Samuel and Elizabeth Brough daughters of Randolph, Utah.

Samuel and Elizabeth Bott Brough are pictured in the center of this family picture. I'm going to attempt to identify the who and when of the picture I posted here in 2009 before I realized how essential it is to identify everyone you possibly can. 

Great great grandfather Samuel Brough passed away in 1911 at 71 years. It is not known the date this picture was taken. It was on an occasion when everyone dressed up and the sons wore a boutonniere on their lapels. It appears to me to have been taken inside of a home.  

I took a copy of this 8-1/2 x 13-1/2 inch Brough picture to Marion, Utah on a visit to my Aunt Winnie (Winifred Rex Andrus) in about 2007-8. She identified each of these people and I penciled their names behind their picture.  

Clockwise from the lady in the upper left corner are, 1-Adria Muir, 2-Will Brough, 3-Prud Weston, 4- George Brough, 5-Aunt Ema Longhurst, 6-Jane McKinnon, 7-Benjamin Brough, 8-Hanna Telford, 9-Mary Elizabeth Rex (my great grandmother).

These people are also identified on the Brough Family History Website. It’s possible my Aunt Winnie reversed the identity of Adria and Hanna. They do have similar looks and their names are reversed from what I've typed here on the Brough website.

About the time I was coming to understand who was who in the Brough family my Aunt Flora (Elizabeth Rex Lamborn) sent me a wonderful Christmas present—two Brough sister pictures—with everyone identified. In one picture the sisters are dressed in hats and coats, braced for the harsh Randolph, Utah cold. In the other they are enjoying a mild weathered day in Randolph together.

These matriarchs have mothered some of the finest families of northern Utah.

This Staffordshire cup and saucer is purported to be the pattern early Brough family members brought to Utah from their England home.

Thank you cousin Flora Lee for introducing me to the Randolph Brough descendant who showed us her pretty things. 

Memorial Day, May 27, 2013. Randolph, Utah family gathering.

 Randolph, Rich County, Utah marker, south of Randolph.

 Randolph Cemetery tops the hill west of Randolph overlooking the town. Its where the wind always blows.

The William and Mary Brough Rex headstone has been repaired, stabilized, and now sits atop a cement base. Their six children's footstones are set beside them. All of their children are named here. 

My brother Rex stands beside the gravestone here. He and I and our spouses traveled to Randolph and Woodruff for Memorial Day. I don't recall being in Randolph on Memorial Day since prior to our parents' passing in 1982 and 1992. We had a wonderful day gathering with other Rex cousins on cemetery hill and in Cousin Flora Lee's Randolph home. A big thank you to her and her sister Nancy for all of their work promoting and accomplishing this Rex Gravestone Repair project. Thank you so very much!

The Brough Family Organization also completed (August 17, 2012) this Samuel Brough gravestone project in the Randolph Cemetery in time for Memorial Day.

First thing that morning we stopped in Woodruff, ten miles to the south, to visit the cemetery there and to drive past our Grandfather and Great Grandfather Frazier's Ranch.

My brother and I, our father, and Grandfather Frazier each attended the Woodruff Schoolhouse that stood across the highway from this sign posted in "downtown" Woodruff.

Rex and I, with our spouses, in the Woodruff Cemetery beside the Frazier/Walton

row of headstones. Note Samantha Ann Walton Witherell's broken headstone. 

A project we hope to complete before winter 2013.

Rex Family Memorial Day Gathering. May 27, 2013.

William and Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex buried six of their thirteen children, as children, here in the Randolph, Utah Cemetery. Visit this beautiful updated William and Mary Rex Gravesite at the cemetery on Memorial Day, May 27, 2013! One month from today!

Flora Lee extended an invitation to interested family members to drop by her childhood Randolph home at 85 W. Canyon Street on that day. There will be visiting and refreshments and she will hold a P.H. Rex Family meeting there at 2:00 p.m.

