Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Together They reached St. Johns on August 14th. Their little girl, Lou, was born here in October. They didn't have any house except the wagon to live in, so they stayed in it until the people living above them took all the water and everything dried up and died. Ben then started hauling freight to get money to live on. In October they decided to move down to Mesa and so the little family started out. They had to find the road as they went along, and after traveling for a few days stopped to make camp for noon and water the horses. They watered the horses from a bucket as they had to carry their water on the side of the wagon. The horses were very thirsty and were both trying to drink at the same time. Ben asked Louisa to keep one of them away. All at once it kicked her and she fell down. When she tried to stand up, she realized that the bone was sticking out of her leg and it was bleeding. They wrapped it as best they could and traveled on to find help. Two days later, after traveling about fifteen miles and being turned away a few times, they finally found a place to stay. It was a little granary with a small fireplace in which a bed was made for her. Ben did the cooking and took care of the baby and Louisa. After six weeks she was able to move and so Ben made her some crutches. He was so tickled to think that she could walk, that he suggested they go over to the neighbors and show them. On their way over, her crutches slipped into the little ditch next to the path and Louisa fell and broke her leg open again. She was carried back to the granary where she stayed for another six weeks. The leg was never set and so she had a crooked leg the rest of her life. Erysipelas, an acute infectious disease of the skin characterized by local inflammation and fever, set in her leg and they tried everything they could to cure it. With no success, they were told to go back to Utah. They sold everything except one horse, and hired a man to take them to the depot in a wagon. They arrived in Utah in February and spent all the rest of that winter getting her leg cured. Louisa spent all the next summer on crutches. While she was recuperating, Ben went north with cattle and returned about two years later. In May of 1889, Ben and Louisa's older brother, William Henry Tonks, went to Victor, Idaho, where they homesteaded a farm, clearing the ground of willows and sagebrush. Louisa, Henry's wife, Susan, with the children, traveled to Market Lake, Idaho (now called Roberts) in August. Ben and Louisa lived in a wagon for awhile, then in a little shack on the flat near Victor. They didn't have any windows or door so would hang quilts up to keep the snow out. The early life in Idaho was not easy as there weren't any stores at first. Whenever they needed things they would go to Rexburg, about sixty miles away, to get them. The roads were very poor, and it would take a week or more to make the trip there and back, camping along the way to rest the team. The first winter they had three sacks of potatoes which they divided with Henry and Susan, and still had to save enough of what was left to plant the next spring. They had dried wild fruit and lots of dried corn. Whenever they were out of meat, Ben would go down to the brush by the river and get deer and all the ducks they could eat. When they got their first cow, they were so thrilled, and how they did enjoy the butter and milk. For entertainment, they had lots of parties which included dancing. Sometimes they would dance all night and when it would snow a real lot, it would be impossible for them to get back home until the next day. Everyone liked picnics and they had many of them. They went fishing often and would have big fish suppers on the creek bank. Louisa was the mother of seven children. She died in Idaho on March 7,1942. ©9- 108