George Oler History

Compiled by Isobel Grace Erikson Oler

George Oler

|

Joseph Oler

|

Maurice Oler

In the census of 1790, for Pennsylvania we find that Philip Ohler was living in Philadelphia City. He had two sons over sixteen years of age, three sons under sixteen, two females and his wife. Philip Jacob Ohler was a passenger of the ship,” Minerva" which landed in Pennsylvania August 10, 1768. (Rupp’s Thirty Thousand Emigrants)

In the Biography of Maryland and the District of Columbia, there is a short sketch of William B. Ohler born 1818, it gives the following: "Three brothers, Germans, came to this country, one settling in Pennsylvania, one further west and one in Fredrick, Maryland." It is quite definite that the one settling in Pennsylvania is our direct ancestor.

In as much as this is a history of George Oler, his ancestors and descendants; it is regrettable that only this bit is known of those who went before him, and so very little of the early part of George's own life. Was his childhood a happy one? What kind of child's play did he enjoy most? What events led up to his family's joining the church? Perhaps the answer to many of these questions and more is available if we are willing to search.

George, son of George Oler and Margaret Lancaster Oler was born in Philadelphia, Penn., on the 29th day of August 1849. He began working for others when he was only eight years old. He left Pennsylvania and for a while went from place to place getting work where he could and finally coming to Salt Lake City at a time when the saints were still arriving in the valley by covered wagons and handcarts as the railroad had not yet been completed. George was sent back east to assist in bringing a group of emigrants to the valley. When he was reluctant to make a second trip, he was told that it was the same as performing a mission, so he went. He received his endowments before going as this was one of the requirements. On this trip Mary Squires, a young girl from England, was in the group of saints. George often told the story about meeting his wife on this trek across the plains. One day the oxen and covered wagon in which Mary and another girl were riding became stuck in the middle of a stream they were crossing. George, already in love with Mary, carried her to safety on the shore of the stream. He also went back and got the oxen, but he left the other girl in the wagon all night. My! How she cried!

Far too little is known of Mary, the wife of George. She was born March 5, 1852, at Front Street, Radford, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, located almost in the center of England. She was the youngest of five children in the family of Joseph and Mary Davis Squires. Her father was a framework knitter by trade.

Mary's father and mother were members of the church, Mary being baptized when she was eight.(17 June 1860 in Radford). Her parents had joined the church 10 years before.

Mary had among her friends, two very close girl friends, also members of the church--Ellen Widdison, who later married her brother Joseph and Ann Winterton, who was the mother of Anna Barrows of Shelley, Idaho. Mary, Ellen and Ann sang together often and went to other nearby towns with their caroling. It is interesting to note that the three left England together and came to Utah. George Oler at nineteen, and Mary Squires, sixteen, were married not too long after they met on the plains in the Salt Lake Endowment House on 11 October 1868 by George Q. Cannon. It must have been one of the happiest days of Mary's life; for on that same day her father and mother also received their endowments, and her friend Ellen became the wife of her brother Joseph. Mary must have had a deep love and respect for her three brothers, George, Joseph and James for she named three of her sons after them.

During the summer before their marriage, George got work on the farm of Henry Chipman in American Fork and Mary helped in the Chipman home. Early in their married life they moved to Cedar Valley where they cleared 80 acres of sagebrush for farming, but soon moved to American Fork.

Their home in American Fork was just back of the sidewalk with a row of walnut trees in front and just on the other side of the sidewalk were the railroad tracks. Every time Mary heard the train whistle she would drop whatever she was doing and run out of the house to see where her children were.

Mary was very tiny, weighing less than a hundred pounds. Her older children long remembered the low rocker she used to rock her babies. When she sat on an ordinary chair her feet could not touch the floor. Etrick Millar said of her: "She was one of the finest women you ever met." He remembers her home as a gathering place for young people.

Few in American Fork knew her as Mary. She was called Polly. Someone has said how well her nickname” Little Polly" fitted her.

The Indians often came to their home for food and Mary fed them. When an Indian Squaw came to her home after Mary's death and was told of it, she said:” She good;" and went down the street leading her horse, dragging tent poles and chanting a death song.

George and Mary had thirteen children. The household tasks of each day were endless! There were babies to care for, meals to prepare, the house to clean, washing, ironing, mending, sewing, water to carry, wood to bring in. Imagine if you can how big these tasks were with no modern conveniences--no electrical appliances, not even an iron. The children were taught to help; but the big job, the managing of the home fell on the almost always tired shoulders of "Little Polly," the mother.

Part of the time George and his growing sons farmed by renting hay ground and putting up the hay. This was not an easy task; and in order to amply provide for his family, George spent long hours in the field. In order to help him, Mary would cook a hot dinner and carry it to the field to her husband and sons with a baby on her back and the small children running beside her.

