Opie Catt

A photo of Oren and Irma Dorothy (Hanke) Hostetler at the wedding of Lillian Hanke to Clifford Gartley.

President Teddy Roosevelt signing the Thanksgiving Proclamation Act in 1902. President Franklin Roosevelt (Teddy was his cousin and Eleanor's uncle) moved Thanksgiving from the last Thursday of November to the fourth Thursday of November in 1939 to give Americans more time to shop for Christmas!

The text of the Proclamation:

THANKSGIVING DAY – 1902
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – A PROCLAMATION
According to the yearly custom of our people, it falls upon the President at this season to appoint a day of festival and thanksgiving to God. Over a century and a quarter has passed since this country took its place among the nations of the earth, and during that time we have had, on the whole, more to be thankful for than has fallen to the lot of any other people. Generation after generation has grown to manhood and passed away. Each has had to bear its peculiar burdens, each to face its special crisis, and each has known cares of grim trial, when the country was menaced by malice domestic or foreign levy, when the hand of the Lord was heavy upon it in drought or flood or pestilence, when in bodily distress and in anguish of soul it paid the penalty of folly and a froward heart. Nevertheless, decade by decade we have struggled onward and upward; we now abundantly enjoy material well-being, and under the favor of the Most High we are striving earnestly to achieve moral and spiritual uplifting. The year that has just closed has been one of peace and of overflowing plenty. Rarely has any people enjoyed greater prosperity than we are now enjoying. For this we render heartfelt thanks to the giver of Good; and we will seek to praise Him, not by words only, but by deeds, by the way in which we do our duty to ourselves and to our fellow-men.
Now, wherefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, do hereby designate as a day of general thanksgiving, Thursday, the twenty-seventh of the coming November, and do recommend that throughout the land the people cease from their ordinary occupations, and in their several homes and places of worship render thanks unto Almighty God for the manifold blessings of the past year.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-ninth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and two, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-seventh.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT

A photo of Cathy Harris's legs in the TV Commercial for the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. She was the dancer in the Old Gold Commercial

A photo of an Unknown woman (left) and Susan Elizabeth Evans Found in old scrapbook belonging to Sudie Evans Lowrie of Abilene, TX.
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A photo of Mary Ann Beckner, sister of Wm. Morgan Beckner of Kentucky -- my grt grt grandmother, and wife of Thomas Wm. H. Moseley, also born in Kentucky. Portrait by Mullen's studio Lexington, Ky.

A photo of Harry E. Marks and Mollie A. Schorr, wedding day 5 September 1926
People in photo include: Harry E. Marks and Mollie A. (Schorr) Marks

A photo of Carmen Alvarez at age 4. Possibly the first grandchild of Albert Adams & Wilhelmina Weisbrodt. Taken while family lived in Logan Square when that neighborhood was largely inhabited by theatrical folk.

