Birth: September 10, 1913, Price, Carbon County, Utah, USA
Death: January 25, 2009, Holladay, Salt Lake County, Utah, USA
Marguerite Anderson Miller, age 95, passed away on January 25, 2009 at CareSource Hospice in Holladay, Utah. She resided at 1293 West Bluebird Street (3875 South) in the Redwood area of West Valley City, Utah at the time of her death.
Marguerite was born on September 10, 1913 in Price, Utah to Albert Anderson and Hannah Anderson.
She lived in Utah, Nevada, California, and Oregon. She married Harold William Miller on December 12, 1936. Their marriage was sealed (solemnized) in the Mesa Arizona Temple in 1940.
She was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, served in many callings, especially with the youth, and had an incredible faith and trust in our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
She was an awesome seamstress; she sewed dresses for her girls and suits for her boys. She loved making clothes. She worked at various jobs, but retired from ZCMI. She loved camping, making jewelry, her poodles, sewing, but most of all visiting and being with family and friends. She was an incredible mother to Ronald (Maria Luisa), Arnold (JoAnn), Michael (Sharon), Arlene Burg, Connie (John Woodruff).
She is survived by her children, 23 grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren, and seven great-great-grandchildren and one sister, Fern. Preceded in death by her parents, husband, five brothers and three sisters.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. at the Jordan Meadows Ward Chapel, 1510 West Parliament Avenue, West Valley City, Utah. Friends may call on Friday, January 30, 2009 from 6-8 p.m. at Larkin Mortuary, 260 East South Temple Street, Salt Lake City and on Saturday one hour prior to the services at the Church. Interment will be at the Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery, 1950 East Dimple Dell Road (10600 South), Sandy, Utah.
Published in the Deseret News on 1/28/2009.
Burial: Larkin Sunset Gardens, Sandy, Salt Lake County
Utah, USA
Photo taken about the time she married Harold W. Miller
PIONEER HERITAGE OF MARGUERITE MILLER
HISTORY RESEARCHED BY MARGUERITE MILLER
A GREAT-GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER OF GARDNER SNOW
I have been asked to talk this evening about our pioneer heritage. I would like to start by telling you of a story about a trip I made with my parents when I was not quite six years old. We lived in what is known as Clear Creek. It is south of Schofield Lake. My parents took the family in a covered wagon over the mountain on a dirt road to Manti to go to the temple for their endowments. I was very young and do not remember too much about the trip. I do remember that the baptismal font was very big and that my sister just older than I was baptized.
I remember that on the way home, one of our horses stepped on a little dog we had with us. He had to be buried down off from the road.
I remember that my father gave a ride to a gypsy lady.
I am sure our trip in the covered wagon was a lot more pleasant than the ones my pioneer grandparents made.
I would like to tell you about my great great grandfather, Gardner Snow. He was a cousin to Erastus, Eliza R. and Lorenzo Snow. Archibald F. Bennett wrote the life story of Gardner Snow. It was still in manuscript form when he died. His wife, Mrs. Bennett, is also a great granddaughter of Gardner Snow. I have learned in the biography of Gardner Snow that I am also related to Brigham Young.
I would like to quote the first paragraph of the life of Gardner Snow by Archibald F. Bennett.
"Like Abraham of old, he early became a follower of righteousness and bore the priesthood of God to minister among his fellows. Like him, he left his homeland for a promised inheritance in the west. In every fiery test of faith he emerged triumphantly as did Abraham. He reared his household in faith."
My second great grandfather Gardner Snow was born February 15, 1793, in West Chesterfield, Chesire County, New Hampshire, the son of James Snow and Abigail Farr. He spent the first 25 years of his life in Chesterfield. Then in 1814, at the age of 21, he married Sara Sawyer Hastings. She was known as Sally.
West Chesterfield is located on the majestic Connecticut River. When West Chesterfield was first settled, the land was covered with forest trees of all kinds. Gardner and his companions gathered walnuts, chestnuts, and hickory nuts. They fished in the Connecticut River for salmon and chad, all of which were in abundance. They also hunted for deer and other wild meat. This provided their families with excellent food. They also had a real struggle with wild animals. The bears and wolves would come at night and eat their flocks.