George's father, George Oler Sr., at this time was living at Leeds, Utah, a small settlement near St. George. He became ill and in July of 1886 George went to Leeds and brought his father back with him to American Fork. His father was so ill that when they reached American Fork the conductor stopped the train right in front of the door of George and Mary's home and let them take him off. He lived with his son only a few months, dying at their home on the 21st of October of that same year.

George attended church regularly, but whether he ever held offices in the church we do not know. As the years went by it became more difficult for Mary to go. Joe, her son, said he often came hom Sunday afternoon to find his mother out in the yard sitting on the woodpile just resting. Many times he would go out and sit and talk with her. No matter how busy the week, she tried to make Sunday a day of rest.

On October 14, 1891, George, their eldest son married Bertha Helen Tillack in the Logan Temple (The Salt Lake Temple had not yet been dedicated.) Bertha was a young girl from Australia and had only recently come to Utah with her family who had joined the church in Australia.

This was another big event in the lives of George and Mary, their first child leaving home to establish a home for himself. Bertha and her mother and friends worked hard to make the event a happy and lovely remembrance. Their wedding cake was four tier and had been made three weeks before by Sister Clark, Peter Clark's mother.(Peter was a close friend of George's.) Bertha helped seed the raisins as they couldn't get seeded raisins then, and picked over the currants, washed them and put them in the sun to dry. Her cake contained three dozen eggs, four pounds of raisins, three pounds of currants and a pound of peel and citron.

When Bertha and George returned from Logan, there was a wedding supper waiting for them and the American Fork City brass band stood at the door and played. Joe and George were members of this fifteen piece band. After supper they all marched up to the dance hall where they had band music again outside the dance hall door. The band members gave George and Bertha a large cupboard which Bertha had until a few years ago. The Polls orchestra from Lehi furnished the music for the dance.

Less than four weeks later tragedy came to the Oler home. Mary was expecting her twelfth child. One day she talked with Mary Ann her oldest daughter then eighteen, and told her she felt she would not live when her baby was born. She asked Mary Ann if she would take care of the smaller children. (The five youngest were all under the age of ten.) She especially asked her to care for Albert and Oscar who were two and three at the time. She said it would be too great a responsibility to care for all the children and the older ones would have to look out for themselves and assist the others.

Instead of havng one child, Mary gave birth to twin boys. She called Mary Ann to her telling her not to worry about the care of the two new babies, she would call for them soon. An Old Granny, the attending midwife, noted the seriousness of Mary's illness and sent for the men who were working in the field. Joe took one look at his Mother, hurriedly got the buggy and went for the doctor, but he was too late. The twins were so tiny they needed special care so Mrs. Tillack(Bertha's Mother) took both of them. Mark lived about a month (died 3 December 1891) and Elmer at the age of four and one-half contracted Diphtheria and died April 7, 1896.

Mary Ann, who had planned to be married that fall to John E. Kelley, postponed her weeding until the next August. (3 August 1892) The other two girls in the family Margareta and Pearl, were only seven and five, so the burden of caring for her brothers and sisters the next few months was largely Mary Ann's.

In those days, the boys often left home while still quite young and worked for other people, returning home whenever there was no more work. Joe went to work for others when about twelve years old and it is most probable the other did likewise. Whether all of the boys were home that winter is now known.

On February 10, 1892, Joseph, age 20, the second son married Alice Green, daughter of Alfonso and Elizabeth Chadwick Green.

In May of that year, Pearl went to live with Joe and Alice. She lived with them until she married. At the same time, Etta, as Margareta was called, went to live with George and Bertha. When Mary Ann was married in August she took the two youngest boys, Albert and Oscar, to live with her. Bert lived with her until he was married and Oscar spent a number of years in her home. Roy, then only ten also went to live with Mary Ann; however, Roy often lived with his father and finally went to stay with Joe and Alice until his marriage.

George Oler, the father, tried to make a home for his older sons, John, Will and James and sometimes Roy. Will remembered vividly of coming home one night after work and seeing his father standing at the stove frying potatoes. It hurt him so much to see his father trying to keep things going and he missed his mother so much that he went out and lay by the railroad track and cried. It is little wonder that George, the father married again. He married Lavina Hanson. She had a family of boys and perhaps because of the two families this marriage was not successful. He later married Elizabeth (Dorothy)Edlefson, whose former husband had been an officiator in the Logan Temple. Dorothy was a lovely person and their marriage together was very happy. They had a child which was born dead. Although she had had no other children she was a good mother and grandmother to George’s family.

George loved the hills and outdoors. He spent a great deal of time, for about ten years after Mary’s death, prospecting and mining and also lumbering. He purchased a mine at Lewiston near Bingham. It was at this mine he was hurt when trying to get water out of the shaft. There was a small shack next to the mine opening where they kept the ropes and other mining materials. George tied the rope to the bucket and got into it, as he prepared to go down, the air-rotted rope broke and he fell to an incline which gave way letting him fall about thirty feet into icy water. Only his son Jim (James14) was with him at the time. There are various stories told about the incident. One says that Jim had to take the harness apart and let it down to help his father up to a small incline; then he had to repair the harness and go down to American Fork for help. Another says that he was able to get his father to the incline above the water and was able to lower dry clothing, a blanket and food, while he went back for help. Joe at least went back with him and perhaps there were some of the other boys also. He was very ill going back to town so they stopped at Lehi where the doctor gave him aid. They took him to George and Bertha's home and it was two months before he was able to be up and around again.

