My paternal grandparents were married 5 days before Christmas and spent the holidays and much of the month of January visiting many relatives and friends in Utah, before returning to the small Southern Alberta town of Magrath to begin establishing their home and family. The story of their courtship and those holidays is posted on this blog with the title 'Neil Snow Forsyth and Chloe Roseltha Hatch courtship and marriage.'
Married: 20 December 1911
Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Sealed: 20 December 1911
Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah
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| Neil Snow Forsyth family 1937, taken by Rex using his new 10 second delay camera, set up on a tripod, so he could be in the picture.
Back row l-r: Ken, Rex, Mylo, Scott, Duane
Front row l-r: Garth, Bryce, Neil, Chloe, Ruth
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Neil and Chloe had 8 children; 5 boys, a girl, and 2 more boys: Thomas Rex Forsyth, Neil Scott Forsyth, George Kenneth Forsyth, Mylo Wilfred Forsyth, Duane H Forsyth, Ruth Forsyth, Garth Dean Forsyth, and Bryce H Forsyth.
Several of Neil and Chloe's children have graciously shared their memories of parent's and family. Gratitude and special thanks are in order to each of them and their families for preserving the records of their parents, our ancestors. Grandpa Neil's own history, compiled and arranged in 1996 by his daughter (Ruth Forsyth Horne), from his many handwritten and typed journals, may be accessed at the LDS Church History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. We sincerely appreciate her work on these and other records as well as pictures she has shared. As much as possible she retained his spelling and punctuation. I am indebted to my son-in-law, Marty Lybbert for much of the typing done to digitize this record. I could not have accomplished this without his kind assistance.
Aunt Ruth tells us that, 'At age 80 her father bought a typewriter and taught himself to type because his handwriting was 'shaky'. A brief history, on this blog, of his childhood and growing years is titled 'Neil Snow Forsyth history'. With her kind permission I quote from her work.
Their first years, living in Magrath and starting their family, are posted with the title 'Neil Snow and Chloe Roseltha Forsyth, Magrath Years.' We pick up the thread of Grandpa's history in 1924, as they move from Magrath to Cardston, and continue the story of their family with his words:
"Mar 24, 1924 – I went to Cardston and saw Mr. Perry, the Soldier Settlement Field Man. He took me out and showed me the ¼ section south of town that they wanted me to buy. April 5, I decided to buy the land in Cardston. April 7, Mr. Perry came and checked my stock and equipment and I signed the contract with him."
[Ruth tells us that her parents "... wanted to live closer to the Cardston, [Alberta] Temple. They purchased a small farm near Lee's Creek about 1 mile south of Cardston."]
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| Photo of the farm on Lee's Creek south of Cardston |
Grandpa Neil says,"When school was out the end of June, I sold my home to Wm. Mendelkow, I took his home south of Magrath as part pay and I rented it to Ida Chipman. I put a hayrack on my wagon and loaded all my furniture, chickens etc. in the rack, I hooked four horses on it. I put Rex (age 12) on the saddle horse and started him out with the cattle and horses. I took Scott on the wagon with me and we headed for Cardston. I left Chloe and the other three boys to come later on the train. We stopped at Fred Wagners, a farm near Raley that night. We went on to Cardston the next day. Chloe and the three boys came on the train the next day. I bought 80 acres north of my ¼ sec. from C.E. Snow.
"July 2, I started a house for Ellis Heninger on the corner of the block N.W. of the temple. Sis. Nielson, A midwife lived on the north side of the block.
"Aug 7, 1924 – I was still working on the Heninger house, and about 3 p.m., Mrs. Nielson sent word for me to come over there. Chloe was there and at 4 p.m. our first daughter was born. I had hired Melba Workman to help care for the family for 2 wks, then Clara Kimball helped us for a month. Aug 17, I got a car and took Chloe and her daughter home, both are doing well.
"Sept 11, I started harvesting grain and corn, and on the 22nd I dug a cellar under the house to store our vegetables, and on the 24th I moved the building from the Snow 80 and added it onto our house.
"Oct 8, 1924 – I run the foundation for my barn and finished my harvesting, so now I can go back to carpentering.
"Jan 7, 1925 – I went to Magrath and bought 20 head of purebred Rambulett ewes from J B Ryrie at $13 per head. During Jan I worked on my barn when weather would permit.
"Jan 17 and 18, was Qrtly Stake Conference, and I was called to be a Stake missionary. Jan 21st I was set apart by C W Burt. 6 of us were sent to Hillspring Ward where we held meetings. Then we left Hillspring on horseback to go to Twin Butte to labor, holding meetings every evening. Jan 29, we rode back to Hillspring, for a missionary farewell. Jan 31st was Stake Priesthood Meeting and we missionaries were called on to give our reports.
"Feb 14, I have worked on my barn and sheep shed most of my time since returning from my mission. Feb 19, I went to Beazer Coal Mine for coal.
"Mar 4, I went to Magrath and on Mar 5, I loaded my sheep and a cow I had taken rent, into a boxcar and shipped them to Cardston.
"March 14, It has been cold and stormy all week, all I have done is take the boys to school, till today. I borrowed a horse and went to look for my horses that were let out of my field while I was on my Stake mission, but I didn't get any trace of them today. In April I found three of my horse at Franks place in Magrath but never found the others. By the time I got home from hunting horses I was very ill and the next morning I went to Dr. Woolf, he gave me some medicine and told me to go home and go to bed, which I did. About 3 pm I felt something break inside of me. I tingled right to the ends of my fingers and toes.
"I told Chloe, and asked her to phone the Bishop to bring someone to administer to me. They came and administered to me and took me to the hospital. I was in terrible pain and too sick to eat or sleep. On Wed. the Dr. said he would operate on me Thurs. morning. While the nurse was giving me an enema to prepare for surgery I turned deathly sick and called for a wash bowl. I filled the bedpan and the wash bowl both. When she put me back in bed, I went right to sleep. I had not slept or eaten since coming to the hospital. When the Dr. came in he couldn't wake me, so he said let him sleep and I will operate when he wakes. I didn't wake till late in the afternoon, when I did, I told them I was well and wanted something to eat.
"When the Dr. came I told him I didn't need an operation and I wanted to go home. He kept me in the hospital for observation until Saturday, then I went home, that was April 11th. I went home and started putting in crops and built a dam on Lee’s creek to water our crops. We made a floom [flume] across the creek to get extra water to my garden.
"My 20 ewes did well and more than paid for themselves the first year.
"In 1925 I built homes for the Smith’s. One for W.C. the father and one for John, both in Cardston. Also one for Archie and Frank Smith on their farms in Hill Spring.
"July 2, I started a house for Ellis Heninger on the corner of the block N.W. of the temple. Sis. Nielson, A midwife lived on the north side of the block.
"Aug 7, 1924 – I was still working on the Heninger house, and about 3 p.m., Mrs. Nielson sent word for me to come over there. Chloe was there and at 4 p.m. our first daughter was born. I had hired Melba Workman to help care for the family for 2 wks, then Clara Kimball helped us for a month. Aug 17, I got a car and took Chloe and her daughter home, both are doing well.
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| Ruth with her mother Chloe |
"Sept 11, I started harvesting grain and corn, and on the 22nd I dug a cellar under the house to store our vegetables, and on the 24th I moved the building from the Snow 80 and added it onto our house.
"Oct 8, 1924 – I run the foundation for my barn and finished my harvesting, so now I can go back to carpentering.
"Jan 7, 1925 – I went to Magrath and bought 20 head of purebred Rambulett ewes from J B Ryrie at $13 per head. During Jan I worked on my barn when weather would permit.
