Honoring a Family Hero

A great grandson of John Harris and Orpha is a real American hero. U.S. Army Major John Dana "JD" Greer (Ret.)--John Jr.'s grandson--served in such units as the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and suffered multiple severe injuries in the course of his service, including losing his right arm after being hit by a roadside bomb while serving in Iraq. He and his wife Ada are currently serving a military relations mission for the LDS Church in San Antonio, Texas.

This Veteran's Day, honor your Greer cousin's sacrifice for your freedoms by sharing his story with your family. The following link will take you to a short biography and a video interview with JD from the George W. Bush Presidential Center website: http://www.bushcenter.org/people/john-d-greer.

Mini Greer Reunion

Recently two mini Greer reunions were held at the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah. Sylvia Crosby Clegg (daughter of Florence) arranged meetings for descendants of Florence, Leland, and Kate to meet with John Jr.'s grandson, John Dana "JD" Greer, who is leaving this week to serve a military relations mission with his wife Ada in San Antonio, Texas.

As Sylvia said, "Good family times and good family connections sweeten life!" We encourage you to share photos of any cousin get-togethers you may have and we will post them on this blog.

Roy Crosby, Grant Skousen, Sister Ada Greer
Keri Skousen, Sylvia Crosby Clegg, Elder JD Greer

Sister Ada & Elder JD Greer, Barbara & Richard Ballantyne,
Sylvia Crosby Clegg, and Laurie Jo Rhoton

Happy Pioneer Day!

John Harris Greer’s father, Thomas Lacy Greer, was 28 when he travelled to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. He came with his parents, Nathaniel Hunt and Nancy Ann Terry Roberts Greer, and many other family members in the Seth Blair/Edward Stevenson Company of 1855. They had recently arrived at the outfitting post at Mormon Grove, Kansas, (near Atchison) with a large group of fellow converts from Texas. They departed from there on 15 June and arrived between 10-13 September. A third of this company died of cholera enroute, including Thomas’ father.

Catherine Ellen Camp, Harris’ mother, travelled as a child at the age of twelve in the Shadrach Roundy Company of 1850. They departed Council Bluffs, Iowa, on 22 June and arrived between 10-19 September. She travelled in style with her family, comprised of her father, Williams W. Camp, her mother, Diannah Greer Camp, and siblings John (age 16), Harriet (age 8), Emma (age 6), Richard (age 3), and Margaret (age 1). They also brought two slaves with them, Dan and Charlotte. Little Emma died after less than a week on the trail in a cholera epidemic that swept the company.

It is not known which company Orpha Elzetta Nicoll’s father, Alexander Nicoll, travelled with to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, but it is known that he came before 1850 because he is listed on the Utah Census for that year with his brothers John and William as well as his stepbrother Hugh Lisonbee. His father, Peter Nicoll, went to California with the Gold Rush and died in a mine there. His mother, Margaret McPhail Nicoll, had died a few years earlier in Keokuk, Iowa.

 

Orpha’s mother, Sabina Ann Adams, was also twelve when she travelled to Utah in the Samuel Gully/Orson Spencer Company of 1849, which left from Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Iowa, on 28 May and arrived between 22-25 September. With her were her parents, Arza M. Adams and Sabina Clark Adams, and her siblings Nathan (age 17), Joshua (age 15), Nancy (age 7), Theothan (age 4), and Joseph Smith (age 2). Another sibling was born just about a month after they arrived.

Remembering Raymond Hogue Greer

Ray Greer & his sister Bina Law

Ray was born 19 October 1911 in St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona, the youngest in the large family of John Harris and Orpha Nicoll Greer. He had a happy childhood growing up on Greer Ranch and attending school in St. Johns. As a teenager, he had a job herding sheep for Marion Haws of St. Johns. After his father died, Ray left home to work (against the wishes of his mother since he was only fifteen years old). He traveled around the country a great deal, returning for a few days at a time to visit.

