1 A history of Elizabeth Householder Ritchie

A history of Elizabeth Householder Russell (1834-1911), written in 1942 by Mary Louisa Cleverly Day (1901-1980), a great-granddaughter, and edited in 2009, by Dean B. Cleverly, a second-great-grandson. Elizabeth was Ivard's great-grandmother. This and other Cleverly histories can be found at Roots and Branches 1.

Elizabeth Householder, daughter of Jonathan Householder and Evan Painter, was born January 11, 1834, at Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. Her mother died when she was twelve years old. She married James Russell on September 5, 1851, at West Elizabeth, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, when she was seventeen years of age. Her eyes were gray, her hair brown, her health good. She was especially interested in her family.

Elizabeth and her husband came to Utah in 1861 with an independent company. Her father came at the same time. They settled in Weber Valley at Hoyts Mill. The Hoytsville settlement was in Summit County, just south of what is now Coalville. Elizabeth and James had five small children at the time. Three children were born to them under the poor living conditions in Weber Valley. A daughter was born the same year they arrived. A son died and was buried there.

Elizabeth didn't join the Church, but her husband did. She was very pious and very religious. She did not believe in dancing or reading of novels. Her children were allowed to read only the best reading materials. She taught her children to pray and to be honest, so honest that even if a pin were picked up it should be given back. She didn't think it right men should have more than one wife and couldn't understand the Mormon view of it. She was a good seamstress and taught her daughters to sew, knit, embroider, etc. When she finally owned a sewing machine she taught the girls to use it also. She had had schooling and in turn gave it to her children.

When anyone was in need of help you could always find Mrs. Russell there doing her part. A neighbor's small child got lost in the sagebrush soon after the family got to the valley. Mrs. Russell had her oldest daughter watch the children and went with her husband in search of the lost child. This hunt lasted a week, and she was there until they found the child, which had wandered until it got to the mountains.

The old cemetery near Coalville, which has been moved now, joined on to the farm the Russells had. The Weber River also joined their land.

She finally persuaded her husband to go back to Pennsylvania in 1866. She buried a son, James, at St. Joseph, Missouri. When they boy was sick he kept asking for chicken. Two of the children, Annie and William, were sent to buy a chicken. They went up one side of the street and back on the other, but no chicken was to be found or bought. A couple of days passed, and the two children heard a noise while playing in the yard and saw a flock of quail coming. The quail landed in the yard. William had a stick in his hand and hit three of the birds, killing them. The rest flew away, and the quail was used to make soup for the sick boy.

Four more children were born to her while living in Pennsylvania and Kansas. She moved from Pennsylvania over to Kansas when that land was being pioneered. They came back to Utah in 1889 and settled in Provo. She lived there until her husband died in 1893. She then went back to Kansas to be with her children, leaving one married daughter in Utah.

She was mother of twelve children and left a large posterity. She died of dropsy [an old term for the swelling of soft tissues caused by the accumulation of excess water, probably edema caused by congestive heart failure] at St. John, Kansas, November 24, 1911. She was 77 years old.

When this history was written in 1942, there were seven children living and enjoying health. Annie Russell Ritchie, my grandmother, was the oldest living at age 85, and Melzine at age 66 the youngest.

2 Quote of the week

"North of us in the Wasatch Range stand three mountain peaks. The poet would describe them as mighty pyramids of stone. The center one, the highest of the three, the map would tell you is Willard Peak. But the pioneers called them 'The Presidency.' If you should go to Willard, look to the east, and up, way up, there stands 'The Presidency.'

"Thank God for the presidency. Like those peaks, they stand with nothing above them but the heavens. They need our sustaining vote. It is sometimes lonely in those lofty callings of leadership—for their calling is not to please man, but to please the Lord. God bless these three great and good men" (Boyd K. Packer, "The Spirit Beareth Record," Ensign, June 1971, 87).

3 This week in our family

Tues, Mar 17: St. Patrick's Day
Tues, Mar 17: Mason's birthday [Kay]
Wed, Mar 18: Addisyn Reher's birthday [Ray]
Thurs, Mar 19: Kelly's birthday (Bill's wife) [Gail]
Fri, Mar 20: First day of spring
Fri, Mar 20: Danielle's birthday [Kay]
Sun, Mar 22: Savanna's birthday [Gail]
Mon, Mar 23: Next issue of newsletter

4 Bits and tidbits

Security issues
Ever since we began posting the newsletter online last fall, we have taken precautions not to post too much information on family members that would compromise their privacy or security. For example, in our weekly family calendar, we list birthdays but not how old any of you are. If someone moves, we do not list new addresses or phone numbers, even though that would be a convenient way to share such information with other family members. If we are aware of any of you traveling, we avoid mentioning that fact until after you have returned home.

For any of you who have publicly available blogs, we have assumed that news you post there is alright for us to share with the rest of the family. We will happily honor any requests to the contrary.

At the request of some in the family, we have now changed the settings on the Cleverly Newsletter Online blog so that it does not appear on Blogger listings and so that search engines will not automatically find the blog. This should provide some additional measure of protection for those who do not wish just any random somebody to read about them.

Aleaya's party
Melissa (Kay's family) posted some pictures and comments on her family's blog, Our Family, concerning a friend party that daughter Aleaya had. It was a frog prince theme. Melissa wrote, "We played pin the lips on the frog, frog frog who's got the frog, and the girls all dressed up like a princess. They also decorated their treat bag with frogs and princesses."

