I was born in a log cabin in Dry Fork, Pittsylvania County, Virginia. The cabin belonged to Uncle Joe Stutz. My parents were in this house at the time. When I was three years old we moved down to Charlotte county. The name of the town was Charlotte C.H.(the C. H. stands for Court House). While we lived there my younger sister Emily died of the whooping cough. We moved twice but still had the same address. While we lived there I had a rising on my stomach. The doctor said that if it burst on the inside I would die but if it burst on the outside I would be all right.
In the fall of 1897 we moved to Wylliesburg for one year and then moved over to Sandy Creek, but we still had the same post office. We moved to Crafton's Gate but the post office was Fort Mitchell. There is where we first saw, heard of Mormon Elders.
There was a family over there by us. They was members of the Church. We lived there two years, then we moved to Barnesville. My parents bought three hundred acres of land for one thousand dollars. My daddy said after he had bought it he wished he hadn't bought it because he didn't think he would ever pay for it. But he did.
My parents were baptized on April 9, 1903 in a pond we made by damning up a little branch. They were baptized by Elder Willard H. Farnes and F. J. Sorensen. They (the elders) left pretty quick after that and we didn't see them no more until next summer.
Elder Chapman and Levett came and held meetings in different homes around there. One Sunday afternoon they was going to hold a meeting in a one room school building. An it was some fellers there frunk and broke the meeting up. An it was talk that they was going to get up a mob and come to my dad's place and get them missionaries, but they never did.
SchoolI never did go to school none much. Well, there we didn't have but six months of school. It would start the first of October and end the last of March. And sometimes we didn't start school until after Christmas. Then we would have to stop a day or so now and then and help on the tobacco. So that way we didn't go to school much. We did go to one school that had two rooms and had two teachers, the other had one room and one teacher. I didn't go to the fifth grade.
I didn't do nothing much until I was six or seven years old. Then my brother just older than me, we had to turn the hogs out on the wheat field after it had been cut and watch them. And my brother, we had to herd the cow. When I was eight years old I had a job picking beans and peas in the fall of the year. They when I was about nine or ten years old we had two cows and I had to take them out and herd them around every day. When I got a little older I had to take care of the cows, feed and milk them. I had to turn them out in the morning and then go to the tobacco fields.
Hay Rake AccidentWell now, we had hay on one side of the place and we lived on the other side; there was a narrow bridge between. We couldn't cross that bridge with the hay rake. One Saturday afternoon I hooked a brand new hay rake to the horse. It hadn't been fixed like it should have been so I just tied it with wire. I had to go up to the country road and around to get over to the hay field. I raked the hay up and was in a hurry to get back and take a holiday. As I was going back I was going down-grade. I had the lines around my shoulders and the horses were trotting and all at once something happened. I didn't know what happened. About half a dozen things went through my mind. And finally I happened to think to say, "whoa." The horse stopped and I was on the ground on my stomach. And I looked around and the hay rake was up there behind me about fifty feet. I had to get them and hook up again. When the wire broke the tongue fell down and the horses kept going with me.
We built a two story frame house in June of 1911 at Red Oak. This was the same place but before we had to pick up our mail at Barnsville and after we moved we got it RFD [rural free delivery] from Red Oak.
Barn RaisingWe made a regular festival out of a barn raising. It was customary whenever you had something to do like that to tell the neighbors to come and they would help you. While the men was building the barn the women cooked a feast. And they had their own cured meat and they would always have a great big ham. And they had different kinds of cake and pickles with the cake. That's the way they ate it. After they got the logs all fitted together in the afternoon and evening they would eat. We cut logs about 10 feet long and we notched them down and cut a saddle on one and cut a notch in the other so it would set right down over it. They were stacked one on top of another to form walls. We built a box on one side and one on the other, called fire boxes. It went up about eight feet and then we had flue pipes and this pipe went to the other end of the barn and back through the middle of the barn. You had to have a thermometer in there to tell how hot it was and it would take about three days and night to cure the tobacco. They you had to open the door to let the leaves soften up so you could get it out. It would crumble easy when you rolled it in your hand. When it got soft it was put into a packing barn. In the packing barn it was put in a pit until it was made softer. We then graded it and tied it up. It was stored under a cover until you were ready to sell it.
