Bapt. by John Thorton, Bingham Co. Confirmed by Harrison Ison Sept. 2 1944Bapt. by John Thorton, Bingham Co. Confirmed by Harrison Ison Sept. 2 1944
Bapt. by John Thorton, Bingham Co. Confirmed by Harrison Ison Sept. 2 1944
Bapt. by John Thorton, Bingham Co. Confirmed by Harrison Ison Sept. 2 1944Bapt. by John Thorton, Bingham Co. Confirmed by Harrison Ison Sept. 2 1944
Bapt. by John Thorton, Bingham Co. Confirmed by Harrison Ison Sept. 2 1944
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Life History of Francis Adna Garder
I was the ninth child of Joseph S. and Mary Elizabeth Gardner. I was born September 5 at Pleasant View, Weber County, Utah, 1887. The family lived on Grandfather Williams' farm, which they rented two or three years after moving from Deweyville where they had lived for about 12 years. They went there shortly after their marriage in 1869. While living at Pleasant View, mainly because of sickness and the misfortune of losing my oldest brother, Nathaniel, 17 years old, a sister Emma, 10, and another brother, Isaac, 10 months old within a period of 10 months, they were reduced to poverty.
At that time my father homesteaded a quarter section of land in the upper end of Ogden Valley, known as Liberty. After clearing the sagebrush from a few acres by hand and with the help of my next oldest brother, Chancey, about 12 years old, they planted some shade trees, hauled pine logs from the canyons, and built a one-room house up to the square, as I remember the story.
At that time it became necessary for him to leave the place and go away to work to obtain a living for the family. It was during his absence that another man, named Dunbar, contested his claim to the land. He had no money and then obtained by trade of some sort of relinquishment of a piece of land joining the one mentioned from William Oram to which he moved the house and trees from the place he had lost, as the law allowed him to do so. Here he established himself again and by continuing hard work and economy, he improved the land, built a two-room log house, a log grainery and workshop combined upon the bench overlooking the river bottom to the south, surrounded by shade trees. Trees, fruit and gardens were rather a hobby with him. He planted a narrow strip of land along the road north of the place to the trees, next to that on the south some small fruit, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries, all of which grew successfully, part of which was marketed in Ogden. All of this helped to provide for the family.
The water for the land was taken from the North Fork of the Ogden River, about one half or three-fourths mile northwest of the place. A ditch running along the hillside until it came on top of the bench provided water for only part of the land and some of that only early in the season as water shortage was common except for the early summer. For that reason he made a small reservoir and hauled clay about two miles to line the bottom so it would hold water. By letting the little stream run into it at night, it provided a fair stream to irrigate with a few hours a day. After a few years most of the benchland was brought under cultivation. Mostly hay was raised and was stacked by the barn below the hill. After a time they got a few cows and some sheep raised from orphan lambs which at one time they traded for a pound of butter for a lamb. The mountains on the east of the valley furnished good pasture in the early spring and sheep herds were common then.
About 1898 my parents moved from the old homestead to the Rhodes place, about a mile, which was nearer school. They rented this place and later bought an acre of land from Mrs. Marshall. This was a little south of the school house. Here we built a house from logs which father with the help of Eugene Judkins (as a carpenter) hewed in the canyon and hauled out. We lived on that place until August 1901, during which time they sold a few groceries, which they kept in one room, and we took care of the farm. The farm was sold then to a man from Harrisville by the name of Hinckley for $3,700. It was sold in June or July, 1901. Some of my fun at that time was in sleigh riding down the hill on the deep-crusted snow in the latter part of the winter, and in the summer, drowning squirrels and gophers out of their holes with water carried in buckets. They were numerous and a menace to the farms. The county paid a bounty of 1 to 2 dollars for the tails, which we boys cut off and strung on a thread with needles. After we had got a dozen tails we were anxious to send them to the court house for money was scarce then. Some of the neighbor boys were more fortunate in that they had a twenty-two rifle and Alvin Wade had a shotgun. They killed many squirrels, and of course I was rather envious of them.
My school teacher that I liked the most was John F. Rawson from near Ogden. He gave me a little card with a picture on as a reward of merit at the end of the school term, which I still have.
I was baptized on my 8th birthday by Bishop Joshua Judkins in Spring Creek. I went with my brothers, William and Andrew, sister, Henrietta, and mother, with the wagon and team, Old Lize, a blue mare, and Bill a white horse. They were the only horses we had.
