History of Noah Rees
As Told by Him to Margaret Williams
I was my mother's ninth child. I was born August 14, 1857, at Broadway, Walton Parish, South Wales. The house I was born in was rock with a thatch roof. It contained two rooms. I moved with my parents from Broadway to Williamson when I was two or three years old. The house was rock with a slate roof. We lived here five years, then moved to Lambston Parish (Lamber Mountain) and remained there until we came to this country.
When I was nine years old I was hired out to a man named Phelps for four months. I got sick and had to be taken home. After I regained my health I did general work. I worked for Thomas John at Dale Hill for about two years. I worked four months at Hartford West for a man named Williams. I worked from the middle of November until the last of August for William Davids at Tolbenny Parish, then emigrated to Salt Lake City with my parents on the ship Minnesota.
We stayed in Salt Lake until the next summer then went to Rush Valley and worked for a couple of summers. I worked on the Utah Western Railroad for a few months. Getting tired of working for other people I insisted on my father taking up a place. My father went from Salt Lake City to Portage looking for a place. He located a homestead at Portage and I remained there helping fix up the place for three or four years. When father's place was fixed well enough, I left and started out for myself. I started to work on another man's place near father's that I rented for a year.
I started freighting from Corrine, Utah, to Montana for a man named Orson Merrills. I worked this way for about three years. I encountered many Indians and received two or three scares. Then I bought half interest in two, fourteen-mule teams from Orson Merrills. We worked this way for eleven years without trouble.
I married Margaret Elizabeth John of Portage January 8, 1883. We lived in Portage a year, then moved to Samaria in 1884.
On March 27, 1882, we started to go to Montana with two twelve-mule teams. We traveled about twenty miles and came to some very deep snow. We had left part of our goods at Blackfoot the fall before. We had our wagons practically empty except for some harness and foodstuff. We had to take the wheels from our wagons and put poles on running gears to keep our wagons from sinking in the snow. It took five men five days to go ten miles. The mules fell in drifts that came above their heads. When we reached Blackfoot we left our goods and coupled wagons together. We had good traveling for about one hundred and fifty miles. We got along until we came to the Willow Creek divide, then we ran into another large drift. We loaded with machinery at Challis on the Salmon River. We had eight feet of snow on the wagon road for quite a ways. It took nine days to travel nine miles. We freighted from Camas all summer and made about nine trips. The last trip in about two feet of snow. We had to get home that fall with six wagons and twenty-four head of mules. We arrived there two days before Christmas. (On these freightings trips he carried only a cup, a pie tin and a knife as eating utensils. His children and grandchildren were fascinated to watch him eat using a knife as his only tool. He could balance peas and eat them from a table knife up until the time of his death.)
In the Biography of one of his neighbors, John W. Symons, we find the following material:
I left Salt Lake and came to Lava, Bannock, Idaho, November 19, 1889. The first settlers when I first landed in Idaho were Laun Raymond, Daniel Verrips, John Vanzee, Charles John (Mrs. Resses Father), Abraham Durphy, Lew McDermet, Noah Rees and William Cooper.
Dan Verrips and Frank Warner had the first store and post office. It was where Dewey Warner now lives. The first school house was up by the Big Spring at Blaser. The land hadn't been taken by anyone. Noah Rees got out most of the logs. The first teacher was Mr. Huffman. His wife was depot operator at Lava (now Blaser.) Noah Rees furnished most of the children. Each family had to make their own seat or desk or have them made. That was Ether Reeses first school.
I helped Brother Rees get water on the lower place. We used a hand plow to make a ditch from the big spring at Blaser. Later this ditch was changed into the Dempsey-Topaz canal. We still have a water right in this canal.
Noah Rees was very good at irrigating his ground. The neighbors claimed he could make water run uphill. Every summer morning at dawn you could see him with his boots on, shovel over his shoulder, followed by his dogs, out irrigating.
The Rees family were the ninth family in this place. At the time there was no Ward organization. He was called into the first Bishopric. They went from house to house to hold their meetings. He remained active in the Church and loved the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon.
