Howell Henry Mifflin, son of Howell Hopkin Mifflin and Celia Morgan Mifflin was born at Malad, Oneida County, Idaho on February 11, 1868.
I spent my boyhood in Malad Valley and attended school there. The pupils sat on board benches so high that their feet did not touch the floor. If they did not know the word the teacher would tell them to call it ‘green cheese’, then the teacher would laugh at them. Joseph Dudley was my first teacher. We would go two months of the year to school. I was about eight or nine years old when I started school. It took me three years of school to learn the A,B,C’s. The small children would only get about one lesson a week. The older children received the biggest share of the teacher’s attention. Every year we would have a different school teacher. The teacher would always start us at the beginning of the book. As a result of this type of teaching we memorized the first of the book but never became acquainted with the last of the book.
When I was about twelve years old I went with my father to Montana with a load of freight. Our freight was to be delivered to Bannock City and Virginia City, Montana. So we left sooner than the other men. While in Montana the Indians killed the other freighters. We missed being killed by leaving early with our freight. We hauled the freight from Corinne, Utah.
When I was about fourteen years old, I was put in as assistant superintendent in Sunday School with my father as Superintendent.
When I was sixteen years old, mother took us children to Salt Lake City, Utah to school for one winter. They did not have a teacher in Malad. We went to John Morgan’s private school. The children called me ‘country’ as a nickname. The school teacher told my mother I was a student she could not understand because I could answer any question she asked me, even if I was looking out of the window. While attending this school another boy and I found some frozen chickens. We dressed them and took them to the meat market and sold them to the butcher. I went home and told my mother not to buy any chicken from that meat market. I told her why, so she wouldn’t buy any chicken. This same winter while we were coasting on Hemsted Hill a lady asked me to carry water for her. I would carry water twice a week. I carried the water all the time when the hydrants were frozen. She paid me 25 cents for two buckets of water, then she cut the pay to fifteen cents.
In the winter of 1884 I was assistant janitor in the old Salt Lake Theatre. I earned tickets for my brother, John and myself. We saw all the shows that came to the theater that winter. Mrs. Paxton ran a small store across from where we lived on Market Street. She sold kindling wood and coal by the sack. John and I would deliver the coal and kindling for her. She would give us small things for pay. In the spring we returned to Malad to help father on the farm. We continued our schooling at Malad. When I was about nineteen I fell in love with my school teacher. Her name was Martha Cooper. She was my last teacher, my first love. After school I would take my teacher to the dance. I was ordained an Elder on May 3, 1885 by Howell H. Mifflin.
When I was twenty one I started a business for myself. I went to Montana and lived in a log cabin with three other fellows-Evan Jones, Ben Jones and Ben Wilkes. I had a four horse team that I hauled cord wood with. The wood was four feet in length. I hauled from Elk Park to Butte Montana, about eight miles each way. They would flume the wood from the mountains to Elk Park. The flume was about eight miles long and was in a V shape and filled with water. While we were there Barnum’s four ring circus came to Butte to perform and we all went to see the circus. When we were going through the canyon we could hear the steam organ being played two miles away. That music sure did sound good. That fall I went back to Malad and helped my father on the farm.
In the year 1891 mother, John and wife Rachel, Ada, Will and I took cows to Montana. We would pasture the cows in the timber. Mother would make butter and we would take it into Butte to sell. The people did not want to buy the butter. Some people had been selling the market butter and it was so strong the people could not use it. So they were afraid to buy mother’s butter. I gave the man a pound to try. After this mother could not make butter fast enough for the demand. John and I hauled wood to Butte to sell. In the fall we all went back to Malad.
The next year John, Rachel and I went back to Montana and hauled rock to Butte. This year the Ringland Brothers circus came to Butte. John and I went down to where they were unloading the circus. One of the men said he needed two men to help them with the circus the next day. We told him we would help him. The next day when we went to the circus he said he had two jobs. So we drew to see which job we got. My job was to ride a dapple gray horse around the arena in both performances. I was dressed in a costume made of red flannel, trimmed with gold braid and brass buttons. In front of my horse was Solomon’s queen in her chariot and then there were the dancings girls. I rode just in back of the dancings girls. John’s job was to carry a large banner telling what we were. In back of John was a group of niggers dressed in buffalo robes. We earned our tickets and meals. In the fall we went back to Malad.
