HISTORY OF FAMILY
HOME
By Hannah R. P. Reese
Block 92, Spanish
Fork, Utah County, Utah
Alfred Rees: South
west corner of lot 2, block 92.
A. K. Thurber, Mayor, recorded this property August 10,
1878. George D. Snell, Mayor, transferred it to Alfred Rees for the sum of $2.25,
on March 23, 1877, recorded February 7, 1893, in the Territory of Utah.
It is presently described as address 178 West 4th North.
This property originally had a home on it, built in the
early 1860s, which was a one-room with a lean-to made of adobe. My father and
mother, with three children (Alfred, Ann and Elizabeth) moved into it in the
year 1866. The rest of the children, eight in number, were born in this home:
Margaret, Thomas D., Hannah (Reese), Mary (Nave), Emma Jane (Harward), Leonora (Hansen), Vivian (Morgan), and a son,
stillborn (Vivian’s twin). Margaret died in infancy of whooping cough.
In 1879 two rooms of adobe were built on the west side of
the dining room. In 1900 a kitchen and pantry were built of brick. In 1915 the
home was transferred to daughter, Hannah Rees Phillips (Reese), as her share of
the inheritance from the parents. In 1926 it was remodeled, changing the pantry
into a bathroom, and changing the roof line. Otherwise, the plan of the house
remains unchanged.
My memory takes me back to when we had a fireplace in the
dining room, with a big, slate rock in front, smooth as glass. My mother cooked
with an iron pot hung on a crane. Our first stove was called a “step above” a
Charter Oak. The ashes fell all over as there was no container for them. We had
to clean it out with a fire shovel.
In 1890 my sister Ann, died, leaving three
boys ranging in age from three to seven years (Rees, Fred and Irvine Burt).
They came to live with my parents. In all, we were a large family, with a
number of grandchildren which were born and raised in this home.
In 1890 Father transferred four rods on the southwest corner
of the lot to his son, Alfred J. Rees. He built a one-room frame house, but
later added three more rooms of the same material. It stands there today.
In 1906, Alf sold his home to his sister, Leonora and her
husband, Dan Hansen. In 1912, Elias Hansen purchased it from them. He later
sold it to Hattie Bjearnsen. It was finally
transferred to Helga Jones to be made into two apartments for renting.
Compiled by Hannah Rees Phillips Reese,
April 12, 1951.
[Taken from A Family
Album: a Memoir of Andrew B. Morgan and Vivian Rees Morgan, by Marie Morgan
Vincent, a granddaughter of Alfred and Emma David Rees, p. 46-47.]
