Ephraim Edward Rollins

Ephraim Edward Rollins was the first-born son of John Henry Rollins, Sr., and his wife, Nancy Malinda West Rollins. He was born in Minersville, Beaver County, Utah Territory, in 1861, the year after John and Nancy were married in 1860. Ephraim's grandfather, James Henry Rollins, and his wife Eveline Walker Rollins, were some of the first Mormon Pioneers who arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1848. James had started his trek west from New York, then traveled to Ohio, and on to Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa before beginning the journey from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Utah. The West family members were also early Mormon Pioneers who arrived to the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1851. Nancy's parents, Samuel Walker West and Margaret Cooper West were from prominent southern families in Kentucky and Tennessee who owned over 1,000 acres of land and a beautiful plantation home in the late 1700's and early 1800's.

In the 1870 U.S. Federal Census for Beaver, Utah, Ephraim was 9 years old, living with his parents, John, 29, and Nancy, 25, and his younger siblings, Nancy Malinda, 7, John Henry Rollins, Jr., 4, William Samuel, 2, and Guy Washington, 5 months old. Ephraim's father was working as a freighter. His real estate was valued at $200 and his personal estate at $600. The census states that John was born in Iowa, Nancy in Illinois, and all the children in Utah.

The census also shows that their neighbors professions included farmers, plasterers, and a brick mason. One of their neighbors, Albert Stoddard, a farmer, and his wife Mary, and her children, Orson, Elizabeth, William, Wallace and Caroline Hamblin (Mr. Stoddard's step children), had a servant in their home, a girl named Fanny, who was 18 years old. The children of Mary were all had Hamblin surnames, so I assume they were fathered by Mary's first husband who was Mr. Hamblin. John Henry Rollins, Sr.'s father, James Henry Rollins, (1818-1899) had a daughter who married a Mr. Wallace Hamblin, so perhaps these Hamblin neighbors were also related to John Henry Rollins, Sr.'s family.

By 1880, the Rollins family had already moved to Snowflake, Apache County, Arizona, and in addition to the children listed above, three more sons had been born, Jesse, 8, Iles Marion, 6, and Moses Porter, 2. Living in the Rollins family home was Nancy Malinda West Rollins's mother, Margaret Cooper West, a 75-year old widow listed as a "doctress". Nancy's father, and Margaret Cooper West's husband, Samuel Walker West, had passed away and was buried in Utah in 1873 before the family moved to Arizona. Margaret and Samuel had not always lived together because he was a polygamist and had two other plural wives. Margaret was his first wife who Samuel married in 1829 when they were living in Tennessee, but after they joined the Mormon Church, he was encouraged to take plural wives. His two plural wives were Christianna and Karen Marie (also known as Mary). They were both Danish LDS converts.

In the 1880 census, John Henry Rollins, Sr. was working as a farmer, and his sons Ephraim and John Henry are working as laborers, probably on the family farm. In this census, it says both John Henry Rollins, Sr., and his wife Nancy M. Rollins were both born in Illinois, but that's incorrect since John was born in Lee County, Iowa, in 1841 and Nancy was born in Illinois in 1844. All the children were born in Utah, and Nancy's mother, Margaret, was born in Tennessee.

Unfortunately, seven years later, in 1887, Ephraim passed away on July 28, two days after his 25th birthday, due to typhoid fever. At the time, he was married to Ida Patten, and they had 2 children. Three months later their last son, Ervin, was born in July of 1887.

There was a bad epidemic of diphtheria in the area where the Rollins family lived in 1887, and four of Ephraim's cousins had passed away from that disease, specifically, the children of Zachariah Bruyn Decker and Emma Smith Decker. Emma Smith Decker was the niece of Ephraim's mother, Nancy Malinda West Rollins. Emma was the daughter of Nancy's sister, Emma Seraphine West and her husband, Jesse Nathaniel Smith, a cousin of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the LDS Church. Zach and Emma's four children who died from this disease were only 10, 8, 3 and less than one year old at the time of their deaths in 1887.

Ephraim's father, John Henry Rollins, also died in 1887, so he may have also succumbed from either of these two terrible diseases, typhoid fever or diphtheria for which there was no medical cure at the time.