My Sunday School teachers which I remember best and made the greatest impression on me were Etta Wade and Walter Lindsay, who gave the class a party on the lawn at the home of Walter's parents- just prior to Walter's leaving for a mission to the Southern States. After he returned he and Etta were married. But I never saw him again for several years, as we moved to Idaho while he was in the south.
While living on what we called the Marshall place, my youngest sister, Henrietta, was married to Joseph Southwick in the winter of 1900. Next year mother's health was very poor and she was advised by her father, Dr. F. G. Williams to leave Liberty because of its high altitude; so she, with William and Andrew, moved to North Ogden and lived that summer in a tent in Aunt Electa Montgomery's orchard, while I remained with my father taking care of the place until he sold it and made preparations to move to Idaho, for which we left about the 18th of August. We traveled by covered wagon. My oldest brother, Chancey, went along taking a wagon load. We also took five cows and a calf. Andrew and I took turns driving them on a horse. The first camping place that I remember was at uncle Milo Gardner's in Deweyville. A day or two later we were joined by a family by the name of Hunsaker from Box Elder County, Utah. They, too, were moving to Idaho so we traveled as far as Pocatello with them. They, too, had a boy driving a few cows, so we had company and a times a little fun.
A great part of the Snake River Valley was sagebrush and no fences along the way. Idaho Falls had only a few stores. We arrived at my sister's (Lucinda Robinson's) place two miles north of Ucon about the 20th of August, after a ten-day trip. Chancey returned home and the family remained there two or three weeks during which father bought an acre of land with a two-room house on it from Lee Jardine. After moving there father bought a few more acres joining. Andrew and I then started to school. The house was enlarged by two more rooms built by Bishop Dabell. That fall, in November, father went back to Utah with a team and wagon and brought another load of things that had been left. During that and succeeding winters many rabbit drives and hunts were conducted to kill the rabbits which were so numerous that they destroyed much of the crops on the outlying farms. On some of these drives as many as two or three thousand rabbits were killed. In the early winter of 1902 James O. Webster returned from a mission to England, a big fine looking man with curly hair and weighing 250 pounds. He was a brilliant and powerful speaker. He was soon chosen to the High Council of the Bingham Stake which included the country from Shelley to the south fork of the Snake River at Lorenzo and Swan Valley on the east. The stake was divided in February, 1908 making the Rigby Stake with Don O. Walker (who had served in the Blackfoot Stake Presidency), President, with Josiah Call of Ricgby and William W. Selck of Lewisville as counselors. Wallace Fife, too, was an influential man of the Gran Ward, having fulfilled a mission to the Southern States for over two years without purse or script or nearly so, for he said his mission cost him only $15.00. He, with James O. Webster, Alfred Bramell who also had filled a mission, and R. L. Bybee of the Bingham Stake presidency made strong impressions on my in Sunday School, MIA, and Sacrament Meetings. I was invited to join the ward choir at about 17 and although I was never a good singer, I learned to love music and enjoyed choir work very much. George F. Webster was the leader. He later moved away and is now living in Ogden, 1939. At that time there were no stake tabernacles and conferences were held in the different wards. In February, 1906, one was held in the old hall which is still being used in Grant, Idaho. After the Sunday morning service, President Francis M. Lyman shook hands with the people as they passed out the door. James Christensen, Enoch Danielsen, Joseph Ellis, and I went out together and President Lyman remarked, "Here are four young men who ought to go on missions." I had acquired the feeling a month or two before and had been reading the life of Joseph Smith and some church works, but didn't think the opportunity would come soon. However, in about a month a call came and I left home May 3 for the Northern States Mission. I was 18 years old. Otto Hansen had just returned from the California mission and his welcome home party and my farewell party were held together. I received about $30.00 at this time. I visited with relatives in Ogden Valley a few days before going to Salt Lake City. I remained in Salt Lake two days, during which time I went through the temple and received instructions on conduct on traveling which was much needed as I had never been away from home more than two weeks at one time before. After being set apart I left in company with another Elder, Ralph DeLong, from Panguitch Utah. He stopped off at Council Bluffs Iowa to visit relatives.
