Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Betsey Blackham Hales
Betsey Blackham Hales
(Nida Susannah Hales Mother)
1871-1899
Betsey Blackham was born in Moroni, Sanpete County, Utah on November 4, 1871. She was the daughter of John Blackham Sr. who was born in Heaton Norris, Lancashire, England on November 14, 1827. Betsey's mother, Susannah Lees, was born December 11, 1830 in the town of Ashton-Under-Lyne, Lancashire, England. Betsey was the ninth of twelve children. Betsey's parents were converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from England. They emigrated to Zion in 1855. First they sailed on the “Samuel Curling” then crossed the plains in Milo Andrus' company.
Betsey’s mother, Susannah Lees, as a young girl, had a high soprano voice; at one time as she was singing at a Street Meeting in England, Brother John Taylor laid his hand on her shoulder and said, “Sister Susannah the voices of your offspring shall be heard in all the corners of the earth.” Sons, grandsons, great grandsons, and great granddaughters teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in so many lands have almost fulfilled that promise.
Betsey was baptized June 12, 1881 by Lars Swenson and confirmed by Jens Jenson. Throughout her life Betsey had a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Betsey went to school in Moroni; as a young girl she took a class in dressmaking and was gifted in that art. She was very petite and beautiful.
Betsey's future husband, Hial, was working on the railroad near Evanston, Wyoming around 1893. Here Hial met James Larsen from Moroni, Sanpete County, Utah. They worked together and enjoyed each other’s company becoming lifelong friends. It was through Jim Larsen that Hial met Betsey Blackham, who was a niece to Jim’s wife, Susannah Baily. Hial was introduced to Betsey when he returned with Jim to Moroni after the finish of their job in Wyoming.
Hial immediately recognized the fine qualities of Betsey Blackham and they kept in touch. During this time, Hial attended the Brigham Young Academy in Provo where he invited Betsey to the commencement exercises. In the evening at the dance, Betsey was dancing with a friend of Hial’s and Hial was dancing with a young widow who asked him to take her outside for a drink of water. When they returned, the dance was over and Betsey was alone. This brought a temporary end to their relationship and Betsey returned to Moroni with little interest in Hial for the time being.
Shortly thereafter, Hial was called on a mission to New Zealand, which lasted about four years. During the time of his mission, Hial had not forgotten about Betsey Blackham. It was through the letters of Jim Larsen that Hial had learned about Betsey and she about him. Therefore, soon after his return from New Zealand, Hial made a trip to Moroni to visit his friend Jim and of course he hoped to see Betsey Blackham. The trip was a success and later in the spring Hial and Betsey made plans for a fall wedding. They were married October 12, 1898 in the Manti Temple.
After their marriage, they moved into a new lumber home Hial had built for Betsey in Mammoth, Juab County, Utah. Mammoth was a mining town where Hial worked in the Grand Central Mine. Hial was trying to earn enough money so he could buy a farm some day. Hial's brother, George, and wife, Eliza, and family lived next door.
Betsey and Hial were a very happy couple and enjoyed each other’s company so much.
When Betsey was eight months pregnant, she was restless so Hial would take her on frequent buggy rides. He couldn't get the usual horse so he rented a horse that was a little friskier to pull the buggy. After the ride, when Hial was helping Betsey down, the horse jerked forward and Betsey's leg was cut on the buggy. Her leg became infected, and they think the infection started her into early labor. After the birth of her little baby girl Betsey also developed Septicemia, also known as blood poisoning. The doctor's previous patient had had Septicemia so two infections were too much for her. Betsey was never up from her bed from the day of the birth of her baby until she died four months later.
Hial was a man of great faith, having recently returned from his mission in New Zealand. Many of the immediate relatives have said that it was Hial's great faith that kept Betsey alive so long.
They had a new young Doctor Allen, who had just recently returned from medical school, come to Mammoth to see Betsey. But little could be done for her.
On Sunday the 6th of August 1899, Hial and his brother, Bishop George Hales, gave their darling baby a name and a father's blessing. She was given the name of Nida Susannah Hales, Susannah, after Betsey's mother. This took place in the home, in Betsey's presence, and later it was recorded in the Mammoth Ward records.
Aunt Eliza told how very much Betsey suffered with no complaining, all her thoughts were for the interest and well being of her lovely baby, Nida.
While Betsey was ill, every two weeks different members of her family would come from Moroni with a team and wagon, bring fresh vegetables from their gardens, and a lady to help with the work in the home; then the lady that had been there the past two weeks would return home with the brother. In September, after the children were in school, Matilda Blackham, John's wife (John was Betsey's brother), discussed with her husband and oldest daughter, Nellie (who was 17 and had finished school), if they did not think they could manage their home and the five younger children for a couple of weeks and let her go over to Mammoth and take her turn helping in Betsey's home; they thought they could. So Matilda came over to Mammoth. When she first saw Nida, she said to Hial, "Hial, this is a very sick baby, she is full of canker." He said, "Till, (that is what they called her) don't you do anything but take care of that baby." Aunt Till, who had left her family for two weeks, was away from them for six weeks.
Betsey was very fond of having Hial sing to her, they both loved the hymns. He had a sweet and melodious voice. One particular day when he got home from work, she was asleep. He had found her asleep before, but she would awaken immediately, or at least if he started to softly sing one of her favorite songs, but this day it was difficult to arouse her, and took some time, even pressure.
When she did respond - she said, "Oh, why did you bring me back? I have been in the most beautiful place." She said she had been with Tryphena, Uncle George and Aunt Eliza's little girl who had died in March before Nida's birth in June.
After this experience they dedicated her to the Lord. (That was the pattern in those days, if someone was very ill and it seemed they were not to get well.) Shortly after this Betsey left her husband, baby daughter and all her loved ones in life to go to that place she had not wanted to leave.
Betsey died October 30, 1899. They took her body back to Moroni for the funeral and she was buried in the Moroni cemetery. After the funeral, Hial asked Aunt Till if she would take care of baby Nida for him until he could remarry.
Hial sent a check each month while Nida lived with John and Matilda Blackham, he also came to visit as often as possible. Nida called Aunt Till "Mama Blackham" and Uncle John "Papa Blackham". All the Blackham children made a big fuss over Nida, they loved and adored her and Nida loved and adored them. It was a wonderful household to grow up in. There was always so much going on and lots of music and singing.
When Nida was two, Mama Blackham had a cute baby girl they named Doris. Nida had been fussing so the midwife had said to Nida that if she would be quiet that she would bring Nida a baby. So when Nida heard a baby cry she said, "Bring me my baby!" From that time on Doris and Nida were forever bonded, closer than most sisters.
When Nida was almost four years old her father, Hial, married Mary Brown and Nida moved back to Mammoth to live with them. Nida was delighted to be with her father but oh, how she missed Doris and her other family in Moroni.
Nida says in her history: "The afternoons were so long. There were several times in my life, those first few months, when I lived in Mammoth as I was lying on the floor in the living room that I know my own mother, Betsey, was there teaching me about my Heavenly Father and I was asking many questions about him."
Hial Bradford Hales
Hial Bradford Hales (Nida Susannah Hales Father)
1869-1927
It was a day of rejoicing for this stalwart pioneer family of George Gillette Hales and Tryphena Bradford Hales. A new son had come to join the family this eighth day of October 1869 in the little town of Spanish Fork, Utah. They named him Hial Bradford. The new arrival had a brother, George, and a sister Julia Ann. He was to have another brother, Stephen before his mother died suddenly at the age of 27. The four children were placed in different homes of friends and relatives until the father married Mariah Henriett Gay Mendenhall, a widow with three children of her own.
