- Born 31 Aug 1861 Pleasant Grove, Utah, Utah
- Died 12 Apr 1924 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
- Parents: Hans Christian Davidson and Anna Maria Jensen
- Spouse: Anna Louisa Peterson (md. 4 Mar 1887 Fairview, Sanpete, Utah--divorced)
- Children: Mary Louise Davidson, Arland Lorenzo Davidson, Arthur Cleveland Davidson, Lenora Sarah Christina Davidson, John David Nathaniel Davidson, Eskil Leander Davidson, baby Davidson
- Spouse: Martha Dwyer (md. 29 Dec 1897)
There is a blog devoted to the life story of Lorenzo S. Davidson. It includes details not found in the story below. You can find it here.
LORENZO DAVIDSON'S LIFE STORY
Compiled by his family in 1960
"Lorenzo was born August 31, 1861, in a dug-out cellar in the side of a hill, in Pleasant Grove, Utah, about three years after his parents came across the plains. He was the fourth child of Hans Christian Davidson, and Anna Maria Jensen. He had four brothers, Hans Thomas, Amasa, Ephraim and Joseph; six sisters, Mary, Elizabeth (Bell), Sara (1), Sarah (2), Lucinda and a baby sister who died unnamed. His eldest brother and sister were born in Denmark, before his parents joined the church. In Denmark, his father was a prosperous printer before he joined the church; then he was persecuted so much he was glad to leave all he had and come to Zion.
"In 1864, Lorenzo's parents moved to Mt. Pleasant, here he spent his boyhood. His parents were very poor and couldn't buy shoes for their children, so they went bare-foot most of the time. In the winter, Lorenzo and Bell, would get a large chip of wood, then standing on it with one foot and pushing with the other, they would skate across the ice.
"He had little schooling, only going to about the third grade. He and Amasa attended the First Presbyterian school, now known as "Wasatch Academy," it was founded in 1875, by Dr. Duncan J. McMuillian. The school was first conducted in an old dance hall, which McMmllian converted into a school and church. This building was still standing on Main Street in 1932. It was being used as a meeting hail for the Masonic Lodge. It was one of the Pioneer Day Landmarks.
"He herded cows for his father at the time Indians were hostile, and there were also many wild animals to make a young boy afraid. One night when it came time to take the cows home, he could not find them. Not wanting to go home without them he knelt down, and asked the Lord to help him. He got up and looked around, then walked over to a place where there were lots of willows, and there laying down, chewing their cud were the cows. He worked away from home and helped his parents while young. He was always concerned for his mother, and before he would leave he would cut up a pile of wood so she would have plenty to last until he returned.
"One time he came home late at night, and awakened to hear his mother call Amasa to get her some wood. After she had called several times and Amasa had ignored her, Lorenzo became angry and jumped out of bed, and went to Amasa, and when he would not get up and get the wood, Lorenzo picked him up and threw him down the stairs and told him to get it. After that they were not the best of friends.
"Although we have been unable to find any record of this, it is told in the family that when he was about eighteen, he met and married a girl of about the same age. They lived in Mt. Pleasant, a baby boy was born to them, but within the year his wife left him. This made him feel badly and he left Utah and went away to prospect and trap. (About 1921 he told his daughter Lenora, that he hunted up his first wife and found her in Wyoming. He went to see her but she was bitter and would not talk to him. She threatened to throw scalding water on him if he did not leave, so he did leave without finding out anything about her.)
"When he was prospecting in Montana, he filed on a claim. He would work an eight hour shift in a coal mine then he would work his own claim. There were two foremen at the coal mine, each on a different shift. Each foreman thought he had a man who could load the most coal, so they made a bet of $50.00 for the winner. Lorenzo's foreman told him he would give him half if he could win. The other man loaded fifty-seven cars of coal, (each car load weighed 800 pounds, in his eight hour shift. Lorenzo loaded sixty-one cars and was proud to win.
