Mary Estella Anderson Sanderson, 1908-1967

Mary Estella Anderson Sanderson is the wife of Dayle Aldon Sanderson and the mother of Barbara Mary and Janet Carol. Another daughter Judy Kay was born 31 August 1945 and died 15 days later in Idaho Falls Idaho. Mary was born 3 June 1908 in Rexburg, Madison, Idaho. Her father was Brigham Jefferson Anderson and her mother was Mary Estella Long. She was the second of three children, Leon, Mary, and Lois. She lived in Lincoln, Idaho as a child. She tells of playing on a dry farm east of Lincoln and badly cutting her knee on some barbed wire. "It became infected and I had quite a bout before it was well again. I remember sitting on the bed with my knee stretched out before me, bandaged in all sorts of remedies and poultices, such as bread and milk, flax seed, mush, and even manure. " (My Story... Mary Anderson Sanderson).

She attended grade school in Lincoln and she remembers that on the first day she decided to go home at recess. "Our family always attended church, although Dad did not go as often as the rest of us, we children never missed. On the whole our growing up days were very happy ones with pleasures we made ourselves." The family moved to Shelley, Idaho when her father was transferred with the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. She attended school there until the eighth grade. She remembers that when World War I ended she went to the sugar factory to blow the whistle, put up a flag, and celebrate the occasion.

Mary met Dayle Aldon Sanderson in Shelley. Wendell, Dayle's younger brother, was in her class in high school and Dayle was in the class above her. They dated while attending Shelley High School. They were married September 23, 1926, the year that she graduated from high school. They were married in the Bonneville County Court House in Idaho Falls, Idaho, she said, "we went to Blackfoot to the Eastern Idaho State Fair for our honeymoon and spent the day". She said in 1959, "I hope that someday we may go to the temple. Our children were both blessed and baptized in the church." This desire was fulfilled in February of 1963 when Mary and Dayle entered the Idaho Falls Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were sealed for time and eternity by the power of the priesthood. That same year Barbara, Janet, and Judy were sealed to them. Janet and Judy in the Los Angeles Temple and Barbara in the Idaho Falls Temple. This fulfilled a dream that Mary had for her family.

Times were not always easy for Mary and Dayle. They went through the Great Depression of the late 1920's and the early 1930's. "We lived in Shelley, Idaho for a time after our marriage and then we moved to Preston, Idaho to open a branch of the Durant Automobile Agency there. I was very homesick so far away from all the family and folks I knew. Dayle worked hard and long hours and I was alone a lot of the time. We stayed in Preston a year and then we moved back 'home' to Shelley. We stayed there a short time, then moved to Rigby, Idaho where our first child Barbara Mary was born. After three years of waiting for a baby, we now had our very own. Of course she was the most beautiful baby ever, with red hair and brown eyes." When Barbara was born a new era began for the family.

"We spent the remainder of the summer in Rigby then moved to Idaho Falls where we bought our first home. It was an old house but home to us. .... Although not much to look at, we were happy there. We bought this house for $2200 and paid for it at $20 a month. At times we were hard pressed to pay that much, especially, when my husband was without work." Janet Carol was born while they lived in this home and when it was time to move, Janet said, "that when she got married she was going to live in the old house on Lava Street". Janet was born in 1931 and "she looked like a second edition of her sister with red hair and brown eyes".

Dayle and his father's automobile business failed and in 1931 Dayle found a job at Montgomery Ward as an outside salesman. He was on a commission basis and was paid just 6% of his sales. He reported that his income did not cover his expenses for a while. Mary was left at home by herself and was quite lonely.

Dayle and Mary became the caretakers for not only her "Mother" but also Dayle's mother, "Grandma". That is how they were always referred to in conversations. Mary was very attending to their every need. As a child, Mary contracted rheumatic fever which affected her heart and she was weakened by that affliction. Mary passed away in May of 1967 in Salt Lake City, Utah, of heart disease.

These notes are just a few of the experiences in Mary's life. Her life was full and she loved her Dayle, her children, and her grandchildren.