Arbor meeting accidentIt was Sunday, we had been to an arbor meeting (revival under a bowery) and had had dinner. Then as we started back home we was on the buggy and one of the shafts come off. The horse was all right as long as every thing was all right, but when anything went wrong he would jump. It was me, Annie Watson and my sister was on the buggy. And we all three went out. An when we got up Annie and my sister's arms was skinned up a little, and I got up with a wrist broke and my face all tore up. It took eight stitches to sew my mouth up. I took the buggy cushion and started on down the road looking for the horse. I just thought that the buggy was gone and maybe the horse had killed his self. We didn't go far down the road before we saw the horse standing there beside the road. He'd got up a few steps and then back a few steps. He kept that up until we got to him. When we got there we found what had stopped him. The lines come unbuckled and had got in between the spokes of the wheel and wound around the wheel until it had stopped. I held the horse by the bit while she got the lines off from around the wheel and got the shaft back on. She drove the horse about five miles to the doctor.
MarriageWe got married the 11th of November in 1914. A Baptist Minister married us in Wylliesburg. We had a double marriage, my sister Gracie and Samuel Woodson was married at the same time. She had eleven children (one died) and we had nine. That was a lot of children for two families. We didn't have a big wedding, we just had supper at my place and had our families. I went with Annie's cousin and my brother went with Annie. We all broke up and I married Annie and my brother married her cousin. My Dad's cousin said he had heard of people trading all sorts of things, but that was the first time he heard of anybody trading sweethearts.
OrdinancesWe was baptized the 14th day of May 1915. The elder that baptized us was Fredrick J. Bowcutt. We was baptized in the spring branch about the same place my father was baptized.
Elizabeth was born on Sunday, December 19, 1915 at about eleven o'clock at Annie's daddy's place at Red Oak not far from the post office.
Eva was born in Red Oak in a house we was renting from Burkley D. Adams. We didn't have a doctor, just a midwife. She was blessed by Elders Delbert Kirby and H. A. Frehner on November 25, 1917.
In October 1918 Elders B. E. Butler and V. W. Nicholes was called to administer to Mary Elizabeth that was very sick which she soon recovered.
Mechanic SchoolMy brother Joe and me went to Kansas City for six weeks to go to auto mechanics school. I saw the school advertised in the paper and I wrote to them. I had an auction sale and sold all my farming tools. Annie stayed with her daddy while I was gone. We took the train to Kansas City, Missouri. After the school I went to work in a garage in Red Oak. I didn't work there very long before the manager's wife got burned up. The manager lost interest so I just quit. Then I went back to farming.
Our third child, Josephine, was born on Thursday, January 22, 1920 at Red Oak, Charlotte count, Virginia in the same house that Elizabeth was born in. With her we had both a doctor and a midwife. When she was three days old she started to hemorrhage quite bad and it scared us some, but it stopped. We never did know what caused it. She was blessed by Elder Dewey Stanford and Irl Beecrofton, December 3, 1920.
After Josephine was born we moved but still the post office was Red Oak. I moved up to my dad's. The missionaries was going to preach at my dad's and Josephine just about had the croup and was a man there, he told me two or three times I'd better do something for her, didn't she'd die. When we started home the three children was all asleep and one of the missionaries took her home. When we got there he said, "If you want me to I'll get my companion and we'll administer to her." I told them to go ahead then, and they administered to her and she never had no sign of croup since.
Our fourth child Raymond Martin was born on Tuesday, August 22, at Red Oak, Charlotte county, Virginia. He was the first boy and we had doctor Saunders, he was the old family doctor. He was born in a little three room log cabin that my daddy built. It was a two story cabin and had a lean-to on it. And he was blessed by Elders C. D. Reese and E. P. Smith on November 12, 1922. Elders Reese and Smith was called the same day to administer to Josephine that was sick which soon recovered.
Mary Elizabeth was baptized May 30, 1924 by Elder James R. Steadman and confirmed by J. M. Marston.
