Part 4: Ancestral History

More on Joseph Stradling:

ME: Note the description of Joseph in the second to the last paragraph...in these circumstances, the line between protector and gunslinger may have been a little blurry...

Last paragraph is kind of a sweet vignette.  

Stradling Sons The Cousin Connections Contributed by Direct Line Relatives Compiled in 1997 by Bonnie Stradling Beazer

Joseph Obediah was born in provo, Ut in 1866, fifth child of a family of eleven children.

Joseph was very good with animals and when he was young it was his job to drive the horses, cows, oxen to pasture. He grew up learning how to grow field crops and also vegetables and fruit. He probably learned to ride a horse very early since he, at 15 , and his brother , Owen age 7 rode horses and drove the cattle the 500 miles from Provo, Utah to St. Johns, Arizona when his father was called to settle there. 

Joseph was 18 years old when he met Hanssina who was 15. During the next three years Joseph and Hanssina got to know each other and decided to marry. Joseph had dark hair and blue eyes, medium height, strong from the hard work he did. Hanssina was a lovely girl with soft brown hair, green eyes and beautiful Danish skin and slim figure. At that time polygamy was still practiced and Joseph, age 21, was thankful to win the girl he loved. 

In 1889 their Elsina was born, their only daughter, she lived just six weeks. Ten Sons were born to them.

Hanssina was a wonderful cook, was capable of taking care of her children's wounds ( and neighbors illnesses) knitted socks for her family, fiathfully paid her tithing (tithing receipts were saved in a butter mold) and loved her husband and sons. She helped plant fruit trees and had a garden. Joseph and Hanssina shared their home and food and milk with others new in the area or in need.

Joseph's parents lived with them ( they added a room and fireplace to their home for them) when Joseph and Hanssina had five boys. The youngest 18 months old, Joseph always referred to his wife as Mrs. Stradling, and a compliment on a meal was, "that was pretty good".

Besides farming, Joseph was the Water Master for many years, a job that required long hours and a firm hand. (Water meant LIFE and squabbles happened often and had to be dealt with)Joseph loved his team, they were well cared for and when he cultivated their response to his Haw and Gee was so instant it was a joy to behold. 

One interesting insight to Joseph's character (as told by John Sherwood, Sr. ) Was Joseph's fearless defense against lawlessness. He wore a gun and carried a rifle. There were many desperados in Arizona because it was still a territory and the Sheriff depended on local men to help protect the town and it's people. Joseph never turned back after making a decision. 

Hanssina died in 1939, leaving Joseph a widower for 16 years. He built a room near his son Marvin's home. As he aged, he seemed shorter, he kept his hair short, he was clean shaven and his clothes spotless. He missed his Hanssina, once one of Marvin's children went to his grandpa's door and heard him praying, asking Father in Heaven why he had to stay so long after Hanssina "left him" . . . the grandchild rushed in and cried, "I need you, grandpa!" Marvin's children loved their grandpa and he was always there for them.

From Memories under Joseph Obediah Stradling

Part 3: Ancestral History

This is the first of two writings about Joseph Obadiah Stradling Sr. ... the brother to my great grandmother Rose Stradling... and his wife Hanssina Thomsen.  The other will come next week.  I will continue to look for bits and pieces on the St. John's connection to throw in here every once in a while.

 

Arizona's Honeymoon Trail pg. 202-203 (found in the Snowflake Arizona Family History Center)

Joseph Obadiah Stradling Sr. - Hanssina Thomsen Joseph Obadiah Stradling Sr. was sixteen when his parents (William Stradling and Sophia Bush) moved from Provo in 1881 to help colonize the Little Colorado settlements. Joseph's father returned to Utah to attend to business matters and Joseph did a man's work on the farm in the absence of his father. He cut posts and built fences, dug irrigation ditches, hauled lumber, carried the mail, and worked on public works' projects such as ditches and dams. he also served in whatever capacity the church leaders assigned to him. 

In the fall of 1884, Joseph was working with a thresher crew at the farm of Hans Adolph Thomsen. During the noon break, he was attracted to the young lady who waited tables--- Hanssina Thomsen, the farmer's daughter. It took him six months to muster courage to ask her for a date. Their first date was May 1, 1885, when they attended a May Day dance in the log meeting house. 

