A Full Life
by William Francis Trinnaman · 1869-1958 2026-10-09
William Francis Trinnaman lived a rather colorful life. Born in 1869 to pioneers George John and Eliza Banks Mitchel in Nephi, Utah, he married Lucy Maria McGuire in 1891 in Lost River, Idaho. His varied careers included miner, lawman, rancher and laborer. His work in the mine included setting dynamite and unfortunately one round went off taking part of his arm with it. He had the local blacksmith make a leather harness that strapped to the damaged arm that had a wooden piece in the end to hold at least two items -- a circle and a hook. These could be screwed interchangeably into the wooden piece so he could use the arm to do various things with. During his time as a lawman, he used the hook when a gunman was making trouble in the local saloon. He came up behind the trouble maker, poked the hook in the gunman's back for a make-shift gun and apprehending him. Unfortunately, the town did not have a jail so he put the man in a grainery and stood guard all night until the marshal arrived the next morning to transport the troublemaker. William moved to Roosevelt, Utah where he bought land next to the Harmston Bench after his wife died from tuberculosis. He had two children, Lous Francis and Elise Lenore and Elise married Arthur Mellette Harmston, my grandfather. Later, William Francis moved in with the couple and lived with them most of the rest of his days. He worked on their ranches and farms using the tools for his harness for raking hay and carrying various objects. He was around six feet tall and in his younger days had deep auburn hair which at least one of his grandchildren inherited.
The Schoolhouse on the Ridge
by Margaret Trinnaman · 1910s 2026-08-04
Margaret taught three grades in a single room, walking two miles each way through the snow. Her students remembered her not for strictness but for the stories she told at the end of each day — many of them about the very family whose name this archive carries.
A Letter Home from the War
by Thomas Trinnaman · 1944 2026-08-04
Thomas wrote every week from the front. The letters, tied with string and kept in a cedar box, describe rationed chocolate shared with a French family, the sound of the sea at night, and a promise to plant an orchard when he returned. He kept that promise; the apple trees still bloom each spring.
The First Telephone in Town
by Ada Trinnaman · 1921 2026-08-04
When the first telephone line reached the valley, Ada was the one neighbors trusted to place their calls. She kept a ledger of every message relayed — births announced, crops sold, a marriage proposal accepted over crackling wire.
Building the Family Homestead
by Joseph Trinnaman · 1888 2026-08-04
Joseph and his brothers raised the homestead over a single summer, felling timber from the north ridge. The house stood for over a century; its front door, worn smooth by generations of hands, now hangs in the county museum.
Crossing the Plains
by Eliza Trinnaman · 1850s 2026-08-03
Eliza Trinnaman left Liverpool with little more than a trunk and a Bible. Her journals describe the long wagon crossing, the births and burials along the trail, and the first winter in the valley where the family finally put down roots.
The Blacksmith of Cedar Hollow
by Samuel Trinnaman · 1890s 2026-08-03
Samuel ran the blacksmith shop that kept half the county's wagons rolling. Neighbors remembered the glow of his forge at dawn and the way he never turned away a traveler who needed a horse shod, coin or no coin.