Pioneer life was hard. It was a constant struggle against want, cold, and the wild animals. The pioneers learned to utilize their resources. They cleared the land of the trees. They burned the stumps, and from the ashes they made charcoal and potash. They made soap and other products which required containers to put them in. This resulted in a very important industry - coopering (one who makes barrels or makes or repairs wooden casks or tubs).
They didn't have many luxuries in this newly settled region due to their frugal manner of living. There was much sickness, fever, and contagious diseases. Many of the children died.
In spite of the hardships they had to endure, they were not without amusements. The men had their wrestling matches, and the women their husking and quilting bees. Dancing was one of their favorite social entertainments. They also attended church regularly.
The houses were built with long kitchens, which served as a reception room, workroom, and dance hall. There was a spinning wheel in one corner of the kitchen in almost every home.
A fiddler, no matter how poorly he played, was indispensable. When they held so-called kitchen dances, they sometimes had two or three fiddlers, who took turns playing. Sometimes they danced all night. It was customary for the young man to escort his lady friend to the dance riding behind him on a horse. It was considered extravagant to use two horses. It was at one of these kitchen balls that Gardner Snow met his future wife, Sarah Hastings. Their courtship was short. They were married in their crudely constructed church.
They lived in Chesterfield until their third son was born. In 1818 Gardner and his wife and children moved to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where the rest of the Gardner family lived.
The homes there were very similar to those in Chesterfield. All of them had a deep-bellied fireplace with blazing logs over which swung the crane with a pendant with pots or pans and kettles. The fireplace was a cheerful place as they gathered around it in the evenings. The fire in the fireplace had to be kept going. If it went out, they had to go to the nearest neighbors to borrow coals, as they had no matches in those days. In the summer, however, they would build a fire in a hollow elm tree which would burn for weeks at a time. They knew that they could always get live coals from the hollow elm tree.
The Snows were an industrious family. As soon as the land was cleared of the trees, they raised their sheep for wool and raised their flax. The spinning wheels began to spin. All of their clothing was homespun.
In the fall of 1827 their oldest son, Jonathan, was 17, and Martha (my great grandmother), the youngest was 5. The boys were learning the cooper trade and farming. Then an event happened that changed the entire course of their lives.
The family of Winslow Farr, a cousin to Gardner's, lived about 30 miles from St. Johnsbury. He heard that there were Mormon missionaries preaching in that vicinity, and that they believed in the gift of healing and administration. Winslow's wife had been a helpless invalid for five years. The doctors had given her up. They were just waiting for her to die. She was only 35 years old. When Winslow heard of the healings by the Mormon missionaries, he sent his son, a mere lad, to find them and ask them to come and see if they could heal his wife. Their young son told his father the he didn't know what a Mormon preacher looked like. How was he to find them? "Go, my son, you will know them when you see them." And he did. He hadn't been gone long until he saw a man he thought could be a Mormon preacher. He very shyly walked up to the man and said, "Pardon me, sir, but are you one of those Mormon preachers?"
"I am," said Orson Pratt. "What may I do for you my young friend?" Then the boy told him his story and asked him if he would come to his home with him. Elder Pratt's companion, Lyman E. Johnson, was not with him at the time, so he went alone with the boy. When he got there he found the family and several curious neighbors waiting for him. He walked over to the bedside of the sick woman and said, "Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?" She was too weak to answer him. But Elder Pratt perceived a slight nod of the head in the affirmative. Then he asked all in the room to kneel with him in prayer and unite their faith with his in her behalf. After the prayer Elder Pratt took the sick woman gently by the hand and smiled at her. Then he laid his hands upon her head and gave her a blessing, in which he promised her that she would have a complete recovery and live upon the earth as long as life was sweet to her. Her healing was instantaneous, and she lived to be almost a hundred. She outlived Elder Pratt.
Orson Pratt recorded in his journal that between May 14 and May 24, just ten days, they baptized the entire family of Winslow Farr, and also William and Zarubble Snow.