"Jan 17 and 18, was Qrtly Stake Conference, and I was called to be a Stake missionary. Jan 21st I was set apart by C W Burt. 6 of us were sent to Hillspring Ward where we held meetings. Then we left Hillspring on horseback to go to Twin Butte to labor, holding meetings every evening. Jan 29, we rode back to Hillspring, for a missionary farewell. Jan 31st was Stake Priesthood Meeting and we missionaries were called on to give our reports.
"Feb 14, I have worked on my barn and sheep shed most of my time since returning from my mission. Feb 19, I went to Beazer Coal Mine for coal.
"Mar 4, I went to Magrath and on Mar 5, I loaded my sheep and a cow I had taken rent, into a boxcar and shipped them to Cardston.
"March 14, It has been cold and stormy all week, all I have done is take the boys to school, till today. I borrowed a horse and went to look for my horses that were let out of my field while I was on my Stake mission, but I didn't get any trace of them today. In April I found three of my horse at Franks place in Magrath but never found the others. By the time I got home from hunting horses I was very ill and the next morning I went to Dr. Woolf, he gave me some medicine and told me to go home and go to bed, which I did. About 3 pm I felt something break inside of me. I tingled right to the ends of my fingers and toes.
"I told Chloe, and asked her to phone the Bishop to bring someone to administer to me. They came and administered to me and took me to the hospital. I was in terrible pain and too sick to eat or sleep. On Wed. the Dr. said he would operate on me Thurs. morning. While the nurse was giving me an enema to prepare for surgery I turned deathly sick and called for a wash bowl. I filled the bedpan and the wash bowl both. When she put me back in bed, I went right to sleep. I had not slept or eaten since coming to the hospital. When the Dr. came in he couldn't wake me, so he said let him sleep and I will operate when he wakes. I didn't wake till late in the afternoon, when I did, I told them I was well and wanted something to eat.
"When the Dr. came I told him I didn't need an operation and I wanted to go home. He kept me in the hospital for observation until Saturday, then I went home, that was April 11th. I went home and started putting in crops and built a dam on Lee’s creek to water our crops. We made a floom [flume] across the creek to get extra water to my garden.
"My 20 ewes did well and more than paid for themselves the first year.
"In 1925 I built homes for the Smith’s. One for W.C. the father and one for John, both in Cardston. Also one for Archie and Frank Smith on their farms in Hill Spring.
"May, 1926 – The high water in May took our floom [flume] out that we had built across the creek, so we had to rebuild that. This time we set three posts in the middle of the creek 8 ft apart in a – V – and built the sides up with poles and filled it with rock, which made a good solid center support for the floom, and it held this time for as long as we needed it. (Mylo writes of one daring pastime the boys had of trying to cross this flume by walking on the wooden slats that held the sides together.)
"My ewes lambed 125% of lambs in Feb. and in June I sold all my ewe lambs on the market for a good price. I planted a few early potatoes Mar 20, and the last of June I sold 50 lbs. to Burts grocery for $4."
**In her personal history Ruth records, "My early childhood on the farm is recorded in pictures and stories told to me by my older brothers. When I was about 2 years old, I had my picture taken on 'Old Nell' a very gentle work horse. I apparently loved horses as about this same time, I was told, this horse had scuffed my big toe with her foot and tore the toenail completely off! [...]
" I remember my brothers catching fish from the nearby creek for our supper in the summertime. We also had Choke Cherry trees with loads of berries we loved to eat in the summer and our favorite breakfast was pancakes with Choke Cherry syrup.
**In her personal history Ruth records, "My early childhood on the farm is recorded in pictures and stories told to me by my older brothers. When I was about 2 years old, I had my picture taken on 'Old Nell' a very gentle work horse. I apparently loved horses as about this same time, I was told, this horse had scuffed my big toe with her foot and tore the toenail completely off! [...]
" I remember my brothers catching fish from the nearby creek for our supper in the summertime. We also had Choke Cherry trees with loads of berries we loved to eat in the summer and our favorite breakfast was pancakes with Choke Cherry syrup.
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| Ruth Forsyth (Horne) on large horse. I just had to add this picture of a tiny girl on a huge farm horse |
"In the Spring we had fun feeding the orphaned lambs with a big bottle of cow's milk. I remember a swimming hole in the creek where my brother's loved to swim. Just a short distance from our house was a high rock cliff; we called it the Buffalo jump. At the base of this cliff was where Mylo found hundreds of Indian arrow heads, [...]
"A short walk from our house was a nice Spring of cool water, where water cress grew abundantly. It was surrounded by a nice grove of trees where Rex and Scott built benches so several people could be seated. Even after we moved from the farm this was a favorite picnic spot for all our family I remember taking homemade bread and butter with me to the spring, then picking the fresh cress for the best sandwich in the world!"
"**The rest of this year Dad was busy building homes and farm buildings in the area from Beazer to Spring Coulee. For two summers now he has had a crew of up to 16 men helping him. He took a Ford car in trade on a house he built for Warren Smith, and on Sept 14, he turned it in on a Chevrolet.**"
"A short walk from our house was a nice Spring of cool water, where water cress grew abundantly. It was surrounded by a nice grove of trees where Rex and Scott built benches so several people could be seated. Even after we moved from the farm this was a favorite picnic spot for all our family I remember taking homemade bread and butter with me to the spring, then picking the fresh cress for the best sandwich in the world!"
"**The rest of this year Dad was busy building homes and farm buildings in the area from Beazer to Spring Coulee. For two summers now he has had a crew of up to 16 men helping him. He took a Ford car in trade on a house he built for Warren Smith, and on Sept 14, he turned it in on a Chevrolet.**"
Neil's father, George James Forsyth, passed away in Bountiful, Utah on 6 February 1927. His mother, Sarah Sophronia Snow Forsyth, passed away one month later on 5 March 1927, also in Bountiful. They are buried in Salt Lake City, Utah. Follow the links on their names to read his short accounts of their passing.
Grandpa's history continues: "April 10, We went to Cardston through deep snow. We had to dig my car out of drifts in 2 or 3 places on the way in.
"May 1, This week I prepared land and planted 5 acres of sugar beets. The next week I built a chicken coop for myself. This month Frank [Neil's brother] sold his farm in Magrath and bought the Straty [Strate] farm south of Hillspring and moved on it.
"May 27, I bought 50 bu of oats from BP Walter Pitcher and went out and got them. I had just got home and unloaded them when a cloud burst came. It flooded (Cardston) Main Street. Some men sitting in a café, sat there till the water covered their stools, then they walked out in water 3 ft. deep. The Jap who owned the café had one of the men reach and get his roll of Canadian money off a high shelf, before he went out.
"Aug 25, I bought a big house in town of John Nelson, and moved my family in to have the boys closer to school. I turned the Nemelka Place in Magrath to Nelson on the house here.
"I built a barn and a chicken coop on this place."
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Ruth writes,"In the summer of 1927 Mother was expecting another child in December. Dad didn't have money to buy a home in town, but they needed a bigger home for their growing family, so he went to Cardston to look for a big house to rent. He found a vacant two story house with 5 bedrooms, a very large kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom and a utility room for washing clothes and for the milk separator.
"The home was built on 4 acres of land, with a chicken coop, a barn for cows and horses and a pig pen. This was just what he wanted, so he approached the owners, who also owned Smith Brother's Motors. They were most anxious to sell, but would not rent. They knew Dad was a builder and a man who was as good as his word. They each were anxious to build a new home, so they offered him the home and a used car, if he would build them each a home, they would furnish the materials and he could do the work.
"This was truly a blessing from Heaven. He received the Title to the home and the car, then he moved his family into town and built a home for Warren Smith the next summer! 1929 was the market crash and Seymour Smith did not have money to purchase material for his home until 1932, so that was the year Dad built his home in Leavitt, to complete his part of the bargain. [...]