The William and Mary Rex children are:

William Thomas Rex (1875-1962)
Charles Rex (1877-1882)
Alfred George Rex (1878-1956)
Mary Elizabeth Rex (1880-1880)
Olive Celeste Rex (1881-1882)
Samuel Rex (1883-1967)
Arthur H. Rex (1884-1952)
John Osland Rex (1887-1967)
Percy Harold Rex (1889-1977)
Ada Estella Rex Jackson (1892-1974)
Myrtle Rex (1894-1894)
Alfreda Rex (1895-1901)
Hyrum Mack Rex (1901-1902)

There is a footstone with each child's initials on it. They were leaning around the main Rex headstone for years. That too was deteriorating. Last year William and Mary Rex descendants, Nancy and Flora Lee, set out to “fix” that. They solicited support and donations from other family members. As you can see, the upright, repaired stones are completed and ready for you to view in the Randolph Cemetery.

I haven’t seen many grave footstones. Some graves in the 18th century contained footstones to mark the foot end of the grave. Footstones were rarely annotated with more than the deceased's initials. Many cemeteries and churchyards have removed those extra stones to ease grass cutting by machine mower. In some United Kingdom cemeteries the principal, and only marker, is placed at the foot of the grave.  

It appears that the first William and Mary Rex baby was buried in 1880. Perhaps thereafter they placed a small footstone for each child. Or sometime later other descendants may have  added all of the footstones.

I know of only one other family grave that has a footstone. The picture below is poor and crooked. It does, however, show Myrtle Morgan's grave on the left with her footstone further on at the foot of her grave. Myrtle Morgan is John and Annie Smith Morgan's daughter. She died July 28, 1890 and is buried in the Manassa, Colorado cemetery. 

I took this picture to illustrate what had happened to her grandfather's headstone to the right. It appears a truck backed into it and the corner of the nearby plot. It is a project that needs attention.

When did William and Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex’s home burn down? May 1937.

William and Mary Rex home, Randolph, Utah (Built prior to 1900, burned down May 1937)

My Aunt Flora Rex Lamborn (born 1930) told me once she remembered the day her Grandfather Rex’s home burned down. She didn’t know the exact date, only that she was being “watched” by one of her aunts on the day. They were walking hand in hand along a street and saw the smoke rising from the northeast part of Randolph. They seemed to know it was the Rex home, but Flora wasn’t permitted to go look.

According to Aunt Winnie Rex Andrus (born 1918), the house burned while she was in Salt Lake City completing her nurses training in about 1937-38. My mother’s cousin, Kathleen Rex Thornock, recently answered my question. She helped write History, Descendants, and Ancestry of William Rex and Mary Elizabeth Brough of Randolph, Utah.

William and Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex, West Canyon Street home, Randolph, Utah, and Elizabeth Bott Brough

Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex’s father, Samuel Brough, was a brick maker, and he made the brick for some of his children to build their homes. William and Mary got a lovely two-story brick home on their lot northeast of Randolph by the canal. They probably moved in it near the turn of the century. The only home Kathleen remembers them living in was their home up West Canyon Street, pictured above.

The large two-story brick home, known as the William and Mary Rex home, was then occupied by their son John Oseland Rex, his wife Edna, and their family. The brick house burned down in May 1937. Ada Rex was going to graduate that spring, and she lived with Kathleen’s family [William and Edna Rex family] until then.

Pictures from Helen Rex Frazier collection.

Ada Rex Jackson writes of her family.

We stopped to take this picture while driving north to Randolph, Utah about ten years ago. My husband carried our grandson over to see the cattle behind the fence. Those are, I believe, the Crawford Mountains behind them.

On Thursday, March 24th, I read this interesting post at Genealogy's Star and followed the link to the BYU Historical Books Collection. I searched for family histories with the surname of Rex, and found the History, Descendants, and Ancestry of William Rex and Mary Elizabeth Brough of Randolph, Utah, of which I have a copy. They also have a copy of the history of William and Mary Rex’s daughter, Ada Rex Jackson and her family of Montana. There I found some interesting stories about the children of William and Mary Rex. Their history is here and here.

