Helen Melvina Groesbeck Morgan and her granddaughters. 1930 census.

Doesn’t this look like a happy gathering? That is great grandmother Helen Melvina (Mellie) Groesbeck Morgan sitting on the front porch of her Bryan Avenue home with her granddaughters, about the time the following census was taken [April 1930].

Last Monday, May 23, 2011, I shared another happy gathering with those granddaughters, meeting them for the first time. A group of granddaughters caravanned to a restaurant to meet, get acquainted, reminisce, listen, learn, and enjoy new found cousins.

These John Hamilton and Helen Melvina (Mellie) Groesbeck Morgan descendants, and the Morgan children they descend through are; L-R Dawn—John Hamilton [II], Helen (Peg)—John Hamilton [II], Flora Lee—Bessie, Irma—John Hamilton [II], Karen—Nicholas Groesbeck, (in front) Marjorie—Nicholas Groesbeck, Gail—Gail, Bessie—Bessie.

I was saddened to learn Marjorie passed away Sunday morning, and extend my sincere condolences to her family. I’m so grateful for everything that worked together for me to reconnect with Marjorie, and ultimately meet her family. I rejoice in her example, and the rich legacy of preserving and sharing family history she left us.

A link to a John Hamilton and Helen Melvina (Mellie) Groesbeck Morgan family group sheet is here.

Links to information about (Ruth Morgan Kunkle), who was living in her mother's home in 1930, can be found here and here and here.

Other posts about this family are linked on here.
I took the picture of our May 23 gathering. Thank you cousin Karen for the picture of Grandmother Mellie and her grand daughters.

Pages from Bessie Morgan Rex's scrapbook.

Bessie Morgan Rex (1891-1938)
I’m going to thumb through some of Bessie Morgan Rex’s scrapbook pages. This scrapbook was lost to our family until about 2009 when Aunt Flora Rex Lamborn was going through some things, it surfaced, and she lent it to me for a few days.

I copied some of her clippings and thoughts.

SHINE WHERE YOU ARE

“Don’t waste your time in longing
For bright impossible things;
Don’t sit supinely yearning
For the swiftness of angel wings;
Don’t spurn to be a rushlight
Because you are not a star;
But brighten some bit of darkness
By shining just where you are.
There is need of the tiniest candle,
As well as the garish sun;
The humblest deed is ennobled
When it is worthily done;
You may never be called to brighten
The darkest regions afar;
So fill, for the day, your mission
By shining just where you are.”

Take time to speak a loving word
Where loving words are seldom heard;
And it will linger in the mind,
And gather others of its kind,
Till loving words will echo where
Erstwhile the heart was poor and bare;
And sometime on the heavenward track
Their music will come echoing back.

The only way to have a friend is to be one. –Emerson

Grandmother Bessie may have clipped and included the following poem in her scrapbook because her mother’s name was Helen Melvina, and her first daughter was named Helen.

Poems I Love by Charles Hansen Towne
“To Helen,” by Edgar Allen Poe
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore,
That gently, O’er a perfumed sea,
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs, have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! In your brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
Are Holy Land! (copyright 1926)

Barton wrote this short piece, "There are Two Seas" for McCall's in 1928.

There Are Two Seas by Bruce BartonThere are two seas in Palestine.
One is fresh, and fish are in it. Splashes of green adorn its banks. Trees spread their branches over it and stretch out their thirsty roots to sip of its healing waters.

Along its shores the children play as children played when He was there. He loved it. He could look across its silver surface when He spoke His parables. And on a rolling plain not far away He fed five thousand people.

The river Jordan makes this sea with sparkling water from the hills. So it laughs in the sunshine. And men build their houses near to it, and birds their nests; and every kind of life is happier because it is there.

The river Jordan flows on south into another sea.

Here no splash of fish, no fluttering of leaf, no song of birds, no children's laughter. Travelers choose another route, unless on urgent business. The air hangs heavy above its water, and neither man nor beast nor fowl will drink.

What makes this mighty difference in these neighbor seas? Not the river Jordan. It empties the same good water into both. Not the soil in which they lie; not the country round about.

This is the difference. The Sea of Galilee receives but does not keep the Jordan. For every drop that flows into it another drop flows out. The giving and receiving go on in equal measure.

The other sea is shrewder, hoarding its income jealously. It will not be tempted into any generous impulse. Every drop it gets, it keeps.

The Sea of Galilee gives and lives. The other sea gives nothing. It is named The Dead.

There are two kinds of people in the world. There are two seas in Palestine.

Several scrapbook pages were filled with chapters from “The Life of Our Lord” by Charles Dickens. The book was first published in 1834. Sometime during the 1920-30’s it appeared in installments in the Salt Lake Tribune. President Gordon B. Hinckley quoted from this book in general conference.

1936 letter from Bessie to her son Harold. Love and kisses from everyone and a special hug from me.

Bessie Morgan Rex about 1936 (1891-1938).

Click on the images below to enlarge

and read this letter from Bessie to her son Harold.

Happy Mother's Day 2011!

The card above and the program below are from

Grandmother Bessie Morgan Rex's scrapbook.

A Little Token of our Love for Mother
from the
RANDOLPH WARD SUNDAY SCHOOL
On Mother's Day, 1927

1929 Mother's Day booklet cover.
from Helen Rex Frazier's "collection of things."

This is the inside back cover of the same booklet.

Glenn Frazier added his 1992 Mother's Day Wishes to me.