"Mother gave birth to her sixth son [Garth] on a very stormy Dec. 5th, so was very happy to be in town, with a car for transportation to the Cardston Hospital. In the summer of 1928 Rex took a picture of me, sitting on my little red chair, holding Garth on my lap. This picture reminded me that my father was a very good cabinet maker as he had made me the red table with 4 chairs for Christmas in 1927. In 1928 he made a child size China cupboard and Santa brought me a set of China and cookware to go in it for my Christmas. My friends and cousins loved to come to play 'Tea Party' with me, because they didn't have nice furniture like I had.
" My cousin Nola Forsyth lived across town, another cousin Donna Forsyth lived on a farm just south of town, and I saw them quite often. Velma Oviatt and my Hatch cousins lived in Brant, Claresholm and Glenwood and always visited us in the summer. Our home was always open to friends and relatives. We girls loved to play tag, jump the rope, hop scotch, or just swing in the big swings my Dad had hung from a tree limb.
"Our 2 acre garden was a big part of our summer activity, as I grew older I learned to weed and hoe along with my borthers. We had a big root cellar where we stored potatoes, carrots, cabbage, squash, etc. This cellar also was our only refrigerator, where we made Jello in the summertime. Mother always bottled fruti, chicken, mutton and vegetables. We always had milk, cheese (which Mother made) butter and eggs. Roasted or fried chicken was usually our Sunday dinner. I still love chicken! Every Fall we gathered up the leaves from our big poplar trees, then had a bonfire in the back yard. We always cooked potatoes in the fire, they were soot black on the outside, but tasted so good with lots of butter and salt and pepper.
"In 1927 we heard on the radio about Charles Lindberg solo flight across the Atlantic in his 'Spirit of St. Louis' monoplane. In 1928 the first Walt Disney Mickey Mouse cartoons were produced with synchronized sound.
" [...In] our big home, we had running water in the kitchen with a coal cook stove, a lot of cupboards with a pull out bin that would hold 50 lbs of flour. Also a very large pull out bread board. A large table with 10 chairs and a single cot where I remember sleeping if I was sick. We had a bathroom with a big porcelain tub and a sink, but no toliet, it was outside. We kept chamber pots in teh bedrooms, that had to be emptied each morning. We had a large dining room but we used it more as an activity room. Mother's treadle sewing machine was there and she often had a quilt on frames to work on. We had Grandma Forsyth's old pump organ in that room and I loved to play it after I had some lessons and before Dad bought me my piano [about 1932. ...]
" My first chores were helping mother with the dishes, and making my bed and catching the clothes as they came through the hand operated wringer. I had heard stories of how dangerous the wringer was if you caught you hand in it, so I was always extra careful. In the summer time we would hang the clothes on four of wires outside, they always smelled so fresh and clean after drying in the sun. Oh, and by the way, Mother made all of our laundry soap out of pig fat and lye. This was before the days of Proctor and Gamble. In the winter it was a different story; clothes frozen stiff on the lines when the weather turned bad. I really do't know how we survived the harsh winters doing laundry for 10.
"One of my jobs outside the house was feeding the chickens and gathering the eggs. Feed for the chickens was wheat kernels scattered around the chicken yard. In the late Spring after the baby chickens hatched, their first food was dry rolled oats, they even tasted good to me!**"
Grandpa Neil's history records, "Dec 5, 1927 – At 1 a.m., Chloe woke me and said she had to get to the hospital quick. My car was standing by the bedroom door. It was 10 below zero out there. I got up and dressed and took a kettle of hot water and put it in the car and started it, I rushed her to the hospital and came back and went to bed. I called the hospital at 5 AM and they said I had a 5 lb. boy born at 3 a.m., Mother and baby are fine. We had hired Florence Conley to help with the family for a month.
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"The sun came out nice and warm, and one of my neighbors said his cow had dried up and he wanted me to take her to pasture. So after dinner I got my horse and started for the farm with his cow. The sun was still warm and bright. I was just passing Hudsons, 2 blocks away, when I heard a rushing wind, I looked back and could not see the school ¼ mile away. I had a coulee to cross in George Duces field, when I got to it, I was off the trail and the snow was deep, as the cow went into it, I got off my horse and whipped her through. Then I got on my horse and found the trail across to the other side. Then I could not find the cow, and the snow covered her tracks. I got to Duces fence, then followed it to the gate and went through into my field. When I got to the house, I put the horse in the barn, and went to the house and made a fire, and decided I would have to stay the night. All the sheep were in the shed, but the storm was too bad to find them. The next day it cleared enough that I could see my way to town, so I went home.
"**Weather was very unpredictable in sunny southern Alberta—a blizzard as the one above, or a Chinook wind, could change the temperature as much as 60 degrees in a ½ hour.**
There are many stories in Southern Alberta about this blizzard. Aunt Verna told Dad that when they heard the storm was coming the took a sleigh to Taylorsville to get the school kids but they got as far as Neilson's [her family] and then couldn't continue. The Cardston News on 8 December records a similar dangerous time for the school children.
"1928 … I built several homes this year as well as the Indian Hospital just outside Cardston. The farm produced a good crop of alfalfa with no major outlay. 1929 was another good year for carpentry work.
"Aug 13, 1929 — Our 7th son was born to-day, Bryce H. We hired Rita Boney [Bohne] to help take care of the family for a month. [Ruth remembers that in 1929 the first yo-yo's were on the market and her brother Duane had one and he learned to handle it very well.]
"Nov, I started to build the Pioneer Lumber Yard in Whiskey Gap and prayed for good weather. I hired a man with a team and 12 men from the area and had it all closed in and shingled by Dec 15. The next morning there was a foot of snow on the ground. I had to leave my car there and go home for Christmas on the mail sleigh, then went back after Christmas and finished up the job and brought my car home. 1929 was the best year so far financially. I had hired Sid Harwood in the spring to run the farm and had as many as 20 men working on construction.
"Feb 1, 1930 – I scoured the country for miles around and found there was no work to be found. Every one was feeling the effects of the depression. I sold my car and started selling the farm stock and whatever else I could. This was the year I earned only $400 to provide for my family of 10."
"**Thanks to the farm and garden in town we did not go hungry.**"
From Grandpa's history Ruth continues, "1931 – **There were hard times for everyone in the family. Rex worked for Low's dairy and earned $10 a month with room and board. He also did photography and made postcards of the town and the temple to sell to tourists at the temple. Duane and Ruth could earn a penny on a card they sold for 5 cents. Some days we would sell 5 or 10 cards and thought we were rich. It seemed like we spent 5 or 6 hours selling postcards, we were only 30 min. from home so we could have gone home to eat . I only remember that some days we earned a dime and good days we earned 25 cents.
"Mother worked extra hard, making soap to do all that laundry, sewing and mending clothes so they could be handed down to the next in line. She rented rooms in our big house to many, and also had high school student boarders during the school year. We always had milk and eggs, and roast chicken for Sunday dinner. She canned mutton and chicken and we ate a lot of beans and homemade bread, with a variety of vegetables from our large two acre garden in town.
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"Dad found small remodeling jobs that didn't amount to much. In the spring of 1931 he rented the farm to Tom Cardwell, but kept the pasture and milked cows and Mother made cheese and butter to sell along with extra eggs we had. One good mare sold for $6. Lambs brought $2.50 each. In 1932 he traded or sold cattle and had very little carpentry work. By the spring of 1933 he had sold most of his livestock and farm equipment and the depression was still on. In the fall he went to work at the Raymond Sugar Factory. The rent from the farm hardly paid taxes.**
Ruth's history records, "I always liked to help Dad pick the strawberries, then have fresh strawberries on Rice Krispies and cream for breakfast. One morning when I was about 6 years old I had picked strawberries and when I got in the house I realized I had lost a nickel out of my apron pocket, so I went out to look for it. This was not a 3 row patch of strawberries, it was more like 30 rows and I really didn't know where to begin. I decided I needed help, so I said a silent prayer then soon found my nickel. To me that was a miracle and I knew Heavenly Father had helped me, so from then on I never doubted His existence.
