Beatrice Cannon Evans As Remembered By Her Children

Beatrice Cannon Evans as remembered by her children:

On March 4, 1990, David, Robert, Ted and Wayne, sons of Beatrice Cannon Evans and David W. Evans sat together to share their thoughts about their mother.

The following notes were taken that day by Wayne with extended thoughts he thinks are significant.  Some of the typed report that was written in January of 2012 – was transcribed 22 year later.

1.       Born May 18, 1894.

2.      Her traditional menu: Lamb roast, tossed salad, green onion dressing, beets and lemon chiffon pie.

3.      Playing in Zina Bennion Cannon’s root cellar.

4.      The cheapest vegetables – parsnips in the 1930’s.

5.      Sour “creamed” cucumbers.

6.      BCE born on Center Street – near the state capitol building site.

7.      DWE born in a 6th Avenue home.

8.      Through her Uncle George who lived next door, Mother learned the names of all the trees.

9.      She was student of grammar “Don’t Think”

10.  She learned to ride horses properly from her father.

11.  She thought a great deal about good foods.

12.  She frequently said, “I usually don’t have desserts –But.”

13.  She grew up in her father’s home at 2381 South Seventh East,

14.  She was the oldest of eleven children of the first of three wives.

15.  Her father’s family raveled to the Weber in “white tops” or “canyon wagons.

a. White tops were the same as the wagons that pioneers used in coming to the west. 

b. They stayed the first night at the Kimball Ranch, near the present Kimball Junction.  They stayed the second night at the Richards Ranch at the Pines development on the Weber River.

c. At least one time, she and her father rode horseback the entire way in one day, changing horses at the Kimball Ranch.

d. Until 1927 there was a small road following the stream up Parley’s Canyon, used mostly by animal power. At that that time, the road was only slightly refined.  During Wayne’s youth, (I went to the Weber the same year I was born) the cars were so troubled by this climb that there was a station midway up the canyon where the cars would cool down from boiling over.

e. The rest of the trip to the “Weber” was through silver creek canyon to Wanship, then up the side of the Weber River where the Rockport Lake now is through the town of Rockport.  Almost every trip there would be an old man in a rocking chair in front of his home that would wave to the passing cars.

From the City of Oakley there was no pavement until 1950. At best, the trip to the cabin  took 3.5 hours by car.

16.   Mother’s horse was Seal Muff, a registered race horse.  At the start of the race, horses were started by cracking a whip in front of them.  On one occasion, the whip struck the front shoulder of this horse, making him no good as a racer.

This was “Bea’s” horse.  They are reported to have become one animal when she mounted.

When the horse was sent to the “ranch” early in the year, some of the sheepherders tried unsuccessfully to ride it. 
When Bea and her father arrived, they said the horse was a killer and the girl should never ride her.  However, she walked up to the horse, boosted herself on and then rode off as a team to the consternation of the sheepherders.

17.   On one occasion, Dave and Bob were invited to eat breakfast with Uncle Sterling.  Mother told them they should eat only one pancake.  Therefore, Uncle Sterling made one the size of the whole skillet.

18.  Pete Jenson’s (sheep operation manager) camp wagon was at ‘Moffit Creek.” His wife, Pearl made lemon meringue pie that was tough and rubbery but we (Bob and Dave) loved it.  Wild gooseberry pie was Bob’s favorite.

19.  Mother was the editor of the High School paper, the Gold and Blue.  Mother loved her instructors, particularly Talmage.  (SP?) She read Goetta(?SP) in German.  After 60 year from school, she sometimes still spoke in German.

20.  At age 19, she had a critical illness and her father build her a small house down by the Weber river.  She used a darkened room in the Forest Dale home where he eyes could rest.  She also had thyroid surgery.

21.  She won a “normal” scholarship at the University of Utah but was not able to accept it.  She taught at the Steward Training school.  She really wanted to study history, law and English.

22.  Also at 19, she served on the Primary General Board and travelled to Southern Utah with Joseph Fielding Smith.  They had meetings in many of the small towns along the way.

23.  She said that Joseph Fielding Smith was the kindest person she could remember on that trip.  She said she really did not like Primary as a child.  She said “Perhaps that is the reason I was called to that assignment.”

24.  When courting, DWE would ride the street car to visit and sometimes he missed the last car and had to walk home to the Avenues, four miles. 

25.  DWE and BC met at LDS High School. Both worked on the newspaper, the Blue and Gold.

a.      They had a “joking” relationship which lasted through life.

b.      From their graduating class, there were many friends they stayed with through life.  Max and Leo Sharp, Ed Winder, Herb Maw, Bish James and Ruby, Wilfred Gardner, Ray Wood, Harold Wallis and others.

26.   John M. Cannon bought the Weber “ranch” in 1916 and it was sold in about 1919.

27.   David W. Evans came back from the army having been trained in the use of “Wireless Telegraphy” – two-way radio. He trained at Yale University (College Park Michigan.)