Mary, Pamela, and Kevin Marler Mary and Kevin Marler 1960, 17th St., Escondido CA, 17th Street, Escondido CA

Mary and Dayle on Donalor Drive,
Escondido CA 1961













Mary, Dayle and Karen Marler, Donalor St.
Escondido CA 1962

Martell Marler, 27 October 1900-- 3 March 1960

Martell Marler is the husband of Mary Alice Lemmon and the father of Allen Oliver, Dean Martell, Don LeRoy, and Sharleen. He was born 27 October 1900, in Teton, Fremont, Idaho. He was one of nine children. He was the third child. The photos above are, from top to bottom, Rigby Idaho High School graduation, young father about 1925, and an executive in a bank about 1956. Martell was known as "Marty" by his family and friends. He died on 3 March 1959 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona. Marty was a devout fisherman and spent many summer weekends in Swan Valley, Idaho on Rainey Creek. His love of Rainey creek was passed on to his sons, Allen, Dean and Don. This love was then passed on to his grandsons, who still like to go fishing on Rainey Creek.

Marty's first job was as a worker in his father's furniture store in Rigby. His Father Allen Green Marler had a desire to own a number of furniture stores so that each of his boys would have a place of employment. The depression of the 20's and 30's caused him to lose his stores and the boys had to find other employment. The store where Marty worked in Rigby had a mortuary in the basement he and his brothers were called upon to sometimes bring bodies to the mortuary. This experience was not liked at all by Marty and so he decided he didn't want to be a mortician.
He worked as a teller in the American National Bank in Rigby and later the family moved to Idaho Falls where he worked in the bank there and he progressed in the bank until he became a vice president in the bank. He was well respected in banking circles in Eastern Idaho. He worked with and helped many dry farmers in the area with their financial affairs. Many farmers would always seek his help when they needed loans for their crops.

He was a member of the Idaho Falls Idaho Lion's Club and served as the secretary. He attended a Banking school at Rutgers University in the East.

Martell was a devoted employee of the banks in which he worked. He often said that when he was offered raise in salary that he wasn't worth it and sometimes refused a raise. (This is according to his wife , Alice).

Don and Jan were blessed by his generosity in supporting them as they attended dental school in Portland Oregon.

He had a heart attack in 1949 and never fully recovered from that. He experienced pain and discomfort for many years and then in 1960 while he was in Mesa Arizona, he suffered another attack and died on March 3, 1960. He and Alice were spending the winter there. He is buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Idaho Falls Idaho.

Donald Edgar Sanderson 1877 -- 1945

This is a picture taken about 1930 in Idaho Falls Idaho. This is Donald Edgar Sanderson, his wife, Hattie Maude Carrier Sanderson, their two sons, Dayle Aldon Sanderson and Wendell Carrier Sanderson. He was a real outdoors person. Grandpa Dayle Sanderson, "Sandy", often said that his dad, Donald Edgar, carried a handgun on his hip and one time used it to defend himself. Donald Edgar was raised with Indians when they lived next to the Indian Reservation on Fort Hall, Idaho where his mother, Mary Ann Joynt Sanderson, taught school. He learned a lot of the Indian ways and then taught his sons those ways.

At the funeral of Donald Edgar Sanderson, on November 16, 1945, Reverend Joseph I. Gulick, of the Presbyterian Church in Idaho Falls, Idaho, gave the following remarks concerning Donald Edgar Sanderson.

