The Life Story of Myrella Ann Cole Fife

I was born at Willard, Utah January 10, 1902. The night I was to be born was so foggy Dad had to go to Brigham City in a buggy for the mid-wife. His buggy and another one locked wheels going down main street but he got home okay and I was born at about 7:00 am. Dad said it was the most beautiful morning he had ever seen. Everything was white with frost.

When I was about two and a half years old we moved to Idaho Falls. Dad and his brother Johnny moved up there together. It was the spring of 1904. I had a little sister by then just 20 months difference in our ages.

We lived in and around Idaho Falls until 1910 when we moved to Coltman, Idaho. We lived there all that summer. Dessa and I started school together. By this time another sister Bonnie and a brother Voss had been added to the family.

Then that fall we moved to Treasureton. Dad had homesteaded some land there and we had to go live on it. That winter, December 27, 1910, Ralph was born. He only weighed 3 pounds. Mama had quite a time raising him it seemed every fall and spring he would have a sick spell. We would move up on the homestead in the summer and back in the fall for us kids to go to school.

On November 16, 1912 Jesse was born. He only lived till December 27th. Then one morning Dad was going to the canyon after wood to have to burn. I heard Mama call Dad to come quick that she thought our baby was dead. Dad came running and he was dead so Dad had to leave us there alone while he went for help. Seemed like they always called the Relief Society ladies. We took turns holding him, Mama and I, till Dad got back. We sure felt bad to loose our little brother. Mother took it hard.

We built a one room house up on the homestead and I would go up there every summer. Then in the fall Dad would go on the header-thresher and be gone all week and we would be alone. I used to have to do the chores. We milked about five head of cows then.

One night while we were there alone an awful storm came up. We were sure afraid. I don't think I have ever heard it thunder so hard and the lightning was so bad. Seems like whenever anything like that would happen I would always say my prayers and ask the lord to take care of us.

Then Dad started to haul cream. He would go from farm to farm gathering it up then take it to the railroad and ship it to Salt Lake City. Some nights it would be late before he would get home. We would keep going out and listening to hear the wagon or Dad say, "Git-up Dick" Many a night I have stood out by the house listening for his voice. He had such awful canyons to come up and he would have to depend on his horses to stay on the road. I used to stand out there and could hear the coyotes howling, and I would ask the Lord to please bring him home safe to us.

Mother never was too well it seemed and she leaned a lot on me. One day Dad was gone for cream and we had washed and I was cleaning the floor. Mother had been out to the yard. She came around the house, I looked up at her and the sweat was running off her face. She said, "Rella, I'm afraid I'm going to die." I helped her on to the bed. It was five miles to a phone and about a mile to our nearest neighbor so I called the rest of the children in by her bed and we knelt down and asked the Lord to help her and not let her die. If anyone ever prayed I did! When I sent Dessa and Bonnie Over to get Mrs. Purser. She was going to have a baby and it was sure hard for her to walk over to our place but I didn't think about that at the time. She came and talked to Mother and then her brother George Kirby came by with a load of wood. She had him come in and give Mother a blessing. I guess it was the first time he had ever done anything like that before but Mother was feeling better by the time Dad got home. He was so thankful for her quick recovery.

On the homestead there was so much work to be done to improve the land and make the farm yield. Dad had to build a fence around the 26O acres. We would all go along in the wagon, Mother would drive the horses and stretch the wire. We would take a picnic lunch and stay all day. Then Dad would plow the land and Mother and the children that were old enough would pull the sage brush and pile it to bum later. We worked very hard, then by the firelight we would sing and be happy after a hard days work.

When I was about four and a half years old Mama was making Dessa and I some white lace dresses and had white hats to go with. Dessa had dark curls and I had light curls and she thought we would look cute in our outfits. It was about our first time out in the ward and she wanted us to look nice. While she was sewing she missed her scissors. She called out, "Rella, have you seen the scissors?" She heard me run off the front porch and around the house so she thought some thing was wrong. When she got to the porch there lay curls and as I ran I cut them off. When she caught me I only had one curl left right in the back. She gave me a good spanking and Mama just cried. I had cut them so close to my head I had cut the skin. Mama asked me what I did it for and I said I wanted to be like Johnny, a little boy I played with across the road. Well Dad had to shave my head and Mama crocheted me a cap and that's what I had to wear that summer.