Thoughts and stories, by Pal

This is a brief history of my own grandfather who died before I was born.  He was 11 years old when they came to St. George as original pioneers.                  INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM GUSTAVUS MILES  WRITTEN BY HIS DAUGHTER, SARAH MILES WALLACE, SISTER TO ORSON PRATT MILES (my father) William Gustavis Miles was born at Salt Lake City, Utah, the first child of Samuel Miles Jr. And Hannah Colborn Miles.  He was born of goodly parents, his grandparents on both sides being faithful Latter-day Saints until the day of their death, and so were his parents.  His father was only seven years of age at the time the family joined the Church and when ten years of age he had read the Book of Mormon through.  His parents and grandparents were real Pioneers and suffered many afflictions as most of the L.D.S. died in the early history of the Church.    (Written by my Aunt Sarah)  I remember heari...

I wrote about my "Grandma Pal" in blog # 29, on Dec. 8th, 2013, and of her husband William Gustavus Miles in blog #58.  Today I'll tell some of the same stories, but a bit more complete.  I have always known that I was named after a very loved, strong and faithful grandmother, who died a few years before I was born.  Her name was Paralee Amanda Church, and she married William Gustavus Miles about 6 weeks before she turned 17.  Her husband "Gus" (as he was called) was 6 years older than she was.   As I have heard, she was a very happy person, and people loved to be around her.  One precious family story is about my father, "Pratt" (Orson Pratt Miles) who was the son of "Grandma Pal".  I have a younger sister, Mavis, who went through a difficult divorce when she had 3 young boys.  One time she had called our parents in St. George, from the Salt Lake area, and was quite sad at the time.  Our dear dad, Pratt, immediately, without my sister kn...

I mentioned on Sunday Dec. 9th, 2013, in blog # 29 that I would write about my grandfather, William Gustavus Miles, who was 11 years old when his family moved down to be pioneers in 1862, in St. George.  (They were called 1 year after the original settlers came -- as a support group.  His wife Paralee's family were in the 1861 group who first came, -- when she was 4 years old.) I'll include some of his history here from his history written by his daughter Sarah, my father Pratt's sister: INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM GUSTAVUS MILES WRITTEN BY HIS DAUGHTER, SARAH MILES WALLACE. William Gustavis Miles was born at Salt Lake City, Utah, the first child of Samuel Miles Jr. And Hannah Colborn Miles.  He was born of goodly parents, his grandparents on both sides being faithful Latter-day Saints until the day of their death, as was his parents.  His father Samuel, was only seven years of age at the time the family joined the Church and when ten years of age Samuel ...

Today has really been a lovely day!  It has been different, because here in St. George, Utah, we don't get snow even once a year, and then only about one inch.  In the last two days, we have had about six inches of snow.   We don't even have snow plows, as they are usually not needed.  Today Church was cancelled --   During the morning we had a grandson and his wife, and three children,    (our great grand children)  under five who were on their way to California.  They had to wait three hours for the mountain pass south of here to open up.  It had snowed a lot, and large trucks had slid off the roads, etc. We really enjoyed the time with them, and it made me think back on my life, and how I have known only one grandma, and she died when I was twelve.  After they left, we enjoyed the Christmas Devotional, and then the movie "Silent Night", both of which brought our thoughts deeply back to our Savior Jesus Christ and the true reason ...