HISTORY OF MARY FLAVEL MANWILL


1887 - 1969

        I was born August 30, 1887 at Palmyra, Utah County, Utah, where my folks were
living on about a 40 acre  farm.  I was one of five in the family.  William Thomas was
five years older than I; Elias Jones was three years older than I; Joyce, three years
younger, and John, ten years younger than I, lived only a few minutes after birth.  When
we were children, we used to have fun with neighboring children, swinging, playing
outdoor games such as "fox and geese".  Then we'd play checkers, pop corn, make
freezers of ice cream or eat apples or pears that had been put away for winter.  Dad had
made a storage room for fruit and vegetables.  This was made from thick rocks and kept
everything nice and cold even in the summer.  Hoplas were very good friends and helped
out many times when we had sickness, for mother was sick quite a lot of the time.  The
Hopla family lived about 1/4 mile through the field from us.  We would all go in groups
and gather buckets of mushrooms in the spring, and ground cherries in the fall, from
which mother would make big dishpans of preserves which were very good.  A neighbor
used to raise great big watermellons and how we enjoyed going over to his place to feast
on them.  He would break them open and then serve only the heart.  My school days were
disturbed because of so much sickness in our home.  The doctor said our doctor bill was
more than any other family in Spanish Fork.  Elias had pneumonia; dad had typhoid fever
twice; Joyce had two operations for eye tumors and also appendicitis.  She was affected
severely with eczema for seven years. I used to have the croup and earaches every little
while.  Mother had stomache ulcers, yellow jaundice, pneumonia three times and was
bothered with heart spells.  So with all of this illness I missed a terrible lot of school.
I finished the seventh grade.  Joe Hughes was one of my teachers whom I thought a lot of. 
Also Will Cornaby and Jane Bowen.  I went to a one room school in Palmyra for all
except my last year which I finished in Spanish Fork.  Despite all the sickness, we were
still a happy family and used to get together in the evenings and sing.  Also we had fun 
at Ward parties and dances.
        I belonged to a Palmyra Riding Club and I remember a Fourth of July Parade in
Spanish Fork when our Riding Club rode in the parade.  There were 48 of us girls.  We
wore white blouses and dark divided riding skirts.  A green ribbon identified which state
of the union each of the 48 girls represented.  Dad had a beautiful big brown horse called
"Cap".  His coat was smooth and shiny.  Cap was just a riding and buggy horse.  Dad was
a great lover of horses and took fine care of them.
        We had a choir in Palmyra.  It was a Ward Choir and Joyce was the accompanist
part of the time.  Dad, Will and I sang in it, also Joyce when she wasn't playing.  One
Quarterly Conference in Spanish Fork our Choir presented the music.
When I was about 18 our family moved to Spanish Fork.  Will ran the farm for awhile
and then the folks sold it.  We first lived in a home about two blocks west of Main Street
for about one year while our home was being built one block east of Main Street.  When
we moved to this first house we were right in the middle of the "Chain Gang".  There
were about 15 fellows and girls who belonged to it and it was a close-knit group of young
people who really clanned together and nobody else intruded.  We went everywhere
together, to dances, parties, etc.  We'd sing on the street corners or at each others 
houses after a mellon feed, or some such thing.  With this gang one holiday season I 
danced 13 nights straight, with the exception of Sunday nights.  We had a wonderful dance
hall in Spanish Fork known as Pack's Pavillion which had a spring floor and was lighted
beautifully with multi-colored arc lights.
        While in Palmyra I was secretary of the Primary and was an Assistant in the
Mutual for a couple of years. Also Secretary of the Primary in Spanish Fork when Jennie
Thomas' mother was the President.
        I cooked at Shorty's Restaurant and at the Jones Hotel for about a year.  Also
clerked at Newman s Store for about months.  Newman's carried mostly yardage, When I
was about 19 I went to Provo, Utah where I lived with a very well-to-do family by the
name of Roundy.  He was a brother-in-law of Jesse Knight, a millionaire.  For three
months I did sewing and housework for them.  After returning to Spanish I spent one
summer doing sewing and fancy work for friends and relatives.  One summer I took
modeling for a neighbor and learned how to cut and draft patterns.
        One fall Uncle Joe Finch took a contract out at Kanaka, Utah about 30 miles west
of Grantsville, to build a cement ditch from the mountain spring down into town.  My
cousin, Jane Finch and I went out to cook for the employees who were some fellows from
Spanish Fork and some Hawaiian fellows from Kanaka.  Along with our work we also
had a lot of fun.  On Friday nights we would all go into town to the dance.  Also in the
evenings we would gather around and sing while these Hawaiian fellows played their
string instruments.  Jane and I would take turns each day with the cooking while the other
one did the dishes.  I remember this one fellow that was usually late coming in for his
meals.  One day I had made a great big dripper pan full of raisin cake with thick white
frosting and when this fellow came in there were 7 pieces of cake, 3 inches square.  Jane
said, "Mary, you'd better put a piece of that cake away if you want some.  " I replied, 
"Oh, he couldn't eat all that even if he wanted.  " But after awhile when he had finished
and left, I turned around and every piece of the cake was gone, and was I mad I surely
thought he was a glutton.
        One night at a dance at Pack's Pavillion I met Fay Manwill (Ferrin LaMar).  I
went home with him from the dance that night, and that started a romance that led to
marriage about two years later.  I made my own wedding dress which was pale orchid
satin with gold overlace across the front: short sleeves and a square neck.  On Monday,
September 15, 1913 Fay and I drove over to Provo in his new one-seated buggy, and at
high noon were married at the Court House by Clarence Wood.  We went back to
Spanish Fork that afternoon and spent the evening at my folk's home.  Fay's Mother and
Father and his brother Lo and wife came over, Mother had made a wedding cake and
served cake and wine to the family who were present.  All the rest of my family were
living in Idaho and couldn't be there.  After a couple of days Fay went out to Garfield 
to resume his work and hunt for a house for us.  Because of Mother's ill health I stayed 
at home for about a month.
        We bought a black tar paper house in Arthur (about one mile east of Garfield). 
This house had two rooms, kitchen and bedroom with a built on closet and a screen
porch.  We painted and papered.  Fay made a corner dish cupboard and also a side table
with some shelves underneath.  His folks gave us a table.  I made curtains to cover the
cupboard and white curtains for the windows.  We had a folding steel cot which I used as
a couch in the kitchen.  I covered it with a floral cover and used toss pillows on it.  
We bought a new iron bed.  We had a trunk that I filled with my Hope Chest articles and
Fay's mother gave me a sewing machine she'd had.  Also had a wood and coal stove and
some new linoleum.

