David Amanuel Smith Personal History

A personal history written by David Amanuel Smith with additions made by Joe Stewart as new information has been received. David's history is written in pencil and is kept safe in Joe's historical storage.


David Amanuel Smith History
By David Amanuel Smith
With additions by Joseph S Stewart

David Amanuel Smith, son of Heber Chase Smith and Amanda Jane Wiser, born November 2, 1886, at Auburn, Wyoming, Lincoln County.

In the summer of 1893 the family moved, by team and wagon to Cardston, Canada and lived there between two and three years.

On April 4, 1895, I was baptized by William Duce and confirmed later by John A. Woolf in the Cardston, Alberta, Canada Wards.

In the summer of 1896 or 1897 we went back to Lodi post office in Idaho. We then moved to Ora, Idaho for about 2 years. There my father purchased a farm at Lodi, Idaho, which lies north west of the old town of Marysville, Idaho near the north fork of the Snake River. I spent my child hood days and early school years there. We attended school in a one room log house just across the road from the farm. While living on the farm my Mother died July 1, 1899. Two or three year’s later father sold the farm and bought a blacksmith shop at Marysville, Idaho. While he run the shop, I worked there as a helper.

July 1903 my father married Mrs. Humphreys. She had two boys and one girl at home. Father had two girls and me at home making a family of eight. I decided to go my own way. I often stayed where I was when evening come and got along fairly good. I had an Uncle and Aunt who I though a lot of, and spent some time with them.

The week before the 4th of July in 1903, I started to work for myself. I rode a horse to Teton just south of St Anthony and received $1.00 per day pay. My first pay check was $6.00. My Boss asked Awhat are you going to do with the money@. I said Abuy myself a suit of cloths for the 4th of July@. He then gave me a note to give to a man whom he knew in St Anthony informing him to give me a good deal. I believe he gave me a good deal, as I purchased myself a suit of clothes and some other small items. I spent all of my $6.00 and went home to spend the 4th of July all broke. I had the suit but nothing to put in the pockets. I wanted a dance ticket which was $0.50. As luck would have it, I had a friend who loaned me $1.00 so I had a good time at the dance and lived happy ever after.

I stayed with one of my brothers that winter and did chores for my board and room. I went to school part time.

The next summer I worked for John Hill and received $35.00 per month. The Hills treated me as well as they did their own sons. I worked there for two summers.

Then one of my brothers (Michael) took me in as a partner on a 40 acre farm. The land was mostly dry farm. We put in a crop of grain and then went to log for Mr Strong during the summer and winter. We did this for two years.


After that, my brother stayed on the farm and I went to work for a contractor on a canal for the summer. That winter, I worked for the same contractor at Milner, Idaho. This was also canal work. We operated the farm and worked in this manner for a few years.

November 24, 1908 I married Rosie Sheppard and we started life anew. On August 30, 1909 we got our first boy and on August 4, 1910 another boy was born. We moved to the Teton Basin at Cache, Idaho and then to Darby, Idaho for one year. While at Darby in May 1912, a girl was added to the family.

We moved back to Ashton, Idaho and hauled freight from Ashton to Moran, Wyoming where a dam was being built in support of watering the Osgood, Idaho irrigation project. I freighted for several years. Some of the freight trips were from Market lake to St Anthony and into Montana. I also drove stage coach in the Yellowstone National Park area.

I sold my interest in the farm that my brother and I owned to my brother and bought a 40 acre farm in Cache, Teton, Idaho. I owed some on the farm but in three years I paid off the mortgage. I paid $50.00 per acre for the land in 1919 and later sold it for $100.00 per acre

I bought a 240 acre dry farm out on the Bitch creek at $50.00 per acre. In three years of farming this land, I went flat broke.

We moved to Warm River, Idaho and I rented a dry farm for two years until September 30, 1924. This dry farm was sold so we had to move.

We move to a place south of Ashton for a short time and I was unemployed from September 30, 1924 until May 1, 1925.

I worked on the State Highway From May 1, 1925 until July 1 1925.

I was unemployed from July 1, 1925 until August 30, 1925.

I worked for Ernst A Brower cutting grain from August 30, 1925 until October 10, 1925.

I was unemployed from October 10, 1925 until Jan 1, 1926.

Jan 1 1926 we moved back to Victor, Idaho where I hauled Lye rock for Mr. T A Brower under contract to the Utah Idaho Sugar company until March 1, 1927.

During these years there were other children added to the family every so often until there were nine children in the family.

In May 1927, we moved to Osgood, Idaho and farmed on the Utah Idaho Sugar Company project. The family move was made in our Ford touring car. The older boys drove the cattle and horses from the Marysville area to Osgood. Our first Osgood home was located two miles north of the Osgood community center and west to just east of the Osgood canal on the north side of the road. The Utah Idaho Sugar company main office was then located at Lincoln, Idaho.


The Osgood desert environment was different than the Smith family was used to in the wooded hills around the Teton basin and Marysville area. The wind was much stronger and blew dusty until visibility was restricted to a short distance because of the lack of trees. Rosie would hang wet sheets over the windows to help keep the dust down in the house.

June 20, 1928 we went to Logan, Utah temple with our family and got our endowments and were sealed as husband, wife, and children. Our boy Russell who had died at the age of fifteen months had a proxy stand in for him at the Temple.