Winslow Far was a well-to-do farmer and was judge of the county court. For a prominent citizen like that to join the Mormon Church created quite a stir.
Among the eager listeners to Orson Pratt's teachings was a young boy just 14 years old, named Erastus Snow. He was a cousin to Gardner Snow. He writes in his journal that the Holy Ghost descended upon him while he was listening to Elder Pratt, and he would soften the hearts of his parents and permit him to join the Church. It was some time before they gave their permission for him to join the Mormon Church.
Elders Pratt and Johnson returned to Charleston. In the spring the prophet Joseph Smith had them return to St. Johnsbury. When they arrived there they found many more of the Snows and related families almost ready for baptism. Elder Pratt records in his journal that Gardner Snow as among the many they baptized on the eighteenth day of June, 1835. Gardner's wife Sarah joined the Church about a month later, and his son, James Chauncey, joined in October of that same year.
Erastus Snow relates in his journal of going to adjacent counties with Gardner to preach the Gospel. Erastus and James Chauncey were ordained priests about the same time. They were sent out together to teach the Gospel. They convinced many of the truthfulness of their message.
Probably Gardner didn't dream when he was giving his young cousin, Erastus, missionary lessons that he would some day become one of the leading missionaries in the Church and establish a mission in far off Scandinavia. Nor did he dream that Erastus would become one of the great apostles of the Church.
In 1836 Gardner and his family moved to Kirtland, Ohio, a distance of 700 miles. The first thing that caught their eyes when they arrived was the temple. They traveled to Kirtland in a large canvas-covered wagon. In Kirtland he was ordained a Seventy. On December 21 he received a patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith, Sr. These significant words were used: "Thou shall have the power, like Abraham, to bless thy posterity. Be careful and God will make thee great and powerful on the earth. Thy live shall be lengthened out."
In 1837 he received his blessings in the Kirtland Temple along with the Seventies Quorum to which he belonged. With them he journeyed in the famous Kirtland Camp, nearly a thousand miles from Kirtland to Far West, Missouri. Deaths occurred all too frequently -- usually to children.
On October 2nd they reached Far West and were met by the First Presidency and other leading officials of the Church. Having traveled a long distance of 870 miles, the brethren provided for them like men of God. They were hungry, having eaten but little for several days.
From Far West they moved twenty-five miles to the north and settled at Adam-ondi-Ahman. It was a beautiful spot, but not long to be their resting place. Already mobs inflamed with hatred against the Mormons were gathering the great numbers and threatening them with destruction. The Saints were forbidden to leave town under the threat of death. They were shot at whenever they attempted to go in search of food. Some of the brethren perished from starvation. In dire straits, the Saints had to leave the place and abandon their homes. As they journed away, they were fired upon and threatened by the mob. Several of the brethren died and were buried without a coffin. It was in the midst of this impending peril at Adam-ondi-Ahman that the six week old baby son of Gardner died and was buried.
They arrived in Far West just in time to participate in all the outrageous mobbings and abuse of the inhabitants by the Army which carried their prophet and other leaders off as prisoners. After this the Saints were driven from Missouri by the exterminating order of Governor Boggs.
"In the winter of 1839 together with all the Saints I moved with my family to Illinois to escape the wrath of an ungodly mob," wrote Gardner. In Illinois they established a new home at a place known as Morley's Settlement, or Yelrome. On October 23, 1840, he was ordained a high priest by Hyrum Smith and was appointed bishop of the Lima Branch organized there.
Again in 1844 and 1845 mobs burst upon their quiet settlement and drove them from their homes, burning their houses and property. With the Saints, they were driven from Nauvoo and lived for a time in the vicinity of Council Bluffs, Iowa.
In the year 1850 Gardner crossed the plains to Utah. Joseph Young was president of the company, with Winslow Farr as captain of the first fifty. Gardner was captain of the second fifty.
Gardner Snow and his group settled at Manti, Utah, participating in all the hardships and exciting events of pioneer days there. In Manti, Sanpete County, he held a number of responsible civic and church positions. He was then ordained a patriarch.