After two days and nights I arrived in Chicago with a rather strange and lonesome feeling, and after making my way through the depot found the only remaining taxi cab filled, making it necessary for me to ride on top with the driver. I was told in Salt Lake the Hotel to which I should go, and as the driver made that his last stop I had an opportunity to see Chicago for about an hour at night. The next day I found my way to the mission office and for about six days took in some of the sights and wonders of that great city, including the stock yards, packing plant, and parks. While there I attended for the first time a street meeting in company with six other Elders. I also went tracting one day with one of the Elders. At that time the missionaries of the Northern States Mission wore oxford grey suits, with double-breasted coats, and derby hats, which made the Elders conspicuous wherever they went. At 7:00 Saturday night I left by train for St. Paul Minnesota, where I had been assigned to labor. During the night while traveling along the Mississippi River in Wisconsin a terrific storm came on, washing out eight lengths of the rails and grade just ahead. This delayed the train several hours. We arrived in St. Paul in the afternoon. I made my way to the Elders' quarters, which accommodated the four Elders who labored in that city. They were away, so I took possession of the place and at nine went to bed. They returned about two hours later, and said it was a rule to hold Sunday School and meeting in the St. Paul Branch in the morning, then go to Minneapolis and hold services with the Elders and Saints there in the afternoon, then finish up with a street meeting in the evening before returning. St. Paul had 163,000 people at that time. It was a beautiful city. Its trees, shrubs, parks, and lakes with which nature had so richly endowed it were beautiful. Many of its streets were narrow, some short and ran in any direction. At one place seven streets came together making seven corners which were said to be an advantage in at least one thing, that was in giving directions to strangers. Minneapolis lays directly across the Mississippi River to the west, a clean, well laid out city with 190,000 population. It was noted for its power plant and flour mills. I labored there from the early part of July (after spending a month in the northern part of the state) until conference in November. Alvin Welchman was my companion for two weeks and my other companion was William Edgeworth from Henefer, Utah, whom I loved. He was a fair and faithful laborer. He was released at that time, and I was sent with William Gilbert to Hastings, Minnesota, a little town thirty miles south of St. Paul. The missionaries had been driven out with threats of violence two years before. We arrived on the morning train and were known immediately and were watched as we walked along the streets as if we were gangsters. We went about looking for a room to rent, and while there were room-for-rent signs in many windows, were refused at every place until late in the afternoon we decided that was no place for us. After visiting the only member of the church in that town (an elderly lady) we returned to St. Paul and reported to the President. He said he felt we should go to Mankato in the southern part of the state. That night I saw in a dream a beautiful farm and buildings from the train on which I was traveling and after several hours I saw from the window (as the train made a curve) a town on a hill sloping to the west with the business district lying below. One building stood out more prominent than any other with a high smoke stack. We left St. Paul early in the morning. I had never thought of the dream until afternoon when the train swerved to the right and the same sight laid before my eyes. I was then fully impressed that dreams do come true. That was Mankato and the smoke stack and the big building was the laundry store where we took our clothes many times. We labored there until the spring conference in May and made some good friends. Some of the prominent citizens and county officials were part Indian of the Chippiway and Sioux tribes who had become as the Book of Mormon says, a delightsom people.
The remaining time I spent in the southern part of the state. The people there generally are Scandinavians and Germans, a very thrifty and fine class of people.
After returning home I married Rosa P. Randall in October, 1907, in the Salt Lake Temple. The next summers we lived on my father's place by the railroad tracks at Grant. I raised potatoes and worked for wages. In the fall potatoes were worth 30 to 40 dollars, when there were any buyers. I took a wagon load of 40 sacks to Idaho Falls. Albert Larsen took a load for my wife's father. There were no potato cars in town that day and as there were no warehouses or cellars we could not sell them. I offered my load to a man if he would pay me the price of the sacks which was $5 each. He accepted the offer and I took them about a block to his house and unloaded them. We then divided up the load and brought his potatoes home. The remainder of the crop brought little more. But with what I earned from other work and from two cows which I had raised from calves, we got along.