On October 26, 1892 I married Lucretia Williams in the Logan Temple. She is the daughter of Benjamin Williams and Agnes Smart. She was born at Cherry Creek, Oneida County, Idaho on February 22, 1872. We lived in Malad the first summer after we were married.
The next year Joe Jones, David Jones, John Jones, Ed Williams and I went to Montana with some horses to sell. John Jones, Joe Jones and I went to Elk Park and we hauled pole wood, twelve feet long to Butte. In this store they had a Wooden God. They called it the China God or
China Gosh. They had a guard there to watch it. There was incense burning all around the god. We went back to Malad that fall and our first son was born on October 28, 1894. We named him Benjamin.
The next spring John and I bought Pete Fredrickson’s band of horses. We took them to Butte, Montana and sold them. I made enough money on the deal to pay for my home in Malad. In 1896 I was put in the Stake Presidency of the Mutual Improvement Association, with Ralph Harding as president. I was the first counselor for four years. Ralph was put in the bishopric. Then Charles Thomas of Pleasant View was put in as president. I was his first counselor for four years.
Our first daughter Ada, was born on June 8, 1897 at our home in Malad. Our home was located on Bannock Street, two blocks from town.
We moved from Malad, Idaho to Collinston, Utah in 1900. Here we ran a hotel and livery stable. I had horses that I would rent out to other people. While we were living here our daughter Agnes was born on June 7, 1901. Later we had a fire that burned our stable, some of our horses and other stock. This fire could be seen for eighteen miles. After the fire we moved back to Malad.
I went to work for the Consolidated Wagon and Machine Company in Malad for about fifteen months. I had a farm about three miles north of Malad which I farmed while I worked. Our son Howell was born at Malad on the 9th of May, 1903.
I continued to run my farm and live in Malad. We had two more children while we lived here. Martha was born March 29, 1906 and Morgan was born March 15, 1910. After he was born we sold our home in town and moved closer to the farm. We built us a large home about two miles from town and about one mile from the ranch. My wife was in poor health. I took her to the doctor in Salt Lake City. While she was in Salt Lake City she died on the 12th day of May, 1912. I was left with six children. The youngest child was two years old. I kept the farm for about a year. Then I traded the farm for sheep. I also sold the home and moved back to town. The children stayed in Malad with a lady I hired to tend them. I went out with the sheep. While with the sheep I took up a dry farm at Daniels, Idaho. This farm is about thirty miles west of Malad. I bought a home in Brigham (City), Utah after I sold the sheep.
On August 19, 1914 I married Alice Johnson. No children were born to this union. I kept the dry farm. Every spring I would take the stock and go to the ranch. In the fall I would move to Brigham (City) for the winter.
When I moved to Brigham I taught priesthood meetings. On March 13, 1927 I was ordained a High Priest by Nels Madsen. We sold our home in Brigham and moved back to Malad, Idaho in 1934. I ran the farm and we stayed in Malad for four years. My son Morgan bought the farm. We sold our home in Malad and moved back to Brigham and bought another home. I was put on the Genealogical Committee as first assistant to Ernest D. Simper for four years. I was a Red Cross worker for five years and chairman in the fifth ward. I was a work director for five years in Welfare Work.
R. L. Fissburn was president with Ernest Simper as first assistant and me as second assistant to the High Priest of the fifth ward. I was a class instructor for about four years in the High Priest Quorum.
My son Morgan died on December 9, 1944 in Salt Lake City, Utah leaving a wife and four small children.
On my 80th birthday the children held an open house for me. My grandchildren gave me 80 silver dollars.
In 1947 three of my friends-Andrew Williams, J. Frank Bowering, Nephi J. Valentine and I would go to the Logan Temple in Mr. Bowering’s car. We made 100 trips to the temple this year. When we started up the canyon from Brigham we would sing, “O, Ye Mountains High.” When we reached the top of the mountain we would sing “High on the Mountain Top” and as we went down the other side we would sing “ Count Your Many Blessings.” Mr. Bowering and Mr. Williams died in 1947.
In April 1949 father was taken to the hospital in Ogden with a heart attack. He got better and was taken home where he greeted his friends and neighbors. In October he was taken sick and died on November 5, 1949. He is survived by a wife,and five sons and daughters, 32 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. He was buried at Malad, Idaho.