For three summers he and his son George operated a sawmill in West Canyon. During the winter they hauled the lumber to Bingham. Bertha ran a boarding house, with help, for the loggers. Alice and Mary Ann also cooked at times.

One year at Thanksgiving time the men folk were still up in the canyon getting logs out for the mill and even though they were living in a tent, the families went up and had their thanksgiving dinner. They stayed that night and made beds all over the tent floor.

An incident happening at this time which is still vivid in the minds of some of the Oler family, the living quarters for the loggers were located near a creek, which, at this point entered a large flume carrying water to the Power Plant at the mouth of American Fork Canyon. One day, Floyd, Mary Ann's boy, then two or three years old, wandered away from the camp. Everyone searched frantically, in the brush, in and out of the camp houses and still Floyd could not be found. As time went on, everyone became very tense, for there still existed the possibility that he could have fallen into the stream and been carried through the flume and into the Power House. At last in desperation John Kelley, Floyd's father, got on a horse and began a search farther up the canyon. About a mile up the canyon and still traveling, he found Floyd, none the worse for his experience.

While running the sawmill they sawed and hauled all the lumber that was used in building the Lehi Sugar Beet Factor, selling it for $13.00 per thousand. They also furnished eleven thousand feet of lumber that was used in building the bridge across Jordan River at Lake. Many of the things they needed in Racker's general store at Lehi were purchased with lumber. Mary Ann got her first baby carriage there in this way.

One time while living up in the canyon, Lydia, Joe and Alice's tiny daughter, dropped the scissors on Alice's hand. At first it didn't appear too bad, but it wasn't long until her hand began to swell, becoming very inflamed and red streaks appeared on her arm. They were not near a doctor and Joe decided they had better lance it. He went to borrow a razor from Him Barrett who was working there. Jim suggested that he put some salt bacon on it and if it wasn't better by morning they'd better take her to American Fork to the doctor. Salt bacon was plentiful. By morning the infection was checked and since that time salt bacon has been used in this way by many in the Oler family.

Bert and Oscar have many memories of their childhood in American Fork. They were living with Mary Ann and John when their home was near the Beck Livery Stables. The boys liked to make the horses buck. One day Bert walked up behind a colt and was kicked in the eye. He got up with his hand over his eye and asked Oscar, "Is it bleeding?" "No, I can't see any blood" but just then the blood began to trickled down. Mary Ann sent for Dr. Boswick. He looked at the eye and said, "We'll have to sew it up." Bert never forgot the feeling he had, for he thought they were going to sew his eye shut. The doctor said there would not be a scar if they took care of it; but shortly after this, Mary Ann was vigorously blacking the stove while Bert was watching her. Her elbow hit him below the same eye and tore out two of the stitches, leaving a scar which he has always had.

The boys had a little white mare they rode. One day Bert was riding and Oscar held on to its tail. Bert made the horse go fast; and when Oscar could no longer hang on, he let go and the horse immediately fell. They always laughed about Oscar holding up the horse.

Nicknames were prevalent in the Oler family, some of them keeping their nicknames all their lives and long after they had forgotten how the name first started. A Punch and Judy show came to American Fork. The puppets were called Oscar and Eli. Years after, the other brothers called Bert, "Eli" and Oscar, "Snow." Joe was "Hans" for years. There was a man at Lehi named Hans from whom they got sand. Joe went after a load one day and while he was loading the sand, Hans put hay on the end of the wagon tongue for the horses to eat. When Joe arrived home, instead of unhitching the team at once, he also put hay on the wagon tongue. Will for some reason was called "Mike", and Jim was called "Jess." Margaretta's name was shortened to Etta and Ett." Roy was "Lads," and the children in a hurry to say Mary Ann, always called her "Mirann." Another name she was always called was "Jane" after an Indian squaw by that name who often came to her home.

In March 1902, George, the eldest son, decided to move to Canada. He had heard that carpenters were needed and that wages were better. Also his wife's sister and brother and their families had already gone to Alberta, having been called to go there by the church authorities three years before. Bertha, George's wife, in her record said: "So we sold our little house with a picket fence in front, and our barn and water well, and cellar in American Fork all for $5000 and moved to Canada." By this time they had six children and also Margaretta, George's sister, living with them. They settled in Sterling, Alberta, Canada.

