I woke up a few weeks ago thinking about Becky Surpless.  When I posted that on the Heritage Hub Facebook page, it seems like several people knew something about her.  Here is what I know so far---without the documentation being posted---I'll add that to an official story.   Please feel free to make additions or corrections!  

Samuel J. Surpless was born in Ohio in May 1877.  He moved with his parents to South Dakota in 1882 where he lived for several years.  He served in the Spanish American War with the South Dakota Volunteers, company 1.  They saw service in the Philippines and were mustered out at the Persidio, California, in October 1899.  Sam married a girl named Irma (no marriage record located yet) that year and they were living in Douglas County, South Dakota.  

By 1910, Sam was living in Almo, Idaho, with the Robert Redmon family.  The census lists Sam as doing odd jobs in the community.  He gives his marital status as being a widower.   A newspaper listing shows instead that Irma filed for divorce in 1909 in South Dakota.  

Rebecca Pearl Durfee was born 29 January 1887 in Almo.  Her parents were James Madison and Tryphina Malinda Butts Durfee.  James and Tryphina had moved to Almo from the Monona, Iowa, area about 1880 and he homesteaded up in the Little Cove.  James' mother died during the mobbings around Nauvoo and his father had been mustered into the Mormon Battalion.  His father left James in the care of a trusted friend who left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The man, along with Triphina's family, joined a break off group from the Church.  The members of that group moved to Monona, Iowa, where they attempted to live with all things in common.  The leader instead took advantage of his congregation and the state broke up the group.  James brought his young family and several other families to Almo where his brothers, Myron Bushnell and Henry Dennison Durfee, were living.  Most of them, including James, stayed a short time before joining with members of the Reorganized LDS in the Hagerman area.  Becky's obituary indicates that she grew up in Hagerman.  She, her mother, and others of her family returned to Almo and are buried in the cemetery there.

Becky's older sister, Addie, was married to Robert Redmon and while Sam was lodging with the family, he must have met Becky.  Sam and Becky were married 10 June 1910 in Albion.  

Sam died at age 40 in 1917.  His death certificate has not been located yet.  He was buried in the Sunny Cedar Rest, but the following year, his widowed father had the body moved to the family burial plot in South Dakota.  

Becky lived in a small log cabin near Bill Jones' home.  When Reuben Jones' wife, Glenna, died leaving him with a young family, Reuben hired Becky to help with his children.  Reuben's daughter, Opal, married Cleon Durfee, and on the few occasions that they needed a baby sitter, Opal hired Becky to help.  The children remembered Becky as being very stern.  

Becky's right arm and possibly her right leg were paralyzed to some degree.  There is no indication as to whether the paralysis was due to a stroke or if she had been crippled early in life.  

Becky moved to Carey in about 1947. She must have moved back to Almo at some point.  She died in Shelly, Idaho, in a nursing home on 14 November 1959.  Bishop Elbert Durfee conducted her funeral.  She was buried in the Sunny Cedar Rest Cemetery in Almo.  

Earn Cliff in the Narrows

 I couldn't get the photos to transfer from my phone to the Blogspot, so you will have to go to Facebook to see what I am describing.

"The Narrows" is the area just south east of Almo where the Raft Rivers flows between the end of the Jim Sage Mountains and two small hills that look like they slid off the end of the Jim Sage.  There is a lot of history in that area.

I was driving home from Logan the other day and stopped to take these photos.  The sun wasn't just right, so you will have to look closely at the photos.  From a distance, it looks like a tiny piece of the mountain broke off, likely along a fault line.  When you get closer, you realize that it was a significant chunk of the mountainside that sloughed off.  The cliffs are tall and rough.  They are quite stunning, in fact.  

In 1886, a post office was started there, officially known as  "Earn Cliff". "Earn" was said to signify eagles that nested and lived in the area---so Earn Cliff.  It is sometimes spelled as Ern Clif, but Earn Cliff is the official spelling on the Post Office records available at the National Archives Records.  The Post Office was 9 miles from Bridge, 10 miles from Almo, 25 miles from Conant, and 35 miles from Kelton.  It was about a mile from the Raft River and a mile from One Mile Creek.  That should help us locate it a little more closely.  It was to serve about 50 families.  