The following year in 1888, Ida married Ephraim's younger brother, William Samuel Rollins, who was born in 1868. Twelve years later in the 1900 U.S. Census for Graham County, Arizona Territory, William, 32, was married to Ida, 37, and they had eight children living in their home: May, 15, Edward, 13, and Ervin Ephram, 12, (who were Ephraim's children with Ida), along with Ella, 10, Wilmirth, 6, Delila, 4, Lourie, 2, and Guy, 6 months, (who were William and Ida's children). In this census, William was listed as a dry goods dealer, and they owned their own home, free and clear of a mortgage. The record states William was born in August of 1867, and Ida was born in September of 1862, and that they had been married 17 years, had 9 children, 8 of whom are living, but that is incorrect.

If Ida and William had been married 17 years in 1900, this would have meant they were married in 1883, which was before Ephraim passed away, so maybe the 17 years shown in the census record included the years that Ida was married to both Ephraim and William. In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, the record indicated William and Ida had been married 23 years, which meant they were married in 1887, the year that Ephraim died, which makes more sense.

In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, the family was living in Douglas City, Cochise, Arizona. William, 43, Ida, 48, and their children were listed as Edward C., 23, Irvin, 21, Ella, 19, Wilma, 17, Lyle, 15, Loire, 13, and Guy 11. In this census, William was working as a house building contractor on his own account. They owned their home but the home did have a mortgage on it.

On September 12, 1918, when William and Ida's youngest son, Guy William Rollins, completed his World War I Draft Registration Card, he was 19 years old, and he described himself as being of medium height and build with blue eyes and brown hair. The card was filled out at the Local Board for Cochise County, Tombstone, Arizona. He was working as a "metallurgical charter" for the Copper Queen Smelter in Douglas, Cochise, County, and lists his nearest relatives as his parents, Mr. & Mrs. William Rollins, living in Benson, Cochise County, Arizona. He states his birth date was November 11, 1899. He was living at 1504 21st Street in Douglas, Cochise, Arizona.

By the 1920 census, William, 52 and Ida, 56, were living in Robinson, Cochise, Arizona, and in the home with them was a person named L.A. Carter, 67, listed as a servant. William was listed as a farmer and L.A. Carter as a farm laborer. All of the children had moved on with their lives, the youngest, Guy would have been 21 years old in 1920, and he may have already moved to Los Angeles, California, probably in order to have better job opportunities. His sister, Louyre, was already living in Bakersfield, California, with her aunt, Dortha Roxana Madsen Rollins McKinney, the widow of John Henry Rollins, Jr., who was killed in a tragic wagon accident in 1889 when he was only 24.

In the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Guy W. Rollins was 30 years old, living in Los Angeles, at 5114 S. Wilton Place, in a home he was renting for $35.00 per month, and with him was his wife, Josephine Rollins, 26, and they had two children, a son and a daughter, Raymond W. age 1 year 11 months, and Marian J., age 4 months. Guy was working as a supervisor at a creamery, and both their children where born in California, so they must have moved from Arizona to California around 1928 or earlier.

In 1930 my great grandmother, Dortha Roxana Madsen Rollins McKinney, and her daughter, Thelma Josephine McKinney, and Dortha's granddaughter, Frances Amelia Eubank, (my mother) were living at 6715 Victoria Avenue, Los Angeles, which was about two and a half miles from Guy and Josephine's home. After the death of Dortha's first husband, John Henry Rollins, in 1889, Dortha was left with two young children to raise, my grandmother, Dortha Evelyn Rollins Eubank, and my great uncle, John Delbert Rollins. At the time John Henry Rollins, Jr. died, their daughter, Dortha Evelyn was three years old and her brother, John Delbert, was only one year old. Sadly, they were not able to spend much time getting to know their father before he passed away.

Since Guy was born in 1899, about 10 years after his uncle John Henry Rollins, Jr. passed away, hopefully, his aunt Dortha was able to tell Guy all about his uncle John, since they were both living in Los Angeles and were neighbors. Perhaps one of the reasons Dortha ended up living in Los Angeles was because other Rollins relatives had moved there before she did. Or perhaps other relatives moved to Los Angeles because Dortha was already living there. Previously she had been living in Bakersfield, California, about an hour north of Los Angeles.

