Biography of George Reynolds Markham Document Number: 117
Author Group: Various Children of William Don Carlos Markham and Sarah Ann Markham, as compiled by Beth Ann Markham Richmond, fourth child of George Reynolds Markham (ID#98) and Anna I. Anderson (ID#97). Classification: COMPILED: FamilyHistory Location: USA, Utah, Utah, Spanish Fork Biography of MARKHAM, George Reynolds Document Entry Number: 1
Transcription: George Reynolds Markham was the last son, born April 20, 1896, to William Don Carlos Markham and Sarah Ann Warner. He was the tenth of twelve children. He was born at the farming community of Leland, west of Spanish Fork, Utah. The small home into which he was born stood until the mid-1980's when it was removed for safety. Judging from the history of his parents, he must have been a lot like his father, bright, hard working, with a good sense of humor, and a friend to all who knew him. He always took a great pride in his ability to do his farm work in a fast but efficient manner. He learned early to work hard and to take responsibility. He had a great sense of poking fun, but not at others' expense. Everyone who remember him knew he wasn't above a good prank. George was a favorite brother to several of his sisters. He had a great sense of family. He loved and admired all of his brothers and sisters, and loved to have the opportunity to keep in touch by a visit, and he felt greatly the loss as one passed away. The histories we are writing would have been very special to him. He was only eleven when his father died, and he was needed on the farm, so his education went only to the eighth grade. Still, he was a well educated man. He knew practical math and was able to help his children in the subject even into High School. He never stopped educating himself. He always kept up with current events and civic affairs via newspapers and magazines, and he read novels and histories throughout his life. Elza tells how she brought books home to read and in two days George would have them finished, while she often had to renew or return them unfinished. Beth recalls reading great books he recommended. He enjoyed horses all of his life, and he took great pride in his teams. He had a really snappy rig as a young man. He often told great stories around the dinner table. He always kept us spellbound with those oft repeated tales of his youth, his mission, his army life, or his early days in Oregon. I think the greatest gift he had was his ability to share his own enjoyment of those fond memories. He went on a mission for the Church to the Northwest. He served around Portland, Oregon, and The Dalles, and other areas in Oregon. He served nine months before he was called home to serve in the Army. One success story he told was while they were in John Day. It was harvest time, and people didn't have time for them, so they offered to help in the fields during the day, if the farmers would arrange a place for them to hold meetings in the evening. By working, they became well acquainted and their meetings were well attended. He reported to Fort Ord, California, to serve in World War 1. He expected to be in the infantry, but he had an opportunity to try for the cavalry. Because of his deftness with horses, he won the position. He spent a lot of time caring for and working with the horses. The armistice was signed before he completed his training, so he was released and sent home. His sister, Mary, and her husband, Larmon Chadwick, had settled in Eastern Oregon, and on his travels from his mission and from the service back to Utah, he took the opportunity to stop and visit with them. He was really impressed with the area, and after he had visited in Utah, he returned there and bought a 40-acre farm between Ontario and Vale. He paid $9,000, and things were pretty good at first, but only a few years later he couldn't sell it for $6,000. On one of his visits back to Utah, he found that his sister Ora, was without a date for the prom at the "Y" , and he offered to take her. It was at this prom where he met Anna Anderson. Anna was the third daughter of Hans Anderson and Katrina Jensen, Danish immigrants. The Jensen family joined the Church in Denmark and immigrated to Far West, then came across the plains in a wagon train to Utah. They settled in a dry farming community called Levan. Hans had been apprenticed to a blacksmith as a young boy, and as a young man came to the US to practice his trade. He moved west to Chicago, but he was really lonely for other Danish people. He learned about Danish immigrants settling in Utah and decided to go there. He was not a member of the Church, but his craft was needed and the Jensen family took him in. He later joined the Church and married Katrina, the Jensens' daughter. He taught black smithing at the "Y" for many years, and as his daughters grew up, they attended the "Y", because Hans was teaching there. At this particular prom, Anna, who majored in art and teaching, was in charge of the decoration. George was very impressed with her, but she thought he was very "fresh" because he seemed interested in her when he was out with Ora. She did not know he was her brother. George did manage to get Anna's address, and after he went back