I have an audio recording of a trip from Almo to Bridge that was made several years ago with then 90 year old Glen Olsen as the guide.  I will try to post it soon on our you tube channel at mini cassia heritage hub.  

Glen's parents were early settlers in the Bridge area, and his father ran the post office there.  He shared lots of stories about the area.  It seems that the postman at Earn Cliff saved his wages and hid them on the property for safety.  It was rumored that he had a lot of money.  Some scoundrels thought they would scare the poor man into giving up the location of his savings.  They put a noose around his neck and hoisted him up just enough to make him talk---they thought!  They ended up killing him before he told them what they were after.  

One of the Womack girls who grew up on the Jim Sage Mountain not far from there recorded that it was the stage station keeper there in the Narrows who was hung, but the other details were pretty close.  There isn't any indication of who the bad guys might have been or if they were ever caught.  

  

These dishes belonged to my Great Grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Stephenson Gray, who came to Albion in 1875 with her husband, Charles Monroe Gray. They had come from their home in Missouri to Ogden by train with relatives, the Dilley Family, and were headed to Oregon Territory, full of hope after the horrors of the Civil War. The children came down with measles and by the time they had all recovered, many of their precious resources had been depleted. They bought their teams and wagons and headed out. The Kelton Road originally went through Almo and down Goose Creek where it joined the trail to Boise and on to Oregon. Some looped around the Jim Sage Mountain through the Elba Valley and over the pass into Albion and down to "The Flat" where they also joined the trail to Oregon. When the bridge over the Raft River was built at Bridge, just south of Malta, it cut miles off of the journey as travelers went from Bridge to Conant, a stage stop and settlement just east of Connor Creek. I haven't been able to tie down a specific date for the bridge at Bridge. During the 1860's, huge cattle ranches had been set up by JQ Shirley, Andrew Sweetser, Thomas Keogh, and the Pierce Family. There were hundreds of thousands of cattle throughout the valleys of Cassia County. By the mid to late 1870's, settlers mostly out of northern Utah---the children of the Mormon Pioneers who needed more land---began to settle in these valleys. The cattlemen did not have claim to the lands where they had been grazing their cattle and the settlers could own the land under the 1862 homestead act. When Grandma and Grandpa Gray and the Dilleys passed through the Albion Valley in 1875, they could see signs of settlers in the valley. They made it as far as Rock Creek and, as my Grandma Clark used to tell the story, the women decided they had enough. They wanted to go back to the pleasant valley they had just passed through. The men were eager to get to Oregon to see the fertile land their relatives had written home about. So Grandma Clark claimed that her mother and Mrs. Dilley got out of the wagons with the younger children and refused to go any further. (Grandma's nephews disputed the story and claimed that Grandpa made the decision to return without any mutiny involved.) Anyway, they turned around and settled at the foot of Mount Harrison. Another of my ancestors, James Stapleton Lewis, had moved to Albion only months earlier from Brigham City area. He and his family had planted a garden and they kept their family and their new neighbors fed from that garden until the Grays could get established. Several other families settled in Albion that year. Some, like the Grays, dropped off the trail. More came from Brigham City area. The town and valley grew quickly. Grandpa Gray was one of the first county commissioners in the new Cassia County.

So back to the dishes.  Grandma Clark always used the platter for family dinners and I loved drying it and seeing it put back in her cupboard. It was one of her treasures and I felt honored when I was given the dishes.   I always imagined Grandma Gray sending away for her fancy dishes---with the gold trim on the edge and their initial and always felt that they were a little better off than some of my other families.  I was researching on newspapers.com the other day.  I ran across an advertisement from the "Golden Rule Mercantile" in the new town of Burley, Idaho.  They were offering a $10.00 set of fancy dishes---with rose colored flowers and green leaves, gold trim on the border and your initial!!!!!!!  You could get the set by using your punch card at the Golden Rule Mercantile for your purchases!!!!!  Who knew!  Makes the dishes even more precious.  Grandma was a very careful housekeeper and widowed early.  Life was harder than I can imagine.  I wonder how long it took her to get enough punches on her card to own her precious dishes!!! 

