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.