Personal History of Annie Irene Free Morris
by Her Hand
I was born on the 8th of December 1870 to Absalom Pennington and Annie Hicks Free, early pioneers of Utah. There were seven children of us and we lived on a farm between 5th and 3rd East on 21st South. It did not look then much like it does now. Father was a wonderful farmer and the older children had plenty of hard work to do but I, being next to the youngest, didn’t have to work on the farm but just helped mother in the house and took care of the chickens. I just loved to “set hens” and wait for them to hatch the little ones. We also had Turkeys, Ducks and Geese. There was a large spring on the place where the stock was watered and the ducks and geese swam. There was also what we called the little spring that was down by our comfortable adobe four large room home. I mustn’t forget the summer kitchen or the roof where we used to dry our apples. I can just barely remember the oxen. Buck and Jack were their names. I can remember our mules, Kit and Jack. Later father got a nice team, Pet and Tilley.
Each of these stories can be (or will be) found on this web site. But they are all grouped together here in a ".zip" file for your downloading convenience. (Click on attachment)
Absalom P. Free history
Anders Gustav Blad
Annie Hicks Free history
Carl and Addie Blad history
Ida Minerva Rollins history
James B. Wheeler;Rachel T.
JAMES HENRY ROLLINS
Mina Jean Blad history
Oscar Hamblin history
Rachel D. Wheeler history
Wenlock Wheeler Free
This amazing postcard picture was taken at a picnic about 22 miles outside Leadore, Idaho about 1920. It includes the only picture we have of several relatives. RDWF
Those identified in the picture: Dennis Norton McFall, Sr. , Wenlock Wheeler Free, Alfred Osborn McFall, Rachel Wheeler Free, Lory Free, Margaret Dionysia Free McFall, Viola Shuey, Polly Rusk, Susanne McFall Mathis, Ada Free Friedorff, John Finley Free, Max Friedorff, Darrel Free, Euphrasia Free.
by Willis Robinson
A high schoolteacher to most of the Blad children,
A Bishop to the whole Blad family,
and, second husband of Jeanne Blad
The miracle begins when you shake hands with a Blad. The handshake usually turns into a hug but is always accompanied by twinkling eyes and smiling face.
I remember when Father and Mother Blad and daughters would walk into an otherwise calm and cool choir practice, being held in the little old church in Panaca. The Blad spirit took over and nothing was ever quite the same again; the music was sweeter, the refreshments tasted better and the spirit of love filled the place.
Blads come in many shapes and sizes but often, after being run through the Blad press, other lives become more open, honest, and well rounded in depth.
Every person influences every other person in the world by their personal radiation; with this family however, the positive is accentuated, "put downs" and criticisms are held to a minimum; love blooms with creativity and production following.
written by their daughter, Jean Blad Free
Carl Levi Blad was born August 13, 1886, a son of Andrew Gustaf and Mina Albertina Andersen Blad. He spent his childhood in Panaca and attended the local schools.
As a young boy he helped his father on the farm, being the main salesman for their truck garden produce at Bullionville. He later followed the carpenter and mason trade, working mostly for Syphus Construction.
Addie Minerva Hamblin Blad was born February 6, 1891, in Minersville, Utah, a twin daughter of Wallace and Ida Minerva Rollins Hamblin.
They first met about 1905 in Panaca, Nevada, the home town of Levi, when Addie, accompanied by her twin sister Ida, had come to visit their Aunt Melissa Lee and their Lee cousins, who lived there. These must have been times of fun for them, mingling with the young people of that little farming community; there were parties, hayrides, singing, dancing and much laughter on these visits.
The twins, Addie and Ida, were from Lyman, Wyoming. Their home was a ranch, which was shared with many brothers, where the western way of life was the real thing. This life style no doubt was influential in Addie's development into a capable, strong, beautiful girl; who could drive a horse and buggy or sew a pretty feather on a bonnet, as the need may be. Her trained soprano voice, her dancing feet and her happy disposition kept her in demand in the small town social circles of that day.
as recorded in the book "A Century in Meadow Valley"
Anders Gustaf Blad was born in Skattegarden, Hangelosa, Sweden, July 21, 1844, the son of Sven Anderson Blad and Eva Marie Palmgren.
He was the oldest of a family of five children and spent his young manhood following the fishing industry in Southern Sweden and as a sailor on the fishing boats. He came to America about 1868.
Little is known of his life between the time of his arrival here and his marriage. He married Mina Albertina Andersen, of Eidsvoll Akershus, Norway, November 26, 1879, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
He worked for a freight line, hauling freight between Salt Lake City and Pioche, Nevada. After about two years, in February1881, he moved his wife to Nevada from Salt Lake City.
Their first home was a sort of camp in the area of what is now Oak Wells, where Gus, as he was called, burned wood for charcoal. This he hauled to Bullionville for use in the mills. While still living at Oak Wells their frist son, August Wallace, was born March 31, 1881. He lived only two weeks, died April 15, 1881.