     In the bedroom was a home-made woven rug.  People used to come in and say it was
the cutest and cleanest house in town.  I used to get so lonely and so bored, for Fay
worked different shifts and I was home so much alone and didn't know anyone.  I
remember that I used to wash and iron things when they weren't even dirty just to have
something to do.
     In March 1915 we purchased a ranch up in Naf, Idaho and Fay moved up there and
batched for several months while I returned to Spanish Fork to stay with my folks and
await the arrival of Don, our firstborn.  I started labor on Sunday night and was up most
of the night.  Monday morning I was having quite hard pains, but I started the washing
and had it well under way when Mother and Joyce got up.  After 48 hours of labor, Don
was born Tuesday night, July 20, 1915.  He weighed 9 pounds.  Fay worked on the
railroad at Payson from then until April 1916 and then went back to Naf where I joined
him in May.  In October 1916 because of a near crop failure we left for Richfield, Idaho
to spend the winter.
     Ed Dayton was the foreman for the Idaho Irrigation Company where Fay was
employed.  A group of employed men were living in tents almost on the location where
Melvin Pope's home now stands.  Ed needed some help in the kitchen, so I helped cook
for a crew of about 30 men for about 6 weeks.  A few years later I managed the Nelson
Ricks Creamery which stood across the street east and a little south of the present
telephone office in Richfield.  I managed this for about two years, making about $35 or
$40 per month.  With the first paycheck I got, I purchased a nice set of china -- white
with a rim of gold, complete with the serving dishes.
     We were living in a home just northeast of the present Pheasant Club when Lois was
born.  I was in labor about an hour.  I woke Fay at midnight and he got Mrs. Margaret
Metcalf, our neighbor, and then jumped on old "Billy" (the horse) and raced after the
doctor.  Fay held his fingers on some of the blood vessels to keep me from hemorrhaging
to death.  The doctor stayed for hours afterwards.  I lost so much blood that they were
afraid to let me see myself in a mirror for two weeks.  Lois weighed 8 pounds, born
February 18, 1921.
     lla was born in the Gooding Hospital on June 26, 1929 and weighed a little less than
seven pounds.  Fay and I made it a point to nearly always be the first to go into the 
homes of the sick or where there was a death and to offer our services, take food or do 
anything we could.  For about 4 or 5 years I served on the funeral committee in Richfield 
and helped take charge of decorating the hall with flowers, etc.
All the years Fay was Branch President and Bishop we often didn't know until we got to
church that Stake visitors would be present, but no matter what stake authorities were
there we always brought them home to have dinner with us.  So Sunday after Sunday we
had company for dinner.  In Richfield I served as Theology teacher for many years;
counselor in the Ward Relief Society for quite a few years and Blaine Stake Secretary in
the Relief Society for about 4 years.  I also taught the Zions Girls in Primary for about 
2 years and was teacher of the Lark Class in Primary for about the same length of time.  
I was once asked to be Stake handicraft leader in which capacity I acted for 2 or 3 years. 
Also Gleaner Girl teacher in the Mutual one winter and for several years had the Relief
Society Teacher's Topic.  When I was Stake handicraft leader we had a Stake display of
work items and my handwork took first place.  For this our Ward was presented with a
lovely cedar chest for the Relief Society room and a huge sewingbasket completely fitted. 
Many Christmas seasons I have served on the buying committee for the Community
Christmas Program and spent days soliciting and buying and sacking treats
for the children.  During W. W. II I rolled bandages for the Red Cross at least once and
sometimes twice a week and also made dozens of pairs of pajamas, night shirts,
mocassins, and ditty bags for the servicemen.  I've always done a lot of sewing.  I've
made the children's clothes including the girls' suits and formals.  I've done quilts,
embroidered, crocheted, tatted, made artificial flowers from wood fiber, crepe paper and
chenille.  I've always had a real appreciation of beauty and have enjoyed raising 
beautiful flowers.  Dozens of people have been given bouquets of my flowers to enjoy.  
We used to butcher our own hogs and cure the meat -- grind the sausage, cure the hams, 
and render the lard.  I always churned butter when we had cows.  I always baked bread and 
have canned hundreds of quarts of fruits, vegetables, jams, jellies, and pickles every 
year. I usually made my own laundry soap, doing it in a big black iron kettle over a 
bonfire in the yard.  For many years I belonged to the Singing Mothers Chorus of the 
Richfield Ward.  This was really enjoyable.  A group of us met once a week to practice 
under the direction of Vera Housel.  Light refreshments were served at the close, and 
whenever anyone had a birthday we each had to make up a little poem for them.  Following 
is a poem I made up once for Melba Johnson Sanders.