to Oregon, he wrote to her. The letters were pretty casual and pretty far between. Still, each must have made some lasting impression, because on January 10, 1924, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple, and George took his bride, Anna, to live in Ontario, Oregon. The years after he bought the farm were up and down, economically. The soil was rich and crops grew well, but as the depression neared, prices fell lower and lower. Over the years, he raised wheat, hay, beets, and seed clover. They always raised a garden, and had an orchard, so food was available, but money was very short much of the time. The depression years were hard on everyone. Living on the highway, they had hobos dropping by often for a hand out. George always found them an odd job and made sure they went away with a full stomach. During hard times, he hired Mexican labor. They taught the children to count in Spanish. There was a grove of trees on one corner of the property, and gypsy caravans camped there. Anna would give them supplies and they would play and dance for the family. George had a really good hunting dog named Rex. Beth remembers riding on his back. One day, a wealthy hunter came and offered George $25 for Rex, and he sold him. It was the most cash he had seen in a while. Rex was missed, but the next day George brought Patches to fill the gap. George tried to raise chickens at one time, but when the price of eggs dropped to six cents a dozen, he decided to expand into other types of livestock as well. He raised pigs and cattle for many years. One year, he built a new brooder house to put a large number of baby chickens in. The day before the chicks arrived, some accident occurred and the brooder house burned to the ground. Needless to say, the boxes and boxes of baby chicks came anyway. George took up the living room rug, put down papers, and barricaded it off, and that was home for the chicks until he could make other arrangements. He often kept piglets on the oven door until they were strong enough to fend for themselves. Being without radio or TV to clutter their early life together, George and Anna spent a lot of time training their pet cats to perform tricks to entertain themselves and their guests. They had lots of friends, and enjoyed community parties and barn dances, and they especially enjoyed giving parties in their home. That never changed over the years. Beth's husband says one of the neat things about the Markham house was that the parents always encouraged and abetted in the organization of house parties. They worked hard, but the Sabbath was a day of rest, and only the most necessary labors were performed. Company was always special and no matter how busy they were, they always found time to stop for a visit. On April 15, 1925, Don H. was born; on November 22, 1926, Keith George arrived; on December 8, 1929, Wayne Reynolds joined his brothers. Needless to say, when Beth Ann was born February 1, 1933, the first girl was a real event. Beth Marsden said that one time when George visited them, he admired her pretty name and said if he ever had a girl he planned to call her Beth. All of George's children remember him as fair, loving, and generous. The boys particularly, remember him teaching them to work. He took them with him to the field, even when they were too young to be a lot of help. He gave them jobs early and paid them for their efforts so they felt the positive results and a sense of independence. He showed his pleasure and pride in many ways. No one who ever heard him sing ever forgot it. It was with gusto, but the tune wasn't very important. None of the children escaped being rousted out of bed to the tune of 'Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning'. He loved and appreciated good music and tried to encourage it in his children. He was an outstanding irrigator and manager. He saw quickly that if he wanted to interest his boys in farm life, he must mechanize, so he did. He told Keith once that he did his planning and thinking under a shade tree while he waited for the water to set. He laughed and said he made more money sitting in the shade of a tree than he did working. Though he was a self-educated man, he felt the great value of a good education in the lives of his children. He served on the local school board during Don's and Keith's school years, and made sure all his boys finished college, and that Elza and Beth went until they married. He instilled a thirst for knowledge in his children by sharing the many articles and features he had read on different subjects. In 1938, he filed on a 80-acre homestead under the Owyhee Dam project. He built the house from one of the big wood sheds on the highway place with the help of the boys and neighbors. It was required that the house be occupied before the year was out. It was December and there was still no roof on the house. George, Anna, and Beth went there one evening, and were joined by several neighbors. They sat around a fire and told stories and sang songs. Finally, they went to bed and when they awoke in the morning, they were covered with three inches of snow! In the spring of 1939, work on the house stopped. The roof covered only the kitchen and the living