Halloween in Lanark

Does anyone remember how Mom would dress up for Halloween and greet the Trick and Treaters?  I think she was dressed up as a witch and she had fun right along with the kids! Halloween was fun for all of us in Lanark, Idaho.  Lanark is located in the southeast part of Idaho and as a young child, we walked along the dark gravel roads trick or treating.  No street lights!  No paved  highways!  It was quite an experience just moving about the town.  Houses were not close and we
tried to go from one end of the town to the other.  Houses were at least a quarter of a mile apart.
I don't remember what we did during my younger years, but I suppose we went in cars and then later I remember tagging along with older siblings, and then finally as a teen ager, going in groups.  We would get invited into almost every house by the time we were teen agers and our treat was often a piece of pie, or a doughnut, or popcorn balls.  It was quite safe to roam about in those days and except for having our candy stolen by a "dumb older kid" I don't remember any scary incidents.  Some of us probably played a few tricks on people, but I didn't get in on those.  I just heard about some of them.

The Younger Brothers

                       The Younger Brothers   Reed and Mark -- Cute!

I was thinking of my little brothers this morning and thought I would add this picture. I found this picture behind another picture that I brought home from the folks’. They were sure cute little brothers! I was remembering that I was in the fourth grade in our Aunt Opal’s class, when Reed was born, and I went across the street from the school, that day at noon hour to Grandma and Grandpa Eborn’s house, which was across from the playground. I don’t remember which uncle was there but he told me that I had a new little brother, and that they had found him along the road, or some similar story, and that I now had a new baby brother. I think I must have been a very gullible child, or just naive because I wondered if it was true. About five years later when Mark was born, I must have also been naive because it was only a few weeks after I found a baby blanket under Mom and Dad’s bed that Mom had another new baby boy. We now had a family of two boys, two girls, and two more boys. In those days, to my recollection, parents didn’t talk much of the new baby that was coming. Maybe I was in the other room, or outside, but I didn’t have any of those conversations. A few weeks before Mark was born, Mom did tell me that she would be going to the hospital soon, and she would need some help at home during this time. I never even knew she was going to have a baby. I guess I wasn’t very observant either! Mom talked about staying in the hospital for about ten days when her babies were born. I remember Mom saying that Mark said, in later years, “I don’t know why I had to be the last one born.” He felt like he missed out on the Easter Egg dyeing and some of those events that by the time he came along, parents had had enough of that kind of fun. Only when we get older do we understand!

Brenda

Robert Price

Thursday, October 21, 2010

My Greatgrandfather, Robert Price

Recently, I was able to obtain a copy of the book, Robert Price, by Ezra J. Poulsen. I had read it forty years ago shortly after it was published. Robert Price is my maternal great grandfather . Mother had a copy of this book and I'm not sure who ended up with it after her passing. It would do us all well to find a copy, they are currently out of print, and read it and reflect deeply on the faith, strength, and ability of this man. He was an early settler in the Bear Lake Valley having immigrated to the United States and Utah after his conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called to assist in the establishment of the Bear Lake Colony by Brigham Young, and though he had lived most of his life in a big city, he accepted the challenge and accomplished many truly miraculous thing there during his lifetime. One of the things he did toward the end of his life was to create a sawmill at the head of Worm Creek. This was an area of roadless wilderness located in the mountains west of and between Bloomington and St. Charles. There used to be an old iron steam engine there years ago and I had seen it some twenty five years ago while hiking in the area with some of my sons. I can't remember exactly which ones, except I know Justin was with me. When I read the Robert Price book this past week I determined to go and see if I could find the old steam engine which my great grandfather had some how gotten up to the head of Work Creek. I hiked and found the area I thought it was in but no steam engine. Perhaps it has since been hauled out and sold as scrap metal. That would have been a difficult project in and of itself. The day was not wasted though. I had time to contemplate the life of one of my ancestors and to count my blessings for my heritage. I saw several old tree stumps that appeared to have been left after the trees had been fallen, maybe a hundred years ago by one of the workers for my great-grandfather. It was a singular and humbling experience.