Ada Estella Rex Jackson wrote: Of our family. Mother had two girls and a little boy nearly six years old pass away before I came along, so you can imagine what a reception I received with a family of six brothers. They loved me but they teased me a lot. I had a favorite little bowl I liked to eat my cereal out of. My brothers were always hiding it from me, but I would manage to find it or Mother would make them give it to me. One time I couldn't find it for months, and then one day I found it in the bottom of the flour bin. They had put it there when the bin was almost empty and then filled the bin with flour. Needless to say, I watched that bowl closely the next time the flour bin was filled.

My earliest recollection of our old home, a log cabin, was of a large cottonwood tree out in the yard where we had a big swing. We used to swing high up into the branches of that tree. Our brothers would push us high. I had a sister, Freda, who was four years younger than me. My cousin, Leone, Aunt Hanna's daughter lived just across the road. We spent many hours in the shade of that tree swinging. We made a play house in the trees along the side of the lot. We had many happy times together playing there. When we played dinner together we would send Freda to the house for something to eat, because we knew that Mother wouldn't refuse her.

Freda, Percy, and Ada Rex

Following are two letters I received as a child:
Hobard, Tasmania Nov. 16. 1899

Dear Little Sisters Ada and Freda, It is with pleasure that I again write you a few lines to let you know how I am. I am well and hope these few lines will find you all the same. Enjoying good health and able to eat three meals a day. I wish I was close so you could come in and wash dishes for me and sweep the floor and make the bed, but be good little girls so when I have finished my mission and come home you will be able to come and see Agnes and Will and have dinner with us. Say your prayers every night, then our Heavenly Father will like you and keep you from harm and getting sick. Be good to Agnes and then she will like you. I always remember you in my prayers.

Goodbye. Your loving brother.Will Love and Kisses xxxxxxxxxxxx

Note: Ada’s oldest brother, William Thomas Rex (1875-1962), served a mission to Australia. He left Randolph on March 1, 1899, six weeks after he married Agnes Hellstrom. He was gone for three and a-half years.

(To be continued.)Picture from Helen Rex Frazier collection.

Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex funeral. June 3, 1939.

These pictures were taken at Great Grandmother Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex's funeral in Randolph, Utah on June 3, 1939. She died at home on May 30, 1939. They are from Helen Rex Frazier's scrapbook, and were sent to her in Oakland, California because she wasn't able to travel home to Utah for this funeral, having been there the preceding November (1938) when her mother, Bessie Morgan Rex, passed away.

These are the surviving Rex Granddaughters who attended their grandmother's funeral. The youngest girl in front is Flora Rex Lamborn. The two granddaughters on the back row to the right are Winnie Rex Andrus, and Kathleen Rex Thornock. The granddaughter on the left, middle row, is Mary Rex Rufi. I'm not certain of the others.

Uncle Will and Aunt Agnes Rex

Uncle Vic and Aunt Ada Rex Jackson

Aunt Bess and Uncle Sam Rex

Aunt Caddie and Uncle Arth [Arthur] Rex

Aunt Maude and Uncle Alf [Alfred] Rex

Uncle Ose [Oseland] Rex and children;

Ada, Amy, John, Edna

The Adas; Ada Muir, Ada Rex,

Ada McKinnon, and Ada Rex Jackson

William and Mary Brough Rex children and spouses.

P. H. [Percy Harold] is on the far left.

William and Mary's children; Sam Rex, P. H. Rex,

Alf Rex, Ose Rex, Arth Rex, Will Rex, and Ada Rex Jackson

The Brough Sisters (l-r); Ada [Adria] Brough Muir,

Prudence Brough Weston, Hannah Brough Telford.

William and Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex. Part 2. Concluded.

