I was born on May 23, 1880 in Farmington, Davis, Utah. My parents were William Francisco Glover and Sarah Jane Barnes. I was given the name of Ada. There were nine children in the family, with me being in the middle. William, Alice, Marian (who we called Mamie) and Andrew who were all older than I, then after me came Stella, Carlos, Bertrum and Chester.
When I was two years old, Ma and Pa moved from Farmington to Lewiston. It was in April and the snow was so deep that they had a hard time getting thru with the wagons. Pa homesteaded some property in Lewiston, raising Rye because there was no water for irrigation. In the fall he would cradle the rye himself. He built a log house for the family that was 3 rooms in a long row.
Later, a School House was built on our property. That is where I went to school. We couldn't go to school very much in the winter because of the snow and cold. Our school house was just one long room, with all of us in together, and only one teacher. We were not classed by grades, but by readers. There were no desks either, just benches to sit on. My first teacher was Roxy Smith, a daughter of Dee Smith. Some of the later teachers were Henry Jackson, Filo Austin, Hert Bullen, Frank Stevenson and R.T. Beck.
I had good friends while I was growing up and it seems like we were always doing Something Fun. I can remember one time when some of my friends and I took some strips of fur from the collar of my coat and made mustaches. Then we sat in school and pulled faces. One of the boys, Jessie Wheeler, told the teacher on us. Frank Stevenson was the teacher and he made us go and stand in front of the class. I think this was one of the most embarrassing things I had to do. Jessie Wheeler was a big tattletale. He was always getting us in some trouble. Every Friday afternoon we would have a volunteer program in the school. Jessie would get up and recite the very same poem each week about " The Ole Tom Cat".
When we were young we went to Primary in the school house. There was no Sunday School at that time. Heleam Jackson was the Ward President. I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on my 8th birthday, 23 May 1888.
I loved to dance when I was growing up. Our main entertainment was dances and candy pulls. We always went to the dances in sleighs in the winter time and every team had a set of sleigh bells on their harnesses. In the summer time we went in buggies and even on Horse back. My brother Andrew was just 2 years older than me and we made a fine dance team. Andrew was so good looking and such a good dancer and always took me with him to dances and parties. I loved all of my brothers and sisters, but Andrew and I always seemed to be extra close and had such a good time.
When I was 16 years old most of our family got typhoid fever. Nothing could be done to save Andrew's life. I felt that part of me died with him. I loved him so much and have always felt resentful that he was taken from me.
I had the fever so bad that my parents were afraid that I wouldn't make it either. They called the Church Elders to come, Mike Stanley and Jimmy Anderson administered to me. As soon as the hands of the Elders left my head my fever left me and I continued to get better from that time on. The family had a nurse with us and she became real excited because the temperature had left so suddenly. She wanted to send for the Doctor but my mother explained that the Elders had given me a blessing and asked the Lord to heal me and that was all that was needed. The rest of the family gradually recovered, too.
It was about this time that a tall dark haired, good looking fellow from Lewiston took my eye. John Julius Allen was a good dancer and that was one of the things about him that appealed to me. It was at one of the Friday night dances at the little school house, that he asked me to dance in the "Prize Waltz" contest with him.
We won first and it was the beginning of many more prizes we won in dancing together. Julius also played on the baseball team and loved music so it was a fun time during our courtship years. We were married in Logan Utah on 1 Nov. 1899.
We began our married life in a little house just west of the Lewiston Cemetery. We bought this house and Ceathel, Delva and Flossie were born here. By this time, it was getting pretty crowded so we built a new home up town. On 1 Sep 1906, our little daughter Alda was born.
Julius and his brother Arthur decided to buy some property in Idaho so we sold our new home and moved the family to a farm in Sugar Salem. After farming there for three years, we sold to Louis Allen and moved back to Lewiston. We built another home right to the side of the other one we had left. On 14 June 1909 Bryant was born and our baby girl Carrie was born 2 Jan 1912.
In the spring we packed up and moved back to Idaho again. We dry farmed out in the Junipers that summer. In the fall we moved to Shotgun, in Island Park to prove some ground. There was snow on the mountains and it was tough getting over.
