100 Years Ago Today

My father was born in this house 100 years ago today.  The house (the building on the left) was part of the compound at the Logan Canyon power plant of Utah Power & Light where his father, Benjamin T. Hegwer, was in charge (I don't know his exact title).  There's another view of the yard and corner of the house here: obviously a different season!  The power plant and the house are still there today.  And, I still miss my dad.  He loved all things mechanical/technical and I know he would have been a blogger....

The neat thing about this photo is how well Daddy annotated it.  As with other photos, I have no recollection of having seen these before he died.  It also strikes me that I actually have photos that are more than 100 years old....

With Veteran's Day always the same week as his birthday and it being a 100th birthday, it only seems right to share some of Daddy's service photos.  This one is dated 2-3-43 and shows Daddy at the USO in Gulfport, Mississippi.  I believe he was at Gulfport for some specialized training.

According to the back, this group photo is an "Official Air Force Photograph" of July 1944 at "Army Air Field / Alexandria, LA."  The 6 men, from left to right, as labeled on the back in my dad's handwriting are:
P.W. Baker, PFC
___ Russel, Cpl
___ Bauer, Cpl
G. Hultman, S/Sgt -- crew chief
H.C. Hegwer, Sgt -- asst crew chief
___ Wilson, Sgt
(Below this list, it says Pfc Lindsey was absent.)

I hope that this photo makes its way to the families of the other men.  As far as I know, my dad was the oldest member of the crew.  

Can any of my dear readers identify the type of plane for me?

[All photo originals in MHD collection.]

Grandparents Bertha & Ben

Bertha Maud Carr was born 13 December 1893 in Racine, Racine, Wisconsin to John Henry and Ann Matilda (Causier) CARR.  Benjamin Theodore Hegwer was born 22 February 1885 in Goff, Nemaha, Kansas to Charles Herman and Margaret Lavina (Richardson) HEGWER.

They were married 11 September 1912 in Ely, White Pine, Nevada, where both Ben and John Henry were working.  This photo shows them in the mid to late 1920s in Salt Lake City, Utah.  By then, the family was living in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho. 

The building with the water tank is the Salt Lake Hardware on N. 400 West just north of North Temple.  The railing was in front of the Union Pacific Railway Depot.  Where they are standing is now the front of a new Hyatt.  So, the railing is gone, the street looks different, and there is now an overpass in the way between where they were standing and the building, but the building is still there!

Grandma Bertha and her first child

My father was born ninety-six years ago today, 14 Nov 1913, in Logan Canyon, Utah, at the Utah Power and Light station where his dad was the head. There are some nice vintage photos of the power station in the Utah State University library collection. Note how the rock retaining wall in this photo is shown in the Utah State collection, too.

Herb was the first of eight children of Benjamin Theodore Hegwer and Bertha Maud Carr. They had eloped and married 10 September 1912 in Ely, Nevada. When Herb was born, Bertha was not quite 20 and Ben was 28.

My dad annotated the back of his baby photo. Since I never saw this photo before he died, I assume he received it shortly before he died in 1982. I don't think I ever would have recognized Grandma Bertha from this picture and certainly wouldn't have known it was my dad.