A Small Town 4th of July

The 4th of July was always an anticipated holiday for the Marchant family. The activities surrounding Independence Day instilled in us a patriotic spirit and gratitude to be an American, but more than that they were fun!

Most of our holiday observance was tied to the nearby town of Oakley, who has hosted a 4th of July Celebration since 1935.  But our day's events began in Peoa itself with the local flag raising. Town residents would be reminded of the holiday by the ringing of the old Peoa school bell which was on a Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP) monument on the LDS church grounds. For many years, our own Grandma Evalyn Stembridge took her responsibility as an officer of the local DUP seriously, ringing the bell at 6 am to wake the town. At 7 a.m. the short program would begin, boys in scouts would sleepily arrive and see that the flag was raised. We’d sing along to a cassette tape accompaniment of the Star Spangled Banner and other patriotic songs. During the program, the sun would rise over the hill immediately to the East of the church. Sure, we loved our country, but the favorite part of the morning was the donuts and hot chocolate served at the end.

The Oakley 4th of July Parade began at 10 a.m. It's a slice of Americana, a small town parade  We enjoyed waving to the queens on horseback and floats, and especially gathering the candy that was thrown out. In the early years, our family always watched the parade near its starting point by the Oakley LDS Ward house and original rodeo grounds. The parade went one direction, and in case you missed anything, it turned around and came back!  As we grew up, all of the Marchant kids had the chance to participate in the parade. For many years there was a Marchant musician in the South Summit High School Marching Band. Before the days of custom t-shirts and casual shorts for bands, the marching Wildcats looked spiffy in their tailored wool uniforms complete with tall white furry hats. Great for looking professional, not so good for staying cool. Later years saw Marchant girls represented on floats for Summit County Dairy Princess and Kamas State Bank. The Oakley Parade was one of the most documented events our family, faithfully filmed with our 8mm movie camera.  

In the afternoon, Oakley had a Junior Rodeo. I never actually participated in this Rodeo, although maybe Blake did. My memories include watching city kids trying to catch a greased pig or ride a sheep or calf, usually unsuccessfully. I also remember sitting in the hot sun.  

The marquis event of the 4th of July Celebration was the Oakley Rodeo. Our frugal family faithfully attended every year, but to save money we opted to buy the General Admission tickets. For a lower cost, we bought tickets and we kids went early to the Rodeo grounds to secure the best seats, hours before the rodeo began. We brought our own treats, usually home made pink candy-coated popcorn. Now the Oakley Rodeo is a fully sanctioned professional rodeo. Back in the 1960’s and 70’s, we often cheered local cowboys who tried to “stick” a ride on a bucking horse or bull, or rope a calf. A popular event was the Wild Cow Milking contest, made up of Kamas Valley residents working in teams to rope a cow and be the first to get some milk to show the judges. I may just be getting old, but the rodeo stock from the past seemed more ferocious than it does now.The bull fights with the clowns seemed to last for a long time. I do know the seats in the old arena were closer to the action, making it more exciting (and probably dangerous) when a bull chased a clown or cowboy to the edge of the arena.  

As our family grew, the tradition of a Peoa/Oakley 4th of July was shared with the next generation. Families traveled from Texas, Washington State, Nevada to join in a Family Reunion with built in activities - Flag Raising, Parade, Rodeo. The Oakley Parade only goes one way now, starting at the new Rodeo Grounds South of Oakley.  For years we watched the parade near the Oakley Polar King Drive-In, often next to Stembridge cousins and their extended families. Later we moved further east along the highway for viewing the parade, nearer to the new rodeo grounds and town park. Grandchildren and even great-grandchildren learned the charm of a small town parade where it throwing candy is still permitted. For many years, all seats for the rodeo have been reserved.  The Rodeo is part of the professional circuit and showcases some of the best cowboys and cowgirls in the country.  But the outdoor experience at the base of the mountains on a summer’s evening is still the same.

Ione started a new part of the 4th of July experience when she introduced a family breakfast held on a day near the 4th of July when family was in Peoa. The breakfast was held at the Weber Cottonwood Picnic Area, in Weber Canyon east of Oakley. After being sprayed with insect repellant, we would enjoy a hearty breakfast cooked over camp stoves. Blake was usually found manning the grill, turning out perfectly browned French Toast and Pancakes. When in Utah, Julie was the manager of the details of the meal. Janice and the Seely Family from Texas were here for one of the early years of the canyon breakfast.The energetic Seely boys found the Weber River nearby and got in the river and played. After that year, more cautious parents allowed their children to throw rocks in the river from the bank, but not actually get in. After breakfast and clean-up, pictures were taken, documenting who was able to attend and how much all the kids had grown over the past year.  

