142 West 2nd Street
In 1868 George Pierce was almost 40 years old when he built this board house at 142 W 2nd Street for his family on the farm of his father-in-law, Francis Romrell.
Francis Romrell took up this farm in 1858, and his wife Mary died in 1866. At this time Francis was 67 years old and needed assistance, so his daughter Jane and her husband George Pierce joined him on the farm in 1867. George bought more land to enlarge their farming production. They were all immigrants; George was from England and the Romrells from the Isle of Jersey. The Romrells spoke both French and English. [1]
George's new board house was located close to the north branch of today's Lynne Ditch. The soil was excellent and water available. Both George and Jane had green thumbs- her flowers were beautiful and his apples, corn, pumpkins and sugar cane were outstanding. George converted the sugar cane into molasses. Their barn was huge and their home became a busy center for farming.
George understood the value of herbs; he made and sold medicinal salves for bruises and sores. In fact he first met Jane Romrell in 1863 when he came to the Romrell home to doctor their horses who had cut their legs on barbwire. [2]
By 1877 George and Jane had about 7 living children, and George built a new brick house with six rooms located 100 feet east of their board house. By the 1880s the family lived next door at 140 W 2nd St.
After George died in 1898, two of his sons, Fred and Porter, continued to run the farm, and they built new houses for themselves on 2nd Street.
In about 1900-1920 an unknown family member (probably Porter Pierce) enlarged the 1868 board house built by George Pierce by adding two wings on each side of the house.
Battista & Mary Bertinotti Mearo
In 1896 Battista and Mary Bertinotti Maero immigrated from Italy to Ogden, and Battista got work with the railroad. Mary was the daughter of Michael Bertinotti who lived at 150 W 2nd St. rear. By 1925 Battista and Mary Bertinotti Maero lived at 142 W 2nd Street in the enlarged house with two wings; at that time, they had nine living children.
A grandson named Jack Card lived with Battista and Mary in the 1920s. In the 1930s, as a youth, Jack was recognized in Five Points as the star player on the Ogden 15th Ward basketball team. He made Five Points proud when he played as a pitcher in minor league professional teams from 1938-1940. [3] In the 1950s Chief Deputy Jack Card was part of a team that cleaned up Ogden’s notorious 25th Street. [4]
Mary died in 1933 and Battista in 1938. Their daughter Lucy Maero Hawkins bought the property and continued to live there with her family.
In 1943, Lucy’s daughter Bulah Hawkins and her husband Don Abercrombie, built the little house to the rear of 142 W 2nd Street.
This house remained in the Maero family for about 70 years. Lucy Maero Hawkins Pledger lived here until 1991.
[1] - Jane Romeril Hammond Pierce, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Vol. 34, p. 56, Ogden DUP Museum, Ogden, Utah.
[2] - A biographical sketch of George Pierce.
[3] - Polk Ogden City Directory, 1925-26; interview Joan Maero Wright, 2006.
[4] - Lyle J Barnes, Ogden’s Notorious “Two-Bit Street”, 1870-1954, Utah State University.