Josephine Johnson Howard part II

In 1933, they moved to Ririe, and the following year moved to their present home. On March 4th, 1937, they were blessed with a baby boy, Paul Franklin. These were the depression years and times were very difficulty. However, because of their frugal spending, they were able to enjoy many good times, in spite of the hardships. Mother remembers buying milk from President Tom Moss for 25 cents for a syrup bucket full. Frying chicken were 25 cents each. Mother and her sister Zelma, Mayme, and Florence would take turns wearing the one pair of dress shoes they owned. Frank got a job with Ben Myler building the dance hall in Ririe and helping Frank get started and find success in the carpentry business. Frank was never without a job after that.

On August 11th, 1939, Faye Josephine came into the family, and on May 2nd 1943, Lucile Ann was born. These were very hard times, as World War II was raging. Mom and Dad's dream was to won their own home and they eventually saw this dream come true, but it was not without a lot of hard work and sacrifice. They brought 27 acres for $2500. They started out in a two-room, log home and Dad added additional space as needed or as they could afford it. Mother went to the Federal Land Bank and borrowed the money at 4% interest.

On December 10th, 1941, Mother and Dad, Florence and Ralph Moore, and a few other couples from the Shelton Ward traveled to Logan and were sealed for time and all eternity. It was very cold and the roads were bad but they made the trip without incident.

Mother was thrifty and a very good manager, being able to stretch the dollar a long ways. She was very creative and was always thinking of ways to assist Dad in providing for their family. She would order 100 or more baby chicks each spring. I remember her going out in the night to check on them. She would kill the majority of them for eating, and then the hens would be kept for producing eggs. We always had at least one cow. She raised a garden, taught us to sew, embroider, iron, wash, and always make sure we hung the clothes a certain way on the clothes line. We learned many good work habits that each of us have incorporated into out lives, as we have raised our own families. The folks taught us through good example and never expected us to do anything that they weren't willing to do themselves. Mother and Dad were always up and going early. Breakfast was most always eaten together as a family. We always had very special breakfasts for holidays and when we were camping. Mother was and excellent cook. We especially love her baked eggs and jams, jellies, biscuits and homemade break. She always loved cake and made many of them, and she made really good cookies. Mother could fry fish and chicken better than anyone I know. She loved fish! Byron would catch large trout on the South fork of the Snake River and bring them for Mom to cook. She had a real special way of frying them crisp and delicious. Our cousins loves coming to the farm to visit. Many times, we would be about read to have dinner, and in the yard came a car load of relatives. Mother would set the table with a few more places and everyone would gather around the table and enjoy her cooking. She would always have plenty of potatoes and other vegetables, and she didn’t take much time preparing a wonderful meal, no matter how many were there. Out kitchen always seemed large enough to accommodate everyone, and there were times when we had to eat in shifts.

We looked forward to Memorial Day because we had lots of company come visit on their way to the cemetery. Our family reunions were also a very special event – always with plenty of delicious food and ice cream. Most of the Johnson’s and Howard have lived within 50 miles radius of Shelton, so we knew out aunts, uncles, and cousins well. Aunt Florence, Uncle Ralph, Howard and Dorothy Moore lived by us, and we were a very close knit family. We went to Salt River and Fall Creek on camping trips with Aunt Florence, Aunt Mayme, Uncle Wayne and their families many times. This was always a special treat, and the breakfasts cooked on the campfire will never be forgotten. We spent most holidays together. We worked together canning fruits and vegetables and enjoyed many wonderful times playing games in the winder. Howard would buy fireworks for the 4th of July and friends would come from far and near to enjoy. Dorothy taught Paul, Faye and Lucile to play the piano and drive the “Plymouth”. The Charles Richard Family was very close friends, and we have many fishing trips to Yellowstone Park with their family.

Mother worked in all the auxiliaries of the church and as a visiting teacher for many years. She had been a member of the Daughter of Utah Pioneers for over 50 years. Her mother was the firs Captain for the Sara Ann Howard Camp. Marion and Lucile are both members of the DUP, and Marion is one serving as a Captain in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother, Wayne, was her Bishop for several years, and has visited her often. Since the War and Stake boundaries have been challenged, Mother now lives in the Ririe Stake, Ririe 3rd ward.

