Places of Significance: Mesa, Arizona

I recently sat down with Ralph and we scrolled through my camera roll, looking at photos that he or my parents had shared with me of the various homes family members had lived in, as well as other places of significance, in Mesa, Arizona. Here's the roundup!

As you see these photos and read through the descriptions, if these trigger any memories, we'd love to hear! Please reach out and share!

257 S Hobson Street

This is the duplex where George and Kate Findlay lived, with teenage daughters Ina and Ella, when they first arrived in Mesa from Scotland in 1949. It's on the corner of S Hobson and East 3rd Avenue. They lived here until George built a home for them, just a few houses away.

How long did they live here? (until 1953?) How many bedrooms? Square feet? Any unique features about it? Has it changed much since the family lived here?

257 S Hobson Street
Photo taken October 2016

251 S Hobson Street

This is the home that George Findlay built for his family, which was under construction when Ralph and Ella got married in March of 1953. It's just north of the duplex where the Findlays were living when they first moved to Mesa.

How long did they live here? (until 1953?) How many bedrooms? Square feet? Any unique features about it? Has it changed much since the family lived here?

251 S Hobson Street

Photo taken October 2016

323 S Lesueur Avenue
This is the home where Earl and Bertha Inglish lived, and where Ralph was living (in the basement) when he was in his senior year of high school and he met Ella.

This was the first house that Earl and Bertha owned. Prior to that they had always been in rentals. 

How long did they live here? How many bedrooms? Square feet? Any unique features about it? Has it changed much since the family lived here?

Ralph shared his Uncle Ray built this home, using money he received from his GI Bill after World War II. In fact, Ralph helped dig out the basement with his cousin Don Johnson. (By hand?) It was a one-room basement, with an outside stairway. (That's how basements were built at the time - more for storage.)

323 S Lesueur Avenue

Photo taken October 2016

323 S Lesueur Avenue

Photo taken October 2016

323 S Lesueur Avenue
Photo taken May 2018

629 East Main Street
This the Dairy Queen where Ralph would occasionally work as a teenager. The exterior hadn't changed much in 70 years. Unfortunately, this building was razed in May 2018.

When Ralph was growing up, there were two Dairy Queens in Mesa, owned by two brothers. Milford Wray had the location on Country Club Drive on the west end of Mesa, just south of Main Street. And his brother Jesse Wray had the location on Main Street in the east side of Mesa near the LDS temple.

Ralph usually worked at the location at Country Club Drive - from his sophomore to senior years of high school, about 2 1/2 years - but he would help clean the east location sometimes as well. Ella would come down and help too - this was when they were dating. 

The location at 629 East Main Street had a simple set up: it was an ice cream dispensary with 2 doors, two windows that they served ice cream from. No place to sit down and eat it - walk up only (not even picnic tables outside.) But despite all this, it was still a popular place!

The location at Country Club Drive is still in operation, though the building has been rebuilt.

629 East Main Street
Photo taken May 2018

446 East Broadway Road
In the 1950s, this was known as the LDS 5th Ward Chapel, and this is where Ralph and Ella held their wedding reception. It was just about a block away from Earl and Bertha's home at 323 S Lesueur Avenue, on the corner of E Broadway Road and S Lesueur Street. It's no longer an LDS chapel but rather a school (called the New Horizon School).

Former LDS 5th Ward Chapel
Photo taken October 2016

Former LDS 5th Ward Chapel
Photo taken October 2016

1012 S Horne Street
This is the home where Bertha Inglish and daughters Juanita and Hugh Ophelia lived after they were all widows. (Love the pink! Though looking at the current home on Google, it's now white.) 

My favorite story about the three of them I've heard thus far is about the VW bug they'd cruise around in together! Hah! And how they would frequent the Dairy Queen together, like Three Musketeers.

1012 S Horne Street

Photo courtesy of cousin SB

..........