28.  They were married at age 25 on September 9, 1919.  David C. was born, Feb. 24 1934, Bob was born February 28m 1936, Ted born May 28, 1939, Wayne born August 26, 1931 and Carl born July 20, 1934.

29.  BCE loved coconut macaroons.

30.  She had eye problems which gave her much pain.  She would put a cotton patch over the eye for comfort.  It was later diagnosed as Anasychonia (? Spelling)

31.  When she did read, she would make lots of notes and hold her place in the book with                   hair pins and clips.

32.  After DCE’s birth, she went to Long Beach California for her health.  She met a man in Logan, Utah who said she should drink as much buttermilk as she could.

33.  She was inclined to get help from naturopathic doctors – Dr. Wilkey who treated many illnesses with an electric machine that “stimulated” the body part that hurt.

34.  During the 1940s she sent much of her time in bed, being carried downstairs as needed.  She was taken to a Provo, Utah hospital where she received electric shock treatments.  It was there were times she ate cucumbers almost exclusively.

35.  Upon returning from Provo, she stayed with her mother in the Forestdale home.

36.  Miss Forrester was BCE’s teacher at Forest Dale School and was the principal when David C. went there.

37.  In the summer up the Weber we would stay in the “bees a nest.”  Father would drive up coming to the Weber on Friday and on Saturday night drive back to Salt Lake because he was a counselor in two Bishoprics for 17 years.

38.  The cabin had no running water so we would carry water from the river in buckets. It was cold when it splashed against your legs. There was an outhouse 150 feet from the front door with two holes.  The cabin had two rooms. In the back was a bedroom with a bed on top of a storage box.  The front room had a large coal or wood burning stove. Benches were around the edges and a table.  There were no windows.  Where windows normally would be was screened and there were canvas covers that could be a closed against the wind.

39.  Water was heated on the stove.  For Saturday night’s bath there was a large metal tub placed in front of the stove.  Children were bathed from youngest two oldest.  Therefore David had the dirtiest water.

40.  Mother often had a hired girl as a maid.  These were country girls that came to town sometimes expecting a baby.

41.  Mothers cousin, Adelle Cannon Howells, lived in the ranch house where the original John B, Cannon house was placed.  She often made horses available for mother and the children to ride.  Fresh milk came from the Howells or from the Decker family in Holiday Park.

42.  Both at home in Salt Lake City and at the Weber, our spare time was used for darning socks, cracking nuts, sewing on buttons, and similar activities.

43.  Baby diapers were rinsed out in the creek, sterilized in heated creek water and hung to dry.

44.  Fish were weighed on baby scales.  Logs and kindling were cut for the stove.

45.  One summer and a young deer took shelter in the unfinished Cannon cabin next door to the “b” nest.  The older boys played with it even with it’s paws on their shoulders.

46.  Bob reported rats running on cabin rafters that were shot with a 22 caliber rifle.  Uncle Frank reported catching a mouse in a bag which bit through the bag and his leather gloves.

47.  Back in Salt Lake mother was often helping relatives with drinking problems to “dry out.”  She always had a project person often found in a bar on west temple.

48.  Older children were taught in “charm classes” and “pronunciation” at the ladies literary club.

49.  She had pride in being a Cannon, one of 11 children.  “Cannon women didn’t marry you, you married the Cannon woman.  Jeffrey Holland, reminded he had some Cannon blood, responded “a little Cannon blood never hurt anybody.”

50.  Mother often spoke with pride about Cannon relatives, George Q, David H, and her grandfather Angus M. Cannon.

51.  One of the older brothers remembered praying for the arch bishop of Canterbury to die, to release church records for microfilming.  With a major effort by Ann M. Cannon, mother’s aunt, was successful in getting the records in the isle of Mann microfilmed.

52.  Mother was a founder of the Cannon Family Association.  She wrote the newsletter, the Cannon Family Chronicle, for many years.  She was a member and president of the Salt Lake Women’s Republican Club and the Utah Republican Club where she was the president.  She was a delegate in Chicago to a National Republican Club event.

53.  She was active in the Bonneville Knife and Fork Club, the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers the Cannon, Hinckley Club and other such activities.

54.  Father and mother traveled abroad taking granddaughters.  Julie to New Zealand, Ann and Lark to the South Pacific, Pat and Nancy to Europe and Eastern Europe, Gayle to Mexico and Central America, Katherine and Carol to Seattle for the World’s Fair.  Ted and Gloria, Bob and Marianne traveled with them to Europe.  David, Joy Vella and Wayne to the Caribbean and a large group for an Alaska inland tour cruise.

55.  On the car rides and at home mother peel cucumbers and dished out vegetables “treats” carrot juice, celery juice, parsley juice, and then the dandelion and walnut sandwiches with cream cheese.

