PALMER THOMAS and RUTHA LIFE HISTORY OF THOMAS AND RUTHIA PALMER (as they remembered it) June 3rd, 1859 a son was bom to Thomas Palmer and Fannie Stark Palmer, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the vicinity of the 6th ward. Salt Lake City at that time was a crude frontier settlement, having very little resemblance of the city of today. This son was named Thomas Palmer, Jr. The family lived in Salt Lake City until Thomas Plamer, Jr. was three years old. At this time President Brigham Young advised the people to spread out, and settle other sections of the country. Thomas Palmar, Sr. was called to the fertile Weber Valley, and when Thomas, Jr. was three years old they moved to the valley and settled at Enterprise . (The name being chosen by Jessie Haven for an enterprising place to live.) At this time the roads were almost impassable. The wagons had to be taken to pieces and carried up over the mountain at Devils Gate. Brigham Young advised the people to take up 25 acres of ground and no more, so that there would plenty of land for settlers that would come later and to take land that was best fitted for irrigation. The Palmer family built their home, a one roomed cabin west of where the main highway was now, in a grove of cottonwoods. They used one corner of the cabin for a grainery. They had four children, three boys and one girl. They bought a yoke of oxen, one cow and an old stove from Salt lake City. They came up early in the spring of 1862, and in the fall of that same year the mother, Fannie Palmer died, leaving the family of four children. She is buried at Peterson with three or four other early settlers in the field south of where the old Peterson school house stood. Mrs. Haven helped care for the children, but the little girl died a year later at the age of eleven. After the mother's death, the family had 25 bushel of wheat that had been harvested that first year. It was cut by hand with a scythe, and pounded out with a flail. On this the family lived for 6 months having nothing to eat except the boiled wheat. 3 Two years later Thomas Palmer, Sr. married Mrs. Mills, an English woman who had four children. Later he married one of her daughters, "Louie." ( Charles Edmond Thomas Mills' is a son.) Albert Mills of Hoytsville is one of Mrs. Mills' sons. (grandsons). The family went six months at a time without tasting bread. At that time the closest grist mill was at Farmington. To get flour the men would carry the grain on their backs over the mountains, and have it ground at this mill. Some of the women carried grain from Enterprise to this mill, too. Their clothes, Thomas tells, were made from cloth spun from flax, grown by his father. There was a Swedish man that lived down by the river, he would throw the flax into the slew, until it cured. Then he spun the flax and weaved the cloth with a wooden loom. It resembled burlap. Thomas laughed saying, "The pants and shirts that were made from that cloth scratched so bad, we would get running so fast to get away from it, that we could not stop." Thomas Sr. bought two buffalo robes from the Indians, or traded a pony for them. Thomas said they laid one robe down with the hair up, and put the other over them with the hair down, and this was his and his brother Will's bed for years until the hair was almost completely worn off from the robes. The only dishes they had were wooden bowls. They used green blocks of wood and a man that lived in Milton made these bowls. Some held about a pint, others a quart. He also made wooden spoons. Thomas, Sr. made a table from slabs. The children stood around the table to eat because there were no chairs. In the sumer it was so hot and crowded in the cabin that Father Palmer moved the stove, brought from Salt Lake City, outside of the house in a kind of a bowery he had built. One day the team of oxen were frightened by some approaching Indians and ran away right through the bowery, smashing the priceless stove all to pieces. After that the family's cooking had to be done in a fire place built in one end of the cabin. The pony express was the only means of getting mail at that time. Soon after this the stage coach came. The station, Thomas said, was about one-half mile from their home. The station tender lived right at the station. When the stage would near the station the driver would shout until he roused the keeper, who would bring out fresh 4 horses and change the teams while the driver was warming himself. Then away they would go on the run again. They always used two teams on each coach. During the wet season it was often necessary for the settlers to use their oxteams to pull the stage across the muddy Enterprise bench. The Union Pacific Hail Road was built through the Weber Valley when Thomas was nine years old. He remembers coming to Morgan September 3, 1868, with his father and other members of the family in the wagon to see the first train arrive. He