Julius had teams, 3 horses wide, hooked to the wagons. Also a mule was tied out to the side. Ceathel and I drove the teams over the mountain. What a journey that was! Ceathel was only 12 years old and Carrie not yet a year old, with the other 4 children in between. We stayed up at Shotgun until the harvest was over.
I can remember one time when the men came to eat while the harvest was going on. Arthur Allen was helping harvest and his wife Ruth was helping me cook. Julius was always quite a tease, and this particular day, as they sat at the table, Dad tasted the coffee, which Ruth had made, then got up and set the cup on the chair. When she asked why, he said, " I've always said, If I could find anything weaker than me, it could have my chair".
We moved to Parker so the children could go to school. Pa had given us money to buy our house. It was a three room log house with a shanty to the side. There was a big orchard out back.
That spring, when Carrie was just 14 months old, she caught cold which turned to pneumonia. She passed away on March 8, 1913. We buried our beautiful golden haired angel in the Parker cemetery.
A month or so later we moved to Newdale and farmed for Gov. C.C. Moore for the summer. By this time I felt like we had moved so many times that every time we said "move" the chickens would Iay down and put their legs in the air so they could be tied ready to move.
Bill was born May 16, 1914 at the little log home in Parker. We lived there until the spring of 1915. One thing I will never forget is how sick Bill was when he was about 6 or 8 months old. He had pneumonia and no matter how I doctored him, he just seemed to get worse. It had been less than 2 years since we had lost Carrie, I was so worried and so afraid of losing the baby.
Dad never was one to go to church much, but he was firm believer in the Priesthood. He said, "Mother, I think it's time to call the Elders". When the Elders came, William Remington was the one who administered to Bill and gave him a blessing to get well.
It was time for another move. This time we went to Dubois and bought a dry farm. The 1st summer Julius went out and put a crop in and that fall built a house. In the spring we moved the family out there. We were there for 8 years. Bert, Jack and Ted were all born in Dubois.
During these years, all of the water that the family used and water for the livestock was hauled from the Kendrick ford, about 3 miles away. It had to be dipped from the creek into water tanks on the wagon, then hauled to a cistern, which was a hole in the ground with a cement edge around the top, there were 2 of these, one up by the house, which had a lid, the other one by the barn. The water tanks were emptied thru a hose into the cisterns.
It stayed cool down inside, and that was how we kept our milk, cheese and butter cool during the summer. It was a big job hauling the water to fill the tanks, so we were very careful with the water we used as they had to be filled once a week. In the winter. we melted snow for washing and bathing.
Many diseases, such as diphtheria, measles and the real bad flu all went thru the family during the 8 years in Dubois. It was 7 miles from the farm into town. Seldom ever did the family rely on a Doctor. If one ever came out , it was by buggy or sleigh. We had hard times on the dry farm, but we had some good times and fun too.
We had 160 acres of land, which was mostly planted into grain. Some of the years the wheat yield was so great that it wouldn't all fit into the granaries. Dad's brother Conrad had 160 acres which joined us, with no fences in between. They did their harvesting together.
The big combines took 22 head of horses to pull them. This took the work of Julius, Conrad and 2 other neighbors to accomplish this. Once the grain was put into sacks and piled in the field until they could haul it to town as there wasn't room to store it.
Of course there were years when things didn't go so well, like the time we planted potatoes. We harvested 30 acres of real nice potatoes but there wasn't any sale for them. Another year when we had a beautiful crop of wheat, the hail came and wiped out the entire field, every kernel. This was discouraging but we had to look forward to another year and hope for something better.
Each spring, after Julius would get our dry farm planted, he would go up to Jacoby's and irrigate hay for them for the summer months. They had dances at Jacoby's. All of the neighbors for miles around would come with their families. The younger children were put to sleep on the benches and the rest of us would dance for hours on end. Everyone took food for potluck dinners, and when we got tired we would stop to eat and rest, then dance again.
