James Jarvis Facer and Myrtle Lechtenberg (Conyngham) - my Great Grandparents

Elders:  James Jarvis Facer on the left....

James Jarvis Facer Family:  left to right--Sarah Elizabeth, James Jarvis, James Vere, Wanda Marie (front middle), Myrtle, and Redmond Fay

THE LIFE OF JAMES JARVIS FACER  [found on FamilySeasrch.org Memories]
He was born in Willard, Utah, June 10, 1866, to George and Sarah Thompson Facer, in a house that was behind the Facer home located on the "North String" of Willard. They lived on the farm that George Facer bought from a man by the name of Bankhead; known as the "Bankhead Homestead.” When a small boy, he moved into Cache Valley to a little town called Paradise; his Mother, Joh, Lizzie, (two children by a former marriage) and Emma, an older sister. This home was in the Western part of Paradise, on land owned by George Facer, his father. Here he grew up as other boys. Harry Shaw was his pal. The Shaw family lived close by and his early life was more or less connected with this family. His education was very meager, and as they were poor he had to go to work that they might live, which seems to have been the lot of most every family. Early in life his father and mother had trouble; and a "step father" moved in by the name of Charles Littlewood, and he was an Englishman of the Old School. They could not see eye to eye, so at an early age he left home. In this early age in Paradise, there was nothing for a poor boy to do except farm in summer and canyon work in the winter. So he found himself in Beaver Canyon working for William M. Thomas, a mill-man. Here he worked for four years in almost every kind of a position found around a saw mill. He learned the art of using an ax, skidding logs, even freighting supplies; he told of this "five yoke team of bulls and three wagons" many times to me. He learned all the tricks of a "Bull Whacker" such as the use of a "Bull-whip," to "drop-a-link," and the art of raising "a hoop on a barrel." In this line of work you have to be "all man" and at the end of his stay in Beaver Canyon, he came back to Willard to work for his Father, something that was new to him. He had become six feet three inches tall and weighing around 175 lbs., with (as he told me) fear of no man and a lot of guts, and did not know what it was to be tired. (And I believe this to be true for I saw him in action many times in my early life, and to say the least "he was all man. ") While in Willard, he made his home with Susanah, another wife of his father. Here he became a pal of Pete, son of Susanah, "Brig" Nebeker, and Steve White. They seemed to have done about everything that young men of their age did in Utah at this time. Their work seemed to have been on the “Bp's farm,” handling of Church cattle. (A story related to me by father) Brig, Steve and I were sent to Cache Valley for a heard of cattle and while going up Box Elder Canyon, (being sons of Polygamists) and knowing the work of the "Depts”. we thought it would be a lot of fun to be a “dept” and look for the “Brethren” with more than one wife; so, when we got to the little settlement of Mantua we noised it around “who we were” and in no time we could see several horsemen going over the “Old Indian Trail” back into the hills. In fact there were very few men left in the Valley. Note: Maybe father will not thank me for keeping this story alive; however, the many times we went through Mantua, in latter years, father almost always thought of this prank of his youth, and we had a good laugh. His father having more than one wife he was on the “underground". Many was the night father said he “stood watch.” He told me one night they made a "call" and as they always stopped at Johnie Barker’s, the local watering place, he, Barker, always notified the "Brethren" of these gentlemen being in town. "So, father went “under-ground" and I stood watch. The "Depts" came, left their horses and searched father's home. While they were, I removed the bridles and rapped them on the rumps and started them all loose back toward home. When those gentlemen returned and found they were left a foot they used language that cannot, appear in this story. “The Mormon so and so that had done this was spoken of as a very low character, and, so, the only thing to do now was to go back to Barker’s and make a night of it. “Well, this was but one of the times I helped Father during this period of time. I remember a time when I drove team with Father from Willard through Cache Valley over Bear River Pass into Box Elder Co. and while we were stopped at the Bear River Ford, I was watering the team and who should show but a group of “Depts.” Father was sitting on the seat of the