HISTORY OF SINA MELINDA (WILCOX) TURNER
I, Sina Melinda Wilcox was born 8th March 1881 in Dingle, Bear Lake, Idaho. I was Nicknamed "Minnie" by my family.
I am the daughter of Samuel Allan Wilcox and Julia Laughlin. My parents had ten children.
The first thing I remember was traveling with father to Snake River from Bear Lake, to investigate the ranching land. He came home bringing men to help with the moving of the cattle. My brother's Adrian and Frank went with these men and the cattle. I was three years of age at this time and remember camping along the way as we moved. Also the wild berries were abundant and I enjoyed them immensely.
My folks moved from Dingle to the Snake River Valley when I was five years old.
When I was seven years old, I went to school in Brother Sam Week) s home, where he had one room put aside for the school, we sat on a bench made of split cottonwood logs with four pegs for legs. Also, two benches about 3x4 feet long. Each student had a slate and a pencil, but no books. Laura Weeks was our teacher and she used to read to us and then we were to
write the story on our slate. Then, in the afternoon she gave us numbers to add. I did not write very well until the next year. I practiced a lot at home so I could write better. I attended this school for two years and besides learning from the teacher, I played a lot of ball. My father had made the ball we used, it was covered with deer skin and we used a cottonwood limb for a bat.
I had three brothers and an older sister that would go down in the timberland with me, then my older brothers would climb the large trees and tie a rope high up in them, and then let it hang down, then they would swing each other from the rope.
In the fall when the snows came we spent many evenings sleigh riding. This was really fun for all. Then the crowd would gather to my home and have a hot lunch. This was a real pleasure. With Father being Bishop, he would open the church anytime and we could go in and dance, which we did several times a week, all winter. We had someone that would play the violin, and also the accordion.
My father owned sheep and my brothers were always away from home taking care of them.
I helped father work on the farm, raking and hauling hay and also helped with the milking. Often we milked 18 cows.
I used to ride on the bluff for the cows and horses. One day I went up to get a cow with a little calf. I ran into Charley Cook a cousin, and we were riding along and I heard a rattlesnake. Charley got off his horse and killed the snake, and I have never seen a larger rattlesnake. He helped me get the old cow cut out from the other cattle and I started for home. He went on hunting for his horses.
I had to go slow with the little calf, so it was very late when I neared home. I saw someone coming up the road along by Brother Young's place and it was mother. She was too worried to sleep and had come to meet me. I put her on my horse "Old Verve" and we went on home. It was midnight when we got home.
One fall when it was Conference in Rexburg, I stayed home to take care of the place, and the rest of the family went to Conference. Around four o'clock I got on the horse to go get the cows and as soon as I got close I could see some of the cows were bloated. I hurried them to the corral, and just got them in the corral when three of them fell down. I ran to the house and got a butcher knife and stuck the three that were down. I had seen my Father do that before.
When my folks came home, I told Father what had happened and he put his arm around me and said if I had not stayed home all three cows would have died.
I well remember the good butter mother made and how she gave so much away to the poor. My father also shared the meat he prepared each fall. This was for our winter use, but much went to the poor.
After Father threshed, he would fix up a grist to take to the mill in Rexburg, then get the flour and farina to give to the poor.
As I grew older, I was allowed to go with my father and other members of our family to the Church dances. Father always danced with his daughters, he wanted them to learn to be graceful. He served as Bishop for 21 years, 11 years in Bear Lake and 10 years in Lyman.
When I was 17, I married a handsome young man, James Frederick Turner. The wedding was 15th June 1898 in Lyman, Idaho. Our first home was on the ranch of my father, which James and my brother-in-law Fred Robinson, had rented. The day we were married there was a dance held in our honor.
My father had been to Canada in February of 1902. We had five feet of snow when he left Idaho and when he got to Canada the farmers were plowing, so Father thought it
was a wonderful country and bought 10 acres of land at Magrath. He came back to Idaho, sold out and persuaded Aunt Maud and Uncle Lawrence Squires to go too. Ada, Vera and Lorin were still unmarried and Frank was in the Southern States on a mission. Altogether there were 11 of us.
He was impressed with the land, so he came and sold his holdings, so he could move his family up to Canada.
Orrin and Ireta were born in Idaho. We left Idaho in April to make the trip. The train ride up there was cold, as the weather was a snow blizzard. We finally arrived in Stirling where we were made welcome in the home of Brother and Sister Selk. We were soon warm and comfortable. It was necessary for us to stay a day or two with these good people. I remember the bed James and I slept in the first night, broke, and we spent the rest of the night on the floor. Father and James went over to Raymond, which was a six-mile drive. My father bought an unfinished house for all of us. This was one long room with windows and doors, but no partitions. It was impossible to keep such a big room warm, so James put up a tent in the middle of the house, and inside he put a small stove. This was the only place where it was nice and warm. Ireta had been sick, having caught cold on the way to Canada. Sister Hannah Gibb came and took care of her and told me what to do. She had put flaxseed poultices on her for 24 hours before her cold broke.
It rained terribly for a while and the men had to go to Coutts to bring the cattle across the line. Mother and we girls took care of things here. Talk about homesick people. We surely were.
