My parents were born to Amos Virgin and his wife. When the church was sending settling parties up to Bear Lake, they went with them in the late 1800's, after they were there for awhile, my father met Sarah, got married in the temple and in the early 1900's, a lot of people from that area were moving to the Upper Snake River Valley, being settled by Thomas E. Ricks.
My parents moved to the Salem area from Bear Lake at the end of the 1800's, about 1901 or 1902. They moved here in a wagon.
My dad was a musician and was very popular around Bear Lake. He could play the organ and was a member of the brass band.
This picture shows Rexburg in 1917, when Grandpa was five years old. That was the year they finally paved mainstreet. People had joked that a horse drowned in one of the mudholes.
To read more about the early history of Rexburg, click here.
My parents and Af Hansen and his wife, who was a sister to my mother, gathered what few belongings they had and moved in a wagon to Rexburg. They looked around and each bought small farms just north of Rexburg. Each bought about 60 acres side by side. Not long after they got to Salem, a new church was built in 1905, and my father was a councilor in one of the first bishoprics. Mother saw to it that all us kids got to church each Sunday, inasmuch as Dad was in the bishopric. The house we lived in was about a good 2-3 miles from the churchhouse. They then decided to buy a small lot up in Salem and built a house so he could be a little closer to the church. That meant that in order to run the farm, during the winter he would move the family closer to the church, then have them help on the farm in the summer.
My Dad died when I was about 12. We were down on the farm punching or stacking hay and a neighbor came up and informed us that Dad had died. He was down working in Ogden for Gus Brown and got appendicitis, they ruptured and he had died. So there was a whole bunch of kids and no dad and no income, so we had slim pickings for awhile. We just barely survived. We had a herd of cows and mother saw to it that we had a garden, and that is how we survived. It was either root-hog or die. We had cream, butter, chickens, and Dad had planted a big orchard when they first got there, about a full acre, so at least we had apples.
This picture shows Rexburg in 1917, when Grandpa was five years old. That was the year they finally paved mainstreet. People had joked that a horse drowned in one of the mudholes. To read more about the early history of Rexburg, click here.
My parents and Af Hansen and his wife, who was a sister to my mother, gathered what few belongings they had and moved in a wagon to Rexburg. They looked around and each bought small farms just north of Rexburg. Each bought about 60 acres side by side. Not long after they got to Salem, a new church was built in 1905, and my father was a councilor in one of the first bishoprics. Mother saw to it that all us kids got to church each Sunday, inasmuch as Dad was in the bishopric. The house we lived in was about a good 2-3 miles from the churchhouse. They then decided to buy a small lot up in Salem and built a house so he could be a little closer to the church. That meant that in order to run the farm, during the winter he would move the family closer to the church, then have them help on the farm in the summer.
My Dad died when I was about 12. We were down on the farm punching or stacking hay and a neighbor came up and informed us that Dad had died. He was down working in Ogden for Gus Brown and got appendicitis, they ruptured and he had died. So there was a whole bunch of kids and no dad and no income, so we had slim pickings for awhile. We just barely survived. We had a herd of cows and mother saw to it that we had a garden, and that is how we survived. It was either root-hog or die. We had cream, butter, chickens, and Dad had planted a big orchard when they first got there, about a full acre, so at least we had apples. 
3 comments:
I'm suddenly craving apple pie.
Hey, Dad, just wondering: are you getting this quoted from Grandpa's mouth or is it your words telling his story? Just cuz I've never necessary heard you use the phrase "root hog or die." Not saying you shouldn't, it's a good one for sure.
I can totally relate. Before mom went grocery shopping on Thursdays, I used to root around in the storage room for food other than the left over Brachs candies. I usually ended up eating apple pie filling out of the can.
That is exactly the way Dad said it. You know how a roothog will dig deep to find anything it can eat. I'd never heard dad say that before, but I thought I should include it just as he said it.
Post a Comment