As a boy, Hial attended school in Spanish Fork and in 1886 Hial’s father was called on a mission to England leaving his eldest son George, in charge of the family. George was 21 years and Hial was 17. This was quite a responsibility for these young men and Hial relates a story about his father telling them to give a colt as payment for tithing. The boys kept putting it off and finally the colt died. Hial tells how badly they felt because they had not heeded their dad’s words and had grieved their Father in Heaven.
As a young man Hial secured a job near Evanston, Wyoming and with the aid of his team of horses and wagon, he helped to build the railroad in that area around 1893. Here Hial met James Larsen from Moroni, Sanpete County, Utah. They worked together and enjoyed each other’s company becoming lifelong friends. It was through Jim Larsen that Hial met Betsy Blackham, who was a niece to Jim’s wife, Susannah Baily. Hial was introduced to Betsy when he returned with Jim to Moroni after the finish of their job in Wyoming.
In the early fall as the work was finished, they started home. Jim and Hial traveled close to each other and reached Moroni much past midnight in a terrific rainstorm. Jim insisted Hial should stay a day or so to get dried out. While there, he met Betsy Blackham whom he thought to be a fine young lady.
Betsy Blackham was born in Moroni on November 4, 1871. She was the ninth child in a family of eleven, the daughter of John Blackham Sr. and Susannah Lees. Hial immediately recognized the fine qualities of Betsey Blackham and they kept in touch. During this time Hial attended the Brigham Young Academy in Provo where he invited Betsey to the commencement exercises. In the evening at the dance, Betsey was dancing with a friend of Hial’s and Hial was dancing with a young widow who asked him to take her outside for a drink of water. When they returned, the dance was over and Betsey was alone. This brought a temporary end to their relationship and Betsy returned to Moroni with little interest in Hial for the time being.
Hial Bradford gets a letter from Salt Lake City, Utah, P. O. Box B - a call to go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That was a three year, ten month mission, but if you consider the time going and coming home, he was gone four years. The only means of transportation in those days was by freight boats; you would be going many miles out of your way to deliver an order of freight on the boat.
Hial was called to serve the Lord “without purse or script” on a mission to New Zealand. He left January 31, 1894 and was gone three years and ten months. He spent most of his time there among the Maori people, living with them and learning their language. He loved them very much and often spoke of the great faith the Polynesian people had. Hial returned with many pictures, some shells, coral, boar’s tusks, whale’s ear bones, primitive axes, pressed ferns and other interesting things form the island of New Zealand. The dream of the whole family was to some day go to that beautiful place with our father.
Hial fasted and prayed much while he was on his mission. In those days you had to learn the language and it was very difficult. There was no help given in any way. The Maori alphabet had just sixteen letters in it, using many ee - w. The all-important prayerful way was to study and on your knees. Hial was always humble.
During the time of his mission, Hial had not forgotten about Betsy Blackham. It was through the letters of Jim Larsen that Hial had learned about Betsy and she about him. Therefore, soon after his return from New Zealand, Hial made a trip to Moroni to visit his friend Jim and of course he hoped to see Betsy Blackham. The trip was a success and later in the spring Hial and Betsy made plans for a fall wedding. They were married October 12, 1898 in the Manti Temple.
After their marriage they lived in Mammoth, Juab County, Utah, a mining town where Hial worked in the Grand Central Mine. This was a very happy marriage, and the birth of a daughter, Nida Susannah, June 28, 1899 added to the joy. The joy was of short duration, however, for Betsy developed septicemia at the birth of the child and never recovered despite the great faith and determination of her husband. Hial could not find it in his heart to give her up and for four months she was gravely ill. She died October 30, 1899. Nevertheless, it is certain that our Father in Heaven intended for these two wonderful people to be companions for a short time in this life, long enough for them to have the beginning of a great posterity - 61 at this time, 1977 - and enjoy each other throughout eternity.
Hial continued living at Mammoth after the death of his wife. He stayed at the home of his brother George, who lived nearby and who also worked at the Grand Central Mine.
In 1902 Mary Emeline Brown was to enter the life of Hial B. Hales. She came to Mammoth to visit her sister, Emily Maxfield and at a church meeting she was introduced to Hial Hales. There seemed to be an attraction between them - one who had lost a dearly beloved in death some years before and the other who had had a disappointing romance several years prior. Hial courted Mayme, as Mary Emeline Brown was called, while she was in Mammoth and also came to Provo to see her. One time he arrived late at a party in Provo, coming just in time to bid on Mayme’s basket lunch that she had tastefully prepared and beautifully decorated. He won the bid at the price of $4.00.
As the courtship preceded it became evident that each had qualities the other had been seeking in a mate. Although Mayme was thirty years of age, she had never lacked for suitors and Hial was thrilled to invite her to be his wife. So, on April 1, 1903, Mary Emeline Brown, who was born in Kanab, Utah, June 26, 1871 to Philander Brown and Elizabeth Dobney Short, became the bride of Hial Bradford Hales in the Salt Lake Temple. They stayed in Salt Lake for the following week, attending a temple session each day.
This marriage was the prayerful decision of two mature, God-fearing individuals who wanted to do the Lord’s will and tried hard to find out what it was. It was with high hopes the Hial and Mayme started out on this great adventure in their life.
Once more Hial was to bring a bride home to Mammoth. Now he would have a place of his own and someone to help him care for his little daughter who had been living with John and Matilda Blackham, brother to Betsey. Hial was no stranger to his little daughter as he had made frequent visits to Moroni to see her and pay for her board and keep. But when it came to leaving the home and family she had known for the first four years of your life it was very difficult. She was willing to go if Doris, cousin, and foster sister, could go too. When she found this could not be she broke into desperate sobbing. This was heart-rending to her father and he left without her. Sometime later, after conditioning Nida for the event, Mama Blackham brought Nida to Mammoth and stayed all night. The next morning when Nida got up, Mama Blackham had returned to Moroni.
Hial was a patient, loving father. He had never planned to give his first child away. Neither had he realized the impact of a second home and family on this child, on him, on those who had thus far raised her or on his new wife. Everyone concerned was called upon to make some painful adjustments, especially his little motherless child. But the experience was growth promoting as all who were involved tried to do the right thing and everyone concerned have come to love and appreciate one another.
Hial worked in the Grand Central Mine while living in Mammoth all of the time except for a short duration when he worked for the Iron Blossom Mine while the Grand Central was closed down. At the time of his second marriage Hial and his new wife and Nida lived in his brother, George’s house since George and his wife, Eliza had moved to a farm in Spanish Fork. Nida gives an account of an incident in the life of her father in the early spring of 1904, while they were living in Mammoth:
About 2 a.m. one of our neighbors came pounding on our back door crying and sobbing, ‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’ As my mother opened the door (I stood by her side) we could see the whole south of the block was on fire, the flames leaping in the air as high as you could see. Sister Whitlock, the neighbor, had her little daughter, Naomi, in her arms, also a drawer with their important papers in. She was in her nightclothes. She left the baby and valuables at our house and then ran back to see if she could save some clothes for them. Mammoth did not have a fire department, but men were running with hoses. They had put wet blankets and quilts on our house. Papa was not at home as he was working the night shift. The wind was really blowing to the north. Some of the men were starting to carry out our furniture. Just then papa came. He told the men not to take any more. It would be all right. Papa took us into the house and shut the door. We went into the bedroom to pray. Did papa ever talk to the Lord! When he had finished and we came out of the house the wind had changed completely. On the block that burned to the ground were a drugstore, pool hall, saloon, barbershop, Whitlock’s grocery store and meat market, blacksmith shop, and livery stable. Some of the people lived in the back part of their businesses so they were also homeless. Some of the men moved a small building that was next to the blacksmith shop. So that just left the house we were living in and an older house also belonging to Uncle George that was left standing after the fire. Many people who knew Papa said it was Hial’s faith that saved the two homes.
