GEORGE LEONARD LONGHURST

LIFE OF GEORGE LEONARD LONGHURST

George Leonard Longhurst was born fourth in a family of six to William Henry Jr. and Betsy Jane Dean Longhurst. Members of the family were Albert, Betsy Jane (Becky), Mary Ann (Myrt), George Leonard, Clara Marintha (Rintha) and Asael Dean. Wm. Henry moved a log home from Charles Dean's place to the homestead that he filed on the fall of 1890. It had a dirt roof and rough boards for the floor with white washed walls. A Dugout was made back into the hill and the cabin was placed in front of it to make two rooms. They cleared the land of sage brush, built fences, and planted crops and vegetables and raised chickens, cattle and horses. They proved up on the homestead and raised a good family.

When Leonard was eleven months old, he had diphtheria and a few years later whooping cough. He played marbles, and rode horses and took part in drama and choir which he enjoyed. He sang bass in a Quartet, and played baseball on the ball diamond east of the church. He remembered the completion of the church house in 1896 as one of his earliest memories. There was the usual accidents and broken bones including thumb, ribs and foot. He had to milk the cows by hand and herded the cows in the foot hills west of their home. He started school at age six but missed a year when he was ten because of rheumatic fever. He graduated from the eighth grade with his sister Marintha in 1908.

In 1916, Ruth Mason came to Woodruff to teach school, after a year of courtship, she and Leonard were married September 6, 1917, in the Salt Lake Temple. A few weeks later Leonard started his military service. He was inducted into the army November 1, 1917. After basic training, he was assigned to Battery E of the 148th Field Artillery and was sent off to France for the next 16 months. Five and one half months of this time was in the hospital with measles, pneumonia, ptomaine poisoning and mustard gassing, which later caused some health problems for him. Their army unit had the 155mm Howitzer which was the largest and newest artillery gun that the army had at that time. He served in many important battles of World War I and was awarded five major battle clasps. He saw action in Chateau Thierry, Argonne Forest, Saint Mihiel Sector, Marne River and Verdun. He was also given a wound stripe for mustard gassing. He would sniff for poison gas and warn the soldiers to put on their gas masks. He was warned of danger on several occasions to move from a fox hole or to move into a trench for protection and safety, this strengthened his faith greatly. He told many of his experiences, but few were ever recorded.

One of his army buddies seeing his obituary in the newspaper, attended the funeral and related this story. One night while on the front in France, Leonard woke up this buddy and several others and told them he had a strong premonition that they should move down to a little clump of trees that was some fifty yards away. Several of the men went to the little grove of trees. They had just laid down again when an artillery shell struck the place they had just left, killing several men and 16 of their horses. He was discharged 25 April 1919, and run into Orley Birch his brother-in-law and together they surprised their wives and 15 month old daughters upon their return to Springville, Utah. Their wives (who were sisters) had been staying with their parents, Fredrick and Christine Mason.
I don't think he liked me going into the army and to Korea, but never said much. His picture in his army uniform upstairs reminded me of his loyalty and patriotism to the good old USA.

He decided to continue his education and passed the college entrance exams and enrolled at Utah State Agriculture College in Logan, Utah. He graduated with a bachelors degree in June of 1924. After graduation, they returned to Woodruff to farm. In 1928, he filed on a homestead of 640 acres southwest of Woodruff in Home Canyon, where they spent several summers on this green aspen covered mountain land. A log cabin was built, along with fences, and other improvements and was finally proved up on about 1930. He finally sold it as it was seventeen miles from their home and not very useful at that time.

Dad had some good Holstein cows and improved the herd with top quality purebred bulls. The cows were milked by hand and the milk was put in ten gallon cans and cooled. Elmer Frazier and later Leo Cornia hauled the milk to the Rich County Coop Creamery in Randolph. During the forties dad bought a John Deere tractor with a buck rake and a DeLaval milking machine which was a relief to his arthritis. The cows grazed on the B L M west of home in wood tick country, Sage Hollow, Grey Hill, and Pat Coughlin Hill. A young man stole some strawberries, then a horse, killed a law man and ended up in Rich County and was executed by a firing squad on that lonely hill that bears his name.

The cows were taken to the meadow after the hay was put up. We would ride with Uncle Asael in his Chev. car or with Albert in his International pickup each morning and evening to milk the cows. The milk was put in the cream separator which we turned by hand during the depression. The cream was sold and the skimmed milk was fed to the pigs and calves along with some chopped barley. Later he raised veal calves putting about four per cow for about six weeks and then weaned them, feeding grain and hay until they were fat and ready to sell. Then four more baby calves would then be put on that cow for the next cycle.