Hanssina was an accomplished young lady. She had her own horse, saddle, and gun. She could ride and shoot and was capbable in all domestic and farm chores. She kept her revolver in a holster fastened inside the covered wagon box. One Sunday several young people came home with the family after Sunday School. Hanssina, to show off, reached into the wagon got the gun, pointed it in the direction of one of the girls and pulled the trigger. It was the same old story of the empty gun that wasn't empty . She had been careful to unload the gun before she went to town that morning, but one of the boys had occasion to use in and left it loaded. To her horror the gun went off, the bullet barely missing the girl, who had dodged enough to save her life Hanssina never shot the gun again.

In the Spring of 1887 Joseph Stradling went to Flagstaff with his team to haul ties for the railroad. He worked hard and saved his money. The job was finished in July and he sold his horses. The proceeds from the sale of his team, and his wages made hima sizeable wedding stake. He returned home and was persuaded to put his money in a newly-organized bank for safe keeping until he needed it. He did and the bank shut its doors. He never got a dollar of his money back. 

Joseph and Hanssina planned to travel to the St. George Temple with another young couple. When the two young men applied for their temple recommends, the Bishop turned them both down. He did not consider them as active in their church duties as they should be. The other couple went on with a civil marriage, but Hanssina would not consent to such an arrangement and the wedding was postponed indefinitely, finally, in 1888 Joseph obtained a recommend and Joseph and Hanssina left for St. George in February.

Brother Nelson and his bride-to-be (second wife) accompanied them in another wagon. Their problems did not end with their arrival in St. George. It was Sunday, March 11, when they arrived, and the temple was closed until Wednesday. They went back to the temple on Wednesday and were told they had to have a marriage license. This new law had just become effective. It is said theirs was the first marriage in the St. George Temple that required a license. They went to the County Clerk's office for the license. By then it was late in the afternoon when they arrived at the temple. The marriage ceremony was performed -- the date was March 14, 1888. They started back home the same evening. The two teams and wagons averaged twenty five to thirty miles a day. ----Glenda Maude Stradling Lloyd-----

PART 2: FINDING ST. JOHN'S

Fast-forward six days to the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend.

Friday night we left after dinner and travelled as far as Holbrook, where we stayed at a Howard Johnson’s Motel.  We made good time and were able to get to bed before 11:00.

Breakfast the next morning had sausage and scrambled eggs along with muffins and juice.  It provided a good start for what would prove to be quite a long day.

Our first stop on the way to Monument Valley, a 3+ hour trip, was the historic Hubbel Trading Post.  It was a fascinating place, famous for its namesake and all he did to serve the Native Americans.  It was interesting and educational.

Next Stop was the Canyon De Chelles (De Shay), an amazing geographic phenomenon, beautiful on its own, but also home to ruins from ancient native civilizations and to farms of current natives as well.

By the time we got to Monument Valley the wind had kicked up considerably, and we found that you had to pay $20.00 even to visit the visitor’s center, so we cut our losses, and photographed what we could from just outside the park.

We made our way back to Holbrook, and went to a steakhouse that had been recommended…but when we saw the prices ($23.00 a plate at the lower end), we walked out, went to Safeway and got some pre-cooked ribs, and had a nice dinner in our motel room, including individual servings of Blue Bunny Ice Cream.  The day was a success.  

Sunday we had breakfast, checked out of the Howard Johnson’s, and headed to St. John’s to attend church with what we hoped would be some extended family.  I am grateful to say that this part of 

the state is also at a higher elevation, and we experienced some wonderful temperatures throughout our visit there.  We were extended a warm welcome from the Ward we attended, and our gospel principles class was taught by my other third cousin, Neil’s brother Delbert (locals call him Deb to avoid confusion with his father, whose name was also Delbert).  We also met a couple of Stradling relatives there, and had a really good time. 

After church we sat out in our car in the shade in front of the church and ate our snacks.  We couldn’t check into our motel in Springerville until 2:00, so we drove up to the cemetery to see what we could see.  We were delighted to find a very detailed directory posted there, so that with only a little effort we were able to locate my great grandfather’s headstone, as well as what we believed to be a brother to Rose, and a woman we later discovered to be the brother’s wife.

We left about 1:15, and arrived at our Motel in Springerville at 1:45.  They were kind enough to let us check in early, and we rested a bit before heading over to the home of a couple of Jeanne’s Fraedrich connections, Chuck and Beverly Martin, who lived just a few miles away in Eager.  They had invited us to dinner, and we joined them, a daughter and her husband and grand-daughter.  The company was wonderful and the food delicious.  After dinner Chuck and Beverly treated us to a tour of the Eager area, very interesting.   