Remembering Leland Camp Greer

Leland Camp Greer, the thirteenth child born to John Harris and Orpha Nicoll Greer,

was born in his Grandmother Nicoll’s home in St. Johns, Arizona, on 13 February 1908. His sister Flossie was the first to hold him and spent long hours with him and their other siblings playing about the hills and sandy washes near Greer Ranch.  They always went barefoot in the summer months. One of Flossie’s jobs was to see that her brothers scrubbed their feet and put salve on them every evening before going to bed.

During his boyhood, Leland helped with herding and milking the cows as well as making the cheese and butter. He went to school in St. Johns through high school, but never attended college. When he was eighteen years old, his father passed away, and Leland went to work to support himself and help support his mother.

He married Alice Geneva Crosby on 28 July 1930 in Holbrook, Arizona. They had six children: Milford Leland, John Harris, Terry Reginald, Laurie Jo, Michael Howard, and Nickolas LeSueur. Leland had great love for his family and provided well for them. His special interests included stock raising and farming, though he spent much of his life employed by Apache County in the road maintenance department. He is remembered as being efficient, trustworthy, and having many friends. He died on 7 August 1981 at the age of seventy-three.

Remembering Nathan Edward Greer

Nathan Edward Greer 

by his son Milton Greer

Nathan was the twelfth child of John Harris and Orpha Nicoll Greer. He was born on Greer Ranch 21 June 1906 and spent his early childhood there with schooling in St. Johns.  He was twenty years old when his father died in May of 1926. 

The following year he married Blanche Hamblin and lived for a short time in Farmington, New Mexico, working in the Blackburn fruit orchards. At other times Nathan was employed by John H. Udall (who had some grazing land near Hunt) and did plumbing work in St. Johns for Nello Greer. When Nathan worked for the highway department on Highway 66, the couple lived in Ash Fork and Oatman, Arizona.  They later settled in Mesa and built a home at 228 East 2nd Street.  Nathan worked as a plumber.

Remembering Irvin Babe Greer

Florence & Irvin Greer in the 1930's

Irvin Babe Greer 1904-1945

Irvin Babe Greer was the eleventh child in the family of John Harris and Orpha Greer. He was born 8 July 1904 in Concho. Irvin had a happy childhood on Greer Ranch with his brothers and sisters and attended school in St. Johns, Arizona. He was of happy disposition, a hard worker, and often said, if he lived long enough, he would have as many children as his father. As a young boy, he loved to ride horseback over the hills near his ranch home. Often he remained overnight, and sometimes two or three days, in cattle or sheep camps near the ranch. He could speak Spanish and had many friends among the people.

While working in Holbrook, Arizona, Irvin met beautiful, red-haired, Florence Virginia Rosenfield, who was divorced and had a six-year-old son, Albert Francis. Irvin married Florence and to them were born two sons and four daughters. The family lived in Holbrook and St. Johns until about 1937. For a short time in 1940, Irvin lived with Errol and Marilla Brown in Salt Lake City. The family also lived in Sunnyside, Utah, about twenty-five miles east of Price. Irvin and Florence later located in American Fork with their young children where he worked in the steel mills until his death on 14 July 1945. His death resulted from being shot following an altercation with a neighbor.

Children of Irvin & Florence Greer and their age at the time of their father’s death: Irvin Harris (14), Chester Lee (12), Lillian Marlene (9), Florence Virginia (7), Cheree Sandra (5), and Thomas Neldon (4). A daughter, Millicent, who was born in 1935 died at seven months of age, thus preceded her father in death.  

Remembering Florence Leoma Greer Crosby

Florence Leoma Greer, affectionately known as Flossie, is the tenth of the fourteen children of John Harris and Orpha Nichol Greer. She was born on Greer Ranch in Greer Valley (later Hunt) nine miles north of Concho, Arizona. Flossie's grandfather, Thomas Lacy Greer, had purchased the ranch in 1878 and after his death in 1881, Flossie's parents operated the ranch and raised their family there. 

Flossie's schooling was in St. Johns and she later attended business college in San Francisco. She married George Ellis Crosby 27 Dec 1922 in St. Johns (though their 11 April 1947 sealing in the Arizona Temple is etched on their gravestone). They made their home in Greer, Arizona, and in the Salt River Valley where they raised their seven children: George Lorenzo, John Harris, Roy Rulon, Donald Parker, James Greer, Sylvia Ann, and Linda.