"In Butte, Montana, he and another man took up a claim together; it turned out to be the richest gold mine in Butte at the time. They were doing fine and taking out tons of rich ore every day. One day a man from the east bought out his partners' share for $2,000,000 but Lorenzo would not sell his share. Two days later the miners struck a vein of water so large that it was like a canal running out of the mine. There was not any way to stop the water so they had to abandon the mine and again every thing seemed lost to him. Later he sold his share to the man who bought out his partner for $2.50, and left for Canada to try again. Later he was thankful that he lost it and considered it a blessing from God.
"He had many varied and, exciting experiences during the three months he spent in Canada, with no companion but a New Foundland dog. One day while he was out hunting, he walked on the shelf of a huge ledge with his dog walking behind him. At a sudden noise he turned around to see a mountain lion spring from the ledge above, grab the dog, then jump to the ledge below and disappear. That was the last he saw of the dog. He was tired of living on wild meat without salt and lonesome without the dog so he returned to Utah. When he arrived home, at Birch Creek, he was saddened to find his mother had died while he had been away. He loved his mother very much, her was a blow to him.
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"Lorenzo and Anna Louisa decided to homestead in Wyoming. They left Fairview about 15 April 1892. Traveling with them were Carl and Lena Gjettrup and family, also Carl's brother, Pete. Lorenzo wanted to travel fast and did not plan to take any animals with them but the Gjettrup's had a cow and had to travel slowly, so Lorenzo bought a cow and a calf; thus the family had fresh milk as they traveled along. Lorenzo drove four head of horses on a wagon, with a trailer wagon, hooked on behind it. Christian Jacobsen, his brother-in-law, drove another wagon for him. When he left Utah, he was thirty-one years old, Anna Louisa was thirty-three, Anna, her eldest was thirteen, Ellen was eleven, Rena, nine; and Mary four, Arland the baby was twenty-two months.
"On one of the wagons, Lorenzo built cupboards, with shelves facing the outside of the wagon box. On one side of the wagon there were three shelves, each held six chickens, eighteen in all. On the other side were two shelves with a pair of geese and a pair of turkeys, on the back they had two pigs in a box. Inside the wagon they kept their household supplies, grain and seeds to plant. The trailer wagon was sort of a camp wagon or a sheep wagon, as we know them today. In this they ate and slept. It contained a small stove, a dry-goods box made a table, there were a few dishes and a dasher churn. Across the back a large bed was built which covered many supplies stored beneath. In the third wagon Lorenzo had ordered some fruit trees and some bushes but they had not come when they left Fairview. The man he ordered from received them soon after Lorenzo left, so he followed and overtook the families and delivered the plants; consequently the Davidsons had the first fruit and shade trees in Teton Basin. However the winters were so sever that most of the fruit trees winterkilled. The lilacs, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, currants, rhubarb and other plants did fine and from them Lorenzo was able to give starts to people all over the valley for the next fifteen years.
"When they left Fairview, Lorenzo intended to go to Big Horn Basin in Wyoming, but when they came through Salt Lake City he heard that the snow was so deep they would not be able to get through. They traveled through Cache Valley, Pocatello, Eagles rock, and (Idaho Falls) and to Rexburg. There was lots of storm as they passed through Cache valley, and the weather was so bad they camped for a time in a meadow, southwest of the Logan Temple. They stopped each evening about five o'clock and turned the animals and poultry loose to eat before night. In the morning they would catch the poultry under the wagons where they had found shelter during the night and put them back into their pens. They crossed the Snake River at Idaho Falls on a narrow plank and caused some delay and quite a scare. At Moody Creek, between Sugar City and Teton, Lorenzo and Mr. Gjettrup, left their families and went on to Teton Valley, to try and locate a place for them there. This was necessary because there were many places the snow was still too deep to get through, also Anna Louisa was expecting another child and it was due any-day and they did not want to be held up in a drift or in mud.
"In Teton Valley, Lorenzo met a Mr. Seymore, who asked them what their plans were and when they told him they intended to homestead, he said, "What! Take my cattle range. I want you to know that sage brush and cobble-rocks are mighty hard to digest." They found some land they liked, and then returned to their families. As the men cross Teton Creek, it was dry but when they returned with their families and loads there was so much water in it they could hardly get their wagons through the creek. In Teton Valley, they homesteaded at a place called Darby. They arrived there the 23 May. At this time there were only two families living there; the Henry Todds and the Eilington Smiths.