The fall of 1902 James bought a wagon with a water tank on it, as the town had piped water into one place in the town. He used his wagon to haul water to the people of the town, selling it for 25 cents a barrel. No matter how cold it was he whistled and sang as he went about his work and got the name of "Whistling Jim Turner." He did this work for three years. He then went into the meat business for himself. Opened this shop in 1905 and hired a German man by the name of George Spiedel to work for him. Eventually they became partners. This business venture proved to be a successful one.
In 1909, I, with my five children moved back to Lyman, Idaho, as James was called to fill a mission in England. Mr. Spiedel took over the butcher shop and was very faithful in making payments to us. Every month both James and I got our checks.
I moved back to Raymond in May 1911 as James was now to be released from his mission. I sold my furniture in Idaho for $20.00 and never did get paid for it.
When James returned home, he decided to build me a new home. This was made of brick and we were happy here for two years, then James sold his share in the butcher shop to Mr. Spiedel and went to work for John T. Henniger in Blairmore. We moved there in 1913. His work was butchering and delivering meat to the towns in the Crows Nest Pass area.
One experience I remember well, it happened about 3:00 a.m. one morning when something awakened Dad, and he jumped out of bed and went into the living room. There laid his pants, so he walked back into the bedroom and said, "Didn't I leave my pants in the bedroom?" I assured him he did and he then went back and brought them into the bedroom. He felt in them and noted his gold watch, his pocket knife and his wallet were gone. He then went for the police and they returned home with him, but
could not find any clue as to who had done this. They told us that it was a good thing that we did not waken as there are always two, and if you had moved, they would have
shot you down. James figured they got about $40.00 with his wallet, but it is a good thing they did not look in his coat, for he had $900.00 there.
In the fall of 1915 James and I went to San Francisco to the World's Fair. We stayed three days, but did not see it all. When Ada was six weeks old, we moved back to Raymond, having kept our home there. James rented a farm from the Knight Sugar Co., and our boys took on the job of breaking horses for this company. This was the fall of 1916.
Eventually we moved to the farm which was in the Mammoth District. We enjoyed going to church, and the many socials with our neighbors. Twice our group put on plays and had a very good time doing this. One of the plays we took to Raymond and put it on in the Opera House. The building was packed with people. Between acts James sang to the people, as he was a fine soloist and sang at just about every program he attended.
Many wild berries grew on the hills in the ridge and every fall we gathered many to preserve for winter. I always liked to pick berries and often took friends from Raymond
with me. On one trip Marvin and I were alone, and coming home in our buggy, the team got frightened and ran away. I was thrown from the buggy and knocked unconscious. Marvin finally got the ponies stopped and came back for me. A man in a wagon came by and he took me home. Then James took me into the doctor, who put stitches above my eye. Another time a group of ladies went with me and we stopped by a slough to water the team, suddenly we saw the wheels of the buggy and horses sinking in the mud. This surely scared us, and I quickly unhooked the horses and led them out. The buggy had not stuck in too much, so soon we were on our way again.
In 1925 father decided to move to Montana to a small town called Cascade. My two sisters' Maud and Vera lived there. At first we farmed there on rented land, but eventually bought a pretty place by the Missouri river. We enjoyed our life in Montana, the boys worked for different ranch people a good deal of the time. Most of our children got some schooling in this small town. Thirza went on to College in Bozeman, becoming a school teacher. She was the only one of our family to go to a University.
In December 1929 I went into the hospital and had an operation, so Ireta came and stayed with the family as father was on another short mission.
In 1930 father bought a Chevy car and then never learned to drive it. The boys did at first, but soon I decided to learn also. Several times in the winter we had holidays and I drove wherever we went, even as far as California. One funny thing that happened while we were alone in the car, we were on our way to Great Falls, I had some crates of eggs and also some milk and cream, which we sold to our friends there. This day we were well loaded up with such, and on the way in I lost control of the car and it tipped over. Here we were with eggs and cream all over us and the car. A police man came by and helped us and then wondered if I could drive on in. We cleaned off the best we could, and I wondered about driving again. I bravely got in and continued on my way, arriving safely at my destination. I continued driving and did not have trouble again.
Thirza made her home in California and encouraged father and I to come down where it was warm and spend our winters. So in 1945 we decided to move down there, we rented the farm and drove down to her home. Then we rented an apartment for the first year. We did enjoy this and father walked many miles every day.
The next summer we visited Montana and saw that our place was not being kept up properly and so considered selling it. This was in 1948.
The rest of our life was spent in California except for the summer I visited in Canada and in Montana. Father took ill in 1950 and never did fully recover. He suffered with cancer and passed away in 1953. I could not live alone so I bought a trailer house and moved it onto
Thirza's lot. To help me pass the time away I got a typewriter and taught myself to type, of course there were lots of mistakes, but I liked to do this.
Each summer I spent much time in Canada at the home of my son Orrin, then spent the early fall in Montana at Ada's home. I thoroughly enjoyed my summers in Canada, visiting friends I had known years before this, and Anne entertained for me a couple of times. This was a great pleasure for me.
I had the misfortune to break my hip while visiting my sister Vera Nelson in Great Falls
in August 1963. It took me a long time to get over this. During my illness Ada and George were very kind to me and when I returned to California, George went on the plane with me. I was quite well for some time after this illness, but finally another came and took me again. After being very ill for two months, Sina Melinda (Wilcox) Turner died 23 February 1968.
She was buried beside her loving husband, James Frederick Turner in Los Angeles.
