By Ada Gregory
My father, Hyrum Heber Taylor, was born 17 Sep 1883 at Mapleton, Oneida County, Idaho, the son of Heber C (English descent) and Eliza Baird Taylor (Irish and English descent). His father was a farmer and died at an early age. Hyrum helped on the farm and was a farmer all his life. He took pride in having a lot of good horses, having them well-groomed, and raising good crops. He always kept his fences up in good condition.
He went to the eighth grade in school and at about the age of 19 attended Missionary training School which was taught by President David O. McKay.
My mother, Pheba Martin Taylor, was born 27 March 1887 at Farr West, Weber County, Utah, the daughter of James Martin Jr (English descent) and Lydia Flint Martin (English descent). Her father was also a farmer and she was a typical farm girl. She could do outside chores, like milking cows, as well as inside household tasks, such as churn butter, mix bread, and other things. On Friday they would churn about 40 pounds of butter (14 churning from milk they skimmed from pans). They would deliver it on Saturdays. One of the girls always had to go along to hold the horse. Her father would go very early before sunup and gather green alfalfa to pack the butter in to keep it cool so it wouldn’t melt. What they didn’t sell to customers, they would sell to Clark’s Grocery Store in Ogden, Utah. If there was any money left after they purchased what groceries they needed, she took material. They had to make their garments and nearly everything they wore in those days. They had about 2000 head of sheep. After they were shorn, grandfather would give the broken bales to grandmother to make quilts. She would wash and rehash it. If it wasn’t clean, the children would get in the tub and stomp on it until it was clean. She would then take handfuls and place it on each picket of the fence that surrounded their home. She would then cord it. She had two cords about 4 inches by twelve inches and at night should sit and cord. She made all of her quilts out of it.
Grandfather Martin was Bishop in the Farr West Ward when mother was very young. They had a nice brick home. It had three bedrooms. It had two front rooms with a fireplace in it. A picture of Joseph Smith hung over the mantle. Grandfather would clear the land of sagebrush and stack it as high as the house and they would burn it in the fireplace all winter. They burned coal in the other stoves.
BY: Mable Taylor Talbot November 1959
My father, Hyrum Heber Taylor, was born 17 September 1883 at Mapleton, Oneida, Idaho, the son of Heber C. Taylor (English descent) and Eliza Baird Taylor (Irish and English descent). His father was a farmer and died at an early age. Hyrum helped on the farm and was a farmer all of his life. He took pride in having a lot of horses, having them well-groomed, and raising good crops. He always kept his fences up in good condition. He went to the eighth grade in school. At about the age of nineteen attended a Missionary Training School, which was taught by President David O. McKay.
My mother, Pheba Martin Taylor, was born 27 March 1887 at Farr West, Weber County, Utah, the daughter of James Martin Jr. (English descent) and Lydia Flint Martin (English descent). Her father was also a farmer and she was a typical farm girl. She could do outside farm chores like milking cows, as well as inside household tasks such as churn butter, mix bread, and other things. On Friday they would churn about forty pounds of butter (14 churning from milk they skinned from pans). They would deliver it on Saturdays. One of the girls always had to go along to hold the horse. Her father would go very early, before sun up and gather green alfalfa to pack the butter in to keep it cool so it wouldn’t melt. What they didn’t sell to customers, they would sel to Clark’s Grocery Store in Ogden, Utah. If there was any money left after they purchased what groceries they needed, she would take material. They had to make their garments and nearly everything they wore in those days.
They had about 2,000 head of sheep. After they were sheared, Grandfather would give the broken bales to Grandmother to make quilts. She would wash and rewash it. If it wasn’t clean, the children would get in the tub and stomp on it until it was clean. She would then take handfuls and place it on each picket of the fence, that surrounded their home. She would then cord it. She had two cords about four inches by twelve inches and at night she would sit and cord it. She made all of her quilts out of it.
Grandfather Martin was Bishop in Farr West Ward, when mother was very young. They had a nice brick home. It had three bedrooms. It had two front rooms, with a fireplace in it. A picture of Joseph Smith hung over the mantle. Grandfather would clear the land of sagebrush and stack it as high as the house, and they would burn that in the fireplace all winter. They burned coal in the other stoves.
When Dad and Mom (as we always call them) were married, Dad was 21 and Mom was 17. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple the 26th of October 1904. They were married on a Friday and the following Monday morning they left by covered wagon for Mapleton, Oneida County, Idaho. This is where they made their first home, at his father’s ranch. They had to milk 32 cows, besides the other farm work.
Mother went back to Farr West the following late summer where she had her first child, Lester Hyrum Taylor, born the 24th of October 1905, weighing 12 lbs. He was born two days before their 1st Wedding Anniversary.
They still stayed at the ranch and worked hard.
Two years and nine months later, their second child was born. It was a boy, his name Heber James Taylor. He was born the 9th of May 1908. There was several feet of snow. Dad had to go nearly to the highway to meet the Doctor.