"Davidsons stopped at the Todd home, a one-room log cabin at the mouth of Darby Creek canyon. Mrs. Todd slept on the dirt floor and gave her bed to Anna Louisa. Seven days later Uncle Chris sent for Mrs. Murphy, the mid-wife, On May 29, 1892, a son was born to Anna Louisa. He was the first white child to be born in the valley. He was named, Arthur Cleveland.
"Mr. Todd had built the walls for another room at the north of his cabin but winter came before he could finish it. Lorenzo shoveled the snow out of it, chinked the logs and put on a roof. Here his family lived until he could clear a bit of land and get things started for himself. Lorenzo homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres adjoining Todd's three hundred and twenty acre farm. The Gjettrup's filed on a farm one-half mile west of Lorenzo's and west of Todd's. Before Lorenzo could build a cabin for himself or plant a crop, a canal had to be dug to bring water from Darby Creek so they could irrigate the farm and water their animals. This took some time, then the land had to be cleared of sagebrush and sunflowers also rocks had to be hauled away. There were low places and high badger mounds that had to be leveled so the water would flow evenly over the land. The first year there was only a small field cleared. They planted a little barley, oats, potatoes and garden. When harvest time came they threshed the grain by putting the grain on a large wagon cover, then the children would trample it until the heads of grain were crushed. After this the straw was carried away and piled for the animals, then on a day when the wind was just right the grain and chaff were held high above the wagoncover. The breeze carried the chaff away and the clean grain fell to the cover. Some of this grain was ground with a small coffee grinder and the flour was used to make bread during the winter, along with the one sack of white flour they had.
"After the planting was done, logs were cut and hauled to build their cabin and shelters for their animals and poultry. Neighbors helped put on the logs, then more logs were hauled and split to make a door and a roof, On top of the split logs they laid a thick layer of willows, they put a thick layer of grass and straw over this and last a thick layer of dirt. The openings between the logs were filled with a clay mud, this kept the room dry and warm. Their garden was not very good that year and the family of eight lived mostly on wild meat. There was plenty of elk, deer, antelope and other game and Lorenzo killed enough to supply his family.
"In summer the animals were turned out on the mountains to feed. One time Lorenzo went out for his horses and met a grizzly bear with two cubs. She chased him down the mountain. Lorenzo could run down mountains like a deer or he would never have been able to get away from her. He also taught his children to run fast down hill. Besides grizzly bears there were wolves, coyotes, wild cats and mountain lions, so they always had to be on the watch. Lorenzo trapped many of the animals and tanned their hides, these Anna Louisa made into boots for Lorenzo and the children. They also made good robes and rugs. There were also many wild chickens, sage hens, grouse, pine-hens and others. One day Ellen caught a wild chicken in her apron. There were lots of badgers and ground hogs or squirrels as the children called them. These were bad because they ate the gardens and grain. Lorenzo would poison them with strychnine. It took many years before they got rid of them."Lorenzo put up wild hay to feed all the animals through the winter. The only light they had was a little dish of tallow with a strip of cloth through it to light. It was not a bad light; something like a candle only it smoked more. They bought coarse salt like we use for ice cream and ground it through the coffee grinder for table use. Lorenzo built a blacksmith shop and many mornings we would get up at four o'clock and sharpen plow points for himself and his neighbors. He also fixed machinery and shod their horses. The first few years he used a large box like affair he made to smoke and cure meat. He was very particular as to the kind of wood he used for the smoke fires for this smoke went into the building and flavored as well as cured the meat. This was the way the Indians cured their meat. When he had extra venison he cured it this way and it was called "jerky." When the blacksmith shop was built then Lorenzo cured his meat there. He really had a reputation for curing good meat and many people brought their meat for him to cure and sometimes he would go to ranches and cure the meat for them.
