(Arlow Freestone shares his history, pictured in the top row second from the left)
At the age of 88 in the year 2011, and living in the town of Monticello, San Juan County, Utah, I now take time to begin a compilation or summary of events and experiences that have transpired in my life up until this time. Due to the time lapse since I was born there will be many experiences that will not be reported exactly as they were nor at the time they were experienced. I am depending on information found in my mother’s life story for much or all of my early life.
I was born in a three room frame home in the community of Island a small farming area near Oakley, Idaho on the 2nd day of January 1923. Here I must say that I am very grateful for the parents that brought me into the world and were willing to put up with me through my young life. To them I owe all that I am today. My parents also brought into this world six brothers and sisters – Ferris, Inez, Camilla, Rachel, Aline and Perrigrine. These too, have had an influence on my life and I am grateful for the opportunity I have had of growing up with them. Rachel passed away at the age of 6 weeks.
Perhaps a little family history is needed for the record. My father, Perrigrine Sessions Freestone, had 9 Brothers and sisters.—Alice Afton, Sarah Elizabeth, George Alfred, Phoebe, Harvey Sessions, William Sessions, Lucina Sessions, Edith Sessions, Olivia Sessions, Delilah Sessions, and Ruth Sessions. Sarah died as a child in 1899. Phoebe died as a child in 1893. My mother, Martha Myrtle Tolman had 12 brothers and sisters.– William Alvin, Owen Joshua, Cyrus Oakley, Mary Alice, Lydia Ann, Joseph Osborn, Parley Lambert, Fannie Burgess, Daniel Henry, Louisa Hancock, Rulon Burl, Tressa Lorraine.
My father and mother were married October 6,1920 in the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City. All children were married (giving me many Uncles and Aunts) and most had large families and in turn gave me many cousins. My Tolman posterity was 12 children, 98 grandchildren and 36 great grandchildren. The Freestone posterity was somewhat less – 55 to 60 grand children so I had around 150 cousins. The Freestone families were scattered around Ogden, Utah and southern Idaho. The Tolman families settled mostly in southern Idaho. With so many relatives and scattered throughout the two states, we seldom if ever visited or got acquainted with them. I remember how mother would put we kids in our car and go to Oakley to see our grandmother and some of the families nearby. We enjoyed the ride as mother would speed along about 30 miles an hour and go over little high spots in the road that would kinda make the car sail through the air for a short distance and give us all a thrill. One reason we went to Oakley was to visit the Marion Cemetery where our parents and grandparents were buried. We still visit there when we travel that way.
Physically I was blessed, as a baby, with an abundance of “fat.” Due to my corpulent physical condition, I soon picked up the name of “Fatty Arbuckle” (A movie character of the time). In time this name was shortened to “Fat” and remains with me to this day among the close friends and relatives who knew me during my youth, even though I have long since lost all excess weight and now am quite thin.
Once when very young, probably less than two, the family missed me and hunted everywhere for me. There was an irrigation ditch that ran in the back of the yard that usually had water in it so this was a concern. After looking for some time someone decided to look in the “out house” and there I was sleeping on the floor in the nice warm sunshine. Another time I decided to hide out, but I was several years older, and at the time very unhappy because Dad had cut my hair very short. He said it was because I didn’t keep it combed. As soon as my hair was cut, I disappeared. Again the hunt was on. In the house and around outside, including the barn and hay stack. Again there was water as a concern. This time it was a larger ditch full of fast running water. After several hours of searching and wondering, I appeared again. In the house there was closet under a stairway that extended several feet back under the stairs in which they stored blankets etc. It made a good bed and the end thereof was out of sight.
My preschool days were as eventful an any young boy’s. Until I was 5 years of age my father farmed in a locality called “Island,” now a part of the community of Oakley, Idaho. I remember the skunks that were continually being run over by the hay mowers as they mowed the hay and how the country side was scented up for several days thereafter. Then there were the dogs who were willing to risk the quill of the porcupine to chase them or nose around one that was already dead, with the result being few quills in their nose. Then there were the badgers that were some times caught and kept penned up. As young boys we were told that if a badger bit you he wouldn’t let go until it thundered. To this day the thought remains with me to the point that I have little use for this mild mannered animal.
