John Heber Stansfield by Jessie Serena Christensen, a daughter ~ Submitted by Lynda Farley Bench ~~~~~Part 1 of 2

The following pages were written by a great granddaughter of Samuel Stansfield. She tells of his

ancestory and descendants, some who are ancestors of Henry Laird Jenkins, the great grandfather of

Kerry Strauss on his mother’s side. (John Stansfield in this article is a cousin, once removed to Kerry

Strauss.) I have made a faithful attempt to copy the original printed version of this article. The words,

syntax and punctuation are Jessie Christensen’s. I contacted Vern Swanson (801-489-7082), curator of

the Springville Museum and referenced in this article, who confirmed that Jessie Christensen died “some10 years ago.” Searches of vital records have shown a Jessie Christensen buried in Spanish Fork in 1987 but I can’t confirm that is the same person. No search has turned up her full name implying that the legal name may have been different. Vern also confirmed that Jessie’s daughter, Jacqueline, also mentioned below, died in recent years and “was quite young”. Again, he could give me no specifics. He indicated a copy of the following article is archived in the Springville Museum.

- Kerry Strauss, 15Jul2008

JOHN HEBER STANSFIELD

By Jessie Serena Christensen

1 have chosen myself to write the life history of my artistic father. I am doing this to introduce a very

talented and human person to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I wish them to know him not

only as a talented artist who could capture the moods of nature on his canvas--its violence, serenity,

spirituality, and awesome magnitude--but as a man who was no stranger to love, playfulness,

graciousness, and, yes, anger and intolerance, too. I think they will understand him better if they read hislife history as far as I know it.John Stansfield’s nickname was Jack. I will call him by that name, since his father's name was also John.

It will simplify writing and understanding his biography to use the different names. Chapter one is my

father's and mother's genealogy, and chapter two is the beginning of the artist's life.

Some material for this "Family Life Journal" came from my childhood memories about the many events

that took place in my rents' time. Part of the material was conveyed to me through the descriptive stories my father and mother told me about their early life together.

My daughter Jacqueline and I have worked together on this history. Without her help I could not have

written it. Jacqueline did all the research and the date coordination. She interviewed many people and

wrote letters to many who were knowledgeable about my father's life and art endeavors. By deduction and common sense she found the final owners of many paintings that we hadn't known existed.

My daughter is a very precise and thorough researcher, and this history is as true and authentic as we are able to discover. It has been a pleasure for me to work with her in producing this family history, and she has also expressed her pleasure in producing it. Her husband, Rey L. Larsen, and their son Terry spent many hours working with Jacqueline and I appreciate their help immensely. My three other children, Phyllis, Jean, and Richard have helped in various ways to make it possible to write the history.

I am not a professional writer but I enjoy expressing my thoughts in this way. Writing this history has

been especially rewarding to me. It has given me the wisdom and understanding to appreciate my artistic father and my kind and intelligent mother. For the first time I have learned about the tremendous effort my father put into his art-work, and the many ways rriy mother helped and supported him.

Here is the link to Springville Museum of Fine Art where some of John H. Stansfield's paintings are displayed:  http://www.smofa.org/collections/browse html?x=artist&artist id=90