Ten Things to Remember about Orpha

Orpha Elzetta Nicoll was born 149 years ago today. Here are ten things to remember about her:

  1. her parents helped settled American Fork, Utah, where she was born
  2. she was the seventh out of twelve children
  3. she moved to Arizona with her family in 1879 at the age of twelve
  4. she was married on her birthday (today is her 131st wedding anniversary!)
  5. she bore and raised fourteen children, who were all married before her death
  6. she was an excellent housekeeper and cook
  7. she loved music, especially Enrico Caruso
  8. she did all of the sewing for her children
  9. she was hospitable and a good neighbor to all
10. she was very fastidious and careful about her person

Click on the link with her name on the upper right of this page to learn more about Orpha.

A Family Quiz

Do you know which sibling is the answer to each question below?
(You can find the answers in their biographies that we posted from March 31-April 13, 2014.)

  1. Who established the A.V. Greer Memorial Library and ran the U.S. Post Office in Greer?
  2. Who was quite ahead of her time in owning a health food store and bakery in Los Angeles in the 1940's?
  3. Who wanted to have as many children as their parents did?
  4. Who had beautiful, curly red hair?
  5. Who worked as a maintenance welder on the Boulder Dam?
  6. Who served in the 143rd Infantry Regiment 36th Division of the U.S. Army during World War I and was on the front lines in France?
  7. Who ran a general store, cafe, gas station, and the U.S. Post Office in Red Hill, New Mexico?
  8. Who owned the St. John's water-powered electrical plant?
  9. Who worked as a plumber?
10. Who served an LDS mission to Australia with her husband?
11. Who could ride "like nobody's business" and became an excellent shot with a gun?
12. Who played the mandolin?
13. Who died as a result of being shot following an altercation with a neighbor?
14. Who spent much of his life employed by Apache County in the road maintenance department?
15. Who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in World War II?
16. Who ran a cafe at Peach Springs and later operated the Phantom Ranch in the bottom of the Grand Canyon?
17. Who was confined to a wheelchair later in life because of crippling arthritis?
18. Who was a school teacher in Concho and other Apache County schools for a number of years?
19. Who attended business school and modeled hosiery in San Francisco?
20. Who was a painter and house decorator by trade?

Kate's Family Returns to Greer

by Hydee Ballantyne Seever 

Hydee (center right) enjoying a walk
with her children, siblings, etc.

I only got to visit Greer once in my childhood. We had a magical time staying in some cabins on East Fork with our extended family. That memory of the green valley, cut through by sparkling streams and surrounded by pine-covered mountains, stayed with me, as did the stories my father and grandmother told me of their visits there from their own childhoods. I knew Greer was a place our family had roots, roots that stretched back generations behind me. Finally, I returned again for another family reunion, this time a 25 yr old college graduate, pregnant with my first baby. I have been returning with my own family ever since. On our visits, we rented various cabins around the valley, and even got attached to one across the 373 from the market. We dreamed of owning a piece of Greer ourselves one day so we could continue making memories there and pass the connection on to future generations.

We looked at cabins for sale over the years, but it was never right. We looked at other places closer to home or less expensive locations, but I was quietly stubborn that it was going to be Greer or nothing. Greer is connected to my family in a way no other location can be. When I walk it's trails or meander alongside the Little Colorado, I see my Grandmother, Margaret Stradling Ballantyne (Kate's daughter), through whom I inherited my Greer family ancestry. You can't buy that or replicate it. 

Hydee's dad Tom hiking with her
youngest daughter Emmie

Christmas 2014 we decided to rent a cabin in Greer so we could get away to a white Christmas with just our family. During that visit we renewed our search for a place to call our own and found one. Just one mile off the 260, on Hall Creek, we found the Phares family selling their cabin. From the moment we drove down the road, it felt right. By March, the property was ours. My dad, Tom Ballantyne, says he thinks we may now own what used 

cousins playing in
the Little Colorado River

to be part of the Crosby family ranch, as he remembers it.  I treasure the legacy not only of our family roots in Greer, but what the Phares family left for us on the property that was their family getaway for 40 years.

This past summer, 2015, we spent as much time as we could at our Greer Hydeaway (my name for the property). I love being there with my seven children. Life is indeed more beautiful and simpler there.

Hydee's husband Adam enjoying time
with some of their girls at the pond on their land

We enjoy the wildflowers that change weekly, the hummingbirds that swarm our feeders by the dozens, the afternoon rain showers each day. A couple of times a week, we drive down to the Little Colorado for a stroll and a dip in the chilly waters. We cook and eat outdoors a lot. My kids pick wild raspberries and make fresh pies. They wear overalls and cowboys boots for their romps around our place, or just go barefoot. Family and friends visit frequently, which makes everything sweeter. Our Hydeaway has given us a place to escape and focus on being together, with each other and with our roots, too.

Orpha: "At the Head of Her Posterity"

Orpha Elzetta Nicoll was born 148 years ago today (29 March 1867) in American Fork, Utah.
To honor this great lady on her birthday, we are posting a transcription of her Patriarchal Blessing.
She received this blessing on 16 April 1937 in Mesa, Arizona, as a widow at the age of seventy and just seven years before her death.

For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a patriarchal blessing contains inspired personal counsel from the Lord as well as a declaration of a person's lineage in the house of Israel. It is meant to be studied and lived, with a promise of guidance, comfort, and protection. Our current prophet, Thomas S. Monson, has said, "Your patriarchal blessing will see you through the darkest night. It will guide you through life's dangers." We can only hope this blessing was all of that for Orpha.

A blessing given by John F. Nash, Patriarch, upon the head of Orfa E. N. Greer; daughter of Alexander Nichols and Sabina Adams; born 29 March, 1867, American Fork, Utah. Sister Greer: In the authority of the Holy Priesthood, I lay my hands upon your head and seal upon you this Patriarchal blessing that shall be a comfort to you so long as you continue in your faithfulness. The Lord remembers your service in the spirit world and the covenants you made to serve Him when you came upon the earth. This you have fulfilled thus far in your life and He rejoices over you. Your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life with the assurance that you will receive an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom if you hold out faithful unto the end. He loves you for the integrity and the way you have served Him, and the remainder of your days upon the earth will be pleasant and happy, filled with the inspiration of the Lord. His Spirit will be round about you to guide and direct you in all of your labors. He shall bless you with health and strength all of your days. You are of the lineage of Ephraim and you shall partake of the blessings pronounced upon that chosen people. He has accepted your mission of motherhood and will bless you with a power and influence over the young people, yours and others, and they shall bless you in days to come because of the influence you had over them and led them aright. The Lord blesses you with a knowledge of His purposes and you have joy and satisfaction in contemplating the future with its magnificent glories for you have a testimony that the Lord lives. Your labors in the House of the Lord shall return to your honor and glory and when you have finished this life's mission there will be multitudes to meet you on the other side when there shall be a period of great rejoicing. You shall be preserved and protected from harm or danger and shall have plenty of the good things of the earth so that your last days shall be your best days. I seal you up unto Eternal Life to come forth in the morning of the first resurrection, to be crowned among those who have fought the good fight and won the prize of exaltation, and you shall be placed at the head of your posterity to rule and reign in the House of Israel forever. These blessings I seal upon you through your faithfulness, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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.