The Family Breakfast tradition continues today, although the venue has changed. 2011 was a wet spring, a high water year that brought fears of flooding. To eliminate the temptation to children to get too near a dangerously high river, Ione decided to hold the breakfast outside her house in Peoa.  This worked out well and was more convenient for food preparation. It still allowed for the family to be together, enjoying a delicious breakfast outside in the cool mountain morning.

1940 Census - Peoa

You are probably aware that the 1940 US Census was released this month.  I knew the Church is involved in indexing the information (and have done some of that indexing myself).  But today I read an article about searching the original documents and tried it with success!  Peoa is a pretty small place; its residents are listed on 8 census sheets.  I found both Ione and Fred and their families with little effort.  So cool to see them listed as children.

The 1940 Population of Peoa is listed as 263.

See the Peoa Census Schedule here.  The Stembridge family is on Page 1A, along with Jessie Stevens and Mrs. Neel.  Abraham and Mary Marchant are on the bottom of Page 1B, but Fred is on the next page (2A). You can follow the progression of the census taker, going from Woodenshoe to the store, including Glenn and Afton Walker and Dell and Velma Marchant.  It's pretty fun to take a look.

Links for Fred Marchant

I recently did a Google search for Dad and found that this Church News article from when he was made Stake President.  In those days, they were able to do a longer article for each new Stake Presidency.  The link is HERE.

Also, I read about a website for graves around the world, findagrave.com.  There is a picture and information about Dad's grave site HERE.

The Fence:

Looking at the picture of the fence in front of the house I was thinking that Fred and Ione's grandchildren and great grandchildren, probably did not know the fence was ever there.  This picture of the front fence with the front porch in the background reminded me how the fence provided a dividing line along with the sidewalks, for the family lawn work assignments.  The fence and sidewalks were used to split the lawn into 6 separate pieces (6 kids needing a job..... just goes to show you that Fred was a pretty sharp math teacher & never think Ione didn't know the correct number of jobs needed as well).   Anyway the 6 areas gave every child a piece that they would take a turn in mowing their section of lawn each time and raking if needed.  The smallest piece of lawn that everyone wanted, was the side piece next to the driveway.  Getting this small assignment was like hitting the lottery, since it was the smallest and in about 3 passes you could be done mowing your assigned area.  And then the next week we would rotate to one of the other pieces and so on.  Now Fred and Ione showed the ability to adapt their math skills based on the number of kids available each time we mowed the lawn.  Since "6 kids a mowing" was a limited engagement.  Because not all of the kids would have been old enough to mow the lawn when they first moved in.  And it took a number of years to get all 6 big enough to mow and by then the older ones were getting old enough to go to college and moved on with there lives.  We adapted our math skills to divide the chore of mowing so that it could get done without being to hard for any one person. At times we would take turns cutting a few rounds then the next person would take a turn and so on.  No self propelled or riding mower in those days and if we did not keep it cut the long grass had to be raked and that was a real pain.  We tried not to let that happen. 


I also remember in the summer and fall most Sunday evenings the lawn between the fence and the road was used as the "community football field".  It seemed everyone came to play and when it got to dark to play, it usually ended up being a great place to talk, into the warm summer nights or cool fall evenings.  After a while in the dark, Ione would open the front door, telling us it was late and time to come into the house.  Of course, I being very obedient would always hurry in.... my sisters.... well I can't remember if they were as obedient as I was or not.  (I am sure they will be happy to tell you if they were or were not.... if you dare ask)

If memory serves the fence out front, was taken out after lighting struck the pine tree which is now just a stump and has flowers on top.  I recall the fence was fun because you could walk on top of it from the back to the front and back again.  Problems were encountered when someone else was coming in the opposite direction and if you could not work together to step around each other.
I also remember the titter totter which was made from an old wagon wheel axle with wooden spoke wheels (just like the Pioneers used, pulled by either horse or oxen), one wheel is now next to the South side of the house and is used as a decoration.  A number of years ago I took a piece of wood from the original axle and gave a piece of it to a friend of ours in Spring Creek, NV (John Lynch) who made knives. Now this was a block of old ugly wood about 9 inches long and 4 inches square faded and rotting on the edges.  The middle was very hard and was cut probably 12 years before and set aside.  I remember it was difficult to cut and had hoped to do something with it... so I asked him to make a letter opener...    After a few discussions, he convinced me to let him make a knife instead and if Ione wanted to open a letter the knife could easily do that as well.... So I consented and he then shaped a handle out of the small block of axle I gave him (White Oak) and used it to make a knife for Ione.  If you want to see a very nice knife with a piece of the original axle made into the handle ask Ione if she will show you it. I am sure she would be happy to show it to you, it is beautiful and by the way it is a very sharp knife so be careful.

