Once Flooded, Twice Shy

Because the Teton Dam disaster was such a big event, not many people know that 14 years earlier we were flooded in Sugar City. There had been lots of ice in the North Fork of the Teton. The weather turned warm and the ice began to flow. This is an aerial shot of Sugar City during that flood. It was taken February 12, 1962. It is looking to the north. If you follow the road going to the left of the railroad, you can almost see the very edge of Ross Shirley's yard. It is just outside the picture to the left. The railroad track acted like a dam, keeping much of the water on the east side, but we still had our share come our way. The picture was taken by the Corp of Engineers and says it was taken at the height of the flood.

I remember Dad saying that we were not going to evacuate. The Corp of Engineers were up by the bridge near the old overpass north of Sugar City using dynamite to dislodge the ice dam. Some concerned citizens of Sugar City decided that the ice jamming under another downstream bridge east of our house needed to be blasted, so they took it upon themselves to blow it up with dynamite. The Corp of Engineers wanted them arrested because it damaged the nearby railroad tracks. I remember hearing the sound from our house.

I remember the water coming through Dalling's field toward our house. Being 10 years old I thought only of how fun it would be. I had built a snow fort in the front yard of our house. I had the idea that if I built it big enough and packed it hard enough it would keep the water out. I watched with excitement as the water moved through the field from the east moving slowly but steadily. It entered the yard and made rather quick work of all my efforts.

Dad sandbagged the basement were the coal furnace was and with the help of some boards and cinderblocks built a suspended bridge from the front step out to the road. The water stayed for several days. My brothers, Neal and Dale, would go upstairs with the 22 and by looking through the scope they could see mice clinging to anything that floated. They would aim carefully and then look for the splash of the bullet in order to adjust the aim. Sometimes they were successful and spared the mice a slow death of drowning in favor of a much quicker firing squad.

Neal said that they dumped a huge load of sand in our driveway for us to use. Then the Corp went north of our house and cut a opening through Uncle Fred's ditch to let the water go through. Neal spent much of the next summer working for Fred rebuilding that ditch.

Oddly enough, it was because of this flood that many, including myself, did not take it seriously when we heard that the Teton Dam broke 14 years later. After all, we had been flooded before, and "how different could this be?" We found out, all too soon.

Very Few Good Men

Margie Ward was a young woman working in Ogden at the Utah Army Depot prior to World War II. She worked in the Personnel Department in the payroll division. Working in the depot was Sarah Lund, a sister of Ross Shirley. She was also a neighbor of Margie's. They became good friends. When Ross came home on furlough prior to going overseas Sarah set them up on a date. There was mutual interest from the beginning.

After getting a description of where she worked, I did a search and this may be the building where she worked. At least it is in Weber County and used to be an Army Depot. If not, just imagine....

Margie said that there was a real shortage of young men during this time due to the war. Smith, her brother, had joined the Marines, and another brother, Paul, was in the Navy. She and a group of friends would often go to Salt Lake City to see a movie or to hear the Tabernacle Choir. They also hiked up to Tipanogos.

Margie and Ross wrote to each other during the war. When it was over Ross made a visit to see her in Ogden and she made another up to Salem to see him. Ross had saved enough money to pay the entire purchase price for a home a mile east of the Salem church and just west of Sugar City. Margie had found at least one "very good man."

Shirley at War

Ross Shirley was working at Lockheed in California shortly before World War II broke out. He was involved in building the P-38. It was a very secret project and he told me that the specifications for the plane that are now available on the internet were classified information. He said the plane was nicknamed "Whistling Death" because of the sound it made when flying. He worked on the plane from the wings back, installing the two booms and the tail section.

When Pearl Harbor was bombed he went down to sign up in the Navy and the lines were very long. They told him they would make him 2nd Class and he would work on an aircraft carrier because he knew about working on planes. He told them he wanted 1st class and they told him the offer they had made was good, but Dad turned it down. They wrote back later to see if he had changed his mind and he wrote back and told them they should change theirs.

He heard that the Army Air Corp was looking for pilots, so he and Uncle Otto went to Pocatello to apply. Otto was 10 lbs. too heavy, so he was rejected and Dad was accepted, but they told him to go home until another school could be opened. After several months, Otto went in to reapply, was accepted, and while there he was given the place of someone who had dropped out. Dad inquired and was told they were discontinuing the schools, so he was given an honorable discharge for six months service without ever serving.

He went from there to Catalina and signed up with an attachment to the Army that trained people to work as engineers onboard ship. He went to Florida and graduated, then was stationed in New Orleans living in a second floor apartment on Burbon Street because there were no other facilities for servicemen. He said that after a short time they moved out because the night life was too noisy.

The Army was short of transport ships, so they were stationed there for months doing nothing except reporting once a day. He was making $500 a month while the enlisted men were getting $50 to $75. "Believe it or not I got tired of doing nothing."

