I will begin this history with my grandfather, Charles Scott Hall, who was born in Addington, Buckinghamshire, England, on the 10th of November 1845. He was the son of Ann Neal and Walter Scott. (Walter Scott was a close kin of Sir Walter Scott, the noted poet and novelist.) We don’t know much more of Walter Scott. It is not known when he died or was divorced from Ann Neal. We do know that Ann Neal married Daniel Hall on the 25 of December when Charles Scott Hall was 10 years old. The boy was adopted by Daniel Hall and took the Hall surname. Therefore, we have been following the adopted line in our genealogy work.
Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints taught the Gospel to the people of England around the middle of the 19th century. Ann Neal was baptized on the 1st of March 1851 and Charles Scott Hall was baptized on the 26th of September 1853. Daniel Hall was converted to the Mormon faith and baptized on the 8th of May 1851. This was at the time that Queen Victoria was the reigning Matriarch of England. At the same time, the United States was engaged in the bitter struggle between the North and the South.
The Daniel Hall family, including Charles Scott Hall, emigrated to America in 1862. Their ship arrived in the New York harbor in the third week of July, after eight weeks on the Atlantic Ocean. Young Charles Scott Hall, 17 years of age, worked as a porter on the ship to help defray transportation costs. George Q. Cannon was agent for the Mormons emigrating to America at that time.
Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States when Charles Scott Hall arrived in America. The Civil War was reaching its peak in intensity. Precautions had to be taken by persons traveling across the country to the frontier territories to avoid being caught up in the hostilities. The Daniel Hall family crossed the country by train until they reached Nebraska, which was the end of the line. They joined a wagon train at Omaha and traveled across the plains to Utah by ox team and covered wagon, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on the 19th of October 1862.
At the request of Brigham Young, Daniel Hall and his family settled at Farmington, Utah. Their first home was built just northwest of the present site of the Lagoon resort. Daniel Hall and his wife were sealed in the Endowment House on the 24th of March 1865. He engaged in the business of growing fruit and other farming activities. He died in Farmington on the 9th of April 1884 and is buried in the Farmington cemetery.
After the death of Daniel Hall, Ann Hall moved to southern Idaho where she lived with her daughter, Rachel, who was married to James Osborne Paton. It is believed she died in southern Idaho, probably at Woodruff.
Charles Scott Hall married Eliza Ann Thornton on the 4th of April 1869, in Farmington, Utah. Eliza Ann was the daughter of Levi and Ann Thornton. Eliza Ann was born in Salt Lake City on the 27th of December 1852, just two months after the family had made the trip across the plains in a covered wagon. Levi Thornton and his family had lived at Nauvoo, Illinois, for five years before being driven out with the rest of the Mormons by the un-godly mobs that raged against the Prophet Joseph Smith and the other members of the Church.
In 1872, Levi Thornton and Charles Scott Hall built homes in Portage, Utah, a small community that had just been laid out about two miles south of the Utah-Idaho border. They homesteaded some land west of Portage which they farmed for the remainder of their lives. Charles and Eliza Hall built the home on the southwest corner of town. (This is where I grew up).
Charles Scott Hall and Eliza Ann were the parents of ten children; five boys and five girls. My father, Albert Theodore Hall, was the youngest member of the family, being born on the 20th of September 1888. He received his schooling in Portage where he lived all his life. My father married Ethel Syrilda Halford, on the 5th of April 1909 at Salt Lake City, Utah. She was a daughter of Joseph Willard Halford and Rhoda Young Halford. They had been childhood sweethearts.
The first home my parents lived in was the little log house my grandfather Hall built and raised his family in. Seven children were born to my parents in that little house, I being the last. Then they built another house and the old log house was torn down.
My father made his living farming and running a herd of sheep with his brother, Charles, until the great depression came along in the 1930s and Dad lost all he had. He then worked on the WPA and PWA which were public work projects started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. My three older brothers also worked on these projects. I was only a young teenager at the time but I remember the scarcity of money and how hard it was for people to make ends meet.