"The small bushes and plants he brought with him grew well and after the first year the family had all the raspberries and strawberries they wanted the whole year. He had an exceptional garden every year and raised some of the best turnips in the whole valley. Lenora and Nathaniel, were both born in the first log cabin. It was also used for the church house and dance hall and just every kind of a party for it was the largest room around. When a surveyor surveyed the valley, they found the cabin was built on the line between Lorenzo's and Todd's. About 1887, Lorenzo built a larger log house in the center of his field. After this the first log house was used for a schoolhouse. Arland started to go to school here when he was eight years old. They lived in this second log house when young Anna was married in November 1897. Anna was dressed in a lovely blue and George Dewey her husband, was also dressed in his finery. Many presents filled the large table. They lived on a homestead ten miles away. Chris and Hannah Jacobsen (Anna Louisa's sister), moved to Darby in 1898 and homesteaded a farm one mile west of the Davidson's. Lorenzo gave them the first log cabin he built and they moved it onto their farm. They enlarged it to make a comfortable four-room home. (The house was still standing in 1955 and was in use).
"Parties and church meetings were still held in the Davidson home. People came long distances and sometimes stayed over night when it was extremely cold. Beds were made all over the floor to accommodate these guests. Mary told about when the dances were held there and the smaller children were put up in the hall-loft where the children slept regularly. Here they could watch the fun until they became tired and then lay down and go to sleep comfortably. Just about the time Anna got married, Lorenzo built a lean-to on the west side of the house, for a bedroom and a kitchen. Later he built two rooms on the south, the larger room doubled as an extra living room where they had extra quadrilles and as a bedroom for Lenora and Mary. The smaller room was at long last a private bedroom for Lorenzo and his wife.
"He was always a kind father and did many things to bring happiness to his family, such as making a special trip to the mountains each year and bringing home a beautiful evergreen tree for their Christmas. They would decorate it with apples and string of popcorn. Whenever he took loads of grain to St. Anthony, which was the nearest trading center, he would always bring home a bit of hard candy or mints for them. Many times the children would tie strings on the hard candy and hang it on the Christmas tree. Mary was given a small piece shaped like a bird. She tied it on the tree every year until she was older then she kept it in her small box of treasures and late after her daughter got married she gave it to her. Whenever the children were ill he would lay his hands on their heads and give them a blessing, and then he would say, "Now go to sleep." Lenora says she could always go to sleep and sleep so good after he did this. He always had time to talk to the children and take them places with him.
"Lorenzo was clerk of the school board and had charge of hiring the teachers, and seeing that the school had the things they needed. He helped make the rough plank desks and benches for the first school in his log cabin. He was clerk as long as they lived in Darby. He was also clerk of the water association, and took charge of the distributing of the water, making head gates and doing anything needed.
"The Darby Ward was organized about this time and Emanuel Bagley was chosen Bishop. Lorenzo knew things about him that he felt were wrong for a bishop and he felt he could not sustain him in that office. When they voted for him in their sacrament meeting, and asked if there were any contrary votes, Lorenzo stood up on the bench and held both hands against him. There had been several others who intended to vote contrary but they failed to stand up for what they thought. This caused a disturbance but when all the information had been presented, Bagley was ordained bishop. Later he told Lorenzo he was excommunicated for his contrary vote. (In checking through the records of the church in 1960, they cannot find any record of an excommunication, the Presiding Bishopric say that Lorenzo was never excommunicated.)
"When Mary was about twelve years old she was very sick with rheumatism. (Now we would call it rheumatic fever.) This traveled all over her body and settled in her heart. They feared she would not live long. Lorenzo was very concerned over his eldest child. He went to Pratt Ward to get the Elders to administer to her. On the way there, he went into a grove of Quaken Asps, there he knelt down and prayed that Mary would be healed. He promised the Lord, he would be re-baptized into the Church and that he would serve Him. The Elders came and administered to Mary. They promised her health. A sharp pain went through her heart and from then on she was without pain. She speedily gained her strength and was able to go to school the following year.