Mother had two children to care for now, and still had to help with the milking, so she would have to keep going to the house to see to the children. The house work was hard too, with water to carry from the ditch which was quite a distance from the house, butter to churn, bread to mix, and clothes to wash on the board. She usually built a fire outside and set the boiler on rocks to heat the wash water in the summer.
Two years followed and on the 4th of July 1910, they had their first daughter. They named her Luella Pearl Taylor. She had a mop of black hair, which they braided when she was three days old, to keep it out of her eyes. The fall after she was born, Grandma Taylor sold the ranch to Woolley’s and the folks moved to Plain City, Utah, where the purchased a farm. That is when John Hoskins, a boy from Ogden, Utah, who didn’t have a mother, came to live with them and they raised. He later went back and lived with his father.
Times were hard during that time and it was hard to get food and necessities together to keep going.
Ten years later they sold their farm and moved back to Mapleton, Idaho, where they purchased the old home from Dick and Jacob Choules, who in the meantime had bought it from Woolley’s.
That next Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1920, after being in town all day Christmas shopping, their second daughter was born. They named her Ada Taylor.
By now Les, Heb, and Pearl were getting quite grown up. Everyone had a lot of work to do, with such a large farm to take care of and a lot of cows to milk. It was about this time, in the fall of about 1926 or 1927 my father had his fingers of his right hand amputated in the cogs of the thrashing machine. He was oiling it when the belt caught his coat sleeve. He wore a black kid glove on it all the time after that, because he was so self-conscious about it. If he would bump it at all, it would hurt him quite badly because the nerves were so close to the surface. It would always get cold easily, and then it would ache. It gave him a lot of discomfort during the years that followed. It also hampered him in his work, but he managed to harness horses and do a lot of farm work, but he couldn’t milk any move cows. He didn’t write much except sign his name, and figure a little bit, this made it so Mother had to help him a lot in his business.
There were two houses on the ranch. It was about this time we moved them together so we would have more room. It made our home more comfortable. But they still had to carry water. Mother worked in the field a great deal mowing hay day after day. We still had coal oil lamps or I suppose they had graduated to gas lamps by now. The only entertainment they had were the dances in the old dance hall – but they had good times. They had a lot of oyster suppers at different homes around the community which were a lot of fun. They, especially the young teenagers, would go to each others’ homes for Sunday dinner.
Mother now being 47, and much to her surprise, had another daughter, that was me, whom they named Mable Taylor. I was born the 8th of November 1932, the day that Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the United States.
Pearl was grown up now and had married Leslie A. Gregory. Shortly after they were married, she was very ill with a throat infection. At that time her husband left on a mission for the LDS Church. She remained at home for the following two years. They have three children: Donald L., Larry, and Laurane.
The next to be married was Heb. He married Erma Wright. For a while after they were married, they lives on the Nelson place, our neighbor’s place, which we had bought a few years before. They have five children: Blaine, Ronald and Connie (twins), Clair, and Glen [Butch].
Trouble came two days after Thanksgiving in the year 1937 when our home burned down from an overheated stove. Mother and Dad were the only ones home and they were out to the barn doing chores, which was quite a distance from the house. By the time they got to the house, they could only save a few odds and ends of the furniture and a few clothes. We took what old furniture we could get together and lived in an old two room house of Priscilla Bowman’s, which had been used for a granary. We lived there until our new home was finished.
Most of the family was married now. Les married Emma Elwood. They have a son, Gary, and a daughter, Evelyn. Gary is now serving in the Air Force.
Les has had about 15 years of illness. He was unable to do any work at all a few years before his death. The doctors didn’t know too much about his illness. He passed away 25th of July 1959. He was buried 29th of July 1959 in the Preston City Cemetery.
Two months after the house burned, Ada was married to Delor Gregory, whom had worked for Dad many years. After they were married, they lived up at the ranch in a sheep camp at night to milk the cows night and morning. They later moved to Lewiston, Utah, to live. They have three sons: Roy D., Stephen T, and Curtis Alan.
Dad sold part of the ranch to Heb because now he couldn’t get the work done. Not too many years after this he was killed in an automobile accident on the 12th of September 1945, at the age of 61. He was buried on his birthday, the 17th of September 1945. He was buried in the Preston, Idaho City Cemetery.
That left me and Mother at the ranch to milk a few cows and take care of things as best we could while I was in school. We had electricity for now for the first time.
I married Keith Talbot and moved to Wyoming where we homesteaded some land. We sold that land and moved to Winder, Idaho, where we still live. We have four children: Gayleen, Marjorie, Hyrum Keith, and Sheldon.
Mother has been a practical nurse for the past 7 years. She will soon be 73 years of age. Among people she has nursed for are Letitia Hart, Mr. And Mrs. Andrew Fuhrman, Phoebe Wheeler.
She sold the home on the ranch to Heb in 1959 and purchased a home in Preston. In July 1959 she was operated on for cancer. In October started nursing again. She and Dad had been married 55 years, she has 17 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren.
