Rosie Shepard Smith History

Personal histories written by Rosie Sheppard Smith. These histories are written in pencil or typed and are being kept in my historical storage. Two are three short histories written by Rosie were combined into one history by Joe Stewart. Some addition information has been found and added to her history.


Rosie Sheppard Smith History
By Rosie Sheppard
Additions by Joseph S Stewart

My father was William Ashman Sheppard born July 17 1851 in Midsomer Norton, Somerset, England. My Mother was Christina Nelson born May 18, 1858 in Lehi, Utah. Father was 24 years old and Mother was 17 years old when they married March 8, 1875 in Newton, Utah. Their first five children were born in Utah.

The Sumer of 1885 the family moved from Newton, Utah to Teton, Idaho. This move was made by team and wagon. The family camped along the way sleeping in and under the wagon. Father always slept by the wagon and horses to guard against the Indians stealing the horsed and limited family belongings. The sixth child Mabel Christina Sheppard was born in Teton, Idaho

The spring of 1887 the family again moved to Rexburg, Idaho. My father was a man of many trades such as Barber, Carpenter, Farmer, and Chef. My Father among other things cooked in restaurants which were called eating joints to make a living for the family. I, Rosie Sheppard Smith was born July 26, 1889 at Rexburg, Idaho. I was the seventh child out of a family of ten children. The children names and birth dates are listed in order of birth.

William Wallace Sheppard 5 January 1876
James Thomas George Sheppard 27 April 1878
Carrie Labrertha Sheppard 11 August 1880
David Laurence Sheppard 14 September 1882
Charles Clarence Sheppard 24 January 1884
Mabel Christina Sheppard 26 September 1886
Rosie Sheppard 26 July 1889
Hyrum Edgar Sheppard 14 December 1892
John Archie Sheppard 19 August 1894
Annie Irene Sheppard 25 January 1897


With our large family things did not come as easy to us as they did to some families. We all did our part in order to make things run as smooth as possible. In 1889 we were on the farm at Lodi. At times we were rationed to one slice of bread a day because we ran out of flour. Father would sometimes take a horse and ford the river to go to the store in Marysville for supplies. We often had to wait until father could take wheat to Market Lake (Now Roberts) to get a load of flour which would last us a long time. Market Lake was the Rail Road head where freight was distributed from to the communities to the north and east. Market Lake also had a flour mills to process wheat to flour.

In 1892 when I was a very small child, my Father and Mother moved their family to a little community called Lodi, Idaho located north west of the present town of Ashton near the north fork of the Snake river. We were the 5th family to settle in the community. The families living in the area at the time were the Bakers, Dorsheys, Hills, and an old bachelor by the name of Tablo.
Father built a one room log house in Lodi which had a dirt floor. There were two windows in the house which were covered with oiled paper. The paper was oiled to make it stronger and to let in more light. Father also built furniture to put in the cabin which included table, chairs, benches and shelves. He built a bedstead and put slats on it to hold the straw tick. I remember how we were taught to watch for rattle snakes during the summer. When we left the door open the snakes would often crawl in the house. My brothers used to kill many of them and remove the rattles.

We lived on one of the best three farms in the community. We were the fifth family who moved there so you might say we had a big choice of land on which to make our home. My father was not a dedicated farmer and did not stay with farming. He worked in restaurants as a cook to make our living. The restaurants were then called eating joints.

Early settlers in addition to the regular hardships and difficulties were always aware of the Indians moving about the country. As early as 1877 the Indians were given orders by the united States Government to move onto assigned reservations. Some of the Indians did move onto the reservations but others did not. Indians, who were on the reservations often left and escaped to the mountains. They were called renegade Indians usually young bucks who would attack Freighters and settlers who were traveling or moving to new settlement. The famous Chief Joseph flight from the US army took place when he came over the Lolo pass down the lost river into the Spencer area through Kilgore, Shotgun and Island Park into Montana.

In 1894 or 1895 Father bought a lot in Marysville and built a three room house. Ashton did not exist at that time it was later developed as a rail road center. Father went to St Anthony and bought two new bedsteads and six chairs. We really thought we were dolled out since we were not used to having nice furniture. We used slats for springs on ours beds. Dad built a fairly nice bed and gave it to mother for her birthday gift.

Finally after we were settled we decided we needed some means of recreation, so with the help of my brothers Billie and Jim, Father gathered enough logs together to build a dance hall in Marysville. It was really a grand hall and after it was finished we needed some means of music to dance by. Father bought Violins and a Banjo for Billie, Jim, and Clarence. Father called for the square dances which were then called Quadrilles. On different occasions there were others who played in our little band. We enjoyed many good time in the dance hall and especially father. He was a real singer and jig dancer. The dance business went over big, people came from all over that
part of the country to dance.

