Reynolds LymanSon of Amasa Mason and Rosannah Reynolds Lyman

1882-1916

There are only a few people still living who knew Reynolds personally. One of the is Franklin Hansen. Franklin said Vern and Reynolds Lyman helped the Hansen’s move back to Boulder after Franklin’s Father returned from his mission to Denmark. Franklin was only six at the time. He said that Reynolds and Very did some fencing for them. Apparently the Lyman men picked up work on the ranches in the valley whenever they could.

Randall says he doesn’t remember much about Uncle Reynolds. At one time Uncle Reynolds came to Escalante and spent some time with Randal’s father, Uncle Vern.

Reynolds worked for Uncle Emery King on the Henry Mountains. Uncle Emery had his sheep herd there. It was at the ranch on the Henry Mountains that Reynolds met his death. He was a big man, but not as large as Uncle Vern who was the largest of all the Lyman boys. He was 35 years old when he was killed. He had never married.

Reynolds was working on the ranch, but not herding sheep at that time. Uncle Emery had him working on Dugout Ditch, either cleaning it out or making it into a canal. He was using a wooden scraper which had handles. One would hold the handles down while the team of horsed pulled the scraper along. When it was full of dirt it had to be dumped. The scraper Reynolds was working with had a broken handle. He was riding on the scraper to help hold it down. The e horses were pulling and the scraper hit a slid rock with such force that Reynolds was propelled into the air. He came down seat first on the broken handle. The handle was impelled up through his body with such force it would not be immediately removed. Reynolds died soon after He was buried in Teasdale, Utah. Reynolds was born 4 June 1882 in Panguitch, Utah, he died 15 October 1916.

From “Boulder County and Its People” it says; ”in 1902, Vern and Reynolds Lyman traded their cattle for a sawmill. Chris Mooseman purchased it from them in 1912. L. Wentworth”

May 1991March of 1895 came in like a lion with strong gusty winds and zero weather.

Snow still covered the valley.

At the Amasa Lyman home there food was exhausted when Rosanna mixed the last cup of flour with ground corn to make bread. In despair she looked again in the empty flour bin. She wondered if they would starve.

That was when Amasa decided to send his sons, fifteen year old Haskin and thirteen year old Reynolds, to Rabbit Valley after some flour. The boys were light and could probably make it on the saddle horses that were weak from searching the homestead for forage. Reynolds and Haskin dressed warmly. As Amasa gave them last-minute instructions, he wrapped their feet in burlap sacks. Each boy rode a horse and led a pack horse, taking turns breaking a trail through the deep snow around the east end of the mountain.

The boys camped beneath the trees where Reynolds set fire to a dead ponderosa. They slept awhile in their saddle blankets, but the night was so cold that long before daylight they were standing by the fire with the blankets wrapped around their shoulders. The horses tied among the trees stamped restlessly as they browsed in the firelight.

The horses seemed to grow weaker each day. At sundown the third day the boys rode into Fish Creek, a small settlement near Grover, where they stayed at the home of their father’s friend. He gave them a box of bullets and some flour, said he could get more. As the two boys rode out of sight, he truly wondered if they could make it back to Boulder on the emaciated horses. His wife gave them food enough to last four days. They were only three days getting home. The horses had to rest often. Reynolds and Haskin almost froze to death and kept the fire burning constantly when they camped at night.

Nearing Round-up, the horses seemed to know they were coming home and never stopped until they reached the Lyman homestead.

In the mean-time, Amasa and Mason killed a deer which kept the family fed.

Further on – Charles Nazor cleared some land and diverted water from Deer Creek into Nazor Draw and ditched it to his land. In 1897, they traded their homestead to Reynolds Lyman and moved to Monroe with their baby. Reynolds Lyman sold a piece of this land to “Chris Moosman for a winter home, it being near the school house. …. Reynolds sold his homestead in Boulder to young Amasa Lyman in 1913. He worked in the Henry Mountain country where a number of roads were under construction through the foot hills.

The above information is copied from the book, “Boulder Country and It’s People.” Pages 12, 13, and 17, written and compiled by Lenora Hall LeFevre.

(Retyped with spell check September 12, 2006 by Cecile B. Curtis for Beth Lyman)

Mary Lyman Hiskey

The material on Mary Lyman Hiskey to this point was written by Camilla Smith, Aunt Mary’s granddaughter.

I remember many things about Aunt Mary not mentioned by Camille. She was a slender, wiry child and woman. Tall and with lots of black h air, and brown eyes.

She was processed of an agile and active mind. She could remember most anything she ever learned. She was always in charge wherever she was. She was a good horse woman and loved the outdoors

Uncle John Hiskey was in the sheep business when he and Aunt Mary married. He had his sheep on the Boulder Mountain in 1902 and the honeymoon was spent at the sheep camp. That winter she and John made their home in Teasdale. They lived with George Coleman and his family, until they could build their own home.

The Hiskey home in Teasdale was one of the finest homes in Southern Utah when it was built. Two stories, with rooms for many guests.

Mary and John never had children of their own, Max and Roseann were both adopted.Mary became interested in caring for the sick and attending those who needed medical

help. She made an office for all the medical men who came to Teasdale to care for the sick.

Dr. James Weaver and his young son Jimmie lived with Mary and John for many years. Dr. Weaver was a well trained medical doctor. He had without the permission of Jimmie’s mother taken the child and left her. It was not until years later that the mother found out where her son was.

Mary learned all she could from Dr. Weaver about medicine. When he died in her home she inherited his medical library. She put the books to good use.

The dentist Foutz from Ogden came often to open his office at Aunt Mary’s home. He set up his office and did the dental work for Wayne County.

