FREDRICK ROBBINS TITENSOR and ELLEN HYER

Fredrick Robbins Titensor, son of Thomas Titensor and Sarah
Robbins. was born September 6. 1868 in Richmond. Utah.  His
parents had joined the church in Manchester. England and
immigrated with three daughters to Utah in 1861.  They settled
in Richmond that Fall and. in the fort where all the settlers
lived for protection from Indians. Thomas built a one-room home

By the time Fredrick was born, the Indians were apparently no
longer a serious concern and the family had moved out of the fort
into the more substantial two-room log home.

Although Fred was the seventh child of Thomas and Sarah, he had
only four living brothers and sisters at the time of his birth 
(a brother died in England and a sister died shortly after the
family came to Richmond).  Also part of the family was Elizabeth
Bradbury Titensor, Thomas' second wife, whom he had married the
year before.  She bore him a daughter less than two months before
Fred was born.  Presumably, both wives shared the same home.
At the age of two or three, Fred saw the first train to come to
Richmond: "My brother Will and I were together: there was a big
crowd.  It was Just an engine ... and it tooted two or three
times ... and all the kids were scared."

When Fred was about six years old. Thomas took his families south
to Logan. where he worked as a master mechanic in the railroad
shops.  They lived first "in the McNiel house and then in a
Hopkins place ... an adobe house."  It was in Logan that Fred
started school.  Also while in Logan he became seriously ill with
mountain fever.  "They wrapped me in a thin green oilcloth.
Dr.Armsby came ... he was the doctor for all of Cache Valley ...
traveling by horse and buggy."  With good care and with faith and
prayers, he recovered.

After a year or two, Thomas moved his families to a quarter
section of land he had homesteaded a couple of miles north of
Richmond in a settlement called Coveville (later renamed Cove).
Thomas had built a fine large frame house there not far from High
Creek.  Fred continued his schooling in a little one-room school
house: just how many years of schooling he had is unknown.
In 1877, at the age of eight, he was baptized a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  "I was baptized by
Christian Monson and confirmed by Wallace Burnham.  A Dora Walton
was baptized at the same time.  When they went to lower her into
the water, she threw up her hands and cried out '0 my Lord' and
kicked up her feet and had to be done again.

