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| Back: Virgil and Rachel; Front: Alvin and Gertrude |
The twins (Rachel Ann and Twin Boy)
In 1891 Rachel and MM had a set of twins, their firstborn. In the life history MM dictated in 1941, he indicated that the children were born dead. Fae Decker Dix tells of riding down the lane on top of a load of hay after a summer afternoon in the fields with Papa. MM would stop at a turn in the road by a bank of wild roses and gesture toward a nearby hedge where the twins were buried. According to genealogy, the girl was given the name Rachel Ann. No name is listed for the boy.
Virgil Mahonri
Rachel must have gotten pregnant shortly after losing the twins, because the following summer, on July 3, 1892 she gave birth to Virgil Mahonri.
Virgil was 19 when Florence was born. He had his own life by that time, attending college in Cedar City and Logan and even trying his hand at real estate for a time. Still, like the rest of the family, he doted on his little sister. Florence remembers sewing buttons on Virgil’s shirts when she was five and having him whisk her off to the town photographer about that same time to have her picture taken in her pretty white play dress and ugly black shoes.
By May 1917, Virgil was back home from school and getting ready to marry Edith Pearl Kjar of Manti. They were married on September 26, 1917 in the Manti Temple.
Just a few months later, Uncle Sam called Virgil into the Army. He left in May 1918 to serve with the 88th Squadron Air Service. Edith, pregnant with their first child at the time, gave birth just two months after he left. In January 1919, Virgil returned from the war. He and Edith moved around a bit, but eventually settled in Edith’s hometown of Manti. They had another son, Curtis, in 1921. He was followed by their daughter, Carol, and finally by their son, Lee.
In 1935 Virgil’s son Boyd was riding his bicycle in the middle of the night on the highway south of Ephraim when he was struck by a car and critically injured. After spending a month in the hospital in Salina, he returned home to convalesce. He recovered, but the accident served to foreshadow things to come.
Over the next 12 years Virgil worked in farm insurance, coached baseball, served a stake mission, and participated actively in the American Legion. Boyd, Curtis, and Carol all married well. In April 1947, Virgil and Edith celebrated the birth of their first grandchild, a daughter. Only Lee, still in high school, remained at home.
That July, Edith threw a party for Virgil’s 55th birthday, little knowing it would be his last. Just a few weeks later, on July 31, Virgil drove toward home along the road from Ephraim to Manti. A 15-year old boy without a license swerved his borrowed pickup truck and struck Virgil’s car. Virgil was badly injured and never regained consciousness, dying on August 3 at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, the same hospital where just a few months earlier he had welcomed his first grandbaby.
Relationship with Florence: Virgil doted on Florence when she was a young child and he was in his early 20s. He would have been in and out of her life while she was growing up, as he was in Cedar and Logan for school and then living most of his adult life away from Parowan. MM stayed with Virgil for a couple of summers in the last years of his life, and at least in 1941 Florence and Elwood took him to Manti for the visit. When Virgil was killed, Florence was 35 years old. He was the third of her siblings to die during her lifetime.
Notes
1. Articles from Manti Messenger and Parowan Times give details of the family’s whereabouts over the years, as well as the story of Boyd’s accident and Virgil’s death.
2. “Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966” details Virgil’s military service.
Thomas Alvin (known as “Alvin”)
On April 29, 1894, Rachel gave birth to Thomas Alvin (generally known as Alvin). He was just seven years old when his mother died and 11 when his father married “Aunt Hattie.” The families seemed to blend well, and like Virgil, Alvin adored his little sister Florence.
When Parowan finally formed a high school in 1916, Alvin (age 22 at the time) was elected the first student body president. Prior to that time, Parowan teens had to go off to Cedar or elsewhere if they wanted to complete high school. Before Parowan High School had a chance to graduate its first class, the Great War intervened. Alvin received notice in January 1918 that he had been drafted. In February, he married Natine Benson, a Parowan girl, in the St. George Temple. The newspaper account of their marriage describes Alvin as “a young man of sterling qualities, sincere, earnest, and progressive.” The young couple was well-respected in the community.
After a few short months of marriage, Alvin followed his brother Virgil into the War, serving in the 145th regiment. He returned home in January 1919, just in time for the birth of his first son (Veron) on February 15. Natine suffered from heart trouble and at times was seriously ill, but she had always pulled through. In September 1922, she gave birth to a second son, Udell. Six months later, she passed away.
