Dad's Early Life

by Doris Mellor
We don’t know too much about Dad’s early life and he is no longer with us or he would love to tell us. He loved to tell stories and we all liked to listen. We have gathered together things we remember him telling.
I think Dad took after his Dad, Mosiah Works Booth, in many ways. His father also lacked in formal education but was a self taught man. They both had a sense of humor. His father had two wives, who lived only a few blocks apart. When the law men would come looking for him, they would hide him in the basement. Sometimes he would have to stay there for several days. They would pass food down to him.
His dad owned and operated the first shingle mill in the vicinity of St. Charles. There is one story Dad told us about his Dad. Grandpa, Mosiah, went to conference in Paris. After the meeting he didn’t appear for the trip home. They found him sitting alone in the meeting house. The man who had dismissed the meeting, had a reputation for devious dealings and outright dishonesty and had, in fact, cheated Grandpa in a sale of hay. Grandpa indicated the he refused to be dismissed by a dishonest man. Someone told him that the practical thing to do would be to dismiss himself so they could get on their way home. He laughed about this later, but he always had a strong attitude toward being honest.
Dad was the 23rd child of his father, and the 11th child of his mother. His dad died when he was only a small boy, about three. His sister Jean was born after his father’s death. His mother was in poor health and he had to work very hard to support them.
He told us of a time when he was a little boy, they would go by horse team to Paris to visit his Grandpa and Grandma Hibbert. While there, they would have to saw, split and pile wood for them. She would reward them with cookies, often times they were moldy.
When he was a little boy, he was standing by the crude washing machine they had. He stuck his thumb in the cogs of the ringer and cut the end of his thumb off. They put it back on and bandaged it. They didn’t have hospitals or even anyone to stitch it for him. His entire life , he had a funny bump on his thumb as a reminder of this. His brother “Ock” (that’s what his brother Oscar was called) came in during the “surgery” and gave him 50 cents. With this money he went over and bought him a pair of overshoes.
His first job was driving pull up. He was paid 25 cents a day.
He only went to school until he was in the 7th grade. He said he wasn’t too faithful in his attendance when he was going to school. He told of getting to school with his clothes frozen and having to set by the stove to thaw out.
One summer he worked all summer long and came home with a check for $100. When he got home, the bill for his mothers groceries was $105. Frank Floyd owned the store where the bill was and he wouldn’t accept the whole hundred dollars. He took $60 and gave the rest back to Dad.
He worked on the J.R. Pugmire ranch and on the Transtrum ranch for many years. While working on the Transtrum ranch, he rode the trains back to Omaha, Neb. With sheep. He really enjoyed this.
When he decided to get married to Vidella Bunderson, he started to build a new home. The old home was torn down and they lived in a tent while the new one was constructed. The total contract price was $1000. It didn’t have many of the modern conveniences, but it did have electricity. The monthly bill averaged $1.
In about 1925, he purchased his first car, a “Model T”. He was really proud of this. They were really well fixed when they were married, they had a new home and a Model T.