"At this time, there was what they called a 'reformation' in the
church.  Special meetings were called and many were rebaptized.
There was a big meeting, a large crowd, on the banks of  the Cub
River, about a half mile north of the old flour mill.  And
everyone was confirmed immediately after their baptism."
It is not clear whether this  account refers to Fred's baptism at
the age of eight or to a possible rebaptism some years later.
Also. it seems to have been more of a "re-affirmation" than a
"reformation".
In the summer of 1878. Fred contracted diphtheria and nearly
died.  "Auntie Elizabeth, father's other wife. lost two children
in a week.  I was administered to by Jesson Shepherd who lived in
Richmond.  I always felt he was the one who healed me through
the blessing he gave me from the Lord."
Just like with the other children in the family. Fred helped his
parents on the farm.  And when he was 16, he helped with the
construction of the first chapel in Coleville. a one-room frame
building just 30 feet by 44 feet.  Previously, the members had
held their meetings in private homes and then in the school
house.
And it was about this time that Thomas took his son, Fred. to
Camas, Idaho, to work with him in his blacksmith shop repairing
freighter wagons and shoeing horses for those hauling ore to the
railroad from the mines near Montana.  After this job was
completed. Fred took a job with Hoot Hellman. freighting lumber
out of the canyon to Monida, Montana.  He then returned to Cove
to help on the farm.
Fred grew in height and stature and. in his prime, was about five
feet eleven inches tall and weighed about 180 pounds.   He had
dark brown hair and brown eyes ... a good-looking man.
On December 11, 1889. Fredrick Titensor and Ellen Hyer were
married in the Logan temple.
Ellen Hyer was born on September 23. 1869 in Richmond. Utah.
Although her parents, Christian Hyer and Caroline Hogan, did not
meet and marry until 1850 in Salt Lake City, they had both
immigrated from Norway and had become members of the church
during the Nauvoo period.  In 1854 Christian married his second
wife, Lovina Hogan, Caroline's sister.  When Christian went on a
three-year mission to Scandinavia in 1855. he left two wives and
four small children behind in Bountiful, Utah.  In 1860
Christian moved his families north to the settlement in Richmond.
By the time Ellen was born. her mother had had eight other
children, although one of them had died shortly after the family
came to Richmond.  Lovina and one of her three children had
already died, but Thomas had married again, this time to Rosina
Sheppard Knapp.  Rosina's first child was born about three months
after Ellen was born.  So it was a big family.
The Hyer families lived on Main Street in Richmond.  One of
Ellen's sisters broke her leg when she was a little girl and a
doctor set it. but not correctly.  She suffered with the leg for
some time.  One day a strange man came to the door and asked what
was wrong with the little girl that he had heard crying. After
telling him what had happened, the man said. "It is set wrong.
May I re-set it?" They gave him permission. He re-broke it and
set it properly and as soon as he did, she had no more pain.
After the man left. the parents wondered why they had given
permission to a stranger to do this thing.  Christian went
outside immediately to talk with the man. expecting to see him
walking down the street of the little community.  He was amazed
to see no one in sight.  Christian, who was a Counselor in the
Bishopric of Richmond Ward, called on Bishop Burnham.  The two of
them went from house to house to see if the stranger had been
there or had been seen by anyone.  No one else had seen him.  It
was their belief that one of the three Nephites had visited them
and performed this wonderful, merciful deed.
Ellen writes. "In my youth. I helped my mother in the home and
helped with the milling.  In the summer. I helped my father in
the hay field and turned bundles while my father built the wheat
stack.  And in the fall. I helped pick up potatoes."
She attended the district school in Richmond, and was faithful in
her attendance at Sunday School, Sacrament meeting, Primary and.
later, the Mutual Improvement Association.   She became Treasurer
in the Mutual when Mary Jane Harrison was President.  And when
she was twenty, she married Fred Titensor and moved to Cove.
Fred and Ellen lived in two rooms in the rear of his parents'
home.  Fred took over the farm work while his father went to
Pocatello to work in the railroad shops there.  Four children
were born to them in their first five years of marriage: Ethel,
Frederick, Earl,  Sarah Elizabeth, and George Angus.  Little
George, however, lived only a month.  One winter. Fred and Ellen
took their three small children to Pocatello. so Fred could work
in the railroad shops there with his father.
The following year, after returning to Cove. Fred became very ill
with pneumonia.  Fred relates. "Dr. Adamson said to give me
flaxseed, but grandma (Ellen, his wife) made it too thick.  The
doctor said, 'For G__ sake. get me the scissors so I can cut it.'
It was so thick I couldn't drink it.   We used licorice and
linseed a lot for medicines."  The doctor said that if Fred had
been a user of tobacco he would never have survived.
Five more children were born to Fred and Ellen in their home in
Cove:  Alta Caroline, Rella Virginia,  Virgil Hyer,  Donald Hyer
and Lowell Christian.  By the time Lowell was born. the oldest
child, Ethel, had married and was expecting her first child.
That child, Horace Jamison, was also born in the Titensor home.
While Ellen was taking care of three-month-old Lowell, she was
