THE WADSWORTH WIKI PROJECT
Dollie and Lafe Wadsworth: A Collection of True Accounts
By LaRae Free Kerr, M ED and family members Simone Hentish, Natalie Hentish, Jule Wadsworth, Gretchen Free, NAMES OF OTHERS WHO HELP
Started 19 January 2002, New Harmony, Utah. Recommenced under divine direction March 2012, Spanish Fork, Utah. Thank you to all who will have helped, scanned, written, “scrapbooked” in any way. Further, you will note a running commentary going through this to which you may add your own questions and comments. Just be sure to add your name to each entry. When the project is completed, we may delete those questions that have found answers to make the history more cogent.
Please note, I’m finding it repetitive and tedious to keep identifying people as relatives. If you see a Wadsworth or Hollingshead surname assume there is a relationship to Gram and Grandpa Lafe, therefore to us. I’ll keep identifying others as I can. LFK
EARLY INFORMATION:
On the 27th of Feb 1984, I wrote to Uncle Lester Lee asking for answers to some intriguing questions. My dear Mom [Myrtle Joy Wadsworth Free] visited him on 16 March 1984 to record his answers.
I asked: Tell me about “lowering” the land in Panaca.
Uncle Lester’s reply as recorded by Mom: “There was lowering of the land where foundations were to be built, had to dig a trench where foundation was to go and leave it that way until water dried up. If they did not the walls would sink and break the walls of the building.
“The top soil is what seemed to cause the houses to sink. Uncle Lester says the story of cattle tramping it were not correct. They poured trenches 14 feet full of water for the Panaca grade school.”
This phenomonen of “lowering” the land is also explained in George Allen Wadsworth – Pilley to Panaca. Since I am attempting to give our Wadsworth family everything I can about our family, I will tell you a few things that have happened because of the George Allen Wadsworth book. The book won first place in an Idaho Writers contest. It was one of ten finalists in a contest in England which took us to lunch with the Duke of Norfolk at the Savoy in London. It was a runner-up in a Mid-West family history contest. The information in the book has been used by at least one community researcher who studied early Mormon communities for an advanced degree. LFK
DECADE ONE: 1890-1899. This is the decade when Gram and Grandpa Lafe were born. Gram or Dollie is Minnie Adell Hollingshead Wadsworth b 1898. Grandpa Lafe is Milton Lafayette Wadsworth b 1894, both born in Panaca, Lincoln, Nevada. As the oldest grandchild, I remember them both vividly and can’t seem to help but call them Gram and Grandpa which I do in my narratives. Others who contribute to this wonderful true history may use whatever names you use for the people mentioned. Just be sure to identify who wrote what, so there is no confusion, by following each entry with your initials or name. [My entries will be followed by my initials: LFK. By the way, I was called Helen Rae when I was growing up in Panaca, named after my Aunt Helen [O’Connor] and my Aunt Rae [Empie]. My full name is Helen LaRae Free VanderBeek Kerr. I have two BAs, an M ED and half of another masters degree. I earned certificates in Secondary Teaching, Empathology and Natural Healing despite having terrible chronic illnesses: Addison’s Disease, severe hypoglycemia, just for starters, and being in bed half my life. And pain, oh my. Just in case you wondered. Things are quickly getting worse, in 2012, so I am very concerned about getting this information into the hands and minds and hearts of family members.]
The picture below may be an early picture of Panaca. I come to that conclusion only because of the collection of very old photographs with it. Is there a place in Panaca where that particular mountain slope can be found? Will someone please look? Or is that a tailing pit right behind the driver’s head? If so, this might be Pioche. Will someone look and let me know? Thanks. LFK Whether this is a picture of Pioche or Panaca, it clearly shows the world Gram and Grandpa Lafe were born into: bare Lincoln County hills, bare trees, wooden buildings, horse-drawn buggies driven by women [that is a woman driver, right?]. The reason I think this might be Panaca over Pioche [if it is either] is that the street is so wide, Mormon wide. LFK
About 1894. The picture below, though taken before Gram was born, shows people important to her: Elizabeth Evans Hollingshead, her grandmother; Andrew Hollingshead, her uncle; and Clem Hollingshead, her half-brother b 1891 in Minersville. Clem was raised by this grandmother because his mother died about a week after he was born.
The picture was taken by Stringham and Howarth studios of Manti and Salt Lake City.
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