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ELLA REBECCA MERRILL
Ella Rebecca Merrill Kerr, daughter of Cyrene Standley (second wife) and Marriner Wood Merrill, was born in Richmond, Cache County, Utah on December 10, 1863. She had many of the typical experiences of the children of pioneers - she walked to school three miles, particularly enjoying the years that Johnny Gibbs was her teacher. She finished the fifth grade, which was the highest then given.
When the snows were too deep to walk, Ella rode horseback, and many a bitter cold morning her feet and hands were almost frozen. She went barefoot all summer, working in the fields, doing chores - milking as many as eight cows and gleaning in the wheat fields. As a reward for her hard work, she was permitted to buy her first China doll - a most valued treasure.
She was thirteen years old before Ella had a pair of “fine” shoes. She may not have had shoes, but she knew how to work. Ella assisted in all household tasks - spinning yarn, weaving wool flannel and linsey, which were dyed with log wood and other available roots to weave carpets, she made lye from ashes of hardwood, and she made soap and tallow candles.
At the age of thirteen through her fourteenth year, she assisted Apostle Joseph F. Merrill’s mother with the cooking for the men who were building the Narrow Gage Utah Northern railroad through the Portneuf Valley - through Pocatello and Idaho Falls to Beaver Canyon. Ella was also expected to go and assist any of the wives when they needed help. On one occasion, after a particularly trying day, and being very homesick, mother set out for home after the family had retired. It was a dark and stormy night and in attempting to take a shortcut, she was almost drowned as she waded a creek. Ordinarily this was a small stream, but the rains had made it a raging torrent. Stumbling through the pathless woods, wading streams, climbing fences, cold and wet, she finally reached home at 2 a.m. utterly exhausted after having walked many miles.
At the age of seventeen, Ella married Marion Joseph Kerr and a year later, the first of ten children was born. Joseph and Ella bought a home a short distance from the old Kerr homestead and it was here that three boys and three girls were born.
Joseph was away from home most of the time, working, attending the University of Utah, or on a family mission in Southern Utah. So almost the entire care of the family rested upon Ella whose health was poor.
In May, 1895, the family moved to Ora, Fremont County, Idaho. Joseph had gone the year before and filed on a homestead. In April he and the two oldest boys took the stock and machinery and drove to the new home...the journey taking many days. Ella and five children - together with all the household goods - made the trip to Market Lake by train. Here they were met by Joseph and the boys with wagons to take them to their new home.
One can almost see those two wagons as they toiled along the dusty roads that afternoon in May, 1895. They were loaded high with furniture. Packed carefully in the lead wagon was an organ. It was large and heavy and took up much space, but it was a treasure that could not be left behind. Other articles of importance were a fine old oaken dresser and bedstead, a cupboard and large maple wardrobe. With such a load, it was plain to see that this family had come to make a permanent home in the Snake River Valley. It took two days to make the journey, so the camped that first night on the present site of St. Anthony - then only a straggling village with a few log houses and a general store.
The next day, as they neared their journey’s end, there was much excitement in the little group. At last they saw their new home. Coming over a low hill, a beautiful panorama lay before them - a quarter of a mile ahead was a log cabin and a small log barn. It was all set in the midst of a sea of green grass, dotted with flowers of every hue. In the background were grey foothills, with occasional groves of quaking aspens, beyond that towering overhead rose rugged mountains covered with fir and pine.
The house was a typical pioneer cabin of two rooms, only one of which was finished. It was made of logs with a sod roof. The one room had a rough board floor and was used as a kitchen, dining and living room, while the other was utilized as a bedroom with only an earthen floor. Later, another room was added, floors were laid, walls whitewashed and the rough pine boughs of the ceiling were concealed by a lining of factory - carefully measured, sewed in strips and finally, with great difficulty, tacked in place.
The Kerr children were delighted with all the new experiences. On little girl, age five, when first taken into the new home, asked, “Where are the chickens?” thinking of course that this must be a chicken coop.