Not long after this fire experience Hial was to welcome the arrival of his first son, Hial Brown, born 18 May 1904. Just sixteen months later, September 13, 1905, Reed Brown was to make his appearance. When these two boys were small, Nida had an experience she relates that gives further insight into the character of her father.
Papa and Mama had just started leaving me alone with the little boys while they attended Sacrament meeting in the evening. It started at 7:30, so it was close to 9:30 when they would return. I was always afraid at night when they left me. One night whey they came home I was crying and said that someone had tired to get into the house. Papa had boo-hooed me about it, said it was all in my mind. The next morning while leaving for work at 6:30 a.m. at the front door, Papa picked up a $5 bill. He came in and awakened me saying he was sure there had been a drunken man at the door trying to get in and he owed me an apology.
Sometime after this Hial moved his family to Spanish Fork. He and his brother, George had bought a farm there, the old Babcock place where Nathan Hales still resides (1977). Hial left his wife, two young sons, and Nida, while he continued working at Mammoth. He would come to Spanish Fork every two weeks and stay over Sunday.
It was while living at Spanish Fork that Brown gave the family a real scare. The little boy was throwing rocks into the canal and slipped in. Nida jumped into the fast-moving, above-waist-deep stream to rescue the little brother while calling for his mother. A friend of Nida’s also ran, calling for the mother and after working with the little fellow, they revived him. After this experience Hial’s wife was nervous about the big canal so near to the house. Also, Hial and George concluded that the farm was not big enough for both families, so Hial and his family moved back to Mammoth.
The next event of importance in the life of Hial B. Hales was the birth of a dark-haired, beautiful, little girl. They named her Iona Mae. She was born in Mammoth, March 13, 1907. Twenty months later on November 30, 1908, a baby boy, Leo Philander was born.
It was around this time that Hial received a letter from “Box B’ (Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City), on “condition” as to his going back to New Zealand on a mission. He wrote and told them his condition and financial status. He was to let them know when he was able to go, but keeping a family of five children seemed to take all he could earn.
It was about 1909 that Lorena Blackham, cousin and foster sister of Nida, came to Mammoth to teach school and it was arranged to have her stay at the Hial Hales residence. She was a great organizer and helper as well as a loving friend and relative to the family. On October 14, 1910, another child was born in the Hales family and they proudly named her Betsy (after Nida’s mother) Lorena (after Lorena Blackham). This child was only to be with them a short time. She died of bronchitis November 21, 1910.
Meanwhile, Hial’s work at the Grand Central Mine had not been uneventful. On more than one occasion he had met with accident at this place and one time the superintendent of the mine brought him home in his buggy, very concerned about his condition. Nevertheless, he recovered and went back to the mine, but this last accident caused him to feel and to express that perhaps he should seek other employment. Therefore, sometime after the birth of Betsy Lorena, Hial moved with his family back to Spanish Fork.
Together with his brother, George, he secured some land at Lake Shore near Spanish Fork with the aid of his father-in-law, Philander Brown of Provo. Later Hial sold this land to this brother, George, and the two of them went to Richfield and bought some land for Hial about three miles south of town on the west side of the highway. Hial built a three-room home on this land and moved his family there. No culinary water was near this place and water had to be hauled one and a half miles from Central for drinking. The irrigation canal that ran by the house furnished water for washing clothes and other tasks.
It was in Richfield that the last two of Hial’s children were born. Thora Tryphena, November 8, 1912, about whom her father remarked upon first seeing her, “my, she’s a homely little lassie”, and Don Gillette, born July 21, 1914.
The whole family was proud of Don Gillette, especially Reed who readily identified with him because of his blond hair. Reed would pull Don’s cap off and show everyone “just like me”. The other children had had dark hair. At Richfield, Don was to have an accident that would shake the entire family. It was while he was learning to walk that Don toddled over to the cook stove, which was not always so hot as this day. His mother had been baking bread and in an unguarded moment he place both hands on the hot stove to balance his unsure steps. He quickly removed his right hand and it was not burned so badly, but the left hand was to carry deep scars always. Skin was taken from his father’s arm and grafted onto the little hand many times. Each time they would scratch the hand making it bleed, which was very painful. Family members testify to the stamina of the little fellow in this ordeal as well as that of his father.
Farming at Richfield was anything but easy for Hial and his family. Occasional visits from Mayme’s brother George Brown, stirred the already troubled waters. “He should have brought you down here to look at this place”, Mr. Brown said to his sister Mayme, “not his brother”. The first crop Hial raised at Richfield was alfalfa seed. There were about ten acres but it turned out to be a very poor harvest. He also had fifteen acres of sugar beets but there were too many sunflowers in them. The family worked early and late. Hial hauled manure from all over the valley. There never was a man who worked more diligently and during the winter of 1916, Hial secured a job in Marysvale.
On September 10, 1917 Hial moved his family from Richfield to Alunite, a mining camp, south of Marysvale. World War I was in progress and he was to haul ore from the mountains nearby to a mill for making powder for ammunition. His oldest child, Nida, had gone to Moroni to work in the co-op store. With the ending of the war on November 11, 1918, Hial began to look for a place to take his family. He had some good horses he had used to haul ore with. His family will recall such favorites as Molly, Amasa, and Chief. Into his ore wagons he packed the families’ belongings, took the family and moved to a little farming community in Southern Utah, Piute County, Junction. Here he had bought acreage in the east part of town from Mr. Woolley.
This farming venture proved no better than Richfield for making a living. The Piute reservoir over-flowed on this land, making it useless for growing crops. Meanwhile, Nida married William Otis Bradley in the Manti temple on March 12, 1919, which later ended in divorce.
Mayme’s brother, George, still made his visits. Other than that, the family had little contact with relatives at this time. It was during this time that Iona had a nervous breakdown and was very ill. She recovered to lead a rewarding life. She had many friends in Junction as well as other places she lived. The Hales abode was always made interesting by Iona’s handsome young suitors.
Hial eventually sold his land to the reservoir company and after he received payment from the sale, he moved his family back up North. He leased a fruit and dry farm from a couple of his missionary companions from Spanish Fork. These friends were Heber Jex and Leo Bird. The family arrived in Orem on April 6, 1923. There was plenty of work on this place, including two large peach orchards plus apple, plum, apricot and cherry trees. Also there were many acres of dry land to grain to plant and harvest. Hial was a very hard worker and he had the cooperation of his family. Even Hial’s wife was included in the farm work, raising large flocks of turkeys. It was here that Hial said of his son, Leo, “My, but that boy’s a worker. He goes just like a house a fire, pretty hard to get him started, but once he gets going there’s no stopping him.”
Leo had other sterling qualities, much like his father. He loved his brothers and sisters dearly. If anyone of them was ill, it could be counted on that Leo would come forth with some cheering surprise. It would be a piece of candy or a trinket, things that were not easy to come by at that time and place. One time while the family was living at Junction, Leo walked several miles to Marysvale and back to get some gifts so that the little ones might have something for Christmas. “Oh” he said, “I got a ride some of the way.” The “little ones” were only slightly younger than Leo.