Dad's training at Utah State came in handy when ranchers would call on him to help during calving time. The Vet. shelf is still important for me to sew up a wound, deliver baby calves, brand, dehorn and other medical needs of the farm animals.

Uncle Albert built a two-story (2 rooms up and 2 down) square log house in 1914, on the south corner of his fathers homestead. This home later became our home. Dad built an addition on the house with sawed logs (8" by 8") which was later covered with white shake siding. The two rooms added the much desired space for the growing family and later a bathroom was completed. The cellar was dug with a team and scraper and supported by logs, then covered with straw and dirt to shed the water and insulate it to keep the root crops from the garden and the bottled fruit, vegetables and meet from freezing. The cattle had to be fenced out of the area or they could punch holes through the roof if they walked on it.

William Longhurst and sons (Albert, Leonard and Asael) formed a company and purchased the Neville place which had a larger home and closer to town and got water and electricity sooner. Albert, Effie and family moved into it. Dad, Mother and girls moved into the 4 room home after they returned from USAC at Logan. Dad had studied crops and livestock and obtained a teaching certificate and did some substitute teaching in the schools.

The business houses in Woodruff are no longer the same. They have been torn down or remodeled for other uses. A new post office and grocery store with gas pumps are the only businesses now. Many of the older pioneer homes are still there also the ranches remain in the same families but have had to become larger to stay profitable rasing cattle. The old meeting house was torn down and replaced. The three room school with its bell is gone and was replaced but is used

As a town building now. South and North Rich High Schools have been consolidated into the Rich High School. The students are transported by bus to Randolph.

The Depression and drought of the thirties was a hard time on the farm with little money and doctor bills to pay. The hay was cut with a 5-foot Mc Cormick mower, piled with a dump rake pulled by a team of horses. We hauled the hay on a wagon after loading it on by hand with pitch forks. Dad and his brothers started haying together later and purchased more machinery such a the old Dane Stacker, Farmall Super C tractor etc. to replace some of the horse-drawn machinery we used to farm with.

Dad rented Wilson Dean’s 80 acre farm east of our home for several years and raised hay and grain. Part of the land we owned and called the lots (on Woodruff Town plat) south of our home and east of the highway was sold to the propane company. Several years a semi-truck with cattle wrecked and caused a huge explosion and fire which destroyed several buildings, hay and fences across the highway. Georgia was living in the home at the time.

Dad decided it would be better to use a hand operated, air cooled water pump instead of watering the cattle with a bucket, rope and pulley from the well with a wooden curb. We pulled and repaired the pump from Uncle Milton Cornia’s well as they had city water. Aunt Rintha gave us a chocolate ice cream treat. I was hungry and ate to much and became sick, so chocolate ice cream hasn’t been my favorite ever since. The coop creamery purchased the milk for many years and they made cheese. It finally went out of business and the stock certificates Dad owned became worthless, unless you could use them to paper a wall.

Dad worked for the weed control with our team of horses, Mike and Brownie pulling a duck foot weeder to kill the noxious weeds around Woodruff and also on the road between Woodruff and Evanston. He used to take us to see Grandmother Longhurst who was getting along in years. She lived just a short walk down the road north of our home. Sometimes I would go by myself and she would always make a fuss over me. I got an old Dutch oven with a broken lid from Asael later on which I welded and fixed and still use on camp outs.

Dad served on the water board to assist the irrigation district in the planning for the building of a reservoir and regulating the shares of water for the farms and ranches. Dad spent a lot of time irrigating as we used the flooding method from ditches which ran lengthwise down the fields about 100 feet apart depending on the slope of the land. The dams in the ditches had to be shoveled in by hand and sometimes sacks (burlap) were used also straw and barnyard manure could be used. Canvas and plastic dams were used later.

Dad, Fred and I went to Long Hill late one fall in the forties with the team and sleigh. The snow was quite deep and slow going. Dad used the team to pull over some dead cedar tree. We loaded a big load on the sleigh and started home, part of the way in the dark and cold as it was slow going. Mike and Brownie were wet with sweat and very tired when we got home and were put in the barn for the night. In the morning Brownie was dead probably his heart gave out or a ruptured blood vessel. They were a trustworthy, honest work team that gave all they had and never gave up.