During the winter when a big blizzard would come up, the people would often have to spend a few days there staying in the dance hall. Father and the boys would always have plenty of wood hauled for our winter use. Father and mother would always cook for these crowds. We kids thought that it was great to have lots of folks around to care for. We were like one big family.


Mother always served lunch at our house which was just a little way from the hall. I always helped her with these lunches. I enjoyed being able to help even if I could not eat any of the cake and Ice cream. The reason for this was that I was not able to eat anything that had eggs in it. There were many times when the crowd would ask me to come to the hall and dance with my father. Chester and Fall River (St Anthony) folks were to our dances many times.

We did not have school like we do now days. Some time the boys would take us to the old church in a sleigh and we would wrap up in a quilt to keep warm while the old horses made their way through the big snow drifts.

We lived about three miles from a little store and post office. Mabel, my sister, and I used to be just like all other kids. She would bribe me into doing the dishes. Mabel was afraid to walk to the store so Carrie would brag on me and I always ended up going. I was only about 6 years old but I did not want the others to know I was afraid too. I guess that is why I always went with out a fuss.

I always use to go out on baby sitting jobs for our neighbors so I could make as much as possible to help out. Usually I made not more than 10 cents and sometimes only a piece of candy.

Some of our chores at home were to tear carpet rags and sew them, knit cuffs, pull weeds, and cut potato seed for planting. After I was a little older, Hyrum and I always did our chores together to help each other out. It seemed that we were a little closer with each other than with the other children. We made many trips to the little ditch near our home to carry water for home use.

When I was about 9 years old, I stayed with Carrie a lot of the time and walked about 2 miles to school and back. It was then that I met David Smith and we would walk together. Like most backward little kids we did not dare speak to one another.

Later on I stayed with the Baker family.

When I was nearly 10 years old, my father died at age 42 but things went on the same as before because Billy and Jim were boys who could take responsibility very well so they kept the family together. At 12 Mabel my sister got a job to help out and I stayed home to help Mother do the washing, cooking, and do sewing for others. It was a good thing I did these things and learned while I had a chance for when I was 13 years old Mother died. The Boys then took any kind of work they could find to support the family we had left. I learned how to keep house. I made yeast and bread, did all the cooking, made shirts for my two younger brothers, dresses for my 6 year old sister, made my own dresses, and did the wash on a wash board for a family of 6.

Finally, Jim got a farm of his own but there was not a house on it. He slept under a canvas for protection against the weather at night. The other four of us kids stayed alone in our house at Marysville during the week.


Mabel, my sister, and Mike Smith, David=s Brother, married. They moved into our old house. I stayed with them to help out when their babies, Nellie, Melba, and Ruth were born.

When I was 17 my two older brothers got married and left home. I then went out to work for different people in their homes. I also worked for Billy=s wife (Nells) Aunt Alice when she cooked for the men working at the saw Mill.

When I was 18 years old, My Fathers sister’s husband and some other men drove from American Fork, Utah to Yellowstone National Park and then to our place in Marysville. When they got to Marysville, the other men went on and uncle Harry made me go with him to Idaho Falls. He had a sister at Iona so he left me at Idaho Falls to go on to Salt Lake alone. I had never been on a train but once and that was to Rexburg, Idaho. When I left Marysville, Clarence said Anow Sis if any stranger asks you to go with them say no and stay in the Depot@. Before I got to Salt Lake, a girl came up to me and sat down. She made herself acquainted with me then invited me to her home to have water melon. While she was talking to me, I discovered she had been married three times and she was only 20 years old. When it was time to catch the train to American Fork, she took me back to the train station. When I finally reached my Aunts place in American Fork, I was real glad to see her and she was glad to see me. I really learned a lot on that trip. I was with her two months and during that time I went to my cousin’s farewell party. He was getting ready to go on a mission. It was a good trip but I was glad to return home.

In the fall, I went to Farnum, Idaho to work for Carrie and Oscar in their little store. I guess that is when I really started going with Manny (David Amanuel Smith). Although he had been my part time boy friend since I was 15 years old. One time during our courtship I stood Dad up to go with another boy. Later on Billy and Dad=s brother got together and had Dad ask me for a date and then he stood me up. So Billy and I went to the dance and when we got there Dad was already there.