1936 Bessie Morgan Rex voted for Alf Landon for President.

This is the last of three pictures of Bessie Morgan Rex that came from her brother Nicholas Morgan's collection of family pictures. Bessie's surviving daughters, Winnie and Flora, conferred together over them a few months back. They concluded then that the two pictures posted here and here could be of their mother, as a young woman; however, they didn't think this one was. I see enough similarities to believe it is Grandmother Bessie, and I'm posting it here with that explanation. Posts about Bessie's life are linked from the Rex Family Index page here.

The letters that follow were written to Harold Morgan Rex by his mother, Bessie, and sister, Helen, while he served a mission in Brazil, South America from 1936-1938. Thank you cousin Yara S. for sharing copies with me.

They are not unlike the letters Helen Melvina (Mellie) Groesbeck Morgan received from her son and saved. She first encouraged her children (Bessie included) to write to their brother, as she was doing, during the years Nicholas Groesbeck Morgan was in Washington D.C. attending law school, 1907-1911.

July 26, 1936, from Bessie to Harold.

My dear son,
Well, I think if I fill this page, that will be all the envelope will hold. Hope the girls have told you all the news.

It is a beautiful morning. The men are leaving for the field—all except Morgan—he is on the lift. My flowers are all blooming . This is the nicest time of the year. I suppose Winnie told you she was home. I am glad that operation [appendectomy?] is over with, and she is home well & sound.

Politics are getting hot. I should certainly like to see Alf Landon get in. He has such a good face & I certainly think he could do better than the present incumbent in that office. See—I’m still a red hot Republican. Well dearie I hope we get a letter tonight. I surely love to hear from you. You could be in no better place for your advancement. Make the best of your time. Love & kisses & the Lords blessing we all send & wish for you.
Lovingly Mother
Note: The brief letter above was on the back side of a letter dated July 26, 1936 from Helen Rex to her brother Harold. Within Helen's letter she wrote:

My dear 21 Year Old Brother:

Politics are getting hot. Governor Landon is surely a grand man. In his acceptance speech, he said, “In accepting this leadership I pray for divine guidance to make me worthy of the faith and the confidence which you have shown in me.”? I surely think that is grand.

My Dear Missionary,
We just received your letter of Sept 5. I am simply stunned by your account of how you were treated by that mob. It is a good thing there was nothing about it in the papers here or I should have been frantic. As it is, I am—well, just (flabbergasted). My dear—be careful. Those people are not to be trusted. I do hope you have been transferred. What did your mission president think of it? Of course, your grandfather [John Hamilton Morgan] stood that kind of treatment for many years, but I don’t want my boy to have to go thro’ it in these days. Hope by now you are in civilization.

We were surely glad to hear from you. We hadn’t had a letter for two weeks. Yesterday was general conference. All the mission presidents from everywhere but S. A. spoke. I said you might as well be on another planet. Conference was grand on the Columbia broadcast, which lasts for half an hour.

Apostles Widstoe & Ballard spoke. They were simply fine. Bro. Ballard should convert the world. He is surely fine.

We received your report today also are you in debt? It shows you have spent more than you have had. I wonder what you are doing for money.

I was in S. L. [Salt Lake] last week & saw Winnie. She looks fine, & is so sweet. She had not heard from you for two weeks.

It is turning cold & the leaves are nearly gone from the Cottonwood trees. Never mind, let the seasons fly fast and the sooner you will be home.

I hope you have written to Bro. Larsen & Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones brought you in a dollar you know. Calvin is in the hospital with heart trouble. Paul has been sick all summer. She has had lots of trouble this summer.

Rachel Wilson & Alice were in last eve. Alice has been home from the hospital for about two months with poisoning. She looks bad. Don’t forget to send a pressed orchid if you can. Rachel took the stamps off your letter. Matt likes the Y just fine.

Morgan helps at the picture show. He is sleepy this morning. Up at 5:30 to milk Elmo Jackson’s cows. Elmo is off working.

My, I thought I should quit with one

page & here is another.

Did Helen tell you Jean was married? Some transient C.C.C.

Aunt Agnes had her tonsils out. Ruby & Glen will soon be in their new home. Politics is flying in the air. I entertained the Natl Committee woman last week from S. L. She knows Rulon Howell. The presiden [sic, present] authorities are all voting for Landon. I hope he gets in, but I am afraid. Bishop is up for Rep. again. His own people here tho’ would down him. I get angry. Gov. Blood hasn’t a chance. He is down the list in the straw polls. It will all be over by the time you get this. Do you get a paper with news from U.S. Say, I’ll bet the news of a mobbing wouldn’t be allowed to get out of Brazil. It would be censored.

Here Daddy will be in for his breakfast & I haven’t got it ready.

Willa T. is taking German at the Y [B.Y.U.]. I’ll tell her to write to you when she gets along a little with it. Mearl certainly did some talking I think to get these kids down there. He is certainly an influence for good in the town. He is so sensible & has such high ideals.

These teachers who have been in college but have no mission are nothing to compare with one like him.

I sent a story into the Tribune. I expect it back tho’ Haven’t much faith have I? But if they will show me my mistakes I shall be happy.

Well dearie, I must close now. I can’t help but worry some about you. Do be careful.

I’m afraid the news will be all over town this morning. Maeser told his daddy in front of some men down at the corner.

Well love & kisses and our prayers are with you. I know you are protected. Write soon and as often as you [can] to keep us reassured.

Lovingly, Mother

Now I understand why this picture of Alf Landon was in Bessie’s scrapbook and filled an entire page. Grandmother Bessie was a patriot.

I almost expected to see a picture of George Washington, leaning against the pillar of his home in Alexandria, with a woodchip on it, just as her brother Nick described it in his letter home to Bessie and their mother in an earlier post here. I don't recall seeing a picture of George Washington in her scrapbook.

The picture of Alf Landon is from Bessie's scrapbook.