Continued from here.
Mary served as counselor to Sister South in the Y.L.M.I.A. (Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association). She and her mother and sisters became members of the Relief Society when it was organized in Randolph by Sister Eliza R. Snow. Mary was called as the first secretary.

William and Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex,

50th Wedding Anniversary (1874-1924)

Always active in the community, William held numerous civic positions; justice of the peace, county clerk, treasurer, and superintendent of public schools. He also served as superintendent of the Sunday School, secretary of the 102nd Seventies Quorum, a High Councilman, and was president of the High Priest quorum in the Woodruff Stake at the time of his death. “He was always very young looking and walked straight rapidly.”

Late in William’s life, while attending “a family reunion at Bear Lake, he dived off the pier. A tourist shouted, ‘Help! Get that old man out of the water before he drowns!’ William came to the surface and swam off, taking long, steady strokes through the water. He was also a perfect marksman and a good boxer.”

[Note: From his youth he was nearly blown off of the deck of the James Pennell on the voyage from England; in St. Louis he swam with his brothers in the Mississippi River to retrieve wood for fuel for their mother; he was a soldier during the Civil War; he helped settle, and thereafter lived in Randolph, Utah. Of course he would swim in Bear Lake in his senior years!]

William and Mary “always kept busy and had everything in perfect order. They grew beautiful flowers, lawns and vegetables. There were pansy beds around the lilac trees, columbines and Iceland poppies—asparagus, rhubarb patches, and parsnips, which were dug in the spring after the frost left, then cooked and browned in homemade butter. Wild roses were planted by the corral gate to hide the outdoor toilet. The boards around the old pump were always scrubbed white—as were her doorsteps! William always folded his newspaper neatly and placed his old-fashioned spectacles on top. He had a certain way of turning his spoon when putting it in his mouth so he wouldn’t get food on his mustache.

“Mary made hotcross buns for the family on every Good Friday—a family tradition. Humble, sincere family prayers were always a part of their lives.”

Iceland Poppies

William preceded Mary in death on the 7th of April, 1927. Mary passed away at her home twelve years later on May 30, 1939. The [Randolph] Reaper headed her obituary, “Aged Pioneer Sister Called By Death.” They are buried in the Randolph Cemetery.

Concluded.
Pictures from Helen Rex Frazier collection and Wikipedia.

12-William and 13-Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex. Part 1.

William Rex
b. 22 Nov 1844, Sherborne, Dorset, England
p. William Rex, Mary Mead
m. Mary Elizabeth Brough, 6 Oct 1874, Salt lake City, Utah
d. 6 Apr 1927, Randolph, Utah

Mary Elizabeth Brough
b. 20 Dec 1858, Longton, Straffordshire, England
p. Samuel Brough, Elizabeth Bott
d. 30 May 1939, Randolph, Utah


William immigrated from England with his family on the James Pennell in 1850, and Mary immigrated from England with her family on the Cynosure in 1863. Both of their families joined the earliest settlers in Randolph, Utah.

The history of William Rex and Mary Brough’s youth is included in earlier posts.
Mary Brough; part 1, part 2.
William Rex; part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6.

In about 1870 when the Broughs walked over the hills from Morgan, to Randolph, Utah, it took them a week. Mary was twelve years old, and it was her job to place a large rock behind the back wheel of the wagon when they’d stop on an incline. Near the same time, William Rex and his brother, Alfred, were clearing a lot and building a cabin in Randolph, Utah for their mother, Mary Mead Rex Clucas.

On October 6, 1874 William and Mary were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their trip to Salt Lake City was made in a covered wagon and took them a week. Mary’s “trousseau” was folded in an old pillow slip, she was fifteen years old and William was thirty years old.

The first winter, they made their home with William’s mother, Mary Mead Rex, in the cabin William and his brother built for her. William had two cows and a team, and took care of the U. S. mail driver’s horses. He saved enough money to buy the lot on the corner of Field Street and Third East in the spring. It was north and adjoined his mother’s lot. There was a one-room house with a cellar on it.