Sources:

• Photos taken by Ralph and/or BR.
• Details from conversations with Ralph on 28 October 2019 and 15 January 2020.
• More information about the closure of the Dairy Queen at 629 East Main Street: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/mesa/2018/05/07/mesa-dairy-queen-main-street-shutters/587808002/

Questions:

• What other places of significance should we include here?
• The home where Ralph's Uncle Ray lived? Also on S Lesueur, right next to Grandma Bertha and Grandpa Earl Inglish?

Would love to:

• Plot all of these on a map. Add that to the to-do list!

Ralph: Living on the Farm in Mesa

In 1946, when Ralph was 12 years old, Lester and Juanita moved their young family from Lomita, California, back to Mesa, Arizona. Ralph’s three younger half brothers were about ages four and under, with the youngest, Eddie, being about six months old. Lester had bought a farm of 19 acres outside of “town” (Mesa’s population was about 10,000 at the time).(1) 

Half their family’s farm was down in a valley and half on a rocky hill. Lester farmed the valley part, growing mostly hay to feed their family’s farm animals, but they had a vegetable garden as well (including tomatoes and cantaloupe). They also had several hives of bees up on the hill, providing honey for their family and also for sale.

Approximately where Ralph's family's farm was located in Mesa, Arizona, near that red oval. It was between North Alma
School Road and North Country Club Drive, with the housealong the canal and the hill to the south.

There was a small home on the property. It was approximately 500-700 square feet, and only 4 rooms: kitchen, living, two bedrooms with one off of the living room and one off the kitchen, with no hallways. Lester and Juanita and the two youngest brothers (in cribs) slept in one bedroom (off of the living room), with Ralph and the brother just younger than him in the room off of the kitchen.

Ralph's sketch of the farm  house in Mesa

The only glass windows were in the living room and kitchen. The bedrooms had only screened openings covered by a framed canvas that could be opened from the inside.

There was an upright piano in the living room, which they had moved with them from California, but Ralph can't recall anyone ever playing it. 

And in this home there was no indoor plumbing or electricity at the time, but they had some creative solutions to address that.

Running Water in the Kitchen
There was a canal that ran (and still does) north of their property, with a well a half mile down the road that dumped into the canal from a 24-inch pipe. The well was above ground and Ralph would haul water from the well in the canal, 4-5 buckets full each day, in the back of a 1939 Ford Coupe, similar to the one below.

Image Source

To have water more easily accessible in the kitchen, Lester installed a big tank above the house, and they’d pour the buckets of water from the well into that tank so that Juanita would have water in the kitchen. The water was seemingly from a faucet, but it came from the tank on top of their home. For hot water, they’d fill a kettle or pot and heat it on the wood burning stove. 

The kitchen sink and drainboard were under the window, with the wood stove to the left and a table and chairs in the corner by the partition between the living room and kitchen.

Baths and Showers

Image Source: eBay
(Google search: wash tubs for baths vintage)

They initially didn’t have a shower at their little home either; rather, they would take a sponge bath in a basin, usually once a week on Saturday evening. Depending on the season, the basin might be behind the home or moved inside. Grandpa Earl Inglish (Juanita’s father) also offered another option: He worked as an engineer at the Mesa Arizona Temple, and there happened to be a shower in the furnace building, so he would invite the family to come up to bathe.

Then Lester got the idea to build a shower at home. He crafted a wooden frame shower stall, wrapped it with canvas, included a door, and the floor was a wooden pallet so water would run through. This was built on the edge of the yard so the water would runoff down into the brush.

He then took an old wash tub (that held about 5 to 7 gallons) that had a drain on the bottom and set it on top of the shower roof, which was also made from a pallet. 

On the bottom of the tub, they installed a hose fitting with a sprinkler head. They would heat up water in a bucket on the stove, then climb up a ladder and pour it in the tub above the shower. Problem solved! (“Just like uptown,“ Ella said. Lol!)

After some time, the shower was moved into the corner of the bedroom off the kitchen (Ralph's room), with the tub and sprinkler just outside the frame. (See Ralph's sketch, above.)

