Henry Bolingbroke
Henry Mitchell Bolingbroke was one of the first white men to settle in Arbon Valley, especially in the northern portion of the valley. He, along with other settlers, filed for his water rights on Rattlesnake Creek in 1889. He built a one room log cabin on his homestead which is today still standing on the John Bolingbroke place.
Henry Mitchell came to the United States from England in the early 1870’s, and settled shortly after his arrival in the Malad Valley. He was born 1850 at Coventry, Warwickshire, England, and after arriving “West” of America, met a young girl named Mary Elizabeth Lusk, who he married at Salt Lake City on September 14, 1874. His father was Thomas Bolingbroke of London, England who later moved to the United States, settling in Malad Where he later died.
Henry and Mary Lusk Bolingbroke had 11 children: John Henry Bolingbroke, David Lusk Bolingbroke, Clara Esther Bolingbroke, Arthur Lusk Bolingbroke, Chester Lusk Bolingbroke, Mary Edith Bolingbroke, Ethel Lusk Bolingbroke, two sons; Edward Lusk and Delbert Lusk, died shortly after birth, and two girls; Ada and Ida (who were twins) were stillborn.
After his arrival in Malad, Henry Mitchell made living by being a carpenter. People who knew him characterized him as a very distinguished looking, who had a very pleasant wife. The grandchildren especially remember their kind grandmother as she always had a full cookie jar for them when they came visiting. Being active in the Mormon [Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] Church, Henry went back to Great Britain on a mission after his marriage.
After proving up his homestead on Arbon Valley, Henry Mitchell went back to Malad where he became [?] and died in 1905. His eldest son, John Henry moved up on his father’s place, and then homesteaded his own place on September 28, 1907 in Arbon, his deed was signed by President Theodore Rosevelt.
John Henry was born in Malad 1875, and spent his youth working as a rider for various cattle ranchers which he enjoyed greatly. He later told his family about the adventuresome and exciting times he had as a cowboy with the various cattle ranchers of the area. The other cowboys he worked with enjoyed his keen sense of humor that he displayed on the drives.
After spending several years on various ranches, he met Beatrice Thomas in Malad, and they were married on September 16, 1903. Like him, Beatrice Thomas had been born and raised during her youth in Malad. After their marriage, they moved to Arbon Valley on the homestead, where John engaged in Stock [?ing] and farming.
John’s brother, David Lusk Bolingbroke, and his wife Mary Thomas, (who was a sister to Beatrice), moved to Arbon and homesteaded a short distance to the East of John’s place in the year 1908. Dave and Mary Thomas Bolingbroke had 3 children: Delbert Bolingbroke, Dave Bolingbroke and a daughter who died shortly after birth.
John first erected a 2 room log house on his place, [?] then later had a nice lumber house added to it. John’s brother Dave and wife Mary lived with them during the summer months in the same house. The children of both families accepted the arrangement very well, and considered their cousins as brothers and sisters. The children enjoyed the ranch life, and especially enjoyed the yard which was kept nice and green by the windmill that ran daily.
During the winter months, the two families would take turns moving to Malad on an alternating yearly basis to allow the children to get their education. The children didn’t mind the arrangement, as staying with [?her] family was home to them. Both John and Dave had nice homes in Malad that were almost identical in appearance and furnishings.
John had a large head of cattle, and also a large dairy herd which produced large quantities of cream which was sold to a creamery in Pocatello. He also [?had] a lot of hay and wheat that required a lot of hired hands, especially when the threshers were operating. It was considered a blessing when combines were finally invented.
John and Beatrice Thomas Bolingbroke had 4 children: Ephraim Bolingbroke, John Henry Bolingbroke, Mrs. Rufus (Beatrice) Lawson, and Mrs. Dough (Evelyn) Nielsen. They also had 10 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
Their water right on Rattlesnake required a lot of maintenance in the early days as heavy snowfall and the subsequent spring floods caused a lot of repair work.
Among the close neighbors to the Bolingbroke’s, were my grandparents, John and Rosa Bishoff who had a place a short distance to the West of their place. They became close friends, and spent many times visiting together, and enjoying Sunday dinners. Beatrice and Mary Bolingbroke loved to put on big Sunday dinners for family and friends. They were considered excellent cooks, and had a lot of practice by cooking for the large work crews on the ranch through the years. The workhands always commented that they looked forward to their tasty dinners.
In 1945, John Bolingbroke retired, and sold their place to their son, John Jr. and moved to Pocatello where they spent many good years in retirement. Mr. Bolingbroke died in 1955, and Beatrice Bolingbroke passed away in 1960.
