Dorald John Galbraith Life Sketch

Dorald was born at Lyman, Madison, Idaho on May 11, 1916, 2 months prematurely and weighing less than 5 pounds. The doctor didn't think he would survive. But his aunt, who was the midwife, took the baby from the doctor and massaged and warmed him, feeding him with an eye dropper and made him a little nest of a bed in a shoe box then put him in the warming oven at the top of the wood burning kitchen stove, improvising an incubator for him. 

He was born with a clubbed foot and leg, but the loving aunt came each day massaging and stretching the leg & foot until it finally became straight and normal. He was smaller than others his age most of his early life. When he graduated from the 8th grade, the photographer had to put a 4 inch chunk of wood under him to make him as tall as the girls in the class photo.


He was the second son and 2nd child in the family and there were four boys and 3 girls when the family was completed. He was raised on a farm where he helped with the farm chores, milking, irrigating, working with horses and cattle and other typical farm jobs. He was always adventurous and trying new things like other boys and often got himself into uncomfortable situations.


He was baptized in a canal not far from their farm on 2 August 1924 and confirmed in church the next day. His grade school days were at the rock schoolhouse less than a quarter of a mile from home so he walked both ways each day. In the 6th grade he received an attendance award for being neither late nor absent that year.


After graduating from the 8th grade, he attended Madison High School in Rexburg, Idaho and graduated from there on his 18th birthday May 11, 1934. He had his Patriarchal Blessing in 1931 and the blessing stated that he should be fully developed in stature and in strength and he began to grow and catch up in size with others his age after that. He finally reached almost 6 feet in height after high school.


He married Delpha Bell Clay in the Logan, Utah LDS Temple on September 22, 1936 when they were both just 20 years old. They lived in Lyman with his parents for a time then were given a small one-room house to live in where he was working for a neighbor. Their first child was born in this little home.


Later, they moved to Emmett, Idaho where he was able to find work. They lived there for about a year and 1/2 then moved back to Lyman where they purchased 10 acres of ground from his parents and built their own 2-room home there. This was during the days following the Great Depression so employment was hard to find, but he was able to get on the crew of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and they were able to survive.


Their 2nd child was born in this 2-room home and they lived there until 1942 when he was hired to work on a farm at Aston, Idaho. After that summer, they moved to Idaho Falls where he worked first at a Sinclair service station, then driving truck for the Orange Trucking Co. Then he got his call to report for the military draft and he was drafted into the U.S. Navy during WWII. He moved his family, which now was 3 children with 2 girls & 1 boy, back to their house in Lyman and was gone for over 1 1/2 years. 


When he came back he found employment with a former co-worker who now lived in Southwestern Idaho in New Plymouth, Idaho. A few months later, he was able to purchase his own farm and moved his family of 4 children to this farm. A 5th child and 3rd son was born while living on this farm.


Because it was so hard to make a good living off this farm, Dorald had to take other jobs during the winter while there was little farm work to be done. One of these jobs was at the saw mill in Emmett. There was an accident at the mill one day and a big log came off the conveyor belt and hit him in the upper thigh of his right leg and mashed him back into a pillar damaging nerves and muscles in his shoulder along with a serious break of his leg which required extensive surgery. 

He suffered the effects of this accident to some degree for the rest of his life. Because of the damages from this accident, he was unable to continue farming so sold his farm and got work as a salesman for a milking equipment company. Eventually, he formed his own business which he had until his retirement.


Dorald & Delpha divorced after 38 years of marriage while living in Burley, Idaho and he later married Esther Hymas. He died of stomach cancer November 2, 2000 in his home in Burley, Idaho and was buried in the Sutton Cemetery at Archer, Madison, Idaho where a large number of his family and ancestors were also buried. All five of his children survived him.

LeRoy Herbert Galbraith

               LeRoy Herbert Galbraith

LeRoy was born June 12, 1914 in the Lyman, Madison, Idaho home of his grandparents, Edward & Ann Galbraith as his parents, John Herbert (Herb) and Ida Mae Barber Galbraith were living with his grandparents at the time.  He was their first child and the oldest of seven children. LeRoy was blessed in the Lyman LDS Ward on August 2, 1914 and given the name LeRoy Herbert Galbraith. 

His life on the farm was one of hard work and chores including milking cows, irrigating, helping in the fields of hay, beets and grain. The work was done by "horsepower" so he also learned how to ride and work with horses.

LeRoy attended grade school in the rock schoolhouse in Lyman and graduated from the 8th grade there.  He then went to Madison High School in Rexburg where he became interested in playing the trumpet and became a member of the high school band.  This involved a lot of early morning or after school rehearsals which were hard to attend living 7 miles away in Lyman so he moved into Rexburg and lived with his Grandmother, Emily Barber to be able to participate.  He worked for farmers to earn money for his schooling and activities.  He graduated from Madison High School in May 1932.

While going to high school and after graduating, he enjoyed participating in the church classes, dramatics and other activities, but especially the dances.  He always loved to dance and at one of the dances he met a girl named Velma Lola Hansen who was from the Annis area nearby.  They were married in the Logan, Utah LDS Temple on June 12, 1935 and lived in the Lyman Ward where he was called to serve as the Ward Clerk. 

He and Velma also served as Ward Dance Directors and went in to Rexburg to learn the dance routines, then came back to the Lyman Ward to instruct the youth of the ward.  At one time, they talked LeRoy’s father, a couple of his uncles and some of the other older men of the ward into coming and dancing with the girls to help them learn to dance in preparation for the floor show at the ward Gold and Green Ball.  The women of the ward also came to help the young men learn to dance.

Later, they moved to the Annis & Lorenzo area where their daughter, Neola Velma, was born during a blizzard on February 12, 1937.  During the summer of 1937, they moved to Washington near Sedro Wooley then in 1940 to Tacoma where they purchased a home.  He worked at several different kinds of jobs there taking whatever he could get during those pre-war years.  

During World War II, LeRoy's parents and some of his siblings moved to Tacoma where his father was employed in the shipyards as a pipe-fitter and plumber converting ships to battleships and hospital ships to be used in the war.

Later, Velma filed for divorce and she and Neola moved away from Tacoma and lived in Auburn, Washington.  He then met a woman named Sigrid Wainio Smith whose husband had filed for divorce while he was serving in World War II leaving her with a small daughter.  They married May 14, 1947 and lived in Tacoma for several years and were a very happy couple.

He became a boiler operator and inspector and retired from that occupation in 1979.  In 1984, he took up woodcarving and took several classes in it to improve his skills.  He had also taken up gemstone faceting making beautiful jewelry from rocks.

In 1992, he was having health problems so he and Sigrid decided to move to Lombard, Illinois to be near Sigrid's daughter and her family.  They lived in the Beacon Hill Retirement Community where worked with another resident on woodcarving.  Others stopped by to watch them carve and decide they wanted to learn to carve also, so they started a class which LeRoy instructed since he was the one who had the most knowledge of the carving process.