Week in review
Andrea (Kay's family) also posted what her family has been up to recently on her family's blog, My Family. Among other things, she mentioned that Noelle finished playing her final basketball game of the season. And she showed the cutest picture of Kendall proudly dressed up as Dr. Seuss.

Snow day in Everett
Camilla Taylor (Dean's family) recently blogged on her family's blog, The Taylors, about how snow closed things down in Washington. One excerpt: "I generally don't mind the snow, but when it effects sales at the bakery when everyone is too scared to drive, I get really frustrated. It's also hard when our employees call in saying they can't get to work because of the snow. Since Mondays are our slowest day at the bakery and the snow wasn't helping, we decided to close the store early. I went back to work downstairs at the apartment complex, and Sam and Chris walked to the bakery to help close the store for the rest of the day. Chris sent everyone home, but then the sun came out, and the store started getting busy again, so he and Sam manned the store.

"Chris was trying to help a customer when Sam started yelling, 'Dad! Poop! I need to go poop!' So he had to ask the customer to wait a minute while he ran and sat Sam on the potty. Chris came back up to finish ringing the guy up when Sam waddled up to the front of the store with his pants and underwear around his ankles. Luckily the customer was a regular and just laughed. I would have been mortified if that was a new customer's first impression of our bakery! After that Chris called me and asked what we should do. I left work early so I could go help Chris wrangle Sam and help out at the bakery. Washingtonians aren't afraid of driving in a little bit of rain, but freak out in the snow!"

What in the world is that?
Eliza Challis (Dean's family) recently posted: "Last night I felt old and very dated. Our future little movie critic really wanted to watch a movie. We were at Paul's sister's house and Peter was perusing all the movies while Paul and his sister were dueling it out on the wii bowling. Peter decided on The Lion King movie. He was so excited he sat down on the floor to get the movie ready himself instead of waiting for Paul or me to help him. He opened the case and to his shock (and our amusement) he found a VHS tape instead of a DVD. 'Ooooh no!' Peter cried. He had no.clue.whatsoever. what a VHS tape was. Hanging his head in disappointment, Peter placed the strange black rectangular non-DVD back in the case and whimpered in sadness lamenting the loss of The Lion King DVD."

5 Our family 50 years ago

Excerpts from the March 1959 diary of Dorothy Batt Cleverly (1915-1982). The full text of her diary can be found online at Dorothy's Idaho Diaries and is updated daily, exactly 50 years to the day after it was originally written. The family at the time lived on a 40-acre farm in the Deer Flat area south of Nampa, Idaho.

Mon, Mar 16. Dale was a lot better.

Tues, Mar 17. Dale tended Jackie. got up at 1: & made kids a milk shake, put stew meat on & got veg. ready. They brought davenport out we had recovered.

Wed, Mar 18. I came home from work & ate & when Ivard finished chores we went to bed & Dale tended Jackie. We got up at 2: & went over to get a load of hay. took Dale & Jackie & had icecream cone. I went to bed until time to go to work. I don't feel good. Ivard took Ray in to Mutual & he bumed around.

Thurs, Mar 19. I came home from work & took Ray to school & brought Dale home the principal was just going to bring him - said to keep him home until scabs were all gone. We went to bed & Dale tended Jackie. Cold - snow flurries this morning.

Fri, Mar 20. Ivard put Jackie to bed at noon with me & left for Adrian to watch kids play ball & bring them home. At 8: Ivard called & told Ray to milk that he had pick-up trouble & it wasn't fixed yet so we ate & Ray milked. Ivard never did get home it was 10: when they got pick-up fixed. he never did get to Adrian car broke in Caldwell.

Sat, Mar 21. I went to bed & Ivard went to Adrian & got kids. Ivard, Kay & Gene took off for Nampa & ball tournment. Rained hard on us & had to buy new wind shield wipers. Ivard called, couldn't start car so I went in in pick up & went to work & they pused car & started it & brought them both home.

Sun, Mar 22. Kay & Gene went to priesthood & sunday school. I went to bed & Ivard & Dale went to sunday school in pick-up so they could push car if it didn't start, it didn't. Ray & Dean stayed in bed, didn't feel good & they tended Jackie. At 5:30 Ivard & I took Kay & Gene back over to Adrian.

6 What in the world

Temple dedication
The Draper Utah Temple will be dedicated this coming weekend with dedicatory sessions beginning Friday, March 20, and running through Sunday, March 22. One of the sessions will be broadcast Sunday afternoon to stake centers throughout Utah.

Darwin awards
The Darwin awards are bestowed each year, honoring the least evolved among us. Taking this year's number two spot: The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting machine and, after a little shopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company, expecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and also lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.

7 A final word

There is evidence that spring is arriving in the Mountain West. Last week's snow storm was dramatic and in some spots (including in our yard) heavy, but in a day or two the snow had melted, and we could see the yellow flowers in our neighbor's yard across the street.

Winter doesn't last forever. And neither do bad days. Or economic downturns. Dawn always follows the night. And there is always a tomorrow.

So, maybe not all your dreams are realized right away, not all your days go as planned. But be grateful for what you do have, for the tender mercies from a loving Heavenly Father. As the psalmist wrote long ago, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalms 118:24).