Children of Alfred and
Emma David Rees
Emma David Rees was the mother of ten
children. Nine reached maturity rearing families. Each member of the family had
an interesting story to tell.
Alfred J. Rees married Elizabeth Ann Chappel. They had eleven children. He was in the road
construction business in Idaho. He was killed at Pocatello, Idaho, on the state
highway, May 23, 1925.
Ann Rees died as a young woman presumably from
diabetes. She had three children. She was married to Adam Burt.
Elizabeth Emma Rees King was married to Daniel
King. They lived in Moore, Idaho, a farming community. She worked very hard and
was the mother of seven children.
Thomas David Rees married Mary Catherine
Christensen and they were the parents of seven children.
Hannah Rees was married to Joseph Phillips,
who was an alcoholic and an abusive husband. The story is told that Grandpa
Rees told Phillips that if he ever laid a hand on his daughter again, he would
kill him. Hannah was a widow for many years and then married Thomas L. Reese
(no relation). She was married to him for fourteen months when he was killed in
the Castle Gate Mine explosion. She had two children.
Mary Rees Rickers
Nave was married first to Fredrick M. Rickers. He
died of typhoid fever leaving Mary with one child, Winnifred.
Her second husband was Theodore Nave with whom she had three children. Nave, an
electrician by trade, was an unstable character and would leave Mary for months
at a time without money, and she did not know where he was. She went to work in
the overall factory at ZCI. She died from breast cancer.
Emma Jane Rees Harward
married Leon Sinclair Harward. She was the mother of
six boys and one daughter. Jane worked very hard with very little monetary
support from her husband, who, mother said would “sit and read his Bible,
instead of providing adequately for his family.” One of her sons was murdered when he was
working for the Idaho Road Commission. He was grading a new road. A farmer who
did not want the road going through some of his property killed this young man.
Aunt Jane had a very tragic life.
Leonora Rees Hansen lived on a farm for many
years near Bancroft, Idaho. She worked very hard. She was injured severely when
dragged by a team of horses. She had a small daughter who drank lye and died
from it. She was married to Daniel Hansen who was a difficult man to live with.
The family later moved to California where her life became easier.
We all have favorites in a family and Aunt
Hannah was my favorite, probably because I know her best as she spent a lot of
time in our home. Being a superb seamstress, she would come to our home every
spring and fall to sew for us. She made all our clothes, dresses and coats for
me, shirts, pants, pajamas, etc., for my brothers. She also made my beautiful
costumes when I danced. She was a wonderful cook, probably would be called a
gourmet cook nowadays. She made the best pies I have ever tasted. My mouth
waters as I am writing this when I think of her pies and the delicious date and
raisin filled cookies she used to make. Mother, Daddy and Aunt Hannah loved to
play cards. The games were either a game called sluff
or hearts. I remember with amusement the competitive spirit which prevailed. It
was fun, fun, fun to watch them play cards.
My mother, Vivian Rees Morgan, was born April
15, 1885, at Spanish Fork, Utah. Her mother was 45 years of age. Mother was a
twin. The boy was stillborn. When mother was about 83 years of age, I prevailed
upon her to tell us her Welsh stories to be recorded on tape. She hesitated to
do so, but with coaxing, she finally relented. Besides her famous Welsh
stories, she told about her childhood and her mother and father. I have
transcribed this history but would like to further elaborate on it. Mother’s
oldest sister, Ann Rees Burt, died from diabetes when mother was very small
leaving three young boys. Grandmother and Grandfather Rees took these boys into
their home to care for them. As these children took a lot of Grandmother’s
time, Mother said she felt displaced by these boys in the home with her mother.
Consequently, she leaned toward her father and oldest sister, Elizabeth and her
husband, Daniel King. She spent a great deal of time with Lizzie and Dan in
their home. She also told of spending time with her sister, Hannah, in Eureka,
Utah, as she grew up. She attended the Joe Rees in Spanish Fork through the
eighth grade and when a young lad attended the Brigham Young Academy in Provo.
She took classes in drama and elocution. Mother said she did not work in the
millinery shop when she was young, but did the work at home. She tells of making
bread when she was so young she had to stand on a stool.
In 1900 the first telephone exchange was
established by the Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone. Mother’s stint as a telephone
operator is recorded in the history of Spanish Fork City on the Rio de Aguas Calientes. “A new
switchboard was installed at the office of The Rocky Mountain Bell Company and
night service was begun. The operators were Mrs. Mary Rickers
(mother’s sister), Miss Vivian Rees, and Miss Ethel Morgan (Daddy’s sister).
These girls not only handled any minor repairs that were necessary, but took
care of the batteries which provided the current. Women also cleared any
outside trouble on the line. They were usually provided with a horse and buggy,
and they always carried a stiff fishing pole with them. Since
most of the trouble consisted of crossed wires or a tree limb having fallen on
the line, the fishing pole was used to uncross the wires or remove the limbs.
All of the telephones were of the magneto type, crank instruments that operated
on a single wire grounded circuit. To reach the operator the caller turned the
crank which generated enough electricity to send the signal to central. Then a
call was completed.
The crank was turned again in order to signal
the operator to “take down” the connection. The operators knew everybody’s
number, so telephone directories were not needed (there really weren’t that
many subscribers). Calls were usually made by name, not by number. The
telephone operator was not an impersonal voice, but usually became a close
friend of the telephone users.
[Taken from A
Family Album: a Memoir of Andrew B. Morgan and Vivian Rees Morgan, by
Marie Morgan Vincent, a granddaughter of Alfred and Emma David Rees, p. 45-49.]