The local newspaper did an article on LeRoy and his woodcarving in 1995 and printed photos of examples of the things he carved.  They quoted him as saying: “When you take a block of wood and change it into a beautiful piece of polished carving, the feeling of satisfaction is very intense.  You have put a portion of yourself into it, and created something that is very unique and useful.”  He usually made several versions of the same carving, keeping one while giving the rest away as gifts to friends and grandchildren.

LeRoy passed away May 20, 1997 at the Beacon Hill Care Center in Lombard just a few days short of his 83rd birthday.  A memorial service for him was held on Saturday, May 24, at Beacon Hill and his ashes were sent back to Lyman.  He was remembered as a person who cared about others and who was always willing to help wherever help was needed.  

Margaret Ethel (Maggie) Birmingham Burke

Maggie was born in New Jersey in 1854 according to information given by the family in all the census reports. Her mother, Bridget (Biddy) Nolan Birmingham, arrived in the US in April, 1852 with Maggie's sister, Bridget Mary, and brother, John T., where they met the father, Thomas Birmingham, who had come from Ireland several months earlier.  Also born in New Jersey was a brother, William F. born in 1857.

In 1859, they were living in Independence, Washington Township, Buchanan County, Iowa where another girl, Ellen Mary (Nellie) was born.  Another boy, Thomas, was born here in 1860 or 1861 and died in August 1861 and buried in the St. John's Catholic Cemetery in Independence.  The youngest child, Catherine Frances, was born in Independence in September 1862.  The father, Thomas Birmingham, died in Independence in November 1862 and is buried in the St. John's Catholic cemetery next to his infant son.

It is unknown how, why or when the family then moved to Colorado after the death of the father, Thomas, but they are all found in Colorado at the time of the 1880 Federal Census.

Maggie married Thomas James Burke from Ireland in the mining town of Georgetown, Clear Creek County, Colorado on Christmas Day 1875 in the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.  The marriage record gives the names of the couples' parents as James Burke & Mary Doyle for Thomas and Thomas Birmingham and Bridget Nolan for Maggie.  

Maggie & Thomas had a little daughter, Mary, born at Georgetown in 1879 but she died in 1880 after they had moved to Denver.  Their 2nd child, Thomas James (Jr.) was born in Denver on January 6, 1881. Another daughter, Julia Ethel (Jule) was born in Denver August 6, 1883.

Maggie died October 5, 1887 from Bright's Disease and is buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Denver.  Buried beside her is an infant child who died in November 1887.  No gender was designated in the burial record and no baptism has been found in any of the parish registers at the Archdiocese archives in Denver.  

There is also a baby boy, William J. Burke, born in 1884 and died in 1886, buried in a plot owned by Thomas J. Burke in the Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery but no record of him belonging to Thomas and Maggie has been found even though a family member put up a headstone designating him as a son.

         MARY ANN GITTINS/GITTENS GALBRAITH

Herefordshire, England is in the north of England and not far from the Roman-built Hadrian’s Wall.  It is a well wooded county and Ridgeway Cross was in a small rural wooded area a short distance west of the village and parish of Cradley which has a village shop & post office and St. James Church with burial grounds nearby. 

John Benbow was a member of a Methodist group called the “United Brethern” and who invited Wilford Woodruff and other “Mormons” to preach to him & other members of their congregation. Hill Farm and the Benbow home is a short distance from the village of Cradley and many inhabitants of the Cradley parish would have been able to attend the preaching meetings and hear what Wilford Woodruff had to say.  

In Ridgeway Cross lived the family of Timothy Gittens and Hannah Cresswell and their 9 children.  The youngest child, Mary Ann Gittens, was born at Ridgeway Cross 15 August 1833. Mary Ann’s father, Timothy, was born in Bishop’s Frome and her mother, Hannah, was born in Cradley.  Both parents died and were buried at Cradley.  Her father died in 1837 at the age of 51, just 5 months before Mary Ann’s 4^th birthday, leaving her mother a widow to care for several young children. 

The area was an agricultural area that required a lot of hard labor.  During harvest time of cherry-picking, hop-picking and hay making, even the children were required to help with the work.  The cherry, apple and pear trees of hundreds of orchards filled the countryside with blossoms in the springtime and with abundant fruit in autumn along with acres of hop fields, all providing work for local people of all ages.  It was a very busy farming community, which was reliant on horses and on raising sheep and cattle as well as crops.  Occupations included blacksmiths, wheelwrights and masons as well as farmers.  Women too were workers for hire as every week a “carrier” would bring gloves from Worcester for the local gloveresses to sew.  Some women were dressmakers, some were spinners of wool, and some were also laundresses.

There were several schools set up in the area with boys in one school and girls in another; but since the family was without a father and provider, Mary Ann probably was unable to get much schooling. Many times the children were exposed to illnesses in the schools that ranged from colds to measles and whooping cough due to the very unhygienic conditions.  We don’t know whether Mary Ann was educated in one of these schools or not, although by the mid-1850’s more schooling was available to those who lived in the village of Cradley.

George Summers (or Somers), who was Mary Ann’s first husband, came from Cradley so we could assume they may have met at the local parish church or other village activities.  George’s father, Thomas, was listed in the 1838 listing of landowners with 236 acres.

 Mary Ann was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in December of 1851 when she was 18.  George and Mary Ann left the Cradley area in March of 1853, boarding the ship “Falcon” the 25^th of March from the Bramley Moor Dock to go to America and Zion.  Elder Cornelius Bagnell was appointed president of this company of travelers.  After 3 days of prayer meetings and business, the ship left the dock at 10:15 a.m. on Monday, March 28.

 The 2^nd day of the voyage, Tuesday, March 29, 1853, “at 11:00 o’clock in the forenoon” they were married aboard ship by Elder James McNaughton according to the notes kept by James Jack, Secretary.  She was 19 and he was 22.  They spent their honeymoon on the ship with 322 other people, and it lasted more than two months. 

The ship log has this entry for them:

"Mon. 28. [Mar 1853] -- The ship Falcon sailed from Liverpool, England, with 324 Saints, under Cornelius Bagnall's direction. 

SOMERS, George      <1831>            Falcon 1853

                                    Age:    22        Origin: Moors, Worcester                   

            Note:   BMR, p.146

GITTINS, Mary Ann  <1833>            Falcon 1853

                                    Age:    20        Origin: Worcester                   

            Note:   BMR, p.156

 “Tuesday forenoon 11 o'clock married on board the Falcon by Elder James McNaughton: George Summers [Somers], born Herefordshire, England, 24 May 1831 to Mary Ann Gittins, born Herefordshire England 15 August 1833.”

The Church had four funding plans at the time.  First, they could pay their own expenses but travel on and in Church arranged ships, river boats, and wagon trains.  As a second method, immigrants could pay their way to America and then stop and work until they could afford to move on to Utah.  Third, some had their transportation expenses prepaid by someone in Utah.  Fourth, they could be assisted, in all or part, by the Church’s Perpetual Emigrating Fund (PEF), in return for which they signed a promissory note to pay back, with interest, all expenses the PEF covered for them.