The photo above is a picture of my great-grandfather, Robert Price.  The name Robert Price was printed on the bottom of the Photo by my mother, Edna Hymas Eborn.  He was born at Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England in 1835.  He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  when he was baptized by and Elder Smith on September 4, 1853.  He was eighteen years old and living alone in the great city of London at the time, having struck out on his own some three years earlier.  His faith in the restored gospel grew and never faltered.  He married Matilda Kelsey on October 13,1855 at Clerkenwell, a district in the North end of London in the borough of Finsebury.  She had previously converted to the Church, perhaps in the Dover area of southeastern England where they had lived previously.  Some time later, at the direction of Church leaders, Robert Price entered into the practice of plural marriage.  His second wife was, Sussanah Juchau, who was a friend of the family and had actually accompanied Robert and Matilda Price across the Great Plains to Utah leaving with the Milo Andrus Company from Florence, Nebraska in July of 1861.  At the time the United States were engaged in the great Civil War, it having broken out in April 1861.  Faraway Utah in the Rocky Mountains must have seemed a heaven on earth in spite of the rigorous journey and the difficulties of pioneer life in the West at the time.  Susannah Juchau, through whom our family descends, was just fifteen years old at the time and drove one of the Robert Price family wagons to Utah and assisted the frail Matilda with the children and other family chores.  Robert and Matilda had serious reservations about the principle of plural marriage, but they agreed to follow the instructions of their Church leaders and were glad to have Susannah, a capable, loving and trusted friend,  as a part of the family.  They were married March 2 1864 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Robert would later take three additional wives.  For the most part the lived amicably together, not in the same house, in Paris, Idaho where Robert and his families settled following a call from the Prophet to relocate to the Bear Lake Valley in 1869, just six years after its settlement by Apostle Charles C. Rich and a company of pioneers in 1863.

     My Grandmother, Elizabeth Price, was the daughter of Robert Price and his wife, Susannah Juchau Price.

The above photo is a picture of my grandmother, Elizabeth Price Hymas.

The above photo is of three daughters Robert Price, Elizabeth, Polly, and Grace.  Ezra J. Poulsen refers to them as the "inseparable ones".  They were daughters of the same father and different mothers, and growing up in the small village of Paris during pioneer times had become very close friends as well as sisters.  They were all married on the same day in the Logan, Utah LDS Temple, September 18, 1879.

      I'm very glad I reread the book, Robert Price. I learned a great deal about my greatgrandparents and grandparents that I had not recalled from my previous reading.

 
by Bart

Canning with Mom

Food for the long Bear Lake winter.

I wish my memory were better, but I certainly enjoy reading about Mom and Dad and their family. After reading the Darrell and Edna Eborn Clan blog I do remember those days and events.  It then brings to recall a memory of my own.  I was remembering Mom and canning time.  I know that Nina and I got involved in this, mostly during the fall season, and we too were impressed when the bottles were all full.  I especially liked the looks of the peaches and pears.  Mom canned whatever she could.  I remember going over to Preston a time or two and picking green beans and coming home and canning them in the pressure cooker.  That pressure cooker sounded a little scary to me as it let off its steam.  Then we closely stood near by the stove and watched to make sure it did not go over that certain number.  It required a certain amount of pressure, 12 pounds for beans, if I remember right.  The fruits, of course, received a hot water bath.  We got to peel and remove the pits and help prepare the simple syrup for the berries and fruits.  I remember drying apricot stones and after they were dried we would eat the nut inside.  In later years, we were told they were not to be eaten, for some reason that I don't recall.  I still like to can and see the bottles full - now in my own home.  Sometimes I kept the kids from opening bottles until after the first snow fell and sometimes I gave in, just as Mom did.