said when the train whistled, it frightened the children and also the horses. The horses came nearly running away. The year of 1868, when the railroad came through Morgan, the grasshoppers came in hordes and destroyed all the crops, even eating all the leaves from the trees. Every vistage of green was gone. Thomas said on the Enterprise Point, the hoppers were six and eight inches deep. The dog would try to run through them, but they would jump and hit him in the eyes and face until he would howl. Had it not been for the money the settlers earned on the construction of the railroad it would have been impossible for them to have remained in the valley. The railroad brought in supplies and by these means the settlers survived through the long hard winter. Thomas tells that when he was about eight years old there were 900 Indian warriors led by Chief Washakee came through Morgan on their way out my out to Wyoming to battle with the hostile tribe of the Sioux. They left the squaws and papooses at Boxelder County, and when on their way up through this valley camped on the flat where Peterson school-house now stands. They demanded food, so the bishop of Peterson had each family give what they could, and bought a fat steer and gave it to them. They also stripped everything out of the settlers' gardens, then moved on. They were gone about 5 or 6 months, then they returned. The sad story was told that there were only 60 graves to return to the squaws and papooses. The rest of the tribe had been slaughtered in battle. Thomas walked from Enterprise to Peterson to go to school. The distance being four miles. He said they had very few clothes, no underclothes and no overshoes. His first teacher was Isaac Bowman. He went to school three or four months and some of 5 his school mates were Will and John Croft, Joseph Green, Henry and Charles Hale. Thomas worked hard all through his boyhood years. One of his first jobs away from home was on a large ranch out on Bear River, near Evanston. He, Will and John Croft, and Joseph Green walked from Enterprise to the ranch in March. The snow was deep, and they went up Lost Creek and over the divide. The snow was crusted until they reached the top of the divide, then it broke through making it almost impossible to walk. It was about midnight when they finally reached the ranch, and they were nearly frozen to death. They obtained work there all summer, and that fall went to Park City, where silver mines were being opened. There they contracted to cut quaking asp for the Ontario Mine for $1.00 per cord for green, and $1.25 per cord for dry wood. It was burned at the mine to run the hoists. They worked there three years. The Union Pacific was building a branch line Rail Road from Echo to Park City. Thomas got a job grading for the railroad up through Coalville meadows. Then from there he joined a bridge gang, and worked for 12 years on bridges from Ogden to Laramie on the regular gang outfit of the Oregon Shortline. From there he went to Granger and then to Hans Fork, then on to Golden, Colorado. There had been washouts there at the mines and the bridges had to be rebuilt. He worked there three or four years as head foreman of the gang. Then he came back to Ogden and worked four years on the Union Pacific. Dancing played a big part in the entertainment of the young people in the early settlements. Thomas said he danced at the old Peterson hall, at North Morgan and also at Milton and Enterprise. He remembered having his hat stolen at the Milton dance hall one night and had to go without a hat for nearly a year until he could afford another one. Thomas remembered traveling from place to place at that time was very slow. The only mode of travel was by horseback or horse and wagon, but the young folks still had good times, and he smiled when he told the incident when he met Rutha Stewart, the girl who later became his wife. Rutha Elisabeth Stewart Palmer was born March 16, 1868, at Ogden, Utah in the 6 vicinity of 26th street and Washington Avenue. She was the daughter of Rufus Stewart and Nancy Browning. Her father came to Utah with the second company of pioneers in 1847. Her mother was a full sister to Jonathan Browning, the gun inventor. She lived in Ogden until she was eight years old when her mother died, leaving eight children, one a baby two months old. Ruth's oldest sister, La Vina, cared for the children. And when La Vina married James Stewart and moved to Morgan, Rutha went with her to live. Their home was the one now owned by J. C. Little. Rutha was twelve years old at that time. She lived with LaVina until the time of her marriage to Thomas Palmer at the age of 21. Her father moved from Ogden to Morgan in the year of 1882 and bought the farm now owned by Mrs. Howard Thackeray. Their home, a 15 roomed structure, stood where the Thackeray barn now stands. It was a lovely home for those days. At that time there were great mining