With true pioneer courage, they all made the best of the situation. Life was hard, but it also had its pleasures. All members of the family spent many hours spreading poisoned wheat for the squirrels, which were a serious menace to the precious first crop. Then came a drought - it seemed nothing could save the wheat which meant so much - their bread and other supplies until the next harvest. One morning, as Ella and Joseph walked out to the sun baked field, they discovered that the ground was wet with dew, the grain looked fresh. Every night a heavy dew fell and when harvest time came, this piece of sod had yielded twenty-seven bushels to the acre.
It was necessary to take this wheat to the grist mill and have it ground into flour. Joseph was ill, so Ella, a pioneer mother equal to the task, set out with her twelve-year-old son to take the wheat to the mill twenty-two miles distance, over bad roads, with dangerous rivers to ford. Many others were on the same mission, so it was sundown before they started home. The river had risen during the day and as they plunged into the swirling stream, the water rose higher and higher, threatening to overturn the wagon. Then the clip came off the singletree.
One can only imagine the feelings of these two. Their calls for help could not be heard above the rushing water. Joseph said he could get out and fasten the tongue somehow, but Ella knew he would be swept out into swift current. Finally she told him to get out on the tongue, reach over the horse and get the loose tug. This he did and then held the horses and spoke encouragingly to them while Ella took a halter rope, slipped one end through the eye on the end of the tug, then passed it over the singletree and around the king bolt. This she did several times until she felt it would hold, then tied it firmly. It was makeshift, but it held.
They had by now been in the river a long time and were very cold and wet, but they were so thankful to reach the shore that they forgot their discomfort. Hours later they reached home to find Joseph Sr., ill as he was, just ready to set out on horseback to learn what had befallen them.
Undaunted by this experience, Ella and Joseph, with the baby girl, drove to the old home place in Richmond, Utah, to bring back a supply of apples and honey (as the place had not been sold yet.) This was a journey of more than four hundred miles, through sparsely settle territory, with rivers to ford, sandy deserts to cross, camping by the roadside, a lone woman, a baby, and a twelve year old boy. The journey took three weeks and before they reached on November 6th, the ground was covered with snow, so it was with considerable difficulty that they made the last ten miles.
During Ella’s absence, Joseph was away - digging potatoes on shares, so the responsibility of taking care of everything at the ranch including two little girls ages four and six, rested upon Mary, age fourteen, and Ivin, age ten. An old Indian trail was near the home and though few of the Red men came along it, there was always a vague fear in the minds of these youngsters, alone and far from neighbors. Then, too, forest fires on the distant mountains were clearly visible at night and though there was no real danger, these children were always glad when morning came.
The school teacher came to board with the Kerrs, so that was an added responsibility. The school house was a one room log cabin. Often the children had to go to school on home-made skiis, as the snow was so deep that roads could no longer be kept open. The pioneer home was often completely buried in show drifts and it was necessary to shovel a way out. Practically all winter the west side of the house was completely hidden by icy drifts which melted slowly in the springtime. It kept the men busy shoveling paths to the barnyard. Many mornings the pig pens would be completely buried in snow and it took hours of strenuous labor to “shovel out.” In all these experiences, Ella was not afraid to lend a hand whenever and wherever necessary.
The mail came twice a week was carried with dog teams or on skis. When a post office was established, Ella was appointed postmistress. There was no salary, but it was a responsibility, as regular reports had to be made and every stamp accounted for. Additionally, because of Joseph’s activity in public affairs such as president of canal and reservoir companies, county commissioner, as well as church responsibilities as presiding elder, bishop, member of the stake presidency, this left much of the responsibility of the ranch and children to Ella.
Despite all this, she was ever ready to lend a helping had to a neighbor. She had a natural gift for nursing and was frequently called to act as midwife. She was always ready to assist in preparing bodies for burial, assist with sewing and also to cover rough pine caskets with white muslin, that those bereaved might feel that their loved one had been laid away in some semblance of beauty.
Shortly after the Kerr family had established a home, a Sunday School was organized. The classrooms were respectively - the bedroom where Joseph taught the elder group, the kitchen where Ella taught the smaller ones. On Sunday morning, all members of the family were very busy assisting to put everything in order for the day, as people came from far and near to attend the religious service which they so much appreciated. The precious organ played an important part in their worship, as father was a lover of music and had a beautiful tenor voice, as well as being a skilled director.