Elsie was born November 18, 1908. Part of the next summer I worked for Frank Randall for $38.00 per month and pasture for two cows. The next summer I homesteaded a piece of land, 120 acres on the south edge of the knowles, northwest of Grant and lived in a tent. After clearing the sagebrush and plowing about 15 acres we discovered an error had been made in surveying for a ditch to take water from Seck and Taylor canal, from which about 80 acres could be irrigated according to the survey. When it was known just how much could be irrigated it was too little to be worth the expense. However, a few acres could be watered from the Sargent ditch which ran through the place, but it was so little we didn't feel justified in staying. So we sold our relinquishment to Guy Wilson for $60.00 which paid for the fence around 80 acres of it, and we returned and lived on Robert Field's place the next year while he was on a mission to the North Western States. That fall we secured seven acres joining the railroad at Grant, and I built a one-room log house and was ready to move into it when Elsie and her mother took smallpox and were quarantined until January; during that time my sister, Henrietta, in Liberty, Utah died leaving four small children, which lived part of the time for the next two or three years with my oldest brother, Chancey. Later their father, Joseph Southwick, married and moved them to a farm in Goshen, Idaho. After two or three years they moved to Montana. The small place, Grant, proved to be the most profitable place we ever had. We lived comfortable and built more on the house the next fall after moving there. Jessie was born January 15, 1913, the day of the Third Ward Reunion- Grant, Garfield, and Coltman. For several years people met together annually near the 15th of January in a three-ward reunion. That day the snow was about one and a half feet deep. Mrs. Godfrey of Garfield was the maternity doctor for that part of the country and charged $10.00 for her services. We had bought some bees and from then on kept from 30 to 50 stands, raised a few cows, hogs, and colts. While living there Elsie started school.
We bought a place 1 3/4 miles southwest of the school house and built a frame house. Marvin, who was born in May before, died in March. Alice was born in next February 13, 1919. After selling that place we bought in February, 1920 the Andrus place in Garfield. The selling price was $1,000 for 80 acres. After paying $250 on the place and $500 more for drilling a well and other improvements and raising a good crop, prices went down and the panic came on which made it impossible to make the other payments. I had an opportunity to get out but didn't. Consequently, I had to let the place go back and I lost the money I had paid on it. That was in July 1921. Mary was born in February 25, 1921. That spring I bought 69 hives of bees and shipped them from Brigham City, Utah, costing $630.00. That was a good year for honey and although I lost some in shipping they paid for themselves. But I sold them in the spring of 1922 and moved to Deweyville, Utah, where my father and mother were living. We moved back to the seven-acre place at Grant, which I had sold to my father. He had kept it for no special purpose. But as he said it didn?t eat and it might be good to have, so it served as a place of refuge to my family. Morris was born there November 4, 1923. While the move to Garfield was disastrous financially I enjoyed living there more than any place I?ve ever lived. The people were friendly and kind and the ward activities were exceptionally good.
While living in Garfield, I served as ward teacher and from August 1920 as president of the YWMIA for one year with Richard Christensen and Arthur Hancock as assistants. Anna Christensen, Bessie Groom, and Kate Crystal served as the YW presidency during that time. In the Grant ward I had served as the assistant to the superintendent of the Sunday School and in November, 1910 was ordained a Seventy and was called to one of the presidents of the 169 quorum of the Seventies, comprising the west part of the Rigby Stake- including the Grant, Garfield, Bybee, Lewisville, Menan, and Roberts wards. Some of the men I served with in that capacity were: Orson Raymond, Alfred Ball, Robert D. Green, Justin Green, Wallace Fife, David Lee, and Clarence Richardson. Since that time we have been unsettled and have moved several times living at Riverside, Idaho, about two years, Lewisville, Where Milton was born, two years, Bybee, two years and a short time in Jerome Idaho, from December until February. Then in May of 1932 we moved to Fort Hall, Idaho. The depression during the following four years made hard financial conditions because of drouth and low prices, but notwithstanding that we did better than for some time past by raising alfalfa seed which sold at a fair price, form $0.14 a pound one year to $0.25 in 1935, amounting to, including the honey crop, $2000, which enabled us to pay our debts which had accumulated, and pay for Jessie?s mission to the Central States where she had gone the spring before. But the next two years were total failures on seed, but we had some good experiences there while improving a piece of new land on which we built a four-room house of mud in forms after the manner of concrete which proved to be substantial and comfortable as well as inexpensive. We were also living among Indians, for on the reservation there was about 1700 Indians and approximately that many white people, some of which had bought land and were making permanent homes. Others were renters. One objectionable thing was the school where the Indians and whites were together, but they became tolerant of each other and sometimes became good friends. Some Indians are very quick to learn music, but seldom relish hard work, are carefree and their religion is only shown in the ceremonies of the sun dance, and a special occasions.