In 1964, Mother and Dad were called on a mission for the Church in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. They were very loved and appreciated by a wonderful landmark for the City of Grande Prairie. They went the next year to Clovis, New Mexico, where they again build a beautiful chapel and received a had of friendship from all the members. In both places they made some wonderful and very eternal friendships. This was a time of much growth for both of them and their testimonies grew tremendously. Three of their children and three grandsons have also served missions. Paul in England and Scotland, Faye in New York, Marion in Chicago, Gene is New York, Kent in Georgia, and Steve in Argentina.

Mother has always been a good friend and consequently, she has lots of friend today. Dinah neighbors, home teachers, Relief Society teachers, and friends, too numerous to mention, played a big party in her life, as have her brothers and sisters. Mother and dad were always there for their family and friend and were very generous with the time and money helping wherever there was a need. Our parents have been blessed with wonderful posterity. At age 90, mother has 15 grandchildren and more than 30 great grandchildren. “Blessed are the children of a woman who loved them. Proud is a mother who raises them well. And when they’re grown their success in her victory. She taught them how to belie in themselves.”

Josephine Johnson Howard

The story of one of my favorite people!
Life Story of Josephine Johnson Howard told by Faye Howard Carroll - Daughter or Josephine.

One a beautiful summer day, June 23rd, 1904, a tiny blue-eyed baby girl was born to John and Matilda Johnson. One brother and three sisters welcomed her: John, age nine, Ethyl, age seven, Mayme, three, and Zelma, eighteen months. The baby was named Josephine, after her Father's sister. The mid-wife that delivered her was Sarah Ann Howard, their neighbor.

Going back a few years in time, John's parents had grown up in Sweden and accepted the Gospel of Denmark. They immigrated to Utah with two daughters, Olivia and Josephine. President Brigham Young called them to go to Brigham City, and it was there that John was born. When John was six weeks old they moved to South Bountiful. John received his education in the Salk Lake schools, and he began teaching school when he was 21 years of age. It was in a two room school in South Bountiful where he met Matilda Ann Howard. He courted her for sometime, and then they were married in the Logan Utah Temple on March 9th, 1893. Before he had met "Tillie", he had filed on a homestead in Idaho. He cleared the ground, cut the logs, and built a one-room home on this property. he then brought his wide to Idaho to live in the newly built home.

In the fall of 1897 he was called to Sweden on a mission, and was set apart by President Wilford Woodruff. He took Matilda and their children John and Ethyl, back to Bountiful to stay with her parents while he was gone.

John and Matilda raised their family in a prayerful home, where the Gospel was taught and practiced. Mother, being the middle child in the family of 12 children was fortunate to have older brothers and sister, but also younger ones to love and enjoy. She had a very happy and enjoyable childhood. Because she was in the middle of this large family, she was called upon to help with a lot of the household chores and playing with the younger children. There was an area on the side of their home where there were large, layered rocks. Mother remembers spending many hours there singing songs, playing games, reading stories, and having a wonderful time with Glen, Maude and Marie, the twins, Florence, Jim, Wayne and Geneve. They didn't often play with neighbors or friends because they had each other. The Johnson family was very musical-her Mother played the piano and organ well and her father dang, and all the children had music lessons.

The Johnson's lived across the street from the Shelton Ward Church. Mother had many wonderful memories of the many years that she spent in the Shelton Ward - the wonderful teachers she had and the friends that she made there. Their social life was centered around church activities. Holidays were especially memorable, as they got to have homemade ice cream, candy and fruit and nuts and many things that they were not used to having only on special occasions. Christmas eve was always a very special time. The whole family would go to the Church for a Christmas program, in which the children all participated, and then Santa would come and give them a treat. This tradition carried on for many years to come with her own children going to Shelton Ward for Christmas Eve.