They are listed as being on the PEF for the voyage. In 1852 the estimated cost for an adult to travel from Liverpool to Salt Lake was 20 English pounds.  A pound then equaled about 5 American dollars, so 20 pounds was worth about $100 then which would have been quite a large sum for the 2 of them.

They arrived at New Orleans, Louisiana May 18, 1853, then were put on the steamer “St. Nicholas” the 20 May 1853 to sail to St. Louis, Missouri, up the Mississippi river and then on to Keokuk, Iowa eight days later arriving there about May 28. Here they spent the next 2 weeks or more getting acquainted with camp life, learning how to cook over the outdoor fires, how to set up their tents, and how to care for and to hitch up and drive their oxen with the wagons.  They were assigned to the Appleton M. Harmon wagon company with 10-12 people allotted to one wagon and tent for sleeping and baggage purposes. The people walked leaving the wagon room for the baggage. Mary Ann is listed in the Harmon Company roster as “Summers, Mary Ann Gittens, female, age 19, from England, wife of George Summers.” 

Many companies had to lighten their loads by discarding excess baggage. This meant they had to throw away trunks, wooden boxes and even some books. They made bags for their clothes.  The locks & hinges were removed from the boxes then the boxes were piled together & burned.  Crocks, extra cooking utensils, and anything that could be dispensed with had to be gotten rid of.  The inhabitants of the Keokuk area got lots of things for a few vegetables or a little milk.

On June 12, provisions for a month were passed among the group of Saints. The company left Keokuk on June 16, 1853 with 200 people. Captain Harmon’s group had 22 PEF wagons. All able bodied men were called to watch over the cattle and wagons at night to be sure the stock didn’t wander off.  There were 2 well-established routes across Iowa and the Harmon Company took the roads used by Saints from Nauvoo in 1846 to reach Council Bluffs.

The goal was to travel 20 miles per day but it was during the rainy season and the rain ran through the tents and the wagon covers.  They sometimes had to put up their tents and put a stove inside the tent when it was too wet to build a campfire.  Many times they bogged down in mud holes and the streams and creeks had no bridges so they had to wallow through as best they could.

When they reached Council Bluffs beside the Missouri River, the companies resupplied and did repairs for the long trip to Utah and waited their turn to cross the river on the busy ferryboats.  They crossed the Missouri on July 14, 1853 and began the long journey across the plains with the normal challenges faced by all the wagon trains and their occupants.  They encountered Indians but they were peaceful. They saw many buffalo and killed at least two for their provisions. 

Wolves got into and destroyed some of their cattle.  They had oxen die and cattle stray; one ox was bitten by a rattlesnake and it died.  On one occasion when they came to a steep high cliff, they had to double team each wagon for 1 ½ miles.  They repaired their wagons many times.  They even had to put shoes on some of the oxen and cows.  After a long, grueling voyage across the plains, the Harmon Company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley October 16, 1853.

George & Mary Ann went to Bountiful, Utah to settle and their first son, Edward Archibald was born in Bountiful on December 4, 1854.  George then married Emma Hodges 8 months later at Kaysville.  It is unknown exactly what happened but the family rumor is that Mary Ann was not in favor of living in polygamy and left George and moved to Provo where their 2^nd son Samuel Henry was born November 4, 1857.  He passed away in Provo sometime in 1858.

Shortly before the death of Samuel, Mary Ann met John Cameron Galbraith from Scotland.  He had been a member of the John A. Hunt oxen train which had followed along with the Willie & Martin handcart companies and also suffered the cold and starvation.  When the rescuers arrived & took the handcart people on to the valley, John was one of the 20 men who wintered over at Devil’s Gate.  John arrived in Provo sometime in 1857 and was on the rolls of the Priesthood of the Provo 4^th ward in February of 1858. 

John purchased the burial plot in the Provo Cemetery for Mary Ann’s little son, Samuel in 1858 so the assumption can be made that they married sometime in 1858. Her son, Edward Archibald, used the name of Galbraith all his life.

The church was not keeping records of marriages at that time due to the persecution of the polygamists, but when they went to the Endowment House for their Temple work and sealing in 1862 Mary Ann was registered under her married name of Galbraith for her endowments.

John and Mary Ann’s first daughter, Catherine Hannah, was born March 20, 1859 in Provo.  She was given both grandmothers’ names as Catherine was John’s mother’s name and Hannah was Mary Ann’s mother.  Catherine married Isaac Charles Smith 23 December 1878 in Richmond, Utah.

On February 11, 1862, their 2^nd daughter, Mary Ann, was born in Provo, being named for her mother.  She married Edward Lamb 28 October 1884 in Utah.

November 30, 1864 brought another daughter to the home and she was named Margaret Janet, possibly named after 2 of John’s sisters.  She married Brigham Williamson Nelson in 1883 at Weber, Utah.

John & Mary Ann moved to Smithfield, Utah and her first son, Edward Archibald is listed in the Smithfield ward records as being baptized in Smithfield on July 8, 1866.

Their youngest child, Martha Elizabeth, was born in Smithfield March 26, 1867.  She married Paul Rasmussen August 6, 1888 in Dillon, Montana.

Their family home was a one-room log home at first, located in the center of Smithfield. Later, a lean-to room was added on the back for more space for everyone.

On July 5, 1869, John was killed in an accident while getting logs out of the nearby mountain canyon leaving Mary Ann as a widow at the age of 36 with one son and 4 daughters to care for. 

Four years later on July 8, 1872, she married Joseph Turner in Smithfield and they had 2 sons:Paul Timothy Turner who was born September 4, 1873 and died when only a few months old in 1874.  James Frederick Turner was born April 1, 1876 in Smithfield. Mary Ann is listed in the 1880 census of Smithfield with her children but Joseph is not listed so he apparently was away from the house when the census taker came. Joseph passed way September 23, 1886 in Smithfield, Utah leaving Mary Ann again a widow.

The family later moved to the Snake River Valley of Idaho where her son Edward & his family had moved, and they were living in Lyman, Bingham County, Idaho when she died February 8, 1888.

This left James Frederick, who was now 12 years old, to be cared for by her oldest son, Edward Archibald, and his wife, Ann Sharp Galbraith whom he had married 8 Feb 1875 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. 

Mary Ann left no real record of herself other than who her parents were and where she was born so our story of her is compiled through research and family records. 

She was only 55 years old when she died but had lived a life of hard work and many heartbreaks and disappointments.  She had left parents and siblings behind in England coming to Zion, married aboard ship and spent her honeymoon on the emigrant ship. The journeys aboard the ship and in the wagon train were very hard for a young English girl who was not used to such conditions or the hot, dry weather across the plains.  

Then she was deserted by her husband who preferred to be a polygamist so she moved south to Provo on her own.  She lost 2 infants and 2 husbands to death.  She was a strong woman and stayed faithful to the Gospel throughout her lifetime.