William and Mary sang in Randolph’s first ward choir and Mary remained a member for fifty-five years. They often sang a favorite song together, “Kitty from Cork and Dandy Pat.”

William was the second missionary called from the Randolph Ward to serve a mission. In his diary he wrote : “Called on a mission Oct 6th 1884 by Pres. John Taylor at the General Conference held in Salt Lake City. Received the news on Saturday evening the 13th. On the following Sunday morning I went to the Post Office and got the Deseret News and there sure enough was my name, booked for a Mission to England, the home of my childhood and the land of my ancestors.”

“On Sunday Oct 26th gave my ‘farewell’ sermon to a large congregation of the Saints. It was very short as I could not control my feelings sufficiently to say a great deal. “

Monday October 27th 1884. I arose shortly after three o’clock and began to get ready for my journey, a cold clear morning, quite frosty. My brother-in-law, Thomas Longhurst, went with me to drive and bring the team back. Bade my wife and children [William Thomas-9, Alfred George-6, Samuel-1, Arthur Henry-2 weeks] a loving good bye at 5 a.m. and committed them to the care of our Heavenly Father.”
Mary sold a big roan cow for $13.00 and bought food for that winter. She would sell a cow once in a while and send William the money. While William was in England, Mary’s father helped the family, and her mother gave them ¼ pound of freshly churned butter once a week.

William returned home two years later and struggled to get established again. Ultimately William became a progressive farmer and homesteaded some of the best land in the valley. He taught school during some winters. They took in boarders and were able to secure a comfortable living and obtain more land. William also served as Rich County Clerk.

Their children:William Thomas Rex (1875-1962)
Charles Rex (1877-1882)
Alfred George Rex (1878-1956)
Mary Elizabeth Rex (1880-1880)
Olive Celeste Rex (1881-1882)
Samuel Rex (1883-1967)
Arthur H. Rex (1884-1952)
John Osland Rex (1887-1967)
Percy Harold Rex (1889-1977)
Ada Estella Rex Jackson (1892-1974)
Myrtle Rex (1894-1894)
Alfreda Rex (1895-1901)
Hyrum Mack Rex (1901-1902)

“William and Mary passed through many hardships during the early years of their marriage. They buried two children in one grave and another shortly before.”

(To be continued.)

Percy Harold Rex and one of his brothers visiting (in 1960's)

the home their father, William Rex, built for his mother in 1870-71.

Pictures from Helen Rex Frazier collection. History, Descendants, and Ancestry of William Rex & Mary Elizabeth Brough of Randolph, Utah, compiled and edited by Ronald Dee Rex, 1999. pgs 95-119. Randolph--A Look Back, written and compiled by S. Thomson, M. J. S. Tomson, J. D. Digerness, 1981, pgs. 423-424.

"A Thousand Years of Family History"

Did you know that RBFO stands for Richard Brough Family Organization? They have recently made, and released, “A Thousand Years of Family History,” as described in today’s MormonTimes here. Since the history they have compiled and filmed is on YouTube—anyone can watch it, free of charge.

It’s in four parts. Each part is just under ten minutes. So you can watch one when you have a few moments. I thoroughly enjoyed viewing them today. And recommend them to all Richard Brough descendants, and to anyone interested in seeing what a family organization can do to share their history and story. You will find the YouTube links in the MormonTimes article.

William and Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex and Elizabeth Bott Brough by their home in Randolph, Utah (before 1921).

Elizabeth was known throughout Randolph for her delicious hot cross buns. She delivered them to family and friends on Good Friday. Some of her daughters and grand daughters have done the same.

A two part history of Samuel and Elizabeth Bott Brough is posted on this blog.

Part 1

Part 2

Picture from Helen Rex Frazier collection.