by Brenda

The Berries

It seems like my thoughts have been turned to the berries lately.  Usually beginning in the first part of August one of family activities was to go into the mountains and pick huckleberries.  These are a small and very tasty berry that grows wild in cretain parts of the forests surrounding the Bear Lake Valley.  They are quite often plentiful, though in some years they are rather hard to find.  Our family had several places which were our favorites.  One of the closest was up behind Neibuhr Spring in the Dry Fork area in a place we called, of all things, Huckleberry Hill.  I remember going with Dad and Mom nnd some of the family and we would usually come home with a few gallons.  I remember Dad saying that you were really doing well if you got in a spot where you could pick a gallon every four hours.  I have come to realize, that he really did know what he was talking about.  Very rarely, have I found a spot where I could pick any more than a gallon in that period of time.  Some might say they are not worth the effort, but they were free fruit for the family and Mom could make a huckleberry pay like none other.  We were grateful for the fruit and came to enjoy our time sitting in the huckleberry patch picking all day.  As a youth we always had to quit a little bit early in order to get home and get the cows milked before dark  Sometimes Dad would go picking alone and sometimes Mom did too.  I remember once Mom telling me about how she had decided to go picking huckleberries up in Mill Canyon. She found a good patch and as the day wore on she was beginning to fill her second gallon bucket.  Dad had come home from turning a few streams of water as the watermaster on the Lanark Canal and decided to go see if he could find her.  He did and as she sat picking in the berry patch Dad came in from behind her and scared/ surprised her.  I think she was nonetheless very happy that he was thinking of her and that he came looking.  I can imagine the good conversation they had for the rest of the day.  Of course they had to be back to milk the cows and take care of the kids. 

       The tradition of picking huckleberries did not originate in our family with Mom and Dad and us kids though.  I remember Mom telling us about her childhood years when the whole Hymas clan would go camping up Emigration Canyon around Grandpa Benjamin Hymas' birthday and stay until they had several ten gallon milk cans full of huckleberries.  That seems almost impossible, but then we must remember that it was a family affair, and it was no small family. 

     I also remember Dad telling about one of the neighbors in Lanark who had gone up into the mountains to pick huckleberries and had picked two large buckets full.  While he was picking the second bucket full he had put the first bucket under a tree until he was finished.  When he finished the second bucket, he searched and searched, but could not find his treasured bucket of berries.  He went home with one bucket full and when he told the sad story of the full bucket sitting under some tree in the mountains his wife was furious.  Dad said for the next several days this poor hen-pecked husband could be seen early in the morning heading for the hills on his horse in search of the the lost bucket of huckleberries.    I know not whether he ever found them or if the whole story was absolutely true, but it made a good story and serves to emphasize the value of a bucket of huckleberries both then and maybe even now.

      Since those first days of picking and relishing Mom's huckeberry pies, I have tried to keep up the tradition.  Every year about the end of July I can be found out in the woods exploring some of my favoite huckleberry haunts to see what the harvest will be like in the next few weeks.  I have discovered many good places.  They are not all good every year, but it is a rare year whe I can't find enough to fill a few buckets and to relish all winter long and into the next summer.  Some of my favorite places are Huckleberry Hill,  Mill Canyon in Emigration Canyon,  Copenhagen Basin,  North Canyon,  Ant Basin,  Cheatback, Stauffer Canyon,  Skinner Canyon, and Georgetown Canyon and at the RC& D Camp.  I have done a lot of exploring as you can see and have enjoyed every moment of it.

     A little over a week ago I took Reed and we  went up by the RC& D Camp in Emigration Canyon and spent about eight hours picking huckleberries, and I might add, in our advanced years and the frame of our minds, philosphizing, mostly on subjects of religion, but sometimes just about life in general.  It was a great day and the four gallons of huckleberries we came home with at the end of the day were really just a bonus.  We couldn't help but wonder what Mom and Dad were thinking as they looked down from the Heavens and listened to us in deep discussion as we sat and scooted through the huckleberry bushes on the seat of our pants stainingg them a deep purple as we picked and prodded one antothers minds.