The Kerr home was the center of religious and social gatherings for many months, until the small branch was able to build a log meeting house. An interesting feature of these Sunday gatherings was the fact that no matter how many came, they were all expected to stay for dinner and with true western hospitality, everyone was made welcome. Time after time, were the dishes washed and the table set again and yet again.
In these busy and happy years, three more daughters were born. Far from expert medical care, with only an incompetent midwife to assist, did Ella pass through the valley of the shadow, uncomplaining, patient, through all the pain and anguish. Mary - the oldest daughter - recalls her plea, “O husband, pray for me!” As a frightened child, Mary would run out into the moonlight meadow and pray with earnest faith for her release from such excruciating pain. All one winter, Ella was ill, in bed most of the time, yet she insisted that all the children go to school. The children would hustle about in the mornings to get the work done, put up lunches, and go to school, little realizing the sacrifice Ella was making in staying alone many hours a day while Joseph attended necessary outside work.
Time went on, a ward was organized, Ella was made president of the Primary, and she also worked in Relief Society. One wonders how she could do so much, as her health was never good. She was an excellent seamstress and her children were dressed better than the average, with very little cost. If the children had no shoes, which was often the case, Ella made moccasins out of any available material and the children were proud of them, as most of the children in the community were barefoot. Mary remembers the most wonderful party dress which was made from bolting, discarded from her grandfather’s flour mill.
Ella sewed carpet rags and had them woven into carpet, always insisting that curtains and carpets were absolutely necessary in a home. She kept her log rooms white and inviting and sweet smelling by white-washing them herself with lime. This seemed quite a novelty in that rough country and people came from far and near to see how Sister Kerr “fixed up” her home.
Family birthdays were regarded as very special occasions and though there might be only a boiled pudding made with service berries, it was a gala occasion. Christmas, too, was a happy time, even though the only decorations on the pine tree, brought from the forest, were chains from colored wrapping paper, strings of popcorn and an occasional red apple. Gifts were practical - a much needed dress, shoes and stockings, home-made molasses candy, and a rag doll for the little ones. But always there was at least one good book.
The girls in the family were taught how to do all the necessary tasks in the home and early assumed much responsibility. There were many men to cook for, lunches to put up for sheep camps, canyon canal crews and canal workers. There was butter and cheese to be made and sold, meat to be cured and a thousand tasks that the modern housewife knows nothing of.
Ella was most insistent that both boys and girls be given the best possible chances to secure an education, despite the sacrifice it required. Consequently all of the children attended college, two sons receiving bachelors degrees. Six of the girls and on son were teachers. One son became a successful attorney. One died in young manhood. By most careful management of the egg and butter money, the girls were given some music lessons.
After seventeen years on the ranch in Ora, where they had by now erected a large modern home, with private water system and electric lights, the family moved to St. Anthony where Joseph was made a member of the stake presidency. Ella was a member of the presidency of the relief society stake board. She traveled many miles with horse and buggy over bad roads to visit the distant wards. Ill health finally compelled her to resign. An interesting fact is that one of her daughters was selected to take her place.
One of Ella’s outstanding characteristics was her unselfishness; always her husband and children came first. She always said, “You go, father, you need a change. I’ll look after things.” Always she worked and planned to make her home an attractive gathering place for young and old. Never did she chide the children for bringing friends home, even though one Sunday there were thirty unexpected guests for dinner. The boys and girls could bring any number of college friends home for the weekend or for the two-weeks holiday.
Ella entered into these youthful pleasures with sympathetic understanding and was the means of setting many, who were inclined to be wayward, on the right path. She was particularly kind and considerate to those whom others overlook and neglect - the poor and unfortunate. Always charitable toward others’ failings, she found something good in everyone. As her children married, she took her sons and daughters-in-law into her heart, as though they were her very own and at family reunions, a stranger would be at a loss to know which was which. They were all her sons and daughters.
After a long illness, Ella passed away the 17th of March, 1939 at St. Anthony, Idaho and was buried the 20th of March in the cemetery at St. Anthony. A beautiful service was held in the stake tabernacle. Many sincere tributes were paid to her of her faithful and unselfish service to family, church, and all who were in need. Among the speakers was her brother, Apostle Joseph Merrill. Ella Merrill Kerr was truly one of the noble daughters of Zion. |