We do not know what church work, if any, any of the Olers did in American Fork, but George, a quiet, kind man, found plenty to do to help the little ward in Sterling. He used to make coffins in those early days for almost all who died. He made Nora's (John's wife.) Another young mother died the same day Nora died and George made her casket. (In this small place, two young mothers dying the same day and leaving small children seemed so tragic!) George did the carpenter work on the coffins and Bertha and the girls covered them. Louie remembers staying up late at night many times to have the coffin finished for the funeral the next day. No record was kept of the number they made but there were many.

He was President of the young Men's Mutual for about four years and also was chorister of the Sunday School for some time. He was on the genealogical committee when they first started that committee in Sterling. When they organized the old Folks committee, he was appointed chairman, and held that office until his death. He was very enthusiastic in this work and did all he possibly could to make an enjoyable time for the "Old Folks."

He was appointed ward Chorister on 10 January 1922 and held that office until his death in 1929.

Those who knew him said he put his whole soul into whatever he did. He insisted upon being on time to perform his church duties and would leave his work and meals at home in order to be there. He held the office of a Seventy in the Priesthood.

He was also active in community affairs, being postmaster from 16 December 1908 until his death. He was town Registrar during that time also. He was leader of a brass band two or three different times.

He helped build many of Sterling’s homes and public buildings among them were most of the large houses in Sterling(8 or 9), the first brick schoolhouse, the remodeling of the old church for a recreational building; and he was in charge of the construction of the present chapel which began in 1927 and was nearly completed when he passed away in 1929. He also come to Shelley and helped build his brother Jim's home.

George and Bertha's home was always opened to those who needed a home. They had twelve children of their own and Margaretta. When John's wife died, shortly after her baby was born, they took the baby (Nora) to live in their home for eight years. They also had Bertha's sister's baby for about half a year.

John, the fourth child, was seventeen when his mother, Mary, died. His schooling was meager, typical of the older family members and other children of those days. He also worked at the saw mill. It was while working there he began his friendship and courtship with Nora Meyer (Elnora) and they were married 16 December 1896. (In the Temple 17 September 1902). They moved to Sterling also. This was in the fall of 1902. They had planned to move to Shelley and had their belongings shipped there by train; but when they got there changed their minds and rebilled their things to Sterling, Alberta, Canada. Perhaps the reason was that Nora's father and sister were living in Sterling.

The first winter John was in Canada it was very cold and work was scarce. John got a job hauling hay out on the Prairie to feed sheep. On one of these trips, he got lost in a blizzard. Night came and he tied his team to the hayrack and covered it with his quilts and blankets; then he walked around the wagon all night to keep awake. He said it was the coldest and longest night he ever remembered.

Before their sixth child was born, Nora contracted typhoid fever and died a month after the baby was born 10 September 1908. It was very hard for John to care for his family and he constantly prayed for help.

The next year he and his children went to Shelley for the winter and there he met and married May Larson Kearny on February 16, 1910. May was a widow and had three small children and John and she had four. They went back to Canada and that year John only raised 80 bushels of what on 80 acres; but he had some horses they were able to sell, so they got along fine.

When they were married they lived in two rooms with their eight children. They built the present John Oler home in 1912.

John and May got along very well with their "mixed" families. (There were fourteen in their household at one time.)

They had many happy times together.

One night in the early 20's, John went into Sterling to play basketball. In jumping or throwing the ball his intestines ruptured. Immediately he was in pain. It was 45 degrees below zero and no way of getting a doctor in Lethbridge until the train came at ten the next morning. The doctor did not think he would live. While in the hospital he got hiccups, and the doctor said he could not live more than a day with them; but they lasted several days. Donald, his son, and another brother administered to him and the hiccups stopped while their hands were on his head. He began to get better from that time.

John was President of the Elder's Quorum for a number of years. He also was a Sunday School teacher for several years. He died January 14, 1944.

• *(The following speaks of Joe and his family moving from American Fork to the Stanton area near Shelley. Perhaps the introductory sentences were left out in re-copying. Ann O. Welker)

They spent the first night in Idaho at the home of Heb Harrington where Kelley's were also staying while they built a room and lean-to to live in. My! It was crowded!

Joe and John Kelley divided the 160 acres. Then John took the south end of the farm now known as the Fair farm. Joe took the part later known as the Chapman farm.

Joe and Will and their families moved into a four room house already on the farm. The Olsen family from whom they bought the farm stayed in the house also for a month. When they moved out Joe took two rooms and Will took two. Joe and his family had to go through Will's and Juliet's rooms to get outside. They lived this way for two years until Will built a two room house on ten acres of Joe's land. Will lived there two years and then purchased the Jacklin farm and moved there.

Joe and John Kelley kept this farm seven years and in 1909, they bought the John Herbert farm of 160 acres just south and east of Shelley. Joe took the east part and John the west. Joe and Alice built a home here, but while it was being built they slept in a cellar on the place and cooked in a buggy shed brought from the other place. In the fall when the cellar was needed for potatoes they lived in a tent for a couple of months. The house is the present home and was designed by Roy who had just returned from his mission. Joe lived in this home the rest of his life.