The Swift Pony Express of 1857

 Most of us know that Thomas Owen King, an early settler in Almo, was a Pony Express Rider. Though short lived, operating from April 1860 to October 1862, the Pony Express delivered mail  from  St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California.  The delivery of mail between East and West was vital to the growing nation.  During its eighteen months of operation, the riders generally made the nineteen hundred mile trip in 10 days.  There were 157 relay stations, manned by hardy station keepers, to support the route.  Wikipedia reports that the "Riders who could not weigh over 125 pounds, changed about every 75-100 miles, and rode day and night.  In emergencies, a given rider might ride two stages back to back, over twenty hours on a quickly moving horse...".The exploits of those courageous boys and young men were amazing as they battled the elements,  hostile Indians, wild animals and robbers.  It was an impressive feat.  

At our last Heritage Hub Meeting, we learned that there was an attempt to establish a "Swift Pony Express" in 1857, three years before the Pony Express.   The Mormons early recognized the importance of a mail delivery between the east and the Great Salt Lake City.  Brigham Young envisioned a four point project.  Riders would deliver mail.  Stagecoaches would transport passengers quickly and easily. Freight wagons would haul supplies to the Utah Territory at a reasonable rate.  Way Stations would be set up along the way to support all of the enterprises, with food and feed being grown to provide sustenance and resources for the travelers.  Brigham Young, as President of the Church,  was awarded the bid, operating under the name of YX Company and employing an agent not recognized as being a Utah Mormon.  He was able to underbid his competitors by asking for donations from the members of the Church.  In return for whatever they could contribute, the members would benefit by better mail service and cheaper goods and share in whatever profits were made.  Four hundred people participated.  One man donated a horse.  Another gave several dollars of hard earned money.  One lady donated a pair of socks that she knitted for a needy rider.  The Church borrowed $12,000 to help fund the venture.  

In April of 1857, Brigham Young called nineteen riders to ride the mail and sent out others to set up way stations and plant crops to provide feed and supplies.  The service lasted only a few months.  The men who had lost the contract to the YX Company were angry and used anti-Mormon sentiment to persuade the newly elected President of the United States, Buchanan, to cancel the contract with the company.  By the first of July, the riders from Salt Lake reached Independence and were denied the Utah bound mail.  They had noticed many heavy freight wagons headed west as they had traveled to Missouri, and discovered that they were loaded with supplies to support Johnston's Army of about 2500 soldiers which was headed to Utah to install a new governor and straighten out affairs in the Utah Territory.  The lead rider told those manning the way stations to abandon them and return to Utah.  

Historian Leonard J. Arrington suggested that if the YX Company  had been allowed to continue the history of the West would be very different.  The Willie and Martin Handcart Companies could have had a place to winter.  The harsh and demanding exodus of members of the Church from Salt Lake and areas north to the Grantsville/Tooele/Provo area would have been avoided.  Emigrant travel would have been facilitated. The economy of Utah Territory would have blossomed.  

We discovered at Heritage Hub that Henry Dennison Durfee was one of the nineteen riders called to ride for the YX Swift Pony Express.  There are no known stories of those riders, but they were part of a historic and challenging undertaking!

Henry Dennison and Jane Isabella Barker Durfee

 

Henry Dennison Durfee, Sr., Jayne Isabella Barker Durfee, Lorenzo Durfee

Sarah Durfee Taylor and her three children, Arthur, Fred and Bertha, Ida Durfee Bruesch, and William Wallace Durfee

Bruce and Kent Durfee will be telling us about their great grandparents, Henry Dennison  Durfee (Uncle Den to lots of Almo people) and his wife, Jane Isabella Barker at our Heritage Hub on Thursday, February 8, at 6 PM in the School.  We will post it on you tube at MiniCassia Heritage Hub.  They have been doing a lot of cramming for the presentation!  I think it is great that DeeAnn is giving people a chance to learn more about their families as she makes the assignments for our Heritage Hub---even if they growl about it!  : )  

Judy Teeter and her sister Helen told us a couple of months ago about their ancestor, Myron Bushnell Durfee, Den's older brother.  They were not quite two years apart and both of them were living in Connor Springs, near Corrinne, Utah, before moving to Almo in 1878 and 1879.  Bruce and Kent were born about 18 months apart and have been close as brothers.  So that makes me appreciate this story even more.  