rig, so he pulled an old slough hat on and put an old "corn-cob pipe in his mouth and set there and answered their questions; if he had seen some of those Dam Mormons they mentioned by name that they were out looking for. While living at Susanah's I met Myrtle, a beautiful daughter of Susanah' s whom I latter married. We lived the first year of our married life in Joe Jones' home across the street from Myrtle' s mother's home in Willard, where our first child, Vere. was born. During this year Myrtle's brother. Pete, Will Renshaw, my brother-in-law, and I were in the business of making bricks and driving wells. The following year Myrtle, our only child, and myself left Willard, and moved into Cache Valley, with all we had in the world in a team and wagon; and located in Avon in the south end of Cache Valley. Here I bought the Allen homestead. Our first home was up on the bench; this later was moved down in the valley and became the home of Will Weeds. In this home George Lester was born; however, he only lived a few days. We next moved down in the valley in what was known as the Old Log House, where we lived until I returned from my mission, when I wrecked this home and built a “new” home where we made home until Myrtle' s health broke down in 1905; then we moved to Ogden. During this time our family had grown to a group of four children, Vere, Fay, Wanda, and Ethel, a little girl adopted at the age of two weeks. During our stay in Avon we had lost five other children. We had worked very hard to gather together what we had when we left Avon. Myrtle was the main stay when it came to faith in Mormonism in our early married life. (Note: by James V. “ Mother often told of the time they were married in the Salt Lake Temple. It seems there was a question in her mind as to father's worthiness, and when they had got to the meeting just before they were to go through the Temple, one in charge got up and asked if James J. Facer would step forward. She thought ‘Well its all over now. He and the woman of his choice next move would be Out.’ However, Mother said, when Father returned to her there was a twinkle in his eye, and when she could ask him what the man wanted, Father said: 'He wanted to know what the ' J' stood for.” Father very seldom ever used his Grand-Mother's maiden name Jarvis. Mother said this took a load off her heart. ) When I was a boy, Mother used to walk and drag us kids to Sunday School, Primary, and Relief Society while Father stayed home and mended harness so he could go to the Canyon the following week, or playing base-ball. Early in the spring Father was away from home shearing sheep as long as this job lasted. It took a "Call" from “Bex B.” to wake him up to Mormonism. I well remember when this letter came; and when Father asked Mother, what he should answer. And Mother spoke up with these words: "Jim you set down and tell them you will accept the "Call" and we will start and figure out how soon." Which he did and they figured out that they could get their affairs in shape by the following fall. “The farm had to be rented, I had some cattle, a nice bunch of sheep; those sheep were the beginning of a dream I had for years. And while not a great herd, a good foundation to build upon. We had just got our heads above water; what we had around us was ours, a lot of hard work. Now this "Call" meant to let go of most of the reward for our hard work and efforts.” Father told me he felt his other brothers were getting along much better than he, and his main desire was to show them he had it in himself to make good. He had an idea that he was considered not the most promising Facer. In his own words, “I felt I hadn't been given a glowing start in life.” However, when the news got around that he had been "called," and was going; and when he told his father, he felt that nothing he could have done, or accomplished, could have given him more joy. “I will never forget the six or eight months I was getting ready to go. I so1d my sheep that I might have money enough to fulfill this mission and right when I was, as I thought, the Jackson Meadow came up for sale; a forty acre plot that joined us on the East, and a parcel of ground I had dreamed of owning." I well remember when this happened and Mother and Father talked it over. Father saying, 'look now what is happened, I've turned over heaven and earth to get ready for this mission, now the Jackson Meadow comes up for sale and I'm going on a mission." Much was said about this seemingly 'lost opportunity;' it took Mother to settle the matter when she said: "We have the money, why not go down to Paradise and see Aunt Bessie Jackson tomorrow and buy this meadow. We will get