"About this age I also learned how compassionate my mother was. We often had relatives come and stay with us, our home always welcomed anyone in need. One person I really couldn't understand was an old English lady we called the 'Bag Lady' or Grandma Tagg. Everyday she would wander around town, with a black cloth bag over her shoulder and pick up string, paper, wood, or what ever else she could see. Maybe once a month she would stop at our home and Mother would fix her a sandwich and some herb tea. Once Mother had a sheep skin drying on the fence so the bag lady gathered bits of wool from it, but Mother always welcomed her into our home. [...]
" My mother was a very patient and calm individual, seldom getting upset, never complaining and always thoughtful of anyone else less fortunate. I remember each morning she would brush my naturally curly hair into ringlets, which was the style I wore through fourth grade. She was always patient, but I can't say the same for me [... but] that strongly influenced me for the rest of my life."
Grandpa Forsyth's history continues, "Feb 1, 1934 – I started a business block in Raymond for O.H. Snow. Scott [age 20] helped me on it.
**With the depression came a fair amount of sickness to this family. Mylo had rheumatism that developed into rheumatic fever. Scott had to have his appendix out, then they found he had tuberculosis. Mother spent much of her time nursing them, as the Dr. bills mounted. Rex tried to save money to go to normal school in Edmonton, and with financial help from Lula Snow*, he enrolled in the fall of 1934.**"
Ruth also informs us a bit more of living conditions of the time in her own history. " In the Fall of 1930 I entered first grade [...] I missed a lot of school due to measles, mumps, chicken pox, and whooping cough, I caught them all that year. I remember Whooping Cough. Mother gave me a spoonful of sugar sprinkled with a few drops of turpentine to stop my cough, and it worked! I also had pink eye and impetigo several times. Nathan Eldon Tanner was the Elementary School principal, a very kindly but strict no nonsense person. [...]
"This is the winter we had a big blizzard that piled the snow into 6-8 ft drifts. Our front door was completely covered with snow and Dad and one of the boys dug a tunnel through it so we could get to the street. I remember one winter there was not much snow, just ice on the road all the way to town. My brother Duane put on his skates and skated to town and back, it was safer than walking.
"In the summer of 1931 I took Elocution lessons from a man in town. I don't remember his name, but he taught me to memorize. My second grade teacher was Miss Sheffield, and I competed in the elocution during the year. The first class competition I was in, I was so nervous and excited. Mother had made me a new dress for the occasion but I forgot to wear it, so she brought it when she came to watch me perform and saved the day for me. [...]
"Sept 5 – I got a job as a bridge carpenter for the gov’t. They were building a highway up the Belley River and I worked there until Nov 8, when they closed down because of cold weather.
"**When Dad was not working in the wintertime, I think we all remember him bringing the big trunk out from under the stairs. From it, he would show us souvenirs he had gathered on his mission, or from the war, and tell us stories of his experiences back then. He was a good storyteller. I remember him singing songs from those early days like, 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary' or 'It’s a Long Long Trail' and 'When it’s Springtime in the Rockies'. I guess those were our family home evenings!**
Ruth shares more detail in her own record, " I remember my Dad was a great story teller, he having been a school teacher in his younger days in Utah. On cold winter nights the family would gather as he brought his big trunk from the closet under the spiral staircase. It was full of his souvenirs from his mission and his 3 years in the first World War. I have his large book of Postcards from all the places he served on his mission. As there were no cameras in 1907, this was his way of preserving his memories. He had a bible in a walnut shell. From his years in the service he had his revolver and steel helmet, a bayonet and 2 cannon shell casings. Mother occasionally used the shell casings for flower bases. I still have the Belgium lace handkerchief he purchased from the factory when he was in Brussels after the war in April 1919. Along with his stories he loved to sing the war songs: 'It's a Long Way To Tipperary' and 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again' and others.
" He also told us faith promoting stories of how his life was spared on two different occasions, once when he was in sick bay for a bad cold, the Doctor mistakenly gave him enough poison to kill a horse, but he lived through it. Another time he was laying down, resting, while shells were bursting all around him. He was impressed to sit up, just before a shell hit the spot where his head had been. he knew he had been protected from serious harm. [...]
" My father, of Scotch Heritage required obedience, which to him was the first law of Heaven. Latter Day Saint Religion was always in our home, he was a returned missionary and was always a faithful member of the Church. We held morning and evening prayers as we all knelt around the kitchen table for our morning and evening meal. We all attended Sunday Morning Sunday School, then after a special Sunday dinner we would attend Sacrament Meeting in the afternoon. I was taught to say my prayer's each night before going to bed, knowing that the Lord was mindful of us at all times. Every year we celebrated Pioneer Day July 24th as most of our ancestors were Utah Pioneers.
" My Dad was always protective of me, his only daughter. My mother often said he would get me the moon, if I asked for it. If my 5 older brothers even teased me, I remember him saying, 'You leave that girl alone.'
" As a family we worked together, keeping busy I a good cause, being taught that idleness is the devil's workshop. The summer I turned 6, I convinced my mother I was old enough to learn to sew on her treadle sewing machine. She taught me well and we made doll clothes that summer. I have loved to sew ever since.
"Cardston was a small town where everyone knew everyone , population about 2,500, with 2 LDS wards comprising 90% and a small Protestant church for the other 10%. We had a hospital, 2 hotels, 2 banks, 3 clothing stores, 2 grocery stores, an Elementary School grades 1 thru 8, a High School grades 9 thru 12, and a lumber yard. In the summer of 1930 Brewerton's opened a Movie Theater and on Saturday we could attend a movie for 10 cents. I remember seeing the Disney cartoons, Snow White and the Seven Dwarf's, The Wizard of Oz, and The Lone Ranger. We thought we were really big time! The Blood Indian Reservation was just across the Highway, so we regularly saw Indian's downtown, but never in the residential areas. [...]
" At our Stake Conference this summer [1932] we were surprised to have President Heber J. Grant, President of the church as a Visiting Authority. It was the first and only time I saw him. I remember he walked down from the stand and spoke directly to the young people in attendance and taught us the law of tithing with 10 pennies, just like they do in Primary today. I felt the spirit that day and I have never questioned the law of tithing, and I know that my life has been greatly blessed because of living that law.
" In 1932 we heard of Amelia Earhart flying solo from Canada to Ireland in her Lockheed Vega Plane. We had never seen an airplane so we really didn't understand how great she was."
Reading again from Neil's own history we learn, "Jan, 1935 – I did some remodeling in the Alberta temple. Then Feb 14, I went back on the bridgework for the gov’t and worked there till Oct.
"Aug, 1935 – I let Rex sell my sheep to get money to go to university (his second year) in Edmonton. [Ruth tells us that in the summer of 1935 Scott 'really spruced up the front yard'. He landscaped the it with flower beds of red geraniums around the base of the 4 Poplar trees there, and kept the lawn trimmed all the time. She also mentions that everyone at school was vaccinated for small pox.]
