By Olive Irene Hartley Fredrickson 

(Picture of Sariah Cooper Hartley) 

(Picture of Charles Richard Hartley) 

My father and mother both came from England with their parents at an early age. Their parents had joined the L.D.S. Church in England. Father was born at Wakefield, Yorkshire, on November 22, 1851. Mother was born at Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, on January 1, 1856. On their arrival in the United States they settled in Bountiful, Utah. 

The Hartleys were the parents of five sons, Hyrum, James, John, Brigham, and my father. After they were grown, they each bought a musical instrument and formed their own orchestra. They played for dances etc. in Bountiful. 

My mother and father were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. Father freighted bullion from the mines around Bingham, Utah, and in 1884 he and his brothers decided to move to Idaho and go into the cattle business. My father and mother and their children and his brothers and their families came into Landing, Idaho. (Hyrum Hartley gave Landing its name.) It was a perfect place to raise cattle. Father filed on a homestead of 160 acres as did each of the other brothers. There was green, waist-high grass and wild hay with a stream running the length of the valley and canyons close by to run cattle. 

They soon had cabins built and land cleared and under cultivation. There were no other families except three Indian families. I remember Mother telling how frightened she was of one Indian called John. He seemed to always be drunk and would come to their house when Father wasn’t home and demand flour, bread, bacon, and other food. Mother would gladly give him the food, as she was so afraid he would harm one of the children. They had to freight the flour from Corinne, Utah, so it was valuable and needed for their children. 

Soon more settlers came into that area. They had many difficulties to contend with. My mother nearly died when giving birth to one of the children. The nearest doctor was about sixty miles away in Malad. Complications arose and Father went in a bobsled after Mrs. Brown, a midwife, who lived ten miles away. 

After living at Landing for about five years, my father and mother sold the homestead to a Mr. Barnheart. They bought a beautiful ranch from a Mr. Neville, about one and one-half miles east of Rockland, at East Fork. It also had a good canyon to run the cattle in the summer. A larger house was on this ranch, as they needed more room for their large family. A stream of pure spring water ran through part of the ranch, and a good water right for irrigating the alfalfa. Soon they had an orchard of plums, pears, apples of all kinds, currants, raspberries, even hops, and flowers that Mother had planted here and there among the trees. Some of these were striped grass, flags or Iris, both the May flags and the large kind, and Bachelor Buttons which seeded themselves and came every year. There was also lots of asparagus and rhubarb. 

Father and his brothers were playing for dances and entertainment around the community of Rockland. My father played the violin, Hyrum the concertina, and John the flute. Brig also played the concertina and John also the violin. So it was a continuation of the orchestra that they had in Utah. They had enjoyable times with all their hard work. 

Presidents Reddish, Hyde, and Pond would come down to Rockland for stake conference which they looked forward to. My father paid tithing with hay and potatoes. Father would also take Mother and Lucy Woods or Mrs. Howard on their Relief Society route when it was Mother’s turn to furnish the buggy and team. Mother was afraid to drive, but the other ladies were a little braver and would call for Mother in their own outfits. 

My father and mother were very anxious for their children to have an education and tried to keep them in school as much as they could. Father let the teacher hold school one winter in one room of their home until the East Fork school could be ready. They also boarded and roomed some of the different teachers. Later James Frodsham and his wife took care of the teachers since they lived so close to the school. 

Father and Mother had a new house built just a little east of the big log home, and it still was a bigger home. The point of the hill was cut off and leveled for the house, and a walk-in cellar was built into the hill. They made it into a lovely cool place for milk and cream and canned fruit, pickles, and jams. Mother made lovely butter to sell and this cool cellar kept cream so cool, hence, the good butter. Mother was proud of her good butter and was very careful that everything had to be so clean. She had a thermometer to test the temperature before churning. The butter was taken from the churn into a wooden butter bowl and all the buttermilk had to be pressed out with a wooden paddle. Over and over again it was pressed against the side of the bowl and then washed several times with ice cold water from the well which was dug after the new house was built. Just the right amount of salt was added. Mother had a mold that held one pound of butter. She would press that very firmly to give a good pound. Each pound was wrapped in thin paper with her name and address and indicating one pound. Mother sold most of the butter and could have sold more to the S.N. Morris and Ralph Petersen stores. Even people in American Falls wanted it. Johanna Frodsham needed some for her boarders. Mother got from 15 cents to 35 cents a pound for it. 

Finally my father sold the cattle, as the dry farmers were taking up so much of the summer cattle range. He started raising draft horses. They had to be matched up as identically as possible to make a good-looking team. If they were broken to pull, he could get from $150 to $350 for a team, which was good in those days. 

My brother, Charles, went on a mission in 1902 to Tennessee. Some of the cattle money went for his mission.  

About 1905, Hyrum Hartley and his family moved to Cardston, Canada, and Brig moved to Roy, Utah, with his family. So that broke up the orchestra. 

In 1908, Father and Mother thought they should be taking life a little easier, so they sold the ranch at East Fork and moved to Malad, Idaho, and bought a home. But after about two years in Malad, they moved back to Rockland, as their roots were too deeply formed there and they missed their old friends. Even though they made friends in Malad, they weren’t quite like the lifetime friends in Rockland. Mother and Father felt that Rockland Valley was a very special place and also that the people were very special who lived there. 

Father bought a Ford sedan car and learned to drive it very well for his age. They enjoyed driving it to visit their children and their families, who didn’t live too far away. 

Mother and Father were the parents of thirteen children. Two little babies died in their infancy. The children were: 

Mary Eliza, born at Bountiful, Utah 

Charles Henry, born at Bountiful, Utah 

Millie, born at Bountiful, Utah 

Sariah, born at Bountiful, Utah 

Priscilla, born at Bountiful, Utah 

Richard, born at Landing, Idaho 

Sarah Ann, born at Landing, Idaho 

Elva, born at Rockland, Idaho, died in infancy 

Amanda, born at Rockland, Idaho 

Ernest, born at Rockland, Idaho 

Clarence, born at Rockland, Idaho 

Catherine, born at Rockland, Idaho, died in infancy 

Olive Irene, born at Rockland, Idaho 

Mother passed away at Rockland from a gall stone attack on October 24, 1929, and is buried in the Rockland Cemetery.  

Father lived about eleven years after Mother died. He passed away on February 24, 1939, at the age of 87 years. He is also buried at Rockland. 

Mother and Father surely deserved the love and respect that was shown by all who knew them. They were wonderful parents to their children. They always had music in the home, a piano or organ, with Father playing the violin. Mother had a good voice and was always singing at her work. Father also provided well for his large family. They were always teaching their children to be honest and upright and considerate of other people and to help them in time of need. I know my parents did that many, many times. My father and mother were very religious. Mother always read the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, The Bible, and the Liahona, a church magazine. Father saw to it that Mother got to General Conference once a year in Salt Lake and to visit with her brothers and sisters if at all possible. Most of them lived in Bountiful and Woods Cross. 

I feel honored to be one of their children and to have had the privilege of growing up in such an influence.