SOURCES:    

Cradley historical information, maps, & pictures taken from “Cradley-A Village History” by Wynell M. Hunt purchased in the Cradley Village Shop in England, 2008

“England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JW2N-CJC : Mary Anne Gittins, 25 Aug 1833.

Copy of Application for Endowments, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, LDS Church Membership records, Application for Endowments for both John Cameron Galbraith and Mary Ann Gittins Galbraith giving 2 August 1862 as date of endowments and date of sealing.

"United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MNSJ-PV2 :, Mary A. Galbraith, Smithfield, Cache, Utah, United States; citing sheet 212A, family 0, NARA microfilm publication T9-1336

"United States Census, 1870," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MNCR-JV7, Mary Galbreth, Utah, United States; citing p. 1, family 5, NARA microfilm publication M593, FHL microfilm 553109.

"United States Census, 1860," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH2W-W91 Mary A Galbraith, , Utah, Utah; citing "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," <i>Fold3.com</i>; p. 306, family 2121, NARA microfilm publication M653; FHL microfilm 805314.

Smithfield, Utah Ward Records Film # 0025611

Eastern Idaho Death Records, BYU-I http://abish.byui.edu/specialCollections/famhist/Obit/searchDetail.cfm

Family records in possession of several family members

Compiled by Darline G. Burke  October 2013

History of Olive Boynton Hale

[This woman is not in my ancestry but is in the ancestry of my son-in-law, Alan Hale.  This Sunday Alan's granddaughter, Olive Tenley Hale, will be blessed at church and officially given her name.  She is the 7th generation down from this woman and shares her first name.  I thought it fitting to include this history in this blog.  A lot of the history deals with Jonathan Harriman Hale, Olive's husband, since they lived this history together and died together. This was found online with a search and is copied from there. DB]

Compiled and given by granddaughter, Louie Ann Hale Call... Caribou Co. Bancroft Idaho.

HISTORY OF OLIVE BOYNTON HALE

Daughter of Eliphalet Boynton and Susannah Nichols. Born 30 July 1805, Bradford Massachusetts.  Wife of Jonathon Hale.  Died 8 Dec 1846 at Council Bluffs, Iowa while crossing the plains. 

She was a sweet, lovely and beautiful young woman. She was blonde, of normal proportions, embodying strength, grace, and feminine charm. Olive had two brothers, Osgood George and John Farnham, who was one of the First Quorum of Apostles, he was a noted scientist and lecturer. She had one sister, Clarissa, who married Henry Harriman. This sister joined the Church and came to Utah with the pioneers in 1848 with the Heber C. Kimball Company.

When Olive was a girl, she became acquainted with Jonathon Harriman Hale, a young man from her home town. They were married 1 September 1825. He was 25 years old and she was 20. They established a home at Dover, New Hampshire, about 40 miles from where they had been living. Here they went into the butchering business with his brother-in-law, Stephen Palmer.

Their first child, a baby girl, was born to them 22 August 1826, and was named Sarah. This baby died the same day. This was the first real sorrow that had come into their lives. On 18 May 1828 they were blessed with a son. He was named Aroet Lucius Little Hale. Their next child was a girl whom they named Rachel Johnson Savory Hale, after her paternal grandmother and Jonathan’s sister.

While living at Dover, New Hampshire, there came into the neighborhood some missionaries, telling of a strange new book, translated from golden plates. This book they were permitted to read. Their hearts were touched and they soon became converted, and Olive and her husband Jonathan were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints by Elder Gladden Bishop, the Branch president of the church at Westerfield, New York. They were baptized on 13 June 1834.

Soon after joining the church, things moved pretty rapidly for them. Olive’s husband was called to be Branch President of the Dover Branch.

Olive was a very devoted wife.  She was co-operative and worked harmoniously with her husband with whom she was one in all things. After joining the church, her husband being made Branch President, he had a strong desire to go to Kirtland to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith, about whom he had heard so much, so he began to make preparations for the trip to Kirtland, Ohio, which was the headquarters of the church at that time.

On 10 April 1835, he left Dover and went to Bradford, Massachusetts, a distance of about 40 miles, where he picked up Henry Harriman, his brother-in-law, and Jonathan Harriman Holmes, his cousin, and the three of them journeyed to Kirtland to see the Mormon Prophet and to shake his hand and hear his voice.  Eighteen days later, on 28 April, they arrived at their destination, and what a marvelous and thrilling experience awaited them. They found in the Prophet, a handsome young man under 30, tall and athletic in appearance, approachable and kind, strong in his convictions and confident in his position. He received the three strangers as brothers and took them into his confidence and administered not only to their physical needs but gave them the kind of food their souls hungered for.

Jonathan recorded in his journal at the time, that he had there received many blessings, one of these many blessings was his Patriarchal blessing, given to him by Joseph Smith, Sr., the first Patriarch of the church.

About this time they started to make preparations to move to Ohio with the Saints.  It was indeed no small task, but they thought it the will of the Lord that the Saints should gather to Kirtland, Ohio and bring all their means to establish “Zion” and build a temple sacred to God. So the Hale family sold all they had in Dover and Bradford for cash and a traveling outfit and prepared to move.  Olive’s sister, Clarissa, and her husband moved with them. They arrived in Kirtland on 10 July 1836, having been 24 days en route, all feeling in good spirits. Olive provided for the comfort of their 2 month old baby, Alma, on this long journey by making a nice little bed in a basket, which they suspended in the wagon box and swinging like a hammock as they traveled along the road.

On their arrival they were to establish a home. This Jonathan did and found time also to devote to the interests of the church and in local service and with their means and labor for the construction of the temple.  Olive received her Patriarchal blessing given by Joseph Smith Sr.

Jonathan had provided his family with a comfortable home. Elder Wilford Woodruff and his wife were boarding with them at this time. Jonathan and Wilford Woodruff were called on a mission. They left for their mission, a tedious journey on foot, as it was necessary to travel that way. They went to Canada and baptized many souls. 

Wilford Woodruff’s wife stayed with Olive at the Hale home while they were gone.  On 16 February 1838, on returning home he found the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon had to flee for their lives. They left on horseback to escape mob violence. Soon it was necessary for the Saints to move to Missouri. Olive’s husband writes in his journal on 6 July 1838, “We left Kirtland; the camp consisted of 529 souls, 96 horses, 22 oxen, 68 cows, 59 wagons, and about 33 tents with provisions. We pitched our tents by the way, as children of Israel.” They had traveled 251 miles and stopped at Bath, Green County, Ohio for one month. Here Jonathan was engaged in buying provisions for the camp.

There were additions to the constitutions of the camp, which included the blowing of the horn for arising at 4 a.m. every morning and for assembly and prayer 20 minutes later, also appointing of  herdsmen for livestock and for guards at night. Every company in camp was entitled to an equal proportion of milk, whether individuals of the several tents owned the cows or not. “In no case shall the camp move more than 15 miles in one day”. The company was compelled to halt frequently to repair broken wagons, replace worn out oxen, nurse the sick and bury those who had died. There were instances when contracts were taken for building roads, bridges, harvesting crops, and doing other lines of work to earn money and re-stock their needed supply of food and provisions.