"**In the fall of 1935, Dr. Mulloy initiated his medical program where seven hundred or more families could sign up to have him look after all their doctor needs for $25.00 a year. This could be done even though a family owed him for past services. From Sept 1935 to Sept 1936, our family had five tonsillectomies, and three appendectomies, which taxed Chloe's nursing skills. In the fall of 1936 Chloe also had a hysterectomy, a very modern approach to the problem in 1936.**
"By the fall of 1936, Cardwell had cut my ditches all to pieces, so I wanted him to farm the hill and let me keep the pasture and the hay land, but he wanted all or nothing. I tried to get the soldier settlement board to accept less, because of all the improvements I had put into the land, but they refused me. Then they sold it to Cardwell for ½ of what I was paying for it. Cardwell and the head man on the board were both ‘odd fellows’.
**In the fall of 1936, Rex having completed normal school, was hired to teach in the Beazer one room school. He taught the upper grades and Beth Briggs from Magrath taught the primary grades.**
"Dec 1936 – **Mylo became very ill with rheumatic fever and was so crippled for the next 6 months, much of the time he was unable even to feed himself. He became a great reader during this time, reading as many as three books in a day. He and Mother spent a lot of time talking to each other and they became very close.**
[Ruth also shares that the game of Monopoly came on the market about this times and was an instant favorite board game for both young and old, and their family spent many winter nights playing it. They bought their first radio in 1936 and in the evenings listened to radio programs with Comedian's 'Amos and Andy', 'Fibbe Magee and Molly', and the first serial story of 'Ma Perkins'. On weekends they went to the movie theater and for years enjoyed the 'Lone Ranger' series.]"
"April 12, 1937 – **Mylo’s Sunday School class came to the house to-day for a surprise birthday party for him. This really lifted his spirits as he had been shut in for so long. He remembers that by Mother’s Day May 9th he was well enough to come to the table for dinner.**
"Charles O. Card, the founder of Cardston built the first log house on Main Street in 1887. It is now 50 years old. The church has given the stake Relief Society $1,000 to tear it down and rebuild it. Sis. Z.W. Jacobs is the stake RS pres. and after 2 or 3 contractors told her it could not be done for that, I told her, if she could get me some donated help, I would do it for that.
"May 2, I started tearing it down and had it all finished, including a new fireplace, ready for the 50th celebration July 11th.
[Neil's son, Garth, remembers helping his father tear the old Card home down. He was about 10 years old. He remembers that his father did the project as a service to the community. He also remembers his older brother dating the Jubilee Queen.]
"July 11, 1937 – Somehow Rex managed to date the prettiest girls in town, and his girl friend Greta Carlson was chosen queen for the Golden Jubilee. He attended many special events as her escort during this celebration in Cardston this year.
"1938 – **Dr. Mulloy recommended a warmer climate for Mylo to fully recover from his rheumatic fever, so arrangements were made for him to spend the winter in Arizona with his cousin Lucy Forsyth Phelps, the oldest daughter of Dad's brother Frank. He [Mylo] attended school there and was much improved in his physical condition.
"Most of this year Neil had work enough for himself and 4 or more men, and things are looking better than they have for 7 years.
"Scott has been church dance director in the ward and stake since 1934 and has an excellent dance program. There are ward dances most every week for those 12 years old and up, where he teaches dancing and dance etiquette, to the young people. He also has a group of 10 or 12 couples who prepare ballroom dance floor shows for all the stake and interstake dances.
"Ken is working on the dairy farm for Brig Low and helping Dad with carpentry work at times.
"Duane and Ruth are enjoying school and fun parties with many of the same friends. We will always remember one party where we made chocolate fudge, then poured it in a large platter to cool, while we played games. When we went to get the fudge, it was gone. We found it in Mother’s linen closet, spilled all over Mother’s tablecloths. Bryce thought he would play a trick on us, by hiding it—not realizing it would run over if not level. I guess that was a little brother’s way of being included in the party. [Other versions of this story say Duane hid it in their mother's linen cupboard in the hall so that Garth and Bryce would not find it.]
"Duane worked part time at Smith’s Hardware and occasionally he got to drive their new Chevrolet convertible. This was a real treat for us as we didn't own a car.**
"1939 – I had a very busy year and all went well till Oct 15. I run a concrete floor for Jim Blackmore and he didn't have the help I needed, so I didn't finish till after dark. I was so tired I could hardly get in my car to go home. After supper I had a bath and while dressing, a sharp pain struck me just below the left knee. I could not sleep all night so I sent for Dr. Key the next morning, 2 days later Dr. Thompson operated on the calf of my leg but it would not heal. It was Oct 19 when they operated and they let me go home for Christmas. Then on Dec 27 they cut 32 pieces of skin off my right thigh and grafted them onto my left leg. They sent me home Jan 11, 1940.
"**Scott started working at the Cahoon Lumber in the summer of 1939 and on Dec 14, 1939 he and Gladys Butler were married in the Alberta temple.** [Ruth informs us she found it very nice to have another female in the family and that Gladys was like a big sister to her. She also says the ballpoint pen was invented and the first Action comics, featuring Superman, were published. Rumors of war in Europe and then World War II began with Germany invading Poland. The US started building the Alaska Highway and a steady stream of big trucks and equipment rolled through Cardston coming through the Carway Port of entry - the most direct route.]
"1940 – After my surgery I was in such poor condition the veterans gave me an allowance of $40 a month, starting Mar 1. On Mar 7th I left for Utah with Jim Brown.
"I went to visit Florence and Tom in Bountiful, then Kay Mercer took Tom and I to visit Bell Gardner in Lund, Nevada. Then I went to St. George, here my cousin Fern Seegmiller took me up Zions Canyon to an Easter pageant. We left her father, Uncle Charley who was 97 home alone, when we got home late that night he had milked the cow and had all the chores done. I went to Salt Lake to April conference, then Tom and I went to Canada with Wm Cooper. My leg was still sore when I got home Apr 10.
"Apr 25, 1940 – I started back to work. In July while walking down Main Street in my work clothes, I met 2 nurses that had nursed me through my illness. They looked surprised and asked me if I was working, I said I was. Then the night nurse said there were two nights she thought I would not live till morning.
"July 22, I took a crew to Del Bonita to build a school house and finished it Sept 5. In Sept we did a large annex to the Ellison elevator. In Oct. I took Kenneth to Medicine Hat to help on an airport and we worked there until Dec 15, then came home for Christmas.
"**World War II brought many changes to the home of Neil and Chloe. When Neil fought in the 1st world war, it was said to be the war to end all wars. Now just 20 years later their sons would have to go to war.**"
The history of Neil and his family continues on a post titled 'World War II -1958' .
Grandpa's history continues: "April 10, We went to Cardston through deep snow. We had to dig my car out of drifts in 2 or 3 places on the way in.
"May 1, This week I prepared land and planted 5 acres of sugar beets. The next week I built a chicken coop for myself. This month Frank [Neil's brother] sold his farm in Magrath and bought the Straty [Strate] farm south of Hillspring and moved on it.
"May 27, I bought 50 bu of oats from BP Walter Pitcher and went out and got them. I had just got home and unloaded them when a cloud burst came. It flooded (Cardston) Main Street. Some men sitting in a café, sat there till the water covered their stools, then they walked out in water 3 ft. deep. The Jap who owned the café had one of the men reach and get his roll of Canadian money off a high shelf, before he went out.
"Aug 25, I bought a big house in town of John Nelson, and moved my family in to have the boys closer to school. I turned the Nemelka Place in Magrath to Nelson on the house here.
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| approximate sketch of yard and house by Aunt Ruth |
"I built a barn and a chicken coop on this place."
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| approximate sketch of house upstairs by Aunt Ruth |
Ruth writes,"In the summer of 1927 Mother was expecting another child in December. Dad didn't have money to buy a home in town, but they needed a bigger home for their growing family, so he went to Cardston to look for a big house to rent. He found a vacant two story house with 5 bedrooms, a very large kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom and a utility room for washing clothes and for the milk separator.