Oleen was born on December 2, 1924 in the same house and had the same doctor. All the others was born in the same house and had the same doctor.
Oleen was blessed by Elders G. E. Despain and Peterson on October 11, 1925. Eva May was baptized on October 15, 1925 by Elders G. E. Despain and confirmed the same day by Elder Arthur Peterson.
Josephine was baptized May 16, 1928 by Elder Stanley M. Reeder and confirmed the same day by Elder Earl M. Patterson.
Our sixth child, Amos Ward, was born on Wednesday, September 26, 1928 and he was blessed on September 28, 1928 by Elders M. C. Luke and James Fannin.
On September 28, 1929 I was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained a Priest by Elder James Fannin. I was never ordained a Deacon nor a Teacher.
Our seventh child, Heber Fielding, was born in the same place and had the same doctor on Sunday, September 13, 1931. We didn't even have to go after the doctor with Heber. He come riding up and said, "That baby ought to be born before now." He was aiming to go fishing and he thought he had better come see about it before he went. He gave Annie a shot and a little while he was born. He was blessed by Elder Owen Rasmussen on October 16, 1932.
Oleen was baptized on April 19, 1955 by Elder George H. Whitley, Jr. and was confirmed the same day by Elder John E. Paget.
Going to New Jersey?We had been talking about coming west ever since we got married. Every time we started to come something happened. Finally, we just decided we'd come, we didn't have any money much, we just had a truck. I bolted some pieces on the frame of the truck to make it longer. Flim Rutledge, Annie's sister Mattie, and her family, were talking about going to New Jersey to get a job. And I told him that if he didn't care how far he went to look for a job he could come with me. I told him that I was going west. He decided to go with us. When we left my folks thought that we were going to take Flim to New Jersey, they didn't know that we were going west. We didn't even say good-bye to them. If we had they wouldn't have let us go. I knowed if we told them where we was headed, none of them would want us to go so I never told them nothing about it. When we got way on out here I sent them a card and told them where we were headed.
We left on the morning of May 14th 1934. When we got to Lynchburg I bought a tent. When I went to buy the tent, Flim was drunk and walked across the railroad tracks. When Mattie went to get him she almost got run over by a train.
That night when we went to put it up in Buena Vista, Virginia, two fellows wanted to know what we was fixing to do. "Going to run a show?" I told them we was just going to put up a tent to stay in that night. They said that I couldn't put up no tent there until I saw the mayor. I went and saw the mayor and he said go ahead. And we slept in the tent and Flim and his family slept in the truck. The next morning we got up and packed up and started over again. We done our own cooking on the camp stove. We had a little gas stove. When we left home we had quite a little bit of foodstuffs. We had five gallons of homemade molasses (sorghum), a big ham, lard, fruit, flour, soda, aspirin, and all kinds of home remedies.
In ColoradoWe stayed in Colorado three nights. I thought we would never get out of that place. Along in the afternoon we was in Colorado along the river, and I wanted to stay there but Annie and her sister didn't want to. We started out and got up on the mountain and there was nowhere to camp and we just kept on driving and driving. I got tired and I didn't know if we were going to get off that mountain or not, and when we did get off the mountain and found a place to camp I just laid down and went to sleep and the others put the tent up. The place we had picked was in the sawdust.
The next morning when we got up everything was white, covered with frost in the middle of May. And we begin to think we was going into a bad country, the way things looked that morning. And when we got over here into Utah in that desert we thought we was running into a bad country again. Annie said, "If Utah is like this, I don't know about it."
Somewhere in Colorado we saw the first prairie dogs. There was prairie dogs everywhere. Raymond was throwing rocks in the river and threw his pocket knife in. We never stopped to buy nothing to eat like we do these days, we just got water from a service station or farm. When we was in Kansas at a meeting house we didn't think we was going to get any water. They said that the water was short there. They were having a dry spell there and the wheat wasn't any higher than your hand and wasn't any good.