There are many happy memories of living on the Jex-Bird ranch in Orem. In summer it was almost a daily ritual to go swimming in the icy waters of the Murdock canal that ran close by. Water fighting was something, which never ended without involving the entire family. Sometimes Hial became so involved he would let a whole bucket of water fly and it might be in the house. The herd of horses on the ranch also added much in usefulness and enjoyment for the family members.
While living at the Jex place Hial secured a truck and had it fixed up to use as a school bus as there was no way for the students from Orem to get to Peasant Grove where they attended High School. The Hales boys that were going to school drove the bus since Hial never did get as proficient at driving that bus as he did at handling his team of horses.
The Hales family had been through some trying times but Hial was usually in good spirit and kept a happy frame of mind. He comforted his wife and family by telling them that things would get better. Nevertheless, it seemed that things got worse beginning with Mayme contracting pneumonia during the winter of 1926 and 1927, barely escaping death. In the spring, Hial became very ill, but insisted that he would be all right and there was no need to call a doctor. When it became apparent that a doctor was needed, it was too late. He was taken to the Lehi hospital. He died of causes incident to a ruptured appendix on May 7, 1927. All the family members except Nida, were present to see this good man bid farewell to this mortal life and each felt that God’s holy angels were very near indeed. He was buried in his beloved Spanish Fork on May 10, 1927.
To know Hial B. Hales well, was to love him. Heber Ogden of Richfield said, “Hial was the best friend I ever had.” Hial had true love and concern for his fellowman. His doors were open to anyone in need. He was as honest as it was humanly possible to be and treated everyone as if he or she was also. He never knowingly took advantage of anyone.
As with all persons Hial was not perfect. He had a temper and sometimes lost in dealing with his animals much to the consternation of his mild-mannered wife. He had short patience with anyone who questioned his honesty and at least three times in his life came into physical combat because of this error on the part of an offender, once in Richfield, again in Alunite and finally in Junction. In each case the offender came to see the folly of his ways.
This man had a sense of humor and did not take himself too seriously. Once in Orem, while Nida was visiting at home, he had been having a little trouble with someone over irrigation water. He had stayed out a little later than his family thought necessary. Nida called out in the dark, “Is that man trying to steal your water again, Papa? Well, just get your gun and shoot him.” “No, No," came the reply, “everything’s all right.” That man who was out there with Nida’s father never did know what to think, but everyone else had a good laugh about it.
Hial B. Hales had great faith and his deep and abiding testimony of the gospel could readily be felt. At Mammoth the family had a years supply of food stored and they kept a cow. A weekly Home Evening program was carried on in his home with singing, storytelling, and scriptural reading. He studied the gospel, not just now and then, but regularly, everyday and lived its teachings. He understood the responsibility we each have of first learning the gospel then taking it to others. He never missed an opportunity to bring the benefits of the gospel to anyone who was at all receptive. He was offended when he was required to listen to anyone profane the sacred name of Deity and had the courage to speak out against it. He always kept consecrated oil in his house, “for the healing of the sick in the household of faith,” and with the aid of a neighbor, he used it when sickness came.
Family prayer was a sacred, twice daily occurrence and it was done on ones knees. Visitors were asked to join in but it was never postponed. More than one person has given public testimony of the spiritual experience of being asked to join in the family prayer service at the Hial B. Hales residence. This has been carried by most of Hial’s family members into their own homes.
A counselor in the Timpanogos Stake Presidency once told of being on a business trip with Hial’s son, Reed. He recounts, ”It should have been I who was older and held a more responsible position in the church to have, upon retiring at the motel with our wives, suggested a prayer together, but since I didn’t Reed did, and oh how I loved and appreciated him for it.”
Of this son, Reed, more than one person has been heard to say, “No better man ever lived.” As a young boy, Reed was so full of life and energy. He just had to be up and going. He and his brother, Brown, took turns getting the horse ready to ride to school. Reed was always up and ready, trying to bring Brown along. Finally he would say, “I’ll get your horse ready if you’ll just come.” Reed died of a heart attack, June 10, 1941, leaving his wife, Norma Jarman and three children.
Hial’s oldest son, Brown, married Madeline Geenley. They had a son and a daughter and then they divorced. He later married Celestia Campbell Alexander. They had one son. Brown was a great reader of books. He went on a mission to Northern California and Nevada, but had to come home because of ill health. He had double valvular leakage of the heart for many years although he worked at Geneva Steel Co. until his sixties. He had open heart surgery from he seemed to be recovering, but he died on his birthday May 18, 1970.
Don Gillette was Hial’s youngest son. At a very early age this boy, like his father, displayed a most generous disposition. Anything he had was most freely given or loaned. He had a kind and sympathetic attitude toward anybody or anything in need. One time a horse kicked the dog and hurt it. “Oh Mama," Don said, “Look how pale he looks.” Don married Vera Hendrichsen. They have three children - two boys and a girl.
Hial had a fine singing voice, which was inherited by his sons and daughters. Reed sang in many church affairs and funerals. Don had an equally good voice as Reed but he never used it much except to sing in operettas at Pleasant Grove High School.
Nida had two children - a son and a daughter from her first marriage and later married John A. Donaldson. Nida has always been a shining example of good living. She has taken an active part in church affairs. At the present time (1977) she is an active worker in the Salt Lake Temple.
Iona married T. LeGrande Jarman in the Salt Lake Temple, August 15, 1929. They had five children, two boys and three girls. Iona has always taken an active part in church having been a Relief Society President more than once and supporting her husband in his many assignments.
Leo married Ione Thomas in the Salt Lake Temple, June 18, 1934. They had three children - two boys and a girl. Leo has also held responsible positions in church and community. He was a counselor in Provo first ward bishopric for several years.
The youngest daughter, Thora, married Earl Leon Mecham. They had four children - three girls and one boy. Thora graduated from Brigham Young University and has taught school for thirty-seven years. She was been very active in church activities also, having been Primary President and Stake Junior Sunday School Coordinator among other positions.
It was Hial’s desire that his family have all the spiritual, physical, and cultural development he could give them. He was anxious that all of his children obtain good educations. He bought a piano for his family and one neighbor was heard to say that he could better have use the money to buy shoe for his children. None of his children recall being out of shoes.
Hial Bradford Hales was a family man. He loved his wives and children very much and was sad the he could not supply them with as much of this worlds goods as he felt they needed. But what he could give them he did. He gave them a model as a father that was worthy of emulation. No one doubted who was the father and patriarch of the home. He was a good disciplinarian and when he spoke he expected to be obeyed, but he was kind and forgiving also. A saying, which he practiced, was “Never let the sun go down upon your wrath.” He loved his grandchildren and was very proud of the only two he was to live to see, Ralph and Betsy Bradley.
Hial B. Hales was the presiding Elder at Alunite and a High Counselor in the stake while living in Junction. At the time of his death he held the office of High Priest.
"Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ." Moroni 7:19.
Compiled by his daughters:
Nida Donaldson
Iona Jarman
Thora Mecham
Edited by his granddaughter:
Linda Mecham Fox
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October 8, 1869 is the birthday of a good and great man, your father.
Do you recall some of these things he used to say?
“Deed a goodness come to bed. Up burning the midnight oil till all hours of the night.”
When he became provoked at one of us. -“By Jow, I’ll take a fall our of you, you young booby you. I’ll take my foot from behind you. When I say to do a thing I mean to do it. I’ll kick the buttons right off your trousers.”
Never did he allow the sun to set with hard feelings toward anyone. Can’t you hear him saying. “Beg pardon, beg pardon. I may have been a little hasty, if so, I’m sorry.”