also caring for her married daughter and her newborn baby.
Both Fred and Ellen were very active in a variety of church
callings.  At various times Fred was the Superintendent of the
Sunday School and of the Young Men's MIA and. from 1917 to 1930,
he was First Counselor to Bishop Lester Bair.  At one time or
another Ellen was a Counselor in the presidency of the Young
Women's MIA,  Secretary in the Relief Society,  President of the
Primary, and a Relief Society teacher for a number of years.
Their oldest son. Earl. left for a three year mission to the
South Seas when Lowell was just one.
A favorite hobby of Fred's was fly fishing, and there was nothing
he would rather do than spend a few hours up High Creek.  He also
got a lot of pleasure out of his horses.  He had a team of big
black work horses. Dan and Frank, that each weighed a ton.  His
favorite pleasure horse was a gray hamilton trotter named Pet.
Fred hitched Pet to his buggy when he went out on church assign-
ments or to an outing.  Fred looked very fancy with his high
stepper pulling the buggy.  He never owned a tractor, but did all
of his farming with horses.  Once he traded some horses for an
automobile, a Hudson Super Six of about 1918 vintage.
In addition to his family,  his farm and his church responsi-
bilities,  Fred found time for numerous civic duties.   He was a
member of the School Board for several years and. during that
time was instrumental in the building of the brick school house
in Cove.  He was also a Road Supervisor for a few years.  He was
Secretary of the Cove Water Works Company when the first
reservoir was built and the first pipeline laid for the town's
present water supply.  And for many years he served as Water-
master in Cove,  a job requiring the utmost in integrity and
fairness.
Besides giving birth to nine children of her own,  seven of
Ellen's grandchildren were born in her home.  She took care of
them and their mothers until the mothers could take care of
themselves again.  She also went to Pocatello and took care of
her eldest daughter. Ethel, when she was having a baby there.
Then. in 1925. Ethel, was killed at the age of 35 in a tragic
car/train accident in Southern California.  She left a family of
five sons ranging from fourteen to two years of age.   This was a
terrible shock to Fred and Ellen.  The youngest child,  Steve.
came to Cove and lived with Fred and Ellen until he was six.  So,
all in all, Ellen did a lot of mothering in her years.
One spring while Steve was living in Cove. he was out on his
grandpa's lap "helping" Fred with the plowing.  Once he got down
to chase the seagulls that had arrived to feed on the worms
turned up by the plowing.  Grandpa Fred smilingly told Steve that
if he could put some salt on a seagull's tail.  he could catch it.
The next day, Steve tried unsuccessfully to get some salt onto a
gull's tail.  Another prank that Fred would sometimes pull on his
grandchildren was to sneak his corncobs onto their plates when
they weren't looking.  He loved children and he had a good sense
of humor.
n 1934, Fred sold part of the farm to his youngest son, Lowell,
and he and Ellen moved to the northeast corner of the land, into
a smaller home that Lowell had built for them.  That same year.
the other part of the farm, located in the Mountain Home area of
Cove, was sold to the next older son, Don.  Grandpa continued to
help on the farm for many, many years.  It was amazing to see his
strength and agility in pitching and hauling hay, even until he
was 80 years old.
In the mid thirties, Fred and Ellen went to California to visit
their children and grandchildren there.  A highlight of the trip
and one that made a big impression, especially on Ellen, was
going up in a small three passenger airplane and flying out over
the ocean ... quite a daring fete in those days, particularly
for a couple in their sixties.
On September 16, 1949, Ellen died at the age of 80. Fred was
fortunate in having good health and, although lonely for Ellen,
he stayed on in his place on the farm.  He drove his car to all
the places he needed to go.  In fact, he drove until the age of
90, and only stopped driving when Lowell convinced him it was
unsafe for him to continue.  He kept his home and yard and garden
himself, and always produced a large harvest of vegetables.
He spent several winters in California with his son. Earl, until
Earls sudden death in 1957.  This death was very hard on Fred in
his declining years.  Earl and his wife had planned to retire and
spend a great deal of their time with Fred in Cove.
At the age of 93, Fred left his home in Cove and went to live at
Sunshine Terrace in Logan.  His children and grandchildren would
visit with him there and feel of his love for them.   He passed
away on November 20, 1963 at the age of 95 and was buried next to
Ellen in the cemetery in Richmond Utah.
Fredrick Robbins Titensor and Ellen Hyer were people of great
integrity, without pretense or sophistication.  They were
honorable individuals, stalwart and righteous.  They had deep
concern for others, especially their children and grandchildren.
and they demonstrated that concern in the gentle, loving ways
they were willing to give of themselves.  We treasure our
memories of them and look forward to a day of reunion.

This account is the meshing of other accounts: those of Fred and Ellen
themselves and those of three of their children,  Sarah,  Alta and Lowell.  In
most cases, these accounts were documented by other relatives, principally by
Iris  Fehr  (a granddaughter)  and by  Fred Titensor  (a great great grandson).
This combining of the various accounts was undertaken by Steven Jamison
(a grandson).

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