Rosannah and Amasa Lyman moved to Teasdale in 1912 and built a new home just east of the Hiskey home. The Lyman’s needed care and Aunt Mary gave it to them. After Rosannah died in 1923, Amasa moved in with Mary. He occupied the room Dr. Weaver had used, Amasa was employed by John as a freighter. He hauled the supplies to the sheep herds on the Henry Mountains. When he could no longer work Aunt Mary took care of him. Amasa lived for thirteen years with his daughter. He died February 20, 1936 at Provo, Utah, where he had gone to visit his daughter Maria King.

Aunt Mary wrote a very great piece about her mother for the Lyman Family History. It tells a lot about Mary as well as Grandmother. I am attaching it at this point for everyone’s benefit and pleasure.

Dwight L. KingJuly 10, 1991

Mary Lyman Hiskey was born July 20, 1884. She was the fourth child, and first daughter of Rosanna Reynolds and Amasa Lyman. She was born in a little log cabin on the old George Brinkerhoff place in what used to be Thurber, Wayne County, Utah.

The summer of Mary’s fifth birthday she and her family moved to Frank Haws’ airy on the south side of the Boulder Mountain on the West Boulder Creek. They only spent the summer here working for an income to support their family. Due to her mother’s bad health, they once again returned to Thurber. In the summer of her sixth birthday, they moved again over the Boulder Mountain and homesteaded at what is now Boulder. They were the first family to homestead there, but others soon followed. They built a 16 x 20 foot one room cabin with a dirt roof and floor, which as their home for eighteen years.

At 17, Mary met, and on May 12, 1902, married John Se3aman Hiskey. They were married in Boulder and came to Teasdale to live. They lived here for about 34 years, then moved to Richfield and lived for about four years. However, because they were homesick, they moved back to Wayne County. They lived in Lyman for a short time, but still homesick, moved back to “Teasdale. They had two children, Max and Rosanna, and raised two other children Bertha and Rulon Behunin.

Mary was a charitable person, always serving others, if not by her hospitality, then in her willingness to doctor.

She had many domestic talents as well. She was a great cook and an accomplished seamstress.

She died February 20, 1985, at the age of 100.

She was noted for her love for her family, her dedication to her fellowmen, the love and service she so freely gave, her humor and her positive outlook on life, her desire to learn, her determination to achieve, her writing, her poetry, her sewing and all her other homemaking skills. All these things have given her life great meaning and the love and respect of many.

{Both of the above histories Retyped September 12, 2006 by Cecile B. Curtis (using spell check) for Beth Lyman}

Maria Lyman King1886-1974

Mother was born in Thurber, Utah on the 9th of August 1886. The home was near where the Taft Ranch was in Bicknell.

Her Father, Amasa M. Lyman Jr., had been married twice before he married grandmother, Rosannah Reynolds, who had one child, prior to this marriage. At the time of their marriage on May 16, 1877, there were four children in the combined families. Aunt Ethel Lyman, 10 years; Uncle Mason Lyman, age 7; Uncle Willard Lyman, age 3; and Aunt Jesse Butler, age 1 year. Uncle Willard did not live with the family, but lived with his mother’s sister, Mrs. Fisher, in Scipio.

From the marriage Grandfather and Grandmother Lyman had four children before Mother was born. They were Vern, age 8; Haskin, age 6; Reynolds, age 4; and Mary, age 2. It was a big family even for those days.

Grandfather was not a man of substance. He loved horses, always drove a good team and was a good rider. He was wiry, slender and very active. He loved to sing, tell stories and be the life of every party. From the time he was a young boy he had freighted. He helped his Tanner Uncles when they hauled supplies to California for the settlements at San Bernardino. His life’s work always involved animals, horses, cattle, or sheep. He loved to hunt. He could keep the family supplied with deer meat. In 1879 he packed cheese to the people stalled on the rim of the Colorado River. At Hole in the Rock, many of his family were in desperate straits. Taking cheese to them was the kind of thing Grandfather loved to do. No money was involved, but it was interesting to him. He was a very handy man to have around the farm or ranch. His family never seemed to have more than was needed and some times barely got by. Bare subsistence was the order of the day in Thurber.

In 1889, the family worked on the Haws Dairy on West Boulder Creek. Amasa was well acquainted with the area around the Boulder Mountain. He had lived in Fillmore, Panguitch, Escalante, and knew well Southern Utah. He visited the King family at Kingston while they were living the United Order in 1877, according to the King dairy records.

A decision to move the family from Thurber to East Boulder Creek was made in the spring of 1890. In June, they were packed and ready to go. It was necessary, it seemed, that they leave the alcoholic temptations that existed in Thurber. Aunt Ether was now married to Seth Taft and had left home. Francis had been born since Mother’s birth. He was fourteen months old when the trip to Boulder started. Mason was 20, Jesse was 14, Vern was 12, Haskin was 10, Reynolds was 8, Mary was 6 and My Mother Maria was 4 years old.

The route taken was down to Grover, out to the head of Sulfur Creek, which heads on the Boulder just north and west of Happy Valley, on the northeast corner of Boulder Mountain. Sulfur Creek runs nearly due east and west until it joins Pleasant Creek west of Capitol Reef. They followed Pleasant Creek up past the old Indian Farm south to Oak Creek. The climb out of Oak Creek to Roundup was too steep for the team with the load on the wagon, so part of the equipment and supplies were left on Oak Creek and brought in later.

Mother remembered walking behind the wagon with her two older sisters, Jesse on one side and Mary on the other, hand in hand. A special relationship always existed between the three girls. They loved each other and always looked out for each other.

It was a hard trip for the family. When they got to the place Amasa had chosen to settle they unloaded the wagon and spread the wagon cover between the trees and set up camp. They lived under the wagon cover until a cabin could be built.

Mason and t he boys were a great help in getting the cabin up. Grandmother worked right along with the men in the family. She built the fire place for the cabin out of cobblestones found on the site. The family had a small cook stove, some furniture, blankets and dishes, but most of the furniture they used had to be hand made.

