Alberoni Harrar Woolley

Son of John Mills Woolley and Caroline Patience Harrar, born April 2, 1862, Salt Lake City. Married: Josephine L. Groo October 22, 1884, Logan, Utah, daughter of Isaac Groo and Eliza Lyons, who was born February 3, 1865, Salt Lake City. Family home 9th ward. Salt Lake City. First counselor to Bishop Jabez W. West 9th ward, Salt Lake City, 1899-1909; bishop of 9th ward since 1909; missionary to New York and Pennsylvania 1888-89. Manager and buyer grocery department ZCMI.

Sources:

Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah photographs, page 91

Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, page 1263

Albaroni Harrar Woolley was born April 2, 1862 in Utah, my grandma knew him as Uncle Roni. His father, John M Woolley, came across the plains in 1847, he was a Quaker before he joined the church. He was from Chester County Pennsylvania. His mom, Caroline Patience Harrar, was the second wife of John Woolley she came across the plains in 1857 and had a son from her first marriage. Roni had three older brothers and one younger sister. His oldest brother died before Roni was born, so he never knew him. One of his other brothers was killed by a train when he was older, so only two of his siblings ever had kids.

Roni’s father died when he was only two years old, his father was working for a logging company, and while he was out in the mountains cutting trees, one rolled out of control, hit a rock, flipped up and hit his dad in the head and three days later he died.

When Roni started working as a young teenager at Walkers, he was only in sales. But he quickly moved up because he was a hard worker and was always doing things that needed to be done, without anyone asking. He then went on to work for ZCMI and soon became the manager of sales. My grandma said he once told her a story of how he bought a whole cart load of canned tomatoes because it was such a great price. But ZCMI didn’t need all the cans, so he went all over Utah selling canned tomatoes to small businesses till he had sold them all. He said he’d never gone into red with sales before, and he didn’t that time either.

All round he was a very nice man, once my grandma needed a dress for a dance at BYU, he went to her mother (his younger sister) and gave her the money and told her that this dress would be from him. He was always helping out like that.

His wife, Josephine, and he were married in the Logan temple October 22, 1884. They never had children. She died ten years before he did, he died at age 93 on Christmas day in 1955 in the house my grandma and her family were living in. She said he wasn’t sick till about 5 days before he died, he went to bed that evening because he felt sick, and then slipped away quietly.

SOURCE: Family Search.org