"Lorenzo was re-baptized in a pond in the lower part of the farm by Daniel Hill on September 15, 1900. From then on he paid his tithes, went to church and did the things he was asked to do. From that time the Lord blessed Lorenzo abundantly. He was ordained an Elder again on April 2, 1904, by D. Hopkins, Lenora says, "I remember not long after he started going to church that one fall he loaded up grain to take to the tithing grainery; he had three beds on the wagon and the sacks were piled high on top of them. I'm sure he could not get another sack on top, and I thought to myself-my but that is a lot of tithing. I remember the next fall he had two graineries full of grain and a large shed that was between one grainery and the shop full of sacks of grain, timothy and alfalfa seed and I don't know how much hay he had. The Lord certainly blessed him abundantly."
"He had a lot of men work for him but only two worked for any length of time. One, Gene Cowan worked one summer, another, Joseph Bagley, worked for him several years. He married Rose Hill while he was working there so Lorenzo built them a one-room log house a little way from the Davidson home. Joe Bagley was a good worker and the children really like him. He had a good voice and could sing lots of songs for them. He also played the mouth organ and taught Arthur to play it too. Many an evening they would spend playing and singing. There was lots of snow during the winter in those days. The roads were always drifted full so people would travel straight from one place to another over fences and farms for one could not tell where boundaries were. When they needed to chop feed for the animals they would have to dig the snow away from the chopper so they could work. Lorenzo raised lots of hay and would sell it to sheep-men with the understanding that they would feed it on his place. They would feed the sheep in one place for a while then move to another. In this way the land was well fertilized and he raised a bumper crop.
"On March 4 1901, a stillborn child was born to Anna Louisa and Lorenzo. The baby had been several days before it was born and had started to decompose. Anna Louisa said that three days before as she had been carrying water from the ditch to wash she had felt the child turn as she lifted the water from the ditch and then the child had never moved again. Lorenzo made a coffin for the little boy out of an old coal oil can box. Ellen covered it and fixed it real nice and Rena dressed the baby. Lorenzo and Anna Louisa felt badly about it and they never had another child.
"About the time they lost the baby there was an epidemic of diphtheria in the valley. Arthur and Lenora had it very bad. They lay in the same bedroom as their mother lay still sick from childbirth. The rest of the family stayed in the kitchen and other bedrooms. They fumigated the house with carbolic acid and formaldehyde cloths to keep the germs down. They also tied asifidity bags around their necks and oh, how they smelled. Peeled onions were also hung about the house, they absorbed the sickness and would turn black almost over night. Arthur was so ill he was not expected to live. Some men came from Pratt Ward to buy hay and Lorenzo asked them to have the Bishopric meet in prayer for Arthur, which the Bishopric did that very evening. The night before this the chamber had been red with from Arthur's infected throat and he was so weak he could not move, in fact as they tried to move him that morning he fainted away. Early in the morning after he was prayed for, Arthur asked for a bucket of cold water. His mother and father hesitated about giving it to him but he insisted, saying that he would die if he did not get it. Anna Louisa asked Lorenzo to set her in the big rocking chair close to Arthur's bed so she could talk to him. He told her that when he fainted someone came to him and told him he should have this. She became convinced he should have the water and asked Lorenzo to get him a bucket, but to put enough hot water in it to take away the chill. Arthur leaned over and doused his head in the water three times then he took a long drink from the bucket, put his hands on his hair and squeezed the water from in into the bucket. Then he threw his legs out of the bed and stood up and said, "I am well now, bring me my clothes." The next day Pete Larsen a bachelor, who checked the sick families that were quarantined to find out their needs, came to the house. He expected he would have to order a grave dug for Arthur but he found him outside running after a fashion, with his brother Arland on a short strip of bare ground between the snowdrifts. The epidemic cleared up and there were no more s after this. There were trying times of sickness and s along with good times and the Davidson's weathered them all.
