Ben Waldron, the second son of Benjamin Waldron and Emeline Savage, was born in Salt Lake City, on August 18, 1853, shortly after their arrival by wagon train from Council Bluffs, Iowa, where their first son, Levi Savage Waldron, had been born in 1850.
The next spring the family moved to Centerville, Davis County, Utah, where his father, Benjamin, set up business as a shoemaker and cobbler. In the fall of that year they moved to Oregon Springs (now East Portage) on the Utah-Idaho border.
On October 9, 1856 a third child, Emeline Eliza, was born. She was the first white child born in Malad Valley, which at that time had only seven white families. The Indians, curious about this pale-face child, were treated kindly when they came to see her, and as they found the Waldrons to be a peace-loving family they were soon on friendly terms with them.
Early next spring Benjamin planted grain, but it was destroyed by the grasshoppers and the drought. As a result the little family had very little to eat except for greens, cooked from the pig weeds growing around their small log cabin, or thistles, peeled and eaten raw.
One day a friendly Shoshone Indian came to tell them that a hostile tribe of Bannocks was planning to attack and kill all the white settlers in the valley. He warned them to flee immediately. Quickly gathering together all the possessions they could pack into their wagon, and caching the rest, they set out, but on the banks of the Bear River they were overtaken by the Indians who stole their supplies and their best oxen. Hooking the cows to the wagons containing what they were able to save, they went on, grateful to escape with their lives.
They returned to Centerville and there on February 27, 1859, a fourth child,
Sarah Ann, was born. After a couple of years they moved to Willard, Box Elder
County, where a fifth child, Mary Marie, was born December 11, 1862. However,
she lived only two days.
Sometime within the next three or four years they went again up to the Malad Valley, only to be driven off by the Indians once more. Again they returned to Willard, and later spent some time around the Weber River. Benjamin and Emeline raised a young Indian girl until she was fourteen years old when she caught cold and died of pneumonia.
In the latter part of September 1866, Benjamin heard of an eligible widow up in Uinta, and went up to the little village at the mouth of Weber Canyon, where after a few hours conference, he married her on October 2nd, deserting Emeline and the four small children. In 1867 Emeline went to Malad and stayed with friends a year while her two sons went to Samaria and worked. Levi built her a log house, and in October 1868 they moved to Samaria to live.
Ben did some freighting about this time, working with other men from the Samaria and Malad area, going up into Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Both boys were very ambitious and had brilliant minds. Levi set up a blacksmith shop. Ben was eager to go to school to learn a trade as he wanted to go into the mercantile business. One day as he worked in the hay fields to earn money for school his pant leg caught in the threshing machine and tore his leg at the hip so badly that it had to be amputated. This did not alter his determination to get an education. As soon as he was able to walk with an artificial leg and a cane he enrolled, at the age of twenty-five, at the Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah. He was identified there as the “one-legged college boy,” but it never occurred to him to be sorry for himself. In spite of his handicap, he soon excelled in all of his studies and won a prize for the highest marks in the class. He was well liked by his classmates because of his remarkable sense of humor and his fun-loving nature.
After completing his studies in mercantile management, he returned to Samaria where he started the first mercantile institution there. In 1880, Ben’s brother Levi cleared land and, with their sister Eliza’s help, built a log room. This was the building in which he set up his business. He had a peddling wagon in the beginning, but later set up partnership with William E. Hawkins. Sometime later this establishment was organized into the Samaria Co-op. He traded for produce from the Malad Valley farms and for fruit from Ogden and Brigham City.
By 1888 he needed more room and built a two-story red brick store. He hauled his supplies by wagon from Corinne, a distance of thirty-two miles, until train service was available. In a short time he expanded his business to include a hotel across the street, a feed store, and a livery stable. As he was thrifty and jovial he soon had a thriving hotel business. More and more traveling salesmen, or “drummers,” patronized the hotel, where they had access to the use of the parlor and two organs to entertain themselves, good beds, excellent service, and delicious meals. Their horses at the livery stable got good grooming and feed.