Naturally such a large group traveling in a body would attract much attention; sometimes they were denied camping places in the open near settlements, and often they were refused the sale of food for themselves and their animals, for cash, because they were found to be Mormons.

On the Sabbath day, they held religious services of singing, preaching and bearing testimonies.  After being en route three months, this weary band called “Kirtland camp” came to their journey’s end at Farr West, Missouri on 8 October 1838. Five miles from the city they were met by the First Presidency of the church: Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith, and several others who received them with open arms and escorted them into the city. They encamped on the public square around the foundation of a temple. The total distance from Kirtland was 870 miles.

This was a day long to be remembered by this part of the church called Kirtland Camp, for they arrived at their destination and began to pitch their tents about sunset. When one of the brethren (quoted from the D&C 107:53-57) declared, “Brethren, your long and tedious journey is now ended; you are now on the public square of Adam-ondi-ahman”.

This is the place where Adam blessed his posterity when they arose up and called him Michael, the Prince, the Archangel. This is the territory assigned to them. They lived in tents until the first of November, when they were driven to Farr West, Caldwell, Missouri.  In Jonathan’s journal he says, “During this time, the weather was cold and snowy. I laid night after night on the ground with my brethren with little or no shelter, to defend my wife and little ones from the mob”.

They were being persecuted to the extreme. The terrible massacre at Haun’s Mill took place just twelve miles from them, and 17 of the Saints were killed and a number were wounded. This was on 30 October 1838. The Saints were being daily and nightly outraged by the burning of their homes and tents, driving away of their horses and cattle, sheep and hogs, or shooting them down where they found them.

Aroet, their oldest son, tells: “Shortly after our arrival there, Governor Boggs issued his extermination order, which gave the Saints their choice between banishment from Missouri, or death.” Jonathan laid down two nice rifles; one was to be for Aroet when he was older. “Shortly after this our tents were searched by a mob militia. My dear mother was lying sick in a wagon box in a tent. Four men entered our tent, two on each side of the bed where mother was lying, evidently in search of firearms. They rolled mother from side to side of the bed, roughly thrusting her against the side of the wagon box, until she was nearly exhausted. The tents and wagons of the other families were treated in like manner. After obtaining all the arms and ammunition they could find, they took Father and other brethren prisoners, and marched them away. I was about the largest boy in camp; I had to cut wood, burn it into coals and take the hot coals into the tent in a bake-kettle to keep my Mother and the children from freezing”.

“Father returned in a few days. Mother handed him two silver-mounted derringer pistols, which she had preserved from the mob by concealing them under her breasts. They lived in the tent until the ice on the Grand River had frozen sufficiently to bare loaded wagons to cross. Before the withdrawal of the armed forces, however, many acts of cruelty were committed. For instance, they had in their herd of cows, which were brought from Kirtland, a beautiful bull with brass knobs on its horns. Just for a pastime, the militia began shooting at the brass knobs on the horns and finally blew them into splinters. The following morning the bull was dead”.

Their next move was to Quincy, Illinois, where they rented a farm. Here they were able to fit themselves out with a good wagon team, harness and outfit in preparation for their next move with the body of the church. Here their third son, Solomon, was born or 30 April 1839. He was named after his Grandfather.

Some time later, when they arrived in Nauvoo, and Solomon was approaching his 4th birthday, he was complaining one evening, when the Prophet Joseph Smith was visiting the Hale home, of having only one name while his brother had two. The Prophet observed the child’s complaint and asked him to sit on a little footstool in front of him. He then inquired as to what additional name he would like. The boy answered, “I want the name of Henry, after Uncle Harriman”. The Prophet said, “alright my boy, you shall have it”, and he then placed his hands upon the child’s head and conferred upon him the additional name of Henry.

While living in Quincy, Olive wrote a letter to Jonathan’s mother, Martha, in March 1841. She stated that Jonathan bought land in Nauvoo, about a hundred miles from where they were living and was there fencing the land. They moved to Nauvoo. Peace and happiness for at least once, dwelt in the heart of the Latter Day Saints, as they gathered for a fine day, General Conference.

The Nauvoo Legion was on parade with all its glory and led the procession to the Temple grounds where the First Presidency took part in laying the cornerstone for the Temple of the Lord. He hauled rocks for the Temple and never ceased until he had paid up two and one half years of back tithing. 

They had a baby boy named Jonathon Eliphalet Hale. He lived six and one half months. and died on 22 July 1842. Jonathon was Bishop of the 9th ward and also an officer in the Nauvoo Legion. Their second daughter, Olive Susan was born on 14 March 1844.

On the 27th of June 1847 the great tragedy at Carthage came, when the Prophet and his brother were killed. The Prophet had planned the movement of his people to the Rocky Mountains, and now it became necessary for them to make preparations to evacuate their beautiful Nauvoo.

Jonathon was made Captain of company number 21. Wilford Woodruff says in his journal, the last of June, “I stopped my carriage on the top of the hill in the midst of the rolling prairie where I had an extended view all about me. I beheld the Saints coming in all directions from hill and dale, like the movement of a nation”.

Bishop Jonathon Hale was a member of the High Council. He successfully led his company to Council Bluffs, 300 miles away, arriving on 16th July 1844. He was given the assignment to help care for the poor and see that they were all brought from Nauvoo to a gathering place for winter. Also to assist in looking out for the families of the Mormon battalion and to go to Fort Leavenworth to receive the pay of the soldiers, for their families.

Before leaving Nauvoo, Olive and Jonathan had their endowments in the temple on 24 December 1845. Olive had to be brave while her husband was so busy with his many assignments and look after her own needs and that of her children. Her oldest son had been gone as a teamster for three months.

Jonathan broke his leg, but this did not stop him. He went about his work on crutches, caring for the sick and the dying. On 27 August 1846, a daughter was born to them, named Clarissa Martha. On 5 September 1846 Jonathan H. Hale died with malaria and just four days later his faithful wife, Olive passed away. Then little Susan died 15 September, and baby Clarissa Martha died 18 September. Thus, the father and mother and two little daughters all died within 14 days.  They were all buried together at Council Bluff, Iowa in an unmarked grave, leaving four orphaned children alone in the wilderness.

Her son, Solomon, said, “it was terrible in extreme, so unexpected, so laden with grief.  Father and Mother and 2 little sisters were taken within 2 weeks. There we stood, alone and loveless, the desolate plains and Rocky Mountains ahead of us, and hostile enemies ahead of us, and burning our homes behind us.  Before Father died he gave us his blessings, and said, “Stand by the faith and carry on with Brother Brigham and Brother Heber to the Rocky Mountains. It is God’s work and we must not fail. Do not be persuaded to turn back, even though our relatives insist upon it. Go with the church and God will bless you.”

