English-born John S. Howard had trudged across the plains to Utah as a boy of twelve. He returned to England as a missionary for the LDS church in the 1880's and when he came home to Utah, found he was in trouble. The federal anti-polygamy law the 1882 Edmund's Act - though still untested by the courts, was being used to send polygamists to prison. In reality, the issue was not religious; for a number of decades, it was as politically expedient to be against the Mormons as to be for the Fourth of July. Though fewer than three percent of the Mormons practiced polygamy, the Issue made a dandy excuse for the denunciation of the whole church.
John S. Howard, however, was one of the three percent. His first wife had no children, he married Sarah Ann Downs, also English-born, and they had two sons. In the bitter choice of which wife to put aside, it had to be the mother with the children who remained with John Howard. During those years, however, it was not enough to "put aside" plural wives. Bounty hunters and ambitious prosecutors made no distinction between polygamists and ex-polygamists. John and Sarah Ann decided to make a new start in Idaho, but here too, headline seekers such as Fred Dubois and Ed Winn were making careers of the witch-hunt for polygamists. John S. Howard took his middle name, which had been his mother's, and came to Idaho as John Shelton.
The first winter in Idaho was a bleak one, and the settlers lived mostly on wild game, including deer, fish, and sage hens. An epidemic of diphtheria ran through the community. John and Sarah Ann spent much of their time that first winter caring for the sick and preparing the dead for burial. John would make the rounds of the neighbors, administering to the sick, and when he came home would build sage-brush fire and stand in the smoke of it to disinfect his clothes.
John was a carpenter, and when there was a death, he would build a coffin; Sarah Ann would line it with whatever bit of cloth and lace could be found among her possessions or those of her neighbors. Often John would officiate at the funeral, and many times John and Sarah Ann would also sing a duet. This pattern of service to the community continued throughout their lives.
In the summer of 1892, the Willow creek Ward of the LDS church was divided. On August 14, 1892, the east portion became Shelton Ward, named for John Shelton Howard, who was set apart as bishop. He held that position for 26 years.
John Shelton Howard was a large man, and wore a full but neatly-trimmed beard. Described in a life sketch as having "a very kind disposition which won him a host of friends bot in and out of the church," he traveled over the valley, building bridges and houses. Like other settlers with timber claims, the Ho wards planted many trees, and developed their land into a fine farm. The Howard home was opposite that present Shelton church.
Sarah Ann Howard was a queen-sized woman, and in her long lifetime, she did a queen-sized job as a wife, mother, good neighbor, church-worker and midwife. She looked after the children and the farming and did the milking when John was away and building jobs. In 1895, she answered a call from LDS Stake officials to take training in obstetrics.
"Her ability as a midwife was know through the valley," according to a life-sketch. "There was scarcely a family who had not benefited from her service. She kept a record of over six hundred births at which she had assisted, and she never lost a mother, although some of the cases were very difficult.
"She would be called to leave home at any time of the day or night in any kind of weather. Her services included daily care for the mother and new arrival for ten days. Her charge for this service was $10, but she received no pat in at leas half the cases.
"Many of the homes into which she went were very humble having scarcely the bare necessities to help her with her task. She often had to improvise even a blanket in which to receive the newborn babes. Many times there would be other small children and little or no food in the house to prepare for the new mother Aden her brood. She always did the best possible under these conditions, cleaning and finding things up to help the unfortunate."
Hard times were a way of life in pioneer days, but stake poverty descended quickly when the mother of the family was ailing, for besides being cook and laundress and seamstress, she was the break maker, the butter-maker, and milkmaid and the fire tender. This was why Sarah Ann Howard so often found distress in the homes where she was called to help usher in a new life.
The men spent all their daylight hours cleaning the fields of sagebrush and on monumental take of building the canals and laterals, and coaxing the water through not-very-sturdy ditches to the acres they were able to plant. There could be no prosperity until there were harvest and early Shelton families, like all the valley pioneers, lived on hope.
Mary Blake Ryset, in her "History of Shelton Ward Primary" wrote: "Of all the things hard to get, cash was perhaps the hardest to obtain. Much of the tithing that was brought to Bishop Howard's home was in produce, eggs, butter, berries, livestock, grains, and so forth. A receipt was given the tithe payer with a stub for the stake clerk to audit. Then it was up to the bishop to sell or use up these products before they spoiled. If the bishop's family used the articles, they had to dig up the cash equivalent to give the stake clerk. Many times things spoiled, and they had to pay for them anyway." One entry in the ward ledger records the donation of a pig, with the rueful addition "ran away."
During these busy years, John and Sarah Ann became the parents of nine more children, making eleven in all. As the bishop's wife, Sarah Ann was the official host to visiting church officials, and entertained them in her home. She was a superb cook; custard pie was her specialty.
"In 1914 when the new Shelton ward biulding was dedicated, the Howard home was the scene of feverish activity." According to her life-sketch. "It was cleaned and redecorated from stern to stern. New silver wand linen were purchased, and some new furniture. The visiting dignitaries at these time were Apostle George F. Richards; Patriarch of the church Henry Smith, and Sister Trarly, a daughter of Heber J. Grant, and general board member... Every member of the family and host of the neighbors were pressed into serving in order that the best imprecision's of the community might be carried forth by visitors."
During the influenza epidemic of 1918-19, the Howard's once more mad the rounds of the stricken community, caring for the sick, and in case of death, "laying out" the corpse, and providing the burial clothing and coffin. None of them contracted the dread disease.
John S. Howard was realised as bishop in 1918. He died in 1923. Sarah Ann spent part of her time in California with relatives, but she enjoyed going fishing on Willow Creek, as in earlier days, with her old friend, Ada Buck. She continued, as well, to respond to special nursing assignments. She died in September, 1938.
John and Sarah Ann left a fine heritage: an admirable family, and an unsurpassed record of service to eastern Idaho and to the friendly little community, Shelton, which was, indeed, name for the Bishop John Shelton Howard.
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