along while you are away;" which he did in the morning. Well, father left in the fall for a mission in the Southern States, where he labored under Ben E. Rich for two years. When he was released and came home to find us, the family was in Brigham at Aunt Lizzie's where Hazel Renshaw had the small-pox. We had to get a permit to go home to the ranch where the whole family took the small-pox, while in time we got over with it. The Avon Ward now gave a homecoming party to which we all went. Being shut in all winter, Bessie, our baby took cold and it developed into pneumonia and she passed away in a short time. Fay also took pneumonia and laid at death's door for days. During those trying days we found out how many friends we had--there was never a moment when someone was not in our home giving a helping hand. (Their names will never leave my memory.) Father for days hung on to Fay's life--when it was s loosing battle; however, he would not give up, even when his sister Lizzie begged him to give up and let the boy die in peace. Fay began to mend. The winter went, and spring came at last. (Note: Along with all this trouble during the winter we “run out of hay" and I will never forget the name of Lefthouse. Father went to Bro. Lefthouse for some hay, enough to pull our stock through; and when father told him he was broke, Bro. Lefthouse said: “You are welcome to all the hay you need and don't worry about the money.” ) (Note: Another name comes to me that I think Father would be to have mention in this. I do not remember the date, but it was shortly after Bessie's death; and about the time Fay was mending. It was snowing very hard. About eight o' clock at night our spirits were very low, we were alone at the time, when out of the night came a Hello and going to the door found Uncle Dave James, as he was known to us as a family, on horse back carrying a sack. When he got in the house and the snow off and opened the sack, there were the largest apples to this day I ever remember seeing. The company, the feeling of lonesomeness, and the fact he had come five miles in a storm, and that I was just a kid; his act of kindness has never left my mind. ) The next five years are eventful; father drained the "Jackson Meadow" made a very good meadow, got a living stream of water (about 50 inches) which was the making of the land on the River Bottoms, the surroundings around the house and barn yard. This made it possible for a large garden, trees, both shade and fruit, a large lawn, to say nothing of the value of a live stream of water around the yard for stock winter and summer. Father later sold a half interest to a neighbor on the West, Bro. Sam Knowles. It was during this time that the house was built, the barn (24 x 60, a slope on the south side, that had stable room for 15 cows, five head of horses.) More cattle, sheep, horses and many acres were added to his holdings. There was section 13, the Berry place in East Canyon, 60 acres dry farm, known as the Henry Jackson place, and as I remember now about 1000 acres of range land. Father was interested in every thing that started in Avon, such as getting out Pole Canyon water, the cattlemens organization. It was also during this time in his life that he was put in as Bishop of Avon Ward. Mother's health began to break; hard work while father was away on his mission, the trying time of the first year father got home, the death and sickness of Bessie and Fay, the loss of more children, all this did not help her condition. We rented the ranch and moved to Ogden; in my work as buying cattle I was away from home a good deal of the time. We lived in Ogden but a few months when we moved back to Cache County, Logan. Mother' s mother and two sisters lived in Logan and they thought it would be better for mother to be close to her own. Father's work was more or less in Cache Valley and North. In this move he bought the “Green House" a home owned by Myrtle' s mother, which he soon sold to a Brickmore family, moving around the corner to the Gablisome Place. It was in this home that Mother passed away, Sept 1906; the spring of 1907 we moved back to the ranch in Avon. After Mother's death, Grandma was with us most of the time; so she, father, and we kids all started over again on the Avon Ranch. Father was a combination cattle buyer and rancher. It was during this summer that Father was called to be Bishop of the 3rd Ward in Hyrum. I well remember this; if there was ever a time when father was hard to get along with, it was from Thursday to the second Sunday. We were all in the dark until Grandma read of a new Bishop that was being put in the Hyrum 3rd Ward; and asked, "Jim are they calling you for this