"The home was built on 4 acres of land, with a chicken coop, a barn for cows and horses and a pig pen. This was just what he wanted, so he approached the owners, who also owned Smith Brother's Motors. They were most anxious to sell, but would not rent. They knew Dad was a builder and a man who was as good as his word. They each were anxious to build a new home, so they offered him the home and a used car, if he would build them each a home, they would furnish the materials and he could do the work.
"This was truly a blessing from Heaven. He received the Title to the home and the car, then he moved his family into town and built a home for Warren Smith the next summer! 1929 was the market crash and Seymour Smith did not have money to purchase material for his home until 1932, so that was the year Dad built his home in Leavitt, to complete his part of the bargain. [...]
"Mother gave birth to her sixth son [Garth] on a very stormy Dec. 5th, so was very happy to be in town, with a car for transportation to the Cardston Hospital. In the summer of 1928 Rex took a picture of me, sitting on my little red chair, holding Garth on my lap. This picture reminded me that my father was a very good cabinet maker as he had made me the red table with 4 chairs for Christmas in 1927. In 1928 he made a child size China cupboard and Santa brought me a set of China and cookware to go in it for my Christmas. My friends and cousins loved to come to play 'Tea Party' with me, because they didn't have nice furniture like I had.
" My cousin Nola Forsyth lived across town, another cousin Donna Forsyth lived on a farm just south of town, and I saw them quite often. Velma Oviatt and my Hatch cousins lived in Brant, Claresholm and Glenwood and always visited us in the summer. Our home was always open to friends and relatives. We girls loved to play tag, jump the rope, hop scotch, or just swing in the big swings my Dad had hung from a tree limb.
"Our 2 acre garden was a big part of our summer activity, as I grew older I learned to weed and hoe along with my borthers. We had a big root cellar where we stored potatoes, carrots, cabbage, squash, etc. This cellar also was our only refrigerator, where we made Jello in the summertime. Mother always bottled fruti, chicken, mutton and vegetables. We always had milk, cheese (which Mother made) butter and eggs. Roasted or fried chicken was usually our Sunday dinner. I still love chicken! Every Fall we gathered up the leaves from our big poplar trees, then had a bonfire in the back yard. We always cooked potatoes in the fire, they were soot black on the outside, but tasted so good with lots of butter and salt and pepper.
"In 1927 we heard on the radio about Charles Lindberg solo flight across the Atlantic in his 'Spirit of St. Louis' monoplane. In 1928 the first Walt Disney Mickey Mouse cartoons were produced with synchronized sound.
" [...In] our big home, we had running water in the kitchen with a coal cook stove, a lot of cupboards with a pull out bin that would hold 50 lbs of flour. Also a very large pull out bread board. A large table with 10 chairs and a single cot where I remember sleeping if I was sick. We had a bathroom with a big porcelain tub and a sink, but no toliet, it was outside. We kept chamber pots in teh bedrooms, that had to be emptied each morning. We had a large dining room but we used it more as an activity room. Mother's treadle sewing machine was there and she often had a quilt on frames to work on. We had Grandma Forsyth's old pump organ in that room and I loved to play it after I had some lessons and before Dad bought me my piano [about 1932. ...]
" My first chores were helping mother with the dishes, and making my bed and catching the clothes as they came through the hand operated wringer. I had heard stories of how dangerous the wringer was if you caught you hand in it, so I was always extra careful. In the summer time we would hang the clothes on four of wires outside, they always smelled so fresh and clean after drying in the sun. Oh, and by the way, Mother made all of our laundry soap out of pig fat and lye. This was before the days of Proctor and Gamble. In the winter it was a different story; clothes frozen stiff on the lines when the weather turned bad. I really do't know how we survived the harsh winters doing laundry for 10.
"One of my jobs outside the house was feeding the chickens and gathering the eggs. Feed for the chickens was wheat kernels scattered around the chicken yard. In the late Spring after the baby chickens hatched, their first food was dry rolled oats, they even tasted good to me!**"
Grandpa Neil's history records, "Dec 5, 1927 – At 1 a.m., Chloe woke me and said she had to get to the hospital quick. My car was standing by the bedroom door. It was 10 below zero out there. I got up and dressed and took a kettle of hot water and put it in the car and started it, I rushed her to the hospital and came back and went to bed. I called the hospital at 5 AM and they said I had a 5 lb. boy born at 3 a.m., Mother and baby are fine. We had hired Florence Conley to help with the family for a month.
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| Garth with sister Ruth, summer 1928 |
"The sun came out nice and warm, and one of my neighbors said his cow had dried up and he wanted me to take her to pasture. So after dinner I got my horse and started for the farm with his cow. The sun was still warm and bright. I was just passing Hudsons, 2 blocks away, when I heard a rushing wind, I looked back and could not see the school ¼ mile away. I had a coulee to cross in George Duces field, when I got to it, I was off the trail and the snow was deep, as the cow went into it, I got off my horse and whipped her through. Then I got on my horse and found the trail across to the other side. Then I could not find the cow, and the snow covered her tracks. I got to Duces fence, then followed it to the gate and went through into my field. When I got to the house, I put the horse in the barn, and went to the house and made a fire, and decided I would have to stay the night. All the sheep were in the shed, but the storm was too bad to find them. The next day it cleared enough that I could see my way to town, so I went home.
"**Weather was very unpredictable in sunny southern Alberta—a blizzard as the one above, or a Chinook wind, could change the temperature as much as 60 degrees in a ½ hour.**
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| Cardston News Weekly Paper 8 December 1927 |
"1928 … I built several homes this year as well as the Indian Hospital just outside Cardston. The farm produced a good crop of alfalfa with no major outlay. 1929 was another good year for carpentry work.
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| Main Street in Cardston, Alberta Canada about 1930 |
"Aug 13, 1929 — Our 7th son was born to-day, Bryce H. We hired Rita Boney [Bohne] to help take care of the family for a month. [Ruth remembers that in 1929 the first yo-yo's were on the market and her brother Duane had one and he learned to handle it very well.]
"Nov, I started to build the Pioneer Lumber Yard in Whiskey Gap and prayed for good weather. I hired a man with a team and 12 men from the area and had it all closed in and shingled by Dec 15. The next morning there was a foot of snow on the ground. I had to leave my car there and go home for Christmas on the mail sleigh, then went back after Christmas and finished up the job and brought my car home. 1929 was the best year so far financially. I had hired Sid Harwood in the spring to run the farm and had as many as 20 men working on construction.
"Feb 1, 1930 – I scoured the country for miles around and found there was no work to be found. Every one was feeling the effects of the depression. I sold my car and started selling the farm stock and whatever else I could. This was the year I earned only $400 to provide for my family of 10."
"**Thanks to the farm and garden in town we did not go hungry.**"
From Grandpa's history Ruth continues, "1931 – **There were hard times for everyone in the family. Rex worked for Low's dairy and earned $10 a month with room and board. He also did photography and made postcards of the town and the temple to sell to tourists at the temple. Duane and Ruth could earn a penny on a card they sold for 5 cents. Some days we would sell 5 or 10 cards and thought we were rich. It seemed like we spent 5 or 6 hours selling postcards, we were only 30 min. from home so we could have gone home to eat . I only remember that some days we earned a dime and good days we earned 25 cents.
"Mother worked extra hard, making soap to do all that laundry, sewing and mending clothes so they could be handed down to the next in line. She rented rooms in our big house to many, and also had high school student boarders during the school year. We always had milk and eggs, and roast chicken for Sunday dinner. She canned mutton and chicken and we ate a lot of beans and homemade bread, with a variety of vegetables from our large two acre garden in town.
