Her father was born Nov 11,1842 in Dowless Wales and her mother was born Dec 10, 1848 in Portsmouth England.

Grace's father worked in the mines in Laramie Wyoming.

Grace's mother was a heavy set, short, squatty woman. She ran a boarding house in Laramie. This is where some of Lerena's aunts met their spouses through different men that boarded there.

Grace had a job, and had to turn over her paycheck to her mother, when she received it.

It was expected in those days that when you were old enough to work, you helped pay the bills.

Grace's father William, didn't make enough money in the mines, and Nancy was trying to keep the boarding house running, but it wasn't enough. The kids had to work to help out.

Grace had a hard life as a girl. She would go down to the mill in Wyoming, and mix bread from the ground wheat.

Mining was hard on Grace's fathers health, and so he decided he couldn't take it anymore. There oldest son William Jr. was moving to Canada and wanted his parents to move with him. Grace's father wanted to go but her mother refused to, so they parted company.