Written by his own hand

I Floyd Bartholomew leave this to my posterity and off spring that may follow in years to come; first my children, grandchildren, and great grand children, and all that will follow.

I Floyd Bartholomew having been born of goodly parents November 26, 1890, leave this short history. I was the fourth child of George Marsten Bartholomew, and Salena Roper. I was born in Fayette, Sanpete, Utah in the south east bedroom of the old home. The first five years of my life I was sick, puny, weak and poor. I recall my mother saying you could put me in a two-quart cup at birth. At the age of six months I had pneumonia and I was given up for dead, but my mother would not give me up. They used dough plasters to draw out the fever and the infection. The infection came out through my left breast. I have always carried a scar on my left breast. My left lung never developed until I went to High School. After it developed. The left side of my chest became normal.

My mother told me to always run and play so during my teens I did a lot of running in the hills. For games we played, Run Sheep Run, Priney, and Steal Stick. I was generally the leader of one side. That is the way I gained my health back.

When I went to High School at the Snow Academy, I played basketball and was on the mile, and half mile teams. At the Academy they gave a course in physical development. We developed our strength with dumbbells made of maple wood that weighed from five to fifteen pounds each.

The canals in those days were full of carp and suckers. I did a lot of fishing in the Sevier River. There were very few deer in those days. The first deer I ever saw was when I was about twelve. Then I saw three dead doe. I never saw a buck until I was about nineteen. So my hunting was limited to ducks and rabbits. I got my share of cotton tails, they were good to eat. I did lots of trapping muskrats, coyotes and skunk.

There were no picture shows in those days, So our en entertainment was dancing, theaters, and programs with all kinds of part songs, recitations, d1alogues, musical parts, musical readings, tap dancing, and all kinds of stunts, and all kinds of dancing parties. There were Basket dances, Overall dances, Apron dances. Bow dances. Weight dances, Draw dances and several other kinds. I always enjoyed our kind of entertainment and was always there to have a good time.

I always went to church and always tried to take part, and get all the good I could out or doing the best I could. I never had my hair cut until I was five years old. I can remember the beautiful ringlets I had. I wasn't able to walk alone until I was nearly five. I remember my mother begging me to eat, and even try to buy me to eat. She gave me a little chair and table to encourage me. I used to have to take beef gall. They cut the gall out of the beef. Then hung it up on the hay derrick until it was dry. Then they gave it to me as medicine.

During my boyhood days, we would go to Gunnison to Stake Conference. It was six miles away and nearly everyone went in those days. The road was lined with buggies and wagons. We could leave out teams in the tithing yard. And there is where we ate our lunch. The conference was held in a big bowery made of willows and sweet clover to keep the sun off. In cold weather it was held in buildings. We a1ways looked forward to conference. It lasted two days and people had time to visit and get acquainted with each other. We knew most of our relatives. Everyone was neighborly and sociable. I remember Joseph F. Smith as President, and Anthon H. Lund as a Counselor and J. Golden Kimball and Melvin J. Ballard and many others of the leaders that came down to talk to the saints.

When I went to Manti High School I went steady with a girl, C1ara Munk--she had blonde hair and was about my height. She was a telephone operator. We went steady for about six months or more. I decided I wanted to get married and we talked it over several times. She finally decided to wait. Her mother was ill and her younger sister had brights disease. Her parents asked her to wait for a year or so. We finally quit going together and were just good friends.

I went with another girl, my second choice. Her name was Eunice Jorgensen. We vent together for about six months. When I started to talk to her about marriage, she began stepping out on me. I quit going with her on the last Sunday in June. I was broken hearted and felt blue. I decided to pray about the matter. I prayed about it for several weeks, then I had a dream, and what a wonderful dream it was. I thought I was south and west of the old home where my brother Lloyd now lives. I was by a big ditch. There were a couple of large barrels by the side of the ditch and the ditch was full of water. I fished, in the ditch and caught a number of large fish until I was tired. I didn't seem to be satisfied so I left and came up towards the house. I put a11 the fish I caught in the barrels. On my way up to the home, 1 had to come through the current and gooseberry patch and to my surprise the water was about a foot deep everywhere in the patch. The wind was blowing slightly and there was a ripp1e on the water. To my surprise I saw a beautiful fish. It was very shiny and it darted here and there in the water.

I proceeded to fish for it. I fo11owed it around and up and down the rows of berries. I tried and tried to hook that fish. I final1y got so tired I thought I would give up. I tried once more and to my surprise, I hooked it. As I pulled it out of the water, there stood a beautiful girl. She was dressed in a love1y flowered dress and a wide rimed straw hat with flowers on it. As I looked at her she said what are you doing here. I said, "I was hunting for you.

About two weeks passed. A new girl had come to town and I met her about four in the afternoon and made a date with her for that evening. She had no hat on and a p1ain dress. I went to get her that evening and her sister said she was over to Grandmother's. So I went over to Grandmother's to get her.

Just inside the gate was a big lilac bush and the walk was divided. As I went around the bush she came running around the corner of the house and I met her face to face, right in the light that shown through the window. As we met she said, "What are you doing here?" I replied, "hunting for you". There stood 'the beautiful girl I saw in my dream.