They had plenty of deer meat but not much else to eat. There were many lean days and very slim pickins in the best of times. Twin girls were born in September 1880; both lived only a few hours after birth. By September 1892, Rosannah was expecting again and wasn’t going to have another loss like her twins so the family moved to Escalante. Uncle Maurice was born at Escalante on the 27th of November 1892.

Mother started school at Escalante. Her first teacher was Mrs. Bushman. Mother and her brothers and sisters of school age attended school two winters at Escalante. School was only four or five months long. The family moved back to Boulder in the spring of 1894.

Several more families were now in Boulder and a school was built for the children. It was centrally located, four miles south of the Lyman ranch. The children walked to school each day. In the winter they sometimes had a horse to ride, if they did not abuse it, and the horse was in good enough shape for them to ride. They packed their lunches.

In the summertime the Piute Indians came through Boulder from their winter ranges to hunt deer and fish. Mother played with the Indian children when she was a little girl. One of the Indian girls was named Florence. After Mother moved back to Richfield in 1944, and was living at 489 North Main Street, an old Indian woman on hr way home to the Indian Village north of town saw Mother sitting on her front porch. She came across the lawn and said, “You Rye?”

Mother said, “Well, my name is Maria but some people call me Rye.”

It was her childhood friend, Florence Kanoah. Many times after that Florence came to visit Mother. I never heard Florence say a word but Mom said she talked to her. Mom and Florence visited at Mother’s kitchen table. If I walked in, not a word was said by Florence until I left.

I gave Florence my deer hides; She tanned them and made me gloves. Mom and Florence had many things to talk about but not things men should hear or know about. Florence lived in the Indian Village until she was over a hundred years old.

In 1896, when Mother was ten years of age, she suffered a severe burn. She was ill and got out of bed to get warm by the fireplace. She thought she was about to vomit and was leaning into the fireplace when she fainted. Her head struck the back of t he fireplace when she fainted. Her head struck the back of the fireplace so her face was not in the coals, but her arms, hands, and legs all were burned.

Grandma saw her fall and screamed; Uncle Mason was out of his bed in a flash, grabbed Mother out of the fire and began to beat out the fire in her clothing. Grandma came with a bucket of water and drenched them both. Mother remembered leaning against Grandmother’s leg after the burn and feeling her tremble in fear. It was a frightening experience.

Mother was burned on both her arms and both legs and was scarred for the rest of her life. She was months healing. There were no doctors so Grandma put her homemade salve on the wounds, molasses mixed with flour or mutton tallow, bees wax, sticky gun , or camphor gum were her remedies.

Mason was building his new home on his homestead at the time Mother was burned. He was preparing to marry Aunt Jane. Mother remembered that he, too, was accidentally injured. A block and tackle hit him in the head cutting a big hole. He was several months healing.

Mason was a cowboy. His place was mostly cattle pasture. It was up against the mountain north and west from Grandpa’s place. He had acquired a few head of cattle when he and Jane were married.

Mother stayed with Aunt Jane many times when Mason was away working or rounding up his cattle. Mother felt very close to Mason and Jane and their family. During the 1890’s the supplies and needed food, other than what was raised or obtained by hunting or fishing, came from Thurber. Grandpa went out to Wayne County in the spring and again in the fall and would buy or trade for what was needed. The only road out was the treacherous one used when the family came in to settle.

Grandmother sewed the children’s clothing and some items for Amasa. Dresses were made from flour sacks and some of the underwear from the same material. Denim was used when available for all clothing for the boys and the girls. At one time when there was nothing else to use Grandmother made the boys pants and jackets out of an old wagon cover. She even made hats for the boys from t he same material. She was a practical genius.

By 1894, there were cows to milk. Cheese could be made by Grandmother to sell. She also made butter for the family use. The garden provided potatoes, corn, turnips, beets and the greens for a balanced diet. There were chickens for cooking and eggs were now on the menu.

By 1900 the sheep-men began to come into the area. King and Brown, the name of Dad’s and Uncle John Hiskey’s outfit was on the Bounder summer ranges with their herds. The cattlemen were irate about having sheep on the range. The farmers were upset also. A complaint was filed against the sheep-men for polluting the streams above Boulder. This was a very serious matter since all the drinking water came from the streams. Grandfather was the constable and arrested Dad and Uncle John. There was no jail available so the constable boarded the prisoners at his home.

The constable’s daughters got acquainted with the prisoners. Aunt Jesse married their sheep-herder, Charles Naser. In 1902, Aunt Mary married Uncle John. The sheep-men were prosperous. They took their wives out of the home. Aunt Mary went up to the sheep herd to live with Uncle John. Aunt Jesse moved to Monroe.

The trial was held in Panguitch, Dad had his cousin, attorney Sam King, came down from Salt Lake City to defend against the charge. The jury’s verdict was “not guilty.”

Mother was 14 when Jesse married, 16 when Aunt Mary married Uncle John. I am sure Dad had his eye on mother even at this early age. The Lyman’s and the Kings had been acquainted for many years. In the 1850’s both families had settled in Fillmore. Amasa and Grandfather Volney King were the same age and grew up in the same peer group. Dad knew good stock when he saw it.

The last of the Lyman children, Amasa, was born on October 22, 1894 in Boulder. By this time there were several families in Boulder, George Baker, Frank Haws, and Mugs and Bill Thompson. Their homes were not very near the Lyman home. Louie Thompson attended Grandma when Amasa was born. She wasn’t much help. She had never had a child and had never seen one born. The Thompson’s lived just south of the Lyman home and was their nearest neighbors. Mr. Thompson had several children by a prior marriage, but none by Louie.

