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.. FROM COVERED WAGONS TO AIRPLANES & SPACESHIPS Return to Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 ERNEST SAVILLE 1866 FLORENCE MAY HANSON SAVILLE 1866
ERNEST SAVILLE
1866
Ernest Saville. Click photo for full image. Ernest was a rather quiet, small boy, but he was interested in everything that went on around him. He was very close to his grandmother, Mary Ann Saville, while they lived in England, and spent much time with her until he and his parents left for America when he was about one and one-half years old. His grandfather and father were shoemakers and he learned early the art of making fine shoes. As a small child after arriving in Utah, his father put him to work stitching the toes of ladies and children's shoes because his hand was small enough to fit in the toes of the shoes. When he was twelve years old, he made a child's shoe which he entered in the state fair. He won a ribbon. The shoe is still in existence and belongs to his granddaughter, Florence. Ernest's parents were determined to follow friends and family to America and the Salt Lake Valley. They spent seven years saving and preparing to leave family and friends and all they knew and loved to join the Saints in the Valley. They sailed from Liverpool on the 24th of June 1868 on the sailing ship "Constitution." It later sank on the return trip to England. It had been declared unseaworthy previous to the sailing because of a fire, but due to circumstances it was put into service to take this group across to America. The Captain had told the Elders in charge of the group that only "Mormons" would have ever considered sailing on such a ship and that he had no intention of sailing back to England on her. They landed in the United States at Boston in August 1868. George's brother and sister Jim and Emma and Ellen's sister, Caroline, went with them. George bought a wagon and ox team in Boston to take them west. Caroline's luggage was lost overboard when they were unloading it from the ship, so she only had what her sister, Ellen, could let her have until they got to the valley. Caroline was crippled but still walked some of the way. George insisted that Ellen ride part of the way too, because she had not been well since her last baby was born. The baby was not well either.
Ernest often told the story of how sick he became as they were crossing the ocean. He said he got very sick and they thought he had died. In those days when someone died on board ship, they were sewn into a canvas bag and placed on a board and after a brief service, the board was tipped and the body slid off into the ocean. Ernest's body was prepared in this way, but before they got started, the grief stricken mother insisted that he was not dead so to reassure her, they opened the bag and found that he was indeed alive. How grateful his many descendants have been for the love and devotion of that mother. George carried his sewing machine across the plains on his back, his wife said, because he didn't want anything to happen to it because it would mean his ability to make a living for his family. When they first arrived in the states, they took a train to Ft. Benton where they stayed one week while George got them equipped to make the journey. They crossed in the John Gillespie Company, arriving in the Valley September 15, 1868. They came in the last official ox wagon company before the railroad. In Ellen's short story that she wrote of the trek, she said that George's feet were bleeding when they arrived, from walking the entire distance. They spent two days living in the tithing office until they found a home on the avenues. They didn't have much furniture at first, just some dry goods boxes and a stove they had purchased on the way out west. Eventually Ernest's father, George, purchased some acreage south of 27th South on the east side of 7th East across from the old Calders Park. They had a red brick home there. Later on George built a home north of 27th South on the east side of 7th East and another home on the west side just north of it. He built it for his second polygamous wife, Carolyn, Ellen's sister. When Ernest, or Ern as he was called, was about nine years old, he and his mother and the other children stayed on Antelope Island for about two months with an Uncle. Ern used to tell his grandchildren the story of how much fun the children would have rolling down the hill in barrels. Later in life he made a good living doing carpenter work and painting and wall papering houses. In 1916 he built his own home which was very beautiful, on the northeast corner of Stratford Avenue and Beverly Street in Highland Park, just south of Sugarhouse. . . The first store was on Thirteenth East and Thirty Third South on the northeast corner. There was a home behind it on Thirteenth East where Ern and his family lived. Later he owned a Mercantile Store on Highland Drive on the northwest corner. While Ern was still a young man, he learned to play the drums and joined the 1st Fife and Drum Band under the baton of Charles Birrell. John Held played in the same group for awhile but later formed his own group. They played at the last Territorial Fair. They played around the city at fairs, funerals, outings, etc. They sometimes played concerts in Liberty Park and at the old Salt Palace on 9th South. Sometimes they would play at different places in the city by standing on someone's porch or by the house. He enjoyed playing with this group. Ern was called on a mission to the Oklahoma Indian Mission. Little is known of this part of his life. We do know that he was released early because he became ill and had to return home. Ern met a lovely girl at church. He was very much attracted to her. For two winters he courted her. He said he remembered this because they spent most of their courting time at her house and one cold day he almost lost his horse. She was from the Mill Creek area. Her name was Florence May Hanson but she was called "Min" by her family and friends. They were married in the Logan Temple February 17, 1892, because the Salt Lake Temple was not completed yet. Read more in the book. . .
