This is a story by George LeRoy DeLand, oldest living member of the Royal Bishop DeLand Family. This is what I remember of my father’s life.
My father was born January 15, 1880 in Salt Lake city, Utah. He was the only child of Frederick Bishop DeLand who was born in Utica, New York and Alice Amelia Smith who was born in Denver Colorado.
My father was buying a small farm in Hunter, Utah from Benjamin Rolfe. He was farming the land as well as working for the Utah Copper Company in Magna, Utah. While working there, he had an accident that could have crippled him for life. He was wheeling cement across a scaffolding and fell. He landed in a pile of rocks. They took him 13 miles to where a train could take him to the hospital in Salt Lake city. When the doctor examined him, he informed him that he would have to amputate his leg. The doctor said it was so badly mangled that there was no way to save it. Dad said, “No way will I let you take my leg. I would rather die.” The doctor agreed to leave the leg alone and treated it as best he could. Dad spent a number of years in and out of the hospital before he could work again. The company paid all his hospital expenses and doctor bills but paid nothing for lost wages. Relatives and friends came to the rescue and helped provide and take care of the family. I believe Dad never forgot the help he received and until the day he died, he was always helping others in need.
Dad was known as “R. B.” by everyone who knew him. When he was able to go back to work, the company gave him a boiler makers apprenticeship. Dad also took a course from the International Correspondence School in Boiler making. Dad lost his home in Hunter during this time. He could not make the payments because he was out of work so long. He was given a home in a company town called “Ragtown.” They called it that because of the way the houses were built. The frame work was built and then covered with tar paper held on by nails and clips that looked like bottle caps. The tar paper would fade and tear and looked like rags hanging down. Thus it was called Ragtown. There were four rows of houses and each one had its own outhouse in back. Each house also had a separate water faucet where they got water to haul into the house for family use. There was no plumbing or electricity in the house. There were three rooms in each home. During World War I, servicemen were stationed in town to guard the plant. They lived in the pump house. One of the servicemen who liked Dad wired our house for electricity so it would be ready when electricity arrived.
Dad advanced from apprentice to a boiler maker’s helper and then to a full fledged boiler maker. One thing about Dad, he was always thinking of how to improve ways of doing boiler making. He soon became boss of the boiler making shop and also of the blacksmith shop.
I was very young at this time, but I can remember my father being called out in the middle of the night to repair a breakdown in the mill. I can remember the time my Dad smashed his thumb and how sorry I felt for him. He was standing on a scaffold, and a fellow worker jumped on the scaffold. It broke. Dad grabbed something to keep from falling and sprained both wrists. Mother had to dress and undress him for awhile. He was called in day or night regardless of the weather to repair parts of a broken machine.
Dad had no bad habits. He never smoked, drank, or told dirty stories. If he had a disagreement with Mother, he would sit in his rocking chair with a newspaper in front of him and whistle “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree” off key.
Dad and my first wife, Dora, always joked back and forth. He treated her just like one of his own.
I went to work when I was fourteen working on the vander floor. My shift was from twelve at night until eight in the morning. I had trouble keeping my eyes open in the school, so I quit school and went to work in the foundry. Dad talked to the foreman and had me transferred to the pattern shop.
Dad belonged to an organization called “The Woodsman of the World” and to one called “The Knights of Pythias.” Each had a auxiliary for women. Dad was secretary of each of these organizations. Each man carried a policy like an insurance policy worth three thousand collars. Some of the members were not always able to pay their dues, so dad would pay it for them. Many times he was never reimbursed, but he felt it was necessary for the members in case of a fatal accident.
Most of the children in our family were born in Ragtown. Martha was born in Hunter, Utah, and Royal was born in the new house on Reed Avenue in Magna, Utah.
The new place was on about two acres. Dad still liked the soil and in addition to a vegetable garden, he planted many roses and iris. I’m not sure which was his favorite. I can remember him sending off in the mail for starts of both. Almost every day after a hard day at work, Dad would be in his flower garden taking care of his roses and iris. The vegetable garden was the responsibility of Mother. We children, in the spring of the year, were given the job of getting the soil ready to plant. We had to dig and rake a certain amount each day. Mother and Dad never turned away a person who wanted some food. Me mother would tell them, “The garden (or any area) needs weeding or spading” She would then give them something to eat and a sack of food to take with them when they finished. Sometimes, I think our fence was marked or word of mouth was passed among these transients that our place was one to stop at. Dad also planted a number of Mulberry trees along the fence where the railroad tracks were. They were wind breaks as well as sound barriers. Mother also used the fruit to make preserves and jam. We raised chickens, a steer, and pigs for the table. Dad had five large wooden barrels in the basement that they used to make pickles. They salted pork and beef. They had a big crock of sauerkraut. Dad brought in a couple of bales of clean straw which we would put in the basement and put carrots, potatoes, parsley and squash in the straw. Mother was an excellent cook and could provide a good meal out of most anything. Dad’s favorite trick was to cut up a couple of apples in stew or soup and was it good! One of his favorite foods was horseradish so hot you could almost light a match on it.