One time Dad, Fred and I went to Argyles to purchase some seed barley with the team and wagon about 6 or 7 miles north of Woodruff and it took longer than expected and we were returning home when it started to get dusk. A car came up behind us and didn't see the wagon soon enough and swerved and the back of the car hit and broke the rear wooden-spoke wheel of the wagon dropping the axle on the road. Another wheel had to be put on the next morning to haul the grain home. Mike and Brownie got loose some times and headed for Buck Springs where they had been raised as colts on the homestead up Home Canyon.

Grandmother died in 1942 and Dad, Myrt and Rintha each received 40 acres on the Dean meadow. Dad bought Rintha ‘s 40 making 80 acres to raise wild hay and pasture for the cattle. We put in a good fence but some years lack of water reduced the yield.

Electricity was put down the highway to our home in about 1948. The house was wired so we could have bright white lights instead of the yellow light of the kerosene lamp. The refrigerator and electric stove were greatly appreciated. Dad had a well drilled and with an electric pump indoor plumbing replaced the W P A (Roosevelt Monument) outhouse which was 100 feet or more behind the house. The thunder mug (indoor pot) was used on cold nights during the winter to save that cold walk or run to the outdoor privy. The battery radio keep us up to date on news of the World War II and we children liked to listen to the Lone Ranger, Shadow and other serial radio stories especially on Saturday morning.

Dad and Mother had the old Ford Model T during the early thirties but it gave out before I can remember. In the late forties Dad purchased a 1938 Ford Pickup with mechanical brakes making it hard to stop. The 1952 Chev. Pickup was purchased and used until the wreck in which Dad was killed in 1963.

Dad had trouble starting the tractor one cold day so he tried to heat up the engine which caught on fire burning the tractor and the open shed that was used for the milk cows. He rebuilt the shed and bought another tractor. The shed was used for several years until a high wind lifted the roof off and set it over in Asael's field upside down. I later removed the metal.

Dad didn't hunt deer very often when we were young but one time he borrowed Uncle Milton Cornia's 270 rifle and we rode up through the cedars to the cutoff ridge. Dad was on the ridge and we rode up through the trees. He killed a nice buck deer which we cleaned and loaded on old Pat to carry home 5 or 6 miles. This was one successful hunt of many in that area west of home and also east of Crawford Mountain.

The mailman (Lynn or Emerson Cox) took the mail, freight and passengers to and from Evanston and we used to ride with them from time to time as we didn't have a car during the thirties and forties. Sometimes Dad would go with uncles to shop in Evanston. The home town of Woodruff isn’t the same any more, the stores are closed and only the post office is open for business. The old adobe opera house was destroyed by fire many years age. The school with its bell and slippery slide are gone. The church was remodeled and enlarged with a gym, kitchen and paved parking lot.

Dad served for many years as general secretary for the Aaronic Priesthood, in the High Priest Quorum Leadership, Sunday School Superintendency, Stake Missionary (Holding cottage meetings in the members homes. I traveled with him and others to Diamondville near Kemmerer to help the branch members hold meetings.) He enjoyed singing in the ward choir. We would walk to church and school. Dad had a running walk, so we had to run to keep up or get a head start. He was a man of sterling qualities, honest, industrious and always willing and ready to help a neighbor in time of need or distress. He was a good husband and father. He was diligent in his church callings and while serving his country.

Birth date 20 Sep 1891 Woodruff, Utah.
Baptism 22 Sep 1899 by William Henry Longhurst
Confirmation 24 Sep 1899 by William Henry Longhurst
Married 5 Sep 1917 to Ruth Annie Mason
Death date 15 Sep 1963 Salt Lake City, Utah
Deacon 28 Feb 1904 by William Henry Longhurst
Teacher 25 Jun 1909 by A C Call
Priest 8 Dec 1913 by John M Baxter
Elder 2 Sep 1917 by John M Baxter
Seventy 13 Apr 1935 by Rulon S Wells
High Priest 11 Jan 1939 by Loraine Rollins

In May 1941, Mother became ill with tick fever (tularemia) and was taken to an Ogden hospital where she passed away on May 22. Her funeral was held on Sunday and burial in the Woodruff Cemetery. Dad suffered fatal injuries on Saturday, Sep 14, 1963 when his pick-up truck collided with a truck-trailer on U.S. 30 S about a mile west of Evanston, Wyo. He was attempting to turn from the west bound land to the freight warehouse where he was going to pick up a pump motor. He was transferred to SL Holy Cross Hospital after receiving treatment for head injuries at Uinta County Memorial Hospital. He died on Sunday at 11:00 AM in Salt Lake City. Funeral services were held Sep 18, 1963 in Woodruff and burial was by his wife. Their children were Georgia, Preal, June Anna, Betsy Faye, Fred William and Robert Max Longhurst. By RML