Miller Snow Black (1869 - 1953)

Born 27 Feb 1869 in Orderville, Kane, Utah, USA

Ancestors

Died 17 Dec 1953 at age 84 in Huntington, Emery,, Utah, USA

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Biography

MILLER SNOW BLACK This information was given to a granddaughter, Cloe Truman Anderson, in 1953; grandfather was 84 years old at the time and was bedridden. He suffered a stroke while shoveling snow at his home in Huntington, Utah. He had the stroke on the 17th of December and lived for exactly two years. He died on the 17th of December 1953. His son LaVar and two daughters, Nora and Meleta took turns caring for him in their homes until he died. They would each take him for two months at a time.

I, Miller Snow Black was born in Washington, Washington County, Utah February 27th, 1869. I was the fifth child of Maria Hansen, and my father was William Morley Black. I lived at Washington until I was four or five years old, and then moved with my family to Long Valley in Kane County I went to school in Long Valley with about fifteen other children. Mrs. John R. Young was our teacher. We lived in Long Valley for about three or four years and then father moved his families.

The people of Orderville lived the Lord's Law of Consecration, which meant that everything was held in common. I was among the young boys who herded the cattle on the hills surrounding the valley in the spring, summer and fall. We attended school for several months during the winter. Father, William Morley Black, was secretary of the order as well as supervisor of the community kitchen. It was a big lumber multi-purpose room about 40 ft. by 80 ft. where most of the community activities were held. School was held in the building as well as church services, dances and three meals a day were served to the residents of the community. The men were fed in order of their priesthood and then the women and the children were fed. We young people didn't know that a chicken had anything but a neck until we were fourteen years old, when I was advanced in the Priesthood. My Father, William Morley Black had six wives when we lived in the order. I didn't think polygamy was at all bad when you were raised in it. All of the wives had their special duties, and we children called all the other wives aunt. My Mother was a midwife and helped with the birth of many babies when we were in the order. Brigham Young died in 1877 and with his strong leadership the United Order was successful and flourished, but after his death it was as the ship had lost its captain and all kinds of problems arose. My Dad was Secretary of the United Order and a young couple withdrew their goods to leave the order and Dad was criticized for having given too much for the time and the goods they had contributed.

In 1884 we left the United Order and moved to Huntington, Utah. I helped with farming and attended school two or three months in the winter after moving to Huntington. When I was 17 years old I carried the mail on horseback from Huntington to Emery, a job I held for over a year.

On the 13th day of October 1890, I took mother and Aunt Mirinda in a covered wagon to Diaz, Old Mexico to be with father. Father had to leave the country because those who were polygamists were persecuted when the U. S. Government declared polygamy to be against the law. It was a difficult journey but we felt we made pretty good time as we got there for Christmas. We stayed through the winter and got home in May.

On the fourth of February 1892, I married Susan Julia Sherman. We lived in a frame home on west Center Street. I was engaged in farming and stock raising. A few years after we were married, I was ask by the Supervisor of the Manti National Forest to serve as the second ranger of that forest. I was the ranger for a little over a year. I was elected as the first Mayor of Huntington in 1920. I had served two years before that on the town board. Seven years after my term as Mayor I was appointed to the City Council to fill the vacancy left the death of Ray Grange. I was Emery County Commissioner for one term in 1936. I served on the Huntington Canal Board for eight years and was President of the Huntington Cattlemen's Association. I was overseer in the building of the seminary building in Huntington. We put in the cement walks and sewer when I was the mayor. I was Chairman of the Finance Committee of the new church in Huntington when it was dedicated April 27, 1953.

In 1906 I bought a large herd of cattle, (120 head). It was an unusually severe winter, there was a very heavy snowfall that covered all the vegetation in the valley and there was no hay for sale. I lost over half of the herd and it was a serious financial blow for us.

