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 8th
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 7th 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 7th 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.
