The Whittaker Family of Cheshire

The Life Story of Heber Swainston
14 Jan 1860 - 8 Feb 1950

Sources: told to Myrtle C. Swainston, a daughter-in-law, Rosa Mae Hawkes, a granddaughter and as Heber Swainston and other members of the family remember him.
I am the son of George and Mary Groom Swainston. I was born the 14th of January 1860, in Darley Hall, Hertfordshire, England.

My parents were poor, but very thrifty people and we children, as soon as old enough found work on the farms and estates near our home. My father worked for John Cumberland.

We did not always have all we wanted. I remember one day I wanted some butter on my bread and my mother told me that someday I could have butter on both sides if I wanted it that way. This promise was fulfilled.

I went to school for three years then I secured a job with John Davis. I was to scare the crows from the field and help plow. The plow horses were guided by a jerkline and by calling "Gee" and "Haw." A man would hold the plow and I the jerkline. The horses were trained very well as only the leader needed the jerkline and he would step up to the fence very close then turn. The two behind would walk up to the fence in the same manner before they turned.

After awhile I worked for John Cumberland and was paid a half crown (about $.60) a week. John Cumberland was an auctioneer. Here I herded pigs. At the time they were weaning the little pigs and I had the job to keep the sows from the little ones. It was hard to do and I could not keep them from running back to the weaning pens. When I came in the foreman asked why I didn't herd the pigs. I told him I couldn't. He said, "Ah, yes, you could, you didn't try." I told him I could not and would not, so he struck me with a whip he always carried and I said, "You herd the pigs yourself," and started home. He tried to call me back, but I went on. He told my father he should not have struck me and to bring me back in the morning, but I would not herd pigs anymore.

The next day I started out through the country to find work and found a job at a nobleman, Squire Okley's farm. He was considered very rich and had a large farm.

There were hunting horses as well as work horses on the farm. The house was a nice one, a mansion. The foreman, Henry Croft, asked me why I had left the other farm and I told him I had to herd pigs and couldn't and I had quit. He said he did not blame me. After asking me what I could do he gave me work in the house.

I cleaned shoes and cream cans and other odd jobs around the house and yard for the girls for about a year. The foreman said he needed me outside and the girls could not keep me anymore.

I did general work then. But the women folks would get me as often as they could to help them as they said I was not always running to the cupboard or either would I pick up things and carry them off as other boys did.

I worked nine years at this place. My wages were three shillings a week and board for myself. When I told the foreman I was quitting he asked me why. "My folks have joined the Mormon Church," I answered, "And you know what people think of this religion." He said he would not say anything to anybody but I told him my father was in Utah and Mother and the rest of the children were going there and I wanted to go with them. He said if I ever wanted to come back after I had got there to let him know and he would send the transportation for me to come back and give me a job. I thought that was a good recommendation.

I was baptized and confirmed a member of the Mormon Church by George Fowler the 10th of June 1882, and married to Rosa Lane on the 12th of June 1882. I had courted Rosa for quite a few years. I was 22 years old when I married.

Rosa lived in Luton and I would have to walk to her home whenever I went to see her.

We sailed on the ship "Nevada" with mother and the remaining children on the 15thof June 1882, and landed in New York on the 3rd of July 1882. We then boarded the train with 850 other converts bound for Utah. We had traveled steerage coming across the ocean and the train cars, which brought us to Utah, were not very comfortable. The train traveled so slow sometimes the passengers would get out and run along side then climb back on.

The following is as Heber and other members of the family remember their father:

Father and Mother came (Heber and Rosa) to Ogden when they immigrated from England. They arrived in Ogden the 11th of July 1882. One dollar was all the money they had. Father worked for Joseph T. Johnson and James A. Calvert. These men were contractors. He helped build the Brown Hotel on 25th Street and the first jail in Ogden. He worked in Ogden for three years and returned in the summers to work for another three years. William, Agnes, and Heber were born in Ogden.

During this time, Mr. Calvert sold Father a team of horses then furnished him work to pay for them. Holding back some of his pay until they were paid for. Mr. Calvert was offered a cow to buy but he did not want it so asked Father if he would like to buy it and also offered to feed it. The owner asked $40.00 for the cow and would wait for the pay until fall when he had debts to pay. So Father bought the cow and sold milk and cream to the neighbors and mother would put the money away so that when the time came to pay for the cow she had saved $52.00. This was the way they got started in the cow business. The cow had twin calves and the neighbors still wanted milk and cream so Mother made a gruel and Father fed it to the calves and they did very well on it and grew very fast and were some of the best calves they had ever seen. This helped the money problem.

Mother also took in sewing and they were able to send money to buy fencing for the homestead Uncle George was on. This was one of the requirements before the homestead could be proved up on.

