The first photo on this page is fantastic! It features my great-grandparents, Claude and Blanche, and their lifelong friends Will Gibson and Hazel Berrett. Claude, Blanche, Will, and Hazel spent lots of time together during their respective courtships. In her undated autobiography, Blanche wrote this:
“Then in 1914 I met Claude A. Ellis who had just returned from a mission to the Eastern States, and I thought he surpassed all the others with his refined manners and his blonde wavy hair. We were real friendly with Hazel Berrett and William Gibson who returned with Claude from the same Mission. We had all our dates together and went in a little rubber tired buggy with a black horse.”1
Both couples later married and then lived near each other in North Ogden, Utah.
The second photo on this page includes my great-grandmother and her friend Hattie Storey. Hattie was loosely connected to our family through marriage. Hattie’s uncle, Joseph Smith Storey, married Alice Eliza Ellis. Alice was Claude Albert Ellis’ sister. Hattie and Blanche were born just a month apart and both spent their teen years in North Ogden. They were likely classmates.
Blanche’s daughter, Claudia, helped to identify Hattie on 17 August 2020.
Both photos are lovely!
This post is part of a series sharing this wonderful old family photo album. You can learn more about the album here. A digital version of this photo album can be viewed on Flickr here.
Happy Monday, I hope you are all well and happy! xoxo
I bet lots of romances start on those missions with young people far from home.
Probably! I know a few young adults who meet someone on their mission (no dating or pairing off is allowed) and then after they both come home, they start dating. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen. In this case, it was just the two men that served missions and then were lifelong friends. Will Gibson actually spoke at my great-grandfather’s funeral. It was a true lifelong friendship. They always lived very close, a few blocks apart.
How very sweet!