We always did things together as a family, Dad taught each of the girls to dance as soon as they were old enough and I taught the boys. In the summer we would take the families up in the forest pastures on Sundays.
There was a natural gully up there, which would fill up with snow in the winter. Dad and some of the other men would hall straw up there and cover the snow. It would keep most of the summer. We took our fishing poles and catch fish, then freeze a big can of ice cream.
This was done by putting the ice cream mixture in a milk can, set the can in a tub of ice-snow and 2 people getting ahold of the handles on the can and twisting it back and forth until the cream was frozen. How good that ice cream did taste! The fish were so big they would reach across my largest pan. The fish we didn't cook, I would take home and can for us in the winter when the creek was frozen over.
We always dressed the kids in their best clothes for the Sunday outings. Even though we couldn't go to church, Dad insisted that Sunday was the day for dressing up.
In the winter he made skis for all of the older children, he was a good skier and taught the kids. They could go flying over the tall jumps and seldom ever take a spill. The skis were made from barrel stays. He would heat them in hot water, then bend them in hot water, then bend the tips until they turned up just right. Later he would put straps on for their feet to fit in and wax them to a sheen.
Ceathel, Delva, Flossie, Alda and Bryant went to school at the Allen District School house. It was located between Camas Creek and Dubois . It was just a one room school with 1 teacher.
When Delva was 18 years old, we let her go to Lewiston, Utah to live. Ma had a stroke years before and was practically bedridden. Delva went to help her. While staying down there she met and married Lloyd Wheeler on 22 Mar 1922.
Ted was born that summer on 21 July 1922. That was the year that all of the banks went broke and later that year, due to hail and drouth, we had to admit defeat and give up our dry farm.
In Nov. of 1922 we moved the family into a home in St. Anthony where we lived that winter. Then on 17 Apr 1923 we moved up on the Snake River on the 0.0. Skalet Ranch. It seemed like the only entertainment was milking 50 - 60 cows by hand night and morning.
It was an exciting thing for the children's friends to come to the ranch for week-ends and seldom did a week go by that I didn't cook Sunday dinner for 25 - 30 people. There wasn't any electricity on the ranch and water had to be hauled from the river. We had an Aladdin lamp for the main lamp and used kerosene lamp sand lanterns for the bedrooms.
Everyone worked hard on the ranch. We had a huge garden with strawberries and raspberries to take care of. The soil was good so we could raise almost everything, even peanuts, cantaloupe and large watermelons.
Ceathel, Bryant, Bill and Jack helped their Dad in the fields, as did Flossie and Alda, especially when planting and harvesting was being done. The girls also helped me wash, cook, make butter and cheese and all the hundred and one things to be done on a ranch. We all helped with the milking.
On 1 July 1923, Julius started hauling milk to St. Anthony to the creamery. This was a 7 day job a week and went on for several years. He started out with a team and wagon and later bought a truck.
Those 1st years, the children and I moved to town in the winter when the snow got deep, so they could go to school. We lived in the old Maupin house. Alda and Flossie worked in the seed house. Ceathel stayed out to the ranch to help his Dad.
Flossie married Fred Singleton 15 Aug 1925 and our little daughter Blanch was born a couple of months later on 31 Oct 1925. It had been 13 years since we had a baby girl so she received lots of love and spoiling from us.
Then 2 1/2 years later on 3 Apr 1928, our last child was born, a little blonde haired boy we named Chester, and nick-named Chet. Being that Ceathel had married Pearl Durney back in 1923, this made the total of 3 married and 9 living at home.
On Easter Sunday, 4 Apr 1926, two months before Bryant would have been 17 years old, he was riding a horse and trying to break another one to lead, the accident happened. We will never know what really happened but all indications were that the colt pulled back, causing Bryant to be thrown off and either struck or kicked in the head, fracturing his skull.
The boys found him 2 hours after he left the house. We took him to the Hospital in Rexburg where they operated on him, but he passed away the next afternoon. We buried him in the Parker Cemetery on the 7 of April beside his little sister Carrie.
