Obituary
Sie war verwandt mit Charles Ashbacker.
Kind(er):
Esther Olive Peterson Ashbaker was born 24 July 1879 to Peter Peterson and Christina Olson Peterson, in the small community of Sponga, Sweden. She was the fourth daughter in a family of six girls and five boys. Six of the children were born in Sweden and the other five in Mink Creek, Idaho. After Esther learned to walk and play out doors, she had such a lot of fun roaming the hills and picking wild flowers, and at times had difficulties too. At one time she got a thorn in her eye which her mother was unable to remove, so they had to walk quite a distance to get a Doctor's aid. The railroad ranquite close to their home so they walked on the track into the city to see the doctor. When Esther was a small baby her parents were taught the gospel by the Mormon Missionaries, and in June 1880 all of the family who were old enough were baptized. There was very much persecution to the saints at that time so the family-decided to sell their property and come to America. In 1883 they left their home and sailed with a group of saints on the Steamship Nevada, Esther was just four years old. At first they settled in Logan, Utah for about one year, and then moved to Mink Creek, Idaho. There Esther's father homesteaded a farm where the family was raised. She was baptized by her father in Mink Creek when she was 8 years old. What little schooling she was able to get was in Mink Creek. Shewas always active in the church. She sang in the choir and was a counselor in the M.I.A. as a young woman. She and her sister, Elizabeth, sang duets together many times. When the boys and girls that grew up together started pairing off, it was Charles Ashbaker that chose Esther when she was 17 and he 20. They both loved to dance and never missed a dance in the community. During the first years ofcourtship they rode horses to the dances, then Charles' mother bought a white-topped buggy, so after that they rode in style. Esther was courted by many young men, but Charles won out and they weremarried 3 July 1901, in the Logan Temple. They moved to Thatcher, Idaho for a short time then they homesteaded. a farm southeast of Grace, Idaho in the Telluride area. It was here that they raised their family of eight girls and four boys. During the time she was raising her family she continued her church activity, being President of the Primary for a number of years, a counselor in Relief Society, a block teacher for over 50 years, and a member of the choir and singing mothers. Her mode of transportation to take care of all of these activities was walking, riding a horse, or driving a team. She never learned to drive a car. They went into Grace for church meetings which was about five miles. Charles also was active in church. He served in the Grace Ward Bishopric for many years andwas a ward teacher most of his life. As the children grew older and graduated from High School some of them left the farm and found work. Two of the children, Aileen and Freeman, filled missions for the church, and Freeman graduated from college. In 1937 they turned the farm over to the boys, Freeman and Lloyd, and moved into Grace. About two years later they moved to Logan where they both did Temple work. Due to poor health Esther wasn't able to do as much Temple work as she would have liked to do, but Charles went nearly every day and did endowment work and sealings for thousands. Esther was especially friendly and was loved by everyone who knew her. She loved to have company and always made them welcome. She always insisted on finding something to eat for anyone who visited her. She enjoyed her children and grandchildren so much and was proud of everyone of them. Her health became worse, and at a time when she was staying with her daughter Aileen because she was too ill tobe left at home, she had to be put in the Soda Springs hospital and there passed away 17 February 1965 at the age of 84. At the time of this writing, August, 1977 she has a posterity of 185. (This life sketch was found in the files of her daughter Mable, and was probably written by Mable.)
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