In spite of all the hardships, downfalls, and tricks we pulled on one another, Dad and I were married 24 November 1908. We were married in Carrie and Oscar=s home in Farnum by Mack Harris. I was working at Carrie and Oscar=s store at the time.

During the winter we lived near a saw mill where David worked. In the spring we moved south of Ashton, Idaho and farmed the little farm that Dave and Mike owned together. Mike worked at the saw mill during the time Dad farmed.

August 30, 1909 Reid our oldest son was born. We continued to live on the ranch until winter when we moved into our little house in Marysville. Dad worked at different jobs while we were there. In July Dad went to get out logs for Fagg Jacob.

August 4, 1910 our second son Elwin was born. Mabel took care of me during this time.


February 1911 we loaded our little bit of furniture in a sleigh and moved to Cache in Teton County. Dad hauled milk for the creamery. The following year Dad farmed plowing the farm land with two horses and a hand plow. Some how he managed to get the crops in. In the fall I shocked the grain while my husband worked on the side to earn something to live on.

Billie Sheppard wanted Dad to get a larger farm so they could work together. We found a farm to rent at Darby, Idaho. Billie and Nell moved in with us and we got along grand. It was not much more than a year later that Vera our oldest daughter was born May 2, 1912. Nell took care of my work, tended our three children, and her two children Julia and George during this recovery from birth. Nell treated our children just like her own.

We farmed at Darby for two year and then we heard of work in Ashton hauling freight to Wyoming so we moved back to our place in Marysville in 1914. I was sick at the time and I could not go on the wagon. Nell took our three children with them when they moved our furniture.

We lived in our little house at Marysville for the next three years. Dad freighted and work at any other jobs he could get from farmers and at the saw mill. Our daughter Beulah was born June 17, 1914 in Marysville. At times when I had to go chase cows, I did not dare leave the children alone so I would take the two babies to the neighbors. I would empty one room in our house of all the furniture so the boys would not hurt themselves and then lock Reid and Elwin in the room so they could not get out. I would then go get the cows so the officers would not put them in the stray pen. I would milk the cows and put them in the barn. In the morning I would milk again and then watch them again as usual. We did not have thing as convenient then as we do now. When I washed, I had to pack the water from a well located about a block away.

It seems that during the years since our children were born, we had sickness among all of the children. Reid was probably sick longer than the rest. It was like Dr. Harris would say Aas long as there is life there is hope. Therefore I would nurse them to the best of my knowledge and ability and hope they would regain their health.

In 1916 after Norris was born June 22, 1915 in Marysville, we moved back to Cache, Idaho. We bought a little farm and paid for it by dad doing the farm work in the evenings and going out to work during the day. It was hard for me to watch my little family, feed pigs, and watch the cows. Sometime the cows would bloat before I could get them. We lost one cow that way and I felt awful bad.

June 10, 1917 another daughter, Norma, was born. World War I was being fought in Europe. We worried some about Dad being called into the service. He had to register but was 30 years old. I remember lying in bed and noticed two men walking down the road towards our place. My heart jumped in my throat because I thought they were coming to take Dad. It turned out that the two men were ward teachers, some old friends of ours.


In 1919 we sold our 40 acre farm in Cache and bought a larger farm in Judkin, Idaho. We went in debt for this larger place located in Judkin, Idaho. The crops failed and we lost the grain that we had grown, our cattle, the machinery, and some of our horses. A son, Russell, was born December 18, 1920. When Russell was born I had gone to Marysville and stayed there until I was able to go back home in a sleigh. Dad stayed on the farm and took care of it during this time.

February 22, 1922 when Carroll was born I went down the aunt Mabel=s in Marysville. The children stayed alone while Dad drove back and forth in a Sleigh. The night Carroll was born, Russell took sick. I stayed at Mabel=s until March 16, 1922 when Russell died. After this tragedy in our lives, I went back to Judkin. We stayed in Judkin until 1922 when we lost everything we owned but our house.

Every one was Ill in those days. We did not know how to feed our children like we do now. I guess we were starving them. The children were quite a bit of help to me. At this time Reid was 10, Elwin was 9, Vera was 7 and 2. People used to try and comfort me by saying Ayou don=t know what troubles are, wait until they are grown@. I can say that people were wrong because the children have not been any trouble as adults. It was much harder on me when they were babies.

In 1922 we moved back to Warm River, Idaho and farmed there one year. Another boy named Doyle was born March 29, 1923. The farm we were renting was sold which caused us to move again.