He was the father of nineteen children. Twelve lived to maturity. Around 1926 he suffered a stroke and remained partly paralyzed the rest of his life. He lost one eye and had to walk with a cane. His beloved wife died August 5, 1932, and he passed away November 27, 1935, at the home of his daughter, Hazel Williams, near Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. He was buried near his wife in the Lava Hot Springs Cemetery.
History of Margaret Elizabeth John
Margaret Elizabeth John was born in Wellsville, Cache County, Utah, February 4, 1867. She was the daughter of Charles John and Elizabeth Williams, who were among the first settlers of Wellsville.
While she was still small her parents moved to Portage, Box Elder County, Utah, in the Malad Valley; where she lived until she married Noah Rees, January 8, 1883. He was the son of Thomas Rees and Rebecca Williams.
Her father was a sheepman and managed sheep for co-ops from Brigham City and Ogden. People who owned sheep would put them in the herds and pay him either in lambs or wool. He hired several herders to help. One time it became necessary for him to take care of one of the herds. He took Maggie and her brother Tom to help him. One morning he left them to take care of the sheep while he cleaned the camp, baked some bread and caught up on his book work. When he went to change them off he told them their breakfast was on the table. They were to eat and then they could play or rest.
When they arrived at the camp they found their breakfast prepared. They decided to eat some of the delicious roast in the oven. It smelled so good and they were sure their father wouldn't mind. They had just finished enjoying this delicious meal when their father returned. He looked in the oven, then asked them what had happened to the skunk he was rendering for skunk oil to put on his boots. They turned a little green but both admitted it was some of the best meat they'd ever tasted.
She remembered when the Blackfoot (Bannock) or Pocatello Indians ranged in the hills around the village. They used to come down out of the canyons and when about a mile from the houses they would give their warhoops. All the people would run to her father's house as that was nearest the center of town, for refuge. Although Indians seemed very savage they never killed anyone in the village. She loved to hold the Indian papooses and would sneak away from her parents. They had told her never to go near the Indians. One time she was badly frightened as the Chief wanted her to eat ground-up crickets with them. When she refused he told her they were going to take her with them. She watched until no one was noticing, she laid the papoose on the ground and stole away home. She never went back to tend the papooses.
She often spoke of the great grasshopper famine and told her children and grandchildren of the gleaning of the wheat after the hoppers had taken most of the grain. We loved to hear tell of these things.
Being of Welsh heritage her family loved to sing and dance. They all met at one of the homes on Saturday nights and danced and sang. She was a beautiful dancer and when she got older was often asked to lead the dance, "Do you see my, do you see my, do you see my new shoes. With the tips on, with the tips on, with the tips on the toes. And the buckles and bows, and the buckles and bows?", at the Old Folk Parties.
After she married she moved with her husband to Samaria on a farm where she worked and helped to clear the land. She stayed there until 1890, then she and three children moved with her husband to a farm at Lava. They were the ninth family in this ward and place. At this time there was no ward organization. In the same year they organized and Noah was called into the Bishopric. They went from house to house to hold their meetings.
She held the following offices in the Church at various times: President of the YLMIA, treasurer in the Relief Society, teacher in Primary and Sunday School, a member of the genealogical committee, and at the time of her death was first counselor in the Relief Society. She was a faithful and diligent worker in every organization in the ward. She loved the church work and was always ready to help the sick and needy. She had many trials and bitter experiences but never lost faith in the principles of the gospel since she was 17 years of age and prayed for a testimony. She received a revelation similar to the one received by the Prophet, Joseph Smith.
She was a wonderful wife and mother. She was always active and loved to play and scuffle with her children. She was the mother of nineteen children, twelve lived to maturity. She helped her husband in the field, raised a large garden, and milked and took care of the cows with the help of her children.
She doctored all the neighbors with homemade remedies and saved many lives. She took care of diptheria cases, blood poisoning, pneumonia and many other ailments. As a mid-wife working with Dr. Kackley she delivered nearly 500 babies. She delivered her last baby, a grandson, Edward Williams, July 14, 1932.
She had a stroke two weeks later and died August 5, 1932