It was a great trial to him to lay a book for anything down and not be able to pick it up just where he left it -
“Where in the name of common sense is that book?”
“Where in the name of D nation did that go?”
“Can’t a fellow have anything around this house?”
“That would make a man so D mad he could jump up and down and kick over everything.”
“Wouldn’t that jar you right over the Christmas tree.”
To us when we were inclined to show a little disrespect -
“Don’t give me any of your lip. And I don’t want any of your back talk.”
We were constantly told to-
“Have a little stamina.” “Don’t be a mustang.” “Stand on your own feet.” “Be yourself.” “Don’t show the white feather.” “Don’t let them Hoo Doo you.”
He couldn’t stand to see a person “Sleeping his life away.” “The Sleeping Beauty.” “The early bird catches the worm.” He never used an alarm clock. He would get up a time or two during the night to see if the stars were still shining or if it were about morning.
He would sometime say, “Tut, tut if you can’t say anything good about a person, don’t say anything at all.” “Never walk over anything. You might walk over a snake.”
One of his favorite summer sports was a good water fight. He always used a large pitcher or bucket of water in the house or outside. He never half did anything.
He thought a great deal of his father and many times he would say, “In my father’s home etc., etc.”
Night or morning her never forgot, “Let’s have a word of prayer.”
When around men who used profanity, he would ask, “Is that kind of language necessary around here?”
He made friends easily and never lost an opportunity to teach what he knew to be right to anyone interested. He was always ready to bear his testimony to the truthfulness of the gospel, which meant more than anything to him.
Let’s check up on ourselves. Are we living and raising our families according to the standards he set for us by his noble example?
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Hial was blessed 6 January 1870 by James Robinson.
Hial was 5 years old when his mother suddenly died. He was farmed out to relatives until his father remarried a year later. He was very close to his brother George.
He was baptized 14 Aug 1878 by William Jex and confirmed the same day by his father George Gillette Hales.
He went on a 3 3/4 year mission to New Zealand. He was a man of great faith, he loved the Lord and the Gospel.
He and Betsy were married 12 Oct. 1898 in the Manti Temple by John McAllister. They had one daughter, Nida, then his wife, Betsy, died. He later married Mary Brown and had seven more children. He had been a miner in Mammoth Utah, then a farmer in Richfield, Spanish Fork and Pleasant Grove.
He died of appendicitis when he was 57. Hial had delayed seeing a doctor, when he finally went Dr. Linebaugh operated on him immediately but the appendix had already ruptured. They did not have penicillin in those days, so he died.
1869-1927
It was a day of rejoicing for this stalwart pioneer family of George Gillette Hales and Tryphena Bradford Hales. A new son had come to join the family this eighth day of October 1869 in the little town of Spanish Fork, Utah. They named him Hial Bradford. The new arrival had a brother, George, and a sister Julia Ann. He was to have another brother, Stephen before his mother died suddenly at the age of 27. The four children were placed in different homes of friends and relatives until the father married Mariah Henriett Gay Mendenhall, a widow with three children of her own.
As a boy, Hial attended school in Spanish Fork and in 1886 Hial’s father was called on a mission to England leaving his eldest son George, in charge of the family. George was 21 years and Hial was 17. This was quite a responsibility for these young men and Hial relates a story about his father telling them to give a colt as payment for tithing. The boys kept putting it off and finally the colt died. Hial tells how badly they felt because they had not heeded their dad’s words and had grieved their Father in Heaven.
As a young man Hial secured a job near Evanston, Wyoming and with the aid of his team of horses and wagon, he helped to build the railroad in that area around 1893. Here Hial met James Larsen from Moroni, Sanpete County, Utah. They worked together and enjoyed each other’s company becoming lifelong friends. It was through Jim Larsen that Hial met Betsy Blackham, who was a niece to Jim’s wife, Susannah Baily. Hial was introduced to Betsy when he returned with Jim to Moroni after the finish of their job in Wyoming.
In the early fall as the work was finished, they started home. Jim and Hial traveled close to each other and reached Moroni much past midnight in a terrific rainstorm. Jim insisted Hial should stay a day or so to get dried out. While there, he met Betsy Blackham whom he thought to be a fine young lady.
Betsy Blackham was born in Moroni on November 4, 1871. She was the ninth child in a family of eleven, the daughter of John Blackham Sr. and Susannah Lees. Hial immediately recognized the fine qualities of Betsey Blackham and they kept in touch. During this time Hial attended the Brigham Young Academy in Provo where he invited Betsey to the commencement exercises. In the evening at the dance, Betsey was dancing with a friend of Hial’s and Hial was dancing with a young widow who asked him to take her outside for a drink of water. When they returned, the dance was over and Betsey was alone. This brought a temporary end to their relationship and Betsy returned to Moroni with little interest in Hial for the time being.
Hial Bradford gets a letter from Salt Lake City, Utah, P. O. Box B - a call to go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That was a three year, ten month mission, but if you consider the time going and coming home, he was gone four years. The only means of transportation in those days was by freight boats; you would be going many miles out of your way to deliver an order of freight on the boat.
Hial was called to serve the Lord “without purse or script” on a mission to New Zealand. He left January 31, 1894 and was gone three years and ten months. He spent most of his time there among the Maori people, living with them and learning their language. He loved them very much and often spoke of the great faith the Polynesian people had. Hial returned with many pictures, some shells, coral, boar’s tusks, whale’s ear bones, primitive axes, pressed ferns and other interesting things form the island of New Zealand. The dream of the whole family was to some day go to that beautiful place with our father.
Hial fasted and prayed much while he was on his mission. In those days you had to learn the language and it was very difficult. There was no help given in any way. The Maori alphabet had just sixteen letters in it, using many ee - w. The all-important prayerful way was to study and on your knees. Hial was always humble.
During the time of his mission, Hial had not forgotten about Betsy Blackham. It was through the letters of Jim Larsen that Hial had learned about Betsy and she about him. Therefore, soon after his return from New Zealand, Hial made a trip to Moroni to visit his friend Jim and of course he hoped to see Betsy Blackham. The trip was a success and later in the spring Hial and Betsy made plans for a fall wedding. They were married October 12, 1898 in the Manti Temple.
After their marriage they lived in Mammoth, Juab County, Utah, a mining town where Hial worked in the Grand Central Mine. This was a very happy marriage, and the birth of a daughter, Nida Susannah, June 28, 1899 added to the joy. The joy was of short duration, however, for Betsy developed septicemia at the birth of the child and never recovered despite the great faith and determination of her husband. Hial could not find it in his heart to give her up and for four months she was gravely ill. She died October 30, 1899. Nevertheless, it is certain that our Father in Heaven intended for these two wonderful people to be companions for a short time in this life, long enough for them to have the beginning of a great posterity - 61 at this time, 1977 - and enjoy each other throughout eternity.
Hial continued living at Mammoth after the death of his wife. He stayed at the home of his brother George, who lived nearby and who also worked at the Grand Central Mine.
In 1902 Mary Emeline Brown was to enter the life of Hial B. Hales. She came to Mammoth to visit her sister, Emily Maxfield and at a church meeting she was introduced to Hial Hales. There seemed to be an attraction between them - one who had lost a dearly beloved in death some years before and the other who had had a disappointing romance several years prior. Hial courted Mayme, as Mary Emeline Brown was called, while she was in Mammoth and also came to Provo to see her. One time he arrived late at a party in Provo, coming just in time to bid on Mayme’s basket lunch that she had tastefully prepared and beautifully decorated. He won the bid at the price of $4.00.