A photo of Mary Leona Smith Thorup. An Autobiography: I made my arrival into this world on December 11, 1892, at 6:30 P.M. At the time my parents lived on 1st Avenue and P Street. It was on a Sunday and the day my father was assigned to be the speaker at Sacrament Meeting. It was a close race with the stork that day, but I arrived in time for him to greet his new daughter and hurry to church in time to fie his speech. The April following my birth, my father left my mother and my sister Vera (who was two years old) and me to fulfill a two year mission in England. While on that mission, my father visited his relatives in Leicester, Leics. Co., and my mother’s uncle, Joseph Howarth, in Rhodes, Lanc. Co., and collected the births, marriages and deaths of those families. When I was four years and nine months old, my parents moved into their first new home. By this time there were three children, and right after we moved to our new home, my sister Venice was born. This home was on 352 Hampton Avenue and had three rooms. As the family grew, so did the house. It finally had eight rooms and an enclosed summer kitchen. This home was in the Second Ward of Salt Lake Stake, and we were a part of that ward for nearly ten years, when it was divided and we were then in the new ward which was called, Liberty Ward. My father was the first Bishop, and he chose the name for the ward. He was Bishop at the time of my marriage. I attended the Salt Lake High School, where the West High School stands today, taking a business course. I was privileged t work as the secretary to the Principal of the High School for four years prior to my marriage. They were very happy years and my life was enriched by the associations of the fine faculty members. It was not compulsory to go to High School at that time, and so many who did, went on to gain prominence in the state and community. While living in the Liberty Ward, before my marriage, I was organist for five years. I learned to love music and the beautiful anthems the choir sang. We often had soloists from other pars of the city sing in our ward and I would accompany them. Jessie Evans Smith came more than once and I remember her rich contralto voice. Axel B.G.Ohlson was director of the Swedish Choir of Salt Lake City. I would love to leave with my family this lesson: The more you work in a ward, the more you love it. I loved the liberty Ward because I was so much a part of it. I had all my social, as well as spiritual life in that ward. At the time of my marriage, the choir gave me a party and the amusement hall was full of friends who came from the ward to attend. When I was nineteen years of age, my sister, Vera Austin, invited us to go on a vacation with them. I was in July 1912. My sister and her husband and their baby, Edwin N. Austin, Jr., and myself, and a family by the name of Secrest and a young man named Alvin Theobald Thorup, went on a trip to Bear Lake. This trip can be made in a day today. As we left from Garland, Utah, at that time, we went in covered wagons and took a week for the trip. Altho Alvin Thorup and myself had lived in Salt Lake all of our lives, we met each other in Garland. One year and nine months later, we were married. We were married on April 15, 1914, in the Salt Lake Temple by Heber J. Grant who later became president of the Church. Our first home was at 1040 Lake Street. My husband purchased the home soon after he met me and rented it until our marriage. To me it was a dream house. There were five rooms and a bathroom. We lived in this house for thirteen years, all of our children being born while we lived there. Vera Luana Thorup, was born on Jun 18, 1918, Robert Smith Thorup was born on May 24, 1919, and Donald Wallace Thorup was born on July 12, 1926. In November 1918, a bad epidemic of influenza spread over the world. My husband and I were stricken with the disease. After several days of fighting the disease, my husband’s life was despaired of as the doctor said he could not live through the night. That evening, Brother Soren Jacobsen told Bishop J. Percy Goddard he felt that he had a blessing to give my husband. Unless a person was a nurse or doctor, he did not enter a house where the disease was. But, Bro. Jacobsen, and my father put on face masks and came and gave my husband a blessing, and promised him that he would live. They also came in the bedroom where I was and gave me a blessing and promised me that he would live. Although I had not slept but an hour or two at a time before this, I had complete faith that my husband would live and I slept soundly all night. Twice that night the nurse attending my husband told the next door neighbors that she could feel no pulse beat, but by morning my husband was conscious and I awoke to hear him talking. In July 1927, we left our friends and memories and moved into a new home on 1644 Harvard Avenue. Vera was 12 years old, Robert was eight, and Wally was just one. We lived in that house for seventeen years, seeing our family grown to womanhood and manhood. In 1941, war was declared and my two sons joined the Navy and both did duty in the Pacific Area. These were trying days, and we were s thankful when I was over and we were a family reunited again. In 1944 we moved again, this time to 1754 Laird Avenue. We were still in the same stake and in the same neighborhood. We lived in Bonneville Stake for twenty-seven years. I was the president of Yale Ward primary, as well as primary teacher while living in Yale ward, and Superintendent of Junior Seminary while living in Yalecrest Ward. We made many friends and had such rich spiritual experiences while living in that stake. My husband became owner and manager of Campus Boot Shop. It was necessary for him to go on many business trips and I had the pleasure of accompanying him on many of them. I have been to New York City many times. I had the wonderful experiences of attending the opening night performance of the Metropolitan Opera in New York with my son Robert. I had gone to see him receive his commission in the Navy. I attended the Worlds Fair in San Franscisco and in New York City, in 1939. I have visited many of the large cities in the United States and Canada. I have visited the Hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove. I have visited the Kirtland Temple, Cardston Temple, Idaho Falls Temple, Manti and St. George Temples and have done work in the Salt Lake, Logan and Mesa Temples. I have six living sisters and two living brothers. Two sisters died in infancy and one brother whom I dearly loved died at age 27 years. My sisters and brothers were all married in the Temple, and we are very proud of each other. I have known and loved Pres. Heber J. Grant, Pres. Albert Smith, and Pres. David O. McKay. My husband died on July 16, 1956, My loss has been very great, as I dearly loved him. He was a wonderful husband, and father. He lived to know our fine son-in-law and two lovely daughters-in-law. He was privileged to see eight of our grandchildren. A ninth one came to us after he died. (Our 1st great grandchild was born march 30, 1964, a son, Bret Heiner Thunell.) Two years before my husband died, we moved to 1315 South Wasatch Dr. When we lived on Harvard Ave. we used to go for a ride on Wasatch Dr. where there were no houses, just a road and hills. I am now living on that road and the houses are being built far to the East in the hills. During the first seven years, I was in this house; I was in four wards and two stakes. (Due to the great growth of the area.) When I was girl, we had neither electricity or plumbing or telephone. Very few people had automobiles. I have lived to see so many wonderful inventions, even to seeing a man fly into outer space and return. I have seen our church grow from one stake to several hundred stakes. Last December, I celebrated my Seventieth Birthday. My family gave me a dinner party. What joy to look into the faces of such a wonderful family as we surrounded the table. I am so very proud of every one of them and know my husband is proud of them also. Mary Leona Smith Thorup died on December 30, 1981 at the age of 89.

A photo of Wilbur Hampton Leonard. Wilbur lived almost 18 months.

Fanny Cogan
Birth year: 1937
Gender: Female child
Nationality: French
Background: Jewish
Residence: Paris, France
Death: November 2, 1943
Cause: Gassed to death in Auschwitz (body cremated)
Age: 6 years

A photo of a woman "dressed to the nines" in 1908.

A photo of Olga Viva (Fegley) Hileman, daughter of George and Sadie Fegley.

A photo of Armistice Day in Indianoplis, Indiana (Banner reads: To Hell with Kaiser BIll - We Made You Take a Bitter Pill)

Mary Louise Yarnall visiting Santa for the first time. Are you the real Santa? Photo taken in 1949 in Harrisburg Pennsylvania.
People in photo include: Mary Louise Yarnall

A photo of James "Jim" Thurston Nabors, as Gomer Pyle on the Andy Griffith Show. His character was so popular that he went on to have his own show, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.

He was also a wonderful singer and, in addition to recording and appearing in specials on tv, he sang the song "Back Home Again in Indiana" before the Indy 500 almost every year from 1972 through 2014.

Nabors was able to legally marry his partner of 38 years, Stan Cadwallader, in 2013. He died from natural causes at home on November 30, 2017 - Cadwallader survives him.

A photo of Trolle Rhodin as a little boy.

A photo of Zamuel Gdulin

Roy Lewis Matthews (name on Photo), Photograph taken at Wheeler Studio in Xenia, Ohio USA. This photo was among some others in a box from a local antique store in Blanchester, Clinton, Ohio, USA. Other surnames in box include: Davis, Nave, Carter, Roberts, Matthews, Jodry, Young, Lewis, Pulliam, Steele, Hauke, Oatley, Toy, Beltz.