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| Left to right, seated: Lorenzo, Eskil, Nathaniel, Anna Louisa, Arthur Left to right standing: Mary Louisa, Arland |
"Lorenzo was about six feet two inches tall and weighed a good 235 pounds. He had a hearty appetite and was extra strong. A friend, Fred Tyler, says that one day he saw a load of something corning down the road. When he came closer he found it to be Mr. Davidson carrying the load on his back, and scarcely being visible beneath it. Even though he was tall some of the timothy he raised grew almost as tall he was and the alfalfa grew up to his arms. It was so thick it was hard to walk through it let alone cut it. The grain was also heavy and yielded good. He took prizes at the fair for grain, timothy and alfalfa seed. He sent
1925 at the time of Anna Louise Davidson funeral-Parker Idaho Front left: Mary Housley, Ellen Ellis, Rena Peterson, Lenora Tyler, Annie Dewey Back left: Arland Davidson, Nathaniel Davidson, Arthur Davidson, Eskil Davidsonsome alfalfa and timothy seed to the world fair at St. Louis and took first prize. He was one of the first to grow russet potatoes in Idaho. He sent east for the seed and then people came from near and far to buy seed from him. One year he cut the timothy from a small patch and then cut all the ditch banks and sold enough to pay for a threshing machine. He also had good horses and took prizes on them too. He did lots of freighting in the fall and winter from Jackson Hole and Victor to St. Anthony. He would haul out the grain and hay and bring back food and supplies for Blogett's store in Victor and for Miller's ranch in Jackson Hole.
"After he began to keep the Lord's commandments and make good on his farm, he did not do it any more but stayed home with his family and took care of things.
"On Christmas Eve 1906, his daughter Mary, married Chester Loveland the Bishop's son. After they were married a while they had their differences and Lorenzo kept her home to live. After her little daughter Edna, was born, he took particular care of her. One day when she was about two years old, she went to the corral to get a bucket of water from the ditch. She was soon missed but when they found her an old buck sheep was bunting her down as fast as she could get up. Lorenzo took the child to the house, then took his gun and shot the sheep. Another time Ellen went to milk a cow. The cow had a new calf and was touchy. She started for Ellen. Ellen ran but the cow caught her with her horns and threw her over her head. Ellen was not hurt but Lorenzo got rid of the cow right away. Though he liked fine animals he wanted them to be gentle.
"When Arthur was about twelve years old, he and Arland and some of their friends, Earl and Clyde Hansen, were playing with some pet colts and having a high time. Arthur grabbed the tail of one colt and holding on chased it around and around the yard. Suddenly the colt shot out is hind feet, one hoof caught Arthur on the right side of the face cutting it open so it showed the temple and the cheekbones.
"When Arthur walked into the house the hay men were eating supper. One glance at Arthur and the meal was over. George Dewey was there and he rushed to the barn, harnessed the first horses he found to a light buggy then lashed them all the way to Driggs. Here he picked up Dr. Schuppe, and brought her out to care for Arthur. (Old Prince and Bell were not much good after this but they always had a place in the pasture.) In the meantime Anna Louisa gave Arthur the best aid she could. She had him laid on the bed and as she was cleaning the wound she looked up and saw Lenora, Eskil and Lorenzo watching her. Lorenzo was in a state of shock. She told him to take Lenora and Eskil out to the field and care for them. He put them on a horse and took them with him as he checked the irrigation water. When he returned, Dr. Schuppe had fixed Arthur. She had given him all the chloroform she had, and then it took thirteen stitches to sew up his face. It healed fairly fast but his skull was ed and it caused him unconsciously to do many odd things for a couple of weeks. Then he was all right.
"Lorenzo often went into the field and worked several hours before he had his breakfast. One morning he came in from irrigating about nine o'clock. When he came to the house there was a salesman there waiting to sell him some insurance. Lorenzo quickly told him he was not interested and could not afford the insurance anyway. The salesman continued to talk to him while he ate a breakfast of; half a dozen fried eggs, a large slice of ham and finished up with a big dish of fresh strawberries from the large bowl on the table, these he covered with thick separated cream. This was a sight for the salesman. He told Lorenzo, any man who could afford a breakfast like that, which was fit for a king, could certainly afford plenty of insurance. Then he asked Lorenzo if he knew how much a breakfast like that would cost if he had to buy it. Lorenzo was really taken by surprise but after thinking it over he bought insurance for both Arthur and Arland as well as himself. He kept plenty of food on hand in an upstairs storeroom. Each year he would take enough of his choice wheat to the mill and have it ground into flour, to last them until harvest came again. He also stored cereal and several sacks of sugar. He would have potatoes, vegetables and apples stored in a cellar. He kept a large barrel of pork covered with salt brine to be smoked when needed.