He said that his mother was so worn and weary that she also contacted the fever and she called her children to her and asked them to follow the counsel of their father and go with Brigham Young and the brethren to the Rocky Mountains and to remain true and faithful. Then she turned to her son, Aroet, and asked him if he would see it that this was done, then she smiled and said that she would go with Jonathan. She had previously made temple robes for both of them and

brought with her, in which they were buried. Their favorite hymn was “How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord, Is Laid for Your Faith in His Excellent Word”.

Ida Mae Barber Galbraith

Ida Mae Barber Galbraith 1969

 I, Ida Mae Barber Galbraith, was born 24 Dec. 1891, at Salem, Bingham, Idaho. I was the fourth child born into the family union. My parents were John Robert Barber and Emily Anderson Barber.

The first thing I remember is the summer we lived at Lime Kiln Canyon. I remember that long road as we children sat in the back of the wagon box. Sometimes we would try singing and humming with the bounces of the wagon. Our house was just a little way from the road.

Men would come by with big loads of large logs taking them to the sawmill to be made into lumber and then the road would become deep dust. My brother, Willie, and I would go barefooted and walk in the deep dust. It sure was a lot of fun. When we heard the wagons and horses coming with the big log loads we would climb up the bank and wait until the wagons went by. The men would holler hello at us as they went by.

I attended school first at Salem, then at Rexburg and at Herbert Dry Farm School.

I remember the first time I caught fish. We had moved back to the old home in Salem from the dry farm for the winter my first year in school. The canal was not far from our house. When spring came and it was almost time for school to be out, the water came in to the canal. One Saturday my two brothers went to see the water in the canal and found there were fish in it. They ran and got the pitchfork and the garden rake. The water wasn’t very deep so they could hit the fish with the pitchfork and then rake them out with the garden rake. Then my sisters and I ran to see what we could do to help. My, did we have fun! We raked them out until we had a washtub full of fish.

Mother put them in a salt brine until they were cured then she put them in the smokehouse and smoked them. She put them in layers in a box and we took them with us to the dry farm. They sure were good with bread and butter.

The sixth year ended my education. I worked for families around Rexburg and later at the Canyon Creek Hotel, which was a summer resort. In the early fall when I was at home, I helped my Mother glean wheat heads from the fields. I also helped gather wool from the fences where the sheep passed under and bits of wool would cling to the barbed wire. This was washed, dried, colored, and carded and then made into yarn, ready to knit into stockings and mittens for us to wear in the winter.

As young folks we enjoyed the dances and plays on stage, and the get-togethers of families and friends. There was a dance hall at Moody Creek called Hawthorne school, and one at Lyman where we all spent many enjoyable evenings together.

When we were living on the dry farm at Herbert, my brother, Art, and our friends and I traveled by horse and buggies in the summers and in sleighs in the winter to attend the dances. We also spent many good times swimming at Heise Hot Springs, at church and other activities.

I was engaged to another man when, in 1913, I went with my brother and friends to Lymanto pick up Pearl Galbraith to take her to the dance with us. When we went into the house, Pearl’s brother, Herb, was there with his 2 sheepdogs spending an evening at home. He usually was in a sheep camp in the field but had come home for a visit. He was also going with another girl at the time, but we became friends.

After a courtship and sharing the fun that all young folks enjoyed, on September 8, 1913 Herb asked me to marry him. We went and talked to my parents, and the next day, September 9, 1913, we were married at the Fremont County courthouse in St. Anthony and I mailed the ring back to my former fiance.

Herb’s name was John Herbert Galbraith but was always known as Herb. He was the son of Edward Archibald Galbraith and Ann Sharp. He was born 4 April 1884, at Lyman, Onieda Co., Idaho and was the fifth child in a family of eleven children.

We made our home in part of his parents’ home in Lyman and our first two sons, LeRoy and Dorald, were born in this home. The next fall, we moved into our own home on land we purchased from his father and Herb farmed the land. Our other children were born there. We had seven children, four boys and three girls. They are:
LeRoy Herbert, born June 12, 1914, married first, Velma Lola Hanson and they had one child, Neola. They later divorced. His second marriage was to Sigrid Wainio Smith who had one daughter by her first marriage.
Dorald John, born May 11, 1916, married first, Delpha Bell Clay Sept. 22, 1936 in the Logan, Utah L.D.S. Temple and they had 5 children. They were divorced in 1975. His second marriage was to Esther Koyle Hymas.
Cecelia Mae, born April 29, 1919, married Perry Ernest Charles Geisler, May 4, 1939 at Madison Co., Idaho. They had 4 children.
Della Margaret, born December 12, 1920, married first William Wilson, Nov. 10, 1938 at Madison Co., Idaho. They had 2 children. They were later divorced. She married second, Lloyd Crystal Merrill 18 Aug. 1947 at Driggs, Teton, Idaho and they had 3 children.
Clinton George, born May 21, 1926, married first Myriam Wescott Schell, Feb. 25, 1947; they were divorced. Married second, Dorothy DeLayne Bates 23 Jan 1948 at Rigby, Jefferson, Idaho. They had 8 children.
LaRue Emily, born November 14, 1928 married first Boyd Wilcox. They had 2 children; they were later divorced. Married second, Thomas Trittipo, they had no
children and were later divorced. Married third, LeRoy Palmer, no children.
Garold Reo, born March 13, 1933, married Helen Yoshitie Horiuchi, they had 8 children.
We were later endowed and sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on 12 Jan. 1916.

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Ida was a hard worker all her life. Her oldest daughter, Mae, added these notes to Ida’s life story:

Mother scrubbed clothes on a washboard for years, until she got a washing machine. Her first washing machine had a handle on the lid. It turned a paddle inside the tub to wash the clothes. There was always a large amount of wash to do with a large family to take care of. Later, she had a wringer washer and tubs with rinse water. She had to hang the clothes on the clothesline to dry.

Canning was one of the many things that mother did. She canned strawberries, raspberries, huckleberries, and all kinds of fruits. She used quart or 2-quart size jars. The cherries were early fruit and sometimes she’d get apricots from Emmett, Idaho. Mom would travel to Utah for peaches, sometimes buying as many as 30 bushels and she’d get pears if they were ready. Then mom and dad would load as many as they could haul on a trailer so as to share with neighbors and others which would give them money so they could pay their tithing. There was also a 5 gallon can of honey and mom would skim cream from the pans of milk to cook with and to make butter and cottage cheese, as well as ice cream that was made in a hand-turned 2 gallon freezer. The ice cream was always good with pie or fruitcake.

Mom raised a large garden full of berries and vegetables. These were not only used fresh on the table but also canned for the wintertime.

There were also chickens and ducks. The feathers were used to make pillows and the birds were roasted in the oven until the meat was partially cooked and then put into pint jars. Using large boiler pans for a hot water bath canning method, she preserved the meat for the winter months. For the holidays, mom would fix a large meal of huckleberry pies, cake, potatoes, gravy, vegetables and, of course, duck. If there were extra eggs, mom took them to sell at the grocery store and saved the money to buy 100 pound bags of sugar for canning. When canning was done there would be 400 to 500 jars placed on the shelves. There would be everything from jelly and preserves, to 2 ½ gallon crocks or 5 gallon ones filled with pickles. There were carrots in a sandbox and apples wrapped with sheets from old catalogs to keep them cool for winter. There were also dried corn and apples tied in bags that we could cook.

