Jonathan Earl (1886-1956)
My grandfather Jonathan Earl was a tall stately man. At least when I was a child I thought of him that way as he would walk up the driveway of our home. He would tweek my nose with his thumb and finger and make me believe that he held it in his hand. He was a plastering contractor and well known for his work in the Salt Lake Valley. My father Don Roy Earl, and his brother Glen Earl worked with my grandfather in a company known as Earl and Sons. My father would tell me that he never regretted working with his father and brother. He said others would say to him “How can you work with you brother and father”? He was grateful that they enjoyed their time together. The family of brothers and sisters have remained very close.
Jonathan Earl was born in Salt Lake City and was the oldest of eleven (11) children. At age six the family moved to Brigham City. When he was twelve the family home burned down and Jonathan went to work to help out. He started to date Laura Forsgren when he was eighteen.
He went to Salt Lake for work and when he returned to Brigham at twenty-two, his mother died the very next day. He again helped with the family until he married Laura two years later in the Salt Lake Temple. They lived in Brigham where he built their first home. Later they had to move to Salt Lake for work. He became a plastering contractor and was well known for his honesty in his business. He built two more homes in Salt Lake for his family and was a super provider in every way of the family needs and wants!! The homes were on Sherman Avenue and 1412 Denver Street.
Being a member in good standing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he was given work to do on several of the temples: Salt Lake, Idaho Falls, St. George, Manti, and Mesa. He was a generous contributor to the church in money, time, use of his truck and any help that was neededed, and it was all quietly done as the scriptures tell us it should be.
He lived to see the invention of automobiles and loved the opportunity he had of owning many, the last one being a chrysler imeprial. I remember traveling with my grandparents once to Yellowstone. Grandfather stayed dressed up for the entire journey. Grandmother was in a dress of course all the way.
He had a great sense of humor and loved to tease as he would tell a grandchild that he wasn’t born, he just slid down the moon. On Holidays he made the best Ice Cream when the freezer had to be hand-turned, as his dad had done before him, and as my dad did after him. We had a hand crank freezer that we would make ice cream with. I could tell it was a good memory for my dad.
My grandfather developed sugar diabetes, which soon took his eyesight, and then his life. It was hard to see him become invalid with this disease. He would sit on the couch in the livingroom when we went to visit, covered with a blanket.
I remember him as a very kind generous man.