Eph Bolingbroke and I (Zella Daniels) were married on February 3, 1943 at Idaho Falls. I had moved back to Pocatello from Los Angeles, California in August of 1933 where I had graduated from North Hollywood High School. On graduation night, I was awarded a scholarship to Whittier College in California for having the highest grades in my class as a member of the National Honor Society for four years. Eph attended what is now Utah State University in Logan for a year, and then returned to Arbon to engage in farming. We both were born in Malad.
We spent 3 years in Arbon after our marriage, and then Eph worked for the P.F.E. in Pocatello for 3 winters, and farmed during the summer months in Arbon. The P.F.E. wanted him for steady employment, but he preferred to engage in full time farming.
During the early years of our marriage, the recreation in the valley mostly centered around the dances that were held for the community at the Greentop dance hall and at Crystal. The dancing and fellowship was enjoyed by all. Also, we spend many Sunday afternoons visiting, at Aunt Maggie Bolingbroke’s place, and also at various neighbors having dinners and picnics.
Eph along with Guy and Alfred Bolingbroke and others played on the local baseball team. Eph also taught the Pauline school for a few months as a substitute teacher for Mr. Nielsen, it was in the big room, which was from 6th to 8th grade.
Our first start in the cattle business was when we traded some hay for some cattle. As time went on, we bought many cattle from neighbors and the Blackfoot Livestock Exchange. We raised enough hay for our cattle from our own meadow and alfalfa fields. Later we ran many with the association and on grazing rights on the reservation.
Our closest neighbors were Eph’s brother John and his wife Lois Davis Bolingbroke. They had 2 girls, Lorita and Janet. Our children and the girls spent many times together enjoying each other’s company.
Eph bought his Uncle Dave Bolingbroke’s place, the Joe Thomas place, and the Hatch place in Arbon to make up his farm operation. When he first started, there were no buildings on his Uncle Dave’s place, but through steady hard work, we were able to build a 4 room lumber house a few years later, and in 1947 we added a kitchen and bath to the place. This was also the year that electricity came to the valley through President Roosevelt’s R.E.A. program. A new highway was constructed through the valley shortly after that which allowed for much easier transportation, especially during the winter months. A dial phone system was put in the valley in 1965 to replace the old hand crank phone system, and thus Arbon was given a good communication system to the rest of the world.
We have 4 children: Glen E. Bolingbroke the oldest, who had a degree in Physics and electronics, is presently farming in Arbon; John Ronald Bolingbroke lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and has a Master’s degree in Math and is manager and vice president of systems development for the Bank of Arizona; Gerald L. Bolingbroke holds a Ph.D. degree in Nuclear Physics and teaches at Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa; and Dale A. Bolingbroke who holds a Master’s degree in political science and is presently teaching government at Blackfoot High School. We also have 4 grandchildren.
As our family grew up on the farm, we attended church as often as possible and supported the local school activities. The children enjoyed the school Christmas programs and during one Christmas program night, we were caught in a rough blizzard on our way home, and being unable to make it, struggled into John’s place to spend the night. The next morning when we awoke, we found our pickup buried in the highway cut next to John’s place.
The winter months were generally quite rough, and during the winter of 1948-49, we, like so many others in the valley, had a rough time to survive, considering the fact that we had sickness and the roads were closed because of below zero blizzards that went on day and night for over 2 weeks. Many of our cattle froze to death.
In 1952, a great thrill entered our household, as well as for that matter, many of the residents of the valley. Dwight Zundel of Pocatello brought out a television set to our place for testing and was able to pick up a signal from Salt Lake City. For the next few weeks, we, as well as many of our neighbors, spent late nights glued to the snowy picture on the tube, which was the first television in the valley. In 1958, we were the first people in the valley to have a color television set, and again as well as the neighbors, were just as thrilled at the first color picture as we had been with the first black and white picture.
Our children had their projects on the farm as they were growing up, and greatly enjoyed their hobby of raising ducks and geese. The newly hatched ducklings and goslings were so cute and were such a thrill to the young boys.
Like everyone in the valley, we have had good and bad years. Some years, the frost and drought took care of the crops, but nevertheless we always looked for the next year to be better.
Our family background is one which we are proud of in Arbon Valley, and we are presently living on the farm in Arbon today which is “home.”
Written by Zella Daniels Bolingbroke.
(From the book “Bannock Valley” by Laurie Ward.)