Dear Melba:
As my senses have all vanished
And my thoughts have gone astray
How can I write a poem
When I'm in this funny way ?
How can I even utter
When my thoughts so far away have gone
And I am in the gutter

As I wish you birthday greetings
I'm honest and sincere
And hope that love and happiness
Will be yours throughout the year
May your life be long and happy
And your friends around whose dear
Ever watch and help to guard you
Along life's highway here.
Keep your sunny disposition
And your humor too
They'll always keep the clouds away
And let the sunshine through.
It's the sunshine in life's journey
That helps to bring success.
Let's hope you find the golden ray
That always brings the best.

     About 1944 I began to get a tremor in my left hand and then began to have sort of
muscle spasms in my left foot.  Later on I would lose my balance.  Finally when I went to
a specialist he diagnosed my trouble as Parkinson's disease.  I gradually got worse until 
it is now difficult for me to walk, and impossible for me to use my hands for sewing or
writing or anything like that.  In Jan. 1938 Don left for a two year mission to the
Northwestern States and in 1941 Lois was called to the Eastern States Mission.  April 8,
1946, Lois was married to John A. Larsen in the Salt Lake Temple; Don was married to
Mary Barraclough of Boise in the Idaho Falls Temple on March 21, 1947, and Ila was
married to Grayson Gurr of Parowan, Utah in the Salt Lake Temple on Oct. 27, 1950.  I
now have 12 grandchildren:
        Reed Manwill
        Alan Manwill
        Lane Manwill
        Richard Manwill
        Dennis Larsen
        Deanne Larsen
        Brent Larsen
        Julene Larsen
        Bryant Larsen
        Brenda Gurr
        Doug Gurr
        Sandra Gurr


A Patriarchal Blessing given by Joseph S. Cooper
upon the head of Mary Elizabeth (Flavel) Manwill,
daughter of William Flavel and Rosetta (Christmas)
Flavel, born August 30, 1887, at Spanish Fork, Utah.