I, Sina Melinda Wilcox was born 8th March 1881 in Dingle, Bear Lake, Idaho. I was Nicknamed "Minnie" by my family.
I am the daughter of Samuel Allan Wilcox and Julia Laughlin. My parents had ten children.
The first thing I remember was traveling with father to Snake River from Bear Lake, to investigate the ranching land. He came home bringing men to help with the moving of the cattle. My brother's Adrian and Frank went with these men and the cattle. I was three years of age at this time and remember camping along the way as we moved. Also the wild berries were abundant and I enjoyed them immensely.
My folks moved from Dingle to the Snake River Valley when I was five years old.
When I was seven years old, I went to school in Brother Sam Week) s home, where he had one room put aside for the school, we sat on a bench made of split cottonwood logs with four pegs for legs. Also, two benches about 3x4 feet long. Each student had a slate and a pencil, but no books. Laura Weeks was our teacher and she used to read to us and then we were to
write the story on our slate. Then, in the afternoon she gave us numbers to add. I did not write very well until the next year. I practiced a lot at home so I could write better. I attended this school for two years and besides learning from the teacher, I played a lot of ball. My father had made the ball we used, it was covered with deer skin and we used a cottonwood limb for a bat.
I had three brothers and an older sister that would go down in the timberland with me, then my older brothers would climb the large trees and tie a rope high up in them, and then let it hang down, then they would swing each other from the rope.
In the fall when the snows came we spent many evenings sleigh riding. This was really fun for all. Then the crowd would gather to my home and have a hot lunch. This was a real pleasure. With Father being Bishop, he would open the church anytime and we could go in and dance, which we did several times a week, all winter. We had someone that would play the violin, and also the accordion.
My father owned sheep and my brothers were always away from home taking care of them.
I helped father work on the farm, raking and hauling hay and also helped with the milking. Often we milked 18 cows.
I used to ride on the bluff for the cows and horses. One day I went up to get a cow with a little calf. I ran into Charley Cook a cousin, and we were riding along and I heard a rattlesnake. Charley got off his horse and killed the snake, and I have never seen a larger rattlesnake. He helped me get the old cow cut out from the other cattle and I started for home. He went on hunting for his horses.
I had to go slow with the little calf, so it was very late when I neared home. I saw someone coming up the road along by Brother Young's place and it was mother. She was too worried to sleep and had come to meet me. I put her on my horse "Old Verve" and we went on home. It was midnight when we got home.
One fall when it was Conference in Rexburg, I stayed home to take care of the place, and the rest of the family went to Conference. Around four o'clock I got on the horse to go get the cows and as soon as I got close I could see some of the cows were bloated. I hurried them to the corral, and just got them in the corral when three of them fell down. I ran to the house and got a butcher knife and stuck the three that were down. I had seen my Father do that before.
When my folks came home, I told Father what had happened and he put his arm around me and said if I had not stayed home all three cows would have died.
I well remember the good butter mother made and how she gave so much away to the poor. My father also shared the meat he prepared each fall. This was for our winter use, but much went to the poor.
After Father threshed, he would fix up a grist to take to the mill in Rexburg, then get the flour and farina to give to the poor.
As I grew older, I was allowed to go with my father and other members of our family to the Church dances. Father always danced with his daughters, he wanted them to learn to be graceful. He served as Bishop for 21 years, 11 years in Bear Lake and 10 years in Lyman.
When I was 17, I married a handsome young man, James Frederick Turner. The wedding was 15th June 1898 in Lyman, Idaho. Our first home was on the ranch of my father, which James and my brother-in-law Fred Robinson, had rented. The day we were married there was a dance held in our honor.
My father had been to Canada in February of 1902. We had five feet of snow when he left Idaho and when he got to Canada the farmers were plowing, so Father thought it
was a wonderful country and bought 10 acres of land at Magrath. He came back to Idaho, sold out and persuaded Aunt Maud and Uncle Lawrence Squires to go too. Ada, Vera and Lorin were still unmarried and Frank was in the Southern States on a mission. Altogether there were 11 of us.
He was impressed with the land, so he came and sold his holdings, so he could move his family up to Canada.
Orrin and Ireta were born in Idaho. We left Idaho in April to make the trip. The train ride up there was cold, as the weather was a snow blizzard. We finally arrived in Stirling where we were made welcome in the home of Brother and Sister Selk. We were soon warm and comfortable. It was necessary for us to stay a day or two with these good people. I remember the bed James and I slept in the first night, broke, and we spent the rest of the night on the floor. Father and James went over to Raymond, which was a six-mile drive. My father bought an unfinished house for all of us. This was one long room with windows and doors, but no partitions. It was impossible to keep such a big room warm, so James put up a tent in the middle of the house, and inside he put a small stove. This was the only place where it was nice and warm. Ireta had been sick, having caught cold on the way to Canada. Sister Hannah Gibb came and took care of her and told me what to do. She had put flaxseed poultices on her for 24 hours before her cold broke.
It rained terribly for a while and the men had to go to Coutts to bring the cattle across the line. Mother and we girls took care of things here. Talk about homesick people. We surely were.