In 1929 Rosie had two serious operations which were very hard on her physically and hard on us financially. She had a large Goiter on her neck and her stomach was bad with stomach ulcers after two surgeries, eight weeks in the hospital, and several years, she obtained pretty good health. All of the older children worked in the fields thinning, hoeing, topping sugar beets, and picking potatoes to help pay the doctor and hospital bills.

In the fall of the year the Smith family would go to the hills east of Idaho Falls and pick choke cherries and berries to preserve as food for the coming year. The girls spent many hours preparing this storage while Rosie was recovering from her surgery.

In April 1930 Reid the oldest boy in the family was called to serve an LDS mission in the Denver Colorado area. Each of the kids in the family worked in the fields to help raise the money to outfit and support Reid on his mission. The school district offered me a job driving school bus which provided the extra money to support Reid on his mission.

In about 1930 when a farm was available, we moved from our home located two or so miles north of the Osgood community center to an old house located east of the Osgood school house, on the existing school lawn. Later a newer better home was built or put on the farm east of the older house. This farm was more convenient for the family to attend School, Church, and Socialize in the Osgood community.

In 1931 another son was born in the family to make a total of ten children. We named this boy Harvey Lloyd Smith.

During the 1930's we hauled cedar logs from the lava beds located west of Osgood to provide heat for our home. A week or so would be spent at a base camp located near the lava beds while enough cedar logs were gathered off the lava beds to make a wagon load of wood. The lava crevasses would be filled with wood to make a road onto the lava beds to find the dead fire wood cedar trees.

We had a yard fire in the late 1943 that destroyed most of the out buildings and the supplies on the farm. It was harvest time and we were threshing grain. The threshing machine was set up so the straw was being blown into a straw stack in the barn yard. A burst of flame came from the thresher and caught the straw stack and barn yard on fire. The horses and cattle were driven from the barn yard area for their safety. Most everything in the barn yard was burned to the ground. Because of the lack of running water, it was difficult to fight the fire. When the yard was being leveled a few days later, flames would ignite in some of the ashes and debris that was uncovered.


In trying to determine the cause of the fire, the suspicion was that one or a group of the school kids were experimenting with cigarettes and left their matches in a shock of grain located in the field next to the school yard. This was never proven and will never be known for sure since no confessions were made.

When the Smith family rebuilt their yard, it was moved east to make a larger school yard. Through the generosity of neighbors much of the years harvest was replaced when many neighboring farmers donated hay, straw, grain and what ever else was needed to carry the family through until the next year’s harvest. This generous attitude was typical of the Osgood settlers.

A cistern was built in the ground between the house and the barn yard to hold a large supply of water for house use and to water the live stock. This was a big improvement instead of hauling water in a tank mounted on an Iron wheeled wagon each time the tank of water was used up.

We continued to farm on the Utah Idaho Sugar Company project until the fall of 1943. We then moved to Vancouver, Washington where I was employed at the Kaiser Ship Yards during World War II.

During the war one son, Doyle Byron Smith, was killed in France. Two other sons were in the military service, Elwin and Carroll, and returned home safely. Elwin was also stationed in Italy but was not on the battle front. One son in law Gail Ray was also in the service of his country.

In 1945, we moved back to Idaho Falls, Idaho and bought a nice little home on Fifth Street. I worked as a Janitor for the School district cleaning the Emerson school building. The challenge dairy also gave me a second job which provided added funds to pay for our home.

We later built a new home at 670 L Street where we now live comfortably.

Children: Birth date

Reid Edward Smith 30 Aug 1909
Elwin M Smith 4 Aug 1910
Vera Amanda Smith 2 May 1912
Beulah Christina Smith 17 Jun 1914
Norris William Smith 22 Jun 1915
Norma Irene Smith 10 Jun 1917
Russell Heber Smith 18 Jun 1920
Carroll LaGrand Smith 22 Feb 1922
Doyle Byron Smith 29 Mar 1923
Harvey Lloyd Smith 31 Aug 1931

Church Activities:

4 April 1895, I was baptized by William Duce and confirmed by John A Woolf a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Cardston, Alberta, Canada Ward.

I was Ordained a Deacon but no record was written or kept for this Ordnance..

7 March 1910, I was ordained to the office of Priest by Eli M Harris in the Marysville, Idaho Ward.

1922, I was chosen second assistant in the Sunday school at Warm River branch for a short time and then first assistant to W.W. Sheppard. When Mr. Sheppard moved, I was chosen to be Sunday school superintendent for one year. When I moved away, the Sunday school was discontinued. The people then went to Marysville to attend Sunday school.

24 February 1924, I was ordained an Elder by Abraham Hillman in the Marysville, Idaho Ward.

17 December 1933, I was ordained to the office of High Priest by Thomas Ervin King in the Osgood, Idaho Ward.

While at Osgood, I was first assistant chairman in the Genealogy Society to Hance Christansen and later assistant to E.B. Call for a short time. I was then made chairman and acted for several years.

Later at Osgood, I was made group leader in the High Priests group for several years.

In Vancouver, Washington, I was first assistant in the Sunday school, Home teacher, and other duties.

24 September 1944, I was called as a Missionary in the North West States Mission. I severed until
29 August 1945 and was given an honorable release as a Missionary.