Grace Pollard Backman

Grace, the youngest in this family, was born November 27, 1867. I have always referred to her as Grace Bailey Pollard Backman and I find her in LDS Family Search by that name; though none of her siblings were given their mother's maiden name as a middle name.

Grace Bailey Pollard was MY great grandmother. Very early I formed an attachment: I had been born on her birthday, recall. But by the time I was born Grace seemed to be easily irritated- this I base on the stories I heard as I grew, I do not recall her personally. Her death certificate lists her death on April 1, 1955 as incident to old age. She was 87, and I make a point not to say "only" 87; there may well have been many reasons for irritability. Her obituary which ran on Sunday, April 3, 1955 in the Salt Lake Tribune, cites her church involvement in the 34th Ward Relief Society.

I regret that I may know least about this daughter of Bishop Pollard. Is that a common dilemma in family history? To not have gotten to know the closest kin. I knew her children generally well. I was always pleased to see them, they loomed larger than life to me: Gus-my first job at the Hotel Utah (grandfather told me to drop the Backman name when I applied), LeGrande- I remember the story of the school directors going to LeGrande when grandfather was applying for a position (could he, LeGrande vouch for Ralph's character?) LeGrande had also been a Mission President in South Africa; Milton- had to layoff playing racket ball in his 80s or 90s after having a detached retina from being hit. Lucille- always sweet, as someone from that generation "should" be, but not so sweet that she seemed frail. Where she was small, as I pictured her mother Grace would have been, Edna was large, as I pictured great grandfather Gustave H Backman would have been. Edna laughed aloud. Melvin died as a child, I believe of flu or diphtheria. Harold died before I began to meet the family up in Utah.

The Backmans were city folk, business people. Movers and shakers. 'Backman women don't work' my grandmother had been told (she said) and so the Backman men worked hard: Gus was dubbed Mr Utah for his service in Chamber of Commerce activities, he met regularly with David O McKay (LDS Church president) and Mr Fitzgerald (Salt Lake Tribune publisher) to look at the needs of the city and the citizenry. LeGrande was on the Salt Lake City Board of Education for many years (as had been the father prior to his death in 1933). Milton helped draft the paperwork that set up the WWII Topaz, Utah resettlement center for Japanese Americans. Ralph was principal at South High school for many years and an active educator before and after that. Harold was involved in the steel business in Provo.

All these sons- and I think daughters too looked up to and honored their mother throughout her life. I believe Gustave Hilmer Backman was proud to have married this youngest Bishop's Daughter. By their eight children they had 18 grandchildren, and at the time of her death 30 great-grandchildren. Grace is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Alice Pollard Johnson, 1862-1950

The Fifteenth Ward ran from 200 West Street to the Jordan River and from South Temple Street to 300 South Street. I haven't walked it yet. This ward welcomed newcomers from all over the world- as much as Salt Lake City itself did. Alice grew up, having been born in Salt Lake 15 April 1862, with new neighbors from everywhere there had been missionary labor. When we think of it now, it was really quite a small world yet. But Alice grew up at Pollards Court with her sisters and as time came for such things -the beaus.

Undoubtedly her father, Bishop Pollard brought many people to Alice's home. Whether from the work or the church duties the Pollard home surely was a busy, sociable place. Alice was active in this environment.

And then when the time came for such things- there came the beau. John Lewis Johnson. Born in Olso, Norway, he was a blacksmith and active in the Fifteenth Ward. Alice grew up at 36 South 600 West, and when she married John Johnson in 1888 they moved into 42 South 600 West. The neighbors were nice: she had known them all her life! The J.W. Bouds lived at 48 South 600 West and G.H. Backman when he wed younger sister Grace would come to 30 South 600 West. Louisa Evans' family was near, a few blocks and around a corner at 434 West 300 South. Alice's brothers-in-law were in the trades as well. There was work available on the railroads, the LDS Temple, and Salt Lake's infrastructure were needing hands. Whether it was Pollards Court or the entire territory, life had hustle and bustle.
Alice Pollard Johnson would live to be 88 years old. Her age is given as the cause or contributory to the cause of death. She had four children:
Louis Pollard Johnson, 1895-1954, married Dorothy White
Thelma Johnson, 1898-1984, married Jonas Thomas Ryser
Melvin Johnson, 1901- , married Ruth C Jones
Jay Leslie Johnson, 1904-1939
John Louis Johnson died in 1928 when his neck was broken in an industrial accident at the foundry. Their youngest son, Jay also died from an accident when his head was caught on a presser at Utah Clay Products.
Alice and John are interred at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Lovinia Pollard Holding, 1860 - 1896

Lovinia died young- 36 years old- and two months after giving birth to her son Mark Wilton Holding. I believe she is buried in the Spanish Fork Cemetery; the family was living in that community at the time of her death.

Lovinia married Thomas Clayton Holding 12 Apr 1883 in Salt Lake City. He had learned the trade of shoe making and when the Spanish Fork Co-operative Mercantile Institution opened a shoe factory he found steady employment, managing that concern. He would be affiliated with the shoe business his entire life.