At 84 I still read without glasses. We have lived sixty-two years together in Huntington in only three homes; two of them were on the same lot. I had three brothers and four sisters who grew up and were old people before passing away.

About 1903 Grandpa Black drove a herd of cattle to Price, put them on the train and took them to Kansas City, as there was no sale for them locally. At the time Lyman was baby and had whopping cough. When they got to a farm in Kansas, a farmer was very disappointed that his butcher hadn't shown up to kill his steer. Grandpa said, "We can butcher that critter for you." The farmer was very surprised that they were able to do such a professional butchering job. ---

MILLER SNOW BLACK My Memories of My Grandfather by Cloe Truman Anderson

Grandpa Black was one of my very favorite people. I can remember as a young child that he showed so much love and concern for little children. It was in the era that children should be seen and not heard, but grandpa liked to talk to us and valued our conversations.

Grandpa was almost six feet tall, had blue eyes, and had light brown hair with a reddish tint to it. His hair never went grey. He loved to laugh; he would tell a joke and laugh longer and harder than any one.

One winter our family was in the old house, all circled around the old pot bellied stove. Grandpa was there visiting with us, and I was probably four years old, and I was crawling over everyone’s feet to get to the other side of the stove, and I fell against it and burned my arm badly. I can remember grandpa and mother comforting me and putting a variety of home remedies on my arm to ease the pain, and help it heal.

M.S. (has he was often called) was a very kind hearted man and had a wonderful disposition. His daughter said she had never seen him angry. His wife, Julia, broke her collar bone when she was in her seventies, she went to bed for almost six weeks and grandpa took care of the house, cooked the meals and carried food to her and took care of all her needs for that period of time. He was very kind and gentle to her. When he was home he always made the fires, helped with the cooking and kept the coal buckets full of coal.

Grandpa spent a lot of time in our home. Almost every Sunday he would come up and spend the day. In the winter and spring when the cattle were at the ranch down to Buffalo and had to be fed, he would have my dad take him down to the ranch. Grandpa never learned how to drive. He would play cards while he was at our home. His son, LaVar was a counselor in the Emery Stake Presidency and was involved with church duties every weekend, and his son Lyman was having a lost weekend, so it was grandpa’s responsibility to do the chores. He would return to our home, take his weekly bath, have dinner and a light supper and go home about nine P.M. Mom would wash the clothes that he wore the Sunday before and he would put on the clean clothes and leave the dirty ones for the next week.

When Woody was 2 years old and Bud was about six months old, mother went into Huntington Canyon to cook for her dad, Iver, her husband and Perry, her brother while they cut timber out of the forest for corrals and sheds. They stayed several days and got the three wagons loaded and tied the grub box, the bedrolls and tent on top of the poles and found no place to sit except on top of the logs. Grandpa drove a team and held Woody all the way down the canyon while mother held Bud. The road was rough and narrow and it was very difficult to stay on top of the logs.

There were a lot of rules in grandpa’s and grandma’s home. I don’t know whether they came from grandma or grandpa, but on awaking, all the children had to drink a glass of warm water to wash their systems out, before eating breakfast. Everyone had to wash their faces as soon as the water in the teakettle was warm. No one but grandma ever sat in her rocking chair. If you were around the table eating and needed to blow your nose you left the room to do it. Grandma had a beautiful piano, we grandkids liked to play Chop Sticks, or Mary Had a Little Lamb. We had to ask permission to play, and most of the time it was denied.

I’m sure that grandpa had many favorite riding horses in his long life, but the one that I remember was a dapple gray mare named “Floss” She was an excellent cutting and roping horse, but grandpa had taught her to dance. She would put one front leg over the other one and give a little hop, in time to the music and then would change and put the other leg in the front position and give another little hop. He liked to show her off.

Grandpa would always liven things up. I remember one time at the 24th of July Parade he harnessed a cow and horse together pulling a wagon.