After we got to the Dew Drop Inn here in Utah we stayed there two nights. And there was a man out there cutting the sheep tails off and didn't have nobody to help him and I went out there and helped him. He said that that was the first time he had anybody help him do anything like that. None of his neighbors didn't. We came down Route 40. We got to Salt Lake on the 30th, Memorial Day; everything was closed up. We went on up to Tremonton to a missionary we knew, Owen Rasmussen. We stayed up there a couple of days and we came back to North Farmington, and lived in a tent.
More OrdinancesI was ordained Elder on September 2, 1943 by Henry W. Stahley in North Farmington. We was second counselor to the stake president.
On September 4, 1934 we went to the temple and was sealed, and had the children sealed to us. Then we went up to Salmon City, Idaho to another missionary we knew. We lived in a two room log cabin with James Fannin; we lived in one and he lived in the other.
Annie was homesick before we ever started and she was homesick after we got here, but she wanted to come and never wanted to come back.
In March we came back to Farmington; we lived there for a while and then in June we moved to North Farmington. I March of 1936 we moved up there on the bench, on the farm. On Christmas of 1934 we had been invited to a Christmas dinner, instead I had the flu and had to have some of them come and administer to me. James Fannin and Will Whiting administered to me and I soon got better. We left Salmon on March 28, 1935 and came back to Farmington. I was put in as a ward teacher in July of 1935.
Raymond Martin was ordained a Deacon in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 16, 1935 by Calvin Sessions.
North FarmingtonBefore I went up on the hill I was a janitor in the North Farmington meeting house for five years. I took care of the meeting house and the lawn. It had a coal furnace and I had to shovel coal into the furnace.
I was put in first assistant in the Genealogical Committee in the ward in November 1936. Virginia was born in the L.D.S. Hospital in Salt Lake on November 13, 1936. Amos Ward was baptized on December 6, 1936, in Kaysville by Elder Ivan G. Sheffield and I confirmed him the same day. Virginia was blessed on March 7, 1937 by me.
I was in the Sunday School Superintendency at North Farmington. In 1937 the doctor said that Josephine had a goiter and to bring her back next week and ger her ready to go to the hospital; that week we had the bishop and his counselors come and administer to her. When we took her back he said she ain't got no goiter.
Jim Manning was in the bishopric when we went up on the hill and it was his brother-in-law's farm up there. And so I went up there and talked to the man that owned the farm, brother Walker. And there was quite a bit of fruit on the place before I went there. And after I went there, Walker told me he would buy the fruit trees if I would plant the trees and take care of them. And he bought 70 cherry trees, 70 apricot trees and 80 peaches. And when they got to bearing fruit one year I sold apricots to the Smith Cannery in Clearfield, and they said them was the largest apricots they got that year. And people that seen them apricots said that they looked like peaches, they didn't look like apricots. And the cherries didn't take but fifteen of them to weigh a pound. Then we raised different kinds of fruit and things. We raised quite a few blackberries.
I sowed a piece of oats and they said that I'd thrown away my seed because oats wouldn't grow on that hill, but that was the finest oats I most ever saw. Walker told me to plant oats with the alfalfa and then when I cut the oats there would be a fine hay. So I did. And then I had a piece of alfalfa there and Wells Hess, who was 80 years old came by and said that that was as good a hay as he had ever saw.
Raymond was ordained a Teacher on January 9, 1938 by Dallas W. Manning and was ordained a Priest on January 21, 1940 by John Ivan Hess.
I was ordained a High Priest on April 17, 1938 by Thomas E. Winegar who was Stake President who was ordained by Rudger Clausen. He was ordained an apostle on October 10, 1896 by Lorenzo Snow, who was ordained an apostle on February 12, 1849 by Heber C. Kimball who was ordained an apostle on February 14, 1835 under the hands of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris who were blessed by the laying on of hands of the Presidency, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams to choose the Twelve Apostles. Joseph Smith was ordained an apostle in 1829 by Peter, James and John.
Our ninth child, Catherine, was born Thursday, August 11, 1938 at the L.D.S. Hospital in Salt Lake City, and was blessed on October 21, 1938 by John J. Hess, Bishop. It was time for her to be blessed and I was sick that day and we told him to go on and bless her.