In the 1880's, a prominent man from Brigham City who was inspecting the school situation in the area, came to Almo.  He had been a teenager at the time of the Almo Massacre---an Indian attack in 1861 or 1862 that is part of our Almo Story.  He remembered seeing the Indians coming into the town after the attack, as well as the survivors after their rescue.  He also recalled the soldiers who came to Brigham City after Connor led a brutal attack on the Indians on the Bear River near Franklin, Idaho.  He was very interested in learning more about what had happened here, and "Mr. Durfee"---who turns out to be Myron---showed him the site of the attack and told him what had happened.  Myron had actually been part of the rescue party that came to Almo and helped bury the bodies.  We think that was why Myron decided to move to the Almo Valley almost twenty years later.  He had seen the resources of the Almo valley and  Connor Springs is just north of the Great Salt Lake. The soil was not the best.  He and Den moved their families to Almo in those early years, and were accompanied by others from the North Ogden/Willard area.   

So, I think that it was at this time that the settlers decided to do a reenactment of the Almo Massacre.  Myron portrayed one of the doomed settlers and Den was one of the Indians.  Den must have been having a great time acting his part and teasing his brother.  Myron had wadding in his gun, and got flustered.  He somehow shot, and the wadding hit Den in the eye.  You can see in Den's photograph that his eye has been damaged.  The story says that the family never let Myron live it down....They teased him about it for years. 

There are lots more stories about these two brothers!  Many of you are probably related to one (or both!) of them!!!!!  We got that from Steve Durfee's presentation a while ago along with a lot of good laughs!  

                        Henry Dennison Durfee   Myron Bushnell Durfee

Nina Sorenson Edwards (1899-1978)

                                                         "The Good Old Days"! 

Arlene Edwards Kimber wrote about her mother, Nina Sorenson Edwards,  and a family member posted it to Familysearch.org.   Nina was Larry Edwards' grandmother.  I don't know how these ladies did it---plus the daily care of their children and keeping up with everything often while expecting a new baby.

 Mom’s water supply was an open well with only boards covering the top. It was about 100 feet from the house. Water was carried to the house and stored in a bucket or 5 gallon can to use for cooking, drinking, washing etc. 

 Mom’s cooking stove was a wood burning stove. Mom always started the fire each morning. Dad did not start the fire as he would often use Gasoline and cause damage rather than being helpful. Mom with that stove could create the best bread, meals, venison steaks, pies, and cookies, that pleased all of her grateful children and husband. 

 An outhouse was built about 100 feet from the house. That was another area that Mom had to watch and ensure that chemicals were placed on the discarded waste, and if needed another hole was dug and the outhouse moved to another location and the old hole covered with dirt. Indoor waste containers were located in the house to use in the night for little kids and Mom took the containers to the outhouse and emptied them. 

 Lack of electricity created the need for all tasks be done before the dark of the night. The light at night that I am most familiar with is the oil lamps that put off a yellow dim light. School assignments were better done early and nightly chores also. The nightly chores were bringing in wood for the stove or even chopping wood if you were a boy or able to handle an axe and bringing water from the well to fill the house containers. The children did the task and Mom made sure it was done.

 House hold duties were not the only thing that had to be done on a farm. Mom had chickens and chickens are not low maintenance. Children don’t mind gathering eggs, or feeding chicken but they do not like to clean chicken coops. Mom generally had that smelly and unpleasant task of scraping the chickens waste off of the boards that were used by the chickens at nighttime. Mom generally would kill the chicken when she wanted to prepare a meal of chicken. She had a long wire with a hook on the end that would catch the chicken by the leg and then she would either ring the chicken’s neck or use a hatchet while keeping the neck of the chicken on a log. Chickens couldn’t be a pet because they had a purpose of laying eggs; becoming a mother to a bunch of chickens hatched from the eggs she had laid for that purpose or becoming a delicious dinner for the family. Mom was fortunate to be able to sell the eggs at the local store in exchange for items that could not be grown. 