There were several Thompson children near Mother’s age, who were her schoolmates. There was Lynn, Sade, Will, Hy, and Dick. The school was in the center of the area so everyone was about the same distance from it. The Thompson and Lyman children walked the four miles together on good days. The Peters children lived south of the school and the Haws children lived on the south and west side of the valley. Boulder was a mile wide and 10 miles long. The four families made up much of the population of Boulder.

The Lyman children in school were Vern, 16; Haskin, 14; Reynolds, 12; Mary, 10; and Maria age 8. In 1894 the school was a one room building. The older children helped the teacher with the younger ones. Everyone then learned more. The teacher was Mr. Burgess for a time.

The Indians were sometimes of concern to the children during their childhood. Mother remembered on time she and Maurice were in the house alone and an Indian man came into the house. Out the door Mother ran, screaming at the top of her voice, with Maurice at her heels. On another occasion Indian men crowded into the house with Grandmother and the children there alone. They wanted flour. Grandmother said she did not have any. They called her a liar. She had a hard time convincing them that she told the truth, but they finally left with out hurting anyone.

Mother was a baby sitter for some of the neighbors while growing up. One neighbor was Mary Moseman. She had three children; Eddie, Francis, and Wilburn. Mother thought Mrs. Moseman was mean to her. Mom was very sensitive about criticism, maybe Mary corrected her and Mother was offended. Mom said she was a nervous child. I know she was easily hurt and very proud. She didn’t ask any favors and wanted everyone to respect her.

The family had a tradition, don’t tattle. I think this came from Grandpa. He was the youngest of his brothers and sisters and had several older sisters. He used to say that his Mother was a Tanner by name and a tanner by nature. He was always in trouble at home. He considered himself to be the black sheep of his family. I suspect he thought his sisters tattled on him and so he hated tattling. His children and grandchildren then learned that tattling was not acceptable conduct. If you had something bad to say about the conduct of a person it had better be about yourself.

In 1899 Mother went to Escalante for the wedding of her sister Jesse, and Charles Naser. Charles and Jesse came back to Boulder and built a new home, but shortly thereafter moved away to Monroe. Their vacated new home was near the school. In the winter of 1900

Mother and her three brothers lived in the Naser home. Francis, Maurice, Mother and Amasa batched it there. Mother was the cook for her brothers. They were close enough to home that Grandma could oversee them but not live in with them. The school teachers in the late 1890’s were the Cottam girls, Vi and Aba.

After Mary and John were married they either lived at the sheep herds or in Teasdale. They herded with the George Colman family until they bought their home. The older Lyman children were now all out of the home, Vern was called on a mission to the Southern States by the Escalante Ward, since there was still no Ward in Boulder. Reynolds was out on his own working with sheep or as a ranch hand. He helped Vern on his mission with part of his wages.

Uncle Haskin married in 1901 and moved to Richfield. Mother went to Richfield to be with Haskin and Ruth when their first child Elda was born in 1902. She planned on going to school there, but Willard called and ask her to come to Salt Lake to help care for his family because Aunt Hilda was sick.

So Mother spent the winter of 1902 in Salt Lake helping Willard and his family. She washed, ironed, cooked, and did the general house work. It was a big job for a 16 year old girl. There were 8 children in the family, Lola, Bernice, Gren, Earl, Glen, and Myrtle. Victor was born the winter Mother was there. Myrtle died the same winter. Hilda had pneumonia so the help mother gave was much appreciated. Mother was paid $3.00 per week plus room and board. It was a very traumatic year for Mother.

Mother came back to Richfield in the fall of 1903. She stayed a couple of weeks with Haskin and Ruth and returned to Boulder with Henry Baker and his family. The trip home was through Antimony, To Escalante, down the Escalante River to Boulder. One of Dad’s sheep-herders caught up with the Bakers just before they got to Boulder. He was traveling in a buckboard and had room for Mom so he gave her a ride home.

Mother had met Dad before she went to Salt Lake. She was

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of the lot and carried into the house. While Dad owned the home he installed running water and indoor plumbing.

Mother was busy with her home and family. She was active in the Church. H ugh was blessed by Seth Taft, her brother-in-law on the 29th of October 1905. Dad was not so active; he smoked and even chewed tobacco. Mother detested the chewing habit Dad had acquired and bought some substance that when put into his food made the tobacco cause nausea. Of course Dad knew nothing of her plan, he only knew h is chewing tobacco was causing him to be nauseated. He gave up chewing.

The family had a cow and other animals to tend, but this was done by hired men when Dad was away. A water right came with the lot, so trees and a garden were planted and needed care. Wayne County was full of relatives, so there was always some family around when help was needed. Aunt Ethel lived at Bicknell. She was the nurse for all who needed her. Aunt Mary was only a block away and had no family of her own, so she could always help and did.

Dad bought another herd of sheep from the Heaps family in 1906, which made it necessary for him to be away even more than before to look after his business affairs. Gladys was born on June 3, 1907, with Mary C. Williams as midwife. She weighed 7 pounds, had blonde hair land lots of it with brown eyes and a pretty face. She was a nervous child and always slender. She quarreled with the children in the neighborhood. She accused a little girl of stealing her doll clothing, for which mother made her apologize. This was her first lesson on how to get along in the world

June was born July 9th 1909. He came so fast Mrs. Williams did not get there to be midwife. He had black hair, black eyes and weighed 8 pounds. He was always a good baby. He got along well with everyone.

Teasdale was allotted only one telephone. It was installed in the George Colman home. Dad had lots of business on the telephone. Mrs. Coleman would come to her back door and yell, “Emery!” for Dad to come to the telephone. Dad would then cross his lot to answer the phone.

With Cecil’s birth on April 18th 1912, Mother had four children under 7 years old. Dad was not home at the time the baby arrived. Mrs. Williams was the midwife and Grandmother Lyman was there to assist. He weighted 8 ½ pounds and was another blonde baby.