Washing Clothes

A Maytag washing machine from the 1930s,
similar to what Ralph's family owned
Image Source

On wash day, Ralph's job was to heat up water in a great big steel barrel, then put the water in the tubs and the washing machine. The washing machine was manufactured by Maytag - it was gas powered with a round tub with the agitator, and a wringer that would swing 360 degrees to wring clothes from the washer into rinse tubs, then wring them to dry.

The “dryer” was a 20-foot long clothes line on the east side of the front year. There was grass planted beneath it in clase the clothes dropped to the ground they wouldn’t get dirty.

A Maytag washing machine from the 1930s, similar to what Ralph’s family owned.

The Privy
At this time, the majority of farm houses like theirs had an outdoor privy (outhouse), most of which were built by the Works Projects Administration (WPA).(2) 

Sears, Roebuck, and Co. catalog from 1948
Image Source

They were all built the same, with a slanted roof, the toilet seat on the diagonal, and a vent tube up from the bottom that went to the outside for the vapers to go outside. Like many households at the time, they often used the Sears, Roebuck, and Co. catalog as toilet paper - its paper was thin, like newspaper, not thick and glossy like catalogs today.

Ralph's rendition of a WPA outhouse
and two "nationalities" using it

How would they clean out the outhouse? Well, they didn’t. And there was no service to come around to clean it out either. So after a few years, when waste would get within a couple feet of the surface, they would remove the wooden outhouse from the cement slab base (attached by screws), dig another hole, move the outhouse and cement slab base, and fill in the previous hole with dirt.

Ralph also remembers: While their outhouse had only one hole, some had two to three holes. Their outhouse was painted white on the outside with the inside being bare wood. And the fellow who owned their home before them would chew tobacco while doing his business and spit it on the inside walls of the outhouse. Gross. 

Ralph's hilarious description of the outhouses of his youth

Food Preparation and Preservation
During their first 2-3 years in the home, their family had a wood stove in the kitchen. Ralph was responsible for keeping the wood stocked, which he would chop or collect on their property, and he would also start the fire in the morning.

Image Source

The stove was large, about the size of a loveseat, with the firebox on one end - that’s where you’d put the wood in. And there were great big lids on the stove top with a little metal handle/crank to lift them up and put additional wood in. The hottest part of the stove top was near the firebox; you couldn’t turn the burner down like on today’s stoves but instead you’d move the pots further away from the fire. 

There was also the oven portion of the stove, which was separate space from the firebox, and the heat would radiate around the oven. The oven itself had a thermometer on the front and it kept a pretty even temperature.

Ralph recalls that his mother was really good cooking on a wood stove, making soup, bread, etc., and even rabbit.(3) 

At this time, they also didn’t have a refrigerator, but the iceman delivered 50 pounds of ice twice a week. The ice box was located in the corner of Ralph's bedroom (where the shower would eventually be moved to.)

To keep pans of milk and butter cold, Lester devised another creative solution: He built a wooden-frame cabinet, stapled burlap around it, and they’d pour water on the top and as it ran down the sides, the water would evaporate and it would reduce the temperature significantly, perhaps by 15-20 degrees. 

At some point, Ralph had decided that his mother needed two things and that he could help get those for her: 1) an electric stove, and 2) a refrigerator. So when he was old enough, about age 14 or 15, he went to work at Wright’s Super Market in downtown Mesa making 50 cents an hour. And he subsequently made a deal with his uncle Ray Inglish who owned an appliance store in neighboring Gilbert, AZ -- Inglish Electric. He did it. He bought his mother a stove and a refrigerator, with Uncle Ray signing for him, and Ralph paid him back: $7 a month for the range and an additional $6 a month for the refrigerator. 

Ironically, they got these appliances even before they had electricity wired in their home. They knew that the electricity would soon be available on the outskirts of town, so the appliances sat out behind their home until the electricity was routed to their property.

Churning Butter

Image Source

Using milk from their own cow, Ralph would help his family make butter. Originally they would do so by shaking a 2 quart bottle filled with milk, and they would shake and shake and shake until the butter formed, and the residual liquid left over was the slightly sour buttermilk.

