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Show Volume XXX Issue III The Ogden Valley News Page 9 April 15, 2023 Life History of Fergus O. Wilson and Sarah M. Mo昀昀ett: Part III Please note that Parts I and II of this history of Fergus O. Wilson and Sarah M. Mo昀昀ett appeared in the March 15 and April 1 issues of “The Ogden Valley News.” This history was graciously submitted by Nikki Wilson Wolthuis of Eden. Times were hard, so Dad supplemented his meager income by trapping fur-bearing animals in the winter. We later learned that we children owed our Christmas to the wild muskrats, beaver, and mink, and to Mother’s ability to sew and make clothes over. We remember one Christmas; our dolls received such beautiful new clothes. It was years later that we found the reason Mother always covered something up on her ironing board when we came into the room; she was helping Santa prepare Christmas for her little girls. Christmas was such an exciting time. We went to bed and could hardly get to sleep Christmas Eve. Christmas morning was magic. There was a decorated tree and gifts and a sock with an orange, nuts, and candy. Dad always went into the hills and cut the tree himself. Christmas was an exciting and happy time in our home. Another way Dad earned extra money was by raising bees and selling the honey. He usually made the honeycombs for the bees to store the honey in. These pound honeycombs sold for eight cents each. One thing he had to watch for was bees trying to swarm on the outside of the hive in the wintertime. When he would see a black cluster on a hive, out would come his smoker and face nets and gloves. One of the girls usually went with him. They would puff smoke on the bees to anesthetize them, then carefully lift them back into the hive. If they were left out, they would freeze to death. He used to paint the hives silver because it soaked into the wood and kept it from weathering, and it didn’t peel. Mother had lots of dark brown (almost black) hair. It was about the summer of 1926 that she had one of Aunt Lena’s girls cut it. What a change. She then wore it short for many years, but finally let it grow again. Mother developed rheumatism in her feet. She did not go to a doctor, but took a Montgomery Ward catalog, put it in the oven until it was warm through, then put it on the treadle of her sewing machine while she sewed for her family. That way, she eased the pain in her feet while still accomplishing tasks that had to be done. Dad had always had hay fever. It now became more severe. When he went to feed the cows and horses, he would wet a piece of flannel material and attach it over his nose and mouth to keep out the alfalfa dust. He still came back in the house, out of breath with eyes red and watery. On February 12, 1927, another girl, Evalyn, was born and on May 31, 1928, Erma came into our family. That was seven girls, eight with Thelma, who died at birth. Not yet a son. This seemed unfair for farming people, but we girls helped haul hay; picked strawberries, raspberries, and currents; weeded and harvested the garden produce; and did most anything else that needed doing. If we worked hard and got all the berries picked or weeds pulled, we could go over to South Fork River or Middle Fork River and go swimming with our cousins. When we went to Middle Fork, there were lots of interesting rocks. Some colored ones we called chalk rocks, and we could write on darker colored ones. The flat ones we skipped on the water. We had to make a rock skip three times or it wasn’t worthwhile. The country was in a depression and times were very hard, but as the year 1932 arrived, Mother knew there was to be another child. She wasn’t very well, and Dad took her to the hospital in Ogden for the birth of this ninth baby. Mother was forty years old, and it was a difficult birth. But on August 14, 1932, their long-awaited son, Leon, was born. How happy we all were to have a baby brother. Needless to say, we all helped spoil him. We all remember Dad playing the harmonica or sitting in his rocking chair, holding the youngest child, and singing such songs as Sing a Song of Sixpence, Old Dan Tucker, The Old Oaken Bucket, When You and I Were Young Maggie, and others. When we wore out the soles and heels of our shoes, we didn’t go get new ones, Dad bought a sheet of leather, got out the shoe, hammer, and tacks, sharpened his knife, and put half soles and heels on our shoes. Shoes always had leather soles then and wore out much faster than today’s neo lite soles. We learned to make our own fun with outdoor games such as kick the can, run sheepee run, Annie I over, etc. In the winter, there was lots of snow. When it thawed and then froze, it crusted over really hard. What fun to take our sleds and go coasting on the hills. Edna even tried skiing on crusted snow. Those skies went so fast and she went down. She went home with the whole length of her leg burned form the icy snow. Many, many days we have seen Mother put the baby in a wicker baby buggy, take a bottle of milk and a bottle of water, cover the buggy with mosquito bar, leave one of the older girls to take care of the house and the ones too small to help, and off they would go, up the hill, to the garden to work until noon. At noon she would be back. We would have our main meal of the day, and then back to the garden. Mother worked long, hard hours, but never complained. On Tuesday afternoon, she would again take the baby and walk two-and-a-half miles to go to Relief Society Meeting. I think that was her main recreation in those years. To maintain some beauty around the house, Mother and we girls used to carry water in buckets up the hill to water the lilacs and other flowers we might have. We didn’t have a lawn because of so many trees. In the fall, the ground was carpeted with leaves, which were a joy to walk through. Then when they were all fallen, we raked them in piles to burn. Potatoes went into these fires and what good baked potatoes we had. They