This was a lovely place to live and grow up in. By today’s standards, we were poor but we didn’t know it so we were happy. We didn’t have television, but we did have a radio. We spent many hours listening to Red Skelton, Jack Benny, and many others.
Dad got taken in one day by a con artist named Pugsly. I will never forget that name.
Dad loved to play baseball and was good at it, but because of his leg was unable to run very well.
Dad and Mother were both in politics and dedicated Democrats. They would have voted for a dog rather than vote Republican. One year they attended a democratic Convention. It lasted so long, they missed the train home. Senator King called his driver and said, Take these folks home.” That was a privilege to get a ride home in Senator King’s car.
After World War I ended, there was no demand for copper and the mill closed down. The men were all out of work. During this period, Dad contracted to thinning beets. He did the hoeing and the children did the thinning. One place we worked, the man did not have any money and gave us a cow for our work. It was an old cow; and a few days after we got her, she got out of the pasture and into an alfalfa field. The poor thing ate so much she got bloated and died. It was hard times. Even Grandpa Rolfe, a prosperous farmer, was in trouble. Dad and Mother were very worried. No one ever forgot those lean days after the war.
The mills were closed for a couple of years. When they opened again, Dad was back to work and the family could breathe easy again.
Time rolled by and then the children started to get married. Martha was the first. She married Elmore Harris. Nell was next. She married James Chapman. I was next. I went to California to work, got married, and was out of contact with my parents. So I will let my brother Roy tell the next part of this story as he was home after I left.
By George LeRoy DeLand
I, Royal DeLand, was quite young when George left, but I will try to remember. One instance that I have not forgot was when Martha and Elmore decided to move to Arizona. They lived near us, and their oldest son, Roy, was one of my best friends. I knew I would miss him. I can still remember the old touring car piled up with furniture and kids parked in front of our house. It was a sad time as Arizona was a long ways away.
That left Walt, Alice, Joe and me at home. It did give us a little more room. One day as Alice was getting ready for her wedding to Wallace Penman, she was in the bathroom. Dad kept telling her not to leave the soap in the water. He had told her about three times and finally slapped her good. This was a shock to me as Dad was not the one to discipline. It was usually Mother. As I remember Dad, he was very gentle; and it was a surprise to see him explode.
I don’t think Mother was afraid of anything. One time, we were in the living room just at dark; and Mother jumped and grabbed a ballbat and took out of the house on the run. When she got back, she said there was a man peaking in the window. He is lucky she didn’t catch him. Mother could always tell when I went swimming as my eyes would get real red. A few times I got a lickin’ as I would go swimming when she said “No.” She knew every time.
Dad worshipped the ground that Mother walked on and was devastated when she passed away. He was never the same.
Walt had gone off to live with George and then Martha. Joe and I were there with Dad, but the spark was gone. Dad smiled very little. He spent many hours with his flowers and his memories of Mother. Josephine was always sickly. That left a lot of the housework to me. Dad had taught me a lot about cooking, and most of the time I would have dinner ready when Dad go home. He really shut himself off from other people; and even as young as I was, I could see him going down hill.
James had come home from the Navy and moved in with his wife and one child. Nell was living in Rigby, Idaho, and Dad wanted to visit her. So James borrowed a touring car for the trip. We were near Idaho Falls, Idaho when the lights on the car went out. Dad got the flashlight and said, “I will stand on the running board and light the road.” James did not see the big pothole in the road and hit it. Off the running board went Dad. When we got to him, we found he had broken his leg. We got him to a doctor who set his leg, and then we were off to Rigby.
Shortly after we got home from that Idaho trip, Dad passed away. My world became confused. I was thirteen at the time, but I believe much older because of the responsibility I had before dad passed away.
It was decided that I would live with Alice in Salt Lake City, but it was never the same. I missed my dad and mother very much.
By Royal B. DeLand