The fall of 1902 James bought a wagon with a water tank on it, as the town had piped water into one place in the town. He used his wagon to haul water to the people of the town, selling it for 25 cents a barrel. No matter how cold it was he whistled and sang as he went about his work and got the name of "Whistling Jim Turner." He did this work for three years. He then went into the meat business for himself. Opened this shop in 1905 and hired a German man by the name of George Spiedel to work for him. Eventually they became partners. This business venture proved to be a successful one.
In 1909, I, with my five children moved back to Lyman, Idaho, as James was called to fill a mission in England. Mr. Spiedel took over the butcher shop and was very faithful in making payments to us. Every month both James and I got our checks.
I moved back to Raymond in May 1911 as James was now to be released from his mission. I sold my furniture in Idaho for $20.00 and never did get paid for it.
When James returned home, he decided to build me a new home. This was made of brick and we were happy here for two years, then James sold his share in the butcher shop to Mr. Spiedel and went to work for John T. Henniger in Blairmore. We moved there in 1913. His work was butchering and delivering meat to the towns in the Crows Nest Pass area.
One experience I remember well, it happened about 3:00 a.m. one morning when something awakened Dad, and he jumped out of bed and went into the living room. There laid his pants, so he walked back into the bedroom and said, "Didn't I leave my pants in the bedroom?" I assured him he did and he then went back and brought them into the bedroom. He felt in them and noted his gold watch, his pocket knife and his wallet were gone. He then went for the police and they returned home with him, but
could not find any clue as to who had done this. They told us that it was a good thing that we did not waken as there are always two, and if you had moved, they would have
shot you down. James figured they got about $40.00 with his wallet, but it is a good thing they did not look in his coat, for he had $900.00 there.
In the fall of 1915 James and I went to San Francisco to the World's Fair. We stayed three days, but did not see it all. When Ada was six weeks old, we moved back to Raymond, having kept our home there. James rented a farm from the Knight Sugar Co., and our boys took on the job of breaking horses for this company. This was the fall of 1916.
Eventually we moved to the farm which was in the Mammoth District. We enjoyed going to church, and the many socials with our neighbors. Twice our group put on plays and had a very good time doing this. One of the plays we took to Raymond and put it on in the Opera House. The building was packed with people. Between acts James sang to the people, as he was a fine soloist and sang at just about every program he attended.
Many wild berries grew on the hills in the ridge and every fall we gathered many to preserve for winter. I always liked to pick berries and often took friends from Raymond
with me. On one trip Marvin and I were alone, and coming home in our buggy, the team got frightened and ran away. I was thrown from the buggy and knocked unconscious. Marvin finally got the ponies stopped and came back for me. A man in a wagon came by and he took me home. Then James took me into the doctor, who put stitches above my eye. Another time a group of ladies went with me and we stopped by a slough to water the team, suddenly we saw the wheels of the buggy and horses sinking in the mud. This surely scared us, and I quickly unhooked the horses and led them out. The buggy had not stuck in too much, so soon we were on our way again.
In 1925 father decided to move to Montana to a small town called Cascade. My two sisters' Maud and Vera lived there. At first we farmed there on rented land, but eventually bought a pretty place by the Missouri river. We enjoyed our life in Montana, the boys worked for different ranch people a good deal of the time. Most of our children got some schooling in this small town. Thirza went on to College in Bozeman, becoming a school teacher. She was the only one of our family to go to a University.
In December 1929 I went into the hospital and had an operation, so Ireta came and stayed with the family as father was on another short mission.
In 1930 father bought a Chevy car and then never learned to drive it. The boys did at first, but soon I decided to learn also. Several times in the winter we had holidays and I drove wherever we went, even as far as California. One funny thing that happened while we were alone in the car, we were on our way to Great Falls, I had some crates of eggs and also some milk and cream, which we sold to our friends there. This day we were well loaded up with such, and on the way in I lost control of the car and it tipped over. Here we were with eggs and cream all over us and the car. A police man came by and helped us and then wondered if I could drive on in. We cleaned off the best we could, and I wondered about driving again. I bravely got in and continued on my way, arriving safely at my destination. I continued driving and did not have trouble again.
Thirza made her home in California and encouraged father and I to come down where it was warm and spend our winters. So in 1945 we decided to move down there, we rented the farm and drove down to her home. Then we rented an apartment for the first year. We did enjoy this and father walked many miles every day.
The next summer we visited Montana and saw that our place was not being kept up properly and so considered selling it. This was in 1948.
The rest of our life was spent in California except for the summer I visited in Canada and in Montana. Father took ill in 1950 and never did fully recover. He suffered with cancer and passed away in 1953. I could not live alone so I bought a trailer house and moved it onto
Thirza's lot. To help me pass the time away I got a typewriter and taught myself to type, of course there were lots of mistakes, but I liked to do this.
Each summer I spent much time in Canada at the home of my son Orrin, then spent the early fall in Montana at Ada's home. I thoroughly enjoyed my summers in Canada, visiting friends I had known years before this, and Anne entertained for me a couple of times. This was a great pleasure for me.
I had the misfortune to break my hip while visiting my sister Vera Nelson in Great Falls
in August 1963. It took me a long time to get over this. During my illness Ada and George were very kind to me and when I returned to California, George went on the plane with me. I was quite well for some time after this illness, but finally another came and took me again. After being very ill for two months, Sina Melinda (Wilcox) Turner died 23 February 1968.
She was buried beside her loving husband, James Frederick Turner in Los Angeles.