Then there was the day my mother tried to start our “up to date Model T Ford car.” As she tried to crank the car, it kicked, and the crank flew around striking my mother on the arm causing a bad break. This accident brings to mind the time my older brother Ferris, who always love to tease we younger brothers and sisters, did something that could have been much more serious than it was. He was teasing us early one morning when mother was out of the house tending the chickens (about 200 of them), by chasing us with a butcher knife. In an effort to escape him, we all crawled under the kitchen table. Without thinking, Ferris reached under the table and started swinging the knife back and forth. The first swing caught Inez, my sister a year younger than me, across the nose making a sizable cut. Needless to say this stopped the teasing. Mother took control as soon as she was notified. Nothing serious but frightening. Inez still has the scar.
While living at this same place, a sad accident happened. We lived right next to the railroad track on which a train passed twice daily. As the train approached one day my father noticed a calf was along the track and called to us to let the calf into our fenced in yard so it wouldn’t get on the tracks. We misunderstood and drove the calf away instead. As a result the calf did get on the tracks and was hit and killed by the train. It was very sad for us, the oldest being less that 6 years of age.
One day, during this same period of tune my mother was driving us to Primary’ when we noticed a crate of oranges that evidently had fallen from some passing fruit truck. This was in a day when oranges were not as common to us as they are now. I remember we picked them up and took them on to Primary where everyone enjoyed our find.
Speaking of church activities, I was blessed by J. Alvin Tolman February 4,1923 in the chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Marion, Idaho. As I observed the chapel in later years it seemed to be a rather large building we attended weekly while we were in the area.
Aunt Olivia, dad’s sister, told me of him saving her life by riding his horse to Tooele, Utah to get some medicine for her when she was very ill. Grandpa Freestone was gone from home taking supplies to the sheep herders. Dad was about 14 years old. Tooele was the closest town with a doctor and it was about 30 minutes from the ranch. He rode his horse across country but it took him until the next day to get the medicine from the doctor and return home.
Dad, his brothers, and grandpa were good horsemen. They would break the wild horses for work and to ride. His mother worried about them getting hurt.
The ranch was 8 miles from an Indian Reservation. Indians came to the ranch often for help or to talk to Grandpa. They were good to the Indians.
Grandpa and Grandma took their family to church. They taught their children gospel principles, and had family prayers around the breakfast and supper table. Their chairs were turned with their backs to the table ready for prayer before eating. The children were taught to be kind, loving and respectful to each other and to many people when they were down and out. Grandpa did not allow bad language spoken by his family or by anyone who came in contact with his family.
Dad and his brothers and sisters were educated in a small school house not far from the Indian Reservation. They were taught by two Hawaiian teachers. As the family grew older Grandpa and Grandma moved from Skull Valley to Clearfield, Utah so the family could get more and a better education.
The family lived in Skull Valley about 9 or 10 years before moving to Clearfield onto a small farm. Grandpa raised tomatoes and sold them to the local tomato factory. The older boys left home to find work, so the farm became too much for grandpa to run without them. He sold the farm.
Dad’s family moved to Island, Cassie County, Idaho in 1918. Grandpa bought an 80 acre farm so his sons would have a place to farm on after their return from World War I.
Dad’s two older brothers, Uncle George and Uncle Harve, joined the armed forces during World War I. Uncle George was in the Marines and was seriously wounded. Uncle Harve was in the Navy and the boat he was on missed being sunk several times. Dad wanted to join the service and serve his country and was just getting ready to join the service when the was ended. Uncle Bill and dad were “buddies.” Uncle Bill said, “If Perrie goes to war, so will I.