By this time his sons and daughters had all married. His daughter Martha (my great grandmother) married John Edmiston who was from Pennsylvania, and settled in Utah.
John Edmiston (my great grandfather) helped to lay the first cornerstone of the Manti Temple where my parents received their endowments.
Gardner Snow's long and useful life closed November 17, 1889, at the age of nearly 97.
The blessing given by patriarch Joseph Smith, Sr., had been abundantly fulfilled. The blessings of Abraham were his. Like Abraham of old, he had proved faithful under all tests and trials. What a great and glorious heritage he has left me and my posterity.
When I think that some of my grandparents and great grandparents witnessed some of these marvelous manifestations, and labored as missionaries under the direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith, how could I ever doubt a testimony of the truthfulness of this Gospel. It was born and bred in me. I know this Church is true and I am thankful for the heritage my parents and grandparents have left me. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Talk given by Marguerite Anderson Miller in a Sacrament Meeting in West Valley City, Utah, around 2007.
I remember that on the way home, one of our horses stepped on a little dog we had with us. He had to be buried down off from the road.
I remember that my father gave a ride to a gypsy lady.
I am sure our trip in the covered wagon was a lot more pleasant than the ones my pioneer grandparents made.
I would like to tell you about my great great grandfather, Gardner Snow. He was a cousin to Erastus, Eliza R. and Lorenzo Snow. Archibald F. Bennett wrote the life story of Gardner Snow. It was still in manuscript form when he died. His wife, Mrs. Bennett, is also a great granddaughter of Gardner Snow. I have learned in the biography of Gardner Snow that I am also related to Brigham Young.
I would like to quote the first paragraph of the life of Gardner Snow by Archibald F. Bennett.
"Like Abraham of old, he early became a follower of righteousness and bore the priesthood of God to minister among his fellows. Like him, he left his homeland for a promised inheritance in the west. In every fiery test of faith he emerged triumphantly as did Abraham. He reared his household in faith."
My second great grandfather Gardner Snow was born February 15, 1793, in West Chesterfield, Chesire County, New Hampshire, the son of James Snow and Abigail Farr. He spent the first 25 years of his life in Chesterfield. Then in 1814, at the age of 21, he married Sara Sawyer Hastings. She was known as Sally.
West Chesterfield is located on the majestic Connecticut River. When West Chesterfield was first settled, the land was covered with forest trees of all kinds. Gardner and his companions gathered walnuts, chestnuts, and hickory nuts. They fished in the Connecticut River for salmon and chad, all of which were in abundance. They also hunted for deer and other wild meat. This provided their families with excellent food. They also had a real struggle with wild animals. The bears and wolves would come at night and eat their flocks.
Pioneer life was hard. It was a constant struggle against want, cold, and the wild animals. The pioneers learned to utilize their resources. They cleared the land of the trees. They burned the stumps, and from the ashes they made charcoal and potash. They made soap and other products which required containers to put them in. This resulted in a very important industry - coopering (one who makes barrels or makes or repairs wooden casks or tubs).
They didn't have many luxuries in this newly settled region due to their frugal manner of living. There was much sickness, fever, and contagious diseases. Many of the children died.
In spite of the hardships they had to endure, they were not without amusements. The men had their wrestling matches, and the women their husking and quilting bees. Dancing was one of their favorite social entertainments. They also attended church regularly.
The houses were built with long kitchens, which served as a reception room, workroom, and dance hall. There was a spinning wheel in one corner of the kitchen in almost every home.
A fiddler, no matter how poorly he played, was indispensable. When they held so-called kitchen dances, they sometimes had two or three fiddlers, who took turns playing. Sometimes they danced all night. It was customary for the young man to escort his lady friend to the dance riding behind him on a horse. It was considered extravagant to use two horses. It was at one of these kitchen balls that Gardner Snow met his future wife, Sarah Hastings. Their courtship was short. They were married in their crudely constructed church.
They lived in Chesterfield until their third son was born. In 1818 Gardner and his wife and children moved to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where the rest of the Gardner family lived.
