Johnson-Woods-Blakesley Family History

Page 2 (of 2)

[ Page 1 | 2  ]

JOHNSON, WOODS, BLAKESLEY FAMILIES

My children all went to Jefferson, and I have grandchildren too. I have two grandchildren at Annex School.

This farm that I now live on was purchased by Ephraim W. Blakesley in 1916, and he’s my husband’s grandfather. His mother, Louise Blakesley Woods, was a sister to Clifton Blakesley who owned the property adjoining the school, that’s now owned by Mas Yano. Pearl and Clifton Blakesley were very musical people and contributed much to this neighborhood with their musical talents. They directed choirs, and she played the piano so well. They lived in Fruitland when they were first married, but he still operated this farm out here. I really don’t know what year they moved out here to live permanently from Fruitland.

I know the Woods came to Crystal, which is just north of Payette, in 1902 and took up land. I don’t know if they homesteaded or purchased. My sister was married to C.B. Lattig already here, and they bought land adjoining the Lattigs. They built their home and had the orchards, etc., and then moved over here in 1933, during that time of the depression.

My father bought that 40 acres when we first came here in 1918 and lived there four years, and then he lost it because of the hard times. After that, he was placed on farms by the Federal Land Bank. They were foreclosing on farms all over the area. He first lived on the farm that Charles Joseph now owns, and we lived there until the Spring of 1929 when it was sold. Then, Federal Land Bank placed my father on property in the Arden Slough area, and that is now the farm owned by Elmer Newton. My father lived there until he was no longer able to work. All his life he had asthma, and in those days, there wasn’t very good treatment for asthma. At the time he died, he was only 55 years old. He died in 1941. At that time, they were just starting to use the word allergy. Now, it seems everybody has an allergy. When Father died, we took him back there.

Rev. Chandler used to be the one who visited the area and helped get the Sunday School organized. We had a Sunday School in Jefferson School House and the Blakesleys and Georgia Joseph were very musical. She and Aunt Pearl Blakesley were very instrumental in teaching the children. We had such good music and so much singing, many programs and things, that was a very sad thing for our community.

The American Sunday School Union filled a very great need at the time because there were so many children who were having no Gospel teaching at all. Parents maybe weren’t going to church because they hadn’t become affiliated with regular churches. The whole community came to that Sunday School and there was really a large congregation. It flourished for a long time and we attended until about 1947. Then, my girls had friends in town and wanted to go to town to church.

You know, I made a tape for the Annex School. I don’t know how good it was or how much of it was recorded. I told many of the things about the school at that time. I remember there was so much sagebrush in those days. All of the fences were lined with big tall sagebrush. My children could play hide and seek in the sagebrush all the time.

I was a bookkeeper before I was married, they asked me to be the School Clerk about the last part of the 30’s. I think about 1936 or ‘37, I was school clerk for three or four years. I remember the school had just made Jefferson into a two-room school. Previously, it was a one-room with all eight grades. My husband was instrumental in building a two-room with a teacher for the first four grades and a teacher for the four upper grades. He was on the school board at the time.

The multi-purpose room came about the time my girls were in the 2nd grade because they had their STAR grade graduation there. That was about 1950 that the multi-purpose room was added. I don’t know if I was there much of the time. I think it was sent one year when they were able to senior Star route. There were 11 Grant grade and they connected with Annex in 1955.

The American Sunday School Union is the oldest Sunday School Organization in the United States. It was started in 1817 and in 1974 they changed it from American Sunday School Union to what is now the American Missionary Fellowship. It is interesting to note that we, here in the Jefferson Community, were a part of the oldest Sunday School organization in the United States.

For two teachers and eight grades, the school budget was about $5,000, and the clerk’s salary was $35 per year. It gradually went up to $75 per year, but after consolidation and all the government red tape came into it with all the tax deductions, retirement, and medical, it was a much bigger job. The hot lunch program, the library, and everything was added. I was clerk for three or four years in the last part of the ’30s. Then, I wasn’t clerk again until after my husband died in 1955. They came and asked me to be clerk again and I was there until 1970 when we went through consolidation. After we made the addition down at Annex and had the library, and there was room for an office, I waved all of my bookkeeping from my home and went down there half days.

I quit the job. My children were too far away at the time. I retired from the job and went to Massachusetts and lived for a year with my daughter.

Now, my daughter lives here. Our country is really one of the choicest places on the earth, I think. I don’t know how we could think of a more choice place to live. There are changes from the way we lived from those early days to now; we can hardly believe. The farm homes are just as the city homes, and we have all the conveniences and all the pleasures of living out in the country. I remember how hard it was to get electricity in those times. We didn’t have electricity. My mother had electricity in her home in Utah in 1918, but she came up here and didn’t have electricity before 1940.

It used to cost a great deal to be connected to electricity. They had to have $300 to $500 to pay, and then they would have to guarantee a monthly income or monthly payment to Idaho Power to be connected to electricity. When I was married, we had electric lights, just the ceiling fixtures and that was all. I remember they added wall or put new wiring in and made the wall outlets. When I was first married, we wouldn’t think of using an electric stove. That was too extravagant, but then it wasn’t many years until we did have an electric stove. Mrs. Woods had hers out on a little back porch and she would cook there in the summer. Just the very hottest weather when she would do that. I had a small electric stove beside my coal range. I always remember I would feel so guilty every time I would use the electric stove because we had been brought up that it was extravagant, you know.

How hard it was to start using dryers. We thought it was lazy not to hang your clothes out in the sunshine. Now, a farmer can farm so many acres. In those days, a man with his horses could not farm more than 40 acres. That was the limit of his ability to take care of. I’ve never moved since I was married. I don’t know whether it is an advantage or not. You have roots and you become attached to the land.

[ Page 1 | 2  ]

From Mrs. Stella (Johnson) Woods