Important Family Dates for October

There are a number of dates that have importance to the family in October:

5: Orpha's father, Alexander Nicoll, died at his home in St. Johns in 1907 at the age of 77 [when Orpha was 40 years old]. He is buried in the St. Johns Cemetery with his beloved wife Sabina Ann Adams Nicoll.

7: Kate died of cancer in 1970 in Holbrook, Arizona, at the age of 71 and is buried in the Holbrook Cemetery.

9: Harris and Orpha's third child, Sabina Ann, was born in 1889 in St. Johns.
    Their youngest living child, Raymond Hogue Greer, was born in 1911 in St. Johns.
    Their oldest child, Myrtle, married Benjamin Brown in 1908 in Salt Lake City.

17: Harris' mother, Catherine Ellen Camp, was born in 1837 in Dresden, Tennessee. She is the tenth out of the fifteen children born to Williams Washington Camp and Diannah Harriet Greer.

23: Lillian Oasis Greer was born in St. Johns in 1891. She is the fourth child of the family.

27: The fifth child, Nathaniel, was born in Concho in 1893. He married his first wife, Edith Viola Thomas, on his birthday in 1920. They had no children and divorced after a few years. He later married Marjorie Akers in California.
      Margaret Elzetta Greer was born in St. Johns in 1897. She is the seventh child of the family. She went by the name "Maggie" growing up but preferred to be called "Marguerite" as an adult.

Remembering Thomas Lacy Greer

"Thomas Lacy Greer, son of Nathaniel Hunt Greer and Ann Terry Roberts, was born September 2, 1826, in [DeKalb] County, Georgia. He grew to manhood before they came to Utah. His father, mother, brothers, and sisters all came overland to Utah. While coming, one brother died of cholera, and then his father [who also died of cholera] was buried with little to mark his resting place...."

This is how John Harris' younger sister, Oasis Ann Greer Blessingame, begins her account of the life of her father. You can read the full account here: www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/6745167.

Important Family Dates for September

There are only two dates of significance to the Greer family in September:

2: Thomas Lacy Greer (Harris' father) was born in 1826 in DeKalb, Georgia.
9: Sabina (Bina) Ann Greer Law died in 1972 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is buried next to her husband Carl in Lindquist Memorial Gardens of the Wasatch, 1718 Combe Road, Ogden, Utah.

Important Family Dates for August

Here are some dates that are important to the family in August:

7: Leland's death (1981)
8: Thomas Lacy's birth (1895)
15: Lillian's death (1951)
21: John Harris Jr.'s birth (1888)
22: Flossie's death (1996)
29: James' birth (1900)

If you are a descendant of any of these siblings and want to honor them in some way on this blog, please e-mail me at barbaraballantyne@hotmail.com.

Thomas Lacy Greer and the Greer Ranch

When Harris was about ten years old, his parents, Thomas Lacy and Ellen Camp Greer, decided to move their family and large cattle herd back to Utah from Texas, where they had moved to twenty years prior to serve a mission for the LDS Church. On the way they stopped in northeastern Arizona and like it so well they decided to stay. Thomas bought the French Ranch from Leon Dubois for $350 and it was known as Greer Ranch thereafter. He built the family a lovely home with a rock house out front to keep food cool (in the days before refrigeration). The book Texas and the Greers records:

"The Greer Ranch became one of the finest cattle ranches in Arizona. It was a beautiful place with several springs. They were able to raise all kinds of vegetables, strawberries, and watermelon.

Their great herds of cattle roamed the hills. They had many fine horses and a beautiful home where high officials of Church and government were entertained. Rich and poor alike were made welcome, and they were known everywhere for their fine hospitality."

Unfortunately, Harris' father was only able to enjoy Greer Ranch for a few years. He died at the Ranch on July 30, 1881, at the age of 55 after suffering from erysipelas, a bacterial infection of the skin.

a photo of the Ranch taken in 1979

a Google Satellite image of the Greer Ranch today