"There was no lack of color in his parental background. His father, John Henry Sanderson, was a restless, adventurous type driving the wagon train teams clear across the continent -- entering into the thrills and hardship of the gold seeking miners. Freighting needed supplies across the country to them, and finally starting a home in the pioneer section in the sparsely settled west. Home ties only temporarily held him.
"Donald Edgar caught some of the spirit of the "forty niners" from his father and it lived within him, too. He loved to prospect. To go out in the hills looking for gold and samples of other precious minerals. And many a strange rock and colored stone he picked up and brought back for closer examining. There had throbbed within him the strong pull of the prospector's urge. He had climbed the hills, and followed the trail, and had known the will-o-the-wisp beckoning him.
"But marriage usually settles a man and ties him to a new center of interest and affection called home. His work as a station agent at Shelley, and later when running a garage, and managing a sales company, was still interesting to him and gave him the economic security every home builder desires. But with a helpmate to share life with him and with two sons to look to him for protection and instruction and companionship, life took on a new fullness and a new satisfaction for Mr. Sanderson. He was a good husband, thoughtful of his wife and grateful and appreciative for the comrade in the home. Other men might prefer the club, the bar, the neighborhood rally, but Mr. Sanderson preferred his home and the comforts and happiness his wife's presence in it made for him.
"And to his sons, he was an unusual dad. He was never too busy to share life with them. All he had learned from his Indian youth, he sought to pass on to his boys -- games, tricks, knowledge of nature, archery and skating. He was a father, teacher and unfailing pal to them. Few boys have been more blessed in having a father who thought with them and shared their experiences and was a pal and inspiration to them.
"Here on the earth Mr. Sanderson's name meant "World Ruler, Protector". He was a world ruler, he was a prince and a chief in the kingdom for his sons, and in the home circle with his wife. And for them he protected the sacred heritage of home and of a wholesome childhood and boyhood for his sons. What he was, what he gave, it is all a rich heritage, a precious treasure of memory to them now.
"But he will have a new name over there, what it is none of us can know. But perhaps the Prospector, the dreamer, the planner, the searcher had found at last the inner object of all life's quest -- and the secret and the answer to all the soul's aspiring."

Donald Edgar Sanderson was another of our family's rich heritage. We can be grateful for what he has given to each of us. If you would like to learn more about him please let us know and we can duplicate the material we have.

Martha Payne, (Paine), Jones Thomas, 1808--1895

Martha Payne Thomas in the great-great-great grandmother of Janet Carol Sanderson Marler. Martha married Daniel Stillwell Thomas on 3 February 1826 in Sumner County, Tennessee. They were later sealed for time and eternity in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah on 27 September 1852. Daniel was a close associate of Brigham Young and drove a team and wagon with records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the valley of the Great Salt Lake under the direction of Brigham Young.

The following account is taken from their journals:

Six inches of snow covered the ground when mob violence forced Martha Payne Jones Thomas, her husband, and their four children to leave Far West, Missouri in 1839. Martha was pregnant, expecting to deliver her baby at any time. They were waiting to cross the Missouri River when some brethren took Brother Thomas aside. Martha records in her history:

“After they had talked a few minutes, Mr. Thomas came back in a hurry, saying, ‘What do you think of our horses and wagon going back back to Far West? The brethren and sisters are all to be shot if they are not out [soon].’ “ ‘Well, dump the things out of the wagon by that log,’ I said. “ ‘What will you do if your pains begin?’ he asked. “ ‘I will do as well as Sister Wight did in Davis County, when she had her baby by a log in a snowstorm.’ “ ‘According to your faith, so shall it be,’ said my husband. “Out went everything by the log. Sure enough, that night I was taken sick. I sent for Sister Margaret Smoot, and she asked me where my bedroom was. There we were in the open, by the river. ‘Oh, there is plenty of room,’ I said. ‘All we need is a bed.’ ”

So Sister Smoot and some of the men made a bed for Martha by the fire. Other women may not have considered themselves well off under these circumstances, but Martha said, “I have often thought a queen never enjoyed such a bedroom. It was a comfortable place, and I got better.” She delivered a healthy baby boy several days later.

Martha gave us an insight into the source of her strength when she wrote in her journal the day her husband died: “June 27, 1878. D. S. Thomas was buried. This leaves me standing in the midst of the Saints surrounded by a numerous posterity, which is a great comfort to me. At times the clouds of sorrow will hover over me. Then I call on my Father for help, and he is sure to comfort me.”