Hill FieldI started working at Hill Field and worked there for eighteen years and more. And while we was still on the farm she and the children ran the farm and with what help I could do. I started up there when there wasn't very much up there. I started at Hill Field in April 1942. I worked in the warehouse. Then later on I had a job and they would give me a truck and some men and an order for so much lumber for a certain place and I would go and get it and take it where they wanted it. One day when I was on swing shift about four o'clock in the afternoon they gave me two trucks and a bunch of niggers to go and get some lumber. And it was cold, the wind was blowing from the north, and it was snowing. I couldn't get the niggers to get on the lumber pile to load it. I and the other truck driver handed the lumber down and they loaded it on the truck. One day I had a truck to go and get a load of lumber and my boss had a truck to go and get a load of lumber. And I delivered my load and when we got back he never could find the place and I had to go deliver his load. Then I worked in packing. They would bring in small parts of airplanes and we would treat them and wrap them up and pack them and get them ready to ship out. I retired in June of 1960.
KaysvilleWhen we moved to Kaysville we lived in the basement until we got the upper part fixed up so we could live in that. Pretty soon after they divided the ward and put me in as a ward teacher supervisor.
Catherine called us one day and said that Chad was sick. Said he had a high fever and she took him to the doctor, and the doctor said he had pneumonia. He put him in a tub of cold water, try to bring his temperature down. The Doctor said to bring him back the next day and they would put him in the hospital. And that night we went down there and Paul and I administered to him. And the next morning Catherine took him back to the doctor and the doctor said he was okay.
50th Wedding AnniversaryWe had our 50th Wedding Anniversary. We had all the children there except one. Heber wasn't there, he was in Colorado. Most of the grandchildren was there. The dinner was in the junior high school at Kaysville and then we had open house. It snowed and we had such a bad day that we didn't keep no records of it.
[Top] [Biography] [Bottom]Since the 24th has just passed, the day we honor the pioneers, we should know something of our own pioneers, the ones we still have with us. These pioneers of whom I speak, left their homes, family and friends for the sake of the Gospel. They were to travel 2,500 miles in unknown territory (,at least unknown to them). It was in the time of "The Great Depression as we know it now.- These pioneers came with the same courage, faith and determination as those in 1847. They left their homes in Red Oak, Virginia, on May 16, 1934, with 16 souls aboard a 1929 Chevrolet truck. They were:
| Name | age |
|---|---|
| Martin Church Hardy | 43 |
| Annie May Watson Hardy | 38 |
| Mary Elizabeth Hardy | 18 |
| Eva May Hardy | 16 |
| Josephine Hardy | 14 |
| Raymond Martin Hardy | 12 |
| Oleen Hardy | 9 |
| Amos Ward Hardy | 5 |
| Heber Fielding Hardy | 2 |
| Name | age |
|---|---|
| Flem Thomas Rutledge | 38 |
| Mattie Gray Watson Rutledge | 33 |
| William Thomas Rutledge | 15 |
| Beatrice Rutledge | 12 |
| Margaret Rutledge | 7 |
| Earl Rutledge | 3 |
| Franklin Rutledge | 1 |
William was-a cripple, unable to do anything for himself. The truck was outfitted somewhat like the covered wagons of 1847. The truck came with a metal cab. It had a homemade flatbed with braces to support the black oilcloth cover, which lasted approximately 30 miles. Somewhere along the way a tarp was acquired and used as a cover the remainder of the trip. The supplies included:
During the first day's travel they stopped at Brookneal and bought a truck tire. While there Flem Rutledge got drunk and headed for parts unknown, Mattie went chasing after him, not looking where she was going and stepped in front of a train. She never knew what she had done. Providence saved her, she was just brushed. Only the ones watching were hurt, with fear,
The first camp was made at Buena Vista, Virginia; a distance of 120 miles was covered that day, On May 17, 1934, they traveled 155 miles and camped at Rainelle, West Virginia. On May 18 they traveled 170 miles and camped at Olime Hill, Kentucky. Hay 19 they traveled 200 miles and stopped at Palmyra, Indiana, May 20 they traveled 227 miles, stopping at Greenville, Illinois. May 21 saw another 196 miles go by with Columbia, Missouri, as campsite.. Two hundred and nine miles were covered on the 22nd of May, The group stopped at Topeka, Kansas. On May 23 they traveled 261 miles and camped at Ogallah, Kansas. May 24 saw 288 miles go by before the group stopped at River Send, Colorado. While at this site Amos Hardy accidentally threw his knife into the river while he was throwing rocks, which was a great loss to him.
