute to this wonderful true history may use whatever names you use for the people mentioned. Just be sure to identify who wrote what, so there is no confusion, by following each entry with your initials or name. [My entries will be followed by my initials: LFK. By the way, I was called Helen Rae when I was growing up in Panaca, named after my Aunt Helen [O’Connor] and my Aunt Rae [Empie]. My full name is Helen LaRae Free VanderBeek Kerr. I have two BAs, an M ED and half of another masters degree. I earned certificates in Secondary Education, Empathology and Natural Healing despite having terrible chronic illnesses: Addison’s Disease, severe hypoglycemia, just for starters, and being in bed half my life. And pain, oh my. Just in case you wondered. Things are quickly getting worse, in 2012, so I am very concerned about getting this information into the hands and minds and hearts of family members.]
The picture below may be an early picture of Panaca. I come to that conclusion only because of the collection of very old photographs with it. Is there a place in Panaca where that particular mountain slope can be found? Will someone please look? Or is that a tailing pit right behind the driver’s head? If so, this might be Pioche. Will someone look and let me know? Thanks. LFK Whether this is a picture of Pioche or Panaca, it clearly shows the world Gram and Grandpa Lafe were born into: bare Lincoln County hills, bare trees, wooden buildings, horse-drawn buggies driven by women [that is a woman driver, right?]. The reason I think this might be Panaca over Pioche [if it is either] is that the street is so wide, Mormon wide. LFK
About 1894. The picture below, though taken before Gram was born, shows people important to her: Elizabeth Evans Hollingshead, her grandmother; Andrew Hollingshead, her uncle; and Clem Hollingshead, her half-brother b 1891 in Minersville. Clem was raised by this grandmother because his mother died about a week after he was born.
The picture was taken by Stringham and Howarth studios of Manti and Salt Lake City.
DECADE TWO: 1900-1909
About 1901: This studio picture of the four Hollingshead children was taken about 1901. It is a copy, so I don’t know where it was taken. The tallest girl is Aunt Thell, Athella Melissa Osborn, Gram’s half sister, Gram’s mother’s daughter by her first marriage. Gram is the adorable “Dollie” on the left, Elmer is on the right, and the baby is Leo. Note that Clem is not included in the picture. As near as I can tell he lived with his Grandmother Hollingshead until she died or until he married. But I remember Aunt Thell very well. LFK
About 1905. The next picture was almost certainly taken between 1905 and 1913. It looks to me like this picture was taken at Hebron, Utah, the home ranch and stage station of the Thomas Sirls Terry family. Thomas Sirls Terry, the white-haired man sitting between two of his wives [numbers 2 and 3 in the picture] is Grandpa Lafe’s Grandpa. Since Mary Ann Pulsipher Terry [1], died in 1913, the picture had to have been taken before then. Number 2 is my own great, great grandma Eliza Jane Terry who died in 1919, Grandpa’s Grandma, the midwife at my Mom’s [Myrtle Joy Wadsworth Free] birth. Number 3 is Hannah Leavitt Terry. I do not know who 5 is. But Grandpa Lafe’s mother, Eliza Jane Terry Wadsworth, is the stout woman in white behind 5. She was diabetic. Could the man directly right of 3 be Nephi John Wadsworth?
I do recognize Josephine Terry Wadsworth, Grandpa’s Aunt, [Aunt Josie though I did not know her in life, only in pictures as with the rest of these folks], is almost certainly holding Beulah who was born in 1903 and couldn’t be more than 2 in this picture, so that pretty much nails the date of the picture: about 1905. Even if the child should be Georgia who was born in 1911, the date would have to be between 1905 and 1911.
Josie is sitting in the second row, far left, with the little girl on her lap. I recognize several of Grandpa Lafe’s aunts from other pictures I have seen. These can be compared by anyone. I hope someone has identified these people and will share that information with us. The back of the picture has information about a Mountain Meadows marker erected 1932. LFK
When interviewed about this picture, Uncle Lester Lee said George Wadsworth, Grandpa Lafe’s Uncle and husband of Aunt Josie was also in the picture. Can you find him? If my estimated date for this picture is correct, Grandpa Lafe would have been about 10 years old when it was taken, but I can’t see anyone who looks like him to me. But then, this was way before my time, plus I’m working on restoring my eyesight after three eye surgeries. So will the rest of you look carefully at family pictures, then at this picture, to see if you can identify others? Thanks. LFK