HISTORY OF SINA MELINDA (WILCOX) TURNER
I, Sina Melinda Wilcox was born 8th March 1881 in Dingle, Bear Lake, Idaho. I was Nicknamed "Minnie" by my family.
I am the daughter of Samuel Allan Wilcox and Julia Laughlin. My parents had ten children.
The first thing I remember was traveling with father to Snake River from Bear Lake, to investigate the ranching land. He came home bringing men to help with the moving of the cattle. My brother's Adrian and Frank went with these men and the cattle. I was three years of age at this time and remember camping along the way as we moved. Also the wild berries were abundant and I enjoyed them immensely.
My folks moved from Dingle to the Snake River Valley when I was five years old.
When I was seven years old, I went to school in Brother Sam Week) s home, where he had one room put aside for the school, we sat on a bench made of split cottonwood logs with four pegs for legs. Also, two benches about 3x4 feet long. Each student had a slate and a pencil, but no books. Laura Weeks was our teacher and she used to read to us and then we were to
write the story on our slate. Then, in the afternoon she gave us numbers to add. I did not write very well until the next year. I practiced a lot at home so I could write better. I attended this school for two years and besides learning from the teacher, I played a lot of ball. My father had made the ball we used, it was covered with deer skin and we used a cottonwood limb for a bat.
I had three brothers and an older sister that would go down in the timberland with me, then my older brothers would climb the large trees and tie a rope high up in them, and then let it hang down, then they would swing each other from the rope.
In the fall when the snows came we spent many evenings sleigh riding. This was really fun for all. Then the crowd would gather to my home and have a hot lunch. This was a real pleasure. With Father being Bishop, he would open the church anytime and we could go in and dance, which we did several times a week, all winter. We had someone that would play the violin, and also the accordion.
My father owned sheep and my brothers were always away from home taking care of them.
I helped father work on the farm, raking and hauling hay and also helped with the milking. Often we milked 18 cows.
I used to ride on the bluff for the cows and horses. One day I went up to get a cow with a little calf. I ran into Charley Cook a cousin, and we were riding along and I heard a rattlesnake. Charley got off his horse and killed the snake, and I have never seen a larger rattlesnake. He helped me get the old cow cut out from the other cattle and I started for home. He went on hunting for his horses.
I had to go slow with the little calf, so it was very late when I neared home. I saw someone coming up the road along by Brother Young's place and it was mother. She was too worried to sleep and had come to meet me. I put her on my horse "Old Verve" and we went on home. It was midnight when we got home.
One fall when it was Conference in Rexburg, I stayed home to take care of the place, and the rest of the family went to Conference. Around four o'clock I got on the horse to go get the cows and as soon as I got close I could see some of the cows were bloated. I hurried them to the corral, and just got them in the corral when three of them fell down. I ran to the house and got a butcher knife and stuck the three that were down. I had seen my Father do that before.
When my folks came home, I told Father what had happened and he put his arm around me and said if I had not stayed home all three cows would have died.
I well remember the good butter mother made and how she gave so much away to the poor. My father also shared the meat he prepared each fall. This was for our winter use, but much went to the poor.
After Father threshed, he would fix up a grist to take to the mill in Rexburg, then get the flour and farina to give to the poor.
As I grew older, I was allowed to go with my father and other members of our family to the Church dances. Father always danced with his daughters, he wanted them to learn to be graceful. He served as Bishop for 21 years, 11 years in Bear Lake and 10 years in Lyman.
When I was 17, I married a handsome young man, James Frederick Turner. The wedding was 15th June 1898 in Lyman, Idaho. Our first home was on the ranch of my father, which James and my brother-in-law Fred Robinson, had rented. The day we were married there was a dance held in our honor.
My father had been to Canada in February of 1902. We had five feet of snow when he left Idaho and when he got to Canada the farmers were plowing, so Father thought it
was a wonderful country and bought 10 acres of land at Magrath. He came back to Idaho, sold out and persuaded Aunt Maud and Uncle Lawrence Squires to go too. Ada, Vera and Lorin were still unmarried and Frank was in the Southern States on a mission. Altogether there were 11 of us.
He was impressed with the land, so he came and sold his holdings, so he could move his family up to Canada.
Orrin and Ireta were born in Idaho. We left Idaho in April to make the trip. The train ride up there was cold, as the weather was a snow blizzard. We finally arrived in Stirling where we were made welcome in the home of Brother and Sister Selk. We were soon warm and comfortable. It was necessary for us to stay a day or two with these good people. I remember the bed James and I slept in the first night, broke, and we spent the rest of the night on the floor. Father and James went over to Raymond, which was a six-mile drive. My father bought an unfinished house for all of us. This was one long room with windows and doors, but no partitions. It was impossible to keep such a big room warm, so James put up a tent in the middle of the house, and inside he put a small stove. This was the only place where it was nice and warm. Ireta had been sick, having caught cold on the way to Canada. Sister Hannah Gibb came and took care of her and told me what to do. She had put flaxseed poultices on her for 24 hours before her cold broke.
It rained terribly for a while and the men had to go to Coutts to bring the cattle across the line. Mother and we girls took care of things here. Talk about homesick people. We surely were.
