Tracking the Past: Dorothy Buck Childhood in SLC

Keryn and I spent a luxurious couple of days in Salt Lake City this week to celebrate our 10th anniversary. While there, we dropped in on the new Church History Library. We took the short tour where they show you a video and walk you through the public stacks. As we wandered through the stacks, our guide pointed out some old Salt Lake City directories dating back to 1900.

Thinking of Grandma Peters, I thought I'd like to see if we could find her family. I pulled up Family Search on a computer to remind myself of the pertinent names and dates and then fetched the 1923 and 1939 directories. In the first one, I found a promising entry while looking for Francis Morgan Buck.

That photo shows Frank M. Buck. His occupation is listed as machinist for the Oregon Short Line and his residence is at 248 W. 1st No. Those abbreviations are all explained at the front of the directory. 1st North is the same thing as North Temple.

We flipped through to the 1939 directory and found this entry.

You'll notice Frank M. and Ellen L. are listed together this time, which confirmed that we were looking at Francis Morgan Buck and Ellen Louise Pedersen Buck. No occupation is listed, and this is a year before his death, so that may be accurate. I didn't notice the other entry on this page until I got home. You'll notice, at the same address, Dorothy A. Buck. I don't have Dorothy and Ralph's marriage date handy, but knowing that mom was born in 1941, this must have been shortly before she got married. How cool that she made the directory separately!

From FamilySearch, I could see that Ellen's father and mother had also died in the Salt Lake area in 1910 and 1918 respectively, so I went to an older directory to look for them. I found the following entry in the 1908 directory.

There is Lars E. Pedersen, occupation shoemaker, at 27 W 17th South in Murray. His business and residential address were the same. I think this matches what Michelle told us at a family reunion, so I think this is the right person. Michelle, I'd love it if you'd post that story to the blog if I'm remembering right. I couldn't find any reference to Charlotte Amelia Andersen Pedersen in the directory, even after her husband died. I wonder if she moved in with someone else right away and thus doesn't show up as a widow (like Jensine above) in the directory.

Knowing that Dorothy had lived so close to the library where we were looking this up, Keryn and I decided to walk over and see what was there now. While we were walking, we called mom and she told us that grandma had been mentioning the house at 248 recently. How funny. Mom didn't remember that the house was on North Temple.

When we arrived at the location, we could see that it was right across the street from a large parking lot. That parking lot was where they had the medals ceremonies for the 2002 Winter Olympics. There was no more 248 W. There is an (apparently pretty new) apartment building at 230 W. When we looked at this address on Google Maps, there was a differently shaped apartment building in the same location, so apparently the house has been gone for a long time now. In the photo below, you can see the current apartment building. The left edge of this building is at the center of the block and is probably where the old house stood.

I took a quick panoramic video shot to give you a sense of the currently location. Sorry about the wind noise on my cell phone camera.

Mom, while we were on the phone, you mentioned some of the things Grandma said she used to do. I'd love it if you'd pen a quick post with some of those memories!