In the U.S. Federal Census for 1920 in Bakersfield, Guy's sister, Louyre Rollins Rosenbloom, was living with her aunt, Dortha Roxana Madsen Rollins McKinney, and Dortha's daughter, Thelma Josephine McKinney, at their home in Bakersfield. My grandmother, Dortha Evelyn Rollins Eubank, was also living there with her children, since she was separated from my grandfather, Stephen James Eubank, who had deserted their family in about 1919 when they were living in Portland, Oregon.

At that time, Louyre was a 22-year old widow with a one year old son, John Rosenbloom. Louyre's husband, Jack Rosenbloom, had died in October of 1918, while they were living in San Pedro, California. Since her brother Guy was living in Arizona in 1918, maybe he came to California after his sister's husband passed away to help her with her young son. Sadly, her son, little John Rosenbloom, did not live much past his second birthday, and passed away in about 1920.

In the 1920 census record Guy's wife, Josephine, indicated her father had been born in California. In that census, Josephine Metcalf was 16 years old, living in Phoenix, Arizona, with her widowed mother, Mary Metcalf, who was working as a servant in the home of Carl and Mary Anderson, and their two and one half year old son, Donald K., and his nurse, Florence Balfour. Maybe by 1930 or even sooner, Guy and Josephine went to California to be near her father's family. I simply don't know the reason why so many of the Rollins family came to California, but it may have been because there were so many job opportunities there from the 1920's throughout the 1940's, and then another wave in the 1940's and the 1950's both during and after the conclusion of World War II.

I could find no record of William and Ida in the 1930 U.S. Census, and the next record I found showed Ida's death on October 11, 1932, in Emory Park, Pima County, Arizona. Her death certificate said she died of chronic fibroid pulmonary tuberculosis which she had for about 10 years, and contributing to her death was chronic myocarditis, which she had for about one year. At the time of her death she was 70 years, one month and eight days old and was a housewife married to William Rollins. The informant's name on the death certificate was her son G.W. Rollins of Tucson, Arizona. She was buried in the Safford, Arizona Cemetery on October 14, 1932. Could the G.W. Rollins been Guy William Rollins, who may have come back to Arizona from California to be with his family after the death of his mother? Or it could have also been Guy Washington Rollins, who was the younger brother of both Ephraim, John Henry, Jr., and William Samuel Rollins?

Sadly, just a year and half later, Ida's husband, William died on June 27, 1934, in St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, from a crushing injury and 6 broken ribs as a result of an automobile accident which occurred in Benson, Arizona. His death certificate stated that he lived in Emory Park at that time and was married to Ida Rollins. His profession was rancher and he was 67 years, 10 months and 27 days old. The informant on his death certificate was Ervin E. Rollins, who lived at Box 413, Pico, California. He was buried in Safford, Arizona, July 2. Ervin Ephraim Rollins was probably Ida and Ephraim's last child, born in 1888, just a few months after the death of his father. I wonder if Ervin ever knew that Ephraim was his father and not William!? Sadly, Guy William Rollins, Ida and William's last son, passed away the next year in 1935.

Guy's wife, Josephine M. Rollins, was found in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census living at 1256 West 60th Street in Los Angeles, in a home she was renting for $25.00 per month. She was a widow and had been living in the same place in 1935. Her husband Guy had passed away from causes unknown, and was buried in Rose Hills Cemetery in Whittier, California. Living with Josephine was her son Raymond, 11, daughter Marian, 10, another daughter, Jimmie Ruth, 8, and another son, Lyle Thomas, 6. She was not working and the record stated she had her "own income".

Josephine Mary Metcalf Rollins, born December 17, 1903, died May 16, 1986, and was living in Anaheim, Orange County, California, at the time of her death. The California Death Index states her mother's maiden name was Freeman. Nancy Malinda West's sister, Lydia Clementine West, married a man by the name of Columbus Reed Freeman....I wonder if Josephine's mother who was named Freeman was any relation to Columbus? Josephine outlived her husband by over 50 years!

UPDATE: Today, June 6, 2020, I found the following obituary on the website Ancestry.com for Ephraim Edward Rollins: He died at Layton, Graham County, Arizona at 9 a.m. July 28, 1887, of typhoid fever. He was the son of John H. and Nancy M. Rollins. He leaves a wife and two children and a host of relatives and friends to mourn his loss. He lived as a faithful Latter-day Saint and was willing and ready to perform every duty and requirement that was made of him. He was born at Minersville, Utah, July 30, 1861.