Their family eventually got a butter paddle churn. It was maybe a 2 gallon size glass jar that had little wood paddles inside that were connected to a crank that extended out the top. It was designed so that the milk had to bump around the four corners of the jar. As you turn the crank, the paddles moved the liquid to hit the sides - similar to shaking the bottle but much less labor intensive. 

When using this device you had to be careful of two things: The gears were exposed, so don’t get your fingers caught! Also, don’t turn the crank too quickly, as they would whip the milk rather churn it into butter. 

Antique Butter Churn
Image Source: eBay

Believe it or not, about 15-20 years ago when Ralph and Ella were visiting family in Oklahoma, Ralph was browsing in an antique shop in the city of Jenks and he saw a butter churn just like the one he used as a kid. He thinks that Lester and Juanita paid $4.39 for theirs, having saved up for a couple months. The price at the antique shop? $1600. (Not a typo.)

Pest Control
Each morning it was Ralph's duty to check the scorpion traps. Arizona is known for many scorpions, and Ralph feels they had more than their fair share, both in and around the house! 

Their scorpion "traps" consisted of a 2  x 12  x 24 board placed on the ground, over a slightly dug out area. This would create a cool, damp area, just what the scorpions like. They had four or five such traps places around and under the house. 

Every morning Ralph would find between one and six critters in various sizes, and they didn't move quickly, and were thus easy to smash. 

This arrangement seemed to keep the scorpions out of their house, but not out of Ralph's shoes if left outside. He was stung on the foot on more than one occasion!

Irrigating the Farm
When Lester bought the farm, he unfortunately didn’t have water rights - in other words, the right to make use of water from the canal to irrigate his land. The previous owner had defaulted on his payments, which meant that a subsequent owner would need to pay the debt to reclaim the rights, but in this case it was way too expensive to do so. 

Instead, Lester occasionally made an arrangement with neighbors on the hill to allow their water to overflow and come down the canyon to their property.  He also bought a gas powered pump and pumped water out of the canal. Illegal? Probably so, but nobody complained and he didn’t get caught! He also did drill a well but was never financially able to put a pump in it. 

Arrangements with Neighbors
Across the canal from Ralph’s family’s property was a dairy farm run by a mom and dad and son who was two years ahead of Ralph in high school This farm milked 20-plus cows daily, and Lester had made an agreement with them to purchase milk for 25 cents a bottle. 

To have the milk “delivered,” Lester built a wooden box that held two half-gallon bottles that was attached to a rope and pulley that crossed the canal at the location of the milking barn. When Ralph’s family would send bottles over, the neighboring farm would fill them with fresh, warm milk that they would drink and use on their cereal, and Juanita would also make cottage cheese and butter, the latter for use at home and for sale. 

..........

Ralph describing how he churned butter as a kid on the farm in Mesa.
Filmed 28 October 2018.

..........

We live in such luxury now! What will future generations say about our day and age? Ralph points out that these living arrangements were certainly a step back from what they had in California, but as a young kid, he didn't really realize it at the time.

..........

Would love to add: Photos of the farm and the home. Ralph said he has some!

..........

Sources and Notes:
From a conversation with Ralph recorded on 13 April 2018, and additional texts sent on 3-5 Sept 2018. Also a video from 28 October 2018.

1. In 1946, I guesstimate that the population of Mesa was about 10,000 persons - I couldn’t find data for 1946 specifically. Per the US Census, the population of Mesa, AZ, in 1940 was 7,224. In 1950, it was 16,790. Quite the population boom in that 10 years! By the time Ralph and Ella married in March 1953, Ralph remembers there were still only 4 stop lights in Mesa.
2. For more information about the Works Projects Administration, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration.
3. Another family story that needs to be written down: The time that Juanita cooked up her grandkids’ pet bunny for dinner. What? Rabbits were for eating, not for pets!

Places of Significance: City of Mesa Cemetery

Among the Italian cypress and orange citrus trees of the City of Mesa Cemetery, lay buried several members of our family - possibly the largest gathering of our family's graves. If you happen to visit sometime, here’s a PDF of the cemetery map, with locations of each family member noted below. 