job?" and his answer was, “You are a good Yankee!" We were hauling hay and I remember he asked me what I thought of him going to Hyrum and I guess my answer was not much help to him, being young and with little experience I spoke up and said, “I would soon give Pres. Parkson his answer and it would be NO!" I even gave my reasons, first he was alone with us kids on his hands, also his business of buying cattle was Picking up and I'd be damned if I'd give that up.” You see I had lived with him while he was Bp. of Avon Ward, and I know what a job of this kind entailed. He did not take my advise; however, he did ask if I would accompany him the following Sunday to Conference at Hyrum. He also told me he was a total stranger in the 3rd Ward with the exception of Bill Squires. So Sunday we went to Hyrum; the evening meeting was when his name was presented to the people. Now I see why it was wise that they did it at a stake meeting for his name came as a surprise to the 3rd warders. By the time they got their breath the rest of the Stake members had voted for him; however, when the opposing vote was asked for, with few exceptions, they all voted No. Had it been only the members of the 3rd Ward that was given a vote, I am sure we would never have made the move to Hyrum, and the Church would have had a selected bishop on their hands, that the people wouldn't have. Dad, however, was declared elected and let me say it was not long before he had the love and the support of all; being Bp in the 3rd Ward was the outstanding mark of his success. And while I was worried about his trading business, well, I was wrong again. With all the work of running the Ward, yet his business grew by leaps and bounds. Also, it was during his sojourn in Hyrum that he entered the game of politics, he ran for commissioner of the County of Cache and held this position for a number of years. It was while in office that the Consolidation of Schools question came up and to say the least his name was often in the local paper, and feelings ran high. It was shortly after he was put in as Bp. in Hyrum that he married Emma Jackson in Aug. 1907, and they had a boy, Elden J. During the ten years he lived in Hyrum, he bought several homes. In 1920, he bought a ranch in Tyhee, Bannock Co., Idaho, from Stewart which he ran in connection with buying Cattle. This ranch cost $33,000 which he cut in several smaller places. Also, a ranch at Fairfield, Idaho, also a ranch at Kilgore, Idaho, and one at McCammon, Idaho. This he held until his death which was deeded to us kids. A few years before his death, he left Pocatello and moved to Hyrum again and built a nice new home on East Main Street, which was left to Aunt Emma. While he was in Tyhee, he served as Bp, of North Pocatello Ward, this making three wards he was Bp. of. He was, both in Hyrum Stake and Pocatello Stake, on the High Council. . He lived out his days in Hyrum well respected and loved by a host of friends, passing away Feb. 3rd, 1947, and was laid to rest in the Paradise cemetery along side of Myrtle and five children. He ended this life in almost the point where his life began. On his road of life he left many marks, he became known for being on the side of the right. One outstanding virtue of his was his desire to help some soul who was down on his or her uppers. I can not remember a time when he did not have someone around; these were not always his type. For example, a Bp. and the town drunkard going around together was just something some people could not understand. I could insert names, there were many, he felt and spoke of it, that they had something, and in giving them a helping hand, he in return got well paid for his efforts. In my walks in life I often meet men that never fail to mention these kind of virtues in my father. Perhaps I know him best for I was with him longer than anyone living today, and as I look back over his life, I see many things that made him what he was. He was very loyal to his father and mother; while a boy he never had a good home, or the benefit of the guiding hand of a father. While his father was living he often went to Willard to see his father; however, I feel he felt more or less alone in the world. This no doubt accounts for his overdose of Independence; which carries the Spirit “that’s the way I think is right” and that the way is right. He had a hard time to compromise; to put over what he thought should be, he put in his all. Early in his life he entered every battle to win and the people where he made his home can thank him for many of the things they are enjoying today. While he made his home in Willard, in helping his father, his father being Bp. in those days