When there were new babies born and after the midwife had done her part, then mom would go and take care of the babies and mothers until the mothers could get up to care for themselves and the baby.

There were many trips to go huckleberry picking. These have wonderful memories for us. Everyone would climb into wagons or buggies and travel over the dry farms to the hills until mother and dad got a car. We would go up to Windy Ridge, Balsam Grove, Cold Springs, Galbraith Canyon, Hells Hole, Argument Ridges, and Moody Swamps. We did this from the 4th of July into September for many years.

But they still used the team and wagon to get wood for the winter. There were also picnics at which everyone would pitch in to put together and in the evenings there were treats for around the camp fires. Mom really loved this. Sometimes they not only picked berries but would get a load of wood for the winter. At nights, while we were sleeping, the bears would come into camp and walk right over us and get into the food box. They loved the loaves of bread, honey, and green tea. All that would be left were the wrappers.

Mother also made the things that we used in our home. From pieces of pants and overalls she would put together quilts and line them with flannel and tie them so they were very warm and cozy. She made bed sheets from flour sacks that were sewn together on her treadle sewing machine. She would also make straw ticks which were mattresses for the beds. These were made of flour sacks sewn together and then stuffed with the new straw all fresh and clean from the threshing of the grain. The grain was threshed by horse-drawn thresher at this time. When the crew came to help dad with the threshing, they needed to be fed; so Mom would have to prepare and serve a large amount of food for them. This kept mom very busy as there were 7 children and 2 adults to care for on a regular day-to-day schedule.

Mom always tried to make sure we had enough food and were warm. She and dad put in some long hard days to make a good home for their family.

During World War II (November 1942) they moved to Tacoma, Washington where dad worked in the shipyards as a pipe-fitter. Mother worked in a furniture factory building couches and big chairs. By this time, we as kids were older but some of us went with them while waiting for our husbands who were called into the service for the war. LaRue and Garold were still at home and in school.

They saved money to buy a tractor when they returned home. Dad bought a Model R. Minneapolis-Moline with tricycle front wheels to use in farming. He used it to raise the grain, hay and potatoes and to help feed the cattle for as long as they could operate the farm.

They later moved over into the house that had been Dorald’s that he and Dad had built and they continued to live in that house for many years before dad passed away July 1, 1970. Mom continued to live at home but took trips to spend time with her families. While in Burley she became ill and passed away at the Burley, Idaho hospital on February 5, 1973. She was buried in the Archer Cemetery next to Dad on February 8, 1973

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Other life notes added by granddaughter, Darline G. Burke:

Ida worked as a Primary Counselor and Teacher and was a faithful Relief Society Visiting Teacher for over fifty-five years. She enjoyed Relief Society and also attended her other church meetings faithfully often taking some of her grandchildren with her.

She was a member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers organization. She enjoyed this organization and the friendship she had with the other members and attended the meetings often including some of the conventions held in Salt Lake City. She also helped gather and submit many histories for the DUP books.

She was famous as a quilter and she made many quilts of different kinds. She made beautiful hand-quilted satin quilts, pieced quilts and camp quilts. Many family members received one of her beautiful quilts as a wedding gift and anyone who was lucky enough to get one of these quilts prized them highly. When she came back from Washington State after the War, she brought back many scraps of fabrics from the furniture plant where she had worked, and made camp quilts and other pieced quilts from those fabrics. She never wasted anything if she could use it somehow.

Ida also made beautiful pillowcases, towels, and quilt blocks and other items decorated with her stencil painting. She had a talent for this kind of fabric painting and could make them shaded and very natural looking. She gave instructions in this craft to other family members also. She enjoyed this talent very much.

Patience was one of her virtues. Many times she had one or more grandchildren visiting for the day or longer. She made large batches of bread in her breadmaker which was a large galvanized bucket with a lid which had a handle on it with which to turn the kneading arm. She often gave little pieces of her bread dough to the visiting child to knead while she made her dough out into many loaves and got them ready for the oven. She knew just how much wood to put into her kitchen range to keep the oven at an even baking temperature so the bread always came out just right.

During the years before WWII Herb was racing his horses and having cutter races in their fields in back of their house. Ida made hamburgers, hotdogs, and lots of hot coffee and sold them to the people who came to watch the races and made some extra money. She also made doughnuts and sold them. Of course, she had grandchildren and her own younger children there to help and she always cooked some of the doughnut “holes” for the kids.

Gardening and flowers was a favorite pastime. When she reached the older years and could no longer raise a vegetable garden, she still raised flowers in her yard. Her love of flowers was very evident in the way she tended them and knew them by name. She had a large yellow rosebush in the back dooryard of their home they built. She also had hollyhocks and she taught her children and grandchildren how to make dolls using the hollyhock flowers. Some of her favorite flowers that she grew through the years were peonies, tiger lillies, bleeding hearts and roses. She also grew many houseplants and had Herb build her some plant stands to hold her many African Violets and other plants.

She raised canaries for a time also, hatching out the eggs and caring for the babies very carefully. She usually had several birds at a time and there was often a concert of warbling canaries especially when there was a family gathering with a lot of people talking. Then she’d get tired of their noise and cover them up and tell them to be quiet.

Genealogy and temple work was another of her interests and she spent many long hours finding and compiling information about her ancestors and their families. She enjoyed being able to see that the Temple work was taken care of for her people.

She and Herb celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary in September of 1963. All of their children and a large number of the grandchildren were in attendance as well as other family members and friends at the Open House given in their honor.

She had several grandchildren and great-grandchildren who served missions for the L.D.S. Church and she was very proud of them. Her family was her pride and joy and they all loved her. Her house was one of love and patience and her grandchildren were always made to feel welcome even after they were grown and brought their own children to visit her. She helped raise some of her grandchildren and one lived with her for several years. They all had a deep love for this special grandmother.

After Herb passed away on July 1, 1971, she kept busy with her genealogy and with her family. She visited her children from time to time for varying periods. It was while visiting in Burley with family members there that she took sick and died. Thus ended the life of one very special person who was loved by all who knew her.

John Richard Clay, Jr.

John Richard Clay, Jr. was a kind, loving, soft-spoken man but not timid.  Everyone who knew him had great respect for him and had only good to say about him.  His children knew when they had pushed his patience too far because of the way his bright blue eyes blinked and “snapped” at them.  He never struck or insulted his children and they always knew he loved them.

John was the 5^th of 11 living children, 2 of the 13 children having died as newborn infants. His parents were John Richard Clay, Sr. and Isabelle Adams.  The family had started at Oxford, Oneida county, Idaho where the first 3 children were born.  They later moved to Almy, Uinta county, Wyoming where John was born 24 April 1888.  John’s father & older brother, Samuel worked as coal miners here.