When I told her my dream some time later, we were both convinced we had found our mate. From that time on we began to do our planning. Neither of us asked the other to marry, it just understood. The girl was my dear wife, Pearl Larsen.

As we planned our wedding there were two other couples planning to get married also, the dates were set a week apart. We talked it over and decided we would get married together, the three couples. On the middle date. So we were married 13th of December 1911 in the Manti Temple. We had our wedding dance together In the Fayette School house, which is now the Church Bui1ding. We had the Gunnison orchestra play at the dance. The house was full, and everyone had a Wonderful time.

Floyd and Pearl went on to have 13 children and 12 of them they raised to adulthood. They have married had children, grand children and great grand children. They lost their farm in Fayette and moved to Springville during the Depression Floyd worked in many Occupations through out his life and gave his children the training that they needed to fulfill their chosen carriers. He gave his children a great love of the outdoors as you will see in the comments below. After Many years of making his life truly worthwhile, Pearl had a Stroke which left her mind partially vacant. She died about five years later in 1955.

Floyd married again in 1956 to Venice Myrl Goddard. She had lived her life in service of others. She had remained unmarried to care for her aging parents and then her sister died leaving 2 children with anyone to care for them so Venice took care of them. After all this, Floyd came along and gave her the companionship that she was never able to receive. And she spoiled him during his golden retirement years. He died 18 February 1964 of "a hole in his heart" It was a condition that he probably had from childhood. As it turns out, because of his condition, it is truly a miracle that he was able to live a long, full life and influence so many people for good.

These are some of the things that were written by some of his children:

Miriam

Papa knew how to do lots of things. He was a plumber, electrician, carpenter, plasterer, farmer, mechanic, butcher, prospector, brick-layer, hunter, fisherman and musician.

Papa loved to hunt and fish. I enjoyed sitting and listening to all the fish stories and hunting stories. I don't know how many were exaggerated, but they were exciting. I never got to go on these trips so 1 lived them through Papa's stories.

Papa loved to tease the kids. I am sure every grandchild that can remember him went on a snipe hunt with him. Papa loved to take everyone to the places he knew and loved. He could show you canyons, hills, lakes, rivers, and even rocks where something special had happened.

After Mama died, Papa was very lonely. He married Venice. Venice told me often how much fun they had and how good Papa was to her. I appreciate what Venice done for us when she married Papa. She filled the need he had for companionship that we, as his children, could not fi11. She spoiled him and was very good to him.

I grew up during the Depression. Papa had a hard time finding work. Papa did many things to support the family and we were a big family. We were very blessed. We always had food. We didn't have big doctor bills. In fact, about the only time we were sick was when we had the kids diseases (mumps, measles, chicken pox etc.) We caught at school.

Mama 1oved Papa very much. I never heard her ever complain about Papa or how hard times were.

Papa and Mama played with us, helped us celebrate holidays, took us to the canyon on picnics. They did all they could to make us happy and make us feel like we weren't poor.

Papa was a musician. He could play most any instrument. He played in a dance band in Fayette. He played in our home lots and instilled in most of his children a love of music.

After Papa married Venice he joined a group of Senior Citizens and they formed a band. This brought great joy into his life.

Papa always had a dream of going to Hawaii. He used to say when they built the road to Hawaii he would take us a11.

Papa was not perfect. He had lots of faults like all of us do, but he loved his wife and family very much. He did his best to take care of them. He loved the gospel and honored the Priesthood. I know he and Mama wanted us to be honest, kind and loving children.

I am proud of my parents and my brothers and sisters. I be11eve our family has turned out to be the kind of peop1e Papa and Mama wanted.

When we 11ved in Fayette there was no Mayor or City Council. So, a few weeks before Christmas, the 4th of July and the 24th of Ju1y, the Bishop would always announce in church, that anyone interested in helping to plan for the soon to come celebration was to stay after

Church. Our Dad was always a volunteer and was always involved in the celebrations.

Rough carpentry, cement work, Brick laying, Shingling a roof, Plumbing, Electrical Wiring, And How to put in a days work for a days pay. Papa also taught me how to catch fish, hunt deer and pheasants, And how to enjoy myself when away from home. Like where to go to find things that few people know about.

Papa was a hard worker. He was away a lot during world war 2. He worked at Kearns and Tooele at the defense plant. He loved to hunt and fish and every chance he got, he took us with him.

Papa organized two bands, one, while he was a teenager, and he played bass in both of them. The first was a swing band. The other was a group of his friends from the old first ward. Neither band experienced much success.

Although Mama and the girls did most of the cooking, Papa could concoct a few special dishes that we all savored very much. Papa and Mama each did their part in putting together the Head Cheese, made from delicate pieces of meat from the head of a pig- such as the tongue, cheeks and other bits that could be salvaged- Papa also assisted with the sauerkraut and the 4th of July rootbeer ritual.

But the dish we an delighted in and coaxed Papa to make was chop Suey It Is a Chinese American dish which I am sure Papa modified and used ingredients that were available from the garden and farm. I recall the pieces of meat, carrots, potatoes, and corn, cooked slowly in a special sauce. Mama had a dripper that held eight loaves of bread. This became the utensil in which this special treat was prepared. It was placed into the oven of the wood burning stove and cooked slowly.