the Mormons paid their tithing in kind and father must of received tithing for his father such as hay, spuds, cattle, sheep; in fact everything that was raised, and as it needed someone to be a caretaker, he fell heir to the nickname of tithing Jim. I remember well that many of the older people of Willard knew father by this nickname, Tithing Jim. Sketch of the life of James J. Facer as he Dictated to his Granddaughter, Nadine Dunn Gray, June 10, 1943. I was born in Willard June 10, 1866, son of George Facer and Sarah Thompson Facer. I came to Cache Valley as a small boy. We lived in Paradise where my father had land. I went to Beaver Canyon and worked for several years for W. N. Thomas. My first school teacher was Mrs. Oldham, another, Miss Price: and another was Harry Shaw. I didn't get very far in school as I threw too many snow balls. It was early in my teens when I went to work in the Canyon. May 1, 1888 I was married to Myrtle Lechtenberg (Conyngham) of Willard, daughter of Paul Lechtenberg (Conynghm) and Susanah Nebeker. They were the parents of three children; Peter, Myrtle,, and Karl. Susanah Nebeker had earlier married my father. We resided in Willard until after James Vere was born May 28, 1889, and then we moved to Avon, Cache county, Utah. George Lester was born June 10, 1891, Redmond Fay was born March 16, 1896, Myrtle Rose was born June 15, 1903. George Lester died June 11, 1891; Elizabeth (Bessie) died Feb. 26, 1901; Myrtle Rose died June 16, 1903; after the death of this baby Myrtle and I adopted Ethel, who was born April 2, 1903. I was sustained as Bishop of Avon Ward, 1904. I was released in 1906 temporarily on account of my wife, Myrtle's illness and we moved to Ogden. We later moved to Logan and on Sept. 6, 1906, Myrtle passed away. We went to Avon in the next spring as I had some property there. That spring Andrew M. Israelson came to see me at Avon and approached me as to being Bishop of Hyrum Third Ward. So I accepted and we moved to Hyrum Sept., 1907. I was an alternate High Councilman of the Hyrum Stake before I was made Bishop. On Aug. 14, 1907, I married Emma Jackson of Avon, daughter of Bishop Almo 0. Jackson, Sr. We first lived at the home of Zachariah Israelsen, then later moved to the home by Mrs. Estel Smith one block north of the Third Ward meeting house. I then bought the home of Soran Hansen and the house where Bishop Maughan lives, next house east of the Hanson place and also the home of Jacob Allgaire. I was Bishop of Hyrum Third Ward from 1907 to 1917. Z. W. Israelsen, Louis T. Miller and Niels J. Nielsen were my counselors. Fred Ralph and John A. Israelsen and Hans Mikelsen were my ward clerks. We moved to Idaho in 1919 where I bought a ranch in Tyhee. There I was called to serve as Bishop. The name was changed to North Pocatello while I was Bishop. I served on the High Council after being released as Bishop. I bought the Chauncy Stewart place then sold that home and built a home. I divided the farm into small acreages. I built the store on the corner of the farm which is known as the Bringhurst store. Up to 1943 there are over thirty families who have lived on this Stewart property. I later traded my home in Tyhee with Swessey for his home in Pocatello City on 1256 E. Clark Street. I sold it and built a home in Hyrum in 1939, on the west part of Algernon Petersen’s property between 1st and 2nd East on Main Street in Hyrum. I built a modern five room home with an attached garage where I now reside at the time. I served as Precinct Constable in Avon Cache County. This was my first turn in politics. In 1912, I served as Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners for four years. My associate commissioners were Oluf Cronquist and James Meikle, Ephrain Bergesen and Eli Bell. After moving to Pocatello I was again elected on the Democratic Ticket as a member of the Board of County Commissioners for one two year term. At this time I am the only living member of the former Commissioners with whom I served. On June 10, 1943, I celebrated my 77 birthday and still enjoy good health and I operate the farm in Idaho. I am serving as group leader of the High Priest Quorum of the Hyrum Third Ward; an active member of the Gospel Doctrine Class. For a number of years I have directed the Ward Teaching in the 3rd Ward. At present I am a member of the Hyrum Stake Melchizedik Priesthood committee, visiting all the Wards of the Stake encouraging the Brethern to support the Church Welfare Program and be active in their Quorum duties. 

Myrtle Lechtenberg Facer Death Certificate--Logan Utah

Wedding photo of James Jarvis Facer and Emma Louise Obrey Jackson in 1907

Emma and James Jarvis Facer