"There were chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks in the farmyard and a steer or two ready to be butchered when wanted. Whenever he went to St. Anthony, he brought home fresh salmon or smoked fish and dried fruits. Each spring he planted a hot bed in a special frame he made on the west of the house he built for the Bagley's. It was built a couple feet above the ground and each spring he would clean it out and put fresh manure in the bottom of it, (this caused heat which made the seeds grow). This he covered with several inches of good soil. He would plant cabbage and tomato seeds in rows and give them a light covering of soil. About fourteen inches above this he placed windows to let in the sunlight after the plants were up, but he kept the whole thing covered tight until the seeds germinated and began to show growth. One year he planted some lettuce and radish seed in it. They really grew fast. The lettuce was good but the radishes were mostly hot and tops. He always had plants to give to the neighbors.
"When they first came to Darby he wore pants that Anna Louisa made from old wagon covers and burlap sacks. She also washed, carded and spun wool into yarn and made the stockings the family wore for several years. She spun enough wool one year to have a suit made for Lorenzo. Now it really did seem good to Lorenzo to have plenty to take care of his family.
"About this time Bishop Hamilton and his counselors came to see him. The Bishop looked around and told him he was greatly blessed and he wanted him to go on a mission. At that time Lorenzo was using tobacco. He asked them to wait until fall so he would have time to quit his tobacco and get ready. But he did not quit his tobacco and as time went on he began to think he could not leave, so he asked the Bishop to take Arthur instead. Now Arthur was only seventeen years old but was well developed and much stronger than Arland the older son. It was decided to do this and Arthur went to Rexburg and took a missionary course that winter. He left for his mission to Sweden on May 10 1910. He was a good missionary but Lorenzo was not content, and things did not go well for him so he decided that Arthur would have to come home. Anna Louisa would not consider such a thing. Meanwhile Arthur became sick in Sweden and the Dr. could not find what was wrong with him. His companions took turns walking the floor with him for three days but he did not get better. Meanwhile at home Lorenzo walked the floor in frustration. The Mission president decided it was best to send Arthur home. It took a month for him to get home and he was better but still rather weak and could not do very much nor eat everything but he soon gained strength and was about again. He returned May 12, 1911, just away one year. Lorenzo was not at peace with himself, he knew he had not done right and he sent Arthur away, so he went to Chapin and stayed with his sister Anna and her husband until Lorenzo felt better and sent for him to return home.
"Lorenzo had the best farm in Teton Basin. He bought and sold other land there but he was never content anymore and wanted to move to a milder climate. He and Anna Louisa went to Parker and found a farm there that he liked very much and he made arrangements to buy it. He had not sold the farm in Darby so he had to get a mortgage on the farm so they could pay Frank Mason the previous owner in full. Lorenzo took Arthur, Arland, Mary and Lenora with him to Parker to plant the crop. They left Darby May 22, 1912, in a wagon and buggy, traveling across the fields as the roads were still deep with snow. Going across the field was so difficult, it took them all day to go one mile, so having broken trail they returned home and started again the next morning. On their arrival at Parker, they began housekeeping in a little house at the north, thus giving the Masons time to move out of the big house he had sold them. Later the rest of the family came to Parker but at harvest time Arland, Arthur, Mary and Lenora returned to Darby to take care of the crops. The farm at Darby was rented the next year and all the family worked together at Parker.