prospects in the Morgan vicinity. Rutha was small built and pretty and remembers many boy friends that use to call on her during her teen age. She also remembers very vividly when she first met tall, handsome Thomas Palmer. It was in July, the summer of 1885. Thomas was driving cattle with Thomas Condie of Morgan to the simmer range on a ranch at Croydon owned by Thomas Palmer and his brother. They were ready to leave Morgan about noon. James Stewart asked them to eat dinner at his home before they left. Rutha Stewart (James Stewart's sister-in-law) age 19, small, dainty, and very pretty, and also a good cook had prepared the dinner. She had also scrubbed the kitchen floor spotlessly white. When the two young men came in, although Thomas Palmer was very shy, Rutha was aware of something different about him than she had ever noticed in any other young man she had ever met. But she also remembers that she was very annoyed because the young man splashed dirty water from the wash basin on her clean white floor. Whether it was Rutha' s pretty daintiness, or the lovely dinner she had cooked, or both, Thomas was also very such attracted by her. One week later, he asked Rutha to go to the $th of July dance with him. Rutha noticed his shyness more than ever this night, for he walked her all the way to South Morgan without so much as taking 7 her arm, when she wanted so much for him to put his arm all the way around her waist. Well, anyway, this meeting budded into a romance that lasted one and one-half years. During this time Thomas rode his horse once and twice a week from Lost Creek to Morgan to see Rutha. Their marriage took place on New Year's Day, 1887, at the home of Rutha's sister where they first met. It was solomnized by Bishop 0. B. Anderson of the North Morgan Ward. Two years later they were remarried in the Logan L. D. S. Temple for time and all eternity. The marriage continued on for 56 years through pleasures, sorrows, hardships, sickness and death, with undying devotion for each other. After their marriage, the young couple moved to Croydon to their home (a two-roomed house still standing, and now a part of the home of Will Branch.) Thomas had one of the best farms in the valley, and their home was one of the nicest at that time. Thomas was 29 years old when he married. He had saved his money which he earned while working on the railroad, and with this he bought his farm. Their furniture was the best that could be bought at that time. They had a homemade carpet on the bedroom floor. The kitchen floor was bare, but Rutha kept it scrubbed very white. The Palmers are still using the original bedroom suite that furnished their first home. It was purchased at Boyles Furniture Store, Ogden, Utah. There was not a happier couple in the country, and on January 10, 1888, a sweet little girl was born to them to complete their happiness. She was named LaVina. This happiness lasted only 7 short months, for in July of the same year, little Viney took whooping cough and died. Their happiness shattered for the time, Rutha and Thomas left Croydon and moved to North Morgan and made their home in a little rock house that stood next to the home now owned by Mrs. Bessie Hardy where Rutha could be close to her sister, and there October 12, 1891, another baby girl was born to them. She replaced the happiness in their home. They named her Hattie. Two years later on Christmas Day another little girl was born. They named her Rutha after her mother, but she lived only one week and died on New Year's Day. 8 January 12, 1896 still another baby girl came, and she was called Ida. When Ida was 10 months old, Thomas was called on a mission to the Southern States. Then came the problem of where to get the money to care for Rutha, Hattie and Ida and to keep him on his mission, but the way was opened up. Thomas rented his farm, and with the money he had saved, fulfilled a 26 month's mission for his Church from 1896 to 1898. After returning home, Thomas resumed work on his farm, and also tock an active part in the Church. June 12, 1900, their first son was born. He was named James Thomas Palmer. Earl William Palmer, the second son, was born December 11, 1902. Then in 1905 the family sold their home and moved into the brick house in which Rutha is still living. This home was purchased from Isaac Morris, a brother-in-law of Thomas. In this new home Frank Parley Palmer, the third son, was born April 10, 1906. Then Rhea was bom October 27, 1911. She was the last child, making eight children born to them. About the year of 1914 or 15 Thomas had a very serious illness, and tells this incident of a visit of three personages whom he thinks were the three Nephites. He said he had been very ill for several months. In April or May he was in the hospital with three absesses on his lungs. He stayed there for ten days. He had been promised complete recovery by the Elders of the Church from the