BIOGRAPHY OF MABEL HARRIS BELNAP
Sketch handwritten by herself and found among her personal effects. Sketch finished by her husband, Arias G. Belnap, in 1972
My father is Nathan John Harris of Harrisville, Utah, and my mother is Emma Elvira Oakason of Salt Lake City, Utah.
I was born March 20, 1894, in a six room house on Observatory Avenue in Ann Arbor, Michigan. My father was a student at the Law School at the University. When my father and mother were first married they moved to Harrisville, Utah (Weber County) and lived in part of the house which was built by my grandfather, Martin H. Harris. It was a large beautiful comodious home. In front of the house was a circular flower bed with a driveway around it. Grandfather had all kinds of flowers obtainable and it was truly a show place. Mother said it was a very lovely home.
Father taught school in Wilson Lane. He rode a horse and had to ford the Weber River twice each day, in the morning and also in the evening. When they had three boys, Lawrence Elmer, Leo Albert and Everett Clyde, they decided to go to Ann Arbor, Michigan for father to study to be a lawyer. Mother took in boarders and in the summer father sold bibles in the logging camps of Michigan. He graduated from his course of study in three years and came back to Harrisville and practiced law in Ogden. I was six months old when we came back. I told my father that I could remember coming back on the train, but he said that he was sure that was some other train ride. As the train reached Pueblo, Colorado, it was held up on the outskirts of the city for three weeks on account of a strike on the railroad. Everyone, of course, was very inconvenienced but it was terribly hard on mother and father with three small boys and a six month old baby and no one was allowed to leave the train except by permission to get food or other commodities in the city.
Returning to Harrisville father and mother bought land and a house with two rooms and summer kitchen up the lane. This land is now intersected by the state highway north and south. Later they purchased a three room house and had it moved close to our home which gave us a nice front porch on the new part and lovely large rooms. We lived here until we moved to Ogden (1064-22nd Street) when I was eleven years old in 1905. There was a nice fruit orchard, and my favorite play house was in a Cincinnati plum tree. There were vegetable and flower gardens, a large lawn in the front of the house, lucern fields, and other farm lands. To me this was about the nicest home any little girl could have.
We liked to keep our home nice and clean. I would scrub and put papers down so the family couldn’t get the floors dirty. On Saturdays each one had their own chores. Irene and I would clean the blades of the bone handled knives and forks with fine ashes. Cleanser was not known of at that time. We washed and shined the lamp chimneys and scrubbed the out house. One day Irene and I were playing in the front bedroom, which was mother’s, we found the most beautiful doll in the wardrobe closet. We called mother to come and see it. She admired it and held it in her arms. She told us to go to the kitchen and get her a pair of scissors and when we came back the doll was gone. She told us the doll just flew out of her hands and disappeared. We were sure it was a fairy, but when one of us received it for Christmas we never recognized it.
Housecleaning time was a joy for us. The bed ticks were emptied and washed and filled with new clean straw. The beds were so high we had to get a chair to get into bed. It wasn’t very long until the straw was broken up fine and the beds were normal size again. The rag carpets for which mother sewed the carpet rags and had the carpets woven were taken up and the old straw for padding was removed, and the floors cleaned and new straw put down and the carpets replaced. Mother had a carpet stretcher and put them down herself. Everything was nice and clean and mother never shirked her work. She also stretched the white lace curtains which were starched and looked beautiful. Mother was a wonderful cook and her family was always well fed. She had her own rules of nutrition. She served balanced meals of meats, potatoes, vegetables, plenty of milk and cream, home baked bread, cakes and cookies, plenty of fruit both fresh and bottled, eggs from our own chickens and meats from our own animals. Mother baked wonderful lemon pie. In the fall mother would make pork sausage. In order to keep it she would fry it in nice patties and store these in an earthen crock then pour the fat from the meat over the meat completely. This would harden when cool and form a protective covering over the meat. We would come home from school famished and mother would let us have a slice of bread and we would get a sausage patty from the crock and that was the best sandwich in the world. I have never found any sausage seasoned like mother’s. I remember coming home from school in the fall and mother would be making chili sauce. How good that tasted on a slice of good homemade bread with butter. Mother made gallons of peach and pear preserves and also plums. This she put in gallon earthen crocks and how good it was. One cellar was filled with bottled fruit and pickles.