Eight years later, on 12 Apr 1934 our son Bert also passed away. He was just 4 months short of his 17th birthday. Bert was hauling beet pulp for Flossie and Fred for their cattle. There was a terrible snow storm and he evidently didn't see or hear a train coming, he drove his truck up onto the tracks and was struck by the on coming train. Bert is also buried with the other 2 children at Parker.
Alda and Cecil Dopp were married on the 3 May l932. Three years later Bill married Cecil's sister Verda the 20 May l935.
That next year we moved from the Skalet ranch and bought a farm across the River to the south end of Twin Groves. Across the road lived the family of Guy W. Hill, their family became our best friends and I did so enjoy Hazel Hill.
Ted, Blanch and Chet went to school at the 2 roomed Twin Groves school and later on to High School in St. Anthony. For the 1st time, the 3 of them were close enough to a Church where they could attend regularly.
All of the children have been blessed and baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was able to attend my Church meetings also, and was sustained as a Relief Society visiting teacher, taught in Primary and then became the 2nd Counselor in the Primary.
Julius was reared, taught and Baptized in the Mormon Religion, but was not an active church worker, however, in his association with nature he had an intelligent appreciation of the right way of life and of all that was good and fine. He has always met his fellow citizens on the square, is a good father and husband.
I recall his own version of his career, when he said he had been a "bad boy", that he had plugged watermelons, stole apples, and played hookey from school and other mischievous pranks- - - but that there were 3 things he never has done, which he is proud of. He has "never been untrue to my wife, never voted the Republican ticket, and never been in jail".
A rural Electric Co. was formed while we lived on the farm and we were finally blessed with the luxury of electric lights. I had my 1st electric iron and a motor was installed on my washing machine. Julius bought an electric milking machine which brought to an end all those years of milking the large dairy heard of thoroughbred Holstein cows. All in all I had life much easier on our 80 acre farm of irrigated land where we raised potatoes, grain and hay than at any other time during our married life, besides, our milk cows provided us with ready and regular cash income. Julius was one of the largest stock holders in the Co-op Creamery Co.
Jack and Belva Jeffs were married 3 Nov 1941. Later they were divorced and he married Laura VanDame.
In 1942 we sold our farm, bought a home in St. Anthony and moved to town. Retiring was a hard thing for Julius to do, so for many summers he would go out on the range and tend the sheep for Bill Engett. With his love of nature and the outdoors he enjoyed spending his summers this way and continued to do so until failing health caused him to give up.
The home was old that we bought and needed much repair, but we had a large lot and soon had the house fixed up, a nice yard and a big garden. The 1st few years we kept a cow and some chickens, but then the city planning stopped us from keeping them. We had a few raspberries and strawberries and with the garden produce I continued to can fruits and vegetables.
I went to work in the seed house during the winter months. It was only a couple of blocks from the house so it wasn't any problem getting to work.
Ruth and Arthur Allen lived just down the block from us and we worked together. We were always close sisters-in-law. I enjoyed the association with the women I worked with and also was able to buy the modern conveniences I hadn't ever had before, such as an electric refrigerator.
Blanch was married to S.E. (Curley) Angell, 26 Dec 1945 and the next year Ted and Helen Owens were married, 3 Sep 1946. Chet and Lois Bauer were married 18 June 1947. Ceathel and Pearl had divorced a few years ago and he and Elsie Lefferts were married 2 Mar 1960.
On October 17, 1952, I went to Idaho Falls for my Temple Endowments. This was a great joy to me. I have continued to work in the Church since we moved from the Twin Groves Ward to St. Anthony 2nd Ward.
From Apr 6, 1900 when Ceathel was born until 3 Apr 1928 when Chet came into the world, it made 28 years of having our 12 children. Each one of them has been a special blessing to me. There has been the pain and heartache of losing 3, along with the worry and frustrations of sickness, and the joy of accomplishments and fulfillment in the lives of our 9 living ones.
I am happy in the knowledge that each child is married to a very special mate, that they have given me grand-children, great grand-children and yes, great-great grand-children. My life has been blessed.
Written by Ada Glover Allen