Elder & Sister Crosby

Flossie established the A.V. Greer Memorial Library and ran the Post Office in Greer.  

She loved genealogy work. After their LDS mission to Australia, George and Flossie lived in Mesa where they 
served in the Mesa Arizona Temple for seven years. They both died in Mesa and were buried near their son Lorenzo (who was killed in World War II) and other family members in the Eagar Arizona Cemetery.

Remembering James Alexander Greer

James Alexander Greer, born in Concho, Arizona, 29 Aug 1900, is the ninth child of John Harris and Orpha Greer.  Jim attended grade school and high school in St. Johns, followed by a year at State Normal in Flagstaff.  He then helped his folks on the ranch. In 1918 he went to live with his

sister, Sabina Law, in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked in the railroad shops and learned to weld. He held what he called 'a most interesting job' as a maintenance welder on the Boulder Dam from 1932 to 1935.  In that year he went to Los Angeles and worked with Spurs and Meadows Company and then had his own welding business.

Jim married Mary Hinge 14 July 1921 and they were later divorced. When Laura Jones Sherwood Paddock became his wife in 1938, he adopted her daughter, Lorene Paddock (Mrs. August William Mahlestede). Jim and Laura's son, James Sherwood Greer, was born to them 5 April 1939 in Long Beach, California.  Jim wrote of becoming active in the East Los Angeles Stake of the Church and of meeting and admiring the Prophet David O. McKay.

Jim & Mary Hinge

Jim died 23 November 1978 in Springerville, Arizona, and is buried in St. Johns.  His son James died 8 July 1986 in Springerville, Arizona.

Jim 1970

Remembering Catherine (Kate) Ellen Greer Stradling Hall

Catherine Ellen Greer Stradling Hall

by her great granddaughter Shelbey Ballantyne Neil

Catherine Ellen Greer was born at Lyde Sanders’ home in Concho, Arizona, on 25 July 1899 and spent her childhood on Greer Ranch with her family of three sisters and two brothers. She was known as Kate among her siblings but went by Catherine as an adult. Her first schoolteacher was Luella Udall. Ms. Udall must have inspired her as a young girl because Kate followed in her footsteps and became a schoolteacher herself after graduating from St. Johns Stake Academy in 1920. She began her teaching career at a rural school in Salado (seven miles south of St. Johns) and later taught in Concho and other Apache County schools for a number of years.

When she was 22, she became enamored of a lifelong acquaintance, Alvin Levi Stradling, who had recently returned from serving in France during World War I. They were married in St. Johns on 19 April 1921. They were blessed with a son they named Darwin Greer Stradling, who tragically contracted pneumonia and died on 4 July 1923 at the age of eighteen months, just three months after the birth of their daughter Margaret in April of that year. Another son, Merwyn Gail Stradling, was born in 1927 and would later die at the tender age of five by drowning in a city canal in Phoenix. Whether their decaying relationship was a result of terrible misfortune or some other cause, Catherine and Alvin later divorced. Catherine moved to Phoenix and raised her daughter there.

Remembering Marguerite Elzetta Greer Nichols

Marguerite Elzetta was the seventh child and fourth daughter in the family of Harris and Orpha Greer. She was born on 27 October 1897 in St. Johns, Arizona. She was a beautiful girl with long, auburn hair. When she was young, her family called her Maggie, but some records inaccurately list her name as Margaret. She spent her childhood on Greer Ranch and learned to work hard along with the rest of her siblings.

On 5 April 1917, she married a local schoolteacher named Warren C. Nichols in St. Johns. They had two children, Warren Cornelius and Mary Ellen. Marguerite and Warren were divorced in 1942 and she never remarried.

Marguerite attended business school and modeled hosiery in San Francisco. She worked as a stenographer for many years. She was quite ahead of her time in owning a health food store and 

with her sister Kate

bakery in Los Angeles in the 1940’s. Marguerite was a hard worker and carefully invested her money, particularly in real estate. She was able to support herself through her retirement and later paid for her own stay in a nursing care center. She died on 18 January 1988 in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the age of ninety-one.

Hawaii 1967