Lovinia's children ranged from 12 to infant at the time of her death. The oldest was Lenora (1884-1967), her only daughter and later Mrs. Joseph S. Durrant.
The remaining children- sons- were:
Franklin Eugene Holding (1885-1965) wife Reva Pearl Johnson
Thomas Clayton Holding (1887-1957) wife Margaret Elita Dillingham
Henry Richard Holding (1889-1946) wife Evelyn Clara Grua
Joseph Terrence Holding (1891-1983) wife Ida Alice Openshaw
Spencer P Holding (1894)
Mark Wilton Holding (1896-1976) wife Alice Maud Chryst

From the six children marrying, Lovinia had 14 grandchildren. In my research files I do not have a clear record of great-grandchildren. I do know that there are now descendants in the 6th generation. Lovinia's children were definitely a part of the building of the west.

Thomas Clayton Holding is buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery.

Elizabeth Pollard Boud

Elizabeth Pollard was born in Great Salt Lake City 12 November 1857, less than two months after her family arrived. How fortunate that we count her as one of our pioneer mothers- as well as those following her; childbirth was not easy for mother or child on the frontier. It really is no less so today, if the same practices are used. So we are gifted with the lives of Mary Ann and daughter Elizabeth.

Elizabeth grew to maturity in a household of sisters. I cannot- have not yet found an account of that life on Pollards Court. Elizabeth would certainly have had the attention of neighbors and fellow members of the 15th Ward but she did not marry until August 1879 at the age of 22. At this time she was wed to John Wallace Boud, a newcomer of two years earlier who had been born in Keokuk, Iowa in 1854. A member of the LDS Church, he was active in the various administrative levels of the 15th Ward, holding the offices of Elder, Seventy, High Priest, and served as First Counselor to Bishop Ashton before being ordained bishop himself in 1904. He, with his wife Elizabeth Pollard Boud fulfilled this calling until 1920, serving for 16 years.

Elizabeth would certainly have understood the expectations of on bishop's household having been in her parents' home. We will need our Boud  cousins to tell us if there is an extant account left by Elizabeth. A very pleasant photograph of Elizabeth and John Wallace Boud with their adult children is found in 15th Ward Memories. This account informs us that the Bouds were well known and a great credit to the ward and their neighbors. Elizabeth Pollard Boud passed away due to complication of extreme arteriosclerosis which virtually starved her body of life-sustaining fluids. The immediate cause of death is listed on her death certificate as malnutrition. She died at the family home on Emerson Ave in Salt Lake City, 13 Mar 1933. Her husband would follow her on January 7, 1942. They are buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery.
A thoughtful account of the Boud family is provided in "Call Back Yesterday: Our Personal and Family Histories" by Edwin Butterworth  and Dorothy Leetham Butterworth (FHL 929.273 B982be). This account also has great photographs included.
The children of Elizabeth Pollard Boud are:
John William Boud 1880-1964, married Nellie Jeremy
Florence Boud 1882-1953, married Edwin Fielding Butterworth
Joseph Edwin Boud 1884-1976, married Irene Delaney
Elizabeth Boud 1886
Rebecca Boud 1887-1947, married Clarence Eugene Jones
Ella Boud 1888-1977, married Henry Watson
Hazel Boud 1891-1905
Wallace Pollard Boud 1896-1897

Lydia Pollard Puzey

Lydia was born in Deptford, England, the last of the daughters to be born there. She would have a baby brother who would remain only a baby; living only to be six months old.

When I look at pictures of the bishop's daughters they all seem small. How did these girls make it at all! But they did. Lydia would travel across the sea, and then travel across a new country which was yet a frontier. And then live to be 86.

I found wonderful records with photographs of Lydia and her family (including portraits I had not known of before of Joseph and Mary Ann Baily Pollard) in http://www.ancestry.com/ John Crane and others have put much work into their record and kindly have shared it.John is in Mary Alice Puzey Neilson's family.

I was told of Lydia by my grandfather Ralph Backman. She was small, with hair white. She would walk right into the road, holding up her hand to stop traffic until she made it across. And it worked. I do not know what age this would be but I pictured her elderly and small. Grandfather, on a trip to Spring City stopped in to visit aunt Lydia first and when he got to his aunt Annie Backman's home she promptly threw his luggage into the street declaring that if he liked Lydia more he could stay with her. Grandpa said he was just into his teens or younger.

Parts of Lydia's family emigrated to Canada and then some immigrated back again to live in different areas of the country. I have met Robert G Puzey (son of Garland and Nell Bezzant Puzey) and his wife in the Ogden area.

Lydia and her husband Henry William Puzey are buried in Spring City. She died there April 18, 1940. Their children were:
Frederick, 1875 - 1938, married Emily Neilson and Anna Ohlin
Joseph Henry, 1877 - 1962, married Letetia Beckstrom Allred
Albert Edward, 1879- 1955, married Martha Beck
Lovenia, 1881 - 1955, married William Romanzo Mott
Mary Alice, 1882 - 1950, married Carl Neilson
William, 1885 - 1960, married Emma Margaret Robinson
Twentyseven grandchildren made up the next generation.