FLORENCE MAY HANSON SAVILLE 1866
Florence May Hanson. Click photo for full image. Florence was born while her father was engaged to work for a William Smith. The family lived in a cabin on his property for about eight years while her father worked for him. After this period of time in 1868, her father purchased 38 acres south of Cottonwood Creek from a couple of men who only held squatters rights to the land. Later, when the land was put up for government land, he purchased that plus a few acres more and eventually built a nice red brick home on the land. Eventually they were able to build the nice brick home they had always wanted. This, too, was close to the creek. The children were a vital part of farming life, having to help with the house and farm chores and Florence learned early how to do the many things that were part of a woman's life. She became a good cook and housekeeper and along the way, she also learned to swim in the creek as most young people did. She became such a good swimmer that her father called her his little "Minnow." This soon shortened to "Min" by which she was known the rest of her life. Her daughter, Irene, liked to tell the story of how, after she was married, they took her parents with them on a camping trip to Bear Lake in Idaho. The first morning when everyone was getting ready to go swimming, her mother appeared in a bathing suit and ran down to the water where, for the first time, Irene found that her mother was a very good swimmer. By the time she was a young lady, she met a young man that really caught her eye. He had been born in England but had come to the Valley as a little boy. His name was Ernest Saville. It wasn't long until she knew that this young man was special. Ernest realized that she was special too, and they were married in the Logan Temple on the 17 February 1892. The Salt Lake Temple hadn't been completed yet. They lived in a home on Ern's father’s property on the east side of 7th East across from the lake in Calders Park. This was a very exciting and interesting place to live as it was a favorite spot for the people of the Valley to go for their entertainment. There were the usual amusements of the day plus a bicycle race track. Ern soon got the idea of putting up a stand in front of their home where they sold hot dogs and drinks. As the children who came along grew, they helped in the stand. While they were living on 7th East, their first child was born. Jessie Irene was the first child, then came Evern Ernest, Owen, Hiley, and Spencer. During a diphtheria epidemic, Owen contracted the dread disease. About the same time, or perhaps a little previously, Ernest got sick too. Min had her hands full trying to take care of them both as she was expecting her fourth child. A couple of days after the birth of her baby boy, Owen died. In the history written by her mother, Frances Hiley Booth Hanson, she says,
In about 1814, Ern determined that they should have a nice home of their own. He purchased some land in the Highland Park area and drew up the plans for their house. Read more in the book. . .
EVERN ERNEST SAVILLE 1895 - 1958
Evern Ernest Saville. Click photo for full image. As a boy of about ten, Evern helped his father in the family store which was on 13th East and 33rd South. They had moved into a little stucco house in back of the store when his father had decided to purchase the store. The road in front of the store, 33rd South, was called "Savilles Hill." Some years later, his father built a lovely new home at 1387 East Stratford Avenue in the new Highland Park area. Evern was active in the Boy Scouts of America and the LDS. Church. He graduated from the old LDS. High School where he majored in Business Administration. Evern was a veteran of World War 1 and served in France, Belgium and Germany with the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division (Indian Head Division). He later became a member of the American Legion serving a term as commander of one of the Utah Chapters. He married Josephine Morris Tibbs on November 19, 1919, in the Logan LDS. Temple. Jo, as she was known, was born May 10, 1896, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Peter Thompson and Winnifred Jane Morris Tibbs. Jo and Evern became the parents of two sons and two daughters, Donald Evern, Bonnie Joyce, Margaret Jean (Peggy), and Richard Sterling. Evern worked for the Linde Company for thirty three years as a salesman and oxygen therapy specialist. He was instrumental in helping to establish the oxygen therapy departments in many of our cities larger hospitals and in training many of the personnel in the use of the equipment. In 1942, the Army Air Force was having trouble convincing their pilots, gunners and various people about the importance of wearing oxygen while in flight. Evern was called upon to give a series of lectures on the subject. Then to further instill in their minds the effects that the lack of oxygen would have on them, he decided that he would enter a chamber and write his name and multiply the number seven over and over again while the supply of oxygen was being diminished within the chamber. As the process continued, it was evident that with a diminishing supply of oxygen to the brain, even the simplest became impossible. The sheet of paper containing his name and multiplying was then placed in the revised handbook for pilots. He made a sacrifice and endangered himself in order to prove how essential oxygen was while in flight and thereby rendered a tremendous service. Read more in the book. . . |
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