As the courtship preceded it became evident that each had qualities the other had been seeking in a mate. Although Mayme was thirty years of age, she had never lacked for suitors and Hial was thrilled to invite her to be his wife. So, on April 1, 1903, Mary Emeline Brown, who was born in Kanab, Utah, June 26, 1871 to Philander Brown and Elizabeth Dobney Short, became the bride of Hial Bradford Hales in the Salt Lake Temple. They stayed in Salt Lake for the following week, attending a temple session each day.
This marriage was the prayerful decision of two mature, God-fearing individuals who wanted to do the Lord’s will and tried hard to find out what it was. It was with high hopes the Hial and Mayme started out on this great adventure in their life.
Once more Hial was to bring a bride home to Mammoth. Now he would have a place of his own and someone to help him care for his little daughter who had been living with John and Matilda Blackham, brother to Betsey. Hial was no stranger to his little daughter as he had made frequent visits to Moroni to see her and pay for her board and keep. But when it came to leaving the home and family she had known for the first four years of your life it was very difficult. She was willing to go if Doris, cousin, and foster sister, could go too. When she found this could not be she broke into desperate sobbing. This was heart-rending to her father and he left without her. Sometime later, after conditioning Nida for the event, Mama Blackham brought Nida to Mammoth and stayed all night. The next morning when Nida got up, Mama Blackham had returned to Moroni.
Hial was a patient, loving father. He had never planned to give his first child away. Neither had he realized the impact of a second home and family on this child, on him, on those who had thus far raised her or on his new wife. Everyone concerned was called upon to make some painful adjustments, especially his little motherless child. But the experience was growth promoting as all who were involved tried to do the right thing and everyone concerned have come to love and appreciate one another.
Hial worked in the Grand Central Mine while living in Mammoth all of the time except for a short duration when he worked for the Iron Blossom Mine while the Grand Central was closed down. At the time of his second marriage Hial and his new wife and Nida lived in his brother, George’s house since George and his wife, Eliza had moved to a farm in Spanish Fork. Nida gives an account of an incident in the life of her father in the early spring of 1904, while they were living in Mammoth:
About 2 a.m. one of our neighbors came pounding on our back door crying and sobbing, ‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’ As my mother opened the door (I stood by her side) we could see the whole south of the block was on fire, the flames leaping in the air as high as you could see. Sister Whitlock, the neighbor, had her little daughter, Naomi, in her arms, also a drawer with their important papers in. She was in her nightclothes. She left the baby and valuables at our house and then ran back to see if she could save some clothes for them. Mammoth did not have a fire department, but men were running with hoses. They had put wet blankets and quilts on our house. Papa was not at home as he was working the night shift. The wind was really blowing to the north. Some of the men were starting to carry out our furniture. Just then papa came. He told the men not to take any more. It would be all right. Papa took us into the house and shut the door. We went into the bedroom to pray. Did papa ever talk to the Lord! When he had finished and we came out of the house the wind had changed completely. On the block that burned to the ground were a drugstore, pool hall, saloon, barbershop, Whitlock’s grocery store and meat market, blacksmith shop, and livery stable. Some of the people lived in the back part of their businesses so they were also homeless. Some of the men moved a small building that was next to the blacksmith shop. So that just left the house we were living in and an older house also belonging to Uncle George that was left standing after the fire. Many people who knew Papa said it was Hial’s faith that saved the two homes.
Not long after this fire experience Hial was to welcome the arrival of his first son, Hial Brown, born 18 May 1904. Just sixteen months later, September 13, 1905, Reed Brown was to make his appearance. When these two boys were small, Nida had an experience she relates that gives further insight into the character of her father.
Papa and Mama had just started leaving me alone with the little boys while they attended Sacrament meeting in the evening. It started at 7:30, so it was close to 9:30 when they would return. I was always afraid at night when they left me. One night whey they came home I was crying and said that someone had tired to get into the house. Papa had boo-hooed me about it, said it was all in my mind. The next morning while leaving for work at 6:30 a.m. at the front door, Papa picked up a $5 bill. He came in and awakened me saying he was sure there had been a drunken man at the door trying to get in and he owed me an apology.
Sometime after this Hial moved his family to Spanish Fork. He and his brother, George had bought a farm there, the old Babcock place where Nathan Hales still resides (1977). Hial left his wife, two young sons, and Nida, while he continued working at Mammoth. He would come to Spanish Fork every two weeks and stay over Sunday.
It was while living at Spanish Fork that Brown gave the family a real scare. The little boy was throwing rocks into the canal and slipped in. Nida jumped into the fast-moving, above-waist-deep stream to rescue the little brother while calling for his mother. A friend of Nida’s also ran, calling for the mother and after working with the little fellow, they revived him. After this experience Hial’s wife was nervous about the big canal so near to the house. Also, Hial and George concluded that the farm was not big enough for both families, so Hial and his family moved back to Mammoth.
The next event of importance in the life of Hial B. Hales was the birth of a dark-haired, beautiful, little girl. They named her Iona Mae. She was born in Mammoth, March 13, 1907. Twenty months later on November 30, 1908, a baby boy, Leo Philander was born.
It was around this time that Hial received a letter from “Box B’ (Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City), on “condition” as to his going back to New Zealand on a mission. He wrote and told them his condition and financial status. He was to let them know when he was able to go, but keeping a family of five children seemed to take all he could earn.
It was about 1909 that Lorena Blackham, cousin and foster sister of Nida, came to Mammoth to teach school and it was arranged to have her stay at the Hial Hales residence. She was a great organizer and helper as well as a loving friend and relative to the family. On October 14, 1910, another child was born in the Hales family and they proudly named her Betsy (after Nida’s mother) Lorena (after Lorena Blackham). This child was only to be with them a short time. She died of bronchitis November 21, 1910.
Meanwhile, Hial’s work at the Grand Central Mine had not been uneventful. On more than one occasion he had met with accident at this place and one time the superintendent of the mine brought him home in his buggy, very concerned about his condition. Nevertheless, he recovered and went back to the mine, but this last accident caused him to feel and to express that perhaps he should seek other employment. Therefore, sometime after the birth of Betsy Lorena, Hial moved with his family back to Spanish Fork.
Together with his brother, George, he secured some land at Lake Shore near Spanish Fork with the aid of his father-in-law, Philander Brown of Provo. Later Hial sold this land to this brother, George, and the two of them went to Richfield and bought some land for Hial about three miles south of town on the west side of the highway. Hial built a three-room home on this land and moved his family there. No culinary water was near this place and water had to be hauled one and a half miles from Central for drinking. The irrigation canal that ran by the house furnished water for washing clothes and other tasks.
It was in Richfield that the last two of Hial’s children were born. Thora Tryphena, November 8, 1912, about whom her father remarked upon first seeing her, “my, she’s a homely little lassie”, and Don Gillette, born July 21, 1914.
The whole family was proud of Don Gillette, especially Reed who readily identified with him because of his blond hair. Reed would pull Don’s cap off and show everyone “just like me”. The other children had had dark hair. At Richfield, Don was to have an accident that would shake the entire family. It was while he was learning to walk that Don toddled over to the cook stove, which was not always so hot as this day. His mother had been baking bread and in an unguarded moment he place both hands on the hot stove to balance his unsure steps. He quickly removed his right hand and it was not burned so badly, but the left hand was to carry deep scars always. Skin was taken from his father’s arm and grafted onto the little hand many times. Each time they would scratch the hand making it bleed, which was very painful. Family members testify to the stamina of the little fellow in this ordeal as well as that of his father.