Mother remembers her baptism day well. She went with Bishop John Shelton Howard, his wife Sarah and Carrie, their daughter. She had turned eight the past June and Carrie had just had her eighth birthday. They rode in a high top buggy to Iona. She remembers that they spent the cold November day there and that they were baptized by Brother John C. Rushton. This was the 2nd of November 1912.

She was about fourteen years old when her Dad came home from his second mission to Sweden. She remembers that time very well and the experiences he would relate about his time in Sweden. She really loved her had and always wanted to perform her very best to please him. She always loved school and was a very good students. She really loved to read and would read any book she could get her hands on. Many a book she read by the light of a coal-oil lamp. She was sewing well by the time shew as 15 an d made a majority of her clothes as well as many for her sisters. The Johnson children had a very good penmanship. Their father was an excellent penman and was called upon often to do the writing on church and school certificates with his beautiful penmanship. At age 90, Mom still had good penmanship and can recite a lot of the poetry she learned in grade school.

In 1919 she stated high school. Mother, Jimmy and Ray Howard, and Agnes Carlisle went to Rigby to school. When the weather got bad and made travel difficult, they batched in an apartment. During her last year at Rigby High School, her brother, Glen, stayed with them and slept in a corner on a cot. After completing her junior year in Rigby, she attended Ricks Normal School in Rexburg, Idaho, rooming most of the time with Naomi and Ruth Newman. She remembers on one occasion being very tired and discouraged with school and wanting to quit. She came home one weekend and told her parents that she was not going to return. Her Dad and Mother never argued with her or told her that she had to go back. When Sunday came around, however, her Mother Mother made her own graduation dress. She remembers being on the graduation program and went alone, all the time feeling bad that her family would not be their for the big occasion. After the program had started, she looked into the crowd and saw her brother John and his wide, Carrie, and her Mother and Dad come in. What a thrill for her!! They have her a foundation pen. She still remembers how bad she felt when it was stolen. She was the first one in her family to graduate from High School.

She attended summer school that year and took education classes, then took the State Exam and got her teaching certificate. Her first two years of teaching was at Poplar, in a two-room school, with Carrie Johnson. For several summers Annie Zucher, Agnes Carlisle, Carrie Johnson, and Mother would go to summer school and take additional classes to better prepare themselves for their teaching career. The Poplar school was ran by Bonneville County, and sometimes their checks were unable to be cashed because the people couldn't pa their taxes. The grocery store would let them charge their food until the checks would clear the bank. Their monthly salary was about $125.

On March 21st, 1925, she married Franklin Downs Howard. They had grown up next door to one another, but Frank was seven years older so it wasn't until she was teaching school that he paid attention to her. After they were married they lived in Idaho Falls. She continued teaching and again went to summer school. Frank worked for Billy Reed at the Mountain States Implement Company. In 1926, they moved to the Upper Shelton school and lived in the basement and she taught there. This was the first time they had electric lights and they still and to haul their own water. The following spring when school was out, they moved to the Buck Ranch. They stayed there for the next few years.

On March 22nd, 1928, a baby girl, Marion Gene, was born. Everyone on the ranch adored Marion and she was the center of attention. Jim Buck especially enjoyed her and would buy her anything that she wanted. Mother helped Aunt Ella, Frank's oldest sister, and Mrs. buck, cook for their hired men. There was always plenty of hard work to keep them busy, with meals and any other chores that needed to be down. They didn't have any of the modern conveniences that we take for granted today. Uncle Gene Johnson, Uncle Ted Howard, and Rub Brown, lived on the ranch and worked for a time. Overall, it was great experience and everyone enjoyed playing cards in the winder when the worked slowed down.

John Shelton Howard part III

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.