     Sister Mary Elizabeth Flavel, by right of my
authority to bless, I place my hands upon your head
and give you a Patriarchal Blessing.  I do this in the response
to your faith and desire for it is your wish to know what
the Lord has in store for you.

     You are of the covenant of the Lord having been
born through the lineage of Ephriam and you are therefore
heir to all of the blessings promised upon the head of
our Father Abraham and his seed.  You were born under the New
and Everlasting Covenant and have received of its
special blessings and endowments.  Your life has been
hedged about and protected by your guardian angel and
your life has been spared for a special mission.  Not
only are you to receive of the blessings of Sarah by
you becoming a mother in Israel, but you are to be 
an instrument in the hands of the Lord in ministering
in His service in the church,  You shall ever be honored
as a mother in Israel and shall in time become a queen
to your husband in Gods kingdom.

     Your blessings and posterity shall continue
throughout eternity, and in the Father's kingdom, your
children shall gather about you and shall declare you
blessed.
     The blessings of the Lord shall continue
with you throughout your days upon the earth.  He will
minister peace, joy and comfort to your heart and will
cause you to rejoice in the blessings of life.
     You shall receive of life's bounties, both of
the sprit and of the material life, and shall live
as long as life shall be sweet to you and it shall be
your desire to live.

     I seal you up against the power of the Des-
troyer.  You shall be given power with your husband to
even banish Him from your home and be a shield and
protection to your children in guarding their lives,
faith and virtue.  I promise you, dear sister, that if
you will remain faithful, there will come nothing
into your family to bring sorrow and regret.

     I seal you up to come forth in the morning
of the First Ressurection to pass on to the glory and
kingdom that shall be prepared for you with your worthy
companion throughout all eternity, in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, even so, amen.

Given at Richfield, Idaho,
March 27, 1932.

                                 (X) Joseph S. Cooper


FORMER RESIDENT DIES IN UTAH

     Mary Elizabeth Flavel Manwill, 82, of Richfield, Idaho, died Tuesday, Oct. 21 at the
home of a daughter in Bountiful of causes incident to age.
     BORN AUGUST 30, 1887 in Palmyra, Utah County, a daughter of William and
Rosetta Christmas Flavel.  Married Ferrin LaMar Manwill on Sept. 15, 1913 at Provo; 
marriage was later solemnized in the Logan LDS Temple.
     She taught Sunday School, Primary, and Relief Society Councilor in ward Relief
Society presidency, stake Relief Society secretary of Blaine Stake.  Member singing
mothers chorus; work director stake Relief Society.
   SHE IS survived by her husband, son, Don F., Boise, Idaho; daughters, Mrs. John A.
(Lois) Larsen, Salt Lake City; Mrs. Bruce (Ila) Ryan, Bountiful; 14 grandchildren; brother
William T. Flavel, Richfield, Idaho.
     Funeral services will be held Friday, October 24 at the Richfield Ward Chapel with
Bishop Vern Nelson officiating.
     FAMILY prayer will be offered by Bishop John A. Larsen; prelude and postlude
music will be played by Thelma Johnson, who will also accompany Nelda Haws vocal
solo "In The Garden Of Tomorrow".
     Speakers will be Bishop Ross Lee and Bishop Clifford Ward.  A quartet composed of
Vernetta Woodbury, Barbara Peck, Robert Pyrah and Allen Pyrah will sing "I Walked
Today Where Jesus Walked".  Bishop Jay Ward will offer the benediction.
     INTERMENT in the Richfield Cemetery where the dedication of the grave will be by
Wendell King.  Pallbearers were Lane Manwill, Alan Manwill, Reed Manwill, Douglas
Gurr, Brent Larsen and Dennis Larsen.
     Floral offerings will be cared for by the Richfield Ward Relief Society, Funeral
arrangements will be under the direction of Lindquist Bountiful Mortuary.

LINKS