Uncle George built a two-room slope on the house and the two families lived in this for awhile. Later Father built a two-room house of his own and he and Uncle George built a one-room house for their father and mother. Father logged the lumber for his house and had it sawed at the mill. These two rooms were lined with doby (adobe) and were part of the Whitney home. They lived in these two rooms until about 1905 and then added two rooms on the south making it shaped like a "T". In about 1913 they added the back slope, piped in the water and added the bathroom. An orchard was planted near the house on the north. Fruit was scarce in this part of the country so they were able to sell apples. Some years Indians would come and apples were given to them. The Indians would dry the apples for winter fruit.

Father and Uncle George and the families worked the farms together which at that time included the farm in Whitney, the land on the hill which was used for pasture, and 360 acres of dry farm in Riverdale up on the bench between the river bottom and Treasureton. They worked together until 1920 and the Riverdale property was divided and eventually sold to Heber and some of Uncle George's boys.

Living on the hill when they were proving up on the homestead was the only thing I ever heard Mother complain about. There was just a shack to live in. Ethel was born while they lived on the hill.

In the spring of 1912 Father became ill. The doctors could not find out what was wrong. He was examined and treated by doctors in Logan and Salt Lake. The boys took over the farming and from this time on Father was not able to do a good day's work. He did, however, when he felt well, help the boys with chores, plowing, and assisting all he could in order to encourage the boys in the work of farming. He and Mother, with Sophia and Ray spent two winters in California but this seemed not to help his health. It was determined later that he had malaria.

In 1920 a lovely brick home was built in Preston, Idaho on the corner of Third North and State Streets. They moved into it and left Theron to run the farm in Whitney. Theron later bought this place. Heber ran the dry farm in Treasureton with some assistance from Harold and Ray and then later Heber bought this land. During this time Ethel and Arnold had decided to give up the place they had bought in Winder and as Father had put some money into it he decided to keep it and asked Harold if he would help farm this land. Father and Harold worked together for a couple of years then Harold rented and later bought 80 acres and Ray 80 acres of this property. These years were difficult for Father financially. Financing the family was quite a drain as he had a large family to help out.

In the home in town there was a big window and Father would sit and watch the traffic, people and any other interesting goings on. It also had a large front porch, which was comfortable in the summer months to sit on and enjoy resting. Father and Mother had quite a large garden on the north of the house which they took a great deal of pride in and the flowers that were grown around the foundation of the house were a lovely setting. Heber kept his workhorses in a corral to the west of the house and part of the time a cow was kept so they could have plenty of milk. Father was interested in the animals and assisted in the care of them.

When it was good weather he would walk as far as the bank corner and visit with other men that made a habit of once a day, or maybe not that often, gathering there and swapping news and stories. In those days a bench was furnished for them to sit on and sun themselves as they talked.

To go back to the year of 1898 in Father's life—he was called to fill a mission to Great Britain, returning in 1900. While he was gone Charley Clark, Aunt Emma's nephew worked for us. We got along with the work very well as Uncle George took over, but it was a difficult time for Mother, caring for the family and the house she was living in was not very big and sort of unfinished. Father was also a Home Missionary in the Oneida Stake, which at the time included what is now Oneida and Franklin Stakes. He traveled to his assignments on horseback. He was at one time superintendent of Religion Class in the ward. One winter he went to the Oneida Stake Academy soon after it was built. He was ordained a High Priest about the year 1909. He was a school trustee and served as Justice of the Peace about two years. He was ordained an Elder the 17th of March 1895 by George T. Benson.

Good horses were Father's hobby and became a good source of income. He had beautiful horses and took good care of them; fed and grained them so well that sometimes they were sick. The last thing at night we did wasn't to clean our teeth, but to go out and give the horses another feed.

Improvement of livestock, especially horses, getting utilities that make homes more livable and the drainage project were some of the things he determined to do so as to better himself and the community. Uncle George and he worked closely together in these things as well as farming.

These two men were remarkable because of their ability to get along together, sharing and counseling with each other and abiding by the decision made. Their wives must have also had this same attitude or the husbands could not have got along so well.

Father had the admiration, respect, and love of his wife and family and also his friends. He died the 8th of February 1950, at the age of 90 in the home in Preston, and was buried in the Whitney Cemetery the 11th of February.

After Mother died Sophia and her husband, Arnold were persuaded to stay and care for him which they did until his death.

If each person of the family after reading this feels there is some experience they knew of, it should be added along with a personal remark of their feelings towards Father.

I, Myrtle C. Swainston, daughter-in-law came to love and respect this man and his wife. They were very good to Harold and I. The advice they gave us we always valued and followed. Father was as a father to me. I am proud to have been accepted into this family.

5 sons and 4 daughters. Also twin sons who were stillborn in 1901.