I was baptized on my birthday when 8 years old. (March 20, 1902.) There were six of us. Lavon Yearsley, Marion Taylor, Nellie Taylor, Hazel Taylor, Annie Anderson and myself. We were baptized in the Harrisville Canal. It was as large as a river and was very cold. My father’s brothers, Dennison and Leander took charge. One of them baptized us and the other confirmed us. Mother gave me a birthday party afterward. It was very wonderful. All my cousins were there. My father was on a mission to the Southern states at this time. He left mother with six children and a nine month old baby. The boys ran the farm under mother’s direction and they all worked very hard. I was very sad when my father left for his mission and needless to say we were all happy when he returned. My mother never complained and worked very hard to keep the home and family together, as it was when father was home besides taking charge and working at the farm and all outside activities. Father was gone two years.
My mother was a very good sewer. She was a dressmaker when she got married. She made practically all the clothing even the boys’ pants and coats. Our dresses were very attractive. She knew all the little extras which made our dresses different looking. Besides making all the clothing, she knitted stockings for a family of six children. We had a lot of activities in the ward and school and it seemed our family took part in everything.
Each year there was a Christmas cantata on Christmas Eve and every child in the ward was in it. Either in a chorus or in main parts. Everett was Little New Year one time. He was dressed in a fancy costume with little bells sewed all over it and as he danced they jingled. He sang, “O, I am the little New Year, ho ho.” Everett and I used to sing duets in meetings and for programs. Irene and I were candles one year. We had long dresses of pastel colors and had a candle the same color. I remember mine was pale green. I guess we had a song, but I don’t remember it. We stood on the stage in a line across the front of it. Mother had to make costumes for us all and get her work done, and Christmas ready and we always had wonderful Christmases and received lovely gifts. One Christmas I remember very well was one down to Aunt Lillie’s and Uncle Dennison’s place. They had a brick home in the lane that went to Grandfather and Grandmother’s home. The U.S. Supply Depot occupies that land now. One Christmas Eve we had a lovely supper and then in a little while we heard a noise in the front parlor. They opened the door and there was Santa Claus with a large bag of gifts. I will never forget the sight. Emma and Fern, my cousins, got the same as Irene and I got. A red cradle for our dolls, beautiful dolls and a pretty doll trunk and other gifts I just don’t remember now. There we all sang songs and had such a nice time. I was about 8 or 9 years old at the time. We always had a Christmas childrens’ dance in the afternoon on Christmas day in the ward. We all had new dresses and how my mother did it all I will never know. Then they had a dance for the older folks at night. We always had a new dress for Easter, Christmas, and for the 4th and 24th of July also. Of course there were others but these were very special occasions and ones little children remember.
At this time there were the three boys previously mentioned and myself, Irene Louise and Wilford Dewey, Ruth Evelyn, Nathan John Jr. and Luella May. All of them born in Harrisville, except Luella. Born Jan. 10, 1905 at Ogden. Nathan was born in Ogden. {Family group sheet indicates that Luella was born in Harrisville.}
There were nine of us and mother took wonderful care of her large family. Father would bring home good books for us to read and all kinds of games including Pitt, Flinch, etc. so we wouldn’t want to play real cards. I don’t remember of a deck of cards in our home. They thought a lot of us, and showed it in every way possible. I had a very happy childhood.
Mother had positions in the Relief Society but was always home when we came from school. She would take the small children in the baby buggy and walk a long distance and visit with Grandmother Harris and walk back in time to meet us as we came home from school. The whole family would go to Uncle Dennison and Aunt Lillie’s home and spend the evening and then their family would come to our place. The children would play games. The different ages together. Emma, Fern, Irene and I had a wonderful time together. We would have a nice lunch and then most of the time we all walked home. Some times we would take the surrey.
One outing I remember was on the banks of Salt Creek in West Warren. I don’t think it was on the 4th or 24, but it was summer weather. Lawrence, Leo and Everett drove the gray team hitched to the large covered wagon and the two families traveled in the surreys. They took a tent and a large canvas to cover the tables and stoves, tables, chairs, rocking chairs, the baby buggies. They cooked a lovely dinner and I can remember how pretty the tables looked with the white tablecloths. Everyone played and had a nice time and I don’t remember any one being boisterous or noisy. I think they kept us all too busy. 4th and 24 celebrations—floats on hay racks decorated with bunting.
Our school in Harrisville was a two room school. The only teacher I can remember is Emma Anderson. She married David Jenson. They lived in Harrisville and our families were good friends for a lifetime. She is living in California. Her husband just recently passed away.