The fall of 1902 James bought a wagon with a water tank on it, as the town had piped water into one place in the town. He used his wagon to haul water to the people of the town, selling it for 25 cents a barrel. No matter how cold it was he whistled and sang as he went about his work and got the name of "Whistling Jim Turner." He did this work for three years. He then went into the meat business for himself. Opened this shop in 1905 and hired a German man by the name of George Spiedel to work for him. Eventually they became partners. This business venture proved to be a successful one.
In 1909, I, with my five children moved back to Lyman, Idaho, as James was called to fill a mission in England. Mr. Spiedel took over the butcher shop and was very faithful in making payments to us. Every month both James and I got our checks.
I moved back to Raymond in May 1911 as James was now to be released from his mission. I sold my furniture in Idaho for $20.00 and never did get paid for it.
When James returned home, he decided to build me a new home. This was made of brick and we were happy here for two years, then James sold his share in the butcher shop to Mr. Spiedel and went to work for John T. Henniger in Blairmore. We moved there in 1913. His work was butchering and delivering meat to the towns in the Crows Nest Pass area.
One experience I remember well, it happened about 3:00 a.m. one morning when something awakened Dad, and he jumped out of bed and went into the living room. There laid his pants, so he walked back into the bedroom and said, "Didn't I leave my pants in the bedroom?" I assured him he did and he then went back and brought them into the bedroom. He felt in them and noted his gold watch, his pocket knife and his wallet were gone. He then went for the police and they returned home with him, but
could not find any clue as to who had done this. They told us that it was a good thing that we did not waken as there are always two, and if you had moved, they would have
shot you down. James figured they got about $40.00 with his wallet, but it is a good thing they did not look in his coat, for he had $900.00 there.
In the fall of 1915 James and I went to San Francisco to the World's Fair. We stayed three days, but did not see it all. When Ada was six weeks old, we moved back to Raymond, having kept our home there. James rented a farm from the Knight Sugar Co., and our boys took on the job of breaking horses for this company. This was the fall of 1916.
Eventually we moved to the farm which was in the Mammoth District. We enjoyed going to church, and the many socials with our neighbors. Twice our group put on plays and had a very good time doing this. One of the plays we took to Raymond and put it on in the Opera House. The building was packed with people. Between acts James sang to the people, as he was a fine soloist and sang at just about every program he attended.
Many wild berries grew on the hills in the ridge and every fall we gathered many to preserve for winter. I always liked to pick berries and often took friends from Raymond
with me. On one trip Marvin and I were alone, and coming home in our buggy, the team got frightened and ran away. I was thrown from the buggy and knocked unconscious. Marvin finally got the ponies stopped and came back for me. A man in a wagon came by and he took me home. Then James took me into the doctor, who put stitches above my eye. Another time a group of ladies went with me and we stopped by a slough to water the team, suddenly we saw the wheels of the buggy and horses sinking in the mud. This surely scared us, and I quickly unhooked the horses and led them out. The buggy had not stuck in too much, so soon we were on our way again.
In 1925 father decided to move to Montana to a small town called Cascade. My two sisters' Maud and Vera lived there. At first we farmed there on rented land, but eventually bought a pretty place by the Missouri river. We enjoyed our life in Montana, the boys worked for different ranch people a good deal of the time. Most of our children got some schooling in this small town. Thirza went on to College in Bozeman, becoming a school teacher. She was the only one of our family to go to a University.
In December 1929 I went into the hospital and had an operation, so Ireta came and stayed with the family as father was on another short mission.
In 1930 father bought a Chevy car and then never learned to drive it. The boys did at first, but soon I decided to learn also. Several times in the winter we had holidays and I drove wherever we went, even as far as California. One funny thing that happened while we were alone in the car, we were on our way to Great Falls, I had some crates of eggs and also some milk and cream, which we sold to our friends there. This day we were well loaded up with such, and on the way in I lost control of the car and it tipped over. Here we were with eggs and cream all over us and the car. A police man came by and helped us and then wondered if I could drive on in. We cleaned off the best we could, and I wondered about driving again. I bravely got in and continued on my way, arriving safely at my destination. I continued driving and did not have trouble again.
Thirza made her home in California and encouraged father and I to come down where it was warm and spend our winters. So in 1945 we decided to move down there, we rented the farm and drove down to her home. Then we rented an apartment for the first year. We did enjoy this and father walked many miles every day.
The next summer we visited Montana and saw that our place was not being kept up properly and so considered selling it. This was in 1948.
The rest of our life was spent in California except for the summer I visited in Canada and in Montana. Father took ill in 1950 and never did fully recover. He suffered with cancer and passed away in 1953. I could not live alone so I bought a trailer house and moved it onto
Thirza's lot. To help me pass the time away I got a typewriter and taught myself to type, of course there were lots of mistakes, but I liked to do this.
Each summer I spent much time in Canada at the home of my son Orrin, then spent the early fall in Montana at Ada's home. I thoroughly enjoyed my summers in Canada, visiting friends I had known years before this, and Anne entertained for me a couple of times. This was a great pleasure for me.
I had the misfortune to break my hip while visiting my sister Vera Nelson in Great Falls
in August 1963. It took me a long time to get over this. During my illness Ada and George were very kind to me and when I returned to California, George went on the plane with me. I was quite well for some time after this illness, but finally another came and took me again. After being very ill for two months, Sina Melinda (Wilcox) Turner died 23 February 1968.
She was buried beside her loving husband, James Frederick Turner in Los Angeles.