Joe and Alice's home was always opened to others. Joe's brothers, Jim and John stayed with them quite often until their marriages and Roy spent most of his time with them. Pearl made her home with them until her marriage. Her first Christmas with them Joe wanted to make her happy, so he went out to the cedars, got a load of poles, and sold them to buy Pearl a doll and some dishes. It has been said of Joe that no one had a bigger heart and that he would rather be hurt than do a wrong that would hurt others. His brother Jim once said that Joe made money but he gave it all away. Many times he loaned money or gave away valuable possessions to make others happy. I think we would be safe in saying that no father ever was more loved and revered by his family and respected by his friends and neighbors than Joe Oler.

No matter who came to their home they were always asked to eat and share their hospitality. His Mexican help or even the tramps that often came were invited in to eat at their table. It would be impossible to make a tribute of this type to Joe without including his wife, Alice, who made such hospitality possible.

Joe told his children that he realized while still a boy the importance of controlling one's temper and he certainly learned to control his and tried to help his children learn self control.

When the Ward in Shelley was divided, Joe was on the building committee for the new Second Ward. He was a High Councilman when the Shelley Stake was first organized. At one time he taught Sunday School and was President of the Second Ward Mutual about 1916.

He was often called the neighborhood barber. For years he cut his brothers hair; later his sons, and still later his grandsons. On the farm southeast of Shelley, Joe lived for 33 years where he farmed successfully. He passed away 6 May 1944.

Mary Ann, the oldest daughter of George and Mary Squires Oler, had many responsibilities early in life and these prepared her for the many responsibilities she had in her own home with her large family.

John, Mary Ann's husband was very busy with church and civic affairs and the care of the family was often largely her responsibility. For a number of years he was Bishop and she always gave him her support and help.

She was usually a person who was calm and not easily excited. When the children were ill she cared for them well but did not become emotionally upset.

She had seven daughters and did most of their sewing herself. She was an excellent cook. Her stepmother said that no one could make better lemon pie than Mary Ann. She was a very good manager and housekeeper, but she was always willing to leave her own work to go help others when she was needed. Everyone who knew her remembers how jolly she was and speaks of her keen sense of humor. She understood young people and had so much patience with her children.

Mary Ann had much faith in the power of prayer. When Floyd, her second son, was called on a mission, she was very ill and only weighed 60 pounds. No one, not even the Doctor, thought she could live. Floyd was advised to postpone his mission because of his Mother's condition. Mary Ann called him to her bedside and told him he must not put off his mission and said that she would be here when Floyd returned. The night of his testimonial she was so low that his father did not go. In the first letter Floyd got from her after he arrived in the mission field she said she had just finished sweeping the floor. She got well and lived a number of years after this.

Even though her family was large she worked in church organizations. At one time she was Primary President. She worked in Relief Society as assistant secretary and also as one of the counselors at different times. She also was a visiting Relief Society teacher.

She died July 23, 1926, at the age of 53 in Salt Lake City where she had gone a few days earlier for an operation. At the time of her death it was said: "She was deeply attached to her husband and family and it would be difficult indeed to find a more ideal home where the sweet influence of the mother was so warmly felt and appreciated."

Much of Will's time after his mother's death, when he was fifteen, until his marriage was spent working for and living with a family by the name of Chipman. One of his duties was to get up and make the fire in the morning and empty the teakettle and put fresh water in it. Mrs. Chipman liked fresh water for morning coffee. He also went to work with his father and brothers at the sawmill. At one time the sawmill was moved up above Round Valley where the small town of Wallsburg is located. Will didn't want to go but Bertha's brother said” You better go, Will. You might find you a wife over at Wallsburg." Will went to the dance and there he met Juliet Nuttall. He often told that when he first saw her he said, "There's my girl." The next time the lumber team went back to American Fork, Will sent for his best clothes. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple December 19, 1900.

When Will and Juliet came to Idaho to live, they had only been married a little over a year. Both of them, especially Juliet, were often homesick for Utah.

They had eight daughters and one boy. As has already been mentioned Will farmed for a number of years. They moved into Shelley in 1918 and later sold their farm.

Will was President of the Mutual at one time. At one time he was called to go on home missions for six months. He was sent to Sterling near Aberdeen. Juliet took care of the chores and family while he was gone. The older girls remember holding the lantern while their mother did the milking and also remember how cold it was that winter.

When the Second Ward Church was built he hauled rock from Iona with horses and wagon.

One Christmas Eve, Will was Santa Claus at the church party. The Christmas tree was lighted with candles and somehow the cotton on Santa Claus' suit caught on fire. Even the Christmas tree caught fire. Joe, who was there, tore the suit off Will, but his face was burned. He came to the big family dinner at Joe's and Alice's with his family the next day but he could not eat.

Will was a kind, quiet man with very few faults. When Juliet died very suddenly June 12, 1949, Will seemed to lose all interest in living and on December 17 of that same year he passed away.