My father and mother were the parents of ten children; seven boys and three girls. Otto, the eldest, was born January 5, 1910 at Portage, Utah. As a matter of fact, we all were born in Portage. Otto grew up a trapper. I can’t remember when he wasn’t trapping wild animals for their furs. He was a government trapper for a few years during the late 30s and early 40s. He married Leona Nish of Plymouth, Utah on the 5th of January, 1929. They lived in a log house just east of my parent’s home in Portage, Utah. They became the parents of 5 daughters. They later divorced and Otto has been married three times since. He and his present wife are living in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Carroll, the next eldest, was born on the 10th of June, 1911. He did farm work for years. He married Bernice Iverson of Bear River City, Utah, on the 16th of September 1931. They have lived in Brigham City, Portage, and are now back in Bear River City. Carroll worked for several years at Thiokol Chemical Corporation. He is now retired. Carroll and Bernice raised four daughters.
The next, LeGrand, was born on the 21st of June 1913. He was educated at Portage and Bear River High as the rest of us were. He grew up making a living at odd jobs, primarily farming. He married Ada Jensen of Brigham City. They lived in Salt Lake City most of their married life where he worked as a fireman and engineer on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Ada taught school. They raised a boy and a girl to adulthood. LeGrand died May 22, 1964, following a second open heart surgery.
My sister Melba, was born October 27, 1915. She grew up in Portage. She married Lee Hansen of Tremonton, Utah, on the 9th of November 1936. They owned and operated a small grain and vegetable farm at east Tremonton. They reared two girls and a boy. Her husband, Lee, died on the 3rd of November 1975. Melba, who has been sickly most of her life, died on the 3rd of February 1979.
My next sister, Mamie Adair was born April 19, 1918. She died when she was six months of age during the terrible flu epidemic of that year. Hundreds of thousands of people the world over died of the flu that year, even more than during World War I.
My brother, Lee was born September 18, 1919. He and I grew up loving, playing, fighting, and hating each other at times. He grew up doing about the same as the rest of us. He went into the Army in 1942 and served a four year hitch. (There were three of us brothers in the service at the same time; Lee, Kay and myself). Lee married LaRee Price of Samaria, Idaho, March 9, 1940. They raised two children, a boy and a girl. They were divorced somewhere around 1957. Lee has been married three more times. Since coming out of the Army, he has been living in California, working at the carpenters trade. He is now retired and living in Malad, Idaho.
I was born on the 31st of May 1921, the last child to be born in the old original log house, which was given to my parents as a wedding gift by Grandfather Hall. After we moved into the new house the old log house was torn down and hauled away.
I grew up a Jack of All Trades. I’ve done about every kind of work to be found. (In 1965, I wrote several songs, one of which is called “Jack of All Trades”). But I’m getting ahead of my story.
I quit high school in 1937 and joined the CCC Camp in Bountiful, Utah. I served about a year and worked as a camp cook. After this, I knocked around doing this and that until 1940 when I enlisted in the U.S. Navy. I took my Basic Training in San Diego, California. I decided to go into the medical department, why, I don’t know, but that’s how it turned out. I took my medical training at the Hospital Corps School at San Diego and upon graduating, I was transferred to the Naval Hospital at Mare Island, Vallejo, California. I did duty there for about six months and was then transferred to the Fleet Marines back in San Diego. I was attached to the 8th Regiment, 2nd Marine Division.
We left the United States and went to Pearl Harbor in November of 1941. I was on liberty in Honolulu at the time the Japs attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, destroying most of the harbor facilities and severely crippling the Pacific Fleet.
A few days later we were sent to American Samoa. I was there on the beautiful island of Tutuila for about ten months. My outfit then was sent to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands where I participated in many long months of combat duty. I won’t go into detail about this period except to say that I learned the real meaning of war and its horrors. To see young men, more accurately boys, get shot or blown to pieces with mines, shells and bombs. To smell the sickening stench of unburied human bodies decaying in the hot South Pacific sun. And to see the tortured and dismembered bodies of the wounded, knowing that these men would have to go through life severely handicapped. I pray to God that we won’t be engaged in any more wars but I suppose that is only wishful thinking. I contracted malaria and was wounded in action but otherwise I was lucky.
After leaving the Solomon Islands, I went to New Zealand where I spent eleven wonderful months. The people there were so friendly and kind to us. It is a beautiful little country divided into two islands by the Cook Strait. The South Island has high rugged mountains like the Swiss Alps with perpetual glaciers and year round skiing.