56.  She would get spring water from a neighbor’s backyard and from a spring on 8^th South.  She made root beer and loved it!

57.  She wanted to try everything.  In her 70’s she tried water skiing, learned to type, took swimming lessons and learned to use a typewriter. This helped her to write and edit the Cannon Family Historical Treasury.

58.  As soon as Carl was born, father left with the two oldest boys for the Chicago World’s Fair.  In 1931, mother took the three younger boys to San Francisco (where her sister Lenore lived) for the World’s fair.

59.  She had “troubled Girls” from the Relief Society to help with the household chores.

60.  Ted said she taught me I was special.  She challenged him to read, write and take classes in Latin, Greek and always encouraged me to do well.

61.  Because of mother’s eye problems she had the rights to use records for the blind and would listen to wonderful things, great books, the reader’s digest and the like.  She would also have the boys read to her, correcting pronunciation and making certain we understood every word.

62.  She encouraged us to make sleeping bags with wool from the Woolen Mills, unbleached muslin dyed brown, and made waterproof with paraffin wax dissolved and gasoline.  She encouraged us to “put a pasteboard box by our head “to keep a cow from stepping on your head.”

63.  We had large family bonfires in the evening by the river in the fireplace.  We sang songs and told stories. One of her sayings was “hang your clothes on the hickory limb, but don’t go near the water.”

64.  The story was told of when a diamond fell out of her ring and got lost.  They looked long enough and prayed long enough.  The diamond was found in a rat’s nest several days later. 

65.  Ted was the one who canned the peaches.  He said it was better than weeding. Each son had a specific area he was responsible to keep weed free – fat chance.

66.  When there was whooping cough, father did not come home.

67.  It was clear that mother always had an interest in healthy foods – all types of veggie drinks.  A Dr. McCullum introduced her and us to Vit. D and cod liver oil.

68.  Carl called attention to mother’s grey hair and mother started using Henna Rinse.  She was proud and dignified as any Cannon should be.

69.  Setting the table was important – 2 forks, knife and spoon, cloth napkins, napkin rings.  We each had a rabbit napkin ring each with a different colored eye.

70.  Ted talked about earaches –put the center part of a boiled onion in the ear for relief.  Other health items were hot wet packs, lemon and soda drinks, “Swiss-kriss”, Denver Mud and being in bed with lots of blankets to induce sweating. Also many Utahns used “prescribed” beer.

71.  At Christmas time, Leah Wooley always sent us Applettes.  They were one of the things mother would hide between the blankets.  I, Wayne, never learned that fact.

72.  There was on constant piece of advice we received – “Be Believing!”

73.  In what was “Family Home Evening” for our time, Father would read from good books for us as we did chores such as darning socks, cracking nuts, mending clothes, etc.

74.  Horses were big for mother. In her youth she would ride from her 7^th East home to Liberty Park with her father and back. She won first prize at the Utah State Fair riding in the saddle-horse class.

75.  She spent part of one summer in Alberta, Canada on a farm her father owned.  Grandma Cannon had a very hard time living in polygamy.

76.  David H. Cannon, mother’s uncle, said that it was right for John M. Cannon to live in polygamy with marriage to two women who already had children.

77.  John M. Cannon’s Canadian Ranch was used as a reformatory for friends and relatives.

78.  There was some reason that David C. was not able to see Uncle John K. Cannon in the army during WW2.  He was a four-star general and the son of one of John M. Cannon’s wives.

79.  There was a discussion of mother’s exercise activity, high kicking, broom-stick jumps (I doubt it) a slant board and isometric exercises. 

80.  Mother’s swimming skill at the time was “dog paddling.” However, no water was too cold for her.  At age 70, she did try water skiing without success, but with much bravery.

81.  Mother helped her mother a great deal when grandma had cancer.

82.  DWE and BCE, in their old age took regular long walks in the neighborhood in all types of weather – to the market and/or the cleaners., etc.

83.  Ted said, “If she hadn’t been so darn sick, she wouldn’t have lived so long.”

84.  When one of the sons insisted on doing something she didn’t want them to do, she would say, “Do as you damn please!”

85.  A great time for everyone was regular Sunday dinners with the families and other guests.

86.  On Sunday afternoons, we had the best times playing with cousins in the large house and yard at the home on 7^th East.

87.  On the last evening of her life, Ted was asked to read John Bennion’s play, “Crossing Jordon.”

88.  Ted said that I her later years, one time he went out to get the newspaper.  When he came back in, she said, “Ted, where have you been?  I haven’t seen you for a long time.”

89.  BCE gave DWE golf clubs in the “30’s” and wrote a poem about each club – relating to each boy -- putter, mashie, etc.

90.  Mother gave each of the boys the opportunity for many lessons, ballet, tap dancing, piano, tuba, vocal and clarinet.