beginning of his illness. After returning home he did not regain his health a s he had been promised. He became very discouraged with the condition he was in. The doctor said there was very little hope of complete recovery. His family was really in need, and his crops were a complete failure. So he decided to ask the Lord why he had been deprived of the promise of the Priesthood. He prayed, asking if there was anything standing in the way that he could overcome. As a direct answer to his prayer in the middle of the night, three personages visited him and told him as they stood at the foot of his bed that he would recover, 9 and that before morning that which was on his lungs would slip off, and he would enjoy better health than he had ever had before. The three personages he said were of medium build, and had very pleasing voices. He did not see from where they came, or where they went, but he did enjoy the blessings they promised. And up until the age of 83 did some work on his farm. There was no doubt in his mind that these were the three Nephites spoken of in the Book of Mormon which were privileged to tarry on earth until the second coming of Christ. Rutha always had a lovely voice and sang in the Ogden Stake Tabernacle to a large audience at the age of 8 years, and in the choir from the age of 12 on in the North Morgan Ward. She remembers when Brother West from Round Valley was the conductor, then Brother Edward Anderson. She served in the Stake Presidency of the Primary for two years, and taught Primary and Religion class for several years with sister Sarah Heiner, (mother of Sylvester Heiner.) On June 3, 1937, Thomas and Rutha celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The day was spent at their home as open house. Many friends and relatives called. Light refreshments were served by their daughter, Hattie, and their daughter-in-law, Elanore, wife of Frank Palmer. In the evening a dinner was given at the home of their son, James, and his wife, Fern. Fifty places were laid at one long table. A huge white and gold wedding cake formed the center piece, and the rooms were decorated with crystal and gold candles and baskets of yellow roses. Special guests were Mr. and Mrs. William Palmer, Sr., Preston Idaho; Mr. and Mrs. William Palmer Jr. of Salt Lake City, Utah; Mr and Mrs. Joseph H. Lowe, Franklin, Idaho; Mrs. Verna Smith, Franklin, Idaho; Mr. and Mrs. Nat Clark, Ogden, Utah; Bishop and Mrs. Amy Heiner; Mr. J. C. Little and Mrs. Harriette Robinson, Morgan, Utah; Mr. and Mrs. George Thackeray, Croydon. During their entire lives Thomas and Rutha took active parts in their church and community. Shortly after Thomas returned from hismission he was called to act as first councilor to H. B. Crouch in the young Men's Mutual Association of the Stake, and following this was chosen by Bishop James A. Anderson as his Councilor in the 10 Bishopric of North Morgan Ward. He worked in this capacity for 18 years. It was during their term that North Morgan Chapel was built. He was also active in the affairs of the county, serving as County Commissioner, and was elected 4 terms as Morgan City Councilman. He acted as watermaster, later as president of North Morgan Irrigation Company, and was an active Ward teacher up until the age of 83 years. Thomas and Rutha enjoyed spending the winter months in California at the home of their daughter, Ida, and her husband, Floyd, who live there. These trips were made possible by Floyd, and the co-operative efforts of their children. Then one beautiful Autumn day, September 30, 1912, proved to be the most tragic in Rutha's life. Thomas came home from the field at noon riding the black pony at a brisk gallop, came in the house in very high spirits at the thoughts of another one of Rutha1 s good hot dinners of which he had enjoyed many, and also anticipating a trip with their daughter, Hattie, and her husband, Herman, had planned for them the next day, a drive up Logan Canyon and from there to Bear Lake, then home by way of Evanston. Thomas ate a hearty meal, then acting as if he were choking left the table and went to the back porch. There he suddenly dropped of a heart attack. Like the leaves fall in Autumn, or the sun set at the end of a perfect day, Thomas Palmer's life was ended with his family and friends remembering a simple life of service to the community he has rendered. Rutha is still living and is here with ustoday. She was honored on her 8lst birthday by the Daughter of the Utah Pioneers, Mt. Joy Camp as hostess. She has six living children, eleven grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren. She and Thomas lived full lives and have seen changes that transformed the world. From the ox-team to pony express, stage coach to railroad, telegram, electric lights, automobiles, good roads, aeroplanes, radio and atomic power. And we wish her many more happy returns of the day. History written by Fern Palmer.