 One of the evening chores was milking cows. Mom always wore a dress with an apron covering the dress even when she milked the cows. Cows have a tail that is use to swat at the flies on their backs and often you were hit in the face with the tail. Cows are not always gentle and good natured and if they don’t like how you treat them, they will lift their foot and sometimes it will end up in your bucket of milk. You must always be on the alert. Milk was also part of the income that came into the Edwards household when it was sent in milk cans to Malta to the cheese factory. 

 Spring time was the time for Mom to plant her garden containing all kinds of vegetables. It is a lot of work to maintain a garden but mom never complained and did most of the work herself. First you prepared the soil, planted the seed, hoed out weeds that always come, water regularly and finally harvest the product. She would get up early to do her work before the heat of the day. 

 Mom would enlist the help of daughters when bottling the vegetables and fruits. Green beans had to be snapped. Corn taken off the cob. Peas shelled. Apples peeled and core taken out. Bottles washed. The woodburning stove had to be hot enough to boil the water in a large galvanized pan, that held the bottled vegetable or fruit for the needed time to preserve the item. It was a hot and long process but a very vital process to provide us with fruits and vegetables to last us for a year. Little fresh air could get into the kitchen as window did not open and the door did not go outside, but into a little porch. 

 Having a big family created a lot of washing. I don’t remember our washing machine but I do know we had to haul and heat the water and Mom made the soap that washed the clothes. I remember helping hang the clothes on the three rows of clothes lines that went along the south end of the lot. I hung a lot of clothes with close pins and gathered them when they were dry. I think mom did most of that work of folding and ironing the clothes with an iron heated on the stove.

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Stan Lloyd in "Elba, Idaho, of All Places!:

Stan Lloyd "Of Elba,Idaho, of All Places" is an avid historian and a great story teller. He instigated many of the trips that we took with neighbors and guests to learn of the history of the Raft River Valley! You will hear much from Stan as we embark on this history adventure. He would always introduce himself as "Stan Lloyd, of Elba, Idaho, of All Places." Then he would tell that Ted Tuttle worked with "Father" after he came home from World War II. Ted had been in the Merchant Marine. A short paragraph on familysearch.org gives this clue to his experience. "5’ 11” in height. green eyes. Born with dark brown hair but during WWII while serving in the Naval Reserves, at one point his ship was under attack by the Japanese for about a month. He said he went from a guy with dark thick hair to gray and balding." Stan says that Ted would look up from working on their property there in the Elba valley, look around, and say, "Doesn't it beat "heck", repeating it a few minutes later. Finally Father said, "What beats "heck", Ted? Ted shook his head and said, "I've been all over the world and here I am back in Elba, Idaho, of all places. Doesn't it beat "heck"? So Stan isn't in Elba, Idaho, right now. He is living at Pomerelle Place in Burley because he got too rambunctious at home. But he is still totally involved in our history project. I hear from him every few days. I sent Stan a cassette recorder soon after he moved to his new home. He has been recording histories of some of his neighbors in Pomerelle Place! n He is going to record more about Ted Tuttle and Nathaniel Wake. This morning he told me that Nathaniel was married to Lovina Chandler (both natives of Elba) and they had two little girls when he went into the Navy during World War II. Nathaniel was aboard the USS Liscome Bay Aircraft Carrier when it was sunk in the Gilbert Islands on 24 November 1943. The ship went down within twenty three minutes after being struck by a single torpedo. Six hundred forty four men, including Nathaniel, were lost. Out of 916 men, only 272 sailors were rescued. Ted may have been in that same battle aboard another ship. He returned to Elba and married Lovina in 1951. He died only ten years later. The photos are of Nathaniel and Lovina and their daughters and Ted Tuttle. There is a photo of Stan on the mini cassia Heritage Hub Facebook Page.