It was while the family lived at the Island (today the Island is called Oakley, Idaho) that dad met and married Martha Myrtle Tolman. She was the daughter of Mary Jane Gorringe and Joshua Alvin Tolman. Mother and dad met at a dance which was held in Marion. (Today Marion is part of Oakley). Mother had gone to the dance with a sister and her boyfriend. Her sister’s boyfriend brought a boyfriend with him. The friend thought mother was his date, but he hadn’t asked her beforehand. Dad danced with mother most of the night so when the dance was over he asked to take her home. Mother went home with him. The continued to date about one and a half years before marrying on October 6, 1920 in the Salt Lake Temple. After spending a few days in Salt Lake, they returned to Oakley. They traveled to and from Salt Lake with their parents on the train.
Dad and mother lived in the area of the Island Marion for eight years. Because of lack of water, Grandpa Freestone lost his farm and moved back to Clearfield. Dad worked at a gravel pit the first winter they were married, than began to farm for himself. He later quit farming for himself and helped other farmers. They moved several times, living in homes with two to three rooms, to larger homes. I remember living in a large home before we moved to Kimberly, Idaho.
Their home was blessed with 5 children while living in the Oakley area. They were Ferris Tolman, Arlow Leon, Inez, Camilla (me), and Rachel. Rachel lived for 6 weeks. She died from a weak heart. Rachel was a beautiful baby. It was a sad time for Dad and mother. I was about two years old when Rachel died. She died January 6,1927.
In January 1928, dad came home from work very sick. The doctor was called and he was told he had “small pox.” The family was quarantined and the rest of the family was vaccinated for them. Ferris, the oldest son, was the only one who did not get “small pox.” The day dad got out of bed, mother and we three older children came down with the disease. Dad took care of the sick family.
In September 1928, dad came to Kimberly, Twin Falls County, Idaho and began working for Carstens Packing Company. In November he moved his family to Kimberly. When the Depression hit in the late 1920s and early 1930s, our family did well because dad had work with the company. Dad worked for Carsten’s until they sold the company.
While living in Kimberly their homes were blessed with two more children. Aline was born March 8,1931 in a home which we lived in across from Carsten Yards where Dad worked. She was a delight to all of us. On July 10, 1938, a son, Perrigrine Junior was born in Twin Falls, Idaho in the Suburban Maternity Home. He was named after his father, and like his father, went by the name of Perrie.
In 1937, the folks bought a home at 504 Taylor Street West in Kimberly, Idaho. When they moved into this home, the four older children were teenagers. This is the home where we enjoyed many family get-together as we married and came home with our families. The families that lived around the Kimberly area always came home at Thanksgiving and Christmas for special dinners and family associations. These get togethers went on in this home until Mother’s health was poor. Mother lives in that home at the present time.
After leaving Carstens dad bought a couple of large trucks and did custom hauling. It was a struggle for him to make ends meet. He later sold his trucks and did some farming in the Carey, Idaho area.
While he was in Carey in October 1963, he fell causing him to have a brain concussion. He was taken to Boise, Idaho to St. Luke’s Hospital where he had surgery to remove blood clots from his brain. Mother and some of the family were with him continually. He was later moved to the Twin Falls Hospital where he stayed one night. He was released from the hospital and mother cared for him in a home they were living in, one mile east and 5 miles south of Kimberly. Dad was never quite the same after this accident.
The following spring, 1964, he was having some health problems. Mother and I took him to Salt Lake to the LDS Hospital for tests. We were told he had a tumor at the bottom of his esophagus that was inoperable. The months that followed were spent in praying he would not have to suffer. Mother did all she could to make him comfortable and happy.
Early morning on Monday, September 28, 1964, Dad went into a coma and passed away at home. His funeral was held in Kimberly, Idaho at the LDS Chapel and his body was laid to rest in the Marion, Cassia County, cemetery next to his infant daughter, Rachel.
Dad loved cars. When he and mother were married he had a Model T car. They called it the “Tin Lizzie.” Mother said she could hear him coming because it was so noisy. The car had to be cranked to get it started. After mother and dad were married, mother was cranking the car and the crank flew backwards hitting her right arm breaking it. As we were growing up dad always had a good car.
Visit FamilySearch to learn more about Peregrine Sessions Freestone, Martha Myrtle Tolman, and other ancestors. Also visit the Thomas Tolman Family Organization to find out how you can get more involved in family history.