The homes there were very similar to those in Chesterfield. All of them had a deep-bellied fireplace with blazing logs over which swung the crane with a pendant with pots or pans and kettles. The fireplace was a cheerful place as they gathered around it in the evenings. The fire in the fireplace had to be kept going. If it went out, they had to go to the nearest neighbors to borrow coals, as they had no matches in those days. In the summer, however, they would build a fire in a hollow elm tree which would burn for weeks at a time. They knew that they could always get live coals from the hollow elm tree.
The Snows were an industrious family. As soon as the land was cleared of the trees, they raised their sheep for wool and raised their flax. The spinning wheels began to spin. All of their clothing was homespun.
In the fall of 1827 their oldest son, Jonathan, was 17, and Martha (my great grandmother), the youngest was 5. The boys were learning the cooper trade and farming. Then an event happened that changed the entire course of their lives.
The family of Winslow Farr, a cousin to Gardner's, lived about 30 miles from St. Johnsbury. He heard that there were Mormon missionaries preaching in that vicinity, and that they believed in the gift of healing and administration. Winslow's wife had been a helpless invalid for five years. The doctors had given her up. They were just waiting for her to die. She was only 35 years old. When Winslow heard of the healings by the Mormon missionaries, he sent his son, a mere lad, to find them and ask them to come and see if they could heal his wife. Their young son told his father the he didn't know what a Mormon preacher looked like. How was he to find them? "Go, my son, you will know them when you see them." And he did. He hadn't been gone long until he saw a man he thought could be a Mormon preacher. He very shyly walked up to the man and said, "Pardon me, sir, but are you one of those Mormon preachers?"
"I am," said Orson Pratt. "What may I do for you my young friend?" Then the boy told him his story and asked him if he would come to his home with him. Elder Pratt's companion, Lyman E. Johnson, was not with him at the time, so he went alone with the boy. When he got there he found the family and several curious neighbors waiting for him. He walked over to the bedside of the sick woman and said, "Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?" She was too weak to answer him. But Elder Pratt perceived a slight nod of the head in the affirmative. Then he asked all in the room to kneel with him in prayer and unite their faith with his in her behalf. After the prayer Elder Pratt took the sick woman gently by the hand and smiled at her. Then he laid his hands upon her head and gave her a blessing, in which he promised her that she would have a complete recovery and live upon the earth as long as life was sweet to her. Her healing was instantaneous, and she lived to be almost a hundred. She outlived Elder Pratt.
Orson Pratt recorded in his journal that between May 14 and May 24, just ten days, they baptized the entire family of Winslow Farr, and also William and Zarubble Snow.
Winslow Far was a well-to-do farmer and was judge of the county court. For a prominent citizen like that to join the Mormon Church created quite a stir.
Among the eager listeners to Orson Pratt's teachings was a young boy just 14 years old, named Erastus Snow. He was a cousin to Gardner Snow. He writes in his journal that the Holy Ghost descended upon him while he was listening to Elder Pratt, and he would soften the hearts of his parents and permit him to join the Church. It was some time before they gave their permission for him to join the Mormon Church.
Elders Pratt and Johnson returned to Charleston. In the spring the prophet Joseph Smith had them return to St. Johnsbury. When they arrived there they found many more of the Snows and related families almost ready for baptism. Elder Pratt records in his journal that Gardner Snow as among the many they baptized on the eighteenth day of June, 1835. Gardner's wife Sarah joined the Church about a month later, and his son, James Chauncey, joined in October of that same year.
Erastus Snow relates in his journal of going to adjacent counties with Gardner to preach the Gospel. Erastus and James Chauncey were ordained priests about the same time. They were sent out together to teach the Gospel. They convinced many of the truthfulness of their message.
Probably Gardner didn't dream when he was giving his young cousin, Erastus, missionary lessons that he would some day become one of the leading missionaries in the Church and establish a mission in far off Scandinavia. Nor did he dream that Erastus would become one of the great apostles of the Church.