The year 1914 saw a big change in the business and affairs of the family. Dad purchased from Ben Baker of Bicknell a half interest in the ranch at the Henry Mountains. His neighbor, George Coleman owned the other half. Ben and George had homesteaded the ranch around 1909. Dad got the east half, George kept the west half. Dad got between three and four hundred head of cattle with the property, so he was now in the sheep and cattle business. Caring for the ranch meant more time away from his growing family and more responsibility for Mom.

Hugh started school in Teasdale. Miss Dally was the teacher. There were eight grades in the same room with older children teaching younger ones. By now Grandmother and Grandfather Lyman had moved out from Boulder and were living in Teasdale. They had a home just west of Aunt Mary’s home. The family was close. Hugh was sent down to stay with Grandmother Lyman whenever Grandfather was away on trips. Grandfather helped John

Hiskey with his sheep, hauling supplies to his herders and filling in when necessary. Grandfather was away a lot.

While Cecil was a baby, Mother and Grandmother Lyman went out to the Boulder sheep range to cook for the men who were building docking corrals for the sheep. Getting the work done was a family affair. The two women had a tent of their own to live in.

Dad brought his old riding horse home for the family to use. His name was Frenchey. We have a picture of Frenchey with kids from his neck to his tail, at least six kids on one horse. He became the friend of all the children. Hugh had a ten pound saddle and could ride Frenchey to take the milk cows to the pasture, which was his chore from the very beginning. The cows were pastured with the Coleman milk cows in Coleman’s pasture east of town. Hugh took the cows in the morning and brought them home at night.

Hugh had hay fever so bad he could not handle the hay to feed the cows and horses, so it became June’s job to feed all the animals. It was a big job for a small boy. Hugh did the milking for Mom. With three cows this was not a small job.

There was a good sized garden spot and fruit trees on the lot, so there were many jobs of weeding and gardening for the children when they were young.

Rosetta was born July 15, 1914. She weighed 9 ½ pounds, had light hair and grey eyes. Mrs. Russell of Loa was the midwife. Ette, as everyone called her, was healthy, a strong child who loved to go to Primary, would not miss a session. She loved school, was always on time, and was happy with her school mates.

By 1915, Hugh was big enough to be of help at the sheep herds. In June he went with Dad to help dock the lambs on the Boulder Mountain. This was his first trip to the sheep herds. He would catch the lambs and hold them while Dad o9r another of the men cut off the tails, short cut for female lambs, longer cuts for the male lambs. The males were also castrated. Lambs were earmarked and branded at docking. Dad now had two herds of ewes on the Boulder each with 1000 head of grown sheep, so it was a big job to dock the lambs. In a good year, there was a lamb for each ewe. Catching and docking one thousand lambs was a big job. It was hard, dusty and dirty work for a ten year old boy.

Hugh came back home with Dad and then went down to the Henry Mountain Ranch with George Coleman later in the summer. It was the first year Dad had an interest in the Ranch. They had the water out of South Creek and were raising hay. Hugh was a lot of help on the ranch. He could be a chore boy and junior cow puncher.

In 1916 Dad and George filed on the water in Dugout Creek. To divert the creek required a long ditch and diversion works at Dugout. The ditch ran generally from north to south and dumped the water from Dugout into South Creek at the Turn of South Creek. The combined creeks were then diverted out of South Creek just east of the eastern most field.

Uncle Reynolds was hired to help dig the ditch from Dugout to South Creek. He was driving a team and handling a scraper when it hit a rock and threw him into the air. He came down hard on the handle of the scraper. It penetrated his rectum. He died from this wound in Salina Hospital on October 15, 1916. He was only 34 years old.

The Dugout water more than doubled the amount of land that could be watered on the ranch. In 1918 Dad bought out George Coleman’s interest and owned the entire ranch. There were two sections with the ranch so it consisted of more than 1500 acres. There were two ranch houses on the property. Dad soon moved the houses together on the property to make one four room ranch house. It was log construction with a shingled roof. The house is still in place as of 1991.

I was born on the 13th of July 1917. Mother notes, “Born on Friday the 13 th. Mary Williams, midwife, Grandma Lyman present. His father was not home. Lit hair and grew eyes. Big baby 9 lbs. Good baby.” I had a crooked little toe on my right foot. Hugh had a similar birth mark. Could that mark the pattern of baldness we both have?

In summer of 1918 I was being tended by Aunt Ethel in her Bicknell home. I suppose she thought I was still asleep, I had my night shirt on, and some way I got out of the house and into the yard. There was a big irrigation canal running through the yard and I fell into it. Ellis – one of her sons went to work in the hay fields that morning then changed his mind and came back home. As he crossed the bridge over the canal he saw my night shirt floating on the water of the canal. He grabbed me out and ran to the house. Aunt Ethel knew what to do. She placed her iron on my back and ironed the water out of me. She got me breathing again and saved me from an early and watery grave. Miracles still happened in those latter days in Wayne County!

The first summer Mother was on the Henry Mountain Ranch was 1919. I may have been with her, but do not have any memory of the summer. Dave Teeples was our farmer and his daughter Rose helped in the duties of running the house. Rhoda was born on November 10, 1919. She may have been too young for Mom to go to the ranch in 1920. Mom notes, “Big dark eyes, lots of dark hair. Pheobe Parker was mid-wife, Born in home at Teasdale. 7 lbs.”

In 1921 we went to the ranch with Uncle Edmund King in his freight wagon. The e Blind Trail road was washed out so badly we could not get up on the Wildcat Mesa so we had to stop there with the wagon. Fred Noyes came from the ranch with his mules and we loaded what we could on the mules then rode on the packs into the ranch. Mom rode a white mule, with Rhoda on with her. I rode a work horse. Etta rode a work horse with two kittens in a nose bag hung on the hames. We rode this way for ten miles into the ranch.