Well these are just a few of my thoughts as I looked at the picture on the blog and remembered.  And by the way in a few weeks the bush near the right of the steps at the front of the house will bloom into a pink "cotton candy" color and always was a welcome sight letting us know spring had sprung in Peoa...

General Conference

I was thinking about General Conference just the other day and what it was like in Peoa. What I remember about conference with our family was first coming home from school on Friday's and having it on the Radio as Mom was finishing cleaning the house for the weekend or cooking dinner. Back in those days we had Conference for three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There was a total of 7 sessions with Priesthood.
We listened to as much as we could. We still had to do chores on Saturday with the farm, but had it on all the time if we were by a radio.
During October conference, I remember going up the canyon to get the cattle from being on the range all summer. I remember there were some times when I was waiting at the truck for others to come and would turn the radio on to listen as I waited. It was a beautiful time - the leaves were changing, it was ususally a sunny day.
April - I remember if it rained we would say - "when the saint meet the heavens weep". Some times we had snow never knew what the weather would be.
Sundays, we were required to listen and watch the two sessions. We could do things to keep busy as we set there - crochet, puzzles, etc. When the prophet came on to give the closing address - if we were not in front of the TV, we were called back into the front room to listen.
After Dad became Bishop and Stake President, he ended up going to conference as often as he could. I think the Priesthood leaders were the ones that had the tickets for the ground floor of the tabernacle.

Easter

Here are some of my memories of Easter:

Colored eggs. We colored a lot of eggs - I think we usually got 3 to 4 eggs each. We did the coloring around the kitchen table. This was one time I remember ever using the good china cups. I remember using regular food color sometimes with vinegar and using a crayon or candle to write on the eggs prior to coloring them. We then hid them alot on Sunday Easter morning in the two front rooms, Dad was the one that hid them for us to start with, then we all took turns hiding them. We always made deviled eggs out of them for Easter dinner.
I only remember not finding one for a while after Easter, we had to count them to make sure we had them all every time.

Easter baskets - we really didn't have baskets. I think dad was too practical to have the basket and then have to store them for the rest of the year. We did get candy each year - I remember it being mainly chocolate, could be that was what I liked so that is what I remember. The other candy I remember we got was peeps, but chocolate was the favorite and something we all liked. I do remember going to Salt Lake and going to a candy factory and getting their second's. We did this a few times during the year and then closer to Easter we got baggies of the candy for our individual Easter Candy. I remember one Christmas also having that candy along with some hard tac candy for our Christmas socks (as an extra treat). That was always a fun trip to Salt Lake being able to help pick the candy.

Spring in Peoa

April will soon be here.  Consider these topics and write a post.  You can do it!
* April 2 will mark the 58th Anniversary of Mom and Dad's wedding.  What memories do you have of them together as a couple?  
* What do you remember about General Conference time with our family?  
* What stands out as you think about Easter at the Marchant home?

Celestial Math

Louise, thanks for starting this Blog.

I must comment on Mom and Dad and the picture on their honeymoon. The car is so noticeable. I have to say I am so glad they got married and started our family. After seminary I often talk to the other teachers and one was speaking of her family growing. She spoke of it being wonderful how Heavenly Father uses "Celestial Math" with families. It all starts with just two and then it grows and is so wonderful as more and more join in the family. I'm sure Mom and Dad didn't realize what they were starting then, but I for one, am very grateful. Dad was always good at math, and it continues.

Hopefully we can all continue to add a little to our family history as we continue to add to the family.

Becky Nielson

Welcome to the Marchant Family Blog!  I hope you'll all participate to make this a fun site as we share memories and create a meaningful family history.

To begin, here are some pictures Rachel used in our 2012 calendar.

Fred in the kitchen in Peoa, still one of the most comfortable places in the house.

Check out that wallpaper!

Fred and Ione on their Honeymoon, 1954

Ione at her parent's in Woodenshoe

Ione & Fred.  That's an afghan Dad made.

  OK.  Come back often and contribute!