In 1881 Martha wrote a short history of her family and concluded that history with her testimony as follows:

I leave this short account together with my blessings and my testimony to the truth of the work of God, in the which I have passed most of my life and on account of which I have had to sacrifice the homes I have made and to pass through the trials consequent on such drivings and journeyings. To my descendants together with my prayer that all my descendants may prove faithful to the cause for which we have contended and may realize all the blessings contemplated by the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Amen.

Martha is another example of the faith and courage of our family ancestors who have blazed the trail that we are blessed to follow.

Dayle Aldon Sanderson, 9 May 1906 to 10 August 1994

This is a picture of Dayle Aldon Sanderson, father of Janet Carol Sanderson Marler. It was taken about 1925. He was born on 9 May 1906, in Shelley, Bingham Co., Idaho USA. His parents were Donald Edgar Sanderson and Hattie Maude Carrier. He was born prematurely and weighed only 2 1/2 pounds at birth. Because of his size he was not dressed but he was placed in a shoe box with cotton as an incubator and the box was placed on the open door of the oven in the kitchen. He had a difficult beginning of life but he survived and became a healthy active person. Dayle has written a very interesting life history that we all should read. The next part of this Post is a quote from his personal history that he personally wrote in 1983.

I am really glad I was born when I was. I have seen a great variety of things in my life. I saw the last of the "old west" and the coming of the "industrial age". I saw the country develop from dirt roads to gravel to paved and modern freeways. I saw the development of automobiles, airplanes, jets, rockets, and moon travel. I saw the development of motion pictures, talking movies, radio, T.V. and video equipment, and computers.

I learned a lot of lessons to live by in life. Some were: Do not be afraid to work and do your best; the rewards will follow. Don't be the last to report to work in the morning or the first to leave at night; always be a little early and complete the job, or be at a good stopping point, before you leave. The stove will not give you heat until you have put fuel into it first. The greatest secret to gaining wealth is to save-- save at least 10% of all that comes your way and it will make you wealthy. It takes money to make money. Always pay cash for everything you buy because you will always overpay if you buy on time. Don't make major decisions in life until you have had time to think it over at least one night and a day or more. Be honest in all your dealings above everything else. If you borrow something from someone, be sure you return it right after you are through with it. Pay all your obligations and expect others to do the same. IF a man pays you, he will always be your friend; if not, he will ignore you and avoid you.

From the life history of Dayle Aldon Sanderson written by himself in 1983. (In possession of Rosemary Gray Jenkins - Granddaughter).

Harriett Heath Marler, the "rich widow" Marler

This is a picture of Harriett Heath Marler, wife of Allen Marler, Sr. and great- great grandmother of Don LeRoy Marler. Harriet along with her family of eight children, her husband, her brother and his two boys, and a Negro mammy left Port Gibson Mississippi in May of 1850 to travel up the Mississippi River to St. Joseph Missouri where they would join a wagon train that would take them to the Great Basin in the west to join the members of the Church. On the way up the Mississippi River the family contracted cholera and within less than a month's time, her husband, three daughters, two nephews, and a Negro mammy all succumbed to the disease.

Her husband as he was dying, tried to convince her to return to Port Gibson and live with her parents. However, she was determined to be united with the Saints in the West. She purchased a team and wagon and supplies and joined a wagon train led by James Lake and traveled to the Great Basin.

Allen Marler, Jr.

This is a picture of Allen Marler, Jr., son of Allen Marler, Sr., and Harriet Heath. He was born in Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi, USA, on 8 June 1843. He is Don LeRoy Marler's great-grandfather. Along with his family, consisting of his father and mother and seven brothers and sisters, he left Mississippi in 1850 to travel to the West to join the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in March 1850. On the way up the Mississippi River the family contracted cholera and within less than a month's time, his father, three sisters, two boy cousins, and a Negro mammy all succumbed to the disease.

In spite of this hardship his mother, Harriet decided to continue on West to join with the Saints in the Great Basin. They settled in Pleasant Grove where they built a home. It was one of the first homes built in Pleasant Grove. The story of the "rich widow Marler", Allen's mother, Harriet Heath Marler is a faith promoting experience for all who would read about it.