I, Sina Melinda Wilcox was born 8th March 1881 in Dingle, Bear Lake, Idaho. I was Nicknamed "Minnie" by my family.
I am the daughter of Samuel Allan Wilcox and Julia Laughlin. My parents had ten children.
The first thing I remember was traveling with father to Snake River from Bear Lake, to investigate the ranching land. He came home bringing men to help with the moving of the cattle. My brother's Adrian and Frank went with these men and the cattle. I was three years of age at this time and remember camping along the way as we moved. Also the wild berries were abundant and I enjoyed them immensely.
My folks moved from Dingle to the Snake River Valley when I was five years old.
When I was seven years old, I went to school in Brother Sam Week) s home, where he had one room put aside for the school, we sat on a bench made of split cottonwood logs with four pegs for legs. Also, two benches about 3x4 feet long. Each student had a slate and a pencil, but no books. Laura Weeks was our teacher and she used to read to us and then we were to
write the story on our slate. Then, in the afternoon she gave us numbers to add. I did not write very well until the next year. I practiced a lot at home so I could write better. I attended this school for two years and besides learning from the teacher, I played a lot of ball. My father had made the ball we used, it was covered with deer skin and we used a cottonwood limb for a bat.
I had three brothers and an older sister that would go down in the timberland with me, then my older brothers would climb the large trees and tie a rope high up in them, and then let it hang down, then they would swing each other from the rope.
In the fall when the snows came we spent many evenings sleigh riding. This was really fun for all. Then the crowd would gather to my home and have a hot lunch. This was a real pleasure. With Father being Bishop, he would open the church anytime and we could go in and dance, which we did several times a week, all winter. We had someone that would play the violin, and also the accordion.
My father owned sheep and my brothers were always away from home taking care of them.
I helped father work on the farm, raking and hauling hay and also helped with the milking. Often we milked 18 cows.
I used to ride on the bluff for the cows and horses. One day I went up to get a cow with a little calf. I ran into Charley Cook a cousin, and we were riding along and I heard a rattlesnake. Charley got off his horse and killed the snake, and I have never seen a larger rattlesnake. He helped me get the old cow cut out from the other cattle and I started for home. He went on hunting for his horses.
I had to go slow with the little calf, so it was very late when I neared home. I saw someone coming up the road along by Brother Young's place and it was mother. She was too worried to sleep and had come to meet me. I put her on my horse "Old Verve" and we went on home. It was midnight when we got home.
One fall when it was Conference in Rexburg, I stayed home to take care of the place, and the rest of the family went to Conference. Around four o'clock I got on the horse to go get the cows and as soon as I got close I could see some of the cows were bloated. I hurried them to the corral, and just got them in the corral when three of them fell down. I ran to the house and got a butcher knife and stuck the three that were down. I had seen my Father do that before.
When my folks came home, I told Father what had happened and he put his arm around me and said if I had not stayed home all three cows would have died.
I well remember the good butter mother made and how she gave so much away to the poor. My father also shared the meat he prepared each fall. This was for our winter use, but much went to the poor.
After Father threshed, he would fix up a grist to take to the mill in Rexburg, then get the flour and farina to give to the poor.
As I grew older, I was allowed to go with my father and other members of our family to the Church dances. Father always danced with his daughters, he wanted them to learn to be graceful. He served as Bishop for 21 years, 11 years in Bear Lake and 10 years in Lyman.
When I was 17, I married a handsome young man, James Frederick Turner. The wedding was 15th June 1898 in Lyman, Idaho. Our first home was on the ranch of my father, which James and my brother-in-law Fred Robinson, had rented. The day we were married there was a dance held in our honor.
My father had been to Canada in February of 1902. We had five feet of snow when he left Idaho and when he got to Canada the farmers were plowing, so Father thought it
was a wonderful country and bought 10 acres of land at Magrath. He came back to Idaho, sold out and persuaded Aunt Maud and Uncle Lawrence Squires to go too. Ada, Vera and Lorin were still unmarried and Frank was in the Southern States on a mission. Altogether there were 11 of us.
He was impressed with the land, so he came and sold his holdings, so he could move his family up to Canada.
Orrin and Ireta were born in Idaho. We left Idaho in April to make the trip. The train ride up there was cold, as the weather was a snow blizzard. We finally arrived in Stirling where we were made welcome in the home of Brother and Sister Selk. We were soon warm and comfortable. It was necessary for us to stay a day or two with these good people. I remember the bed James and I slept in the first night, broke, and we spent the rest of the night on the floor. Father and James went over to Raymond, which was a six-mile drive. My father bought an unfinished house for all of us. This was one long room with windows and doors, but no partitions. It was impossible to keep such a big room warm, so James put up a tent in the middle of the house, and inside he put a small stove. This was the only place where it was nice and warm. Ireta had been sick, having caught cold on the way to Canada. Sister Hannah Gibb came and took care of her and told me what to do. She had put flaxseed poultices on her for 24 hours before her cold broke.
It rained terribly for a while and the men had to go to Coutts to bring the cattle across the line. Mother and we girls took care of things here. Talk about homesick people. We surely were.