"Dad found small remodeling jobs that didn't amount to much. In the spring of 1931 he rented the farm to Tom Cardwell, but kept the pasture and milked cows and Mother made cheese and butter to sell along with extra eggs we had. One good mare sold for $6. Lambs brought $2.50 each. In 1932 he traded or sold cattle and had very little carpentry work. By the spring of 1933 he had sold most of his livestock and farm equipment and the depression was still on. In the fall he went to work at the Raymond Sugar Factory. The rent from the farm hardly paid taxes.**
Ruth's history records, "I always liked to help Dad pick the strawberries, then have fresh strawberries on Rice Krispies and cream for breakfast. One morning when I was about 6 years old I had picked strawberries and when I got in the house I realized I had lost a nickel out of my apron pocket, so I went out to look for it. This was not a 3 row patch of strawberries, it was more like 30 rows and I really didn't know where to begin. I decided I needed help, so I said a silent prayer then soon found my nickel. To me that was a miracle and I knew Heavenly Father had helped me, so from then on I never doubted His existence.
"About this age I also learned how compassionate my mother was. We often had relatives come and stay with us, our home always welcomed anyone in need. One person I really couldn't understand was an old English lady we called the 'Bag Lady' or Grandma Tagg. Everyday she would wander around town, with a black cloth bag over her shoulder and pick up string, paper, wood, or what ever else she could see. Maybe once a month she would stop at our home and Mother would fix her a sandwich and some herb tea. Once Mother had a sheep skin drying on the fence so the bag lady gathered bits of wool from it, but Mother always welcomed her into our home. [...]
" My mother was a very patient and calm individual, seldom getting upset, never complaining and always thoughtful of anyone else less fortunate. I remember each morning she would brush my naturally curly hair into ringlets, which was the style I wore through fourth grade. She was always patient, but I can't say the same for me [... but] that strongly influenced me for the rest of my life."
Grandpa Forsyth's history continues, "Feb 1, 1934 – I started a business block in Raymond for O.H. Snow. Scott [age 20] helped me on it.
**With the depression came a fair amount of sickness to this family. Mylo had rheumatism that developed into rheumatic fever. Scott had to have his appendix out, then they found he had tuberculosis. Mother spent much of her time nursing them, as the Dr. bills mounted. Rex tried to save money to go to normal school in Edmonton, and with financial help from Lula Snow*, he enrolled in the fall of 1934.**"
Ruth also informs us a bit more of living conditions of the time in her own history. " In the Fall of 1930 I entered first grade [...] I missed a lot of school due to measles, mumps, chicken pox, and whooping cough, I caught them all that year. I remember Whooping Cough. Mother gave me a spoonful of sugar sprinkled with a few drops of turpentine to stop my cough, and it worked! I also had pink eye and impetigo several times. Nathan Eldon Tanner was the Elementary School principal, a very kindly but strict no nonsense person. [...]
"This is the winter we had a big blizzard that piled the snow into 6-8 ft drifts. Our front door was completely covered with snow and Dad and one of the boys dug a tunnel through it so we could get to the street. I remember one winter there was not much snow, just ice on the road all the way to town. My brother Duane put on his skates and skated to town and back, it was safer than walking.
"In the summer of 1931 I took Elocution lessons from a man in town. I don't remember his name, but he taught me to memorize. My second grade teacher was Miss Sheffield, and I competed in the elocution during the year. The first class competition I was in, I was so nervous and excited. Mother had made me a new dress for the occasion but I forgot to wear it, so she brought it when she came to watch me perform and saved the day for me. [...]
"Sept 5 – I got a job as a bridge carpenter for the gov’t. They were building a highway up the Belley River and I worked there until Nov 8, when they closed down because of cold weather.
"**When Dad was not working in the wintertime, I think we all remember him bringing the big trunk out from under the stairs. From it, he would show us souvenirs he had gathered on his mission, or from the war, and tell us stories of his experiences back then. He was a good storyteller. I remember him singing songs from those early days like, 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary' or 'It’s a Long Long Trail' and 'When it’s Springtime in the Rockies'. I guess those were our family home evenings!**
Ruth shares more detail in her own record, " I remember my Dad was a great story teller, he having been a school teacher in his younger days in Utah. On cold winter nights the family would gather as he brought his big trunk from the closet under the spiral staircase. It was full of his souvenirs from his mission and his 3 years in the first World War. I have his large book of Postcards from all the places he served on his mission. As there were no cameras in 1907, this was his way of preserving his memories. He had a bible in a walnut shell. From his years in the service he had his revolver and steel helmet, a bayonet and 2 cannon shell casings. Mother occasionally used the shell casings for flower bases. I still have the Belgium lace handkerchief he purchased from the factory when he was in Brussels after the war in April 1919. Along with his stories he loved to sing the war songs: 'It's a Long Way To Tipperary' and 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again' and others.
" He also told us faith promoting stories of how his life was spared on two different occasions, once when he was in sick bay for a bad cold, the Doctor mistakenly gave him enough poison to kill a horse, but he lived through it. Another time he was laying down, resting, while shells were bursting all around him. He was impressed to sit up, just before a shell hit the spot where his head had been. he knew he had been protected from serious harm. [...]
" My father, of Scotch Heritage required obedience, which to him was the first law of Heaven. Latter Day Saint Religion was always in our home, he was a returned missionary and was always a faithful member of the Church. We held morning and evening prayers as we all knelt around the kitchen table for our morning and evening meal. We all attended Sunday Morning Sunday School, then after a special Sunday dinner we would attend Sacrament Meeting in the afternoon. I was taught to say my prayer's each night before going to bed, knowing that the Lord was mindful of us at all times. Every year we celebrated Pioneer Day July 24th as most of our ancestors were Utah Pioneers.
" My Dad was always protective of me, his only daughter. My mother often said he would get me the moon, if I asked for it. If my 5 older brothers even teased me, I remember him saying, 'You leave that girl alone.'
" As a family we worked together, keeping busy I a good cause, being taught that idleness is the devil's workshop. The summer I turned 6, I convinced my mother I was old enough to learn to sew on her treadle sewing machine. She taught me well and we made doll clothes that summer. I have loved to sew ever since.
"Cardston was a small town where everyone knew everyone , population about 2,500, with 2 LDS wards comprising 90% and a small Protestant church for the other 10%. We had a hospital, 2 hotels, 2 banks, 3 clothing stores, 2 grocery stores, an Elementary School grades 1 thru 8, a High School grades 9 thru 12, and a lumber yard. In the summer of 1930 Brewerton's opened a Movie Theater and on Saturday we could attend a movie for 10 cents. I remember seeing the Disney cartoons, Snow White and the Seven Dwarf's, The Wizard of Oz, and The Lone Ranger. We thought we were really big time! The Blood Indian Reservation was just across the Highway, so we regularly saw Indian's downtown, but never in the residential areas. [...]
" At our Stake Conference this summer [1932] we were surprised to have President Heber J. Grant, President of the church as a Visiting Authority. It was the first and only time I saw him. I remember he walked down from the stand and spoke directly to the young people in attendance and taught us the law of tithing with 10 pennies, just like they do in Primary today. I felt the spirit that day and I have never questioned the law of tithing, and I know that my life has been greatly blessed because of living that law.
" In 1932 we heard of Amelia Earhart flying solo from Canada to Ireland in her Lockheed Vega Plane. We had never seen an airplane so we really didn't understand how great she was."
Reading again from Neil's own history we learn, "Jan, 1935 – I did some remodeling in the Alberta temple. Then Feb 14, I went back on the bridgework for the gov’t and worked there till Oct.
"Aug, 1935 – I let Rex sell my sheep to get money to go to university (his second year) in Edmonton. [Ruth tells us that in the summer of 1935 Scott 'really spruced up the front yard'. He landscaped the it with flower beds of red geraniums around the base of the 4 Poplar trees there, and kept the lawn trimmed all the time. She also mentions that everyone at school was vaccinated for small pox.]