room. Crops had to be planted on both farms first. The family didn't move in until after the rainy season. It meant sleeping all summer under the stars. The stock also stayed on the highway place, since there was no well. They carried all the drinking water in a barrel. The lights were kerosene lamps, and roads were poor to awful. That fall, the electricity came in and they drilled a well, and moved the cattle. He continued to farm the highway place until he sold it to a hop farmer. On the homestead, George had two large flat fields, and to utilize the area better, he seeded the hills and ran waste water over them. He had alot of really nice pasture land. After he sold the place on the highway, he bought a forty acre farm which we called the Marshall place. Later, he purchased the forty-acre Boatman property. He raised grain, hay, seed clover, seed carrots, millet, seed onions, and sweet corn for the cannery. He ran young cattle to sell as beef and he raised pigs. We had a large garden and a good sized orchard. The land was very fertile and the fruits and vegetables were large and delicious. George loved beauty, a thing that attracted him to Anna. She was a fine artist, and he was very proud of her paintings. She was also an artist in the yard. They developed a lovely terraced yard which all enjoyed. Even before they had a chance to work on the yard, he planted flowers and scattered poppy seeds on the ditch bank. It all burst into a profuse bloom that first year and people would stop and look at it. He also put willow twigs along the ditch bank. Some were transplanted as they got started and before long, four lovely weeping willow trees shaded and beautified the yard. On April 1, 1939, after they moved to the homestead, Anna gave birth to Elza. She was the delight of everyone. it was like having a new doll to play with. George loved to take trips, especially to Utah to see his family. One Thanksgiving, when Elza was a baby, they drove not only to Utah, but also to Wyoming to visit with the Hamblins. George was close to his sister, Mary, because they lived within walking distance of the place on the highway. Aunt Eff visited George on the highway. She came to help deliver Beth. It was not until after World War II that Claude and Ora Hamblin brought Dot and Dan and spent most of the summer . They were making a move from Wyoming for health reasons. It was a special time for George because he loved company. His cup really ran over when Roy and Tell Carroll and Lucille came by and joined the family for a week or so. George prospered during the war years, raising cattle and pigs and some cash crops. The war touched him in a more direct way. Don was drafted into the Army before he finished high school, and he participated in a lot of the Pacific mopping up action. Keith and Wayne both suffered bouts of polio earlier in life, and were never taken into the Army. They did both serve a mission for the Church. Keith was in the East Central States and Wayne served in Fiji and Samoa. George had undiagnosed ailments for six years before he died of cancer in 1958. By the time the cancer was detected in 1957, it had spread throughout his body. He was given six months to live. He passed away February 27, 1958, at Nyssa, Oregon. Beth dreaded seeing him because of the suffering he had endured, but they opened the casket at the church and to her relief, all the pain and bloat of the past years had fallen away and he looked young and fit and peaceful again. As if twenty years had been wiped away. George had a strong testimony of Christ, and the Church throughout his life. He was not always in attendance because of the distances and poor transportation during some periods of his life, but he taught the principles of the Gospel all the days of his life, by the life he lived. He had great pride in all we did in the church and was a great support. He was especially proud of Keith who served as Bishop, and Wayne wh served as a Branch President. His favorite church job was planning activities for the elderly. He was greatly honored by hundreds of friends and neighbors who knew and loved him for a good and true friend who loved to serve his fellow men. He left his wife, Anna, who is now 90 years old, living in Plano, Texas, with daughter Beth. He also leaves: 1-Don H. m. Roberta Larson, div A-Paul B-Susan
2-Keith George m. Lela Hartley A-Diane Ruth m. Greg Human a-Brian b-Adam c-Eileen B-Marilyne Jean C-Nancy Joyce m. Lynn Sessions a-Cory D-Steven Keith m. Allison E-Glen Stuart m. Stephanie F-Allen Curtis G-Carol Eileen
3-Wayne Reynolds m. Arminda Rodriguez A-Beverly Rae m. Gregory D. Francom B-Carlos Richard (d) C-Charles Ray D-Bonita Rose m. Todd Peterson E-Cindy Renee F-Gary Robert
4-Beth Ann m. Harold Richmond A-Lisa Kay m. Kim J. Tollefsen a-Julie Ann b-Andrea Sue c-Erica Jean B-Mark Wayne m. Klarise Anderson a-Mark Wayne Jr. b-Bethany Raye c-Anthony Wendell C-Nola Doreen m. Dee Hiatt a-Randi Nicole b-Kathrine Lee c-Janay Michelle D-Daniel Madore m. Linda Shields E-Kenneth Lance F-Sheila Janeen m. Keith Bartlett a-Dallas Alexander b- G-Harold Gregory
5-Elza Merlene m. Ross Marshall A-Jody Ann m. Randy Burr B-Jeri Sue C-Jan m. Don Butrymowicz a-Michael Don D-Chris E-Jill