"The Masons had let the place run down, the yard was full of briars, seedling trees and weeds and the building were falling to pieces. The first thing they did before they moved in to the big house was to get things in order. Each one took either a hoe, shovel, rake or grubbing hoe and went to work with a will. They started on the south and worked to the west and north. An old well on the south was filled with everything from old stoves and buckets to rocks and trash. All the larger bushes and limbs were hauled a couple of hundred feet to the south. The pile grew higher and higher until the yard was clean and they could not get any more on top. One quiet evening they set fire to the pile. It burned high and fast. Soon there were lots of people there from town for they had seen the flames and thought the house was on fire and they came to help put it out. Things turned out all right and they got acquainted in a hurry. Soon Lorenzo began building new barns and other buildings. Soon after coming to Parker, Lorenzo and Anna Louisa went with a group through Yellowstone National Park. They traveled in a white top buggy most of the time. They enjoyed about the only vacation they ever had time to take.
"The next year the Government opened up a territory east of Idaho Falls for homesteading. Arthur was married and Lorenzo helped he and Arland and Mary to choose and file on each one of them a homestead. Arland was called on a mission and left for Sweden in November 1913. While he was there World War I began and he was transferred to So. Carolina to finish his mission. In the meantime Lorenzo was doing fine in the church again and the Stake President asked to prepare to be a Patriarch. While he was thinking it over he got a German family to help on the farm for a percentage of the crop. He took Mary to the dry farm and built a small house for her to live in and planted a small crop and a garden for her. She homesteaded both her 160 acres and 160 acres for Arland. The war was making a boom for farmers and Lorenzo did good too but he decided much to the sorrow of the family that he would not be a Patriarch neither would he send Nathaniel on a mission for he needed him on the farm.
"Arland returned from his mission and went to the dry farm to take care of it. Lorenzo began to have trouble with his stomach and had to watch what he ate all the time. Mary and Lenora worked away from home a lot of the time. One time Lenora was working for Mrs. Grey in St. Anthony, and as they were bringing her home one evening after work, he told Lenora that he was going to sell her father his old car. Lenora was indignant and told him she would shoot him if he did but if he would sell him a new car she would pat him on the back. She felt that her father was prosperous enough to have a new car. Mr. Grey told her he had been trying to sell him a car without success so Lenora told him to tell her father what a good farm he had and he would be able to sell him the car. A few days later Lorenzo bought a new Dodge car from Mr. Grey.
"Lenora always felt guilty for her underhandedness but it seemed to be a climax for all the good things they had shared together and because of their enjoyment of it, though it seemed to be the beginning of a changed way. Mary got married again in October 1917, Lenora in December and Arland in March 1918 so that Eskil was the only one remaining at home.
"Over the years Lorenzo and Anna Louisa had differences, but now they seemed to come to a climax. Anna Louisa was sealed to another man for time and all eternity and though they seemed to hang together desperately their differences continued to grow larger. Lorenzo waited until Lenora came home to have her first baby then a property settlement was arranged and Anna Louisa took over the still mortgaged farm and they arranged for divorce. Lorenzo went back to his old way and went trapping. He got a sheep wagon, fixed it up to travel and live in. He went into the mountains above the dry farms and trapped for a year or so. He got several dogs to keep him company. They were big lean hunting dogs and not at all friendly to anyone. The spring of 1922 he went to Twin Falls, where some of his friends were living and did grafting and budding at the Crystal Springs orchard. He found a small farm that he liked and bought it. He was lonesome and decided to try a matrimonial agency for a wife. He wrote and got in contact with Martha Dwyer. They seemed to think they could get along so she came to Pocatello. They got their marriage license on December 2 1922 but almost did not get married for she thought Lorenzo was too old. They visited and talked for several days and she finally decided she liked him all right and they were married on December 29 at the court house. Martha had a large family or married children and one young son she had brought with her. Lorenzo seemed to get along fine with both of them. The people in Twin Falls liked her. Later he took her to the dry farm where Arland and Mary still lived and they thought she was nice. They said she seemed to get along good with Lorenzo and he seemed very happy. This was a short happiness for April 1924, Lorenzo's stomach really got in a serious condition. They took him to the L.D.S. Hospital in Salt Lake City. They found he had a peptic ulcer but before they could operate, he had an internal hemorrhage and bled to death . He died April 12, 1924. His funeral was in Mt. Pleasant Utah, and he was buried there near his parents."