Around 7:00 we made our way back to our motel and settled in for the night, watching a couple of Time-Life infomercials on Carol Burnette and Bob Hope.

On Monday morning, Memorial Day, we once again checked out of our motel early, then went over to Beverly and Chuck’s home for a couple of photos we forgot to take the day before.   We stopped by Safeway for supplies and for flowers to place and my forbearers’ gravesites.  After some quiet moments there, we embarked on our trip home which took us by the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert, both of which were worthy of a stop and gander, and in some instances, have your breath taken away. 

We arrived home in good time, about 5:00, grateful for two weekends of strengthening weakened strands of family connections, and of the prospects of continuing to nourish    

those connections. 

We have had a few busy weeks, so I have not posted.  The next three posts will break down the miraculous experience we have had as we have gotten to know our St, John's, Arizona ancestors and some of their descendants in a more intimate way.  The first part will be about finding my 3rd cousin Neal Lambson; the second part about our trip to St. John's; and the third, things I have learned since our trip.

FINDING NEAL

    

The most remarkable thing has happened in the past few weeks.

One of the things Jeanne and I wanted to do while in Arizona was to visit the farming town of St. John’s in the northeast corner of the state.  According to the scant research I had conducted, it appeared this small community on the Little Colorado River had been settled by assignment to two of my ancestral families, the Lambsons and the Stradlings. In fact, we already had reserved Memorial Day weekend to visit there and a few other sights in that part of the state.  Jeanne had a few names of people with those family names in that area, so we were hopeful.

Much was our surprise, however, when our Mission President returned from a conference of Mission Presidents several weeks ago.  At the end of the conference he was riding in a shuttle to the airport with the President of the Arizona Tucson Mission when the conversation turned to vehicles.  The Tucson President mentioned that his vehicle coordinator was Elder Lambson, and President Collins wasn’t sure if he heard right.  When he confirmed, he almost laughingly stated that HIS vehicle coordinator was also Elder Lambson.  They exchanged contact information, and at our next meeting, President Collins reported this conversation to Jeanne and I.

If you know anything about Jeanne, you know she took it from there.  She contacted Elder Neal Lambson, and suggested we come down to Tucson on a Saturday, and maybe go to lunch together.  After a few days of considering that, Neal called back with a proposal of his own.  Why didn’t we come down Friday evening and spend the night at their place?  They had an extra bedroom with an attached bathroom that they often boarded Elders in when they arrived or on transfers, but it was usually available.  That way we could spend more time getting acquainted, go to dinner, have breakfast together the following morning, and maybe go to the Temple.  We did some checking, made some arrangements, and the next Friday afternoon we were off to Tucson.

After you get past Chandler, the path to Tucson (about 2 hours) is not pretty until you start to close in, so we were glad when we began hitting the outlying communities.  What Tucson is, however counter-intuitively, is COOLER.  Even though it is 2 hours south of Phoenix, it is higher in elevation, which translates to a 10-15 degree difference.  We felt it as soon as we stepped out of the car.

Neal and his wife Claire were so welcoming.  He is a short, larger-than-life guy who does everything in a big way.  Not surprisingly, Claire is a quiet, intelligent woman, who paints beautifully.  She  will take on many subjects, and has some nice landscapes hanging, but her favorite  is portraits and painting involving people.  Neal also dabbles, but he has many interests.

At any rate, after chatting and putting our luggage inside, we headed over to Sweet Tomatoes, one of their favorite haunts.  It turns out Claire is also celiac, and this restaurant offers some good gluten-free alternatives.

Long story short (TOO LATE!)…we had a wonderful time.  We found that Neal’s great grandfather Frank Bates and my great-grandfather Armus Arba, were brothers, making us 3^rd cousins.  They fed us a lovely breakfast the next morning and we made the temple session we had chosen.  Following hugs and pictures outside the Tucson temple, we parted ways with new found family members, but it gets even better…

Neal is from St. John’s, and has a brother Delbert still living there.  He has two houses in St. John’s, and knows many of the locals.  He also told us of a Lambson Family Reunion that is held every year on either the 4^th or last week of June (we need to clarify) in Rama, New Mexico, another longtime hotbed for Lambsons. He is in charge of the one in 2019, just after our missions, which we plan to attend. 

Though we still would have visited St. John’s, one has to wonder if it would have been as productive but for the conversation of two mission presidents.