"**In the fall of 1935, Dr. Mulloy initiated his medical program where seven hundred or more families could sign up to have him look after all their doctor needs for $25.00 a year. This could be done even though a family owed him for past services. From Sept 1935 to Sept 1936, our family had five tonsillectomies, and three appendectomies, which taxed Chloe's nursing skills. In the fall of 1936 Chloe also had a hysterectomy, a very modern approach to the problem in 1936.**
"By the fall of 1936, Cardwell had cut my ditches all to pieces, so I wanted him to farm the hill and let me keep the pasture and the hay land, but he wanted all or nothing. I tried to get the soldier settlement board to accept less, because of all the improvements I had put into the land, but they refused me. Then they sold it to Cardwell for ½ of what I was paying for it. Cardwell and the head man on the board were both ‘odd fellows’.
**In the fall of 1936, Rex having completed normal school, was hired to teach in the Beazer one room school. He taught the upper grades and Beth Briggs from Magrath taught the primary grades.**
"Dec 1936 – **Mylo became very ill with rheumatic fever and was so crippled for the next 6 months, much of the time he was unable even to feed himself. He became a great reader during this time, reading as many as three books in a day. He and Mother spent a lot of time talking to each other and they became very close.**
[Ruth also shares that the game of Monopoly came on the market about this times and was an instant favorite board game for both young and old, and their family spent many winter nights playing it. They bought their first radio in 1936 and in the evenings listened to radio programs with Comedian's 'Amos and Andy', 'Fibbe Magee and Molly', and the first serial story of 'Ma Perkins'. On weekends they went to the movie theater and for years enjoyed the 'Lone Ranger' series.]"
"April 12, 1937 – **Mylo’s Sunday School class came to the house to-day for a surprise birthday party for him. This really lifted his spirits as he had been shut in for so long. He remembers that by Mother’s Day May 9th he was well enough to come to the table for dinner.**
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| Card home original at Glenbow Archives |
"Charles O. Card, the founder of Cardston built the first log house on Main Street in 1887. It is now 50 years old. The church has given the stake Relief Society $1,000 to tear it down and rebuild it. Sis. Z.W. Jacobs is the stake RS pres. and after 2 or 3 contractors told her it could not be done for that, I told her, if she could get me some donated help, I would do it for that.
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| Card home as renovated |
"May 2, I started tearing it down and had it all finished, including a new fireplace, ready for the 50th celebration July 11th.
[Neil's son, Garth, remembers helping his father tear the old Card home down. He was about 10 years old. He remembers that his father did the project as a service to the community. He also remembers his older brother dating the Jubilee Queen.]
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| 15 June 1937 Cardston News |
"July 11, 1937 – Somehow Rex managed to date the prettiest girls in town, and his girl friend Greta Carlson was chosen queen for the Golden Jubilee. He attended many special events as her escort during this celebration in Cardston this year.
"1938 – **Dr. Mulloy recommended a warmer climate for Mylo to fully recover from his rheumatic fever, so arrangements were made for him to spend the winter in Arizona with his cousin Lucy Forsyth Phelps, the oldest daughter of Dad's brother Frank. He [Mylo] attended school there and was much improved in his physical condition.
"Most of this year Neil had work enough for himself and 4 or more men, and things are looking better than they have for 7 years.
"Scott has been church dance director in the ward and stake since 1934 and has an excellent dance program. There are ward dances most every week for those 12 years old and up, where he teaches dancing and dance etiquette, to the young people. He also has a group of 10 or 12 couples who prepare ballroom dance floor shows for all the stake and interstake dances.
"Ken is working on the dairy farm for Brig Low and helping Dad with carpentry work at times.
"Duane and Ruth are enjoying school and fun parties with many of the same friends. We will always remember one party where we made chocolate fudge, then poured it in a large platter to cool, while we played games. When we went to get the fudge, it was gone. We found it in Mother’s linen closet, spilled all over Mother’s tablecloths. Bryce thought he would play a trick on us, by hiding it—not realizing it would run over if not level. I guess that was a little brother’s way of being included in the party. [Other versions of this story say Duane hid it in their mother's linen cupboard in the hall so that Garth and Bryce would not find it.]
"Duane worked part time at Smith’s Hardware and occasionally he got to drive their new Chevrolet convertible. This was a real treat for us as we didn't own a car.**
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| Neil Snow Forsyth with 7 sons 1939 Neil, Scott, Rex, Mylo, Garth, Ken, Bryce, Duane |
"1939 – I had a very busy year and all went well till Oct 15. I run a concrete floor for Jim Blackmore and he didn't have the help I needed, so I didn't finish till after dark. I was so tired I could hardly get in my car to go home. After supper I had a bath and while dressing, a sharp pain struck me just below the left knee. I could not sleep all night so I sent for Dr. Key the next morning, 2 days later Dr. Thompson operated on the calf of my leg but it would not heal. It was Oct 19 when they operated and they let me go home for Christmas. Then on Dec 27 they cut 32 pieces of skin off my right thigh and grafted them onto my left leg. They sent me home Jan 11, 1940.
"**Scott started working at the Cahoon Lumber in the summer of 1939 and on Dec 14, 1939 he and Gladys Butler were married in the Alberta temple.** [Ruth informs us she found it very nice to have another female in the family and that Gladys was like a big sister to her. She also says the ballpoint pen was invented and the first Action comics, featuring Superman, were published. Rumors of war in Europe and then World War II began with Germany invading Poland. The US started building the Alaska Highway and a steady stream of big trucks and equipment rolled through Cardston coming through the Carway Port of entry - the most direct route.]
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| Neil Snow Forsyth family 1940 |
"1940 – After my surgery I was in such poor condition the veterans gave me an allowance of $40 a month, starting Mar 1. On Mar 7th I left for Utah with Jim Brown.
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| Border Crossing 1940, Neil with Jim Brown and Van Neldon Lybbert . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . |
"I went to visit Florence and Tom in Bountiful, then Kay Mercer took Tom and I to visit Bell Gardner in Lund, Nevada. Then I went to St. George, here my cousin Fern Seegmiller took me up Zions Canyon to an Easter pageant. We left her father, Uncle Charley who was 97 home alone, when we got home late that night he had milked the cow and had all the chores done. I went to Salt Lake to April conference, then Tom and I went to Canada with Wm Cooper. My leg was still sore when I got home Apr 10.
"July 22, I took a crew to Del Bonita to build a school house and finished it Sept 5. In Sept we did a large annex to the Ellison elevator. In Oct. I took Kenneth to Medicine Hat to help on an airport and we worked there until Dec 15, then came home for Christmas.
"**World War II brought many changes to the home of Neil and Chloe. When Neil fought in the 1st world war, it was said to be the war to end all wars. Now just 20 years later their sons would have to go to war.**"
The history of Neil and his family continues on a post titled 'World War II -1958' .
** Quotes by Ruth Forsyth Horne (Robert) as she tells history of her life and family.
* Lula Anderson, (daughter of Thomas Andrerson and Mary Jane Low) of Cardston, married Vernon Lester Snow (born 9 February 1902) of Teasdale, Utah in November 1926 in the Cardston Alberta Temple. He is the son of Charles Snow (1861-1939) and Sarah May Coleman. Charles is a son of William Snow and Ann Rogers (his 6th wife). Sarah Sophronia Snow, mother of Neil Snow Forsyth, is a step-sister to this Charles Snow. Lula was the wife of Neil's first cousin, Vernon Lester Snow. The William Snow children never referred to themselves as step-brothers or step-sisters even though they had different mothers. They were a large but close knit, and loving family. Neil often spoke about visiting with these 'cousins'.