The fall of 1902 James bought a wagon with a water tank on it, as the town had piped water into one place in the town. He used his wagon to haul water to the people of the town, selling it for 25 cents a barrel. No matter how cold it was he whistled and sang as he went about his work and got the name of "Whistling Jim Turner." He did this work for three years. He then went into the meat business for himself. Opened this shop in 1905 and hired a German man by the name of George Spiedel to work for him. Eventually they became partners. This business venture proved to be a successful one.
In 1909, I, with my five children moved back to Lyman, Idaho, as James was called to fill a mission in England. Mr. Spiedel took over the butcher shop and was very faithful in making payments to us. Every month both James and I got our checks.
I moved back to Raymond in May 1911 as James was now to be released from his mission. I sold my furniture in Idaho for $20.00 and never did get paid for it.
When James returned home, he decided to build me a new home. This was made of brick and we were happy here for two years, then James sold his share in the butcher shop to Mr. Spiedel and went to work for John T. Henniger in Blairmore. We moved there in 1913. His work was butchering and delivering meat to the towns in the Crows Nest Pass area.
One experience I remember well, it happened about 3:00 a.m. one morning when something awakened Dad, and he jumped out of bed and went into the living room. There laid his pants, so he walked back into the bedroom and said, "Didn't I leave my pants in the bedroom?" I assured him he did and he then went back and brought them into the bedroom. He felt in them and noted his gold watch, his pocket knife and his wallet were gone. He then went for the police and they returned home with him, but
could not find any clue as to who had done this. They told us that it was a good thing that we did not waken as there are always two, and if you had moved, they would have
shot you down. James figured they got about $40.00 with his wallet, but it is a good thing they did not look in his coat, for he had $900.00 there.
In the fall of 1915 James and I went to San Francisco to the World's Fair. We stayed three days, but did not see it all. When Ada was six weeks old, we moved back to Raymond, having kept our home there. James rented a farm from the Knight Sugar Co., and our boys took on the job of breaking horses for this company. This was the fall of 1916.
Eventually we moved to the farm which was in the Mammoth District. We enjoyed going to church, and the many socials with our neighbors. Twice our group put on plays and had a very good time doing this. One of the plays we took to Raymond and put it on in the Opera House. The building was packed with people. Between acts James sang to the people, as he was a fine soloist and sang at just about every program he attended.
Many wild berries grew on the hills in the ridge and every fall we gathered many to preserve for winter. I always liked to pick berries and often took friends from Raymond
with me. On one trip Marvin and I were alone, and coming home in our buggy, the team got frightened and ran away. I was thrown from the buggy and knocked unconscious. Marvin finally got the ponies stopped and came back for me. A man in a wagon came by and he took me home. Then James took me into the doctor, who put stitches above my eye. Another time a group of ladies went with me and we stopped by a slough to water the team, suddenly we saw the wheels of the buggy and horses sinking in the mud. This surely scared us, and I quickly unhooked the horses and led them out. The buggy had not stuck in too much, so soon we were on our way again.
In 1925 father decided to move to Montana to a small town called Cascade. My two sisters' Maud and Vera lived there. At first we farmed there on rented land, but eventually bought a pretty place by the Missouri river. We enjoyed our life in Montana, the boys worked for different ranch people a good deal of the time. Most of our children got some schooling in this small town. Thirza went on to College in Bozeman, becoming a school teacher. She was the only one of our family to go to a University.
In December 1929 I went into the hospital and had an operation, so Ireta came and stayed with the family as father was on another short mission.
In 1930 father bought a Chevy car and then never learned to drive it. The boys did at first, but soon I decided to learn also. Several times in the winter we had holidays and I drove wherever we went, even as far as California. One funny thing that happened while we were alone in the car, we were on our way to Great Falls, I had some crates of eggs and also some milk and cream, which we sold to our friends there. This day we were well loaded up with such, and on the way in I lost control of the car and it tipped over. Here we were with eggs and cream all over us and the car. A police man came by and helped us and then wondered if I could drive on in. We cleaned off the best we could, and I wondered about driving again. I bravely got in and continued on my way, arriving safely at my destination. I continued driving and did not have trouble again.
Thirza made her home in California and encouraged father and I to come down where it was warm and spend our winters. So in 1945 we decided to move down there, we rented the farm and drove down to her home. Then we rented an apartment for the first year. We did enjoy this and father walked many miles every day.
The next summer we visited Montana and saw that our place was not being kept up properly and so considered selling it. This was in 1948.
The rest of our life was spent in California except for the summer I visited in Canada and in Montana. Father took ill in 1950 and never did fully recover. He suffered with cancer and passed away in 1953. I could not live alone so I bought a trailer house and moved it onto
Thirza's lot. To help me pass the time away I got a typewriter and taught myself to type, of course there were lots of mistakes, but I liked to do this.
Each summer I spent much time in Canada at the home of my son Orrin, then spent the early fall in Montana at Ada's home. I thoroughly enjoyed my summers in Canada, visiting friends I had known years before this, and Anne entertained for me a couple of times. This was a great pleasure for me.
I had the misfortune to break my hip while visiting my sister Vera Nelson in Great Falls
in August 1963. It took me a long time to get over this. During my illness Ada and George were very kind to me and when I returned to California, George went on the plane with me. I was quite well for some time after this illness, but finally another came and took me again. After being very ill for two months, Sina Melinda (Wilcox) Turner died 23 February 1968.
She was buried beside her loving husband, James Frederick Turner in Los Angeles.
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