ColoradoOn May 25, 136 miles were covered and they stopped at Tabermash, Colorado, One hundred thirteen miles were covered on the 26th of May. They stopped at Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It was here that camp was made after dark. In the morning it was discovered that the camp was upon a big sawdust pile, It was so cold that no one in the party could believe it. There was ice on the water.
They traveled 135 miles on May 2/ and stopped at Cassion, Colorado. They made It to Strawberry, Utah, on the 28th of May which was 148 miles. Here the party stayed two days. The camp was near Dew Drop Inn which was a small eating joint. Also, here Martin helped a sheepherder cut sheep tails. The man helped remarked, "That's the first tine I've ever been offered help." The time was spent washing clothes, taking baths, etc.
Salt Lake CityThey arrived at Salt Lake City on May 30, 1934. The destination. It seems the party only went through Salt Lake City because several days were spent in El wood, Utah, near Tremonton, with a missionary family, the Rasmussens. Owen Rasmussen, the missionary, was in Virginia about two years earlier.
Then, the party went to Crystal, Idaho, in search of another missionary, James Fannin, only to learn that he and all his family had moved to Salmon, Idaho. Disappointed and discouraged, the party headed back to Utah.
FarmingtonMo one seems to know why South Farmington was chosen to camp, but down a lane in pasture land is where they stopped. From here Martin, Flem and Raymond walked north in search of work. Picking cherries for Smith Moon in North Farmington was the reward for their efforts.
The campsite was moved to a corner of the North Farmington Ward property. Here they remained until September 15, 1934, picking fruit in season for these people: Charles A. Lloyd; Rose, just west of the North Farmington Meetinghouse; Rice, whose orchards were near the campsite in South Farmington.
Annie Welling was very helpful with food, especially her wholewheat bread and fresh garden supplies. Nephi Taylor enjoyed bringing day-old bread, rolls and cookies from Salt Lake City.
LanguageWhile here these pioneers learned some of the language of the natives, such as one should not ask for "fat meat" when he, really wants bacon or you'll end up with a bunch of suet. "Hair clasp was unheard of, it's bobby pin. To ask for "snaps" or "simblins" brought stares as much as to say, "Where did this one come from?" But these pioneers were a "Hardy" bunch and soon learned what was necessary to survive.
Salmon, IdahoThe end of the summer saw the two families split up. The Hardys headed for Salmon, Idaho, while the Rutledges remained in Farmington in a small house on Lloyd's property. During the winter Flem, Mattie, William and Beatrice were baptized.
The Hardys arrived in Salmon, Idaho, to find James Fannin living in a two-room log cabin; one of the rooms he shared with them. Can you imagine nine people in one room during a winter in Idaho? Well, this is what happened. A door was made where a window once was. As one entered the room on the was a double bed upon which Elizabeth, Eva, Josephine and Oleen slept. Just beyond that the three-quarter, Iron bed, aforementioned, stood. There Martin, Annie and Heber slept. In the other corner, if one could get to it, we see a bed made of four blocks of wood and several planks with quilts for the mattress. Upon this bed slept Raymond and Amos. Next we find the table with nail kegs for chairs. Oh yes, still another item, the most essential, the cook stove; a large, black, coal range.
While there Martin joined the C.C.C. (Civilian Conservation Corps). He was home on weekends, Josephine, Raymond and Oleen attended school while there. Amos should have attended, but on one found the magic word to get him to go.
Now imagine if you will, these people coming from a relatively mild climate trying to get acclimated to Idaho's cold weather, where the water freezes from the bottom of the streams.
March 1935, they came back to the Farmington area, here to remain and raise their family.
[Top] [Biography] [Our Pioneers]