     On a melancholy note, I missed my dog, River, who had gone with me on these ocassions for thirteen straight years.  He passed away last fall.  He would sit next to me and eat the declicous little berries right off the bush all day.  We would later find little huckleberry flavored tootsie rolls around the yard and on the lawn at home for the next several days.

One at a time,  how many will it ake to fill a gallon bucket?

     Life is good.

By Bart

Eborn Reunion 2010 : A Good Time Was Had by All

On Saturday, July 17th, the extended family of Darrell and Edna Eborn met at The State Park on the east side of Bear Lake for a family reunion. Many of the family was able to attend and those who were unable to make it missed a good time. Family came from far and near. Those who had to travel great distances, like Erin from Texas and Hannah from Moscow and Nina and Steve's clan from Boise were especially appreciated. It was good to get together and renew old acquaintances and see how everyone is doing. It was also fun to sing happy Birthday as an extended family to Jason. Happy 43. We are a very blessed family in so many, many ways. This Reunion came about largely through the organizing efforts of Reed and Lorraine and their family. All of the rest of us wish to thank them for all of their efforts. It turned out to be a great success and I was especially glad that we decided to have another Family Reunion next summer. Now we all have something to look forward to again.
I took lots of pictures and am including a few of them here. I'm sorry if you weren't included in the pictures. No slight is intended. It's just that there are a lot of us.

Reed not only did most of the organizing, but also did most of the cooking and took as many as wanted to go for a ride on his wave runner. Thanks, Reed, for everything.



Everyone was happy to see Michelle and her sweet kids. Here is Iris giving Michelle a hug.

Rachel was actually the one who suggested the family Reunion. Nothing happens unless someone plants the seed. Thanks, Rachel. She is going to be the new Vice Principal at a new Elementary School in Moab. I think some of the family is hoping she will have a big basement down there. Good luck in your new assignment.

Here are Justin and Gail recalling old times.

Ryan, Samantha, and MEgan relaxing a bit.

Here is Philip trying to prove his tough guy reputation, ha, I think, the may have met his match in Garrett, Gavin, and Ethan.

Here are Myrna and Dean. They are still looking good. It was good to see those of your family who made the journey to the Reunion.

No family reunion would be complete without plenty of great food and conversation. This one was no exception.

And of course, if you come to Bear Lake for a Reunion, you have to spend some time cooling off and having fun in the cool waters of Beautiful Bear Lake. This is just a small sample of all the fun that was had in the lake and on the beach.

Again , thanks to all who came. Please stay in touch and keep us informed about what is happening in your family.

Eborn Reunion

 Bear Lake
 is calling all of the
Darrell and Edna Eborn Clan

Honestly! Don’t you think it’s time we got together?



What: The 2010 Darrell and Edna Eborn Family Reunion


Who: As many of the Eborn clan as can come.


When: July 16th and 17th


Where: Idaho State Park at Bear Lake (South Shelter area on East side of Bear Lake) Friday bonfire/camp at the Farm.


Why: To get re-acquainted, have some summer fun, and honor Grandma and Grandpa.


What should I bring for Friday night bonfire at the farm?


All the family you can pack up


Tents and bags if you plan to camp at the farm on Friday night.


Your own drinks and anything you’d like to eat with hot dogs and marshmallows. (Condiments and buns will be provided also.)


Something to help build some campfire memories


What about the next day, Saturday July 17th?


Up and at ‘em! Pancakes and eggs served at the Lake from 8:00-10:00 a.m. Bring your own drinks.


$5 per car load to get into the park


Lunch will be at 1:00 p.m. Bring a salad or dessert or whatever you like to complement Sloppy Joes, which will be provided. Please bring your own drinks.


Reunion Roundup right after lunch!


EEH Hah! I’m comin’! Who needs to know?


Please RSVP through your branch of the tree by July 10th


Bonfire and campout: Mark Gail 208-945-2186


At the Lake: Reed or Lorraine 208-945-1049 or reedeborn@yahoo.com