A few days before John’s 7^th birthday in 1895, the No. 5 mine where they worked, had a major explosion killing several miners including Samuel who was just 15.  John’s father had serious injuries but eventually recovered.  Between 1896 & 1897 the family moved to Randolph, Rich county Utah where his mother’s parents & family lived.  John was now the only boy to help his father on the farm to which they moved.  He had only a little schooling in Utah in 1897 to 1899.  When John was 13, the family moved to a farm between Rexburg & Hibbard, Idaho.

By this time, there were now 2 other boys & 6 girls in the family and John worked at many different jobs to help provide for the family.  Soon, the 3 older girls married & left home.  In April 1906 his beloved mother passed away from complications of childbirth when his youngest sister, Alice Ann was born.  His mother was buried on John’s 18^th birthday.  It was a great blow to lose his mother with whom he was very close.  Just a year before in 1905, John’s sister, Sarah Clay Muir, who was 4 years older and with whom he was also very close, had also died in childbirth. 

After his mother’s death, the family moved closer to the Hibbard Ward & John was very active in this ward.  He worked hard to help buy another home for the family & to keep the taxes paid.  Once, the tax money was stolen from his pocket.

In 1907 John went to a circus in St. Anthony with his sister and her boyfriend.  They introduced him to a young woman named Alice Grace Hope.  He took her to a dance that night which was the beginning of a 2 year long courtship conducted mostly by horse & buggy.

John & Alice were married in the Logan L.D.S. Temple March 24, 1909.  Alice’s grandparents, Freeman Dewey Higley and Eliza Ann Cheney were temple workers there at the time and were the only family members in attendance at their wedding.

They lived in the Salem-Rexburg area where they bought a piece of ground and built a small 2-room house together.  He worked on his farm and also hired out to other farmers.  In the winter, he worked at the Idaho Sugar factory in Sugar City which he did for 11 winters.  Part of that time he was the foreman on the lime presses.  In the winter of 1910 he went to the factory & back on horseback 3 miles.

While at his work on the lime presses, the lime vats exploded filling both his eyes with lime.  His eyes were treated with an acid then he was put on his horse to be taken home.  The doctor said there was no hope for the right eye and only a chance for the other.  But they asked the Elders to come administer to him and give him a blessing and through John & Alice’s faith & prayer his eyes were healed.  The next winter he was working at the sugar factory again.  Their first 2 children, Verla and Gladys, were born while living in the Rexburg & Sugar City areas. 

In 1913 they moved to a dry farm 12 miles west of Idaho Falls in the Oswald Basin area and took up a homestead.  Their house was a log house with a dirt roof and a dirt floor.  A small branch of the Idaho Falls 1^st ward was established in the school building nearby and they were both active participants in that church branch. 

They struggled along for 9 years hauling water a long distance, melting snow in the winter for the horses & cow, hauling cedar wood out of the nearby lava beds for fuel and to sell for extra money.  Their food was what they could raise in their garden.

Their first son, Vernal, and their 3^rd daughter, Delpha, were born during these hard times.  Finally, in 1919, the climate was so hot with no rain and the crops dried up forcing them to leave their homestead even though the patent had been issued in 1917.  John said he had no money when he went to the dry farm & had $20 when he left.

They lived in Idaho Falls for a short time, then in Roberts & again in Sugar City.  Then in April of 1922 they traveled by team & wagon along with some other family members to Emmett, Idaho, working on farms and in orchards on the way.  When they arrived in Emmett, John was able to get work on the construction of the Black Canyon Dam.  The family lived in a tent house at the construction site.  They cooked outside over a fire using the prevalent sagebrush plants for part of their fuel.

The dam was completed in 1924, then, they rented a house in town in Emmett.  Their 2^nd son and 5^th child, William LuRue, was born here.

In October of 1925, they and other members of the extended family and some friends traveled by Ford cars to Washington State to seek employment.  The family worked together in the fruit harvest and John also worked on road construction.  They found out there was a branch of the L.D.S. church about 25 miles away at Bellingham and they attended church there.

They really enjoyed the area and would have made it their home but after living there only 9 months, they got word that Alice’s father was very ill & he was requesting them to come back to Rexburg.  They arrived there in 1926 and John was able to work at the Skaggs store then at the Safeway store in Rexburg.

In 1930, Alice’s niece, Olive died leaving a 6 weeks old baby and she had requested that her Aunt Alice take care of the child.  So Violet came into their family as their youngest child and was raised as their own.  Not long after that, Violet’s father asked them to come back to Emmett so he & the other children would be able to visit and be acquainted with her.  So John quit his job at Safeway and moved back to Emmett.  He was able to get a job at the Emmett sawmill but there was a layoff soon after which left him unemployed.

At the time, the government had established some programs to help those unemployed because of the Great Depression.  One of these programs was the Works Progress Administration or WPA. John was able to get on with the one in Emmett where he earned $40 a month.  On payday, he would stop at the grocery store, buy $5 worth of groceries, and carry them home in a box on his shoulder.

They lived in 2 or 3 rental houses until they were able to purchase a home on which they made payments of $10 a month.  They raised a large garden for their own food and also worked in the orchards for fruit and for cash.  In 1942 they left Emmett & moved to Nampa where John worked at the Nampa Sugar Factory.  The older children had all married or left home by now leaving just John, Alice, & Violet so they rented a 3-room apartment.  When the sugar season ended he worked as a night watchman at a fruit packing shed, then at Showalter Chevrolet dealership cleaning cars.

They finally were able to sell their home in Emmett and moved back to Idaho Falls where he worked as a watchman, handyman, etc. for Burgraff Construction for about 1 ½ years.  Then he was able to get work at the Montgomery Ward store as janitor & maintenance man where he worked for many years.  They were also able to purchase a small, run-down house at 995 Cassia St. which he remodeled and repaired and made it into a comfortable home with a nice yard and large garden.

John had been having some health problems which were finally diagnosed as Muscular Dystrophy.  Because of this he also had to retire from Montgomery Ward.  The company and workers there gave him a big retirement/farewell party and everyone expressed high praise for his work and for him as an individual.

Although they had moved so many times during the years, John always took pride in the appearance of the home and the yard wherever they lived.  He always planted flowers, bushes and vegetable gardens and fixed and remodeled the houses and took care of their homes until he become too incapacitated because of the Muscular Dystrophy.

In March, 1959 they celebrated their 50^th Wedding Anniversary and John still said he married the prettiest girl around.  By 1970 John was so incapacitated that he and Alice could no longer take care of themselves even with the help given them by family members.  They chose to go to a nursing home just a few blocks south of their home.  

After living there a couple of years, John passed away 4 days before his 86^th birthday on 20 April 1972 and was buried 2 days later, 22 April 1972, 66 years to the day after his mother’s death.  He was buried in the Sutton Cemetery at Archer, Idaho outside of Rexburg.