Long after Mary's (the mother) death, the family seemed to remember important dates by this event. Jim was twelve when his mother died. He also helped at the sawmill and at least once when his father was mining was with him. Jim and John seemed to stay quite a bit of the time with Joe and Alice until they were married.

According to record, no account of Jim's baptism could be found so he was baptized by John Sykes in American Fork on February 17, 1898. Will also was baptized this same year and perhaps for the same reason.

Jim was married at a home wedding in Pleasant Grove to Annie D. Nelson. Later on March 10,1899, this marriage was solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple.

After their marriage Jim had various jobs, spending some time at the sawmill. Later he studied the creamery business and also worked at the brick yard in Pleasant Grove. He also graduated from a correspondence course in Electrical Engineering from the International Correspondence School in Scranton, Penn. He then worked at the power plant at the mouth of American Fork Canyon as switchboard operator for a good many years until he left to go on his Mission. During his off hours he would wire homes in and around Pleasant Grove. He installed street lights for that city. Even though jobs were hard to find, Jim always seemed to find plenty of work.

In the summer of 1910, he was called to fill a mission in the Western States with headquarters at Denver. He accepted and left in October leaving his wife and three children--the oldest ten and the youngest four. During his mission he was instrumental in healing the sick. He was made a conference president. He made many friends and filled an honorable mission returning home in October 1912.

In 1913, he went to Shelley to purchase a farm. He bought the Hans Larson place located across the road north of the Shelley Sugar Factory property. In March of that year he sold his home in Pleasant Grove and moved to Shelley. Here he engaged in farming and selling Life Insurance.

Shortly after coming to Shelley, he was made Stake Sunday School Superintendent. He held this position for many years. He also was a ward teacher.

Jim also found time for recreation. He liked dancing and swimming. He built Paradise Gardens on the Yellowstone highway just north of Firth. The place was later destroyed by fire.

In 1934 he moved to Salt Lake City in the Eighth Ward and was again Ward Teacher. At the time of his death he was a member of the Third Ward.

He was the father of six children. Three of the children preceded him in death: Earl, Dean and Lois. The three living children are Leah of American Fork and Glen and June of Salt Lake City. He died December 26, 1942.

Roy, the seventh child, was almost ten when his mother died. When Mary Ann married the next year he went to live with her, but later lived with Joe and Alice. When they went to Idaho, Roy went with them.

Joe and Roy farmed together most of the time. They thought a lot of each other and always seemed to respect each others opinions. Whenever they had a misunderstanding they were able to appreciate each other's point of view.

In March of 1906, he left for the Southern States Mission; and was there 31 months, returning in June 1909. He was in the state of Mississippi his entire mission.

The Shelley Ward was divided in August that year and Roy was made Sunday School Superintendent of the Second Ward. He held this position four years. He was President of the Elders' Quorum and a home missionary. He was a fine speaker, and was often asked to speak in other wards and at funerals. He was always dependable in his church activities.

Roy was skilled with carpenter tools. He helped Joe build his home and they also built him and his wife's home. He only went to school to the seventh grade but he enjoyed reading very much.

Joe and he were farming together when he married Margaret Thomas 5 June, 1913.Their son was born April 7, 1914. On October 1, 1914, he went out after dinner to plow out potatoes. He was standing in the door of the stable waiting for a hail storm to pass over when a bolt of lightning struck, killing him.

Margaretta was always called "Etta" or "Et". It is regrettable that so little has been found about her to put in this short history. She was only 7 when her mother died, and the next year she went to live with George and Bertha. She lived in their home until she was almost twenty.

In her own meager record she said: "Goedie, Bertha, and family and I went to Canada in March 1902. I stayed in Canada one year and seven months. I came to Idaho, December 1, 1903."

Most of the time after she came here and until her marriage in 1905, she did housework for a Mrs. Patterson and also in Heber Harrington's home.

Etta married Spencer Williams July 12, 1905, in Blackfoot. For a while they lived in Shelley but most of her married life was spent at Bone, Idaho, which is located in the mountains. They farmed there first and then ran a general store there.

Her brothers and sisters in Shelley and their families used to go on outings up to her home. All of them seem to remember interesting times they had at Aunt Etta's and Uncle Spence’s'.

Etta was unable to attend church very often but she had a deep love for her church.

Etta was a good homemaker and an excellent cook. Her leisure time was spent crocheting. She did very lovely work.

She had three sons. Her youngest was only three when he died. Etta could never quite reconcile herself to her baby's death.

She died November 8, 1940, in Idaho Falls, at the age of 56.

From Pearl's own history we take the following;” Mother died when I was 5 years old, so I don't remember much about her except a few outstanding circumstances. I remember a needed spanking I received for disobedience, and a wonderful kiss for having two teeth pulled by an old man with big pincers.

I lived with my brother, Joseph, and his wife, Alice Green Oler. They saw to it that I attended public school and church during my growing years.

