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The
Life History of Joseph Smith Winmill
An oral history given by the children of Joseph Smith Winmill.
Ancestors of Joseph Smith Winmill
Mountain Dell and Parley's Canyon
Joseph Smith Winmill was born August 24, 1883 at Mountain Dell, Utah to Richard and Elizabeth Ann Laird Winmill. He was blessed the 23rd of September, 1883 by William Hardy, a friend and family associate. He was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints August 24, 1891 by William Taylor and confirmed by Bines Dixon. His earliest recollections were of the spring house where butter and milk were kept cool; hunting the ravines of Mountain Dell for the family cow and her new born calf; and of his father being away from home on a freighting job.
Other
memories were of the songs his father used to sing; the sickle used to cut hay
and grain and the planting and harvesting of the crops by hand; the razor strap
his father used to discipline his family with; and of visiting the Salt Lake
Temple at dedication time. He remembers Brigham Young talking at this time. One of the songs he used to sing went
something like this, "Oh the Jolly old blacksmith went out in the frost, to
carry his plow irons upon his black boss, and Peter and Polly began to sing and
they sang so loud that they made the woods singing--- singing follow a laddio
dittle oh day."
He recalls some of the names of his teachers from his school days, as Genevia Egbert, Mr. Elgreen, Mr. Wickersham, Mr. Mathision and Mr. Anderson. His very best school friend was a boy named Jim Dixon. He recalls how his fellow students were as big as the teacher and would throw a teacher out if they didn't like them. He also remembers how he and Jim Dixon drew the back of a knife across a boys ear telling him they were going to cut his ear off. The knife slipped and drew blood. He especially remembers how the razor strap came into play when his father found out about it.
The Snake River Valley
The City of
Salt Lake bought the homestead in the
Mountain Dell area (in Parley's Canyon)
for a reservoir site and the Winmills moved to the Salem area (near Rexburg) in
Idaho in 1900. Everything was moved in a rail car to their new home. The family
purchased a farm on the Teton River, near what is now Sugar City, Idaho.
He continued his education at Ricks Academy which later became a high school and
then a college.
A neighbor
remembers "those Winmill boys who always liked to set up a small rodeo and ride
the calves." Their recollections suggested a typical group of rowdy boys
inhabited the Winmill household in Sugar City. He helped his father farm until his
father retired. At this time his brother Edward and he formed a partnership,
took over the farm and bought a place in Sugar City for the folks.
In July,
1920 he was ordained a Seventy by J. Golden Kimball. He married Ethel Mathie, August 4, 1920.
She was the daughter of James B. and Elizabeth Rowe Mathie of Rexburg, Idaho.
They were married in the Logan LDS Temple. They made their home on the Moody
(Creek) and farmed and raised livestock for several years.
Their first child Joseph Dee was born December 19, 1921. The second child passed
away at birth due to a hemorrhage. The third son, Reed Laird was born December
29, 1924. Richard Grant was born December 24, 1926.
In 1927 the family moved to Sugar City, dissolving the partnership with Edward and entered a partnership in the sheep business with James. While living in Sugar City, Idaho, the twins, Vern and Verna were born. The next year they dissolved the partnership with James and bought a farm about four miles above Howe, Idaho.
Little Lost River
The
following spring the family moved to the Knollen Ranch on the Little Lost River
in Butte
County, Idaho. In 1929 on January 12, Darrel was born and in April 1929
Richard Grant fell into the Little Lost River and drown. Friends assisted the
family while Grant was laid away in the family plot in the Sugar City Cemetery.
The death of Grant was a great loss to father, I have heard him say of everyone
of his grandsons how much they looked and reminded him of little Grant, when
they were about the age of Grant when he died.
At this time there was no Church affiliation in the valley and they realized
what it meant to raise a family away from the Church. They contacted the mission
and asked about organizing a branch. As a result, the primary was organized and
later a Sunday School was organized in the home of Ira Boyer of Arco, Idaho and
father was sustained as presiding Elder. There were a number of families who
belonged to the Church and who had been away from the Gospel a long time. A
baptismal ceremony was performed in the waters of the Little Lost River and many
were baptized including many adults. Later Sunday School was held in the Catron
School house. The Gospel was taught in this one room schoolhouse and never in
all their years were they as happy and showed so much personal growth as a
family as during this period.
On November 9, 1930 a daughter, Beth, was born and on August 5, 1932 another
daughter Rayola was born. This was the beginning of the Great Depression and a
drought. Mother said of that time: " It seemed that it was all we could do to
hold the home and the family at this time. But the Lord provided." Father was given a foreman's job on the
WPA which surely saved us.
The eldest son, Joseph Dee Winmill (JD) was nine years old at the beginning of the Depression. He reported the following about this period:
In September 1934 another daughter Elma was born, and in 1936 Lorraine was born. The family home was sold and a 40 acre farm was bought at Riverside, Idaho. The decision to do this was based on the drought in Lost River Valley and the need to be near school to educate the children. A daughter Ethel was born in 1938 and died of pneumonia a few months later. The oldest son's Dee and Reed served as Marines in the Pacific during World War II. Dee was at Iwo Jima and Reed in the Aleutians and Alaska. After the War Vern served in the US Air Forces in Greenland. After the War the place in Riverside was sold and a 400 acres farm was purchased in Pingree, Idaho in March 1937. The farm was divided up and some sold with father retaining 120 acres and the buildings including a huge home built of lava rock. In 1954, Beth left on a mission to New Zealand. This was a source of pride for the family
Recollections of a grandson Richard Winmill:
Dad [JD]
encouraged us to spend time with our grand parents. I remember grandpa showing
me how to work a team of horses. King and Queen were a pair of draft horses we
used to clean out the canal, move the hay, buck rake and all sorts of tasks. I
remember riding the horse to grandpa's home to help him with the chores when he
was older. Grandpa would dig in to his bib overalls and find his peppermint
candies and share them with me. We would milk the cows by hand together. After
the cows were fed and settled in, I would sit down with grandpa and grandma for
breakfast. He would always have warm milk and bread. Grandma would make Ovaltine
for me.
Grandpa
always worked hard. Even when he lost his eyesight, he would find some work to
do. He rigged a line up so he could get out to the front twenty acres that were
generally in beets or potatoes. He would carefully let out enough water and feel
his way to open each row. After resting under that big cottonwood on the bank
for a while, he would find his way down to the bottom of the row and feel each
row to see that the water had made it to the end.
Grandpa was enjoyable to be around. He made you
feel important and loved. He declined slowly. First his hearing (he never heard well
when I knew him) and finally his sight. He seldom got to church because of his hearing. I remember his example and
his love. I thank my parents for encouraging and arranging for me to spend time
with him. Grandpa Winmill, 'little
Joe' died while I was on a mission to the Navajo Indians in Arizona.