Farming at Richfield was anything but easy for Hial and his family. Occasional visits from Mayme’s brother George Brown, stirred the already troubled waters. “He should have brought you down here to look at this place”, Mr. Brown said to his sister Mayme, “not his brother”. The first crop Hial raised at Richfield was alfalfa seed. There were about ten acres but it turned out to be a very poor harvest. He also had fifteen acres of sugar beets but there were too many sunflowers in them. The family worked early and late. Hial hauled manure from all over the valley. There never was a man who worked more diligently and during the winter of 1916, Hial secured a job in Marysvale.
On September 10, 1917 Hial moved his family from Richfield to Alunite, a mining camp, south of Marysvale. World War I was in progress and he was to haul ore from the mountains nearby to a mill for making powder for ammunition. His oldest child, Nida, had gone to Moroni to work in the co-op store. With the ending of the war on November 11, 1918, Hial began to look for a place to take his family. He had some good horses he had used to haul ore with. His family will recall such favorites as Molly, Amasa, and Chief. Into his ore wagons he packed the families’ belongings, took the family and moved to a little farming community in Southern Utah, Piute County, Junction. Here he had bought acreage in the east part of town from Mr. Woolley.
This farming venture proved no better than Richfield for making a living. The Piute reservoir over-flowed on this land, making it useless for growing crops. Meanwhile, Nida married William Otis Bradley in the Manti temple on March 12, 1919, which later ended in divorce.
Mayme’s brother, George, still made his visits. Other than that, the family had little contact with relatives at this time. It was during this time that Iona had a nervous breakdown and was very ill. She recovered to lead a rewarding life. She had many friends in Junction as well as other places she lived. The Hales abode was always made interesting by Iona’s handsome young suitors.
Hial eventually sold his land to the reservoir company and after he received payment from the sale, he moved his family back up North. He leased a fruit and dry farm from a couple of his missionary companions from Spanish Fork. These friends were Heber Jex and Leo Bird. The family arrived in Orem on April 6, 1923. There was plenty of work on this place, including two large peach orchards plus apple, plum, apricot and cherry trees. Also there were many acres of dry land to grain to plant and harvest. Hial was a very hard worker and he had the cooperation of his family. Even Hial’s wife was included in the farm work, raising large flocks of turkeys. It was here that Hial said of his son, Leo, “My, but that boy’s a worker. He goes just like a house a fire, pretty hard to get him started, but once he gets going there’s no stopping him.”
Leo had other sterling qualities, much like his father. He loved his brothers and sisters dearly. If anyone of them was ill, it could be counted on that Leo would come forth with some cheering surprise. It would be a piece of candy or a trinket, things that were not easy to come by at that time and place. One time while the family was living at Junction, Leo walked several miles to Marysvale and back to get some gifts so that the little ones might have something for Christmas. “Oh” he said, “I got a ride some of the way.” The “little ones” were only slightly younger than Leo.
There are many happy memories of living on the Jex-Bird ranch in Orem. In summer it was almost a daily ritual to go swimming in the icy waters of the Murdock canal that ran close by. Water fighting was something, which never ended without involving the entire family. Sometimes Hial became so involved he would let a whole bucket of water fly and it might be in the house. The herd of horses on the ranch also added much in usefulness and enjoyment for the family members.
While living at the Jex place Hial secured a truck and had it fixed up to use as a school bus as there was no way for the students from Orem to get to Peasant Grove where they attended High School. The Hales boys that were going to school drove the bus since Hial never did get as proficient at driving that bus as he did at handling his team of horses.
The Hales family had been through some trying times but Hial was usually in good spirit and kept a happy frame of mind. He comforted his wife and family by telling them that things would get better. Nevertheless, it seemed that things got worse beginning with Mayme contracting pneumonia during the winter of 1926 and 1927, barely escaping death. In the spring, Hial became very ill, but insisted that he would be all right and there was no need to call a doctor. When it became apparent that a doctor was needed, it was too late. He was taken to the Lehi hospital. He died of causes incident to a ruptured appendix on May 7, 1927. All the family members except Nida, were present to see this good man bid farewell to this mortal life and each felt that God’s holy angels were very near indeed. He was buried in his beloved Spanish Fork on May 10, 1927.
To know Hial B. Hales well, was to love him. Heber Ogden of Richfield said, “Hial was the best friend I ever had.” Hial had true love and concern for his fellowman. His doors were open to anyone in need. He was as honest as it was humanly possible to be and treated everyone as if he or she was also. He never knowingly took advantage of anyone.
As with all persons Hial was not perfect. He had a temper and sometimes lost in dealing with his animals much to the consternation of his mild-mannered wife. He had short patience with anyone who questioned his honesty and at least three times in his life came into physical combat because of this error on the part of an offender, once in Richfield, again in Alunite and finally in Junction. In each case the offender came to see the folly of his ways.
This man had a sense of humor and did not take himself too seriously. Once in Orem, while Nida was visiting at home, he had been having a little trouble with someone over irrigation water. He had stayed out a little later than his family thought necessary. Nida called out in the dark, “Is that man trying to steal your water again, Papa? Well, just get your gun and shoot him.” “No, No," came the reply, “everything’s all right.” That man who was out there with Nida’s father never did know what to think, but everyone else had a good laugh about it.
Hial B. Hales had great faith and his deep and abiding testimony of the gospel could readily be felt. At Mammoth the family had a years supply of food stored and they kept a cow. A weekly Home Evening program was carried on in his home with singing, storytelling, and scriptural reading. He studied the gospel, not just now and then, but regularly, everyday and lived its teachings. He understood the responsibility we each have of first learning the gospel then taking it to others. He never missed an opportunity to bring the benefits of the gospel to anyone who was at all receptive. He was offended when he was required to listen to anyone profane the sacred name of Deity and had the courage to speak out against it. He always kept consecrated oil in his house, “for the healing of the sick in the household of faith,” and with the aid of a neighbor, he used it when sickness came.
Family prayer was a sacred, twice daily occurrence and it was done on ones knees. Visitors were asked to join in but it was never postponed. More than one person has given public testimony of the spiritual experience of being asked to join in the family prayer service at the Hial B. Hales residence. This has been carried by most of Hial’s family members into their own homes.
A counselor in the Timpanogos Stake Presidency once told of being on a business trip with Hial’s son, Reed. He recounts, ”It should have been I who was older and held a more responsible position in the church to have, upon retiring at the motel with our wives, suggested a prayer together, but since I didn’t Reed did, and oh how I loved and appreciated him for it.”
Of this son, Reed, more than one person has been heard to say, “No better man ever lived.” As a young boy, Reed was so full of life and energy. He just had to be up and going. He and his brother, Brown, took turns getting the horse ready to ride to school. Reed was always up and ready, trying to bring Brown along. Finally he would say, “I’ll get your horse ready if you’ll just come.” Reed died of a heart attack, June 10, 1941, leaving his wife, Norma Jarman and three children.
Hial’s oldest son, Brown, married Madeline Geenley. They had a son and a daughter and then they divorced. He later married Celestia Campbell Alexander. They had one son. Brown was a great reader of books. He went on a mission to Northern California and Nevada, but had to come home because of ill health. He had double valvular leakage of the heart for many years although he worked at Geneva Steel Co. until his sixties. He had open heart surgery from he seemed to be recovering, but he died on his birthday May 18, 1970.