One by one he added a butcher shop, ice house, barber shop and feed and grain store to his ever growing business. Being the only merchant in Samaria he supplied the needs of everyone, selling groceries, meat, ice, clothing for both men and women, dry goods, household furnishings, whips, boots, spurs, some farm machinery and beaded gauntlet gloves made by the Washakie Indians.
Ben was too kind hearted to drive a hard bargain. He trusted everyone and extended credit to farmers, cattlemen, sheep herders, and even Indians too lazy to work. They all made promises to pay him in the fall when the crops were harvested or cattle marketed; or in the spring after lambing time; or when the sheep were sheared; or whenever their money was coming in. Then when their payments were made they received good bonuses; a new hat, boots, spurs, pictures, dishes, or whatever they chose. He never would refuse a hungry Indian anything to eat, and it was quite a common sight to see a group of them, bucks and squaws alike, sitting around a bonfire behind the store eating the food which Ben Waldron had freely handed out.
There was one old Indian woman, called Susie Squaw, who was more honest and ambitious than the rest. She went around the more wealthy homes in Malad and Samaria, and did hand washing for food or old clothing. She washed Uncle Ben’s shirts many times. I stayed with Uncle Ben each spring and fall when I was going to school, while my parents were at our Pocatello Valley place. Years later when I was in high school in Malad, Susie saw me at Fredrickson’s. She said, “She Samaria, she Ben Wallup, Round Face.”
Ben had hay lands and livestock that had increased over the years and the work of caring for them had been done by his brother Levi and Levi’s son Glispy. When Levi’s younger sons were able to help their father, Glispy bought a home in Samaria and moved in to take care of Ben’s work.
Ben was always too busy to participate in much of the social life of the town, and had never married, although he had many women admirers. He was a large broad-chested man, and even after he had reached the mid-century mark he still had thick dark brown hair, and blue eyes that sparkled with good humor. Early in the summer of 1908, before his fifty-fifth birthday, he found it necessary to make a business trip to Salt Lake City, where he spent several days. When he returned he was accompanied by a tall light-complexioned lady by the name of Axie Cheeny who, to the amazement of everybody, he introduced as his wife. They had been married June 7th.
She soon won the hearts of all of Ben’s family and friends, for she was very generous and kind-hearted. She took over the management of the hotel, and under her capable direction the business increased. She employed the best help that was available, prepared delicious meals, and served them at a long, beautifully set table.
Ben was able now to spend most of his time at the office or at the store, where, wearing a black sateen apron and pull-on half-sleeves to protect his immaculately clean white shirt, he greeted his customers.
He and Axie soon adopted a little boy, Levi, on whom they showered their love and affection. They were often seen riding, with the little boy sitting between them, in their beautiful “surrey with the fringe on the top,” pulled by two beautifully groomed donkeys with their manes clipped short and their tails trimmed in such a manner that there was not one, but three, tassels. These donkeys were Ben’s pride and joy. Everyone agreed he drove the best looking “rig” in town.
A short while later they adopted a little dark complexioned girl with rosy cheeks whom they named Evalyn. Thus, for almost six years they had a very happy life together.
On April 13, 191_, while at the hotel’, Ben died very suddenly from unexplained causes. The whole valley mourned at his death, and hosts of people from far and near came to attend his funeral, including representatives from large business establishments with whom he had been associated, for he was loved and respected by all who knew him.
To everyone’s surprise, he died a poor man because many to whom he had extended credit had betrayed his trust and failed to pay their accounts. His brother Levi, named administrator of the estate, found it necessary to take money from his own pocket to pay the debts.
Thus passed a great man and a “good Samaritan,” poor when it comes to worldly possessions, but rich in spirit, for he had laid up for himself “treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor dust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
– Elizabeth W. Apgood Van Oostendorp