Alva Keller

Memories of Alva
Family Biography of Alva Keller

Alva Keller

He had Apple, black Locust and other seeds he would need in the future. With his wagon, team, and family, he left the beautiful city of Nauvoo. This was the first company to leave and the saints had many hardships to endure. It was necessary to haul provisions and Alva volunteered to do his share. Bidding his wife and children goodbye, because they had to remain in Winter Quarters, he went to help the 1st Company of Utah bound pioneers by hauling their provisions part way for them.

The first winter in the valley was bitter cold. The fort was not tight enough to shield them from the cold winter winds. The men had to go to the canyons in search of firewood. Alva took his share and as he cut across the valley he found a winding creek edged with Oak and willows. As winter passed and the snow melted, he saw the ground was fertile and black. His heart yearned for the ground as a final home, where he could build, cultivate, and plant his seeds. He yearned for a place where his children and their children might rejoice and grow strong in spirit and body. Finally, as the morning sun grew warm and the willows blossomed, he took his wife with him to see the place of promise.

Alva Keller Home, Holladay, Utah

Out of Alva's pocket, he brought the seeds that he had brought with him across the plains. He planted Apple and Black Locust. I, Alice Leal Blackburn Cheney (Alva's great-granddaughter), visited this place and saw some of the plants he had planted years ago. We could also see the hill where the family had lived in the dug outs. It is said that some of his grandchildren ate six different flavors of red astricon apples, all from the same seeds Alva had carried so far. Alva was a farmer all of his life and very good with his hands. He planted sugar cane and when it was harvested he made it into molasses.