In 1836 Gardner and his family moved to Kirtland, Ohio, a distance of 700 miles. The first thing that caught their eyes when they arrived was the temple. They traveled to Kirtland in a large canvas-covered wagon. In Kirtland he was ordained a Seventy. On December 21 he received a patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith, Sr. These significant words were used: "Thou shall have the power, like Abraham, to bless thy posterity. Be careful and God will make thee great and powerful on the earth. Thy live shall be lengthened out."
In 1837 he received his blessings in the Kirtland Temple along with the Seventies Quorum to which he belonged. With them he journeyed in the famous Kirtland Camp, nearly a thousand miles from Kirtland to Far West, Missouri. Deaths occurred all too frequently -- usually to children.
On October 2nd they reached Far West and were met by the First Presidency and other leading officials of the Church. Having traveled a long distance of 870 miles, the brethren provided for them like men of God. They were hungry, having eaten but little for several days.
From Far West they moved twenty-five miles to the north and settled at Adam-ondi-Ahman. It was a beautiful spot, but not long to be their resting place. Already mobs inflamed with hatred against the Mormons were gathering the great numbers and threatening them with destruction. The Saints were forbidden to leave town under the threat of death. They were shot at whenever they attempted to go in search of food. Some of the brethren perished from starvation. In dire straits, the Saints had to leave the place and abandon their homes. As they journed away, they were fired upon and threatened by the mob. Several of the brethren died and were buried without a coffin. It was in the midst of this impending peril at Adam-ondi-Ahman that the six week old baby son of Gardner died and was buried.
They arrived in Far West just in time to participate in all the outrageous mobbings and abuse of the inhabitants by the Army which carried their prophet and other leaders off as prisoners. After this the Saints were driven from Missouri by the exterminating order of Governor Boggs.
"In the winter of 1839 together with all the Saints I moved with my family to Illinois to escape the wrath of an ungodly mob," wrote Gardner. In Illinois they established a new home at a place known as Morley's Settlement, or Yelrome. On October 23, 1840, he was ordained a high priest by Hyrum Smith and was appointed bishop of the Lima Branch organized there.
Again in 1844 and 1845 mobs burst upon their quiet settlement and drove them from their homes, burning their houses and property. With the Saints, they were driven from Nauvoo and lived for a time in the vicinity of Council Bluffs, Iowa.
In the year 1850 Gardner crossed the plains to Utah. Joseph Young was president of the company, with Winslow Farr as captain of the first fifty. Gardner was captain of the second fifty.
Gardner Snow and his group settled at Manti, Utah, participating in all the hardships and exciting events of pioneer days there. In Manti, Sanpete County, he held a number of responsible civic and church positions. He was then ordained a patriarch.
By this time his sons and daughters had all married. His daughter Martha (my great grandmother) married John Edmiston who was from Pennsylvania, and settled in Utah.
John Edmiston (my great grandfather) helped to lay the first cornerstone of the Manti Temple where my parents received their endowments.
Gardner Snow's long and useful life closed November 17, 1889, at the age of nearly 97.
The blessing given by patriarch Joseph Smith, Sr., had been abundantly fulfilled. The blessings of Abraham were his. Like Abraham of old, he had proved faithful under all tests and trials. What a great and glorious heritage he has left me and my posterity.
When I think that some of my grandparents and great grandparents witnessed some of these marvelous manifestations, and labored as missionaries under the direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith, how could I ever doubt a testimony of the truthfulness of this Gospel. It was born and bred in me. I know this Church is true and I am thankful for the heritage my parents and grandparents have left me. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Talk given by Marguerite Anderson Miller in a Sacrament Meeting in West Valley City, Utah, around 2007.
United States Social Security Death Index for Marguerite A Miller
| First Name: | Marguerite |
| Middle Name: | A |
| Last Name: | Miller |
| Name Suffix: | |
| Birth Date: | 10 September 1913 |
| Social Security Number: | 562-05-6553 |
| Place of Issuance: | California |
| Last Residence: | Salt lake, Utah |
| Zip Code of Last Residence: | 84123 |
| Death Date: | 25 January 2009 |
| Estimated Age at Death: | 96 |
found on familysearch.org
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