Don Gillette was Hial’s youngest son. At a very early age this boy, like his father, displayed a most generous disposition. Anything he had was most freely given or loaned. He had a kind and sympathetic attitude toward anybody or anything in need. One time a horse kicked the dog and hurt it. “Oh Mama," Don said, “Look how pale he looks.” Don married Vera Hendrichsen. They have three children - two boys and a girl.
Hial had a fine singing voice, which was inherited by his sons and daughters. Reed sang in many church affairs and funerals. Don had an equally good voice as Reed but he never used it much except to sing in operettas at Pleasant Grove High School.
Nida had two children - a son and a daughter from her first marriage and later married John A. Donaldson. Nida has always been a shining example of good living. She has taken an active part in church affairs. At the present time (1977) she is an active worker in the Salt Lake Temple.
Iona married T. LeGrande Jarman in the Salt Lake Temple, August 15, 1929. They had five children, two boys and three girls. Iona has always taken an active part in church having been a Relief Society President more than once and supporting her husband in his many assignments.
Leo married Ione Thomas in the Salt Lake Temple, June 18, 1934. They had three children - two boys and a girl. Leo has also held responsible positions in church and community. He was a counselor in Provo first ward bishopric for several years.
The youngest daughter, Thora, married Earl Leon Mecham. They had four children - three girls and one boy. Thora graduated from Brigham Young University and has taught school for thirty-seven years. She was been very active in church activities also, having been Primary President and Stake Junior Sunday School Coordinator among other positions.
It was Hial’s desire that his family have all the spiritual, physical, and cultural development he could give them. He was anxious that all of his children obtain good educations. He bought a piano for his family and one neighbor was heard to say that he could better have use the money to buy shoe for his children. None of his children recall being out of shoes.
Hial Bradford Hales was a family man. He loved his wives and children very much and was sad the he could not supply them with as much of this worlds goods as he felt they needed. But what he could give them he did. He gave them a model as a father that was worthy of emulation. No one doubted who was the father and patriarch of the home. He was a good disciplinarian and when he spoke he expected to be obeyed, but he was kind and forgiving also. A saying, which he practiced, was “Never let the sun go down upon your wrath.” He loved his grandchildren and was very proud of the only two he was to live to see, Ralph and Betsy Bradley.
Hial B. Hales was the presiding Elder at Alunite and a High Counselor in the stake while living in Junction. At the time of his death he held the office of High Priest.
"Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ." Moroni 7:19.
Compiled by his daughters:
Nida Donaldson
Iona Jarman
Thora Mecham
Edited by his granddaughter:
Linda Mecham Fox
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October 8, 1869 is the birthday of a good and great man, your father.
Do you recall some of these things he used to say?
“Deed a goodness come to bed. Up burning the midnight oil till all hours of the night.”
When he became provoked at one of us. -“By Jow, I’ll take a fall our of you, you young booby you. I’ll take my foot from behind you. When I say to do a thing I mean to do it. I’ll kick the buttons right off your trousers.”
Never did he allow the sun to set with hard feelings toward anyone. Can’t you hear him saying. “Beg pardon, beg pardon. I may have been a little hasty, if so, I’m sorry.”
It was a great trial to him to lay a book for anything down and not be able to pick it up just where he left it -
“Where in the name of common sense is that book?”
“Where in the name of D nation did that go?”
“Can’t a fellow have anything around this house?”
“That would make a man so D mad he could jump up and down and kick over everything.”
“Wouldn’t that jar you right over the Christmas tree.”
To us when we were inclined to show a little disrespect -
“Don’t give me any of your lip. And I don’t want any of your back talk.”
We were constantly told to-
“Have a little stamina.” “Don’t be a mustang.” “Stand on your own feet.” “Be yourself.” “Don’t show the white feather.” “Don’t let them Hoo Doo you.”
He couldn’t stand to see a person “Sleeping his life away.” “The Sleeping Beauty.” “The early bird catches the worm.” He never used an alarm clock. He would get up a time or two during the night to see if the stars were still shining or if it were about morning.
He would sometime say, “Tut, tut if you can’t say anything good about a person, don’t say anything at all.” “Never walk over anything. You might walk over a snake.”
One of his favorite summer sports was a good water fight. He always used a large pitcher or bucket of water in the house or outside. He never half did anything.
He thought a great deal of his father and many times he would say, “In my father’s home etc., etc.”
Night or morning her never forgot, “Let’s have a word of prayer.”
When around men who used profanity, he would ask, “Is that kind of language necessary around here?”
He made friends easily and never lost an opportunity to teach what he knew to be right to anyone interested. He was always ready to bear his testimony to the truthfulness of the gospel, which meant more than anything to him.
Let’s check up on ourselves. Are we living and raising our families according to the standards he set for us by his noble example?
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Hial was blessed 6 January 1870 by James Robinson.
Hial was 5 years old when his mother suddenly died. He was farmed out to relatives until his father remarried a year later. He was very close to his brother George.
He was baptized 14 Aug 1878 by William Jex and confirmed the same day by his father George Gillette Hales.
He went on a 3 3/4 year mission to New Zealand. He was a man of great faith, he loved the Lord and the Gospel.
He and Betsy were married 12 Oct. 1898 in the Manti Temple by John McAllister. They had one daughter, Nida, then his wife, Betsy, died. He later married Mary Brown and had seven more children. He had been a miner in Mammoth Utah, then a farmer in Richfield, Spanish Fork and Pleasant Grove.
He died of appendicitis when he was 57. Hial had delayed seeing a doctor, when he finally went Dr. Linebaugh operated on him immediately but the appendix had already ruptured. They did not have penicillin in those days, so he died.
Nida Susannah Hales Bradley Blessing
#701: Nida Susannah Hales Bradley. Sparks, Nevada March 25, 1928
A blessing given by David Harry Toyn Patriarch upon the head of Nida Susannah Hales Bradley, a daughter of Hial Bradford and Betsy Blackham Hales, born at Mammoth, Juab County, Utah, June 28, 1899:
Nida Bradley--In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I place my hands upon your head and give unto you a blessing that will be an incentive to lead and guide you aright that if lived for and obtained will gain for yourself a place in the Celestial Kingdom of God.
Thou art one of the bright daughters in Zion, even one of the bright spirits that is come forth in this day to fulfill life's mission. You have been blessed and guided by the spirit of the Lord. In the past you have been turned from evil and preserved and the watch care of your guardian angel shall continue to be with you and your feet shall be firmly planted in the paths of righteousness.
Thou art of the house of Israel even from Joseph down through the loins of Ephraim and their blessings are yours by right divine. The Lord will be pleased to smile down upon you, hear and answer your prayers and your life's mission will be a successful one. Be dutiful and helpful in the auxiliaries of the Church, for your special gift is an apt teacher and leader among your sect, and in this mission you will accomplish much good. When your hair is as white as the driven snow many will come to thee and offer their gratitude and thanks for the many good things you have done for them and for your goodly labors the Lord will smile upon you and yours.
Your children shall grow up in the faith and become mighty in the works of the Lord, and the time will come, if you will live for it and seek for it, that you will be an efficient worker and latter day worker in the Temple of the Lord and many things will be made known unto you through dreams, impressions and even things revealed, that you will be efficient in this labor. Some of the hard things will be solved by thy study and prayers, and they shall be made known unto you and you will indeed be a Savior upon Mt. Zion. Those blessings and others I have failed to mention are yours and I seal them upon you through your faithfulness, and when life's mission is completed here upon the earth you shall come forth in the morning of the first resurrection and be crowned and exalted with yours to reign forever and forever in the Celestial Kingdom of God. I seal you up unto this end in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN.
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