During the summer the blow snakes made Mother very nervous. We were living in the two room cabin which was located on the East half of the ranch. The cabin had a rough plank floor. There were many knot holes in the planks. One day the kittens were over at the back of the cupboard hissing and blowing and something was hissing and blowing back. Mother looked and saw the biggest blow snake you can imagine there behind the cupboard. She started screaming and didn’t stop until the hired man came and removed the snake. I still remember her screaming and the fear that snake created. Mother wanted the snake killed. The hired man argued the snake was very useful and one that Dave Teeple’s wife had around the house to eat the mice. The snake was taken down to the shop, which was 200 feet from the house and there it made its home. I saw it there many times later that summer.

By 1921 Hugh, June and Cecil were old enough to be out at the sheep-camps helping lamb or herd the sheep or punch cows. At the ranch were Rhoda, Dwight, Ette, and Gladys. Everyone was at some kind of gainful employment. William Morrell was the hired hand on the Ranch that summer. Mother did the cooking for the family and the hired help. Sometimes there were many men around, sheep-herders, hay crew, and cow punchers. It was a big job for her.

Romola was born on February 23, 1922. Mom’s note, “Her father was not home. Went to Salina to take his father to hospital. Her mother had a Relief Society part at her home – ice cream and cake. Baby came about 6:10 p.m. Dr. Cassel Neilson and Mary L. Hiskey. 9 lb baby. Dk. Brown eyes and left eye crooked. Dk. hair and medium thick.”

In the early summer, at Teasdale mother would take her children on a pigweed gathering. She taught them to tell the difference between red root weeds and pigweeds so we all got the right weed. The neighbors would say “You can always tell when summer is here. There goes Rye King and her kids out hunting pigweeds.” Pigweeds were as good as spinach and tasted about the same.

I don’t believe that mother was at the Ranch the summer of 1922; her baby was just too young for her to go ranching. In 1923 Dad bought a Dodge coupe with a rumble seat. We went to the Ranch in the Dodge. Ette and I rode in the rumble seat. From Torrey to Fruita the dust from the road just covered us. Everyone had to be cleaned off in the Fremont River at Fruita. We were able to make it up the Blind Trail in the car but got stuck on Wildcat Mesa in the sand. June and Merlin Morrell, the cow punchers, came with their cow ponies and with their lariats tied onto the bumper pulled us out of the sand. We preceded the rest of the way on our own. It was another busy summer for Mom at the ranch.

One of the most interesting events in the life at Teasdale was the 4th of July celebration. There were al kinds of races. The men raced, the children raced and the women raced. Mother was the fastest woman foot racer in the whole country. After the races ice cream was served to everyone free of charge from the home freezers.

It was always a big event I n the fall when Dad killed the pigs. He had help and there were usually several to kill. The pigs were stuck and bled, and then scalded in a big black barrel in the back yard. The hides were scraped free of hai8r and washed. The meat was then cut up and salted for storage. Fresh pork was the most delicious you ever ate. Mother made head cheese out of the head. They claimed they used every thing by the squeal. Even the bladder was drained, then blown up and used for a ball. Mother rendered out the fat and made lard for house use. She also made her own soap out of the fat she saved or rendered. It was not hand soap but was used for the clothes and dish washings.

Mother always made her own butter and cottage cheese. There was cream for every thing.

Dad always took his boy children with him whenever he could. I remember from the time I was four until I had to go to school, I went with him every place he went. I was his shadow. When I had to start school he was leaving on a trip to the Henry Mountain Ranch. I wanted to go. I told Aunt May K. Lyman, my first grad teacher, that I could not stay at school but was leaving to go with Dad. She told me if I left she would tell my Mother. That was all it took. I stayed in school. Mother was the disciplinarian in our family.

Mother was such a fast runner she could catch most of her children easily. The only one she could not catch was Cecil. He was always a fast runner and showed it in his high school football team when he played half-back and was know as Tom King.

Grandmother Lyman died on the 23rd of August 1923. She had suffered from a cancer of her breast for many years. Mother thought it was caused by a blow she had received on her breast years before

Mother suffered one of her greatest losses. In 1924, Ette had an infected tooth so Dad took her to Richfield to have it pulled. After the tooth was out Ette developed a sore throat and died from quinsy on the 26th of August. . She was buried in Teasdale along side grandmother Lyman. It was a sad time for us all. We moved later that fall to Provo where Dad had purchased a home so that the children could go to BYU. Leaving Teasdale was a tearful event. I was too young to realize what was happening but Cecil was really grief stricken. I remember leaving in the Packard auto that September as we drove out over Teasdale bench past the cemetery, still relatively fresh and could be seen as we drove past. Cecil protested that he did not want to leave his little sister all alone and cried as we drove past.

Our new home was at 345 East Center Street in Provo. In school that year was the following: Hugh and Gladys at BYU High School and College, June in Junior High, Cecil at the Maeser School, and Dwight at Maeser School in the second grade.

We had a big home in Provo. There were not many years when it was not full. Homer Lyman came and went to school while he lived with Mom, as did Malba Black. Later Clara and Afton Anderson lived with us and went to BYU. With the many children Mother was always very busy.

Craig was born on February 2nd 1925. He was the last child and a very hard delivery. Mother’s note was “Born at 345 East Center, Dr. Garn Clark, and Nurse Hazel Henry. Mother very ill. Weight about 8 lbs. Born Monday A.M. about 7 o’clock. Hair light and scanty. Blue eyes. At 15 months old had ingrown toe nails good baby.” Mother was sick for weeks after his birth. Mother nursed each of her children. She thought they might have been better off if she had given them a formula because several of the children had rickets from malnutrition.

Grandfather Lyman and Grandmother King came to stay with Mother when they were approaching death. Grandfather died on the 21st of February 1937. Grandmother King died on the 13th of January 1935. They both lived with Mom for several months before they died in our home in Provo.