Alvin remained in Parowan and raised his boys for a few years with help from extended family. During that time, he stayed active in community life. In the summer of 1928, Miss Verena Stevens came to town from Salt Lake City to visit her aunt and teach kindergarten. She and Alvin married the following June in the Salt Lake Temple. According to the 1940 census, the couple had three children: Janice (born about 1931), Laurence (born about 1934) and David (born about 1936). They remained in Parowan for several years, although they had moved to Provo by the time Florence died in 1954. Alvin died in Provo in 1975.
Relationship with Florence: Verena said that Florence was always special to Alvin. Florence was living at home with MM and her younger brothers when Alvin and Verena were married in 1929. Verena was 7 years older than Florence, but she was happy to have a sister in Parowan. While they were waiting to go into the hospital for their son David’s birth, Verena and Alvin stayed in Cedar at Florence and Elwood’s overnight. When MM died, he had been living at Florence’s house. Florence was upset because she hadn’t forced him to take his medicine, and she felt if she had insisted, he might not have died. Alvin reassured her. Florence and Alvin would have had fairly close association during the years Alvin lived in Parowan, but by the time Florence passed away, Alvin had moved to Provo.
Elizabeth Gertrude (known as "Gertrude")
Gertrude Elizabeth was born January 24, 1897, while her father was serving a mission in Pennsylvania. Mahonri was writing his wife one evening and said it came suddenly to him that Rachel had given birth to a daughter. He suggested she name the baby Gertrude, which she did. He arrived home about the time of her second birthday. It is logical to assume that Mahonri suggested the name in honor of his sister, who died as a toddler, and his Grandmother Decker.
Gertrude was only 5 when her mother died and still quite young when her father married Aunt Hattie. She was 14 when Florence was born, and she took her half-sister under her wing. Florence tells of sharing a bedroom with Gertrude—“the lovely east bedroom with lavender flowers in the wallpaper.” They remained close throughout Florence’s life. Gertrude married Ancel Adams on January 10, 1919, just two months before MM took his family to Delta. Florence hated to leave her sister behind.
Gertrude and Ancel lived in Parowan for the rest of their lives and raised 11 children. She was the only one of Mahonri’s children who remained in Parowan long term. Her family and Florence’s family used to get together frequently.
Relationship with Florence: They enjoyed a close relationship throughout Florence’s life, and their families got together frequently through the years.
Earl Munford
Earl was born on September 23, 1899 (almost exactly nine months after his father returned from his mission), and was just two years old when his mother died. He was 19 years old when the family moved to Delta, and Fae says he went with them. Shortly after the Delta debacle, Earl must have left home for a while, as a newspaper account from November 1921 indicates that he was back in Parowan after an absence of a year or two.
In July 1923, Earl surprised his friends by announcing one Monday morning that he believed he would get married before going to the next day’s 24th of July celebration up the canyon. His girlfriend, Ethel Frisby of Payson, was in town for the holiday weekend. They managed to procure a marriage license and were married that day. They were later sealed in the temple on October 25, 1925. Various accounts show the couple living in Payson and Parowan at various points. By the time Florence died in 1954, Earl and Ethel were living in Payson.
Relationship with Florence: Although records do not mention any discord between the two, it does not seem that Florence was as close with Earl as she was with the rest of her brothers. Earl did go to Delta with the family, apparently. He married when Florence was 11 and lived away from Parowan for much of his marriage. On at least one occasion, Florence traveled to Payson with Earl and his wife for a visit.
Rachel Loretta
Rachel was born on Christmas Day 1901, just two weeks before her mother’s death. Whatever her parents originally intended to name her, when his wife died Mahonri chose to name his daughter after her mother. Rachel was the youngest of five children at the time (the oldest being 9-year old Virgil), and for a time Mahonri gave her into the care of her Munford grandparents, although he stayed close by and kept an eye on her. Some time after Mahonri married Aunt Hattie, they brought Rachel into their home.
Rachel was 10 when Florence was born, and she went with the family to Delta when she was 18. On May 31, 1923, she married Woodruff Pendleton of Parowan in the St. George Temple. They had four children (Elsa, Alton, Aleda, and Dona). Like her mother before her, Rachel died young. Around 1935 she contracted an illness that lingered for many weeks and seemed to include pneumonia and heart trouble. She died in January 1936 at the age of 34 after living in Parowan all her life.
Relationship with Florence: I know little about their relationship. Rachel was just 10 when Florence was born, so they did grow up together. She and Woodruff settled in Parowan, so she and Florence must have seen each other fairly frequently. Florence was newly married when Rachel died, and I imagine Rachel’s death must have reminded her of Harriet. She was the second of Florence’s siblings to die (not counting the twins).
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