He then heard he could get a commission in the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant, so he went to Camp Gordon Johnson in Florida. He was trained as an engineer working on transport ships. He was then sent to Ogden where Aunt Sally and Uncle Howard Lund set him up with young Margie Shirley. He had one date with her before going overseas. Stay tuned for more on the life and times of the Shirley Tribe.

October Fires

Mary Ann Barker Virgin was born in 1831 in Marston, England, the fifth of thirteen children. As a child she learned to make Valenciennes lace and helped support the family. At one time she was given the honor of making lace sleeves for a dress for Queen Victoria (picture right). After she married George Thompson Virgin in 1854, they heard two Mormon missionaries preaching. They prayed to know if their message was true and after getting an answer, they joined the church.

No sooner had they joined than they were persecuted severely. He was fired from his job and as soon as any other employers knew he was a Mormon, he was let go. They had to move to find work but he was fired again when they found out about him. Mary Ann worked all night making lace to feed the family. Sanitation was primitive at that time and people dumped sewage in the streets. Neighbors often dumped their chamber pots out the second story windows onto them as they passed below.

George finally found work at a railroad. They planned to use the Perpetual Immigration Fund to go to America. On the night of Dec. 29, Mary Ann had a dream in which she saw the broken and crushed body of her husband.

George had been working in Birmingham, England, in a tunnel where there were two tracks. Warnings were to be given, but none was made. He waited to see which track it was on, then stepped aside as the train went by. He kept working when he realized a train was coming from the other way, but with no lights, and again no warning. Thinking it had to be another train on the other track, he stepped right in front of the original train as it was backing through the tunnel. He died from his injuries and Mary Ann never saw him alive again.

The minister told Mary Ann that if she would come back to their church and forget Mormonism, and sing in the choir, he would see to it that her sons had an education and she would be well taken care of. Instead she drew on the funds she had been paying into the Perpetual Immigration Fund and together with young Amos Moses, (Ross Shirley's grandfather) Nephi and the baby, sailed for America on the ship "William Tapscott" in May of 1862. On board ship was Elder Francis M. Lyman and other church authorities returning home.

Amos Moses said that he only remembered riding in a wagon once while crossing the plains. He was trying to carry his little brother, Nephi, across a river when a man in a wagon came up next to them and they got onto the wagon. Mary Ann carried the baby, Murcy Ann in her arms across the plains.

Somewhere near the present-day Wyoming-Utah line, a fever broke out. A young man, named Ephriam Barton, noticed that Mary Ann was sick and not able to take care of the baby. He volunteered to care for and carry the baby. Within a short time, both he and the baby became ill and died the same day, October 6, 1862. A hymn was sung, a prayer offered, a few words of comfort spoken as the two were placed in the same grave, the baby placed in the arms of young Ephraim. A fire was lighted over the grave to keep animals away and the grave was covered with rocks. They moved forward through the cold October chill, arriving thirteen days later, at the end of the month, in the Salt Lake Valley.

How does one go from making lace for Queen Victoria to having raw sewage dumped on them in the streets, losing a husband in a train accident, and burying a baby in the cold October ground and still keep the faith? Mary Ann never denied her testimony. She was sealed to her husband on another, much different October of 1867. Oddly enough it was yet another October when the children were sealed to the parents in 1884, and the family was complete. The Queen's lace-maker passed away in Salem, Idaho, on January 14, 1922 and is buried in the Sugar City Cemetery. She was ever a faithful Latter-day Saint, having worked for a number of years in the Relief Society and also a teacher in Sunday School. She loved to testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel and of the goodness of the Lord. That is the description of a true Queen.

Monkey Business

Ester Maria Bubb was a little girl living in Uitenhage, South Africa in the late 1830's (she grew up to become Ross Shirley's Grandmother). So, what does a little girl born of English parents in South Africa do for fun?

I was often told by older aunts and uncles that the kids would get a jar just big enough for the smaller monkeys to put their hand inside. Then they would set the trap by tying down the jar, taking the lid off, and putting candy inside. Then they would hide and wait for the fun to begin.

Yes, "Out of Africa" the Shirley ingenuity was born.

Coat of Arms

Family history seems to be a topic that puts most people to sleep. However, having noticed all the activity that these blogs seem to have, I thought it would be more fun if we used a blog to share all the stories I have collected about the people that made us possible. Let's start with the family crest, as in the example shown here.

After thorough research, I discovered that there is yet another, more recent coat of arms that has its roots dating back to 1872. Yes, it seems that the family has had an obsession with squirrels for over 130 years. When you think of the quickness and super-mobility of the squirrel, it should not be surprising that this noble animal was chosen to represent the family. In fact, one family line in particular was motivated by the "Glaucomys Sciuridae" or "Flying Squirrel" to obtain pilot licenses. You may notice other squirrel-like behaviors in present members of the clan.