Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Saturday, February 20, 2021

A Borrowed Hammer

 I love ancestor stories . . .

1854.
The Council House was being built in Manti, Utah, using volunteer labour.
And borrowed tools.
My Great Great Grandfather (hereinafter known at GGGrandfather) Jeremiah Stringam was one of those labourers.
With one of those borrowed tools.
In this instance, a hammer, lent to him by his friend, Augustus Dodge.
GGGrandfather, together with the rest of the crew, was busily laying flooring on the upper level of the mostly-finished building when the call came for lunch.
Setting the hammer down, he happily answered said call.
When he returned, he discovered that everyone had not left when he did, but had continued working.
And the entire floor had been finished.
In dismay, he looked over the beautiful job, knowing that, somewhere under those boards, was the hammer he had borrowed.
Yeah. I know. That happens to things I borrow, too.
Sigh.
Back to my story . . .
He found Augustus and told him his dilemma. He added, “If you’re around when that building is demolished, I guess you can claim your hammer.”
Moving ahead . . .
In 1910, fifty-plus years and a new century later, the Council House was scheduled for removal to make way for a spanking new library.
GGGrandfather, now an elderly man, heard the exciting announcement and went to observe the proceedings.
When the time came for the floor in the upper story to be removed, he was on hand to personally examine the space under every board as it was pulled up.
And finally, there it was.
Augustus Dodge’s borrowed hammer. Safe and sound.
There's a lesson in this.
Always return what you borrow.
Even it it's centuries later.
P.S. I wonder what the fine would be on that 'library book'?!

7 comments:

  1. GGGrandfather showed great moral character!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I do hope that Augustus Dodge was there to receive that borrowed hammer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a story! I'm wondering, too, if Augustus Dodge lived to receive his hammer back. There is an Augustus Erastus Dodge that appears in a record online, born in NY State in 1822, arrived in Utah in 1847, and died in Utah 1900. If he's one and the same, he wasn't around-too bad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those seem like the right places and dates for his birth and coming to Utah. I wonder how many Augustus Dodges there could have been!

      Delete
  4. What a story! We should all be so conscientious.

    ReplyDelete

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