Emma Adella Wood Tolman
31 Jan 1853 – 10 Aug 1935
Daniel and Laura Ann Gibbs Wood
Emma Adella Wood, was born 31 January, 1853 a daughter of Daniel and Laura Ann Gibbs Wood. I married Joseph Holbrook Tolman, 17 February, 1870. My mother came over with the handcart company to the great Salt Lake Valley. As a child I spent many happy hours playing on the foundation of the Salt Lake Temple, and going hand in hand with my mother to meet many other pioneers.
I have lived in Idaho about 60 years moving there from Opher, Utah, driving my own team and wagon with my five children, Lamoni being a little over five years .old. When we first moved to Idaho we settled in Chesterfield, Idaho. The Bannock Indians were the earliest people there. I never had much trouble with them for I usually gave them what they wanted. Whenever they came to beg for food they would ask where my “Turnip” was. That being what they called my husband.
My house and nearly all the houses were made of logs being squared by hand, but later my husband built several saw mills in the hills, then when he built our house he would saw the logs square, also making me a floor out of rough lumber in place of the dirt floor. We had dry good boxes nailed on the walls for clothes closets and cupboards, with ruffled curtains hung up in place of doors. Our furniture was all made by hand. The house had visible rafters, and we stored many things in the attic. Our fruits and vegetables were mostly dried in the attic.
When we were in Chesterfield we had to clear our land of sage brush and weeds, we raised some grain, hay and a large vegetable garden, sometimes having to haul water for crops and cattle. We had to melt snow and ice to have water to drink, the winters were so severe. We seldom used money, it being so scarce, so would bargain and trade for almost everything we had or wanted.
We traveled mostly behind a yoke of oxen, and later behind a team of horses in a heavy wagon. The ones who had a buggy were classed as rich. As I remember it was 10 years ago the first buggies were seen in Chesterfield. I used to make lye for soap. I also made our candles as we had no lamps. We used white clay and water with a little blueing to whitewash the inside of our houses.
The men folks would buy the bulk lead and make their own bullets, they also made powder horns from the horns of cattle and their shot gun shells.
Being all Mormons and having our own church we used to put on shows and have dances. Some people danced bare-footed and many a sliver I have picked out of my feet. The fiddle and concertina was the music we had. I sometimes played the concertina. Dances started about 8 o’clock and dance till 11 when there would be intermission and refreshments after which we would dance on til morning. Admission was a squash. Chicken, wheat, or anything that amounted to 50 cents. In the winter we had fun sleigh riding.
The families were large, one without at least 8 or 10 was not considered a family. The boys usually were raised to become farmers, and the girls were trained in the duties of the home. Children were allowed to run barefoot until 14 or 15 years of age then they would get shoes with copper lips so they would wear longer. Boys married when they became about 18 or 19 and girls 16 or 17. When the wedding was arranged big suppers were given at the home of the bride’s parents.
When my babies came we usually hired a lady for a few days and when the baby was a few weeks old we had a celebration or community supper. The women had to do a lot of manual labor in those days. We had a little school in Chesterfield for the children but most of my children were educated in the home as we generally moved to the mill site where our work was.
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the 4th of July were the only holidays we had. We had picnics, parades, and some of the men would play baseball. I used to card wool and spin it and then send it to the weavers to have it woven into cloth. I made my husband’s suits and they looked very little different than the suits of today. I made my own blankets, as my father raised cotton for the cloth.
We moved to Pocatello in 1904. We had a family of 16 children. We have 100 grand children, 75 great grandchildren and a number of great great grandchildren.
My father was Daniel C. Wood, my mother Laura Ann Gibbs Wood. She was born 5 March, 1814, in Batavia, Genessee Co., N. Y. Her father and mother were Horace and Blenda Gibbs.
She, Emma, was loved and respected by all. Hers was a merry and jovial nature and many a weary heart has been comforted and cheered by her. She had many heart aches and sorrows but always had a word of cheer for those who were down cast. Her life was given to the service of the needy. She died 10 Aug., 1935, in Pocatello, Idaho, at the general hospital.
(This copy submitted by Lamoni Tolman, her son.)
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