I attended Primary until I was twelve years old. I often gave recitations on programs both in Primary and Sunday School. I was editor of a Primary paper which was made up of true stories of faith and prayer written by the Primary children. I copied them all in a pretty book. There were quite a few each week. Sunday School activities and programs were wonderful to me.

I was nearly sixteen years old when I left American Fork and would have received my eighth grade diploma on my sixteenth birthday.

A year later in March 1903, it was suggested I go to school for the remaining six weeks of the school term and graduate. I passed the exams with an average of ninety per cent in all the subjects and one hundred per cent in arithmetic. I surely was happy to have a diploma.

My church activities before I married included being secretary of the Sunday School and secretary of the YWMIA. I also taught a class in religion.

At the dances of this time, we had basket parties. The girls made fancy baskets and put lunch in them. The baskets were auctioned at the dance to the highest bidders. My partner was determined to get my basket, and to do it he bid twenty dollars. He won it and paid the auctioneer a twenty dollar gold piece. I had also taken a kettle with a large lunch to go along with the basket. I hid the kettle but the auctioneer found it and sold it to Cy Davis for $2.50.

I started to work for the Shelley Merc. Company, a general merchandise store, in September 1903. I clerked for a year,then went into the office for the second year. I kept the day book in which I copied all the sales slips from which the bookkeeper, Soren Yorgensen,copied the records in the Big Book.

I also made all change in cash purchases. They installed the first slide cups to send money to the cashier at that time. (A few times the cups came up, I found mice in them.) It was also then the first telephone booth was put in the store.

When a theater came to town, I sold the reserved tickets at my desk. It was a lot of fun meeting people from all over the valley.

I was married November 28, 1905, to George Howard Lawrence of Shelley. He was a farmer; therefore, we lived on a farm during our married life."

Pearl and her husband had eleven children, one dying in infancy. Her husband died in 1933. She wanted her children to have a college education so in 1939 Pearl and her family moved to Logan, Utah. At least six of her sons are college graduates.

Pearl is now living with her son George in Salt Lake City.

Bert, next to the youngest son, came to Idaho with Mary Ann and John Kelley when he was fourteen. He helped mostly on the farm but in 1910 he attended Ricks College and took a short missionary course. He was called to fill a mission in the Southern States and left 6 June, 1911. He contracted Malaria Fever in this hot climate and also had typhoid. Unable to finish his mission he returned home 20 December 1911. Heber J. Grant was touring the mission when Bert was ill and in a letter to Bishop Mallory of the Shelley Second Ward, he said that Elder Oler would live to complete his mission and that it was the wishes of the Lord that he return home at that time. He also said he had, in his short mission contacted people other Elders had failed to contact.

The next year after returning home from his mission, he married Nellie McGary in the temple.

He has worked at various jobs during his life, working for the Sugar Co. for a number of years.

At the beginning of World War II, Bert and his family moved to Henderson, Nevada, where Bert worked at the Magnesium Plant. Later they moved to Las Vegas and Bert worked at a creamery until 1945 when they returned to their home in Shelley. He is now working at the L.D.S. Hospital.

Bert has always been a hard worker and dependable. He is a good neighbor. He loves music and enjoys singing the church hymns. Reading has become a hobby for him and most of his evenings are spent reading and studying the gospel. Bert and Nell have always beautified their home with lovely flowers and lawns and they always grow excellent gardens.

Bert has a great love for his family and each vacation he has is used in visiting some of his children. He has been a Sunday School teacher and a ward teacher. At one time he was secretary of the YMMIA. He holds the office of a High Priest.

Eleventh in this family of thirteen, Oscar was born in American Fork, Utah, on October 26, 1889. At the age of two, following the birth of his twin brothers and the subsequent death of his mother, he went to live with John and Mary Kelley. While living with Kelleys he often went with them to Mercur to sell produce to this small mining town. One incident he remembers vividly is the Jubilee he attended in Salt Lake when he was nine. His father had told the four small children(Oscar,Bert,Peal and Et) that he would take them to Salt Lake to the celebration. Pearl told the other kids that they had bananas in Salt Lake, and along with their eagerness to attend the celebration was anticipation of seeing and tasting their first banana. They slept outside the night before they left, and although Oscar's eyes were swollen shut from mosquito bites, the trip was a huge success and the kids tasted their first banana. He also helped his father and brothers run a saw mill in West Canyon near American Fork. It was while working in West Canyon that he became acquainted with the girl he later married.

At the age of 13 he moved to Idaho with Kelleys, arriving in Shelley March 9, 1902. He attended grade school in American Fork and after coming to Idaho he attended the Stanton School.

In 1905, he left Kelleys and went to live with his father who had also moved to Idaho and had purchased a farm east of Shelley. His brother John, who was visiting in Idaho, persuaded him to go to Canada and farm with him which he did, remaining until the summer of 1908 when he returned to Shelley and lived with his brother Joe. In the winter of 1909-10 he attended Ricks College in Rexburg and completed his elementary schooling.

