Marshall &Kay Family  Histories

William Elias Marshall

Also Known as Gramps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

click on picture to see W. E. Marshall's Family Photo's

 

This is an autobiography written in W.E.Marshall's(Gramps) own handwriting. This was among some of his wife's (Irene Jones Marshsall) special papers. Mom (Yvonne Kay Marshall) kept a copy that she retyped this from. Gramps didn't use periods very much or capitalize at the beginning of sentences, so mom and I (her daughter) realized we needed to include some punctuations in order to make it easier to read. However we did not want to correct the spelling in order to keep it coming as much from Gramps as possible, as he would be talking. 

 

 

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William Elias MARSHALL

Photo Album

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Elias Marshsall, better known as Willie, Will, or Bill Son of John W. & Martha E. Marshall. Born July 3, 1904 Huntington Utah. The first things I rember is when I was about 4 years old. My father had a very good team of black horses called Dave & Nig with whitch he hawled freight from Price to Huntington. Every morning when father would go to the barn to get the horses I always went with him, he would put me on one of the horses. I would ride to the wagon shed where he would harness the horses and hitch them to the wagon. The trip to Price would take 2 days.

 

Spring in 1908 father rented a farm from Bro.Otterstrom until the fall 1908. Father sold that Beutiful team of horses, I remember crying when the horses were sold. I ran over to the one horse and put my arms around his front leg, and told the man that had bought them he could not have them. Of course that did no good, I was crying so hard I didn’t hear what he said, my father came and pried me loose. When the man went out of the gate I was still crying, but to no avail.We then moved to Mohrland where father went to work in the coal mines. We lived in a boarded up tent that is a frame made of lumber large enough for two tents. The tents was then put over the frame - duble tent on each frame. That winter the snow was about 4 feet deep. We had a cook stove in the center of the tents, we kept a fire going all winter, we always had to replenish the fire about 2:00 AM each night to keep it going, we lived here until spring 1910.

 

That summer father bought 2 ½ acers of land in Huntington,Ut from Grandpa Cox and built a house. They rented the tent for the summer and moved back to Mohrland in the fall. They rented the new house for the winter and they had a house to live in that fall and winter. I stayed with grandpa Cox in Huntington and went to school (1911) there was no school in Mohrland. 1912 father started the paper work for Homesteding 80 acres of land in Huntington Canyon.They moved from Mohrland Back to Huntington. We lived in and finished the house (added upstairs) we had built the year before.

 

My grandfather Cox passed away 21 Nov 1912. Father had helped harvest the crops that fall, then back to Mohrland that fall. Mother and family stayed in Huntington, father only came home for Thanksgiving & Christmas that winter. Spring 1913 father came home from Mohrland, in April that summer he farmed grandfather Coxes farm. That summer he made 1 trip each week to Morhland with a load of vegetables and meat which he sold to the miners. I always went with him on these trips which took 2 days. One night it rained we had to move our bed under the wagon to keep dry.

 

I liked to help hitch up the horses after father put the harness on, one horse I would lead to whatever equipment it was to be hitched to. One time I had lead the horse to harrow that it was supposed to be hitched, to faceing the harrow. Father asked me to do something else, about 2 minutes later when I returned, the horse had turned around and was in the proper place to be hitched to the harrow. A board 6 or 8 feet is to be dragged behind the harrow, we would drag a 3x12 8” long board to smothe the ground. I was riding on the harrow with father, he had told me to sit down, but he was standing. If he can stand why cant I, father had the lines that he guided the horses with for balance, so I stood up, guess what? I fell off! The harrow and the board was dragged over me. Father heard me scream - came picked me up, brushed the dirt off and told me I had better go to the house. But no, I got back on the harrow. Come on father lets go, I will sit down.

 

That summer was a busy summer, after the crops were gathered father went back to the mines to work. That fall 1913 the papers came thru for homesteading the 80 acres of land in Huntington Canyon, father & I went up with the surveyor, and located the corners of the property. Father and I stayed for about a week and cleared some brush & trees from the ground so it would be ready for spring.

 

Father went back to work in the mines that winter, the family stayed in Huntington, by this time thair were 7 children in the family. I was 9 years old then, I milked and feed one cow, cared for 2 pigs & 25 chickens twice daily. Everond helped with other chores like getting coal, wood & water. There was a canal about 60 ‘ from the front of our house we had to carri water from this canal to the house in buckets. This was the general routine all winter. In the spring 1914 about the middle of April. Father, I & uncle Dell, fathers brother, went to the homestead with 2 wagons, 4 horses, loaded with tents, lumber, tools. Such as plows, axes, chains, hammers, shovels, picks & one cow which we lead behind one of the wagons. This was a great day for me. I could’nt wait for April to come so we could go to the ranch. This place will be known hereafter as the ranch.

