2021...

When Elise was here, before Christmas, she brought our attention to a fact in Roy's history that was previously unknown to him. Great grandma Teeny's (Rasband) maiden name was Mongomery, but as you go back a little, you see that her father and grandfather were both Horrocks. She wrote the following:

(Father of John Lowery Montgomery)

by Teenie M. Rasband

John Horrocks was born April 14, 1821, in Lostock, Lancashire, England. He was the son of James, born December 1782, and Ann Howarth Horrocks, born August 11, 1796. He was the second of nine children. Joseph, born June 17, 1819; John, born April 14, 1821; James, born September 25, 1823; (who died as an infant), the next child, born March 21, 1826; was a boy and they named him James, also [it being a custom of the English to give the baby the same name as the one who had died just before if they were of the same sex]. Ann, born January 16, 1829; Thomas, born October 20, 1831; Betty, born August 13, 1834; (she died as an infant); the next child was also named Betty, born November 24, 1836; and Mary, born November 22, 1839.

John, his first wife, Ann Horrocks (they were cousins) and their children were weavers of silk while living in England. They had three silk looms. John and his wife were the proud parents of eight children, but they lost five while in England. Their children are Mary, born May 7, 1843; (married Joseph Walker Taylor); Roger, born October 5, 1844 (married Sarah Ann Taylor); Ann, born May 2, 1846 (who died); the second Ann (who also died), born August 2, 1849, was next; Rachael, born December 26, 1853 (married Robert S. Duke); James (who died), born May 29, 1856; Betsy (who died), born May 19, 1858; and John (who also died), born July 15, 1860.

John was a tall, sober and very strict man. He was always punctual and precise in all his dealings and duties. He was a religious man who, at one time, was a Methodist Minister in England. After he and his family joined the Church, he held numerous Church callings.

Following the family's conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the family boarded the ship (1866)"The Arkwright" in Liverpool, England, en route to Utah to make a new home. They boarded the ship at night to sleep on board in order to catch the morning tide. When the ship had put out to sea John and his three living children: Mary, Roger, and Rachael discovered that his wife, Ann, was not among the passengers as she should have been. Of course, he and the children were frantic, but no word could be had from her until after they had reached Utah many weeks later. She had been drugged and kidnapped by one of her brothers during the night because he was so bitter against the Mormons and her intentions of coming to Utah to live. Her mother was dead, her father was bedridden with rheumatism and she had taken care of him and kept house for her two brothers. They bitterly hated the Mormons but it was a cruel thing to steal her away from her husband and family. It was three years before she was able to come to Utah and in that time her hair turned from black to snow white from the sorrow of being separated from her family.

John Horrocks and the three children were six weeks on the sea and experienced an unusually rough voyage. The captain of the ship told them at the completion of the trip that he had been fearful of their ever landing. Then they were nine weeks crossing the plains and mountains to Utah. While on both land and sea, they and the other Mormons held meetings often to voice their thanks and faith in the Lord. On arriving in Utah they came to Heber Valley to make their home. They experienced the privations, hard work, worry as well as the many simple pleasures of those early pioneer days. They wove jeans (a mixture of wool and cotton) the material all pioneers used for clothes and in later years they wove rags into carpets.

It was late in August 24, 1867, the same year of his arrival, John married Mary Rogers Lowery Montgomery, she being a widow of over three years. John Lowery Montgomery was born August 30, 1868, to this union. They lived together as husband and wife until 1869, when John's first wife, Ann, arrived from England.

Ann was not in agreement with the practice of Polygamy, therefore, John moved out of Mary's home to live with Ann and left Mary to rear her children, including John Lowery, on her own. In later years John Lowery told his children that the only memory he has of his father is a single, small gift he was given as a small child at Christmas time. [Family aren't sure about this perspective.]

John Horrocks was Stake Sunday School Superintendent of Wasatch County for many years and lived to the age of 75 and passed away July 16, 1896. He is buried in the Heber City Cemetery.

ADDENDUM

John Horrocks' son, John Lowery, does not carry the surname of Horrocks. When John Lowery was 13 years old he was called to a meeting to be ordained a Deacon. Some of the older members of the Church, who were there to ordain him a Deacon, told him that by the teachings of the Gospel, he was Robert Montgomery's son (he was the first husband of his mother and to whom she is sealed). They told him his name would be Montgomery from then on and they told all the brethren there to call him by Montgomery. Before he married Sarah Ellen Moulton he went to Judge A. C. Hatch and asked him if he should marry under the name of Montgomery or Horrocks. He was told that Montgomery was his name on the records and no one could dispute his name.

The preceding is a compilation of information provided by Teenie Montgomery Rasband (granddaughter) and information gleaned from a hand-written, one-page, life sketch of John Horrocks of unknown origin. (John Lane Montgomery).

We have rolled into 2021, but as someone mentioned in church this morning, it's really just a date on a calendar. Things haven't changed much since Dec. 31. As we enter 2021, we are still in the midst of a pandemic--there is still political unrest and so on, but we have hope that the new year will bring good things.

Like most of the world, we have pandemic fatigue and we're tired of isolating and tired of staying home. Since Caitlyn's wedding, when we were all together as a family for two days/evenings in a row, we've kind of given up trying to avoid large family gatherings. We had Dan's family over (mentioned in last week's letter) the night after Christmas, then Roy and I went to Park City for a few nights just to get away.

Roy planned outdoor skating for Monday, but it was snowing and I wasn't about to skate in an inch of snow, so we were allowed to change our tickets to Tuesday. It was a little scarier to skate on outdoor ice.

Roy is just pretending to skate in the picture on the right--he's actually an okay skater

He said his feet were warm. Mine were blocks of ice.
It was colder than 30 degrees

Bruce Oblad loves a good deal. At the old Smith's on 2600 they used to have baskets of clearance. When Bruce would find these baskets, he would stock up on candy or hot chocolate or whatever. I guess it doesn't look very classy, to have grocery carts full of sale items, so they don't do it in the new Smith's. However, they apparently still do it in Park City. They had a steal on mincemeat. 24 cents per jar. However, it's not a bargain if you never use it 😊. Roy does make fruit cake, but he usually buys the mincemeat with bourbon. It's pretty expensive. Maybe he can mix the two together next year. If we don't use it we only wasted 24 cents.

When we came home we had Nick and Adrienne and their families over for dinner. We had purposely not planned anything on New Year's Eve, which turned out well because Adrienne and AJ decided to host a New Year's Eve get together at their home. We were all there except Dan and Jieun and their family, and of course, Elise and Andy and their family. Jieun wasn't feeling well, and I'm sure they were being protective of Yuli. They sent their regrets and a picture of a smiling Yuli: I'm not sure how they captured this smile on a 2 week old baby.

Adrienne with Camden Gunnar, Adrienne and AJ

Ila and Avie Nick, Sara and Camden

The above pictures were from Dec. 30th.

It was fun to welcome the New Year with so many of our family members. Adrienne and AJ ordered pizza and made salad, and we played games. Matt and AJ gave us all a great Fireworks show. As usual the kids had a great time together. As is also usual, it wouldn't hardly be a Rasband family gathering if someone didn't get hurt. This time it was Avie's turn.

Avie and Camden--a few days before the New Year's Eve party

Avie, having a great time playing with Ila. You can see from
her precarious seat that this may not end well...

This is after she tried to get out of the stroller and went down on her cute little face.

And this is a bit later when she made it obvious she was okay to stay and play for a little bit longer.

More pictures from New Year's Eve, but not necessarily in order of occurance.