Oral History Program John Taplin Betteridge Interviewed by Kim Berry May 1971 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah John Taplin Betteridge Interviewed by Kim Berry May 1971 Copyright © 2012 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Betteridge, John an oral history by Kim Berry, May 1971, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history report of an interview with John Taplin Betteridge. The interview was conducted in May, 1971, by Kim Berry. This interview is concerning John Taplin Betteridge of 1258 23rd St. He is married to Sarah Ellen Bellingham, born October 23, 1882. John's date of birth is January 18, 1874. The couple has been married 75 years. John Betteridge is 97 yrs. old. Because of this, I was unable to conduct a lengthy interview. But the time he gave me was very valuable for both of this. Of course, at times during the interview, he became a little incoherent. But on the whole he was amazingly alert. Afterwards, he played his harmonica. Out of that little instrument, came music like I had never heard before. He could really make it whistle. It sounded like at least three instruments were playing. He tapped his foot to the beat, and I could imagine him at one of those country dances doing the same thing. He said that if anyone ever wanted to dance, they would come to his house, where one of the boys or more would play the harmonica, and a dance was started. This was truly a valuable experience for me. This man is an inspiration to me. All that he stands for and all that he is is exemplified by his way of life. He seemed thrilled that someone would come to him for an oral history report. It seemed as if he held his head a little higher by the time we had left. And although this report is not as long as some, I feel it was very worthwhile. 1 JP: The one wagon had oxen on it and the other wagon had a mule and a horse. Three of the families were connected by marriage. Our family and two uncles and aunts. We left there about the last of August. We had done the most of the traveling in September. It took about--well it was in the third week of getting to Grasscreek. I was born on the 18th of January. That was the first month of the year of the next century. How old am I now? Well, they say I am ninety-seven. I am that far from the 18th of January into the ninetyeight. I was not hardly three years old when we went to Grasscreek. I had a brother that was older than me and I was the second one. And they had a little girl up at Hennifer that died a baby. But the next baby that came was my sister and she, you see, is just a little bit younger than me. She lives over to Oakley Idaho; she married a fellow by the name of William Nelson: A Danish man or a Swedish. They were scattering out. And my Dad and two uncles, and two relatives of those uncles went out there the year before. And my Dad built up a one-room log cabin. It had no door in it; it had no window in it when we got there. They hung up a thin white sheet at the window, and that let the light it. By the time we all arrived, on the second trip, he had some way, figured out a door. I don't know just how the door happened, but we had a door on there when we got there and got settled up. We lived there for about three years in that one spot. There was a man there: Heber C. Kimball's boy, Sam Kimball. He was a close to a mile away from us, but he was there when they were there before. He was there the year before. And he lived to be ninety-two years old. I helped to start him out to Canada. He had about 200 head of stock and I helped drive them the first day. Then I went back from the first day's drive. He went up to Canada. He got quite wealthy up there. He bought up places where people got dissatisfied and traded- he was a pretty good trader. But he finally got 2 tired of being in Canada. And he went to Oregon, where some kin of his were staying. He dealt in large farms. One of his relatives came here to see us, one of the boys. His wife died a few days before he left. And he had one little girl. She was as big as you are, but she was a little girl. And she could ride a horse just as good as any boy of her age, Samuel Kimball's daughter. Her mother had died in February, and they went after the spring had broken and they were traveling. And they sent me to Tacoma to get the casket. I went and got the casket, of course, I was at the funeral and the like of that. He had one brother who lived in Mexico or Arizona, Andrew Kimball; well, he came to the funeral. I and Sam Kimball, of course Sam was boss, he was 6'3" in his stocking feet, so he was sort of a short fellow? He and I get along very well. He was very good to me. I used to be likened to r" de horses and I didn’t care whether they had been ridden before or not. I couldn’t ride bucking horses very well, but I would soon have them gentle so I could ride them or drive them or anything else. And when he left he had them hooked on, he had four horses on the team. He was taking care of the wagon as they went up to Canada. And he had that horse scared so that when he would speak to it, it would jump and start quick. And I was close by, so he hollered t me. I said I would come and start him so he won't jerk and break anything. So I did. And I just went and spoke to the horse. Do you think animals can remember your voice or something? Do you think they know who is talking to them? Well, I rode over and I spoke to that horse and he started up as quiet as could be and started the wagon, and they never had a particle of trouble. We used to sleigh ride with him I worked him in the winter time see, arid we used to sleigh ride with him and all kinds of work. My father-in law was working for Sam Kimball. His name was Bellingham. Do you know any Bellingham's? You don’t, well, there are 3 several around here that are the offspring. My wife's name was that. There are Bellinghams around here; they are mixed up with Ogden here. There's quite a bunch of them, there's two or three families here. We’re mixed up with them. I got married the 17th of January. My wife has it registered. It's in there in the book. We moved to Ogden a little over thirty years ago. There was some little advertisement about work on the railroad. I worked on the railroad for months and months. I dug ditches and did all that kind of work. But it was good pay. Sometimes I rode on the top of the box cars like a regular tramp. That's how I got back and forth from Grasscreek often. My wife didn’t like it. But I worked on the railroad for quite a little while. Yes, the railroad brought in quite a bit of settlers. Many families came from all around to live here because of the railroad. The railroad offered good work to any young healthy man willing to do a little work. Now, the railroad is not so productive. You know, it has been replaced by cars and airplanes. It's a shame. I have lived here for thirty years, but there have been so many changes. . . I can't describe any of the changes, you might say, there have been so many. Yes, I have driven a car. I went up to Idaho. I'd say ten miles all total. It might have been ten miles, but it was just on a straight, good road. I never tried to drive one around here and I never had a car here. But I had a Big Boy up to Grasscreek and I say, there it is if you want to put gas into it, and drive it, then alright. Well, they would very likely borrow the money off of me to get the gas, but they got so they could drive pretty good. Finally, Wilber got him a job working for the government trapping coyotes. He was a pretty clever trapper. He had a pony to ride, see, and he says; I can get on that thing sit on him backwards, and start out of here and he'll stop as he gets to them traps. He'll go to them traps without any guiding whatsoever. And he turned out to be a pretty good 4 trapper. He earned quite a little bit for a couple of years on that job. But he could ride that pony and when his horse stopped, well, he slid off and there was a trap right close there. So, his horse learned the trick. Later, he got it in his neck to come to town here. And he got himself a job. After they have gotten old enough, all of the boys have taken really good care of themselves. They got a job. The oldest is in California. Four of the boys have passed their 65 birthday. Four of our sons. When we left Hennifer, originally, we went there because of farming. Of course, there were quite a few cattle and cattle drives, but the original aim was because of farming. After a while there was an outfit moved in there that had quite a bunch of cattle. They had started to raise a little hay. This here Shorty had helped them and worked for this man. 5