Grandpa was the first Mayor of Huntington, and was often called on to be chairman of community projects. He was chairman of the building committee when the first seminary was building was constructed and committed himself to furnishing the coal for the furnace for as long as he was able. The church that I went to as a young person growing up in Huntington was a brick building very similar to the Garland Tabernacle only on a smaller scale. We had a pipe organ, a gallery, a large meeting room, a bell tower, a small kitchen but no class rooms. Before World War II was over funds were being collected for a new ward building and Grandpa was given the assignment to be chairman of the building committee and he was over 75 years old. He held a lot of auctions, had livestock projects etc. Even though he rarely went to church he could get people involved and get things done.

Grandpa accomplished a lot of things in his long life, but I loved him for his cheerfulness, his sociality, his civility, his kindness and for being a concerned, kind and loving grandfather. When I was a teenager I wanted a pair of cowboy boots. Grandpa was at the house when I was discussing the desire to my parents. My parents said that I could get the cheapest pair. But Grandpa insisted that I have the next class above. The catalogs always had three categories of quality: “Good, Better and Best.” Grandpa helped pay the difference for the “Better” pair. I still have those boots today.

Before the time of movies, radio and television there were lot of plays, dances and programs put on by the residents of the small towns. There were also quite a few traveling shows that would come into a community and stay then put on a performance for two evenings and travel on to the next town. These were often three act plays and between acts local performers would sing, dance and entertain while they were changing the set for the next act. Grandpa was often called on to dance the “Cork Leg.” It was a comedy routine where you pretended that one leg was stiff. He probably enjoyed it and had more fun doing it than the audience.

Marriage

Husband: Miller Snow Black

Marriage: 4 Feb 1892 Huntington,Emery,Utah^[1][2]

Husband: @I358@

Wife: Anne Maria Hansen

Child: Joseph Andrew Black

Child: Rachel Ann Black

Child: Olive Myrtle Black

Child: William Sanford Black

Child: Miller Snow Black

Child: Harriet Drucilla Black

Child: David Patten Black

Child: Morley Larsen Black

Child: Ablouna Black

Marriage:

Date: 26 Oct 1859

Place: Salt Lake City,Salt Lake,Utah

LDS Sealing Spouse:

Date: 26 Oct 1859

LDS Temple: EHOUS^[3][4]

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S27 Note: Record submitted by a member of the LDS Church CONT Search performed using PAF Insight on 06 Dec 2004 Data: Text: Miller Snow Black; Male; Birth: 27 FEB 1869 Washington, Washington, Utah; Death: 17 DEC 1953; Father: William Morley Black; Mother: Marie Hansen; Spouse: Susan Julia Sherman; Marriage: 04 FEB 1892; Sealing to Spouse: 06 SEP 1957 Manti, Sanpete, Utah
2. ↑ Source: #S91
3. ↑ Source: #S5 Page: IGI- Denmark Film 183396 Ref. #11417
4. ↑ Source: #S67 Note: Extracted LDS temple records listing a sealing to spouse. CONT Search performed using PAF Insight on 3/10/2008 Data: Text: ANN MARIA HANSON; Female; Sealing to Spouse: 26 OCT 1859 EHOUS; WM M BLACK; Spouse: WM M BLACK; Marriage: 26 OCT 1859 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

• Source: S15 Title: Family Records Italicized: Y
• Source: S27 Repository: #REPO5 Title: International Genealogical Index Author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Italicized: Y Paranthetical: Y
• Repository: REPO5 Name: Family History Library Address: 35 N. West Temple Street CONT Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 CONT USA CONT www.familysearch.org
• Source: S67 Repository: #REPO5 Title: International Genealogical index Author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Italicized: Y Paranthetical: Y

Acknowledgements

• Black-4214 was created by David Townsend through the import of marlakirby-WMBlack-descend.ged on Mar 3, 2014.
• Black-4246 was created by David Townsend through the import of marlakirby-WMBlack-ancestors.ged on Mar 3, 2014.