Image Source

On Ralph’s side:
His mother and step-father

• Juanita Inglish (1906-1995) - Block 190, Lot 1, Grave 8 
• Lester Johnson (1891-1960) - Block 190, Lot 1, Grave 6

His maternal grandparents

• Earl Inglish (1873-1958) - Block 531, Lot 1, Grave 1
• Bertha Clarice Copeland (1882-1977) - Block 531, Lot 1, Grave 2 

His uncles (mother’s brothers)

• Alvin Inglish (1914-1943) - Block 531, Lot 1,  Grave 3

• Rayburn Earl Inglish (1911-2003) - Block 531, Lot 1, Grave 8

On Ella’s side:
Her father and mother

• George Findlay (1903-1970) - Block 549, Lot 4, Grave 8
• Ursula Katherine Bruce (1904-1990) - Block 549, Lot 4, Grave 7

Her sister and brother-in-law

• Charlesina Findlay (1928-2015) - Block 14, Lot 5, Grave 6c (companion grave)
• Frank Bond Slade (1924-1988) -  Block 14, Lot 5, Grave 6c (companion grave)

Recipe: Six Generations of Cornbread Stuffing

There are as many variations of Thanksgiving stuffing as there are variations of any type of side dish, with cornbread stuffing being just one style. However, I hadn't realized until this past Thanksgiving that cornbread stuffing has been a holiday staple in the family for at least six generations.

Ralph remembers his grandmother, Bertha Clarice Copeland (1882-1977), making it, as well as his own mother, Juanita Inglish (1906-1995). It naturally follows that Ralph would continue to make it for his own children, and thus it continues. Ralph describes how when his children were young, they would make a big batch, stuff the turkey with some, and bake the rest in a pan -- the stuffing that was in the turkey usually had a different flavor as it had more of the turkey juices. 

In my household (the fifth and sixth generations from Bertha), it ranks up there with pumpkin pie as a favorite dish of our Thanksgiving meal! We make extra, just to make sure we have leftovers!

There's no written recipe for Bertha's version, per se, but it traditionally includes crumbled cornbread, chopped celery, chopped boiled eggs, turkey giblets, juice from the cooked turkey, and spices. 

I generally need a recipe to follow, so this is the variation we've come up with:

KF's Cornbread Stuffing

• Bake cornbread (equivalent of 12 muffins or one pan); crumble and set aside in a bowl. 
• In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute 1 bunch of celery (chopped), 1 basket of mushrooms (about 8-10 oz, sliced; sausage or turkey giblets is also tasty), 1 yellow onion (diced), 1/4 c dried parsley, 1 Tbs dried sage, 1 Tbs dried rosemary, 1 Tbs dried thyme. Add to the crumbled cornbread in the bowl. 
• Mix in 1 cup dried cranberries (chopped even more finely) and 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth. 
• Put in an unbuttered casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. 

Anyone else in the family have a variation on cornbread stuffing that they make? If so, please share! And bon appetit!

..........

Sources:

• From a phone conversation with Ralph, 27 Dec 2015. 
• From a conversation with BR, Dec 2015. 

Inglish Pioneers

One Sunday as I was preparing a lesson for my Sunday School class on the Mormon pioneers, I wanted to challenge my students to learn about the first members of the church in their own families. It was at that point, ironically, I realized I didn’t know the details of the first converts on Grandpa Ralph’s side of the family. Here’s what I’ve discovered!

Please keep in mind: Because some of the information we have is from second-hand accounts, we’re trying to not make too many assumptions but represent the facts as they are.

..........

Earl and Bertha Inglish, Ralph's Grandparents

When Ralph’s grandparents⇀Earl Inglish (1873-1958) and wife Bertha Clarice Copeland Inglish (1882-1977)⇀ left Fannin County, Texas, they were moving west to follow better work opportunities. Earl was a machinist by trade, working primarily on cotton gins, moving to new locations with his family as employment was available. They would stay for a time (a year or so? we’re unsure) while Earl would fix the machinery and get it in good working order, then would move to another spot when the work was finished and his skills were needed elsewhere.