Dad’s business was growing larger all the time which meant that he had to be away more and more. He was gone from holiday to holiday. Mother had full responsibility for the management of the family and the children who were there. Dad was a good provider, never-the-less there was a lot of work and a great deal of care necessary every day.

H ugh graduated from BYU in 1928. He married Fern Pace just before graduation May 12, 1926. Gladys married LaVar Isaacson on the 30th of October 1929 and graduated from the BYU in 1930. June did not go to college. He graduated from Provo High School in 1928 and married LaVell White on January 5, 1931.

Cecil graduated from Provo High School in 1930 and attended BYU but did not graduate. Dwight was the oldest child at home from 1932 on. The family was much smaller, but with cousins and aged grandparents to care for mother always had a house full.

During the years in Provo, Mother developed hay fever and could not live there during the summers. In 1925 Dad acquired an interest in the Grass Valley property. Mother lived

there every summer after 1930. It was cool and she was free from the hay fever. She had other health problems. She developed a growth on her jaw which gradually made it so that she could not open her mouth. The doctors tried everything they could think of; nothing even slowed the gradually closing of her mouth. She finally consulted her old family doctor Don Merrill. She had once been told by him that she had a cyst on her uterus. It was still present. Dr. Merrill removed it and the jaw stopped closing and returned to its normal condition. Apparently the cyst was creating an infection which made her have what just about became lock jaw. She suffered from this condition for several years, before Dr. Merrill fund and removed the cyst.

Rhoda wrote an article about Dad and Mom for the King Chronicles in 193-. It is an excellent description of life on the Grass Valley Ranch and in Provo. She wrote: “Mother loved the outdoors. Maybe this was because of her pioneer upbringing. I can never remember of Dad ever going hunting or fishing, but Mother was known to be great at both sports. Mother loved to fish when we were living at Grass Valley Ranch. She would take us children with her and walk up to the creek which was several miles away to try her hand at fishing. One summer Mother took Rosela, Craig, and me up to the Daggett County to visit the Nebekers, relatives of Malba’s husband Lee Nebeker, Cecil went along to do the driving. Near the Nebeker’s ranch house ran a creek, and mother, Romola, Craig, and I walked through the fields to it. We found a clear pool of water where the bank extended over the creek. Mother said this should be a good place to fish and for us to be quiet and sneak up to the edge of the bank so we wouldn’t scare the fish. We caught several fish using a stick from the willows, a piece of line and a small hook. I’ve never had that much good such since even using such better equipment.

Mother must have been lonely many times when we lived at the Crass Valley Ranch during the summer. One time we decided to walk from the ranch up to see our Uncle Laurence and Aunt Lillian, who were staying at the sheep camp at the Booby-hole Reservoir. This was a walk of three or four miles and in the heat of the day during July, it seemed to be twice that far. Aunt Lillian had put on a big pot of beans. That with the sour-dough bread the usual sheep herder fare. It tasted like ambrosia to our exercise-whetted appetites.

At other times on the weekend after the hired-men had gone home to visit their families, Mother would take us three children with her. We’d walk up along the creek that ran along the hillside, find a big hollowed out rock, and build a fire out of sagebrush or other dead wood lying around. We’d cook our supper of fried potatoes and pork and beans over the open fire.

Mother’s summers at the Grass Valley Ranch were filled with hard work. There was no electricity r running water. We carried our water in five gallon buckets to the house from the ditch that ran by the house. The water must have been pure because none of us was ever sick from drinking it. Mondays were washdays and we children ran back and forth to the ditch carrying water to fill the galvanized iron wash tubs. One was on the stove heating to boil our clothes, and three were on the back porch, one for scrubbing, with hot soapy water and two for rinsing. Mother took great pride in how white her clothes were. We would hang the clothes on clothes lines that ran from the side porch down the hill where they would dry in the sun and wind. How fresh and clean the clothes smelled when we gathered them in to sprinkle for ironing or to fold and put away.

Besides the washing and ironing, Mother cooked three meals a day for her family and two hired men. During haying season the neighbors would come over to help put up our hay and we’d have four or five more men to cook for. Mother baked bread every other day, and cared for the milk that our two or three milk cows produced. That meant separating the cream

from the milk, washing the separator twice every day and then churning the cream into butter. I’m sure Mother appreciated the help Romela and I were to give her, and we learned how to work and to cook.

In the fall when we returned home to Provo, so that we children could go to school, Mother‘s work lessened somewhat, but she always had a lot to do. We usually had a cousin or two staying at our place while attending the “Y”, or we had boarders who paid room and board, Mother always had large washings and ironings plus the big house to keep clean. She canned several bushels of peaches, pears, raspberries, strawberries, pickles, plums, and made jams and jellies from what fruits were available. We usually had a hired girl or a girl who wanted to work for room and board while going to school to help with the house work, and then when Romola and I were older we were assigned work to do. I have always been amazed at how much Mother was able to do. She seemed to be able to work circles around me. For the most part Mother was quite healthy, but she was plagued by hay fever every spring and summer, especially if we stayed in Prove. I think she was allergic to the Sycamore trees that grew in front of our house. She took tests for her allergies and had shots made up for her. She stayed in Richfield one summer and took her shots twice a week there. Once she took a shot out of order. Her arm swelled up to about the size of her thigh. The doctor was really concerned but the shots were successful in curing her hay fever.” (End of quote)

Claude Sampson and his son Glen were the hired men on the Grass Valley Ranch. They had been on the ranch since Nell McMillan owned it, Claude was the cowboy, and did the irrigating at Grass Valley. Glen worked on the Siguard farm land and filled in at busy times. Claude died from a heart attack in the field at Grass Valley Ranch.