Another phase of my life began with I was eleven years old and we moved to Ogden at 1064-22nd Street. This was a very nice home of 9 rooms and pantry and bathroom. It was very nice with a large front porch. It was summer and Grandmother Harris came along to help mother get the house straightened up. I was sleeping with her upstairs in the north west bedroom and I heard the most terrible noise in the night. I clung to her and awakened her and she laughed and told me not to be afraid as that was a donkey. There was an old prospector living in a small house near and he used the donkey to transport his belongings when he went to the mine and returned. But I was sure I didn’t like donkeys—they were too noisy.
I started school at the Madison that fall. It is on Madison Ave. between 24th and 25th Streets. I was very retiring and quiet and it was very hard for me to come to an eight room school and hundreds of pupils and I didn’t make friends too easily. I had some nice teachers, Mrs. Moran, D. H. Adams who later became principle of Central. In the eighth grade I went to Central Junior High School. This was the beginning of students of eighth grade from all city schools going to the Central Junior High School. This was held in the old High School building on 25th and Adams Ave. Irene went to the Quincy School, Everett to the Dee and I at Madison. The new school building was located at 25th St. and Monroe. They did not have graduation form the 8th grade and a pupil had to finish high school before they graduated. Then I attended Weber Academy on Jefferson between 24th and 25th. It is now called Weber College.
We lived in a nice neighborhood and it wasn’t long until I became acquainted and made some nice friends. We were members of the 4th Ward. It was a real good ward and we were always in programs and plays, etc. My mother was very nice and was always making costumes and even made a topsy wig for me to play the part of Topsy. I was assistant secretary to Josephine Taggart in the Primary when I was 12 years of age. I was secretary when Flora Belnap was president. I taught Sunday School with Thomas E. Thomas and James Martin until I got married and moved to the 6th Ward. Charlotte Sanders was the board member for the class—I surely appreciate her help in trying to make a good teacher of me.
There were wonderful teachers in the ward: Moroni Olsen, the movie star, now deceased; Anna McBeth Hobson, deceased; Ernest Lindquist, deceased; Raymond Beecraft were the most intelligent young people and were outstanding teachers. I have always loved the church and loved to go to Sunday School and sacrament meetings.
On my sixteenth birthday, Matilda Embling, my dearest friend and neighbor, and I went to the city library after school, and when we went in our back door on coming home there was a great big surprise party. The noise almost deafened me, and when they turned the lights on there were all my dear friends. The dining room table was set beautifully and mother had prepared a lovely hot supper. That was what we called the evening meal then. I cannot remember what we had to eat except there were radishes, big and beautiful color and they looked so pretty on the table with all the good food. It was certainly a very lovely party, and we had such a good time.
There was a nice crowd of girls and boys in the ward and we used to have a lot of nice parties in the different homes.
Mother fixed a nice lawn party for us one summer. She had the boys put strings of electric lights all around the front lawn. It was very beautiful. She served cantaloupe sundaes with the rest of a nice lunch. It was the first time I had tasted cantaloupe, and I really liked it and still do. That was a real outstanding party and we enjoyed it. I am sure we never appreciated mother and all the lovely things she did for us all the time. One time there was a lovely Halloween party at our house and we were seated at the dining room table eating when the living room door suddenly opened and two ghosts came into the room. Nearly everyone slid right off their chairs under the table. We found out it was Lawrence and Leo dressed in sheets and mother was in on it too.
There was a lot of fun and excitement at our house all the time. Each one had their friends and there were folks coming and going constantly.
Mother prepared a beautiful and delicious Thanksgiving dinner one year and had all the uncles and aunts and cousins from Harrisville come. Uncle Dennison’s family, Uncle Leander’s family, Aunt Ida’s, Aunt Louise, and we had a very lovely time. They took some of the beds down in the upstairs bedrooms so there was room for the children to play.
Beecraft’s store on the south east corner of Grant Avenue and 24th St. had the first automobile that I can remember. I can remember the first electric lights that we had and the first radio. The phonograph was a miracle to me and still is—also the radio, but the biggest miracle of all is the television. To sit in an easy chair and watch things happening instantly thousands of miles away seems very wonderful to me. It seems like all the wonderful inventions all came in about 20 years of my life. Electricity, telephone, telegraph, phonograph, radio, and then many years later the television.