Murray Cotton Gin in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas.
(Image source and more information)

Eventually, Earl and Bertha would embark on a journey west, with the area near Mesa, Arizona, as their ultimate destination. Despite having their sites set on Arizona, they were also cautious about settling there: family members (likely well-intentioned) had warned them that it was an area full of Mormons, and they shouldn’t want anything to do with them.(1)

Sometime between 1915 and 1920,(2) they loaded up their Ford Model T with their possessions and provisions, and with 4 of their eventually 7 children:(3) Juanita Inglish (1906-1995) - Ralph’s Mother; Hugh Ophelia Inglish (1909-1987)​; Rayburn Earl Inglish (1911-2003)​; and Alvin Inglish (1914-1943). At that time, Earl would have been in his mid 40s, and Bertha in her mid 30s.

Earl, Bertha, Alvin, and Carl, in front of a Ford Model T, taken in the mid 1920s. (We’re not sure whether it’s the same car they drove from Texas or whether they had a larger one.)

The approximately 1,100-mile journey from their home in eastern Texas to Arizona would take them quite some time, at least several months and as long as 1 or 2 years. By today’s standards, it would be about a 16-hour drive. Their funds were limited, but Earl and Bertha kept going: they would drive as far as they had money for gas, then would settle for a time to find work locally and earn enough money to then move further along their route.

The approximately 1,100-mile journey from Fannin County, TX, 
to Maricopa County, AZ.

Along they way, they lived in a “dugout”⇀a hole dug several feet deep over which they would pitch their tent. This would be their living quarters for the time being, until they packed up and moved to another location. Particularly across the plains of Texas and New Mexico, having their tent submerged partially below ground in the dugout would help to protect their temporary accommodations from the harsh winds that would blow across the land. (4)

We’re not sure what year the family left Texas, how long their journey took, or where they stopped along the way, but they eventually ended up in Mesa, Arizona. According to family accounts, one day when Bertha was in town, she overheard someone say that the Mormons were going to build a temple there.(5) Wary of this development, she and Earl determined they needed to go further west out of town. According to census records, by January 1920 they were settled in the Cartwright Precinct, Maricopa County, Arizona.(6)

While they were moving to the west beyond Mesa, they temporarily camped along the new Highway 60 that was being built to California.(7) At some point, between 1920 and 1924, they camped near a gentleman named William Percy Johnson (“Percy”), who was working on the highway.(8)(9) Percy’s job was to keep the concrete wet so it didn’t cure too quickly and crack. The crew would start a section of the highway, get it poured, and keep that section wet for a while, while the rest of the crew continued on. He would be in a spot for a time (a few months or more?), camping with his wife and children and moving locations as the work moved. Although Percy and his family were kind of nomadic, they would plant a garden near their tent that yielded enough produce to provide for their own needs plus some excess.

William Percy Johnson and his wife Ethelyn (Image source)

One day, the Inglishes met Percy Johnson as they were camped nearby, and they received produce from him (either given or purchased, we’re not sure). During their interaction, they learned that Percy and his family were Mormons, and Percy was a stake missionary who took the opportunity to share about their beliefs.

As the Inglishes learned more about the doctrines of the Church, Earl was especially receptive. Growing up, his family was members of the Methodist church, and his father (Alexander Soloman Inglish, 1838-1923) was a devout student of the Bible, even writing articles on various biblical subjects.(10) Alexander taught Earl, his oldest son, that the church that Christ had established when he was on the earth needed to be restored, and that he should seek for that restored church. In particular, what converted Earl to Mormonism was learning about the restoration of the Levitical Priesthood to the earth, as this was something in particular that he had studied in the scriptures and was seeking.