were a little black and crispy on the outside but so good inside. There is no other way to get that special flavor. When the leaves started falling, we could hardly wait until there was enough to make fires and roast potatoes. When there wasn’t garden work to be done, Mother loved to crochet and do handwork. She taught us all to crochet when we were very small. First, she would show us how to make a chain without using a crochet hook. Then we would learn to use a hook and make a pattern and read directions. Rhoda says it was Mother who taught her to crochet. Mother also taught us to embroider and sew while very young. We had to make our own clothes and help make baby clothes, especially diapers. There was always a baby in our house—for eighteen years. In the early 1930’s, it was decided to put a dam at Pine View. The water would back up over Mother and Dad’s home. About 1937, they bought Uncle John’s house and moved it up further on the hill and then moved into it. What a day that was. The siding and adobe brick lining had been taken off the house. It was lifted on two long beams set on wheels. The neighbors—Uncle John, Bob Fuller, Owen Froerer, and perhaps others—came with their teams of horses, hooked onto the house, and very slowly out of the yard and up the road it went to its new location. Then there was the work for Dad to put the siding back on it and get it ready to live in again. Dad moved the kitchen of the old house up on the hill to use for a workshop. Moving day into the “new house” was a sad day for the younger children. They loved the old house so much, and looked forward to the day when they were teenagers and could have a party in the grove. As time permitted, Dad added a barn up on the hill and life went on. Again, they planted trees, berries, a lawn and garden, and provided a home for their family. Dad planted and raised exceptionally beautiful gladiolas. Every Sunday while they bloomed, a huge bouquet was in the church building for Sunday School and another for The Ogden Valley News is looking for Ogden Valley and Ogden Canyon historical biographies, stories, and photos to use in its publication. Please mail, email, or call Shanna at 801-745-2688 or Jeannie at 801-745-2879 if you have material you are willing to share. April 8 Holy Saturday Mass 8:30 pm at St. Joseph Church in Ogden. Note: There will be no Saturday Mass at St. Florence April 8. April 9 Easter Sunday Mass 9:00 am There will be no confessions, Adoration or Rosary. Also, no Easter Egg Hunt. Wednesday Night Saturday Night Sunday Morning First Friday 5:30 p.m. 6:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m. 8:30 a m. Fr. Joshua Marie Santos 801-399-5627 FrJoshuaS.Stambrose@gmail.com Saturday 5:30 p.m Sunday 8:00 a.m. or by appt. Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary, Middle School, and High School Providing a challenging, college-focused education in the proven tradition of Catholic schools, for the families of the Ogden Valley. We want to teach your children! For information on our program, financial assistance, tours, or application, please call 801-393-6051 or 801-394-1515. Sacrament Meeting. No one ever left our home without a bouquet of gladiolas and their arms full of garden goodies. Dad enjoyed working with his gladiolas so much that he started experimenting with crossing bulbs and he developed a new color, a silver purple. Uncle John entered it in the State Fair because Dad was much too modest to do so. It was a beautiful view to look out over Pine View Lake with the mountains beyond. While living here, Dad had many opportunities to help people who had trouble at the lake. They would get stuck or maybe their car would go into the water, or maybe a swimmer would get into trouble. It was such an occasion one winter that he got the title of “Angel of the Lake.” Following is an article from the StandardExaminer: “Ferg Wilson, whose home is the last residence on the Eden side of the old HuntsvilleEden highway, which now runs through Pine View Dam, had today won himself the title of ‘Godfather of the Lake’ because of his befriending four Ogden High School students who were lost for two and one-half hours on the ice of the lake Sunday night during a blizzard. “The [F]our, Buster Glasmann and Kay Crockett, Cadet colonel and Lieutenant colonel, respectively, of the Ogden High School R.O.T.C. regiment, and Betty Smalley and Valene Wright, stumbled into Wilson’s home wet and half frozen after narrowly escaping a possible death by freezing or drowning. “Mr. Wilson gave them dry clothes, helped them find their automobile, and get it onto the road from where it was stuck and insisted on supplying extra gasoline to get them home. He has already figured prominently in rescue work connected with two tragedies at Pine View. “The four students were near the site of the old CCC camp on the north arm of the lake Sunday evening when a sudden snowstorm and darkness performed a ‘black out’ and they found themselves lost before they knew it. They started for their automobile, but evidently went in the wrong direction, heading west down the ice. “When the girls stocking legs became numb from cold, they boys supplied their mufflers for wrappings. “Half paralyzed from fright as ice on the lake cracked and boomed around them, they continued their aimless walking until they stumbled against the north bank. From contour of the mountains, they realized they were far down the lake, and would probably have disappeared into open water in that section had they continued much farther. “They finally found a fence and followed it east until they saw the lights of Mr. Wilson’s house. It was one a.m. before they reached home. “‘Country people are sure good,’ Buster Glasmann commented today. ‘It seemed Mr. Wilson couldn’t help us enough.’ From The Past . . . Picture of Fergus O. Wilson and Sarah M. Moffett with their children. Photo courtesy of Nikki Wolthius of Eden. 2668 Grant Avenue, Suite #104A, Ogden, UT 801-612-9299 |