A branch of the LDS Church had functioned there with a membership that varied from 90 to 130, but with a great difficulty, until finally it was abandoned and annexed to the Tyhee ward and it was learned then that the ones who had been active were some of the best and ablest workers in the larger ward. Our lease expired in the fall of 1937 and we moved to Nyssa, Oregon, where the new sugar factory was being built and a branch of the church which has struggled for existence for many years, owing to the transcient nature of the members; some of them coming in the fall to work in the fruit harvest as there were many large orchards of apples and prunes providing work for people up until Christmas time. They have mostly been taken out and the land being farmed.
After completing a comfortable house in 1938 I worked for Fife construction company on the B. Canyon Canal; building forms for concrete bridges, and turnouts until September. I worked on the above mentioned house. I have also contributed to the Rigby Stake Tabernacle when it was built in 1910, I think, and $200 in work and cash to the building of the ward house in Grant. Also a little to the Ricks Academy when it had a hard struggle to existence a few years ago, about 1900 to 1905.
People were in poor circumstances so far as money was concerned, but the church leaders could see the necessity for the church school training and the people were loyal to it. There were no seminaries and only three or four high schools in the whole Snake River Valley north of and including Pocatello. It was hard for many years. You could see and feel the influence of the Ricks Academy which is now a college for men and women in responsible positions in the upper valley are generally students from that school. I had an opportunity to go to England in 1920 but failed to go, which I have always regretted, and feel that some of my financial failures have been the result of not going on that mission. Yet, I can see now that an opportunity came to me to get out of almost all of the financial difficulties that ever came to me. The trouble was I failed to heed the promptings and learn the way of safety until I have spent most of the earning portion of my life. However, I have nearly always been working in some of the organizations at home. I have paid a full tithing and have tried to be honorable.
I have attended several general conferences and nearly all of the stake conferences and Priesthood meetings, have seen and heard all the general authorities of the church, some of them many times and know something about all of them. I honor and respect them and know they enjoy inspiration of the Lord, and lead people aright when the people will follow. I have met and had some association with some of them and found them to be as easily contacted and interested in the welfare of the people in their offices as when out attending conferences. I have gone through the temple several times, both Logan and Salt Lake, and I am doing some genealogical work and hope to continue on in good work, and that my family will do likewise.
Life History of Rose Priscilla Gardner
I was born June 19, 1888 at Far West, Utah, the daughter of Charles Chatman Randall, and Harriet Ladeska Woodhead. I left Far West when I was six months old to come to Idaho. We traveled by team and drove our cattle. Pa had four head of horses and ten head of cattle. It took three weeks to make the trip.
Dave Hyatt moved up the same time as we did. We moved to Grant, 9 miles north of Idaho Falls. Father homesteaded 160 miles. Mother lived in Lewisville while Father built a one-room log house. She lived with Grandma DaBell. (Grandma DaBell raised Mother after her own mother died.) Later Pa built a three-room log house with a dirt roof. Later he built a four-room log house, and I lived there until I married Francis Gardner Oct. 9, 1907 in the Salt Lake Temple.
I went to school in a one-room school house in Grant. This building was also used as a church house. There were 18 members when the branch was organized. Alfred Dabell was the first Bishop. I went up to the Fifth Grade in school. Pa didn?t believe in any more schooling. We had home-made desks.
I was blessed in Far West by Wm. Larkins in 1888, and was baptized in Grant by Joe Taylor. I taught Beehives for years in Riverside, Idaho, and I was a counselor in the primary at Bybee. I also taught kindergarten in Grant and Nyssa, and I was a counselor in the Relief Society in Fort Hall.
Ellie, Ace, and I were born in Utah, and Florence, Bessie, Myrtle, George Lorenzo (died at 10 days) and Arval were born in Idaho. One daughter, Ettie Louise, died before leaving Far West. She was 4 months old.
Died giving birth to the last of their 5 children. One record says she was born in 1824. She spent her girlhood days in Eng. During the year about 1842 and LDS missionary came to her home town. She wanted to join the Church but her parents were very much against it. She still sought out the help and guidance of this missionary and was at last baptized. Home life for Caroline after this became so difficult that when she heard that the missiionary was going back to the US, she begged to come with him and his company and they brought her. In 1843, whe got work and soon met a man by the name of Thomas. They were married but she didn't remain with him long when she got divorced. She then met and married George Woodhead.
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