John Shelton Howard part II

Shelton Ward was originally known as East Willow Creek, being an out worth of Willow Creek Ward. The first Latter-day Saint settlers in the part of Snake River Valley belonged to the Rigby Ward; afterwards they became a part of the Willow Creek Ward. Later the locality was know as East Willow Creek, and still later as Enterprise. When John Shelton Howard arrived in the locality in the fall of 1889, as an exile from Bountiful, that, owing to anti-polygamy persecutions, the Farmers Friend Canal had already been build and a couple of years later the Enterprise Canal was constructed. Reuben Cole was appointed to preside in the meetings at an easily day and in 1892 John Shelton Howard was chose as presiding Elder of the branch then called Enterprise. This Branch was organized as a regular bishop's ward August 14, 1892, with John Shelton Howard as Bishop. He was succeeded in 1919 by Edmond Lovell, who is 1929 was succeeded by William Fransis Burtenshaw, who preside December 31, 1930, on which date the Shelton Ward had a membership of 294, including 69 children.

The plain truth of the matte was the John S. Howard pioneered to Idaho as John Shelton.

The use of the alias was not a matter of criminal subterfuge, but of the breadwinner's survival while politic hacks made headlines denouncing the Mormons, and the courts mulled over the constitutionality of the mishmash of anti-plural marriage statuses.

Upper Snake River Valley was a land of opportunity in 1889, when John Howard arrived from Bountiful, Utah, looking for a place for new beginnings. Other young Utah place for new beginnings. Other young Utah home seekers-the Cleverlys, the Burtenshaws, the Egans, the Browns, John Johnson and others preceded John Howard to the promising glen where Willow Creek emerges from its canyon to meander westward to the Snake River, Even earlier, in the 1870's, ranchers George and John Heath, the Sermons, the Orville Buck family of Connecticut and a few others had staked out cattle ranches along the creek. The valley was filled, in 1889, but there was land to be had, some still open from homesteading, some for sale or relinquished by earlier sojourners. John Johnson, a young Bountiful school-teacher who had spent a couple of summers herding sheep in Idaho, shared his timer claim with John Howard.

John Shelton Howard

John Shelton Howard was the first Bishop of Shelton Ward (Bingham Stake), Bonneville county, Idaho, was born March 9, 1854, in Birmington, England, the son of Joseph Howard and Ann Shelton. He was baptized by his father in May, 1864, and emigrated with his parents to America in 1864, crossing the Atlantic in the ship "Hudson" which sailed from London, England, June 3, 1864. After traveling by railroad and river steamer to the frontiers he left Wyoming, Nebraska, August 2, 1864, and crossed the plains in Capt. William Hyde's ox train which arrived in Salt Lake City October 26, 1864. In 1887-1889 he labored as a missionary in England, principally in the Sheffield and later the Birmingham conference. After residing a number of years in Bountiful, Davis county, Utah, he became a permanent settler in the part of the great Snake River valley which is now including Shelton Ward in 1889. Brother Howard was ordained an Elder when quite young and subsequently ordained a Seventy by John L. Leavitt. He was ordained a high Priest and Bishop August 19,1892, by John Henry Smith and set apart to preside over the Shelton Ward, which was organized at the time and named in his home (Shelton being one of his given names). While a resident of South Bountiful he acted as president of the Ward Y.M.M.I.A. and during his long and useful career in the Church he has filled many important positions, both of an ecclesiastical and secular nature. In 1876 (September 11) he married Josephine Johnson (daughter of John Johnson and Louisa Svendsen), who was born February 4, 1860, in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1884 (March 27) he married Sarah Ann Downs (daughter of John Downs and Mary Cowley) who was born March 4, 1866, at Browsby, Derbyshire, England, and emigrated to Utah in 1883. She is the mother of elven children, namely Albert C, John H, Ella M, Sarah Olive, Joseph William, Franklin D, Walter L, James P, Carrie M, Doris and Glenn E. Bishop Howard is a farmer and carpenter by occupation.

Family History Blog

"A Person's A Person No Matter How Small" is one of my favorite quote by Dr. Seuss. I chose to use this as my title because it represented to me that everyone has a story that deserves to be heard.
For my Family History class, I am starting a blog with stories of those from the past from my Mom's side of the family - the Taylor's and Howard's.
PLEASE feel free to e-mail me at april4m@hotmail.com with your stories that you might have of ancestors that I could add to our family blog. I would love to hear them, as would many others I am sure.
Thank you for the support: Enjoy reading about the Long Line of Love we come from!