We moved to one of Ernst and Zila=s places just below Ashton, Idaho during the next summer. In March 1924 we moved back to Marysville. It was about this time that Hyrum Sheppard heard of a little place named Osgood, Idaho that was opening up for farming.

Hyrum Sheppard=s family, Archie Sheppard=s family, and our family move to Osgood.This move turn out to be a good move for our family. Our family made the move to Osgood in our Ford touring car. The older boys drove the cattle and horses to Osgood. We settled in a home just east of the Osgood canal on the road that went west to the cinder butte.

June 20, 1928 Dad and I took our family and went to Logan, Utah to be sealed as a family in the Logan temple. This was a welcomed event in our lives. I felt like we had all been liberated from a jail.

I had been sick with my Ulcers for so long that something had to be done. In August 1928, I went to the Hospital to have most of my stomach removed. Three weeks following that, I received a Goiter operation. I spent 8 weeks in the hospital through all of this repair. I was 39 years of age at the time of these operations. This was Doctor H. Ray Hatch=s first Ulcer operation. Some of the nurses in the Hospital told me how worried he was but it turned out that he did a wonderful job.
I was weak for a long time following these operations. I lay near death during the operations and even the doctors said it was a higher power than their=s which made me well.


The children worked hard to help out and care for each other during these trying times. Norris, who was 10 years old, had been hoeing sugar beets and wanted to buy a gun like his friend had but instead of buying the gun he said AMother I am going to pay this on your doctor bill@.

In 1930 when Reid was 21 years old he was asked to fill a Mission and he felt like he had to go. All of the Children who were big enough to work in the sugar beets, saved their wages and we were able to get Reid off on his mission. Elwin worked and paid Reid=s life insurance payment all the time that Reid was gone. The school district hired Dave to drive a school bus which provided money to support Reid on his mission. I can say that our family got along better while Reid was on this mission than before his mission.

August 31, 1931 another boy, who we named Harvey was brought into our lives. I was 42 years old at the time and still weak from the operations that I had three years previous. The girls had to raise Harvey until I regained enough strength to take care of him.

After Reid came home from his mission, he seemed to realize the value of an education. Through his influence he and Elwin went back to high school in Ammon. They both graduated from high school and then went on to get their college education at Ricks College. Different people helped them get work and they were able to make some money on the side.

In 1943 Doyle our next to the youngest son went into the service. He had tried to join the service for two years but they told him he had to stay on the farm. Finally they let him join when he told them he was leaving the farm.

Reid and his wife Rhea had been in Vancouver, Washington and Reid talked Dad into going out to Vancouver to work. We left the farm at Osgood and moved to Vancouver for two years.

We moved back to Idaho Falls in 1945 and bought a home on 5th street. We lived in this home for 7 years. During those years Dad was the Janitor at the Emerson grade school. He also had a second job at the Challenge Creamery.

Dad then got a job out at the AEC plant in Arco, Idaho desert for one year and was laid off when they cut back on employees. He went back to work for the school and worked past retirement age. Since then he has worked at several part time jobs.

We sold our place on 5th Street and built a new home on L Street where we now live. Dad pays all he can on the house to get it paid for so we can really enjoy it.

It is hard to get away on little leisure trips like I would like to. Dad says two more years and everything will be paid for. Dad will be 75 years old then and of course I am just a young kid.


I am proud of our wonderful family and the way they learned to work hard and care for them selves. Reid and Rhea his wife finished college and both teach in the public education system. Reid was principal and taught school at Osgood in the 1960's. Elwin and his wife Larene finished college and taught in the public school system. Elwin taught school at Osgood for awhile. Elwin was hired in a government job and changed his occupation. Vera and her husband Reed farm on the Osgood project. Beulah married and moved to Texas with her husband Bill Hardy. Norris finished college and went into the teaching profession while his wife Roma is a registered nurse. Norma finished college at Ricks College and become a Teachers until she married and moved to Grace Idaho where her husband Gail Ray runs the Post Office. Carroll and his wife Ruby have gone into the farming profession farming in Osgood and several other communities in the upper Snake River valley. Doyle was killed in Mon court woods, France during World War II. Harvey is in the Electronics business and His wife Lauena is a registered nurse.

Elwin, Carroll, Doyle, and Norma=s husband Gail were called into the service of their country during World War II.

Now that my children are grown I feel relaxed knowing that they are good honest people. I have very little worrying to do about them.

I have served in various calling in the church as a teacher in the Sunday school and primary. I was a councilor in the primary presidency and also a councilor in the Relief Society organization. I have sung with the singing mothers. We have done Temple work since moving back to Idaho Falls area.