I came home from three years in the Pacific, in December 1943. I went to Malad to the dance one night and met my future wife. Her name was Arva Jensen. She was working at the Government Ration Board at the time. It was love at first sight for both of us, I guess, for it was only two weeks later that we were married. This was on the 7 of January, 1944.
I still had about two and a half years to do on my six year hitch in the Navy. (I forgot to mention that Arva’s parents were Verner Alva Jensen and Gwen Wickham Jensen. They lived in Malad where we now live, across from the Benson-Horsley Funeral home. Mr. Jensen farmed in Pocatello Valley. Arva’s mother died by 1942 and her father died in 1944, shortly after we had moved to San Francisco.
I was assigned duty at the Naval Training and Distribution Center at Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz Island, home of the infamous federal prison, was located just about a mile from Treasure Island.
During the next two years, while serving at Treasure Island, our first child was born. We named her Gloria Lois, after my sister, Gloria, and Arva’s sister, Lois. She was born on the 12th of January 1945. She grew up and married Darrell Lee Burton of Fielding. They had three children; two boys and a girl. They are now divorced. Gloria lives in Brigham City and works for Skaggs Drug company.
When I only had about six months left on my Navy hitch, I was transferred to San Diego again. We lived in a housing project on the Marine Base at Camp Elliott which was located out in the desert, about 20 miles from San Diego. I did duty at the Dispensary and later at the Submarine Base in San Diego.
After I received my discharge from the Navy, we moved to Malad and bought the home in which we still live. I worked as a bartender for a while.
On the 16th of October, 1947, our second daughter, Lyla Gwen was born. She grew up and was educated in the Malad schools. She married Oral Alan Steed of Plymouth, Utah, on the 4th of February, 1967. They have three children; 3 girls. They have been divorced, remarried, divorced and now remarried again. She has been working for R & R Hardware in Tremonton, Utah, and Oral works for Nucor Steel at Plymouth, Utah.
On the 24th of October, 1950, our son, Alan Lyle was born at Malad, Idaho. He grew up and was educated at Malad. He married Loretta Davis Aggott on 27 March 1970. They have three children; two boys and a girl. They are living in Shelley, Idaho. Alan works as a foreman and runs the shop (Western Transmission), near the Idaho Falls Airport. Loretta works for the Bank of Commerce in Idaho Falls. They are both very active in the LDS Ward where he is presently Sunday School Superintendent and she is working in the Relief Society.
Arva and I had our marriage solemnized in the Logan Temple on the 30th of January, 1957. We had our children sealed to us on that same day. We have both been active in the Church and have both held positions in the Priesthood and Relief Society. I was ordained a High Priest two or three years ago. (I forgot to mention that my father died on the 30th of July 1967.) My mother died on the 15th of January 1976, following a severe stroke.
Continuing with my brothers and sisters: The next in line was my sister, Gloria. She was born on the 19th of September, 1923. She grew up in Portage and on the 27th of November 1941, she married Grant Thorpe of Samaria, Idaho. They had five children. One son, Gary, was killed in action during the Korean War. Gloria and Grant now live in Samaria where they have a small farm.
My brother, Kay, was born September 25, 1925. He served a four year hitch in the U.S. Navy during WWII. He has worked as a laborer most of his life. He married Carol Gleed of Malad, Idaho, on the 11th of October, 1947. They are the parents of ten children. They are presently living in Inkom, Idaho, where Kay is employed by the City of Inkom.
The youngest of the family is Lynn. He was born on the 7th of December, 1931. He had about the same kind of childhood as the rest of us. After he had grown up, he married Eunice Hill of St. John, Idaho. They had no children and later were divorced. Lynn has been married three more times and is now living in Redwood City, California where he is an assistant manager of a hardware store.
Arva and I have lived in Malad since 1946 and I have worked at so many jobs I don’t think I could remember them all. Suffice it to say I truly am a Jack of All Trades. At the present time I have partially retired. I do a painting job occassionally.
We spend some time at the Senior Citizens Center and enjoy the lunches and recreation there. I still do some hunting and fishing. Arva enjoys painting and crocheting.
This obviously is a short and brief history but it gives the dates of deaths, births, marriages, divorces, etc., the most important events of our lives.
Written by Lyle A. Hall – August 25, 1983.