From 1932 on Mother had only four children at home in Provo. She had boarders from time to time and then the grandparents who were ill, but it was a more relaxed time for her. She kept busy with the Daughter’s of Utah Pioneers and her knitting. I was in high school until 1935 and then at the BYU. She began to take in some of my friends as boarders. Bill Coltrin lived with us. He brought his friend, Tweet Bird in to live there. They loved the family and Mother. She treated them just like her own family.

The boarders stayed in the house while Mother was at Grass Valley in the summer. They were really part of the family. From 1939 on there were only Rhoda, Romola and Craig at home.

In 1944 Dad bought Uncle John Hiskey’s sheep business from him, which included the Cat Ranch on the Henry Mountains. In 1947 Dad, Hugh, June, and Cecil divided up the property of King Bros Company. Hugh took sheep, permits on the Boulder and the Cat Ranch. June took the South Creek Ranch, cattle, permits and some sheep. Cecil took Siguard f arm property, cattle and Grass Valley property and Dad kept the Range land at Grass Valley. The debts owing were also divided. Dad then really retired. Mother took care of him and they lived quietly at Richfield. No boarders, no children, but lots of visitors.

Dad died on February 14, 1962 at the hospital in Richfield. He was eighty four years old. Until a few days before his death he was at home and Mother cared for him. The nuns at the hospital were most kind to the family and Dad during the days he was dying. The cause of his death was incidents of old age.

After suffering from cancer for sometime, Gladys died on September 31, 19969 at the age of sixty nine. Her death cause great sadness for all the family, but most of all Mother was

affected. June died on December 2, 1972 at the age of sixty three. He had suffered for some time with a virus that caused a brain fever. The deaths of Gladys and June seemed to take the wind out of Mother’s sails. They were the first of her grown children to die.

Mother lived on at Richfield for ten years after Dad died. She became more active in the church and did her temple work. She finally sold the home in Richfield land moved up to Salt Lake to be near Rhoda and Me. Her Granddaughter, Susan Peterson and Mother became buddies and that made her life much more pleasant. Her health was good for a woman of 80 plus. From time to time a grand daughter would live with her, but generally she was by herself. She tried rest home living but that was not for her. She had an apartment near Rhoda in West Jordan where we could drop in on her from time to time and make sure she was all right. Many of her family came by regularly to visit her. She had a heart attack about the 19th of March. She was taken to the Cottonwood Hospital. After a short stay in intensive care, she was moved into a ward. The next night on March 22, 1974 she died in her sleep.

Mother was a strong woman. She had many very firmly held opinions which she taught her children. There was no quarreling among the children, lots of arguments about every conceivable subject, and a free and vigorous exchange of opinions, but no quarrelling. She had a thing about chastity. She was proud of the fact that none of her children had to get married. She was made very sad when grandchildren had to marry. I think this was the result of her Mother’s unfortunate experience as a young girl. I know Mother knew how much her Mother suffered over the experience she had with Aunt Jesse being born out of wedlock and she was anxious that her children did not have to suffer in the same way.

Grandmother Lyman was orphaned at the age of 15. Her mother died on June 1, 1872 and her father died July 7, 1872. As a homeless girl, with no near relative to protect her she was shunted from one family to another. She was used as a maid by the families and had no one to look to for help or advice. She lived in the Butler family in Panguitch where she became pregnant in 1875. Her suffering as a used and unwanted girl Mother did not want repeated, EVER!

When you went to visit Mother, she never let you talk about her; she made you talk about yourself. She was interested in her children and grandchildren and enjoyed hearing about their lives and interests. In 1973, she came to visit me at Cottonwood and I got her to talk about herself. The questions and answers were recorded. Many of the matters related in this account are from that record. How fortunate we are to have her own story.

In the summer of 1973 Mother was living in Salt Lake in her apartment. Two of my sons, Tom and Colin, were students at BYU. Mother was concerned that the boys were not getting enough vegetables in their diets. She arranged for them to come to her apartment and go with her to get green corn for freezing. They were to do the work and she would furnish the know how. She spent the whole day blanching the corn and helping package it for freezing. There was enough corn for them to have fresh frozen corn most of the winter while at school. This was the kind of thing Mother loved to do. It showed her love and concern for her children and grandchildren.

Many of the details I have related are from a conversation I had with Hugh which was recorded in 1977. I have also had the good fortune to have Little Boulders, by LaRue Wentworth to give me a feel for life in Boulder. I have quoted fro Rhoda’s account for the King Chronicles and have used it as a deep background reference. Too much credit cannot b e given these sources. I thank you for your help.

Mother and Dad made many sacrifices for the education of their children. They were proud of the fact that Hugh, Gladys, Dwight, Rhoda, Romola, and Craig could graduate from college. There was no help asked that was not willingly given to a child who wanted to further his or her education. They were more than generous with me in financing my legal education at Harvard Law School.

I could not end this account without giving you all the benefit of my opinions about Mother and Dad. They were not often in a position where they could have the benefit of year around church activities. They did not get a chance to ever go to church in the summer. Neither of them held any church positions, but as far as living the teachings of Jesus Christ they were excellent examples for their children. A kinder, gentler man than my Father never lived. He truly loved his neighbors. One of the reasons for his great success as a busi8ness man, I believe, was the way he treated his hired help. I never knew one of them who was not loyal and who would not go the extra mile for Dad. He never held grudges. If he had a problem he settled it and put it behind him.

Mother never said a harsh or gossipy word about her friends or neighbors. When she was hurt, she might resent it and hold the feelings for a while, but she was like Dad, she loved her neighbors. There are many, many of our young friends and family members who would never have made it through the BYU if she had not taken them under her wing. She gave her life in the service of her children and grandchildren. She honored her Father and Mother. She was a faithful and loving wife. I know of none of the Ten Commandments that she did not obey. I pray that her family can live in a way that will be a credit to her and Dad.

Written by Dwight L. KingJune 1, 1991

[Retyped (with spell check!) September 12, 2006 by Cecile B. Curtis for Beth Lyman]