In the fall of 1910, he went to Pleasant Grove to visit his brother, Jim, who was leaving on a mission. We have two versions concerning this trip. Olive tells that as she was walking down town after singing at Relief Society Conference, she saw a young man with a suitcase coming up the sidewalk. He looked very familiar, so she stopped, stared, and was about to speak but went on, thinking perhaps it was not the person she thought it was. When she got home Jim and Annie sent for her to come over. Yes, it was Oscar, her childhood playmate whom she had seen that afternoon. Oscar's version goes this way. Walking from depot to my brother Jim's, I met a girl who apparently became very interested in me. She was about to speak, but, passed by, watching me as far as she could see me. I thought to myself,” The girls are already falling for me, I will really enjoy myself in this town. The childhood friendship developed into a romance, and they were married in the Salt Lake Temple, June 7, 1911.

They came to Shelley and Oscar worked at odd jobs until he went into farming with Jim who had moved to Shelley in March of 1913. He later farmed ground belonging to Soren Yorgesen and John F. Shelley. He also worked for the Utah-Idaho Sugar Co. drilling beets, and as a lab chemist and sugar boiler in the factory.

In their early married life, both Oscar and his wife were active in their ward, both serving on the M.I.A. activity committee with Margaret Oler(Barnett) as M.I.A. President. They helped with several plays and comedy entertainments which was given in the ward and later were taken to other wards in the Stake. Oscar took part in a Minstrel show put on by the Stake with Lester Holland directing. Many and varied were the duties of Oscar and his wife, both in music circles in the ward as well as Stake duties.

Turning from the serious to the more humorous, Oscar relates an incident which happened when his two oldest children were desperately ill with measles. Taking the last $3 he owned, he bought a thermometer to keep a check on their temperature. When he got home, he dropped the thermometer breaking it before he had ever used it. Although heartsick at the time, he remarked later,” The best $3 ever spent, as I never realized how very ill the children were."

Another incident occurred while hauling wood from the hills. He had his youngest son, Morris, then about 8 years old, with him. In the course of their work, they molested a hornet's nest, and Oscar who has always been allergic to the bee stings of insect bites, had been stung a dozen or more times about his head and face. Before an hour had passed, Oscar's eyes had swollen to mere slits and his mouth and nose were so swollen he looked almost grotesque. All the way home Morris watched his Dad and kept saying to him, "Are you sure you are my Dad, you don't look like him."

Oscar enjoyed his association with his family, especially the antics and the witty saying of his children.

In later years he turned more to carpentry. He built his own home in 1926. About this time he began working for Bingham County as a road and bridge builder and cat driver. He worked for the county about 14 years.

He began operating the projection machines at the Virginia Theatre and doing carpenter work in the daytime. He worked about 8 years at the Theatre and also built several nice homes in Shelley during this time. Since then he has devoted his time to carpentry.

He is the father of five children and has eight grandchildren, all living. He holds a unique spot in the hearts of his family, for his ever ready willingness to help in time of need, his wise counsel and advice in times of stress, and his unassuming manner and his dry wit could never be duplicated or replaced.

George, the father, did not leave Utah when most of his family did, but he and his wife came to Shelley in 1904, and bought 40 acres on the Taylor Road where they built a home. They lived there only a few years and raised chickens. He went to Sterling where he farmed some and also ran a lumber yard. He then moved back to Shelley and owned the home north of Joe's home. He later built a small home a block or two away on the canal. He died February 21, 1916, at Shelley at the age of 67.

George, the father, was very careful about his clothes. If he had to go to town, he always dressed-up. He always wore a bow tie and nearly always a derby and he always wore a ring. Men in those days wore vests, and George always wore a fancy one with his gold watch chain across the front. Dorothy, his wife, was also careful about her appearance. One who knew her remembers her beautiful black skirt and her snowy white blouses.

It would not be a complete history of the Oler family if we did not mention an eventful trip the Shelley relatives took to visit the Canadian relatives about 1907. Oscar and Bert stayed home and did John Kelley's and Joe's chores. Mary Ann and John and their four children, Joe and Alice and their three children, Jim and Annie(They came from Utah) and their two children, and Will, all took the train and went to Canada. From Shelby, Montana to Canada they had to go by narrow gauge train.

At Great Falls the train stopped and they went down on the banks of the Missouri River to "wash up" and eat the lunch they had brought along. That night they slept on the train, making beds everywhere--on the seats and in the aisles. The conductor passing through the car said,” Where are you folks going?” Someone spoke up, "Oh, we're going to Canada to visit our relatives." The conductor was heard to express his opinion as he left the car,” God pity the relatives!"

Coming home, Will who had left his family in Shelley seemed overly anxious to get back home. He, being small, always appeared years younger than his age. The conductor said,” Well, Sonny, so you're going back to the States?" And Will answered, "Heck, no! I'm going back to Idaho!"