Percy Harold Rex, Part 1

Percy Harold Rex
b. 30 Sep 1889, Randolph, Utah
p. William Rex, Mary Elizabeth Brough
m. Bessie Morgan, 12 Jun 1912, Salt Lake City, Utah
d. 20 Mar 1977, Salt Lake City, Utah
b. 25 Mar 1977, Randolph, Utah Cemetery

Percy Harold Rex was the youngest of William and Mary Elizabeth Brough Rex’s six sons. William Thomas (1875), Alfred George (1878), Samuel (1883), Arthur Henry (1884), John Oseland (1887). His only sister is Ada Estella [Jackson] (1892). Six of his siblings died as infants or children; Charles, Mary Elizabeth, Olive Celeste, Myrtle, Alfreda, Hyrum Mack.

Percy Harold was born in a three room log house in Randolph, Utah. His mother kept a large south window full of flowers. He and his brother Ose slept in a trundle bed in the bedroom under their parent’s bed. When Ose grew out of the bed, Ada was moved in to share it with Percy.

Percy’s favorite school teacher was Mrs. Rhoda Cook from Logan. The year she taught him he played the part of George Washington in a school production. His hair was curled with a curling iron and he dressed the part in a long tailed coat, with vest, knee pants, and long white socks.

At twelve he was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood and was secretary of his quorum. He was president of his Teacher’s quorum, and ordained an Elder by his brother Samuel.

Percy helped his father on the farm from the time he finished the 8th grade until he was eighteen years old. On one winter day Percy was helping his father take a load of grain to Laketown to have it chopped. His father always let his children drive the team and Percy was driving. They were going on the “old road” west from Randolph and he was trying to keep one of the runners on the snow. He got a little too far up on the hillside, tipping the load of grain over. The team was frightened and broke loose, running away. Father William Rex was completely buried under the grain and sleigh box and Percy was pinned under from his knees down. In some miraculous way his father pushed him free and Percy ran for help down to the McKinnon home. Uncle Arch McKinnon was in the house for breakfast and ran with Percy back to the overturned sleigh. He was able to free William Rex from the accident. The sleigh was up-righted, the grain reloaded, and the trip to Laketown began again. Father William Rex showed signs of being quite stiff and sore for some time.

When he was eighteen years old Percy joined his five brothers and bought the Ford Sheep Company along the foot of the Crawford Mountains. It was comprised of 3,700 acres of ranch land, 14, 000 acres of range ground, 1, 025 cattle, 300-400 head of calves, and equipment.

In the beginning many big grey wolves ran in packs on their land. The wolves were vicious and killed the cattle. One Christmas time Percy and Ose and Sam had been into Randolph for the Christmas dance and were riding back to the ranch. Percy rode Dutch, a roan-colored saddle horse, Ose rode a little brown horse named P.R. (the brand) and Sam rode a bay horse named Jake. It was a beautiful bright moonlit night.

As they approached the Randolph-Sage Creek canal they heard the wolves howling. As the brothers started down the road they could see the wolves' eyes shining in the moonlight. There was a pack of 8-10 wolves, each could weigh 200 pounds.

As they rode on down the lane, one of the wolves went through the fence into a field and Ose went through the gate after him. His horse was the fastest, and he hoped to lasso it. Percy rode on down the lane through the wolves, scattering them. Sam’s horse was slower, not sharp shod, and the road was very slick. Down by the river gate, two wolves came back from the south and Ose and Sam started to chase them. Percy went on over to the adobe house where they were living to get the three greyhound dogs they had there to come and chase the wolves. He couldn’t get the dogs to follow him.

When Percy went back to help his brothers the wolves ran south into the fields and were lost in the cattails. For that night the brothers gave up the chase and went on home to bed. That winter they trapped and shot six wolves. Everybody carried his rifle. In a few years the wolves moved on.

(To be continued)

Picture of Alfreda, Percy, and Ada Rex from Helen Rex Frazier collection. History, Descendants, and ancestry of William Rex & Mary Elizabeth Brough of Randolph, Utah, compiled by Ronald D. Rex, 1999, pgs, 206, 207, 266.