Bertha was also a student of the Bible (she was raised in the Baptist faith), though she was initially more reticent to join the Church. However, she soon became converted and they, along with 4 of their children (Juanita, Hugh Opehlia, Rayburn, and Alvin), were all baptized and confirmed on the same day - 16 February 1924.(11) Earl was now 50 years old; Bertha was 41.

Although the Inglishes didn’t attend church regularly at first⇀after all, they were still moving around a lot⇀they attended services when they were able to and they became more active when they were later settled in Mesa.

That decision to be baptized was the start of a legacy of church members, still going even 6 generations later.

..........

Sources:

• Phone calls with Ralph on 9 Aug 2013 and 11 Aug 2013
• Phone call with CI (son of Earl and Bertha) on 9 Aug 2015
• Phone call with AP (granddaughter of Earl and Bertha) on 30 Aug 2015

Notes:

1. An interesting fact but not essential: Family accounts differ as to who counseled them to avoid interactions with Mormons: Was it Bertha’s mother, Mary Ann McRae Copeland (1853-1899), who was firmly Baptist? Or Earl’s mother, Martha Ophelia Skipwith (1851-1934), a devout Methodist?
2. Earl and Bertha left Texas sometime after their son Alvin was born in 1914 but they were living in Cartwright, AZ, by January 1920, according to census records. See "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCR2-VFF : accessed 31 August 2015), Earl Inglish, Cartwright, Maricopa, Arizona, United States; citing sheet 5B, family 86, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,820,049.
3. Earl and Bertha had 7 children together, 4 of which made the journey with them from Texas to Arizona. The three who didn’t come did so for various reasons: the oldest, Paul Inglish (1902-1903) passed away as a child; the youngest, Carl Alexander Inglish (1922), was not yet born; and according to family accounts, Garland Ross Inglish Sr. (1904-1992) wasn’t with the family when they made the initial journey, but he must have joined them by 1920 as he’s listed in the household in the 1920 census. See "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCR2-VFF : accessed 31 August 2015), Earl Inglish, Cartwright, Maricopa, Arizona, United States; citing sheet 5B, family 86, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,820,049.
4. Find more information about dugouts here, which were common during this time of “frontier development.” Despite their dugout having a dirt floor, Earl and Bertha’s daughter Ophelia is said to have declared, when being asked to help with the chores: “Why do I have to sweep this floor when it’s dirt anyway?!”
5. The Mesa Arizona Temple was announced on 3 October 1919, with the groundbreaking on 25 April 1922 and the dedication 23-26 October 1927. During the last two years of construction, tours were available as a public open house.
6. Earl and Bertha’s residence is listed as Cartwright, AZ, in the January 1920 census. (But where is Cartwright, Arizona? From researching online, it looks like it’s an area in Phoenix?) See "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCR2-VFF : accessed 31 August 2015), Earl Inglish, Cartwright, Maricopa, Arizona, United States; citing sheet 5B, family 86, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,820,049.)
7. Based on information here, Highway 60 was completed in 1927. CI related that Phoenix seemed like the edge of the frontier at the time, with mostly dirt roads billowing up dust behind cars as they drove. He recalls that it was common for men to be working on the highways, as there were so many roads being built.
8. In the 1920 Census, William Percy Johnson, with his wife and their first 2 children, were living in San Antonio Ward 5, Bexar, Texas. We can assume they moved to Arizona sometime after that then. Also, Earl, Bertha, and family were baptized in 1924, which means they must have met before then. See "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCMT-1Q5 : accessed 31 August 2015), William Johnson, San Antonio Ward 5, Bexar, Texas, United States; citing sheet 13B, family 321, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,821,777.
9. William Percy Johnson was the older brother of Lester Johnson, who would marry Jaunita Inglish in 1941 and become Ralph’s stepfather, making Percy Ralph’s step-uncle.
10. Unfortunately, the articles that Alexander Soloman Inglish wrote were lost when the church that kept them burned in a fire.
11. When the rest of the Inglish family was baptized, the oldest son, Garland, was already married (in 1923) and living on his own, but he would be baptized at a later time. Carl, the youngest child, would have been about 1 ½ years old at the time.