 

Uncle Dell stayed about 10 days. We got some land cleared and planted, the 2 tents setup on frames and the tents one had a floor, in the other it did not have a floor, just the good old ground. A corral built for the cow, and a place to keep the horses. Uncle Dell stayed about 10 days and went home, father had bought some hay & grain from one of the neighboring ranchers, when uncle dell went home my uncle Bryan came up on horseback and stayed with me, while father went to town and moved the family up to the ranch. This was about 20 of May 1914. This was a work summer planting crops, building ditches, clearing more ground, hurding more cows, taking care of pigs & chickens.

 

In Oct 1914 we moved back to Town. Father went back to Mohrland to work in the mine, we saw him only twice that winter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. There was always plenty of chores to do, 2 cows to milk, chickens and pigs to care for, wood and coal kept in the house, besides school. So we didn’t have much idle time. The canal in front of our house was about 12’ wide frozen over with ice which made very good skating in winter. When father came home for Christmas he gave my brother & I each a pair of skates, we could skate about one half mile each way from our house. There was a few bridges in our way. Most of the bridges were high enough to go under if you had enough speed when you came to the bridge to slide under on you tummy. If you didnd you have to walk around. This was great fun, another sport was Bob sleigh riding. With a team of horses, a Bobsleigh, and about 15 or 20 teenagers, and a bunch of straw, and blankets to keep warm in the zero weather, and sing songs, great sport, ha,ha.

 

1915 We were always glad to see spring come and move back to the ranch. All tho this ment a lot of work we were glad to get back to the ranch, there was always fishing in the river that ran thru the middle of our ranch. I would always try to find time in the evening after all chores were done to try fishing for awhile, most of the time catching some trout that helped supply food. We often had fish for dinner.I did some work for the rancher ajoining our ranch he didn’t have money to pay me so he gave me a 22 Rifle for my work, with fathers permission, and one box of shells. A few later I asked father if I milked the cows early could I go try out the gun and get some rabbits for breakfast. He said I could, so I milked the cows early, took the milk to the house, got the gun and headed down along the river. I came back in about 20 minutes with 2 rabbits. Father said that is great how many shots did I take, I said 3, he said that is to many shots, you can do better than that. That fall when went from the ranch in 1916. We moved to Mohrland where we lived that winter.

 

They always had a shoot before thanksgiving, which was always held on Saturday so everyone could be there. I went to this one with father, it cost 25c per shot. The turkey was in a box with a steel plate across the front. The turkeys head was sticking up thru a hole in the top of the box. I walked up to the man in charge and told I wanted to shoot, he said you will be waisting your money these men are all pros, I said it is my money and I want to shoot. Another man said let him shoot, if he wants to waist his money let him shoot. Another man said let him shoot first he will miss, that old single shot wont shoot straight anyway. Another man said yes let the kid shoot first he will miss he can’t hit that turkey. If the turkeys head stayed above the box the next man shot and so on until 8 shots if the turkeys stayed, then they sold 8 more tickets, and so on until some one hit the turkey’s head. Well, I shot first and hit the turkeys head, that was the first turkey hit the first time. Many remarkes, just luck, he cant do it again. The man said, do you want try again. I tryed again, I shot third and got another turkey. So we had plenty of turkey for thanksgiving. I tried one other time but missed.

 

That winter there was plenty of snow. We had a house at the edge of town in Mohrland where we had to build a small barn to store hay and keep a cow, which kept us in milk and butter. That winter the snow was about 4’ deep about the middle of April 1917, my uncle Bryan Cox and I, went to the ranch with team & wagon, and I had a load of things that we would need at the ranch. I drove the team from Mohrland to Huntington. Mother’s brother Uncle Bryan then went with me to the ranch where we cleaned the house, mended fences, cleaned irrigation ditches. This took about 10 days, then I went back to Huntington where we got another team and wagon from grandfather Marshall. Uncle Dell drove the other wagon to Mohrland we then moved back to the ranch. This was a 2 day trip,1 day from Mohrland to Huntington over night at grandfather Marshalls, the next day to the ranch. The summer of about 1920 Dad improved upon the property, 7 years was allowed to make necessary improvements. Father went with Uncle Arley, (a brother to father), on Arley’s motorcycle to C.D.(county district)?, to finalize the papers to get the official title papers as proof of ownership in his name.Next summer he leased the farm to other farmers to run their stock on, and lived in Mohrland all the time. Until 1925 when the Mohrland mine closed and all the men were transferred to Heiner and Hiawatha, not single men. The family Moved to Heiner about the first part of March, they lived there only two weeks when father was killed in the mine. After the funeral mother moved to Huntington, rented a 4 room house owned by Dave Davis. Later she decided to use part of the miner’s pension in a lump sum $250.00 to buy a 3 room house on one acre of ground. Here she lived with her large family. Her income was then lessened each month, due to the lump sum she had to use of the pension.

 

Bill married in September. Everand worked in the mines. Inez had been living with Marshall G.P. for years. John was born in June 1925.Bill’s narrative stops here but there were a few notes he left at the end . I think he intended to write about the subjects in these notes at a later time. They follow:

Trombone orchestra in H school

Grad. H.H.school

Acting part in H.Sc. plays

Liked penmanship practiced a lot.

Helped round up range cattle in fall

Working in S.S. met Florence